January 23 Radio History

             
➦In 1941...WOR-AM moved from Newark NJ to NYC.

WOR began broadcasting on February 22, 1922, using a 500-watt transmitter on 360 meters (833 kc.) from Bamberger's Department Store in Newark, NJ. The station's first broadcast was made with a home made microphone which was a megaphone attached to a telephone transmitter, while Al Jolson's "April Showers" was played. Louis Bamberger's sale of radio sets to consumers explained their affiliation with the station.

The WOR call sign was reissued from the U.S. maritime radio service. The station initially operated limited hours, sharing time with two other stations, WDT and WJY, which also operated on 833 kc.

WOR changed frequency to 740 kc. in June 1923 and shared time with WJY until July 1926, when WJY signed off for good and WOR received full use of the frequency. In December 1924, WOR acquired a studio in Manhattan. On June 17, 1927, as a result of General Order 40, WOR moved to 710 kc., the channel it currently occupies (unlike most stations, it was not affected by NARBA).

Later in 1926, WOR moved from its New York City studio on the 9th floor of Chickering Hall at 27 West 57th Street to 1440 Broadway, two blocks from Times Square.

➦In 1954...WNBC 660 AM NYC switched from classical to pop

WNBC signed on for the first time on March 2, 1922, as WEAF, owned by AT&T Western Electric. It was the first radio station in New York City.

The calls are popularly thought to have stood for Western Electric AT&T Fone or Water, Earth, Air, and Fire (the 4 classical elements).  However, records suggest that the call letters were assigned from an alphabetical sequence. The first assigned call was actually WDAM; it was quickly dropped, but presumably came from the same alphabetical sequence.




➦In 1969.. in Memphis, Elvis Presley recorded what would be his last #1 song, “Suspicious Minds.”  During the 8th take,  the producer used a premature fade-out and fade back in near the end of the track.  He felt the fade out, fade in reflected the way Elvis performed the song during his Las Vegas acts.

➦In 1969...working at the Apple studios in London, The Beatles (with Billy Preston on keyboards) recorded ten takes of ‘Get Back.’  However, Preston performances were never used.  Four days later, 14 more takes of the song were recorded and eventually Take 11 was spliced together with the best take recorded a day later.

➦In 1977... Carole King‘s landmark album, “Tapestry”, became the longest-running album to hit the charts, as it reached its 302nd week on the album lists. In 2020 it remains #5 on the longevity list.

➦In 1978....founder and guitarist Terry Kath of the band Chicago died after accidentally shooting himself in the head with a pistol he didn’t think was loaded. He was a week short of his 32nd birthday.

➦In 1984...In NYC....Country WKHK 106.7 FM in became WLTW "Lite FM".

In 1980 Viacom bought the Sonderling chain, and the station adopted a country music format. The station was known as "Kick 106.7 FM." The format change, from jazz to country, took place in the middle of the night. The change brought many protests from New York jazz fans, and a petition to the FCC to deny the station's license renewal, which was denied. (The WRVR calls were moved to a radio station in Memphis, TN, that had once been owned by Viacom, but is now owned by Entercom.) However, ratings were low, as they were unable to compete with WHN, which also had a country music format at the time.

Then, on January 23, 1984, Viacom dropped country and changed the calls to WLTW. The station became an MOR station known as "Lite FM 106.7 WLTW". Initially, they were an easy listening station without anything that would be classified as "elevator music". At this point, the station played music from such artists as Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, the Carpenters, Dionne Warwick, Kenny Rogers, Tony Bennett, Andy Williams, Barry Manilow, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, and the Stylistics. The station also played softer songs from such artists as Elton John, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Everly Brothers, the Righteous Brothers and Billy Joel. The station wouldn't play any new music except for new songs by artists that were familiar to listeners of the station. With this format change, ratings did increase from its previously low levels.

(Almost immediately after the call letter switch, the WKHK calls were picked up by an FM station at 95.3 in Colonial Heights, Virginia that was also doing a country format. That station still has the WKHK calls and is now Heritage-owned Richmond, Virginia Country station "K95".)

By the late 1980s, WLTW started to play songs from such artists as Whitney Houston, Chicago, Foreigner, the Doobie Brothers and Bruce Springsteen. As other competing New York City stations changed their focus, the station stayed with their Soft/AC format, even though they were phasing out songs from artists such as Frank Sinatra, Barry Manilow, and the Carpenters. At this point, the station's ratings were at or near the top compared with other New York City radio stations.

➦In 1986...after more than a year of planning, the first annual induction ceremony for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was held at New York’s Waldorf Astoria. Those inducted included Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.

➦In 1987... Bob "Bob-A-Loo" Lewis - WABC - WABC FM - WCBS FM died at age 49.

➦In 2005...late-night TV icon Johnny Carson died from complications from emphysema in Los Angeles. He was 79.

Carson began his broadcasting career in 1950 at WOW radio and television in Omaha. Carson soon hosted a morning television program called The Squirrel's Nest. One of his routines involved interviewing pigeons on the roof of the local courthouse that would report on the political corruption they had seen. Carson supplemented his income by serving as master of ceremonies at local church dinners, attended by some of the same politicians and civic leaders whom he had lampooned on the radio.

Johnny Carson - 1970

The wife of one of the Omaha political figures Carson spoofed owned stock in a radio station in Los Angeles, and in 1951 referred Carson to her brother, who was influential in the emerging television market in Southern California. Carson joined CBS-owned Los Angeles television station KNXT. In 1953, comic Red Skelton—a fan of Carson's "cult success" low-budget sketch comedy show, Carson's Cellar (1951 to 1953) on KNXT—asked Carson to join his show as a writer.

In 1954, Skelton accidentally knocked himself unconscious during rehearsal an hour before his live show began. Carson then successfully filled in for him. In 1955, Jack Benny invited Carson to appear on one of his programs during the opening and closing segments. Carson imitated Benny and claimed that Benny had copied his gestures.

Carson hosted several shows besides Carson's Cellar, including the game show Earn Your Vacation (1954) and the CBS variety show The Johnny Carson Show (1955–1956).  He was a guest panelist on the original To Tell the Truth starting in 1960, later becoming a regular panelist from 1961 until 1962. After the primetime The Johnny Carson Show failed, he moved to New York City to host ABC-TV's Who Do You Trust? (1957–1962), formerly known as Do You Trust Your Wife?  There, Carson met his future sidekick and straight man, Ed McMahon. Although he believed moving to daytime television would hurt his career, Who Do You Trust? was a success. It was the first show where he could ad lib and interview guests,  and because of Carson's on-camera wit, the show became "the hottest item on daytime television" during his six years at ABC.