Automated Radio Formats

Home	Radio History:	WTIM- Taylorville	WDNL- Danville	Area CHR Stations	Automated Radio Formats	Radio's Future
	Television History:	WAND- Decatur	WICS- Springfield	WCIA- Champaign	WICD- Champaign	The Others	The First Days of Central IllinoisTV	Digital Television
	Personal Pages:	Doug Quick Bio	Picture Page	Comments	Other:	Links		Voice Over Services

Early on in the 1940's and 50's, FM radio stations begin to gradually spring up over the country, generally along side it's parent AM station. Most stations, especially in medium and smaller markets held their FM license by simulcasting the programming of it's AM parent. In major markets there was enough of a potential audience to justify a separate board operator to broadcast a separate format. Most of the time it was of an "easy listening" variety, best described as "beautiful music." The format lender itself to being background music in offices and in retail establishments. In fact when there was a stand alone FM license issued, many times during the 1950's it was to a retail establishment who simply wanted to bring it's own background music services to their retail outlets. In the 1960's, though, it became evident that the future listening habits of the public were changing. Those once small audiences of those heritage FM stations, began to grow. Music was splintering into different formats. Top 40 was spinning off Album Rock, Vintage Top 40(Oldies), Soul(Urban) and Adult Contemporary. Many of these specialized formats were popping up on those FM stations in the major markets, so it was only time before those formats spread into the medium markets. It was nearing the end of the golden era of Top 40. The audience was changing and the high personality, over commercialization of the AM's and the need to appeal to these niche markets with the interference free FM stations become a natural way for stations keep audience.

Above is a "typical" automation system manufactured by Schafer. This one is the 903 model. It consists of a controller, time announcement cart decks, an ID deck, 4 reel to reel decks and random select set of carousels. Schafer image above from a web site dedicated to automated beautiful music formats. Click on www.easylisteninghq.com
for more information. Image owned by Thomas Mahnke. Thanks!

The idea of staffing FM stations with what first appeared to be a low income producing entity was impossible. So, the need arose for some kind of automated control room which would play music, play the commercial(if there were any) and generally maintain the niche format with a minimum of labor cost. Therefore in the mid 1960's these "automation systems" began to appear in the back rooms of AM radio stations all across the country. These systems then needed programming to air. Most stations opted to use syndicated programming supplied by Production Houses from across the country. With names like Schulke, Ultra Sonic, Cavox, Kala Music(from Kalamazoo, MI), FM 100, Churchill Productions, RPM, Drake-Chenault, TM, Century 21, Tanner, IGM, Radio Arts, Bonneville, Media General, RPM, Radio Arts and Master Broadcast Services these programmers and production houses began to supply different formats to radio stations of all market sizes for a price. From 1966-1982, these suppliers of programming, went through many changes, being bought out by another, then another, and another so at the end of the era, there was pretty much only one left. That was Broadcast Programming(BPI).

What I've done is concentrate on the production companies and programing suppliers which were the most popular in central Illinois and used on generally Contemporary FM stations in the area. Thanks to the contribution of Jon Rohrer of We B Video of Orlando, Florida I've been able to include format demos of a few more of the automated programers of the era.

FM Yields to Rock and Roll! Here is a link to a news story from the late 60's about automated radio.

Drake-Chenault

There were a number of stations during the 70’s and 80’s which were using the Drake-Chenault formats, including the AC “Hit Parade”(later called “Contempo 300”) the Gold/Current Mix “Solid Gold”(later called Contempo 200”), the CHR “XT-40”, the Country “Great American Country”, the Oldies “Classic Gold”, the AOR XT-100.” As far as I can remember here is a grouping of stations in Central Illinois and a few from surrounding areas using each of the Drake formats. Not many of them continued with Drake-Chenault formats past the early to mid 1980's, having changed to live programming or to satellite networks. Drake-Chenault was moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1989 where it was purchased by Jones Radio Networks in 1990 and moved to Denver. It operates today as part of the Jones Radio Network which along with other music services, formats an array of radio station formats via satellite which are broadcast by stations across the country, under the guise of being a local station.

Above left is a picture of a typical Drake-Chenault furnished 10 inch reel, which probably contained current selections. It was not unusual to have a partially filled reel of tape which could have held as few as 6 songs, or as many of 15. The planned rotation of current music was very tightly controlled by Drake, although it was up to the individual station to maintain the format. This particular reel was from the "Solid Gold" format, which would feature current selections, although the main theme of the format was oldies from the 50's, 60's and 70's.

Drake-Chenault's "Hit Parade"
later called "Contempo 300"
"bright contemporary easy listening/MOR for today's 18-49 year old"
on 50 AM and FM stations
voiced by Charlie Van Dyke and Jim Carson

WLRW-Champaign(early 70's)
WHTT-Quad Cities(late 70's)

Drake-Chenault Intro and "Hit Parade" format sample

Drake-Chenault's "Solid Gold"
later called "Contempo 200"
"best of the oldies along with today's top contemporary hits, selected by Bill Drake and his programming staff. It's a heavy gold modified top 40 format which zeroes in on the crucial 18-34 demographic"
voiced by John Leader, Billy Mitchell

WLRW-Champaign(mid 70's)
WBNQ-Bloomington(mid to late 70's)
WDBR-Springfield(1972)
WWTO-Peoria(early-mid 70's)

Drake Chenault "Solid Gold" format sample

Drake-Chenault's "XT-40"
"proven Bill Drake approach to top-40, fast paced contemporary-a winner on either AM or FM the clean uncluttered sound of today!"
voiced by John Leader, Billy Mitchell

WBNQ-Bloomington(mid-late 70's)
KGRS-Burlington, Iowa(mid-late 70's)

Audio Coming Soon

Drake-Chenault's "Great American Country"
"the best country music ever recorded appealing to the 25-49 year old."
voiced by Bob Kingsley

WCCR-Champaign(unknown)
WIL-FM-St. Louis(mid 70's)

Audio Coming Soon

Drake-Chenault's "XT-100"
album rock format

WBOQ-Terre Haute, Indiana(late 70's)

Audio Coming Soon

Drake-Chenault's "Classic Gold"
"the greatest hits of all time...all the time! Flexible, evolving... Classic Gold covers the years 1955 to 1972 in phases, linked to your market needs!"

WFYR-Chicago(early 70's)
WLBC-Muncie, Indiana(mid 70's)

NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!! Drake-Chenault's "THE GOLDEN YEARS" hosted by Robert W. Morgan.
This demo was "lost" for years.....now a special music/history radio program which would highlight an individual year, is unearthed for you to check out. This sample demo includes a segment from the year 1965.....

Unknown

Drake Chenault "The Golden Years-1965" special program demo

Drake-Chenault was based from 8399 Topanga Canyon Road, Canoga Park, CA 92304. Their phone number was (213) 883-7400. Sales material from them stated their "formats are designed to be run on standard automation equipment readily available from several manufactures. A basic system sufficient to run the complete formats, 24-hours a day, can be purchased for as little as $18,000 or leased for as little as $425 a month."

It was great to get more information by e-mail from Denny Adkins, who was the "original" PD of WBNQ when it went with the "Olde Golde"(from Draper-Blore) format in August of 1972 and left to work for Drake Chenault in 1976. He was President of Drake-Chenault when he left the syndication company in 1987.

Drake-Chenault also produced the long form program "The History of Rock and Roll." The special was a 52-hour program narrated by Bill Drake and researched, written and co-produced(with Bill Drake) by Gary Theroux. I heard from Gary, who told of his experiences at Drake-Chenault. He explained that "The History of Rock and Roll" debuted on more than 400 stations in the U.S. and over 400 stations overseas and won Billboard's "Top Special Program of the Year" award. He also explained how the 52-hour program was broken down into "modules, each designed to focus on and spotlight a particular genre, or in some cases, a key artist in rock history." The "modules were presented, more or less chronologically, starting in the early '50's(prior to "Rock Around the Clock") and running through to what was current in the year the program was produced: 1978." Gary also designed each hour of the show to stand on it's own which would allow

stations to strip the show throughout the week, and use any number of hours each day. Gary went on to describe the show as taking the approach of a "reporter" not a critic, and tried to have the individual artists tell their story as much as possible, using the narrator Bill Drake to tie each story or items together. It was Gary who did chose to end the series with the Number One montage of all of the number one hits of the rock era. The time sweep is available at Reel Radio . More on Reel Radio later.

Gary also told of the situation of his leaving the company, not by his choice, but by the choice of a former GM of Drake-Chenault. Gary's leaving the company, angered Bill Drake and Drake made a move to bring Gary back into the fold. By then, though, Gary accepted an offer to teach music and entertainment history at UCLA. He later co-hosted a long running Saturday night oldies radio show in New York and was Music and Entertainment Editor for Reader's Digest, where he created over 300 multi-box sets of music featuring nearly every style and era of 20th Century music. He's also the author of "The Top Ten" which tells the story of each of the top 10 biggest hits of each year.

I remember "The History of Rock and Roll" as being a holiday tradition at WDNL when I was there in the early years. The show debuted on Memorial Day Weekend in 1978 on D-102 where it was an instant hit. I remember one advertising client whom I tried to persuade to advertise on the show, having turned me down, was upset that I didn't persuade him more. The next time we ran the show....on Labor Day weekend in 1978, he was the first to sign up for sponsorship!

I also remember the "Silver Anniversary" edition of the 52-hour special, which was released in the early 1980's. I felt at the time the show was not of the quality of the original presentation of 1978. Gary Theroux explained that a new staff came in and "hacked the hell out of" the original show, adding elements featuring then current artists even though they had no historical significance or should not have been included because they didn't fit the genre as rock artists. For example, producing an full hour on the "legendary rocker, Dionne Warwick." Gary goes on to explain that Ms. Warwick was a pop balladeer, and one of the all time best, but didn't warrant being included in the program. The new version also cut the history of the 1950's down to just one hour of the 52 hour series!

Reel Radio also features a demo of "Solid Gold Rock and Roll" an all oldies format from 1970. It appears to be the second format after "Hit Parade" developed for automation by Drake-Chenault. It contains many of the same type of elements of the later formats, but the style of voice overs for the music was considerably different from later examples. The jingles read, "Solid Gold-Rock and Roll." This was probably replaced by "Classic Gold" and "Solid Gold" evolved into a mix of oldies and currents. Many, if not all of the jingles from the early period were produced by the Johnny Mann Singers. You'll still hear the style of many of the Johnny Mann Singer's jingles on many oldie stations today.

It appears that, and has been confirmed by contributors, that Drake-Chenault ownership and managment failed to ride the changing tide of technology and re-direct the format services from being a reel to reel format supplier to that of being a satellite format programming supplier, of which there are several operating today. What was left of the original company's assets were ultimately absorbed by the Jones Radio Networks.

It's unknown if the orignal "History of Rock and Roll" would be available today.....but I would suggest perhaps a CD set???

To hear an aircheck of "Solid Gold" go to the CHR History page and look under WWTO and WBNQ.

Drake Chenault From the Inside Here's a wealth of information about "how they did it!" as described by the Director of Engineering at Drake Chenault from 1974 to 1988. Henry "Hank" Landsburg's narrative of the technical aspect of supplying over 300 radio stations with formats is featured on this site. There's more to be added including pictures and audio, so check back often for updates!!! Be sure and return here!

thanks to Denny Adkins, former PD of WBNQ in Bloomington, Illinois and a former President of Drake-Chenault for his contribution!!
thanks to Tim Brown from KGRS in Burlington, Iowa, former D-C station for his contribution.
thanks to Jon Rohrer for his contribution of more D-C demos from the 1970's!
thanks to Gary Theroux for his contribution about "The History of Rock and Roll"!!
thanks to Cliff Rogers for his contribution of music reels from Drake Chenault's "Solid Gold!"

Many thanks to Hank Landsberg, former Director of Engineering at Drake-Chenault Enterprises, Inc. 1974-1988 for sharing his incredible experiences!

Peters Productions

	Peter's Production's "Love Rock"	WSOY-FM-Decatur(early 80's)
WSOY-FM, 102.9FM Decatur, Illinois Here is an aircheck from WSOY-FM. It was recorded during the first day of broadcasting the Peters Productions "Love Rock format. It's full of errors, miscues, bad timing and an unbelievable bad promotion. But that aside, you should get the feeling of the format. (see WSOY-FM)
Peter's Production's "Love Rock" Demo Thanks to the contribution of John Rohrer of We B Video of Orlando Florida. KPPI were fictional call letters, standing for Peters Productions Incorporated. You'll hear some of the same elements on the above aircheck of WSOY-FM.
	Peter's Production's "Music Just For the Two of Us"	WSOY-FM-Decatur(late 70's) WMDH-New Castle/Muncie, Indiana (mid-late 70's

	TM's "Stereo Rock"	WHBF-FM-Moline(mid 70's) WMBD-FM-Peoria(mid 70's) WFBQ-Indianapolis(mid 70's) WMAQ-FM-Chicago(mid 70's)


TM "Stereo Rock" Demo Thanks to the contribution of John Rohrer of We B Video of Orlando Florida. KPPI were fictional call letters, standing for Peters Productions Incorporated. You'll hear some of the same elements on the above aircheck of WSOY-FM. Here is a segment of their demo, scoped to decrease the size of the file.

	More Music "The Great Hits"	Unknown
Still seeking audio......