No electricity. It was started through his Minneapolis Brokers Association, which bought the two-hour Sunday time slot from KUXL after Adams and his associates sold enough advertising. Station Frequency Format . An article in the Star said the show included skits, blackouts, parodies on talk and telephone shows, and interviews. Although the show was an hour long, KQ began by airing a half-hour version at 10 pm on Sundays. During the next two years, U100 quickly became the most talked-about and Number one rated radio station in town. I do not remember much about Gene Leader. Advertising sales for the stations paled in comparison to the competition, and managing both stations became a burden for the couple, so the Stewarts sold the station in 1972 to Fairchild Industries for $1.5 million. People heard us in places we had never been heard before. Will Jones of the Trib noted on January 11, 1957, that the station suddenly decided to go to symphonic, opera and chamber music. The new U100 quickly became the topic of conversation throughout the area with its rowdy, outrageous mix of Top 40 and hard rock. The station was one of the first stations in the country to program rock and roll music in a top 40 format in the mid 1950s. From 1973 to 1976 it was strictly Country. Casey Kasems American Top 40 began broadcasting on KDWB on January 6, 1974. Although I dont normally provide snapshots of FM stations, this one is pretty interesting. The number 1 song that week was When by the Kalin Twins; Elvis had two songs, Ricky Nelson, Bobby Darin, and Duane Eddy were represented as well. Visit http://www.radiotapes.com for historic airchecks of Minneapolis/St. The format changed from full-time Country & Western to a combination of Lombardo/Welk/etc. In 1968 Red Owl changed the station policy from middle of the road to all request oldies to try for a high enough rating to at least make the property salable. Hennepin Ave. looking towards Kenwood Pkwy. Most important, WMIN had some powerhouse disk jockeys: Bill Diehl tells the story about a car dealership called Slawik Motors that wanted to sponsor a show, but insisted that the DJ call himself Hub Cap. The station approached Diehl, but he thought the idea was ridiculous he was a columnist for the St. Paul Pioneer Press after all. That kind of ended when Mr. Purcell reminded them that WCCO, like every station, is required by FCC rules to know who their advertisers are. The WLOL staff believes that FM radio provides better reception and clearer tones than the AM frequencies. That beam was so strong that the GROUNDWAVE signal made it at night in addition to the skywave signal. Wonderful WeeGee, home of the boss jocks like Johnny Canton, hit its stride in the 60s, competing neck and neck with KDWB. But in Minneapolis-St. Paul a good part of the year was snowbound and it was really hard to see the billboards through all that sleet. Police said they did not use tear gas to break up the crowd. Or so reported the Minneapolis Tribune, the day after that. Sources are cited, if known. WDGY: 740 AM: Oldies: Borgan Broadcasting: KUOM "770 Radio K" 770 AM 100.7 FM, 106.5 FM, 104.5 FM: . (Were they ahead of their time?) The following year, the station moved to 1140kHz. A 1972 article in the Echo opined that KDWB played new songs that were just released, while WDGY only played nationally-established music. But its also a dance session. In September 1962 it was advertised as the only all news station in the country. And, I can confirm that the man was everything his name implied: he was Little (411 tall), Jimmy (for James Cecil), and he admittedly was full of the Dickens. But thats another story. The company engineers actually had to install coils to de-tune the water tower before the license could be approved for 50kw operation. They are posted here for historical examples of top 40 radio from one of the originators, Storz. Unfortunately, by September 1976, the programs two advertising contracts had expired, and Adams was unable to find new sponsors. Because AM 740 is a Canadian clear channel frequency, WDGY is a daytime-only station. It is believed that the first transmission of the 120- or 125-line systemprobably the first telecast in Minnesotaoccurred on August 4 of that year, featuring a handshake between WDGY station personality Clellan Card and Minneapolis mayor William Kunze. This has been the only transmitter location for the station since it signed on the air. WDGY, - , , OnlineRadioBox.com . In 1967 KQ-FM made its first foray into album rock with its Night Watch program, broadcasting from midnight to 5 am. We did it. (Phones at fire departments all across the vast Twin Cities area rang causing a ton of confusion as to just exactly where there was a fire.) As always, these recordings will be available at no charge to you. Not sure exactly when these recording ran on WDGY. General Manager was Marlin D. Schlottman, formerly with WLOL. He also plans to start an on-the-air school dedicated to enriching the personality of the housewife who finds herself bogged down by dishes and diapers.. Black brought major R&B acts to the Labor Temple on 4th Street SE in Minneapolis. Al Tedesco purchased the station in 1968. It was to be a program format, readily identifiable concentrating on jazz, according to Burke. The Wolfman died on July 1, 1995. Curtis J. Johnson sits down with Twin Cities Radio Airchecks website creator, Rick Burnett to discuss his career in radio, starting from high-school with concentration on his work at WDGY in the late 1960's as a 20/20 newsman. (Storz died in 1964 at age 39.) On October 30, 2021, WDGY once again discontinued broadcasting in HD Radio. Bad news from Wikipedia: Despite receiving positive reviews in some mainstream publishings, Purple Haze was a flop. The new schedule kept the morning religious shows, which did have sponsors and paid the bills. . MOST NEGRO OWNED RADIO STATIONS INSULT TO RACE IS CLAIM. decade KDWB-FM was picked up by Chancellor Media. Unfortunately, there is a short period of time with lower quality sound, which is corrected quickly. The general manager (Mike Sigelman) and program director (Rob Sherwood) (1974), both hired from established Top 40 station KDWB, felt a major change needed to be made. The schedule on December 30, 1971, shows Rhythm & Blues programming from 1pm until dark and 6 am until 6:45 am. All we have are newspaper listings, but on Tuesday, July 7, 1964, there is a full day of Ed Skotchs programming for women, from 6 am until 4 pm when jazz takes over. I did not get to talk to the Twin Cities until 1972 when I was hired as a part-time DJ at KTCR-FM, a country station in Minneapolis. Not all of the airchecks on this site were in my original personal collection. The station was located at 8th and Wabasha in South St. Paul, conveniently adjacent to the stockyards. Now, were not trying to put down all-news radio stations. Wedgy Devices for a variety of Electrical, Low Voltage, Plumbing, Piping, Mechanical, HVAC, Fire Protection and other construction applications using Wedgy Cable Supports. The ad campaign for 1964 was UP radio (imagine an arrow on the UP). Found on Radiotapes.com: Ballad of Minnesota!. Schedules and staff were changing that winter of 1965, with Preacher Paul slipping into semi-retirement, working only Saturdays from 1 to 5:30, remotely from the Ebony Lounge. After the wayward flight to Illinois and a non-stop trek through Wisconsin, the transmitter arrived, tied to a U-Haul trailer pulled by a rental car. The Star Tribune article also reported that Al Alonzo reported to Newport. Stronger, clearer than ever before. Rob and Hartman decided to use U100 because of the dial position on an FM tuner you barely had to turn the dial to fine-tune between 980 AM and 101.3 FM they were within a couple millimeters of being in line on a 1970s-style AM/FM stereo tuner. Jimmy Reed let me sit in his chair, but did not let me go on the air. A memo to the staff from Todd Storz dated May 28, 1956 singles out the gang at WDGY for a job well done. Both Will Jones (Tribune, November 2, 1965) and Preacher Paul (Twin City a Go Go, Holiday 1965) wrote about the place, and how they installed 14 of the finest foxes youd ever want to see, a sound system thatll knock the buckle right off your belt, some of those sweet, gone, pine-toppin KUXL sounds, and crowds of out-a-sight swingers. The building itself was very dark. Don reminded me about the Colonel and his pitch prowess. This survey provided by Steve Raymer of the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting. We hired an advertising agency which represented a large local chain of drug stores where free samples of Formula 63 where to be made available. Ironically, WCOW eventually morphed into rock n roll station KDWB in 1959. CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE, WDGY Air Staff 1986. You will also hear a commercial for a drive-in promoting a double feature rat movies (Ben) and that you can get free entrance if you bring your family cat. ERP. Unfortunately, the American Research Bureau came in at fewer than 1,000 listeners at 3 pm on a week day. Dont ask me what that all means. Haines wrote: Rock and roll had a difficult entry into the Twin Cities market. These summaries focus on the 1950s through the 1970s, with an emphasis on trying to figure out which stations might have played rhythm & blues, rockabilly, or straight-on rock 'n' roll before WDGY, the first full-time rock 'n' roll station, hit the airwaves in February 1956. Now that TV had grabbed everyones attention, and radio was just background music, he wanted to reverse the process and create The Nations Most Attention-Programmed Station. The key was to provide entertainment, but not with comedy or drama, but with ideas and thoughts. On December 9, 1938, Tom Colemans Famous Swing Trio, with Florence Ward, appeared at a dance at Pioneer Hall, 588 Rondo, advertised as being broadcast on WMINs Down Beat Program. In April 1957 the studio was in the Builders Exchange Building in downtown Minneapolis, and the transmitter was described as WDGY Transmitter Plant, Oxboro, Minn. Jimmy also tries to give away WDGY Fortune Phone Cash to the Williams family. A 1969 shot of me (Rick Burnett a/k/a Rick Mason) when I was visiting the studio. Photo courtesy Pavek Museum of Broadcasting. Below are the same four staff members that were pictured in the piece above, in a print ad. Relieve Ennui today! Inside the box was a piece of paper on which there was a beautiful color picture of the Twin-Cities Radio Dial with a large arrow pointing to the left end of it and an invitation toCome on down.
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