WABC was the premier popular music station from 1960-82 in New York. Many legends in New York radio including Cousin Bruce Morrow, Harry Harrison, Ron Lundy, Dan Ingram and Bob Lewis among many others appeared on the station. As we entered the 1980s there were more FM stations playing popular music in stereo. At that time popular music became very much fragmented with radio station adopting various musical formats. Thus, in May 1982 changed to a talk radio format which is very popular to this day.
Listeners of oldies radio are very grateful that the current management of talk radio WABC is appreciative of the heritage of the station. There is a nostalgia show called Saturday Night Oldies featuring Mark Simone. For the last 10 years on Memorial Day WABC goes back to the past and plays recordings of music radio WABC that have been restored. There is a schedule for today's program and a message board where listeners may make comments. I would like to thank Johnny Donovan, Peter Kanze, Rob Frankel and many others who made this possible.
WABC's sister station in Chicago WLS has a similair history and are concurrently doing a rewind show.
I certainly enjoy this, but I can't stay glued to my radio for 14 straight hours. Lee and I went down to play some basketball earlier We will later see a movie and sit on a park bench and read yesterday's New York Times. It's back to work tomorrow.
1 comment:
It is my hope that generations from now, fans of WABC Radio will enjoy 12 hours of "rare tapes" of Saturday Night Oldies on Rewound shows. Families will sit together listening to tapes of Mark Simone nterviewing singers such as Al Green and Little Richard, playing old commercials from decades past, and playing Top 40 music from an era gone by. Not aired would be Mark's references to "go to the Message Board" (www.musicradio77.com), and some listener phone calls.
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