1050 WHN
Charlie Cook, 1050 WHN New York | November 7, 1977
Charlie Cook is heard holding down the overnight on the old 1050 WHN, Running 30 minutes, scoped, you get the feel of how “New York’s Country Station” sounded in the second half of the 1970s. Notice what Country songs were being played. Much different than the fare being heard in the 80s, just a few years into the future. There was also an obvious lack of commercial content on WHN overnight, except some live reads. As the aircheck moves along, there is a bit more content, Cook is doing some sports updates and promoting upcoming music – all important to note, since along with open request lines, this is proof of a time long before voice-tracking. And, of course, its all in glorious AM! You can hear a station composite done by Billboard ™ Magazine from May of 19...
WHN Billboard Station Composite | May 30, 1977
Apparently released as a promotional tool to radio stations (seems to me Radio and Records and/or some other publications did these back in the day), Billboard Magazine made this composite of Country station 1050 WHN New York. I originally guessed the date of this as Memorial Day 1976, but as visitor Joe Crain comments below, one reported news item specifically dates this as 1977. Read his comments (and others) below this post. This starts out with Larry Kenny (whom we just featured doing his first morning show on WYNY “New York 97” back when it was on 97.1 long before there was a WQHT, or a country version of WYNY) playing the Big Apple’s Country music, then moves on to Lee Arnold, Del Demontreau and Ed Baer. WHN would last well into the 80s as a Country station, before ...
Composite: 1050 WHN New York | February 9, 1976
Get ready to be entertained. Go pour yourself a cup of coffee, sit down and listen! Here’s an hour and a half of Country legend 1050 WHN. The first voice you hear is that of a relatively unknown Country Music singer known as Barbie Benton. She was better known for her appearances on Hee Haw, and even better known in her four separate appearances in the buff in Playboy magazine. She definitely leaves a lasting impression – at home behind a microphone, and although not polished for radio, she’s a natural communicator. She was a guest DJ this particular night. Next up is someone named just Jessie. She IS polished for radio and compliments Benton quite well. Or perhaps its the other way around! The biggest ‘treat’ here is listening to Alan Colmes! For those of you...
Composite: 1050 WHN New York | 1980
It occurs to us in light of the brand new 94.7 Nash-FM in New York City, that there was a very successful Country station in the Big Apple some 30 plus years ago when the excitement was still on AM. Looking back, 1980 could be looked at as the era of the best ratings and highest popularity of WHN. Boasting a staff that included today’s WCBS-FM Morning man Dan Taylor, legendary Country personality Del DeMontreau and a cast of legendary Country music stars who regularly appeared on WHN and live in the New York area, the old 1050 WHN had a style and dignity on the air not heard since the station’s demise in 1986. Perhaps its best if we leave the description to the aircheck itself. Straddling the end of side one and the beginning of side 2, this composite highlights the best that W...
A sample of AM drive on 1050 WHN New York | 1986
In the waning days of Country music at WHN, here’s a look at how mornings sounded just before the end. By 1987, WHN would be gone, having flipped to All-Sports as 1050 WFAN, which would move the next year in what was known as the big switch, down to 660 upon the expiration of WNBC. But before the end came… listening to this aircheck, you’ll hear a who’s who of legendary deejays in New York radio (well, at least mentioned by morning guru Del Demontreau)! Some of these went on to be a part of WYNY, others to WCBS-FM and elsewhere. Notables on this aircheck… breaking news about a partial nuclear meltdown in the (former) Soviet Union. This would be the Chernobyl nuclear power plant but back at this time details were still sketchy 1050 WHN… the last truly suc...
Composite: Dana Lauren, Brian Kelly & Dan Taylor, 1050 WHN New York | Sometime 1983
Here’s a look at early-80s WHN… there’s not much life left in the biggest and most memorable Country station New York ever had at this point, but it sounds SO good! The music is scoped, the jocks some of the most talented, and the audio quality of this aircheck pristine. No, this isn’t Top 40, but it’s an important high-quality aircheck for many reasons – one of which is that this is one of the very last music stations on AM in this market, and also because this is one of only two stations in modern history that played Country music in New York. There hasn’t been one since the demise of WYNY (97.1/103.5/107.1), which itself, became home to many of the former WHN jocks. Give this one a listen, then please remember to post your comments below.
