The Massacre of 1979 on 77 WABC New York | 1979 (54:10)
This could be referred to as the beginning of the end for WABC as a music station. We’ll post a lengthy explanation of this event at a later date because it will take up too much space here. In essence, what happened was that the new Program Director, Al Brady, was forced to make drastic changes on the air at WABC after WKTU 92 launched it’s all Disco format earlier in the year, and beat ABC for the number 1 position. WABC had been number one since the 60s, and corporate wasn’t used to having to play second fiddle.
What you hear in this aircheck, is the first day of broadcasting after the mass firings. Let go were Harry Harrison (mornings), George Michael (evenings) and Chuck Leonard (late nights). Dan Ingram’s first day in morning drive is heard, and so is the first night show by Howard Hoffman.
After this event, top 40 would continue into mid-1980, at which time the station flipped to full service AC, and Hoffman was dropped at night in favor of evening sports. The whole thing was finished in May 1982 - a story we’ll tell at a later time.
(3 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5)
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Actually, Hoffman was shifted to overnights, where he stayed for about a year more.
They can call it a massacre, but I think WABC has a very good, ubeat music presentation here. Plenty of great hits and chart toppers on this air check. Big Dan, Ron Lundy, Howard Hoffman and the rest of the gang give their typical lively, ab libbed preforances, something that is greatly missing from today’s radio land scape.