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 WHN had to offer, which included recorded liners from the stars, top air talent and a Country format which was very pop music oriented, with lots of traditional Country music along with a generous dose of crossover hits. It would be difficult to re-create WHN today. But one has to wonder what might have been, had Jeff Smulyan not had a vision of a Sports Bar on radio format. Because this is the station that birthed today’s SportsRadio 66 WFAN, before WNBC expired and the move from 1050, as this website continues to chronicle the history of broadcast radio…
Just heard the above aircheck and positively LOVED it!!!! I’ve lived in West Virginia all my life, but lived for trips to NYC so I cojuld listen to WHN.
Also, though I forget where it is, Lillian Carter (the president’s mom0 was on this aircheck.
Actually, WHN became history on July 1, 1987, at 3pm.