In the 1960s & 70s, 95 WBBF AM was the dominant Top 40 station in Rochester, NY. Flash foward to April 1998. Oldies 98.9 decided that since it was playing the songs that WBBF played 30 years earlier, why not move the WBBF calls from 950 AM, to 98.9 FM. Oldies 98.9 WKLX,…
From the late 50s, until the late 70s, 95 WBBF was a Top 40 powerhouse in Rochester, New York. It dominated in the ratings against competitors WSAY & WAXC. Many legendary western New York names worked at WBBF, including longtime morning man, Jack Palvino, Jerry Fogel (Who later became an actor, starring in The…
1974 was a VERY long time ago – in radio years it’s an eternity! Listening to Tom Birch and his SCREAMING upbeat show, one would think this is a major market station in competition with the biggest and best. But, that’s what WAXC sounded like in it’s prime! We dug deep into the vault to…
Here’s what probably was a sales demo used by station salespeople to give potential advertisers an idea of what the station sounded like. A very common practice in the industry in the years prior to consolidation, this isn’t something typical of radio stations today. The tape starts and ends with a voiced promo. It includes…
Description by Contributor Chuck Ingersoll: While he did a morning show at album rocker WCMF in the mid-to-late ‘70s and middays at MOR WSAY in the early ‘80s, both in Rochester, Chuck was always a big jazz fan, writing reviews and articles for magazines like DIFFERENT DRUMMER and DOWNBEAT, among others. He’s done a weekly…
Description by Contributor Chuck Ingersoll: In 1980, Lew Dickey, Sr. purchased WSAY/1370 in Rochester, NY. For many years it had been one of two stations owned by Gordon Brown (the other in the Buffalo suburb of Cheektowaga) that were notable for naming every jock that came to the station Tom Thomas, Jerry Jack, and Mike…
Description written by Contributor Chuck Ingersoll: The golden days of “underground album radio” were pretty much done by this time, and soon new ownership/management would clean almost all of us out of the WCMF album rock house. Features Jim Hooley, now a TV news reporter in Denver. Chuck hosted the morning show on ‘CMF from…
Description by Contributor Chuck Ingersoll: A promotional tape put together for the sales department of WCMF, album rock in Rochester, in 1979. Includes mornings Chuck Ingersoll with Blaine Schwartz and Jim Hooley on news, midday Bill Martin, Trip Reeb afternoon drive, Gary Whipple evenings. Features a couple station promos and drops, including one by Rich…
