Somewhere on this site we have an aircheck of Johnny Dark on the air as the “Unknown Disc Jockey” on 66 WNBC. That aircheck was from the very last night of the “Old” WNBC. This aircheck is from the “New” WNBC. This was NBC Radio GM Bob Pittman’s attempt at a more-music approach to defeating top rated rival MusicRadio 77 WABC. What that wrought was the firing of morning man Don Imus (and his subsequent, somewhat legendary, exile to Cleveland – playing Country at WHK), Cousin Bruce Morrow and most of the personalities that had graced 660 for the previous couple of years in New York.
It didn’t work. Or, perhaps it did from a sales point of view. But WNBC never did defeat WABC – it took a new Disco station, 92 WKTU, in 1979 to accomplish that feat. It would take five years and a new PM drive jock by the name of Howard Stern to finally put WNBC on top of the heap.
This aircheck features the great Lee Masters, Alan Beebe, Batt Johnson… more.
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I like the WNBC airchecks.
I remember when it was announced that WNBC was going to change formats, so I made it a point to record all the outgoing jocks, and the new ones, even when they were on and not using their names. Johnny Dark as “Dennis The Menace” is one of my favorite airchecks, and I even got to talk to him that night! I stayed up for many hours recording on reel to reel all the jocks first shifts on the “All New WNBC,” which was Bob Pittmans version of “FM on AM.” A grand experiment that lasted about a year before some of the jocks left, and they put more energy and personality into the station. Batt Johnson and Ellie Dylan were the first to leave, and Lee Chambers moved into AM Drive, and then he left. New jocks to arrive include Scotty Brink and Buzz Brindle, who later left with Bob Pittman to start MTV. End of history lesson.
I’ve listened to this aircheck a number of times and what struck me is how nervous
everyone sounded, practically falling all over themselves. What I also remember is
the hour leading up to the flip, a sort of stunting with Johnny Dark at the mic,
kind of a throw back to the WNBC MOR days. Dark is a great jock, excellent at doing
a variety of formats. By the spring of ‘78 (as Matt mentioned) WNBC veered away from
the AOR-ish approach and became a more mainstream Top 40 station, with adult leanings.
The first new jock they brought in was Mark Driscol for evenings.