Re: WHIL/WWEL

["Joseph Gallant" <notquite@hotmail.com>]

Thanks, Donna, for the piece on WHIL/WWEL.
I have always thought that the FM call letters were changed to WWEL-FM
at the end of 1972, but the AM remained WHIL for a year or two, until
perhaps 1974.
The formats of both WHIL AM/FM, a country simulcast in the late 60's
and early 70's, were changed to beautiful-music when the FM's call
letters were changed. I think that around 1974, the AM became WWEL.
One other note: To answer someone's question, when Heftel bought the
WWEL stations, they became WXKS AM/FM, and became disco (with an AM
drive simulcast and the two stations running separate disco formats).
At the very end of 1979, the AM was switched to the standards format
it's had in one form or another since (although not in AM drive the
last few months). The FM has evolved into CHR/Top-40. Never at any
time was WXKS AM or FM a Spanish-language format. In fact, I think
Heftel for years had one Spanish station and eventually decided to
sell-off all their English-language stations (including WXKS AM and
FM) to buy Spanish-language outlets.
I remember when the WHIL-FM call letters changed to WWEL that Arnie
Ginsberg did a low-key spot (after a town crier appeared singing
"FM 108, and all is WWEL"), referring to himself as "Wwel-Wwel"
Ginsberg". When Heftel sold-off WXKS AM/FM, he got a major share
of ownership (only Rich Balsburg owned a bigger percentage of
WXKS AM/FM).
Another TV spot I recall from the years WWEL-FM was beautiful-music:
It opened with a tight shot of a radio dial (pre-digital) tuning up
to 96.9, and an off-camera voice said "You can go half-way to WJIB".
Then, as the dial tuned up towards 108, the voice-over resumed: "Or
go all the way to FM 108, WWEL for the best in beautiful music".
One interesting tidbit is that WWEL-FM had it's best-ever 12+ ratings
book in October/November, 1978 and still changed the format anyway.
Since WBOS-FM had gone all-disco a few months earlier, many thought
WBOS would continue to dominate in the disco format and WXKS-FM would
struggle. But thanks to a big promotion (including two cash prizes
of $ 100,000 [?]) in the spring of '79, "Kiss-108", as WXKS-FM had
been nicknamed, scored a stunning and unpredicted rise in the ratings,
moving up into the 5's (12+), while WBOS-FM dropped from 4.1 (Jan./
Feb. 1979) to 1.3 (April/May, 1979). WBOS would be forced out of the
disco format by January, 1980. WXKS-FM soonafter evolved into the CHR/
top-40 format it's had ever since.
Prediction: Watch for Kiss-108 to pull out all the stops next year to
celebrate it's 20th anniversary.

Joseph Gallant
<notquite@hotmail.com>

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