August 18 Radio History

In 1937...FCC issued first FM construction permit to W1XOJ, Boston. Station signs on in 1941 as WGTR.

John Shepard

W1XOJ signed on from Asnebumskit in 1939, the result of a partnership between Yankee Network owner John Shepard and FM inventor Edwin Howard Armstrong to explore the potential of inter-city FM networking. Programs were fed from the Yankee studios in Boston to Asnebumskit, and were picked up from there at stations on Mount Washington, N.H. and in Meriden, Connecticut. Other programs were picked up at Meriden from Armstrong's W2XMN in Alpine, N.J. and carried through Asnebumskit to Mount Washington.

In 1941, W1XOJ became commercial outlet W43B, with 300 kW ERP (50 kW TPO) on 44.3, as a sister to Boston's WNAC and WAAB. Two years later, Yankee moved WAAB to Worcester to escape the FCC's new anti-duopoly rule. While WAAB and W43B were nominally sister stations, they were never operated jointly (W43B was treated as a "Boston" station and operated from Yankee's Boston studios), and Yankee soon sold WAAB to new owners.

Edwin H. Armstrong

W43B eventually took new calls WGTR, moving to the new FM band on 103.1 and then on 99.1. In October 1948, the Yankee Network moved its FM operations to Boston, on the new WNAC-FM 98.5. WGTR's license was transferred to Eastern Radio, which apparently operated the station with “Transit Radio”, providing programming heard in city buses. The 1951 Broadcasting Yearbook shows WGTR once again under the ownership of the Yankee Network, but operating from the same 34 Mechanic Street address as WAAB, by then under Olin Company ownership.

WGTR faded from the scene completely within a year or two, as WAAB flirted with television. By 1961, WAAB was in the hands of Waterman Broadcasting, and when its new FM signal signed on that fall, it was as a simulcast of the full-service AM station. The simulcast lasted until 1967, when WAAB-FM split off from the AM with a stereo beautiful music format. In 1969, WAAB-FM became WAAF, adopting a freeform rock format at 107.3 FM that later evolved into album rock under new owner Southern Massachusetts Broadcasters.

A power increase in 1970, to 16.5 kW at 780 feet above average terrain, gave WAAF a commanding signal that could be heard across most of Massachusetts, as well as large portions of eastern Connecticut, Rhode Island, southern New Hampshire and southern Vermont.


In 1959...Bartell Broadcasting purchased WADO 1280 AM NYC


In 1961...Dan Daniel started at Top40 WMCA 570 AM.

Dan Daniel

He started as a disc jockey at age seventeen on Armed Forces Radio with the US Navy. His first commercial job was at KXYZ in Houston in 1955 and he then worked at WDGY in Minneapolis before moving to WMCA in 1961.

He started on the graveyard shift overnight but from 1962 to 1968 he played the top 40 hits from 4 pm to 7 pm — the evening drive home slot.  The station produced a survey of the current sales in New York record stores and Dandy Dan gave the countdown of the week's best sellers every Wednesday in this late afternoon slot.  From 1968 to 1970, he did the early morning drive-to-work slot before leaving WMCA after nearly nine years; his final broadcast was on 11 July 1970.

Dan was heard coast-to-coast on NBC Radio's "Monitor" in the summer of 1973.

He subsequently worked on WYNY-FM where he hosted the mid-day slot and later morning and afternoon drives. He then did a stint at WHN playing country music before returning to WYNY-FM. Finally, he moved to WCBS-FM in 1996. He retired from WCBS on December 31, 2002.

WMCA transitioned to talk in 1970, bringing an end of the “Good Guys” era.  It did well until rivals WOR and WABC flipped to talk through the early 1980s.   Salem Communications bought WMCA in 1988, which started the current Christian radio format.


In 1984...Flashback From R&R...

Boston Radio: Greater Media Promotes Mary Menna To VP/MM

Mary Menna

Greater Media announces Mary Menna has been promoted to Vice President and Market Manager of Greater Media’s Boston-based properties, including AC WMJX 106.7 FM, Active Rock WBOS 92.9 FM, Classic Hits WROR 105.7 FM, Country WKLB 102.5 FM and Urban WBQT  96.9 FM in Boston.

She will begin her new position on Monday, August 24, 2015.

Menna succeeds Rob Williams who is exiting his position as VP/General Manager at the end of this week to join Townsquare Media as Senior Vice President of Operations.

The Boston radio veteran joined Greater Media as General Manager at WMJX-FM in May of 2014.

Prior to that, she worked as the Market President of Clear Channel Media + Entertainment – Boston, where she spent 25 years serving in a variety of capacities, including Director of Sales, General Sales Manager, National Sales Manager and Account Executive. While in that capacity, she also managed Clear Channel’s Providence market for four years.

In her new role, Menna will be responsible for overseeing the management and sales responsibilities of Greater Media’s Boston-based radio stations.

“Mary has done an outstanding job as general manager of MAGIC 106.7 over the past year,” said Greater Media Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Peter Smyth. “We look forward to her taking our entire Boston cluster to the next level and beyond.”

“I am thrilled to be taking on new responsibilities working with the talented Greater Media Boston Team and the powerhouse brands of WROR, Country 102.5, Radio 92.9, Hot 96.9 and MAGIC 106.7,” said Menna. “Working with Peter Smyth and Greater Media Boston in this new role is a dream come true for me.”

Menna began her radio career straight out of Boston College at WBCN-FM. She went on to work at WBZ-AM, WBOS-FM, Kiss 108 and WJMN. Menna has been named among the “Most Influential Women in Radio” By Radio Ink magazine, a respected national industry publication.

A native of Italy, Menna grew up in New Jersey and now resides in Sudbury, Massachusetts with her husband, Peter Darveau, and two daughters.

Greater Media Boston, Inc. is a subsidiary of Greater Media, Inc., the parent company of 21 AM and FM radio stations in the Boston, Charlotte, Detroit, New Jersey and Philadelphia markets. It also owns a group of weekly newspapers in central New Jersey as well as several telecommunications towers located throughout the United States.

Townsquare Media Announces Management Additions

Rob Williams

Townsquare Media, Inc. announced today the appointment of Rob Williams as Senior Vice President, Operations. Mr. Williams will join the Company from Greater Media, where he most recently served as Vice President and Market Manager overseeing its Boston operations. Previously, Mr. Williams served as President/Market Manager for Clear Channel Communication’s New York operations.

The Company also announced that Todd Lawley has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Operations. Mr. Lawley has served as a Townsquare Regional Vice President since July 2014. Messrs. Williams and Lawley, along with the Company’s Regional Vice Presidents, will oversee the Company’s local media operations and report to Townsquare Executive Vice President Erik Hellum. Mr. Williams will be based in Greenwich while Mr. Lawley will continue to be based in Dallas.

Todd Lawley

“We are thrilled to have Rob join our Company. His track record of success and understanding of multi-product local media make him a great addition to our senior management team,” said Townsquare Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Steven Price. “We are also excited to announce the elevation of Todd Lawley to a more senior leadership role within the Company. In a short amount of time, Todd has proven himself to be a results-based leader who understands and drives the Townsquare mission in the markets he oversees.”

Townsquare’s local media operations include 310 stations and over 325 search engine and mobile-optimized local websites in 66 markets and are reported within our Local Advertising segment.

Darrin Klayman

The Company also announced that Darrin Klayman has joined Townsquare as Vice President, National Client Partnerships, reporting to Erik Hellum. Darrin joins Townsquare from Westwood One, where he most recently served as Senior Vice President, Network Sales. In addition, Matt Kiger, Vice President of Sales and Training, Todd Moskowitz, Vice President of Sales and Kelly Quinn, Vice President of Sales have been promoted to more senior roles in sales leadership and will work in close coordination with Erik Hellum, Rob Williams and Todd Lawley and the Company’s Regional Vice Presidents.

“Rob and Darrin are both great additions to the Townsquare team. I am excited to work with such accomplished professionals that can help us grow our Company and drive revenue,” said Townsquare Executive Vice President Erik Hellum. “We are also excited to announce the promotions of Todd Lawley, Matt Kiger, Todd Moskowitz and Kelly Quinn, all of whom have played key roles in our Company’s growth and development. We are confident that they will continue to excel in their new roles.”

Hartford Radio: WPOP Rebrands As 'News-Radio'

iHeartMedia/Hartford, CT has changed the branding of WPOP 1410 AM to 'NewsRadio' while retaining some Fox Sports programming.

NewsRadio WPOP is currently using imported shows for programing, starting mornings with The Vinnie Penn Project, which is imported from iHM's WELI 960 AM in nearby New Haven (40-miles south).

Vinnie Penn

It's followed by 'The Financial Exchange' 10 to noon and Bloomberg Radio Noon to 3pm.  After that,  it's Howie Carr to 6p, syndicated Mark Levin 9 and Premiere's 'America Now' with Meghan McCain to midnight.

Fox sports Radio continues to air overnights and weekends.

“It’s been almost 18-years since the all-news format was heard on WPOP 1410AM," said  Regional Market President Steve Honeycomb.  

"We’re excited to bring back News Radio 1410 WPOP, an iconic brand and station focused on News, Traffic and Weather to serve the Hartford community in the iHeartMedia line-up.”

“NewsRadio 1410 WPOP will focus on local news, weather, traffic and, less of the divisive political talk," said iHeartMedia Connecticut SVP/Programming Dave Symonds.

'We are excited to provide the Financial and Business community in Hartford and central Connecticut with a new option to hear the news that matters to them.”

L-A Radio: KDAY Launches Tha' Goodfellas Morning Show

Meruelo Media/L-A today announced Hip-Hop/R&R KDAY 93.5 FM the start of its new Morning Show with Tha' Goodfellas, broadcast daily, Monday through Friday from 5:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

"The mainstream popularity and cultural importance of hip-hop which KDAY helped build was proven by this weekend's blockbuster opening "Straight Outta Compton," exclaimed Otto Padron, president of Meruelo Media, "…as such, bringing back KDAY mornings with our music, humor, and comedic irrelevance is what Tha' Goodfellas will do better than anyone else in this industry."

Tha' Goodfellas, Romeo and Dejai, are childhood friends, originally from St. Louis, Missouri, and are well-recognised familiar voices in Southern California. They have successfully worked in radio, television, film and music for more than 20 years.

"KDAY Mornings with Tha' Goodfellas will continue to showcase our unique music brand with relevant narrative, humor and a rare passion that have given Romeo and Dejai an authentic connection to our KDAY Nation," stated station Program Director, Adrian "AD" Scott. "We are going to take our West Coast ‘Back in the Day’ attitude to the next level."

KDAY 93.5 FM (4.2 Kw) Red=Local Coverage Area

Tha' Goodfellas, ring in LA morning's on KDAY, current programming continues with on-air personalities ‘Cece The Mamacita’, midday's from 10 am. to 3 pm. and "PJ Butta" in the afternoons 3- 7 pm.

Liberty To Acquire Online Retailer

(Reuters)--Media mogul John Malone's Liberty Interactive Corp (QVCA.O) said it would acquire Zulily Inc (ZU.O) in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $2.4 billion to tap into the online retailer's younger clientele and its strong mobile presence.

Zulily, a website that hosts "flash" sales of clothing primarily for women and children, counts Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N) as one of its shareholders.

The offer of $18.75 per share represents a premium of about 49 percent to Zulily's Friday close. The company's stock was up 50 percent in premarket trading on Monday.

Up to Friday's close, Zulily's stock had fallen about 43 percent since its debut in November 2013.

John Malone

Liberty Interactive, the media conglomerate which owns home shopping network QVC, is known for investing in a range of digital commerce businesses.

Liberty Interactive said it would buy Zulily for $18.75 per share, or $9.375 in cash and 0.3098 newly issued share of Liberty Interactive for each Zulily share.

"Zulily's younger customer demographic, personalization expertise and ecommerce capabilities will boost QVC," the companies said in a statement.

In the second quarter ended June 28, about 56 percent of Zulily's orders were placed from a mobile device, up from about 49 percent a year earlier.

(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Maju Samuel)

Townsquare To Acquire North American Midway Entertainment

Townsquare Media, Inc. announced today that it has entered into a definitive purchase agreement to acquire North American Midway Entertainment LLC, largest provider of rides, games and food concessions in North America, for approximately $75.5 million, subject to certain working capital and other adjustments.

In connection with the acquisition, North American's management team will join Townsquare and will continue to lead the business as a part of Townsquare’s Live Events division.

“We are excited to partner with North American's management team and add its market leading mobile amusement parks to our Live Events portfolio,” commented Townsquare Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Steven Price.

“Nearly half of North American's current events are within 100 miles of a Townsquare market and fit squarely within our core stated strategy of providing affordable, family-friendly entertainment content.”

Formed in 2004, North American entertains more than 15 million people on an annual basis as the owner and operator of amusement attractions including over 200 state-of-the-art rides, custom-designed food concessions and family-oriented games at approximately 150 fairs per year across the United States and Canada.

CNY #Radio: Dave Coombs Joins WUTQ For Mornings

Dave Coombs

Dave Coombs is back.

Coombs, a longtime staple of Central New York radio, returned to the airwaves this morning. The former "Gomez & Dave" co-host is joining "The Talk of the Town" morning show on WUTQ 100.7 FM in Utica, NY, his first time back on the air in six months, according to syracuse.com.

The Roser Communications-owned station teased the announcement last week on Facebook, and a TV spot featured local figures saying "He's back." At 7 a.m. Monday, the show confirmed "he" is Coombs and he began co-hosting the program with Jason Aiello and Samantha LaMarca.

Coombs was let go last February by Galaxy Communications in Syracuse. The company said in a press release that they had parted with Coombs on "mutually acceptable terms."

He had previously co-hosted mornings on Galaxy's WTKW 99.5 FM TK99 (licensed to Bridgeport NY) and WTKV 105.5 FM TK105 (licensed to Oswego NY) with Glenn "Gomez" Adams from 1995 to this past February, ending just a few months shy of their 20th anniversary. The show added Lisa Chelenza in 2004 and has continued on as "Gomez & Lisa."



Coombs got his start in radio after playing goalie for pro soccer teams in Rochester and Buffalo for three years. He moved to Syracuse and started doing a morning show in 1990 called "Dave and the Fat Man" on Cumulus Media's 95X before joining TK99 five years later.

"I love doing morning radio. I've been doing it my entire adult life and I just love it," Coombs told syracuse.com in February.

WUTQ 100.7 FM (1.6 Kw) Red=Local Coverage Area

"The Talk of the Town" airs weekdays from 7-10 a.m. on 100.7 WUTQ FM.

Boston Radio: Toucher&Rich Morning Show To TV Simulcast

Comcast SportsNet and CBS RADIO’s 98.5 The Sports Hub have announced an agreement to broadcast a live simulcast of the radio station’s popular “Toucher & Rich” morning show on Comcast SportsNet beginning Monday, Aug. 17.

The show will be added to Comcast SportsNet’s line-up of daily programming, which already includes a simulcast of the CBS RADIO station’s afternoon “Felger & Mazz” program which has aired on Comcast SportsNet daily from 2PM-6PM since Fall 2011.

Hosted by Fred Toucher and Rich Shertlenlieb, WBZ 98.5 FM The Sports Hub’s “Toucher & Rich” show is the No. 1-rated morning drive program in Boston among its target audience demographic.

“Adding Toucher & Rich to our programming line-up is a win for all parties involved, most importantly our audiences,” said Bill Bridgen, President of Comcast SportsNet New England. “Toucher & Rich have been incredibly successful by mixing sports and pop culture into one creative daily show. We are thrilled to expand our relationship with The Sports Hub into the morning and further establish Comcast SportsNet as the go-to television source for Boston sports programming.”



“We are thrilled to partner with Comcast SportsNet New England for the simulcast of the Toucher & Rich Radio Show,” said Mark Hannon, SVP/Market Manager, CBS RADIO Boston. “Fred and Rich have done an amazing job of building a destination morning show for Boston, and having that content licensed to an additional platform is a great extension of their brand.”

“Being on TV will hopefully shame me into shaving, taking showers, and figuring out what to do with my hands,” said Shertenlieb. “Although I'm borderline positive that won't happen.”

“Being on Comcast SportsNet every morning will be a nice complement to our radio show,” added Toucher.

WBZ 98.5 FM (9.6 Kw) Red=Local Coverage Area

With the addition of Toucher & Rich to its line-up, Comcast SportsNet will now be airing more than 3,600 original hours of local sports programming annually, more than any other network in the six New England states.

Charlotte Radio: 92.7 FM Becomes "The Block"

UPDATE 8/18 6AM:  After a weekend of stunting WQNC Monday at 5pm launched an Urban format branding as 92.7 The Block. First song was Lil Wayne’s “The Block Is Hot”.

Original Posting...

Radio One's 92.7 FM is currently stunting with a "All Drake" format, following the ending of a simulcast with its Praise gospel format solely on 100.9 with the call letters WPZS.

The calls WQNC are again being used on 92.7 FM (licensed to Harrisburg NC) and speculation is the All-Drake format will lead to a new Urban Format (Classic Hip-Hop as Boom?).

If so, the new Urban format would be competing with Beasley's WPEG 97.9 FM "Power 98", which scored a 6.9 Share (6+ AQH Total Week) during the July survey period.

WQNC 92.7 FM (10.5 Kw) Red=Local Coverage Area

FNC Dismisses Kelly Vacation Conspiracy Theories

Fox News denied rumors over the wekeend that the network's Kelly File anchor took a 10-day vacation because of Donald Trump.

Megyn Kelly announced Wednesday on her program that she would be taking her first vacation in six months: "Well, it's been an interesting week and a long six months without a vacation for yours truly," she said to audiences. "So I'll be taking the next week and a half off spending some time with my husband and my kids trying to relax."

She continued, "the big challenge is trying to put down the electronica and unplug ... I am going to try and look at my little one's faces and go for bike rides and play at the beach and not look at you," she said, staring down at her phone.

Speculations arose following her announcement that the reasoning for the journalist's vacation is because of comments Trump made following the GOP debate, which included the former Apprentice star saying that she had "blood coming out of her eyes," is "overrated" and a "lightweight."

A Fox spokesperson confirmed that Kelly's vacation was previously planned and passed on the following statement to The Hollywood Reporter:

“The conspiracy theories about Megyn Kelly’s vacation rank up there with UFO’s, the moon landing and Elvis being alive. Megyn is on a pre-planned, annual summer vacation with her family, which is much deserved. To imply otherwise as Donald Trump and his campaign operatives have is not only wildly irresponsible, but downright bizarre. Perhaps Mr. Trump thinks it’s advantageous to his poll numbers to keep talking about Megyn, but that doesn’t change the fact that Roger Ailes has fully supported her and her tough journalistic questioning since day one and is thrilled with the added exposure from the debate which resulted in even higher ratings of The Kelly File this week. Anyone who knows Roger is aware of how historically and consistently loyal he is to all of his talent and how he protects them at all costs. As Governor Terry Branstad said today, ‘when you’re a candidate, you’ve got to basically answer the questions. You can’t just attack the person asking the questions. That doesn’t work.'”

Kelly returns to The Kelly File Aug. 24.

FL Radio: Talk WMEL Melbourne Moves To 1060 AM

The format WMEL Brevard County's “The Talk to Me Station,” has been moved to 1060 AM, the result of the acquisition of Genesis radio’s frequency.

WMEL 1060 AM, the station features 50,000 DA-D, 17,000 DA-Critical Hours and 5 Kw DA-N an upgrade from 1300 AM's 5 Kw.  The format can now reach Daytona Beach south to Cocoa, Melbourne and the Palm Beaches.

Last week, John Harper's  Broadcast House LLC, signed a deal to purchase WIXC in Titusville from Genesis Communications, which had operated the station for the past 15-years. Terms of the deal were no disclosed.

“With this major upgrade in signal power, our new ‘flame thrower’ positions us to reach millions of additional listeners with exceptional talk radio programming,” said John Harper, a 50-year broadcasting veteran.

“The move also enables our advertisers to reach millions of new customers and extend their brand recognition from Daytona, south to West Palm Beach, and from Florida’s Space Coast west into the Orlando metropolis,” Harper said.

National talkers include Dave Ramsey, Doug Stephan, Jim Bohannen and Dana Loesch, among others. Local personalities include Lillian McDermott, Laureen Trent; Ed Dean and Donna Anselmo.

“We intend to continue the high quality coverage AM 1300 WMEL has delivered for more than a quarter century,” Harper said, “including our phenomenal lineup of local hosts who are very well educated and passionate about their topics.”

SF Radio: One Direction Headlines NowFM's Triple Ho Show

It's still August, but CBS Radio's KMVQ 99.7 NOW FM and Live Nation have already announced the sixth installment of the Triple Ho Show on Wednesday, December 2nd at 7pm at the SAP Center at San Jose.

This year’s line-up includes:  One Direction, 5 Seconds of Summer, Fifth Harmony,  Austin Mahone and Nathan Sykes.

Tickets will be available for pre-sale Thursday, August 27th 10am to 10pm exclusively to 99.7 NOW! VIP members at www.997NOW.com and to the general public on Saturday, August 29th at 10am at Ticketmaster.com, the venue box office or charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000.

Tickets are $125.00, $99.50, $69.50, $49.50 and $39.50 for reserved seats plus applicable charges.

One Direction bio:

With sales of over 65 million worldwide and performances to over 7.5 million fans, One Direction truly are a pop phenomenon. In May this year the band won two Billboard Awards for Top Group and Top Touring Artist. The band are currently on the American leg of their massive On The Road Again stadium tour, before returning to the UK this September for another sold out arena tour. Their fifth album is due for release this November.

5SOS bio:

5 SOS (5 Seconds of Summer) self-titled album on Capitol Records has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 258,643 copies sold in its first week. This long-awaited release is the biggest debut by an Australian artist ever in the Soundscan era – and actually beats their own She Looks So Perfect EP, which sold 143,000 copies when it released in April. This release also becomes the biggest new artist debut of 2014. Having already reached No.1 globally on iTunes in 76 countries, this full-length has sold more than 1.5 million units worldwide, while total single track sales in the U.S. have surpassed two million.

Women Dominate Most of Social Media

• Men are more active on Twitter, Linked-In

In the US, gender, income, and education have little impact on whether or not someone uses social media. But these factors do have a big impact on which social networks people opt to use.

Business Insider reports many top social networks – including Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram – have a strong skew toward female users. Women in the US are more likely to use Facebook than men by about 11 percentage points, Pinterest by 29 percentage points, and Instagram by 7 percentage points, according to Pew. But Twitter and LinkedIn continue to attract a mostly male audience.

In an in-depth report, BI Intelligence unpacks data from over a dozen sources to understand how social media demographics and preferences are still shifting.

Click To Enlarge

Here are a few of the key takeaways from the BI Intelligence report:

• Pinterest has tremendous reach among women. Among US female internet users, 42% reported being on Pinterest in Pew's late-2014 survey, compared to only 13% of men.
• Instagram has become the most important and most-used social network for US teens. 32% of US teenagers cited it as their most important social network in Piper Jaffray's twice-annual teen survey, compared to only 14% saying that of Facebook.
• Snapchat, Vine, and Tumblr had by far the most youthful user bases of the social networks we looked at. 45% of Snapchat's adult users are between 18 and 24, followed by Vine (28%) and Tumblr (28%), according to comScore. 
• LinkedIn enjoys high adoption among highly educated and high-income users. LinkedIn is used by 44% of Americans with income of $75,000 or more, according to Pew.
• Messaging apps also have become more broadly popular, but still skew young: 7% of all people in the US aged 12 and older use WhatsApp, according to the Edison Research and Triton Digital survey.

Fort Wayne Radio: WOWO Plans To Air anniversay Special

During its heyday as a full-service radio giant in the 1960s and 1970s, WOWO 1190AM  reached most of the eastern United States at night from Fort Wayne, IN.

WOWO, which was founded in 1925 and now simulcasts on 92.3-FM, is marking its 90th year, and Program Director Ryan Wrecker thought it would be a great idea to celebrate the iconic station's heritage. He's seeking listeners' help.

The News-Sentinel reports WOWO plans to air a 90-minute anniversary radio documentary on Nov. 19, and to replay it a week later on Thanksgiving Day, Wrecker said. The broadcast time hasn't been set yet. But he'd like the special to include listener memories of the station and its air personalities as well as a history, archived audio and stories from WOWO staffers.

The dominant radio station in the region for decades, WOWO boomed over the landscape with a powerful 50,000-watt AM signal. It's popularity gradually began to erode in the late 1970s with the growth of FM radio. After going through a sale in the mid-1990s, WOWO remains at 50,000 watts during the day but must cut back to just under 10,000 watts at night. It is now owned by Federated Media.

Click Here for the WOWO Tribute website.

R.I.P.: Famed Record Producer Bob Johnston

Bob Johnston w/Johnny Cash

Bob Johnston, who produced some of American music’s most enduring and beloved albums, including Bob Dylan’s “Blonde on Blonde” and Johnny Cash’s “At Folsom Prison,” died Friday.

He was 83 years old, according to The Tennessean.

Johnston was born May 14, 1932, in Texas, and grew up in a musical family. After a stint in the U.S. Navy, he, too, began pursuing a career in music. He had a short career as a rockabilly artist, then, in the early 1960s, began writing songs for placement in Elvis Presley movies, and traveling to Nashville to record demos.

Eventually, he got a job at Columbia Records in New York. One of the first recordings he produced there was Patti Page’s “Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte,” which became a Top 10 hit in 1964. Following that success, he began working with Dylan.

Over the course of his lengthy and distinguished career, Mr. Johnston also produced multiple stellar albums by Leonard Cohen, Simon and Garfunkel, Flatt & Scruggs, Pete Seeger, Marty Robbins and several other now-legendary artists, all within a 10-year span. This track record of classics will likely never be duplicated. His career continued through the 1990s, when he produced albums for Willie Nelson and Carl Perkins, and into the new millennium.

August 17 Radio History

In 1969…On the final day of the three-day Woodstock festival in Bethel, New York, there were performances by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the Who, Jimi Hendrix, Ten Years After, John Sebastian, Sha Na Na, Joe Cocker, Country Joe and the Fish, the Band, Ten Years After, Johnny Winter and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. More than 186,000 tickets were sold but flimsy fences and ticket barriers came down on the first day and the organizers announced the concert would be a free event, allowing thousands more to attend.

In 1982...First audio CDs are manufactured (a recording of Richard Strauss' Alpine Symphony)

Marge Thrasher

In 2012…Longtime Memphis TV and radio personality Marge Thrasher died at the age of 78. Born into a musical family, Marge began her lifetime love of music as a two-year old singing on KRNT in Des Moines and then performing for War Bond rallies during WWII. She regularly sang duets at church with her mother and choral groups including the Sweet Adelines in Memphis. Known best for her decades long radio and television career in Memphis, Marge was host of such shows as WHER’s Open Mike, WWEE Radio’s afternoon talk radio show and WHBQ’s Straight Talk with Marge Thrasher and AM Memphis as well as being their noon news anchor. She especially enjoyed her interviews with such notables as Elvis Presley, Julia Child, Dolly Parton, Nancy Reagan, and Billy Graham


In 2012…Longtime Denver KHOW personality Charley Martin died of liver failure at 67.

Charley Martin

He was half of "Hal and Charley," the dominant morning team on Denver's KHOW, launched in 1976 and lasting for decades. The two started in radio in Des Moines, Iowa, when Martin was in high school, working weekends with Moore at KSO, a top-40 station.

Martin holds a key place in Denver radio history.  "When humorous deejays were the big thing on AM radio, he and Hal Moore were among the best," said Dusty Saunders, the longtime media critic for the Rocky Mountain News and a current contributor to The Denver Post. "Morning drive time belonged to them," and they regularly scored "enormous ratings," he said.

The duo holds a claim to broader pop-culture history as well: in the 1980 Stanley Kubrick film "The Shining," Hal and Charley's KHOW show can be heard on the car radio on the approach to the hotel.

"Hal and Charley, they were the brand, like Huntley and Brinkley. They shaped Denver media in the '70s and '80s," said Chuck Lontine, a longtime radio executive who worked with the pair early in their career.

Martin joined KHOW in 1969 and was paired with various morning co-hosts, including Rosemary Barnwell (on "The Charley and Barney Show") and Marti Martin. The "Charley and Barney Show," with beauty queen Barnwell, scored "phenomenal" ratings, the trade magazine Billboard reported at the time. But Martin would go on to even greater ratings success when paired with Moore.

KHOW dropped the show in 1995 when it switched to a more issue-oriented all-talk format.

After retiring from broadcasting, Martin taught radio and television at Scottsdale Community College in Arizona.