The rise of WRKO from the beginning...
A new day dawned for Boston radio on March 13, 1967 when WNAC the flagship station of the Yankee Network gave way to the most exciting contemporary radio station ever heard in New England and there are those that would argue, the entire United States: WRKO...
The genesis of WRKO began when General Manager Perry S. Ury dispatched Program Director Bob Henabery to research the feasibility of following in the footsteps of RKO's successful sister stations in Los Angeles (KHJ) and San Francisco (KFRC). The results of that research indicated that we would indeed be successful, there was room in Boston for such a station if it was positioned somewhere between WBZ's variety of contemporary music, heavy news and public affairs commitment and WMEX's more frenetic approach. We would be the exciting new, hip (remember, this was 1967 when hip was "hip") top 40 station that would turn Boston radio on its ear with exclusive releases, great jocks, promotion and presentation and boy did we ever...
I was fortunate enough to play a part in the success of WRKO-FM, "ARKO, your friendly robot", the first Boston rocker in the fall of 1966 and another factor in deciding that we had to move this baby over to AM. In late spring I was named Program Director of WRKO and with great support provided by Paul Power (production and music director), Harvey Mednick (promotion director), Roger Allan (news director), Chief engineer George Capalbo and the best GM in America, Perry S. Ury and a great staff of jocks, how could we lose ? We didn't !
The following timeline has been substantiated by copies obtained of both local and national print media articles, memos, accurate website information, the memory of those of us that were there and lots of hard work by those of us who cared enough to make sure that this information was accurate. In light of a few websites that continue to use the wrong dates, most notably the format change, we hope this will enlighten you to the truth and that you will make necessary corrections:
January 25, 1967
Paul Kelley Jr. sends an internal memo to the Blair Radio sales team mentioning a conversation he had with a salesman from WNAC indicating a format change to contemporary music taking place no later than April 1...
February 25, 1967 (Billboard Magazine)
In an interview, GM Perry S. Ury states that a format change to the "Hot 100" (Billboard terminology) will take place in mid-March and announces the new call letters as WRKO. Perry adds: "FM and AM will simulcast from 6am to 6pm with separate programming from 6pm to 6am". Ury also indicates that oldies will be played on FM...
Week of March 6, 1967
All of Boston's newspapers use "WRKO" in their radio program listings...
March 10, 1967 (Boston Traveler)
Eleanor Roberts, music and radio/tv critic of the Boston Traveler (which will soon be absorbed into the Boston Herald) mentions that the Now Crowd will debut on March 13th. The new WRKO jock lineup is now listed in all newspapers...
March 10, 1967 (Billboard Magazine)
| "Vox Jox" announces that Arnie Ginsburg has joined WRKO to do 6pm-9pm and that Al Gates is already at the station... Monday, March 13, 1967 While the staff at WNAC started using pop music and new call letters prior to this date, this was the launch of the new format with the new jock lineup: 6am-9am Al Gates (who was joined by his alter-ego "Feathers", Palmer Payne (news) and the legendary Curt Gowdy (sports), 9am-12Noon John Rode, 12-3pm Joel Cash, 3-6pm J.J. Jeffrey, 6-9pm Arnie ("Woo Woo") Ginsburg, 9pm-12am Chuck Knapp. Dick Burch handled the all-night show briefly (we segued music over night after he left until Jon Powers was in place). A footnote on Arnie Ginsburg. Arnie was on the air briefly but would be enjoined by the Massachusetts Supreme Court for violating his WMEX contract prohibiting him from working within a 50 mile radius of Boston (from a May 13 Billboard article). Arnie would then join the sales staff... April 25, 1967 (Variety Magazine) Variety announces that an IBEW strike started at WRKO with jocks refusing to cross picket lines. For 3 weeks I sat in for Al Gates from 6am to 9am and while we segued music the rest of the day, Perry Ury, Bob Henabery and other management people did the news. P.S. We had the time of our lives doing it... May 28, 1967 There is a John Rode aircheck made on this date which indicates the strike had ended. There is also an aircheck of me doing the morning show made earlier in May whcih is floating around (yikes !) July 15, 1967 (Billboard Magazine) Billboard mentions that in addition to consulting KHJ and KFRC, Bill Drake will consult the rest of the RKO chain (including WRKO) starting immediately... August 19, 1967 (Billboard Magazine) Claude Hall mentions that WRKO has climbed to #1 in the Hooper ratings (the first indication that we had taken over the market): WRKO 13.9, WMEX 9.9, WBZ 9.0. On Saturdays (10am-6pm) we had a phenomenal 20.1... Many thanks go to the people who provided information and a special debt of gratitude to Donna Halper who spent all day at the Boston Public Library finding every scrap of microfilm that mentioned WRKO. And thanks also to the following (in alphabetical order): Roger Allan, Gordy Brown, George Capalbo, Bill Hahn, Harvey Mednick, Paul Power, Frank Kingston Smith (WRKO's Bobby Mitchell), Bill Todd (WRKO's Johnny Williams) and the best General Manager on the face of the earth, Perry S. Ury... More March 13 Memories... 1639) Cambridge College changes its name to Harvard, after clergyman John Harvard... 1677) The state of Massachusetts gains title to the state of Maine for $6,000 (lobster money)... 1781) Sir William Herschel discovers the planet Uranus (so how come he didn't name it "Herschel" ?)... 1884) Standard time is adopted throughout the U.S... 1901) Andrew Carnegie retires, spending the rest of his days giving away his fortune (net worth ? How about $300 million ?)... 1908) The people of Jerusalem see an automobile for the 1st time. The owner is Charles Glidden of Boston (who must have taken the wrong turn out of the Callahan Tunnel)... 1918) Women were scheduled to march in the New York St. Patrick's Day Parade due to a shortage of men, away at wartime (and if the men were not away at wartime ?)... 1925) A law in Tennessee prohibits the teaching of evolution (and here we are 81 years later still debating this)... 1930) The planet Pluto is discovered by scientist Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory (I think "Clyde" would have been a better name)... 1961) Rick Nelson records "Travelin' Man"... 1964) 38 neighbors ignore the screams of 28-year old Kitty Genovese, being stabbed to death in a Queens neighborhood (this case would become the symbol for apathy and fear in New York in the 60's)... 1965) Jeff Beck replaces Eric Clapton in the Yardbirds (Clapton moves on to John Mayall's Bluesbreakers)... 1965) The Beatles "Eight Days a Week" goes to #1... 1967) "Penny Lane" tops the charts for the Beatles... 1975) Tammy Wynette sings "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" to husband George Jones... 1978) "Night Fever" is #1 for the Bee Gees (it's the 3rd consecutive #1 song from "Saturday Night Fever")... 1980) A jury finds the Ford Motor Company innocent of reckless homicide in the deaths of 3 young women that had been riding in a Ford Pinto... 1991) Exxon pays $1 billion in fines and for the clean-up of the Alaskan oil spill they caused... 2000) Dan Marino, the NFL's most prolific passer gives his farewell speech after 17 years with the Miami Dolphins (in 2005 Marino was inducted into the Football Hall of Fame)... 2002) Tonya Harding finds a new calling, beating Paula Jones, Barry Williams loses to Danny Bonaduce, and Todd Bridges defeats Vanilla Ice, all on "Celebrity Boxing" as TV hits an all-time low... (to ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources were used in the timeline)... Happy Birthday To... 1933) Songwriter Mike Stoller... 1938) Former Heisman Trophy winner Joe Belino... 1939) Neil Sedaka... 1950) William H. Macy... 1956) Dana Delany... Commentary... It was vitally important for me to set the record straight on the start-up date for WRKO. This station was too important to those of us who played a part in making it what many consider, the best sounding radio station in America. Almost anyone you talk to about their days at the legendary WRKO believes it was the best radio station, bar none, that they ever worked at and that includes such stations as WABC, WFIL, WLS and KHJ among them. I never worked at any of those stations but did work in New York, Pittsburgh (and too many other markets) and put me at the top of that list... (today is the 72nd day of 2006 with 293 days remaining in the year, 7 days until spring and 19 until opening day)... |
