Re: WODS jingles, songs-in-a-row

[SteveOrdinetz <steveord@bit-net.com>]

At 01:56 AM 1/10/02 -0500, A. Joseph Ross wrote:
>  WRKO-FM became
>automated as ARKO part of the time in order to comply with the FCC's
>separate programming mandate in the mid-1960s.  The success of ARKO is
>supposed to be what prompted the station owners to flip WNAC to WRKO and
>top-40 programming.


Actually, it was the success of KHJ & KFRC that convinced RKO-General to 
switch their stations to Top 40.  I can't imagine Arko was more than a 
curiosity for the few teens who had FM radios in 1966.





>When WRKO-FM was ARKO, WBZ-FM was still automated classical.  It didn't
>change to hit music until around 1971 or 72, by which time 98.5 had been
>WROR for several years.
>
>I believe WROR began as "Hit Parade 68" in 1968.  The jingle changed each
>year on 1 January to become "Hit Parade 69", etc.  I'm not quite sure
>when they changed to oldies, but when they didn they had a new jingle,
>with the same melody, that went "Solid Gold Rock and Roll."


As I recall, once WRKO got established, WRKO-FM/WROR played essentially the 
same playlist as WRKO, only automated & jockless outside of simulcast 
time.  Did they get rid of Arco when WRKO debuted?  I think the change to 
WROR & Hitparade roughly coincided with the move to Govt. Center in late 
1968.  By the early 70s Hitparade went away, but the format was pretty much 
the same.  This may have been the "Solid Gold Rock & Roll" time frame, kind 
of gave the impression of being oldies-based, but they played a lot of 
currents--including quite a few that were not big national hits (but may 
have been hits in LA where it was syndicated from).  I believe ROR went all 
oldies sometime in 1973.  When did WBZ-FM go with the automated Top 40?  I 
seem to remember it as early as 1972.