The audio in this exhibit isn’t the greatest, but this does give the listener a unique window into the modified Bill Drake sound of RKO General’s WOR-FM. Tightly formatted and with a consistent sound throughout all dayparts, WOR-FM was the sound of Drake in New York City.
Up for constant speculation over the years is the question of why this format wasn’t tried on 710 AM, and Drake not pit against format monster WABC. Perhaps WABC’s absolute lock on the number one position was so profoundly solid that RKO simply decided not to try, but to experiment with 98.7. All that makes for great discussion, which we hope our listeners will do, below. One thing is certain. RKO’s formula for making hit radio stations was indeed obvious upon the re-launch of 98.7 as WXLO, “99X” a few years after this recording was made. You can hear more 99X here on this website by clicking HERE.
This aircheck starts with the WOR-FM Top of Hour ID/Jingle and runs about 3 and a half minutes.
New York was a market of consistency and habits. 710 WOR had a solid and loyal audience which was making money. The FM is where they could experiment since it was there and paid for with no debt.
I stayed with AM growing up at first because there wasn’t that much quality difference with one speaker and you didn’t have to worry about an antenna being broken under the pillow.
Yes, 710 AM was a money maker and had a kick-ass signal. I was able to hear them in Miami on an early Monday morning when 710 WGBS (Miami) was off the air.
Jimmy King was Allan King from WPLO-Atlanta also worked WLEE-Richmond & WPOP-Hartford.
This is a scoped version of the only unscoped Jimmy King OR-FM aircheck in circulation (31:06 minutes long). The actual date of the recording is March 29, 1971. I heard a copy from Man from Mars productions.