Courtesy of Skip Reynolds, CE of Entercom Memphis…
Skip tells us he found this tape at the transmitter site of what is now WSMB 680 a while back. This is an original recording of Harry Chapman, the morning man on what was Plough, Incorporated owned WMPS.
Listen to the old commercials! We couldn’t recreate the “quaintness” of these old swing-era sings. WMPS sounds very Middle of the Road here, playing hits from Ray Charles, the Four Seasons and some lesser known regional hits. Without hearing the rest of the broadcast day it’s hard to get a feel for WMPS’ format, but the station is VERY sold out, with this 45 minute morning show clip being more commercial load than music. Lots of live reads.
Ever wonder what early 60s radio sounded like… radio before the British Invasion? Here’s your history lesson.
It’s actually Charlie B. Watson filling in for Harry Chapman. Charlie later did sports on WHBQ-TV.
LEE WILDER IS FATHER OF MODERN COUNTRY RADIO.WITH FIRST PROGRAMMING WJJD-AM IN SWINGIN’ CHICAGO CIRCA 1960. THE GENIUS OF THE PLOUGH BROADCASTING COMPANY. LEE MADE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FOR PLOUGH MEDICINES.NATIONAL VICE-PRESIDENT FOR PLOUGH RADIO FROM 1960-1972. ALSO THE FINEST ANNOUNCER TO BLOWTORCH HIS GREAT NEW YORK VOICE ON WMPS-AM 1955-1960. A GREAT VISIONARY OF NORTH AMERICAN AM RADIO SPECTRUM IN THE 2OTH CENTURY. LEE WILDER A GREAT MAN A GREAT AMERICAN.
Jay. Wilder. Was. A. Top. Flight
A”. Talker. For. Wwee. 1980-1985 whbq 1985-19890
Steve, you’re certainly right that this sounds really MOR, which surprised me since WMPS was the flagship station for Plough, Inc. All the Plough stations were Top 40 in 1963 so I guess WMPS was just heavily dayparted. A number of big Top-40 stations had full-service morning shows (i.e. Carl DeSuze on WBZ). WJJD was the first Plough station to go Country. That was around 1965.
Steve: I knew as soon as I heard it that it couldn’t have been Harry Chapman. Harry and Charlie Watson both worked at WMPS. Charlie and I
were morning competitors, and very close friends, when I was at WHBQ doing mornings. BTW, the reason all the commercials are in there is WMPS
was underselling all the other stations, so they sold more of them!