American Top 40 in the Boston market

[Kevin Vahey]

The KYW-TV promos of that era were really painful to listen to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdFQuy5zZ1c

Back in 1968, WBZ came very close to going all news after WRKO came along
and changed the landscape. Westinghouse had enjoyed success with all news
at WINS New York, KYW in Philly and KFWB in LA. WIND in Chicago was ready
to make the switch but William Paley personally ordered WBBM to go all
news. WIND had been holding their own in Chicago with Top 40 and they as
well branded themselves as "The Greatest Air Show On Earth".

Group W didn't think all news would work in Pittsburgh and certainly not in
Fort Wayne but Boston they were unsure of. They also were clueless on what
to do with WBZ-FM which they finally unloaded in 1981.

On Sat, Mar 6, 2021 at 8:47 AM Bob Nelson <raccoonradio@gmail.com> wrote:

> Speaking of Boston and Pittsburgh and the TV versions of WBZ and KDKA--
> youtube has promos for both stations using the same song. It was "We're 4"
> here and "Here's 2" there. "We're for, great old Cape Cod, we're for, old
> Hahvad Yahd.We love to get lost in the traditions of Boston." Pittsburgh's
> version had similar localisms.
> Remember the tv ad with Dave Maynard dealing with winter weather and he
> sees a rescue dog next to a
> "closed" sign--"oh no, not you too?"
> KDKA did the same ad with a local meteorologist
> or radio host.
>
> On Thursday, March 4, 2021, Shawn Mamros <mamros@mit.edu> wrote:
>
> > BZ's "The Spirit of New England" slogan long pre-dated 1987!  I know they
> > were using it in the early 80s at least, and though I don't have the
> > personal knowledge to back it up, I would think it would date back to the
> > 1970s, if not before.  The 70s is when Westinghouse (aka Group W) was
> doing
> > serious branding of their stations, with jingles galore.  I grew up in
> > Pittsburgh and remember well what they did with KDKA ("Someplace Special"
> > was their equivalent to "The Spirit of NE") at the time.  Somebody who
> > lived up this way or who has more historical knowledge of BZ (Scott?)
> might
> > be able to identify when "The Spirit of NE" started.
> >
> >
> > -Shawn
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: ADAM WOLF <adamnw@aol.com>
> > Sent: Wednesday, March 3, 2021 4:10 PM
> > To: Ron
> > Cc: boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org
> > Subject: Re: American Top 40 in the Boston market
> >
> > This was on WBZ's Wikipedia page. Not that I believe everything I read.
> > The time line looks correct. I think AT40 ended on WBZ late in 1990.
> >
> > ......" ,[57] but listener complaints[58] led the station to return
> > Brudnoy to the air by the end of September.[59] It was also late in 1985
> > that American Top 40 moved to WBZ from WROR (98.5 FM, now WBZ-FM),
> > remaining on WBZ for the rest of its years as a full-service AC station,
> > around the same time WBZ's most famous slogan, "The Spirit of New
> England"
> > (made famous by a 1987 JAM Creative Productions jingle package of the
> same
> > name), was introduced."
> >
> > Sent from my iPad
> >
> > > On Mar 3, 2021, at 12:42 AM, Ron <obrienron2@gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > ?
> > > There was a thinking among some programmers that the show started to
> > lose it's way with the ever growing striations of the Top 40/CHR formats.
> > >
> > > When AT40 started (on WMEX), it used Billboards Hot 100 to define the
> > Top 40.  As time went on, the billboard chart became a mishmash of songs
> > that didn't all sound right on a mainstream Top 40 station.
> > >
> > > I think Casey Kasem ended up using Cashbox's(?) chart for awhile...but
> > as we went into the 80's many variations of radio formats and the
> goalposts
> > for each station became narrower.  It made it hard to place the show.
> > >
> > > There was a week I was listening to the end of the show on WBZ, and the
> > #1 song was "Angel in the Centerfold".  Sounded really strange on BZ.
> > Wasn't quite the most popular song on Kiss108 (which always leaned
> > rhythmic), or WZOU.
> > >
> > > AT40 didn't exactly define what WZOU and Kiss108 sounded like at that
> > time.
> > >
> > > My $.02
> > >
> > > R
> > >
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Matthew Osborne <mattosborne1976@yahoo.com>
> > > Sent: Monday, March 1, 2021 6:09 PM
> > > To: boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org
> > > Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market
> > >
> > > This weekend something popped into my mind from the past that never
> made
> > much sense to me.  Maybe someone on this list might have some more
> insight
> > into it...In the Boston market, the show 'American Top 40 with Casey
> Kasem'
> > used to run on WBZ 1030 from 1985 until sometime around 1991.  Why in the
> > world did this run here and not on Kiss 108 or even WZOU during this time
> > period?  Did Sunny Joe White and/or whoever programmed WZOU at the time
> not
> > care for the show?  Everywhere else I came across the show during this
> > time, it was on a CHR FM station except for Boston.
> > > If anyone has any inside knowledge on why this was please share.
> > > Matthew OsborneWest Sand Lake, NY
> > >
> > >
> >
>