When I think of Bill "Rosko" Mercer I think of the Album Rock Radio the way it was in the late 1960s. I also think of a man who really stood up for his principles. Very often we disagree with what our employers do, but can't really say anything since we don't want to "bite the hand that feeds us." I don't want to give a lengthy history of New York radio in the 1960s, but people were getting tired of the restricted playlist of AM radio. The FCC declared that AM and FM stations with the same owner had to air different programming at least 50% of the time. Thus WOR-FM at 98.7 split from its AM sister station in 1966 and started progressive rock radio in NYC. Bill "Rosko" Mercer was one of its first DJs. However in October 1967 Rosko resigned on the air when WOR-FM moved to a more restrictive format. He later moved to WNEW-FM.Dave Saviet donated to Reelradio a one hour aircheck of Rosko on WNEW-FM on November 13, 1967 when I was a freshman at CCNY. For a nominal charge Reelradio offers a museum of airchecks from all over. Thanks Dave for this wonderful recording.
Short Biography of Rosko
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