June 30 Radio History

In 1961...Radio pioneer, Dr Lee De Forest, died at age 87.  He had 180 patents to his credit and named himself the "Father of Radio," with this famous quote, "I discovered an Invisible Empire of the Air, intangible, yet solid as granite."

Dr. Lee De Forest

In 1906 De Forest invented the Audion, the first triode vacuum tube and the first electrical device which could amplify a weak electrical signal and make it stronger. The Audion, and vacuum tubes developed from it, founded the field of electronics and dominated it for 40 years, making radio broadcasting, television, and long-distance telephone service possible, among many other applications. For this reason De Forest has been called one of the fathers of the "electronic age". He is also credited with one of the principal inventions that brought sound to motion pictures.

He was involved in several patent lawsuits, and spent a substantial part of his income from his inventions on legal bills. He was indicted for mail fraud, but later was acquitted.

De Forest was a charter member of the Institute of Radio Engineers. DeVry University was originally named DeForest Training School by its founder Dr. Herman A. DeVry, who was a friend and colleague of De Forest.

In 1983...WPLJ 95.5 FM switched from AOR To Top 40.  In the Spring of 1983, the station began a transition from AOR to CHR (Contemporary Hit Radio). With word that a Top 40 format was coming to 100.3 FM, WPLJ moved further into a CHR direction. Though the station began playing artists like Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson, Larry Berger stated that he did not make the decision to move to a CHR format until the last week of June, and WPLJ adopted a Rock-leaning CHR format on June 30, 1983.

From 1985...Jim Kerr on WPLJ...





In 1987...WYNY 97.1 FM, New York moved from a AC format to gold-based Country format as "Country 97".

The first song played was Dolly Parton's, "Think About Love."

The initial lineup included Mike Wade, Randy Davis, Jack Scott, Lisa Taylor, Mike McCann, Floyd Wright, Jay Michaels, Bill Rock and Jessica. "Dandy" Dan Daniel later joined the station, as well as Scott Carpenter and Carole Mason.

The PD was Michael O' Malley, who is currently a country format radio consultant.


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