by George Vreeland Hill .
Member since:
March 15, 2007

Do you remember when AM radio was king?

June 11, 2007 11:20 PM EDT
views: 235 | comments: 41

How many of you remember when AM radio had most of the stations, and  was what most of us listened to.

I grew up in New York, and AM 77 was the hip place for music.

Everything was on AM, or so it seemed.

FM was there, but is was for news and classical music.

Now I like classical music, but growing up, I liked Rock.

Today, I like all kinds of music, and FM is the choice. 

FM is clear, and AM is not so clear, but then, AM was never as clear as FM.

What did you listen to when AM was king? 

 

 

George Vreeland Hill 

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Comments: 41

Deb J. Jun 11, 2007, 11:22pm EDT
I kinda, sorta, don't know if I remember!! I guess it's past my bedtime or I'm just losing my memory!! :o)
Gil T. Wilson Jun 11, 2007, 11:26pm EDT
oh man..early am radio was the reason i chose radio as my career...i used to listen to KELI in Tulsa OK AM1420 and late at night some station out of Tennessee i think would have scary stories...and this was the 70s
KELI was the top 40 of the day...i got in trouble calling in 600 requests...it was long distance :)
Pat S. Jun 11, 2007, 11:27pm EDT
1230 WCOL AM. THE top 40's station in our area in my youth. Everything from Aqualung (Jethro Tull), to the Beatles, to Neil Diamond, to Looking Glass, to Mac Davis. A small transitor radio was my morning companion, and nobody listened to FM.
tomi r. Jun 11, 2007, 11:32pm EDT
Ummm ,I've heard of it, but am much too young to actually remember it:)
Janet "Jax" B. Jun 11, 2007, 11:38pm EDT
You bet, my truck only had an AM radio in it....and that was in the early 90s.
Lynn R. Jun 11, 2007, 11:39pm EDT
WIRL 1290 on your AM Dial. Love it, miss it. When we go 'home' we turn to that station just to hear the call letters. It's not the same music anymore but still has the same numbers and call letters. It was the station in our area that carried Wolfman Jack.

I remember the only ones that listened to FM were OLD people and dentists offices. My first car had FM and I don't think it was ever turned to anything on there.
John Coonen Jun 12, 2007, 12:26am EDT
OHHHHHHhhh...YOU dawg you! Great memories of Larry Lujack on WLS Chicago. Bob Sirot - Animal Stories....Waaaaahhhhhh...
Karl Leuba Jun 12, 2007, 3:48am EDT
I did better than remember AM radio, I made it work. I was on the air staff on two different number one stations that were AM. When you say AM radio to me you are talking about "The Lone Ranger," Duffy's Tavern," "The Green Hornet," "Boston Blackie," and Edward R Morrow. But, I remember the days there were no FM stations in town, and television was not yet invented. I almost remember when telephones had cranks, and did have dials. (and party lines)
Debra H. Jun 12, 2007, 4:43am EDT
I don't remember the station but it had Wolfman Jack!
Machiavelli Dayupay Jun 12, 2007, 8:02am EDT
Never really...but I have my glimpses how it was...
Spencer T. Jun 12, 2007, 8:30am EDT
My memories are vivid. KXLW 1380 AM was for years the station to listen to to get all the R&B and blues in the area. KATZ 1600 AM later took up the slack. They were only a couple of the few places we could get the music we wanted. KMOX 1120 AM provided all the sports and news and late night music one could want. Today WGNU Talk radio is the only station which actually allows one to express their opinion without being pigeon holed into some one narrow belief structure created by another. So I still listen to lot of AM radio.
Good thoughts.
Anne B. Grote Jun 12, 2007, 8:51am EDT
was that with Cousin Brucie?
Greg R. Jun 12, 2007, 12:33pm EDT
I'm with John C., above -- I listened to WLS outta Chicago: Larry Lujack, Bob Sirrot ("This has been a lot of B.S."), and The Adventures of Chicken Man. Great stuff.
Jessica B. Jun 12, 2007, 2:03pm EDT
I still listen to some AM stations- the ones that play music from the 40s- not the religion or sports talk stuff. I always flip through stations when driving around different parts of the country.
gaelyn k. Jun 12, 2007, 2:23pm EDT
Miss the good words of the old songs.
Dan (open minded conservative) K. Jun 12, 2007, 3:07pm EDT
In Philly, almost everybody had the same 5 presets on the car radio:

1 - 560 (WFIL - Pop Hits --- Now has new call letters and is a religious station.)
2 - 610 (WIP - Adult Hits --- Now the gold standard of sports talk)
3 - 990 (WIBG - Pop HIts --- Now WNTP and is a talk station)
4 - 1060 (KYW - All news --- Still all news all the time)
5 - 1210 (WCAU - Talk radio --- Now WPHT -- Still talk radio)
Nana to Seven Cutiepies Jun 12, 2007, 3:36pm EDT
I was probably ten or eleven when I got my first "Pocket Transistor Radio". It was red and white plastic and came in a leather case with a strap and fit in my pocket. It operated on a nine volt battery. AM was the only channels with music and my favorite station was WIBG! WFIL was another favorite and I still remember The Geater with the Heater spinning all the tunes.
Dan (open minded conservative) K. Jun 12, 2007, 3:54pm EDT
Nana ... remember the battles over which station was better -- WFIL or WIBG?

I still remember going to the record store to get the top ten list every week.

Do these names ring a bell?

George Michael
Don Cannon
Hi Lit
Dr. Don Rose
(the late) Jim Gardner

... and don't forget Steel Pier's Ed Hurst (also hosted the Msgr Bonner Mixer every Saturday night).
K D. Jun 12, 2007, 4:14pm EDT
Gee, this takes me back. The popular AM music station in the Pittsburgh area was KQV. I think they are all talk radio now or all news. It's been quite awhile since I've had AM radio on at all.
Larry H. Jun 12, 2007, 5:56pm EDT
I remember one time in the north Atlantic at night, picking up my favorite country station WTAC in Flint Michigan..That was a pleasent surprise, I like to listen to WBZ in Boston late at night and early in the morning they have some good talk shows. And listen to WSM in Nashville when the wind is blowing right late at night.
AM signal travels a lot farther that FM.
Larry H. Jun 12, 2007, 6:01pm EDT
I also remember tuning the radio trying to see how many different stations I could get. If you station faded out you could turn the dial and get it back. Digital radio you can't do that.
Kay C. Jun 12, 2007, 7:49pm EDT
I can't remember the station number or call letters, but I do remember being so poor I only had an AM radio and no TV for awhile. Boy did I read a lot of books! :)
doria c. Jun 12, 2007, 11:05pm EDT
I remember local news, football games, Hank Williams Sr.,Dolly Pardon,
Tammy Wynette,Brenda Lee,Lorretta Lynn, Conway twitty,
Porter Wagner, and the top 40 count down.The station was WHMD I think.
Thanks for joggin that memory.
Charlene Sharp Jun 13, 2007, 9:31am EDT
George,
I loved CKLW on AM and I even remember when they had radio story programs westerns and mysterys. When I was home sick from school in the 50's I would lay in bed and listen to these programs with their sound effects. And their was Booth Broadcasting the frist Black owned station in Detroit and they played the Blues, soul and music of Motown when they frist started. The hippest and coolest disc jockey at the time was Senator Bristoe Bryant on WJLB.
Wolfman Jack on WOW radio spinnin' the hits, sydicated; KRCB(Council Bluffs) was the leader in rock musuc in the 70' and early 80's...cruisin up and down Broadway trying to pick up Beaker Street out of Atlanta. FM was for the classical set usually broadcast from one of the colleges and some public radio,,,what a flip flop.
Forgot 'The American Top 40' on KOIL and Dr.Dimento on WOW....KRCB also helped with the start of SEPTEMBERFEST in Omaha.....The only trace of its existance.
Ron B. Jun 13, 2007, 8:13pm EDT
KEEL, 710AM broadcast from Oklahoma City (KEEL, mighty pretty, in Oklahoma City). It played top 40 and I listened to it far away in Amarillo, TX. I couldn't get it in the day but after sundown. I could also pick it up in Shreveport, LA.
Carla G. Jun 14, 2007, 11:16pm EDT
Dick and Doug in the morning in Chicago--can't remember the station--back in the 70's. In the 60's it was KOMA in Oklahoma City. I could hear them up in South Dakota on a clear night.
gil asakawa Jun 15, 2007, 9:38am EDT
WPGC - Good Guys Radio in Washington DC ("in Morningside," they used to say); also WEAM in the area, and once we moved to Denver in the early '70s, before I migrated into FM "progressive" radio, I listened to KIMN and KHOW.
gil asakawa Jun 15, 2007, 9:41am EDT
BTW, if you all are as crazed a fan of classic Top 40 radio as I have been all my life , you might enjoy a site that I wrote about. You pay for a subscription to access the recordings, but wow, talk ab out a Blast from the Past!

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976800641
Dalal A. Jun 15, 2007, 11:41pm EDT
Interesting comments. Thank you for bringing the subject up. This is interesting to compare to today's generation, whom don't seem to care about radio anymore and only tuned to their Ipods.
William Dotani Jun 17, 2007, 5:05am EDT
CKLW 800 am out of Windsor Canada. I still like CKLW, but not so much for the music. Good post!
Joe Corso Jun 17, 2007, 9:09pm EDT
You bet your sweet bippy I do. My station 1010 WINS, home of Murray the K and the most hysterical bunch of deejays ever. There was WABC, WNEW I woke up to Klaven & Finch and then listened to Martin Block's "make believe ballroom" after school.

Cousin Brucie was on WABC

My very first radio was a crystal radio set, that I listened to
Mystery, The Shadow, Jack Benny, Fred Allen, Gangbusters,
Karolyn Q. Jun 18, 2007, 6:56am EDT
Growing up in NY I remember listening to 66 WNBC and 77 WABC on AM radio
Kenneth B. Feb 3, 2008, 8:26pm EST
Dick Biondi on WLS Chicago then, Now mostly public radio.
DesertDarlene L. Feb 28, 2008, 10:34am EST
When I was a kid, FM radio was just beginning to pop up. But, the main Rock and Roll station in Detroit was a Canadian one, I think it was CKLW. But, about the mid-70s, the FM stations began to take over the rock and roll market and AM was turning into a news-only band.
DesertDarlene L. Feb 28, 2008, 10:35am EST
I also listened to the Mighty 690 when I moved to San Diego in 1981.
Shelbia C. Jun 12, 2008, 11:38pm EDT
WLS in Chicago. Also WCFL wjich is now all sports or something like that.
Jim M. Sep 26, 2008, 1:52pm EDT
For me and many of here in Richmond, it was WLEE for top 40 with the Beatles, Beach Boys, Tommy Roe, some Motown. This was what the kids listened to and the adults had their station. It was the same with television. You could talk to anyone your age and instantly connect to what music or shows were playing at the time. It was a good era.
Karen L. Oct 31, 2008, 6:00pm EDT
When I was around 7 or 8, I got an AM portable radio for a gift. I remember tuning in every Saturday night and listening to "Dance Party" where they plays tunes like "leader of the pack" and "its my party". I just thought it was the most cool thing out there. Little did I know about the future, LOL!

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