WMCA

WMCA

File:WMCA570970.png
Broadcast area	New York, New York
Frequency	570 kHz
Branding	WMCA 570
Slogan	"New York's Inspiring Talk"
Programming
Format	Christian radio
Ownership
Owner	Salem Communications (Salem Media of New York, LLC)
History
First air date	February 6, 1925
Call sign meaning	W MCAlpin Hotel (no relation to the Music Corporation of America, which later became NBC Universal and Universal Music Group)
Technical information
Facility ID	58626
Class	B
Power	5,000 watts
Links
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	wmca.com

WMCA, 570 AM, is a radio station in New York City, best known for its "Good Guys" Top 40 format during the 1960s - launching Beatlemania in New York by playing the Beatles' first Capitol Records single in December 1963 - and being New York's #1 rated (most listened to) radio station in 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1966. It is currently owned by Salem Communications and plays a Christian radio format. Its three-tower transmitter site (easily visible from the northbound New Jersey Turnpike) is located on the Hackensack River, in Kearny, New Jersey.

Early years

After first testing as station 2XH, WMCA began regular transmissions on February 1, 1925, broadcasting on 428.6 meters wavelength with a power of 500 watts. The antenna was high atop the McAlpin Hotel, from which WMCA's call letters derive. In 1928 it moved to the 570 kHz frequency.

The station was the 13th New York radio station and was owned by broadcasting pioneer Donald Flamm. In December 1940, Flamm had to surrender the station to industrialist Edward J. Noble, who had just resigned as Undersecretary of Commerce, in a transaction involving prominent political figures including Thomas Corcoran. Flamm's subsequent legal battle against Noble resulted in a congressional investigation and eventually ended in a financial settlement, though not the return of the station.

Through its early decades WMCA had a varied programming history, playing music, hosting dramas, and broadcasting New York Giants baseball games. In 1943, it was acquired by the Straus family when previous owner Edward J. Noble acquired the Blue Network and its O&O stations from NBC. Noble went on to become the founder of ABC.

In 1945, host Barry Gray began dropping music and adding talk with celebrities and later call-in listeners; he is thus sometimes considered "The Father of Talk Radio", and his show lasted on WMCA through several decades and format changes.

WMCA began playing rock music in the late 1950s with a Top 40 format. Among its disc jockey staff were future legends Scott Muni and Murray "the K" Kaufman.

Good Guys era

File:WMCA Good Guys 1964.jpg

WMCA Radio's "Good Guys" in New York, featuring Joe O'Brien, Harry Harrison, Jack Spector, Dan Daniel, B. Mitchel Reed and Johnny Dark.

In 1960, led by Ruth Meyer (1930-2011) - the first woman radio programming chief in New York City history - WMCA began promoting itself by stressing its on-air personalities, who were collectively known as the Good Guys. This was the era of the high-profile Top 40 DJ with an exuberant personality aimed at a certain audience segment. And with the advent of The Good Guys format, WMCA became more "on top" of new music for the New York metro area. The Good Guys started to become known for "playing the hits." In the early 60s, the top 40 format was still young, and the field was crowded in New York City. Two major 50,000-watt stations, WMGM and WINS, had battled each other, playing pop music for years. Then in 1960, there was WABC, which also started featuring top 40 music. Ultimately, it was WMCA's earnest competition with rival WABC that forced WMGM (early 1962) and then WINS (Spring 1965) to abandon the top-40 format. There was so much attention on the high-profile WMCA-WABC battle that WMGM and WINS were each summarily forced to find a new niche.

Lineup and features

The classic Good Guys era lineup included:

• Morning man Joe O'Brien (radio), an industry veteran whose humor appealed to multiple generations (6am-10am).
• Late morning stalwart Harry Harrison, whose show was explicitly aimed at housewives (there were different cultural assumptions back then) (10am-1pm).
• Early afternoon host Jack Spector, "Look out street, here I come!" (1pm-4pm)
• In afternoon drive time, lanky, smooth-talking Texan Dandy Dan Daniel and his daily countdown (4pm-7pm).
• Evening star to teenagers, Gary Stevens and his "Wooleyburger" bear (7pm-11pm) - Gary's first show was in April, 1965.
• Fast-talking "BMR, Your Leader," B. Mitchel Reed, was the evening personality on WMCA from 1963-1965. Credit should be given to Reed, as he was part of the team that took WMCA to the top in 1963. He left the station in the spring of 1965, to return to L.A.'s troubled KFWB, where he had worked before WMCA. His on-air hours were the same as Gary Stevens (above).
• Barry Gray's ongoing talk show (11pm-1am).
• Overnights, Dean Anthony, "Dino on your radio" with his "Actors and Actresses" game (1am-6am).
• Weekends and fill-in, Ed Baer, Frank Stickle and Bill Beamish.
• Owner R. Peter Straus frequently read editorials, commenting on current events. Straus wrote and read the first broadcast editorial calling for the impeachment of Richard M. Nixon.

(On Friday nights, Stevens ended at 10:30 and WMCA's locally-produced, half-hour news show The World Tonite aired; this was a local recap of the week's news, and should not be confused with Garner Ted Armstrong's The World Tomorrow religious program, which was not heard on WMCA until after the Good Guys era ended).

Dan Daniel's countdown changed once a week, and was of the station's top 25 records. It also included a "Sure Shot" and "Long Shot" of records not yet on the chart. He also gave away his "Hit Kit" every day to a listener who had been chosen from postcards sent to the station. The "Hit Kit" consisted of a copy of each of the Top 25 records of the week. To claim this prize, listeners had to call in when they heard their name read on the air.

The Beatles

Besides the "Good Guy" personalities and radio program director Ruth Meyer's commitment to play new music - on December 26, 1963, WMCA, with Jack Spector, earned the distinction of being the first New York City radio station to play the Beatles' Capitol Records' single, "I Want to Hold Your Hand." (Outside New York, the song's broadcast debut in America is widely accepted to have occurred earlier at WWDC in Washington, D.C.) There is no evidence that any New York City radio station played the Beatles before December 1963 - despite the fact that the band's first singles had been released earlier - without fanfare - by smaller, resource-challenged labels (Vee-Jay Records and Swan Records). However, according to one account, WINS-AM in New York "reportedly" played the band's Swan Records' single, "She Loves You" on September 28, 1963 as part of a listener's poll. After the song finished last (third place), it was quickly dropped form the station's playlist.

WMCA was keen on playing new product and breaking new hits, and consequently, it became the radio station most credited for introducing Beatlemania - and the "British Invasion" musical movement - to New Yorkers. Not only did WMCA play new music first for New York City listeners, but the Good Guys played more music in general, i.e., more hits per hour.

While network-owned WABC was busy broadcasting New York Mets baseball games in the summer of 1963, family-owned WMCA was the music-intensive station that one would hear coming out of transistor radios at the pool and at the beach. Starting in 1963, the WMCA's Good Guys soared to the top of New York City's ratings charts.

WMCA also excelled in on-air production and promotions for listeners. Each hour, WMCA presented its music, jingles, promotions, contests, stagers and commercials in a tight, upbeat style that - to the ear of anyone switching between WMCA 570 and competitor WABC 770 - made WMCA's tempo and pacing sound faster. Some radio industry veterans attribute WABC's "stodgy sound" to standards applied by its owner, the ABC Radio Network - and to its staff of longtime (and older) studio engineers. This fueled speculation that WMCA - which was independently owned by the Straus family - had younger, more "hip" board-operators with a better understanding of the top 40 format aimed at younger adults. Whatever the reason, the "sparkling sound" presented on-air by WMCA also contributed to its ratings success in New York City, the largest radio market in the United States.

WMCA's most famous promotions and contests involved the Beatles. Shortly after the band's arrival in the United States on February 7, 1964, WMCA was able to secure the Beatles' cooperation, recording several commercials promoting the station's "Good Guys." Many believe this cooperation was directly linked to the band's awareness of WMCA being the first radio station in New York City to play the Beatles' records, starting with their Capitol Records' release of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in late December 1963.

According to industry observers, WMCA's success getting John Lennon and Ringo Starr to record several spots on behalf of WMCA - convinced listeners that the station - along with former WMCA personality "Murray the K" Kaufman at WINS - had direct access to the Beatles, despite the fact that during their first New York visit - the band's movements were restricted to the Plaza Hotel, Central Park, the Ed Sullivan Theater (then called CBS Studio 50), the 21 Club, the Peppermint Lounge and Carnegie Hall.

File:WMCA Good Guys team with the Beatles, 10 February 1964, Plaza Hotel, New York City.jpg

The WMCA-AM "Good Guys" - Johnny Dark, Joe O'Brien, Jack Spector, B. Mitchel Reed, Harry Harrison - with The Beatles in the Terrace Room, the Plaza Hotel, New York City, 10 February 1964. Low-resolution image from a contact sheet by New York celebrity photographer Popsie Randolph, also known as William "PoPsie" Randolph (1920-1978). (High-resolution and all other licensing rights held by son Michael Randolph at www.PoPsiePhotos.com.)

In conjunction with airing commercials featuring the Beatles actively promoting WMCA, the station also ran several contests in February 1964 - the most famous receiving nearly 90,000 entries - for a chance to win a lock of hair belonging to drummer Ringo Starr. The lock of Ringo Starr's hair - and a runner-up prize of a photograph on a fan club card signed by all four members of the Beatles - were obtained directly from the group on February 10, 1964 - during marathon "one-on-one" meetings and a reception held with print and broadcast personnel in the Terrace Room at New York's famous Plaza Hotel. Other runner-up prizes distributed by WMCA that were not directly handled by the Beatles included 1,000 specially made WMCA paper record sleeves picturing the Good Guys - containing the band's single, "I Want to Hold Your Hand," as well as $57 in cash from Radio 57, WMCA.

Contrary to some accounts, the enormous number of entries received by WMCA - an estimated 86,000 cards, letters and packages - were from Beatle fans seeking to win a lock of Ringo Starr's hair - and not $57 in cash nor even a Beatles record. For this "Good Guy-Ringo Starr Contest" - better known today as the "Beatles' Wig Contest" - WMCA's listeners were encouraged to send in a drawing or picture of a person - wearing a Beatles' wig. The winning entry from Roberta Corrigan - (who won the lock of hair) - featured a huge image of Queen Elizabeth with a Beatles wig on her head, along with several other images including one of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill wearing the same - all submitted in a book with captions for each. First runner-up winner Stella Scuotto-Campione of Brooklyn, NY, won the photograph of the Beatles on a fan club card signed by all four members of the band at the Plaza Hotel. According to Beatles' historian Bruce Spizer, Kay Smith was also a runner-up winner, winning $57 and the rare record sleeve for "I Want to Hold Your Hand," featuring a picture of WMCA's Good Guys.

Throughout the 1960s, WMCA would continue to beat other radio stations on most Beatles' promotions, scoring firsts, causing headaches in particular for rival WABC - most notably when Capitol Records printed a photograph of the "Good Guys" line-up - on the back of a limited edition record sleeve for the single, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (Side 2: "I Saw Her Standing There"). WMCA's Good Guys were also featured at both of the Beatles' concerts at Shea Stadium, on August 15, 1965 and on August 23, 1966.

WABC responded in different ways, scoring a success during the Beatles' second New York visit in August 1964 - when the band stayed at the Delmonico Hotel, rousing thousands of teenage fans into a frenzy - while broadcasting from one floor above the Beatles' rooms. WABC later went against its own music policies, promising promoter Sid Bernstein that it would play a new group he was handling before any other New York City radio station - if it could get exclusive access to the Beatles. WABC never added records "out of the box" - but it did for Sid Bernstein when it played The Young Rascals' "I Ain't Going To Eat Out My Heart Anymore" - before other radio stations.

Since WABC knew WMCA already had a relationship with the Beatles, with tapes of the group promoting the station - what could WABC do to achieve the same? In August 1965, WABC came up with what it thought was a brilliant idea - issuing "medals" called "The Order of the All-Americans" - tied to its own DJs. The strategy was to present the medals to each of the Beatles the next time they were in New York. Everything was set. The goal was to get each Beatle to comment on the "medal" - and then to get each to say the station's call letters, "W-A-B-C." These in turn could be used in station IDs and promotions, etc. - thus matching WMCA's success at getting the Beatles to promote WMCA and its Good Guys. But WABC's plan backfired. The station got its interviews, but none of the band's members would utter WABC's call letters. According to Beatles' historian Bruce Spizer, manager Brian Epstein ordered the Beatles to stop "giving away valuable promotional spots to radio stations for free."

File:WMCA good guys sweatshirt 1962.gif

The WMCA Good Guy sweatshirt.

Apart from its historic link to the Beatles, WMCA saturated its programming with many other promotions and on-air games - to supplement its high rotation of hit-making music. It included "Name It and Claim It" - with the most desired prize being one of the station's yellow "Good Guys" sweatshirts, which were designed by WMCA program director Ruth Meyer - and could be won if a listener's name was read over the air - and that listener called PLaza 2-9944 within a certain time period.

Another distinctive feature of WMCA was its "Call For Action" Help Line (PLaza 9-1717), which listeners could call if they had any problems requiring WMCA's help resolving, usually consumer or public works service-related issues.

Competition with WABC

In the 1960s, WMCA's great competition was with rival WABC.

It wasn't supposed to happen, but in 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1966, WMCA was the undisputed ratings champ in New York City. Independently owned WMCA was a directional, 5,000 watt radio station, while ABC-owned WABC was a non-directional, 50,000 watts, clear-channel radio station. Even though WMCA's signal - geographically reached about one-third of the audience ratings area of WABC - WMCA still showed up #1. This was because anywhere WMCA had a listenable signal, audiences strongly chose WMCA over WABC. WABC proved more popular in outlying areas where WMCA's signal didn't come in as well on standard 1960s-era AM radio receivers. The areas where WMCA did not have a strong signal were southwest, west, and northwest of its transmitter in Kearny, NJ.

However, if a listener was anywhere east of WMCA's transmitter, i.e., New York City itself, including Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, the Bronx, Westchester County in New York or Fairfield County in Connecticut, the station's signal was much stronger. By 1967 and 1968, WMCA still demonstrated a strong showing in total audience surveys - and continued to best WABC within the city of New York.

The WMCA-WABC rivalry was never more intense than when it came to fighting over the Beatles. WABC was frustrated with its efforts to gain ratings dominance in New York City's metro area and with its efforts to forge a stronger relationship with one of the world's most popular musical acts. Ruth Meyer, WMCA's program director during the Beatlemania era, speculated in interviews that WABC's creativity during the 1960s could have been hampered by being owned by an ABC network rife with nationwide broadcast policies, commitments and standards. Conversely, WMCA could run free with "goofy" ideas, promotions and gimmicks as an independently run, family-owned station, without network interference.

Meanwhile, WMCA continued to play new records faster than rival WABC. Its weekly countdown was 25 records long - instead of WABC's 20 - and included the "Sure Shot" and "Long Shot" speculations. Its countdown was also "faster" than WABC's, in the sense that records climbed to the top more quickly, while WABC's rankings tended to lag behind. A comparison of both stations showed WABC to be up to two, sometimes three weeks behind WMCA.

According to WABC historians, "another success for WMCA was the fault of WABC itself." In 1969, Roby Yonge, "a WABC disc jockey who knew he was about to lose his job, used his overnight radio shift to spread rumors about the 'death' of Paul McCartney." This proved to be an embarrassment for WABC, leading to Roby Yonge's firing. WABC's status as a network-owned station with a 50,000-watt signal, errantly launched the "Paul is Dead" story across state lines and ultimately around the world.

Between 1964 and 1968, Billboard Magazine rated WMCA as (New York's) most influential station for new records. Although every market had one station with record-buying influence, WMCA was in the top market, making it responsible for producing much of the 1960s hits still heard on oldies radio. Not every record added to the WMCA playlist became a hit, but as soon as sales stirred, late-comer WABC would be forced to add the same record.

Despite WMCA's superior ratings performance and its historic link to the Beatles, some radio historians continue to treat WMCA as a 1960s radio stepchild - in part because it was a family-owned, independently run station with a 5,000-watt directional signal - going up against network- or corporate-owned juggernauts with stronger signals. Yet radio surveys throughout most of the 1960s prove that WMCA easily beat WABC in the New York City area, with WABC's audience "building-out" from outside WMCA's listening area. When Pulse ratings analyzed its annual February–through-March New York metro area audience numbers in 1967, they revealed that WMCA recorded a 15 share vs. WABC's 6 share. As late as February 1969, Pulse ratings reported WMCA was still beating WABC among listeners within New York City itself.

As WMCA recorded large New York City audience numbers, any city-based competitor would and did become part of the radio ratings' discussion. While WMCA continued to beat WABC despite its 5,000-watt signal, its eventual ratings slippage wasn't due to WABC. The ascendance of soul station (WWRL) in 1967 - and two "album oriented rock" stations - WOR-FM in 1967 and WNEW-FM in 1968 - ultimately took an average of 6 rating points away from WMCA.

Chaos and transition

In 1968, a chaotic period began in which Gary Stevens disappeared to Switzerland and Harry Harrison moved to WABC. WMCA then started experimenting with some talk programming as part of "Power Radio," with hosts ranging from Domenic Quinn to countercultural Alex Bennett. The station also began playing album cuts in addition to singles, with the slogan "The hits and the heavies."

Disc jockeys left, came back, and left again in short order. New jocks appeared with vague names (e.g., Lee Gray was originally "Lee Your Leader") and bizarre stunts were tried when Lee played The Beatles “ Wild Honey Pie “ and John Sebastian’s “ She’s A Lady “ over and over for 3 hours on one Saturday night (e.g., Frankie Crocker played two very short songs over and over again for an hour). The "Good Guys" were partly reassembled, then dropped again. Even reliable Dean Anthony, who was concurrently working at a country music station, sometimes got all the slogans mixed up on air.

Talk era

The station finally adopted a full-time talk radio format labelled "Dial-Log Radio" in 1970 and the "Good Guys" music era was over, however the "Good Guy" theme eventually did make a comeback in a promotional marketing effort.

When WMCA acquired New York Yankees baseball broadcast rights in 1970, Jack Spector stayed on to host a sports talk show, while Bob Grant debuted in New York radio as the house conservative and "Long John" Nebel was a fixture on overnights, accompanied by his co-host spouse Candy Jones. Malachy "the Magnificant" McCourt hosted a Sunday night call-in show that was mostly personal reminisces of the type that later became the subject of the best-selling autobiography "Angela's Ashes" by his brother Frank McCourt.

In 1972, John Sterling succeeded Spector as sports talk host, transforming the program into one of the first confrontational sports talks shows, as well as doing play-by-play for New York Islanders hockey and New York Nets basketball games that were carried on WMCA. It was there that his knowledgeable but bombastic and over-the-top broadcasting style would first be heard in the New York area.

WMCA carried New York Yankees games beginning in 1971 and running through the championship season of 1977 featuring the classic Yankees broadcasting crew of Frank Messer, Phil Rizzuto, and Bill White. They then held the broadcast rights for the NY Mets from 1978-1983 with several different broadcasting teams.

The station introduced a new morning news-talk program, hosted by Ralph Howard, Bill Ryan (journalist) and a team of reporters who were all referred to as the "Good Guys," as seen in this ad for the Ralph & Ryan show. During the 1970s, ratings were healthy for WMCA as a talk station. Jonathan King, who had been at the top of the Good Guys chart in 1965 with his single Everyone's Gone To The Moon, hosted the 10-12 weekday morning show for a year in 1981. Most surveys showed the station in the top 10. This was before WOR became exclusively talk, and also before WABC changed to talk in the early 1980s.

The Straus family sold the station in the late 1980s; it was the last family-owned radio station in New York. New owner Federal Broadcasting kept the talk format, however switched to a financial news format on weekdays between 5 am and 7 pm, just prior to selling the station in 1988 to Salem Communications, which immediately implemented a format that focused on religion and leased time programming. At that time, all WMCA staffers were invited to apply for positions with the new WMCA. Federal Broadcasting eventually sold off their other stations and left the broadcasting business.

Christian era

Since September 16, 1989, WMCA has been doing a Christian radio format, typical for Salem Communications. Initially it had the slogan "New York's Christian Radio", and currently has the moniker "New York's Inspiring Talk". Salem retained just one of the station's just-deposed on-air hosts, Sonny Bloch.

WMCA ran extra Christian programming on WWDJ 970 AM in the New Jersey/New York area, also owned by Salem Communications. This second station was publicly billed as "WMCA II" or "WMCA 970" until its calls were changed to WNYM and it adopted a talk format.

WMCA also runs NEWSTALK WMCA.COM, an Internet feed which re-broadcasts nationally syndicated talk shows with a social conservatism viewpoint, including those from Mike Gallagher, Bill Bennett, Michael Medved, and Laura Schlessinger (all of whom can also be heard on WNYM).

In recent years, WMCA has attempted to establish a connection back to its "Good Guys" era. Their website has a tribute to the 1960s jocks [1], while their current air personalities — "a whole new team of 'Good Guys' filling the airwaves with the Good News" — make appearances and give out an updated version of the Good Guys sweatshirt [2]. On air, the station is billed as "The Home of the Good Guys" and 1960s-style Good Guys jingles are sometimes used to identify personalities on air.

Location

The studios were located at 415 Madison Avenue in the 1960s, then the station built brand new studios at 888 7th Avenue. The current studios are located in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, while the transmitters are located in Kearny, New Jersey, close to the New Jersey Turnpike. The station's daytime coverage includes New York City, Nassau County, and Westchester County, as well as parts of New Jersey and Connecticut.

See also

• Radio broadcasting

External links

• Official website
• Tribute site in remembrance of WMCA's Good Guys era
• NYC AM Radio History - WMCA
• WMCA News Department Profile & Interviews - 1978
• The 1960s week-by-week
• Site visit to WMCA Kearny facility
• Query the FCC's AM station database for WMCA
• Radio-Locator Information on WMCA
• Query Arbitron's AM station database for WMCA

Preceded by 1050 WHN 1967–1970

Radio Home of the New York Yankees 1971–1977

Succeeded by 1010 WINS 1978–1980

Preceded by 1130 WNEW-AM 1975–1977

Radio Home of the New York Mets 1978–1983

Succeeded by 1050 WHN/660 WFAN 1984–present

Template:Religious Radio Stations in New York Template:Salem Communications