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WMCA 570

PRESS: Muni hosts Charity Bash

Billboard: Nov. 9, 1959

Scott Muni hosts a rock and roll dance at the New York Coliseum. $1.50 per ticket, which is the equivalent of $12.50 in late 2017, not a bad price.

PRESS: Scott Muni Leaves WMCA - Mulling three offers

Billboard: Oct. 10, 1960

In retrospect, considering that Muni stayed at WNEW-FM for over 30 years, it's hard to believe that his tenures at both WMCA and WABC were relatively short. Obviously, we know that one of the offers was from WABC. One was probably from WINS. But assuming this wasn't just hype, who was the third station offering Muni a job?

The Good Guys Sing

circa 1964

Contributed by Kimball Brandner

These guys didn't sing very well. And most of the songs were terrible, but better to have chosen bad songs than to ruin good ones. But, this was considered to be a lot of fun back then.

AIRCHECK: B. Mitchel Reed's last WMCA show [scoped-mono](34:45)

Saturday, March 20, 1965

Contributed by Rich Barbato

Although the audio quality is poor (and has some breaks), this is a great aircheck of B.M.R., as he was known, doing his last show on WMCA. For those who thought that Cousin' Brucie on WABC was a bit too "corporate", Reed was the answer. He was a very fast-talking hipster kind of jock, but he was actually quite intelligent - he earned a Masters degree in political science from the University of Illinois.

Reed joined WMCA on February 7, 1963, one year to the day before the Beatles invaded America, replacing Jim Harriot, in a spot held five years before by Scott Muni.

Reed is also given credit for pursuing the Beatles in England before they came to the U.S. This led to a lot of early promos by the Beatles in support of WMCA, although they also later supported WABC, thinking it was the equivalent of the BBC.

But Reed originated from Los Angeles where he had been at KFWB since 1957, seemed to have missed the place and returned to KFWB after serving at WMCA for just over two years. He was replaced by Gary Stevens. One thing interesting about the timing is that Murray the K left WINS just a month before on Febrary 28th. Reed's ratings probably would have increased substantially as a result.

In 1967, after attending the Monterey Pop Festival, Reed realized that the world of music was rapidly changing and he left KFWB to start KPPC-FM in Pasadena. He later appeared on the Les Crane TV talk show where he and Tom Donahue "debated" local Top-40 jocks on which was the superior radio format.

There's a short newscast in this aircheck and the impending march in Selma, Alabama is mentioned. It was also only 26 degrees that night in NYC, pretty cold for March 20th. It's hard to tell whether he was kidding or not, but Reed mentions several times that his pay was only $43 a week. Even accounting for inflation, that's only $337 a week in late 2017 dollars. Is that even possible? WMCA was a union station, wasn't it?

Reed would go on to work at KMET and KRLA. He had a heart condition and died at the age of 56 in 1983.

B.M.R.

AIRCHECK: B. Mitchel Reed's last WMCA show [mono](67:38)

Saturday, March 20, 1965

Contributed by Rob Frankel and originally recorded by Gary Liebisch, via Rob's RadioMaven77 postings on Mixcloud

Here's another longer version of the aircheck with some restoration as contributed by Rob Frankel and originally recorded by Gary Liebisch, via Rob's RadioMaven77 postings on Mixcloud.

AIRCHECK: Scott Muni sitting in for Ed Baer [restored-mono] (14:17)

Monday, August 9, 1965

Restored and contributed by Rob Frankel via his RadioMaven77 postings on MixCloud

Scott Muni started in NYC at WMCA in June of 1958. He joined WABC when it became a Top-40 station in December of 1960, but left January 29, 1965 and ran a bar in midtown called "The Rolling Stone". He'd later claim that he was not interested in returning to radio. But here he is back as a fill-in on WMCA. 14 months later in October of 1966, he would join WOR-FM and in December of 1967 he would join WNEW-FM where he would reside for over 30 years.

AIRCHECK: Joe O'Brien [mono] (57:09)

Monday, March 29, 1965

Contributed by Rob Frankel via his RadioMaven77 postings on MixCloud

Joe O'Brien doing his morning show on WMCA a year after the Beatles invaded America and more than year before we'd hear rock on FM. Note how the newscaster refers to North Vietnam as "Red North Vietnam". We hear, news, transit, weather and Good Guy sweatshirt giveaways and lots of musical advertisements. Plus we get to hear Soupy Sales sing(?) "The Mouse".

BUSINESS: Advertising Rate Card

July, 1966

WMCA's rate card from July of 1966. Back in the day, when a station filled their advertising inventory, rather than overload the airtime with more ads, they would raise the rate card to increase revenue without increasing the number of spots played. Today, they refused to do that making many stations unlistenable with long stop sets.

PROMO: "It's Golden Time in Good Guy Land"

August 4, 1967

Contributed by Myles Putnam

A promotion piece publicizing new jingles, The Who and the Monkees, among other things.

AIRCHECK: Joe O'Brien reports on the Robert F. Kennedy shooting

June 5, 1968

Contributed by Rob Frankel

Since this site is primarily about stations that broadcast rock music, there's not much on here that we need to take very seriously. But every once in a while, there's an event (like 9/11) that shakes our foundations. I debated whether to post this aircheck, but in the interest of radio history, I decided it was too important not to post.

This aircheck is of WMCA music DJ Joe O'Brien in a very serious mood providing a status update about Robert F. Kennedy after he was shot in Los Angeles. Kennedy was undergoing surgery during the time of this broadcast.

This aircheck tells us several things: that Joe O'Brien was much more than a screaming, happy top-40 DJ, that full service radio was important in that it kept people who might not turn to a news station informed and that 43 years later, this broadcast still stirs the emotions.

Link to aircheck

PRESS: Murray the K rejoins WMCA

New York Times - October 26, 1968

I found it strange that Murray would join WMCA after quitting WOR-FM a year earlier over issues of creative freedom, but he did. His show seemed to be a mix of his own ideas and WMCA demands, but it seemed out of place. It didn't last very long.

AIRCHECK: Murray the K's first 1968 WMCA show [restored - mono]

Saturday, November 2, 1968

Contributed by Rob Frankel

Rob Frankel, a contributor to this site, has long been engaged in restoring old airchecks by putting back the music removed from scoped recordings. He has started to post a large body of such airchecks on Mixcloud.

This one is from Murray's' first show on WMCA when he returned to WMCA in late 1968. Kaufman had previously done a stint on WMCA from 1956 to 1958 before joining WINS, at first doing an all-night show and eventually replacing Bruce Morrow, who had replaced Alan Freed for a short time. Bruce then went to Florida before returning to New York and WABC-AM.

PRESS: WMCA Cuts DJ's From Voting - They Gain Freedom In Pacing

Billboard - November, 1968

This article describes format changes at WMCA, no doubt influenced by the increasing importance of and competition from FM rock radio. It also announced the end of the "Good Guys" promotion.

Murray the K Joins WMCA

December 3, 1968

Contributed by Myles Putman

Here's an photo and (screwed-up) caption, probably from Billboard, announcing a party to celebrate Murray the K's return to WMCA, which actually happened back in November (see above).

PRESS: WMCA Announces Format Change

Go Magazine: April 4, 1969

Contributed by Myles Putman

They announced a format change, but it doesn't really seem like much of one, other than there's an implication that it's an oldies format. Yet the survey from later this month features contemporary tracks.

PROMO: WMCA News & Promotion

Go Magazine: April 24, 1969

Contributed by Myles Putman

Some news from WMCA as published in GO Magazine announcing that they'll be a music station from 10am to 10pm and a talk station from 10pm to 10am.

AIRCHECK: Frankie Crocker [restored-mono]

Sunday, April 27, 1969 (58:41)

Contributed by Rob Frankel via his RadioMaven77 postings on Mixcloud.

Crocker began his career in Buffalo and then worked at Soul WWRL before joining WMCA, where he made the station seem a lot hipper and helped modernize the sound. After WMCA, he became PD at WBLS-FM and took the station to the #1 ratings position in NYC. He later became a video DJ on VH-1. He died in 2000.

I think this show holds up quite well today - it's quite listenable. It demonstrates that WMCA did it right, but the onslaught of FM was unstoppable.

PROMO: WMCA News & Promotion

Go Magazine: May 2 and 9th, 1969

Contributed by Myles Putman

Some more ads and promos from WMCA.

AIRCHECK:The Return of the Good Guys [compilation-mono]

August, 1969 (61:26)

Compiled, Edited and Contributed by Rob Frankel via his RadioMaven77 postings on Mixcloud.

This compilation traces the evolution of WMCA from the last days of Power Radio and the return of the Good Guys. Includes segments of the Ed Baer and Dean Anthony shows after they returned.

WMCA Good Guys at the Cheetah

circa August 22, 1969

Contributed by Myles Putman

Here's an image of the late-era Good Guys supposedly taken at the Cheetah and pubished in August of 1969. However, I would think that this is actually an older photo because the "Good Guys" promo had ended by now.

Addendum: Contributor Rob Frankel wrote in to state that this was indeed a 1969 photo. Rob writes, “The first Good Guy era ended in September, 1968. But after a disastrous year of programming changes that just didn't work, WMCA made an attempt to revive the Good Guy format in August '69 by bringing back as many of the old guys as they could rehire, plus returning to the 1963 jingle package. Ed Baer, Dean Anthony and Jack Spector were all rehired. Dominic Quinn's talk show was bounced from morning drive and Dan Daniel took over the shift in September. Gary Stevens was still in Europe at this point, so Frankie Crocker continued (and did an excellent job) as the evening jock. Alex Bennett was still doing a talk show on the overnights, and replaced Murray the K in October '69 for the weekend music shows.”

AIRCHECK: Murray the K's Last Show and Frankie Crocker [restored-mono]

Sunday, September 28, 1969 (15.38)

Contributed by Rob Frankel via his RadioMaven77 postings on Mixcloud.

This aircheck contains the last 10 minutes of Murray's last show on WMCA followed by a few minutes of Crocker . It was broadcast just two days after Abbey Road was released and so the first track we hear in this segment is "Octopus's Garden", featuring Ringo. After his long stint at WINS, Murray never lasted long anywhere. He was allegedly hard to get along with, but was also fighting for his freedom on the air.

AIRCHECK: Frankie Crocker [restored-mono]

Wednesday, February 11, 1970 (58:41)

Contributed by Rob Frankel via his RadioMaven77 postings on Mixcloud.

Here's another aircheck of the great Frankie Crocker. In our opinion, WMCA did a far better job of modernizing their sound and creating a balance between Top 40 radio and what FM was doing than what WABC did, which was turn the station to pop mush (although with great DJ's). It's too bad WMCA didn't try and stick it out as they became a full-time talk station in late September of 1970. But before they made that move, the last DJ team included Ed Baer, Johnny Michaels, Jack Spector, Frankie Crocker and Alex Bennett doing a talk show. What's not to like?

AIRCHECK: Jack Spector & Frankie Crocker [restored-mono](47:16)

Tuesday, March 3, 1970

Contributed by Rob Frankel via RadioMaven77 on Mixcloud.

A restored aircheck of Jack Spector counting down the survey followed by a bit of Frankie Crocker. We hear a mix of Top-40 sounds along with a splash of the progressive rock of the day, like Cream and Santana.

AIRCHECK: Alex Bennett [restored-mono] (17:03)

Sunday, April 5, 1970

Contributed by Rob Frankel via his RadioMaven77 postings on Mixcloud

Just a bit of Alex Bennett, who was most known for his late night talk show, but who also had a music show on Sundays.

AIRCHECK: Murray the K [mono] (55:19)

Saturday, July 24, 1971

Contributed by Rob Frankel via his RadioMaven77 postings on Mixcloud and originally recorded by Joe Persek

In 1971, WMCA (which changed formats almost a year earlier from rock to talk) presented a series of specials, "WMCA Remembers" in which New York DJs of the past were invited to re-create an hour of their shows. This episode features Murray The K re-creating the way he sounded in 1964 on WINS.

AIRCHECK: WMCA Remembers B. Mitchel Reed [mono] (51:15)

Saturday, August 14, 1971

Contributed by Rob Frankel via his RadioMaven77 postings on MixCloud

BMR was the prime time (7-11pm) DJ on WMCA from February 1963 to March 1965 when he returned to Los Angeles. He died of a heart condition in March of 1983 at the age of 57. When WMCA ran this special broadcast in 1971, they were a talk station.

Reed was an interesting guy. He was born in Brooklyn and held a bachelor's degree in journalism and a masters in political science from the University of Illinois. He also served in the U.S. Air Force. He hosted the all-night Birdland Jazz Show at WOV in NYC in 1956. In 1956, he joimned KFWB in Los Angeles working for Chuck Blore, who is often credited with inventing Top-40 radio. After WMCA he returned to KFWB, but after attending the Monterey Pop Festival and meeting with Tom Donahue, who was already doing free-form radio, Reed and Donahue developed an underground format at KPPC-FM in Pasadena. He also worked at KMET, KRLA and KTWV ("The Wave")

"Dandy" Dan Daniel dies at 81

June 23, 2016

NY Times

Here's the NY Times' take on Dan's death

WMCA 570 SURVEYS

June 28, 1957

The WMCA survey from June 28, 1957, features mostly pop, with a bit of gentle rock so as not to scare anyone. So we've got Johnny Mathis, Pat Boone, Jimmy Dorsey, Montovani and Nat King Cole, but also the Everly Brothers, Elvis Presley, the Del-Vikings, the Diamonds and Fats Domino. And note the presence of one Murray Kaufman who would soon leave WMCA for WINS where he'd become Murray the K.

August 09, 1957

Contributed by Stewart Tick

The WMCA survey from August 9, 1957 also features middle-of-the-road music along with some light rock. About the heaviest rock is "That'll Be The Day" and Fats Domino's "When I See You". Otherwise we've gott Paul Anka, the Everly Brothers, Jimmy Rodgers, an emasculated Elvis, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis and lots of other light music.

January 24, 1958

Some now classic Doo-Wop, the Colonel Bogie march from "Bridge On the River Kawai", Elvis, the Royal Teens (who would soon add Al Kooper to the band), Sinatra and Tom & Jerry, who would one day become Simon & Farfunkle. But most of the pop acts, like the McGuire Sisters, Kay Starr, Paul Anka and Steve Lawrence probably would not have been enjoyable to those who just wanted to hear "rock 'n roll".

March 21, 1958

The WMCA survey from March 21, 1958, featuring a mix of pop and post Doo-Wop rock. It includes The Champs, Chuck Berry, the Shirelles and Little Richard, but also Connie Francis, Perry Como, Andy Williams and Nat King Cole. But maybe this is what pop radio should have maintained: a mix of music with something for both younger and older people. And who knows, maybe some of those teens listening to garbage like "Lollipop" would have evolved to become Nat King Cole fans. Note also a "Wax To Watch" song from Tom & Jerry, to be later known as Simon & Garfunkle.

January 12, 1961

The WMCA survey from January 12th, 1961

Like most pop stations of the time, they played hits, regardless of genre. But how someone who wanted to hear The Shirelles, Roy Orbison, the Drifters, Hank Ballard, Elvis and Smokey Robinson could sit through the "Theme from Exodus" or Lawrence Welk, I don't know. But certainly, there's some of the rock 'n roll canon in that list.

July 16, 23, 30, 1964

Contributed by Mark Katz

The surveys from some weeks of July 1964

August 6, 13, 20, 27, 1964

Contributed by Mark Katz

The surveys for the weeks of August 1964

September 3, 10, 17, 24, 1964

Contributed by Larry Fox

The surveys for the weeks of September 1964

October 1, 15, 1964

Contributed by Larry Fox and Kimbal Brandner

The surveys for the weeks of October 1st and 15th, 1964

November 5, 12, 19, 26, 1964

The surveys for the weeks of November 1964

December 3, 10, 17, 31, 1964

Contributed by ZoetMB and Mark Katz

The surveys for the weeks of December 1964

January, 1965

The surveys for the weeks of January 1965

February 4, 11, 18, 25 1965

Contributed by ZoetMB and Larry Fox

The surveys for the weeks of February 1965

March 4, 11, 18, 25, 1965

Contributed by ZoetMB and Larry Fox

The surveys for the weeks of March 1965

April 1, 8, 15, 22, 1965

Contributed by ZoetMB and Larry Fox

The surveys for the weeks of April, 1965

May 6, 13, 20, 27, 1965

Contributed by ZoetMB and Larry Fox

The surveys for the weeks of May 1965
Note that B. Mitchel Reed has departed and Dean Anthony and Gary Stevens have joined.

Jun 10, 17, 1965

The surveys for the weeks of Jun 1965

Jul 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, 1965

The surveys for the weeks of July 1965

August 5, 12, 19, 26, 1965

Contributed by ZoetMB and Mark Katz

The surveys for the week of August 1965

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September 2, 16, 23 and 30th, 1965

The surveys for the week of September 1965

October 7, 14, 21, 28, 1965

The surveys for the weeks of October 1965

November 4, 11, 25 1965

The surveys for the weeks of November 1965

December 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, 1965

The surveys for the weeks of December 1965

January 6, 13, 20, 27, 1966

The surveys for the weeks of January 1966

February 3, 10, 17, 24, 1966

The surveys for the weeks of February 1966

March 1, 10, 17, 1966

The surveys for the weeks of March 1966

This first survey for the month is dated March 1, but we think that's a typo. It should have been March 3rd.

March 23, 30, 1967

Contributed by Myles Putman

The surveys for the weeks of March 1967

Nice mix of music but with some duds that never made it, but those are perhaps the most interesting ones. For a top-40 station, they were brave to play The Blues Project's attempt for a hit single.

July 27, 1967

Contributed by Myles Putman

WMCA had some surveys reprinted in magazines in a somewhat different format than the record store handout surveys. This is one of them.

August, 1967

Contributed by Myles Putman

GO Magazine's versions of WMCA's surveys from August 10th, 16th and 24th, 1967.

October 19, 1967

Contributed by Myles Putman

The WMCA survey from October 19th, 1967 as published in GO magazine.

December, 1967

Contributed by Myles Putman

The WMCA year-end survey from December, 1967 as published in GO magazine.

April 25, 1968

Contributed by Myles Putman

The WMCA survey from April, 1968 as published in GO magazine.

May 2nd and 30th, 1968

Contributed by Myles Putman

The WMCA survey from May 2nd and 30th 1968 as published in GO magazine.

September 10th & 17th 1968

Contributed by Myles Putman

Some WMCA surveys from September of 1968 as published in GO magazine.

November 21st & 28th 1968

Contributed by Myles Putman

Some WMCA surveys from November of 1968 as published in GO magazine.

December 14th 1968

Contributed by Myles Putman

A WMCA survey from December of 1968 as published in GO magazine.

Eliminate the pop junk from The Cowsills, the Sandpebbles, Bobby Vee, Bobby Vinton, Lulu, Ed Ames, Vikki Carr, and Lesley Gore and it was a really fine playlist. I'm particularly impressed that they were playing "Love Me Two Times" by the Doors. The rest was a nice mix of hit rock and soul.

December, 1968

Contributed by Myles Putman

The WMCA year-end survey from December, 1968 as published in GO magazine.

January 2, 1969

Contributed by Myles Putman

Here's a slightly different format of the WMCA Survey as published in GO Magazine.

April 10, 24, 1969

Contributed by Myles Putman

The WMCA surveys from April 10th and 24th, 1969 as published in GO magazine. Notice the column from Murray the K in the first survey and the columns from Lee Gray and Dandy Dan Daniel in the second..

May 1, 8, 27, 1969

Contributed by Myles Putman

The WMCA surveys from May 1st, 8th and 27th, 1969 as published in GO magazine.

July 18, 1969

Contributed by Myles Putman

A hot survey from WMCA.

July 25, 1969

Contributed by Myles Putman

WMCA had some surveys reprinted in magazines in a somewhat different format than the record store handout surveys. This is one of them.

September 18, 1969

Contributed by Myles Putman

The WMCA survey from September 18th, 1969 as published in GO magazine.

October 16, 1969

Contributed by Myles Putman

The WMCA survey from October 16th, 1969 as published in GO magazine.

AIRCHECK: Dan Daniel's Final WMCA Show [mono] (165:39)

Saturday, July 11, 1970

Contributed by John Troll and Rob Frankel via his RadioMaven77 postings on MixCloud

We hear Leon Lewis talking about Daniel and then a news report before we hear Daniel's last show. This is full service radio and at the beginning we hear news at both 6pm and 6:30pm. By this time, WMCA was pretty mellow and Dan is low key, not a screamer and not frantic. This show could have worked quite well on FM. But WMCA gave up its FM frequency in the 1950's because they didn't see a commercial future for FM radio. That frequency eventually became WKTU and K-Rock.

WMCA 570 Schedule

WMCA Schedule

1958-1970

This is the air schedule for the top-40 era on WMCA. This is sourced from newspapers, FM Guide (which was usually a few months behind changes), Radio Guide, Richard Neer's book on FM radio, personal recollections of myself and DJs and various postings on the web, especially those of Vince Santarelli and Rock Radio Scrapbook. Corrections welcomed. In some cases, the same dates are posted twice due to conflicting information from different sources.