"The Golden Great 98!!!!!!"(was:"Re: WROR-FM?)

["Peter Q. George" <radiojunkie3@yahoo.com>]

    WROR stuck with Drake/Chenault's "Hit Parade '70"
until the first weekend of November, 1970.  At that
time the format was re-tweaked a little bit to Drake's
"Solid Gold Rock and Roll".  It was a more oldies
intensive automated format than "Hit Parade".  They
still played some currents and re-currents, but the
oldies were the main focus.
    In early 1973, WROR stopped subscribing with
Drake/Chenault and did their own homegrown oldies
format with "Nostalgia 98.5".  This was when WROR made
the full switch to "nothing but oldies".  It was
getting some good results.  Crosstown, WCOP-FM (100.7)
took the Drake Oldies format (that WROR jettisoned
some months earlier) in October, 1973.  The result was
a mini-oldies war for the next 12 months between
WCOP-FM and WROR.  Both did extremely well in the
ratings.  However, WCOP-FM dumped the oldies in
October, 1974 to return to Country.
    Finally in December, 1973, WROR started to use the
now-famous "Golden Great 98!!!" moniker.  They even
had Freddie ("Boom-Boom") Cannon to do a year-end
oldies countdown to promote the changes.  However,
since WROR was totally automated, Freddie did the
intros on tape.  Unfortunately, the automation went
crazy and the countdown was not exactly in the order
that one would normally expect!  It was a disaster. 
But, in spite of the early technical snafus, WROR
would become very popular and would become the
standard for oldies radio throughout New England for
years to come.  
    To read more about WROR (now WBMX) or WCOP-FM (now
WZLX), please visit the Boston Radio Archives.  73!

-Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
 Whitman, Massachusetts  

> In 1968 the two were split and the FM calls were
> changed to WROR.  A combination,  believe, of WRKO
> and WOR.  Both were top 40, but the FM was automated
> and called "Hit Parade 68" (referring to the year,
> not the frequency).  In 1969 it became "Hit Parade
> 69."  During that year (I believe)  the FM format
> was changed to oldies and called "Solid Gold 69." 
> The change was probably due to concern over
> competing with the AM, which pushed WBZ out of the
> Top 40 business that year.  It changed each January
> 1st to "Solid Gold 70," then "Solid Gold 71," etc.  
> 
> The automated oldies format eventually became known
> as "The Golden Great 98" and stayed that way until
> 1979 when WROR went live an an oldies-based AC.  The
> original lineup was Frank Kingston Smith 6-10A, Jim
> Roberts 10A-2P, Larry Justice 2-6P, Joe Martelle
> 6-10P.  I don't remember who was on after 10PM. 
> Gary Berkowitz was the PD.  WROR became WBMX in
> February, 1991.
> 
> I hope this was helpful.
> 
> 


=====
Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts
                           "Scanning the bands since 1967"
radiojunkie1@yahoo.com
radiojunkie3@yahoo.com
***********************************************************

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