WABC's All American Survey for Week of 16 June 1964

[CO Liberal]

This is what we were listening to on the radio 40 years ago today in the NY Metro Area. From my favorite non-political site, www.musicradio77.com. - Wayne

* * * * *

WABC's All American Survey for Week of 16 June 1964

Courtesy of the WABC Musicradio 77 Internet Web Site
www.musicradio77.com

Survey collected and contributed by Ken Williamson
For more information contact Allan Sniffen at [e-mail]

*1. Rag Doll - The 4 Seasons (Philips) *2 weeks #1*
2. Chapel of Love - The Dixie Cups (Red Bird)
3. I Get Around - The Beach Boys (Capitol)
4. My Boy Lollipop - Millie Small (Smash)
5. A World Without Love - Peter and Gordon (Capitol)
6. Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying - Gerry & the Pacemakers (Laurie)
7. Love Me With All Your Heart - The Ray Charles Singers (Command)
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8. People - Barbra Streisand (Columbia)
9. Hello, Dolly! - Louis Armstrong (Kapp)
10. Alone - The 4 Seasons (Vee Jay)
11. Can't You See That She's Mine - The Dave Clark Five (Epic)
12. Walk On By - Dionne Warwick (Scepter)
13. My Guy - Mary Wells (Motown)
*14. Don't Throw Your Love Away - The Searchers (Kapp)
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15. Diane - The Bachelors (London)
*16. Love Me Do - The Beatles (Tollie/Capitol)
17. What's the Matter With You Baby - Marvin Gaye & Mary Wells (Motown)
18. The Girl From Ipanema - Stan Getz/Astrud Gilberto (Verve)
19. Bad to Me - Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas (Imperial)
20. Memphis - Johnny Rivers (Imperial)
22. Yesterday's Gone - Chad Stuart & Jeremy Clyde (World Artists)
23. Tell Me Why - Bobby Vinton (Epic)
24. P.S. I Love You - The Beatles (Tollie/Capitol)
25. Wishin' and Hopin' - Dusty Springfield (Philips)
26. Nobody I Know - Peter & Gordon (Capitol)
*28. The Little Old Lady (From Pasadena) - Jan & Dean (Liberty)
*No Particular Place to Go - Chuck Berry (Chess)
40. Under the Boardwalk - The Drifters (Atlantic)
51. Good Times - Sam Cooke (RCA)
56. Remember Me - Rita Pavone (RCA)

Hot Prospects:
Dang Me - Roger Miller (Smash)
Don't Worry Baby - The Beach Boys (Capitol)
Father Sebastian - The Ramblers (Almont)

Radio 77 Pick Hit:
I Wanna Love Him So Bad - The Jelly Beans (Red Bird)

*Previous Pick Hit

[pstokely]

1. why did they turn into a hate radio station?

?

[CO Liberal]

2. I Don't Know

WABC had evolved into an adult contemporary station by the early '80s. And then in 1982, they switched to talk. It's still regarded in the NY Metro area as "The Day The Music Died".

[rsdsharp]

3. Interesting...

Only two Beatles songs.

But the REAL question is who was the All American of the Week Big Dan Ingram...Bobaloo...HOA? Who?

[CO Liberal]

4. It Was Bob Dayton

All American of the Week:
Bob Dayton - 11:00 AM-2:00 PM Monday - Friday
3:00 PM-6:30 PM Sunday


A few months before he was fired - supposedly for singing "Hapopy Kamakazi to You" on the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing.

By May or June of 1964, the Beatles saturation was pretty much over, and the surveys started to include other artists. That all changes later that summer when "A Hard Day's Night" was released.

[rsdsharp]

5. I think what Dayton did

was play Sixteen Candles by the Crests, and dedicate it to the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing that day. As I understand it, he might have gotten away with it, but Mrs. Leonard Goldensen (wife of the head of ABC) was entertaining a group of Japanese women who had survived the bombing, and was horrified. Next stop for Dayton was KRLA in LA.

[CO Liberal]

7. I Had Forgotten The Details

All I remember was that Bob Dayton was there one day, and gone the next.

[CO Liberal]

6. One Thing That's Interesting about These Old Surveys....

...is the variety of music that was played on one radio station back then. Look at the survey I posted above - you have r&r bands like The 4 Seasons, Beach Boys, and the Dave Clark Five, Motown artists like Mary Wells and Marvin Gaye, a country singer (Roger Miller), jazz artists (Stan Getz/Astrud Gilberto), and middle-of-the-road acts like Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, Louis Armstrong and the Ray Charles Singers.

I had forgotten how varied the musical choices were back then.

[rsdsharp]

8. Good point

People tend to think of Top 40 as Rock, but it wasn't. In fact, it wsn't a musical format at all. It was a sales format. If the record sold sufficiently, it got played, (with few exceptions for "taste.") Rock, Motown, R&B, folk, country, MOR, jazz, show tunes, even big band all had a place on Top 40, and virtually every demographic listened.

How WABC became "hate radio" is directly related to that. When FM began to make inroads on the dominance of AM radio in the mid to late 70s, one programming method to attack the entrenched AMs was to position the FM station in a particular musical niche. Disco was the start of the fractionalization of the Top 40 format. WKTU began playing all disco, at a time, when it was wildly popular. The fact that you could hear your favorite music, without country, or bubblegum, or whatever, coupled with the better sound of FM stereo, led to WABC's defeat in the ratings in 1978. By early 1982 WABC made the decision to go Talk, and did so on May 10, with a balanced talk format.

When Bork and Scalia killed the FCC's Fairness Doctrine in about 1986-87, and Reagan vetoed the staute passed by Congress to reinstate it, the way was open for Limbaugh to be given free reign without the threat of his station having to provide opposing view points. That led to his syndication, increased popularity, and eventual cloning, until we have the Hell that is AM radio as we know it today.

How I wish it was 1965, and Dan Ingram was telling us to "Roll your bod" on one coast, while The Real Don Steele was screaming for Tina del Gado on the other.

[CO Liberal]

9. Those Were The Days, My Friend....

We though they'd never end.....