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| Automated
Radio Formats |
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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 |
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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.
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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 |
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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.
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! 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!! Many thanks to Hank Landsberg, former Director of Engineering at Drake-Chenault Enterprises, Inc. 1974-1988 for sharing his incredible experiences! |
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| Peters Productions |
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The San Diego
based Peters Production’s formats included the CHR
format, “The Love Rock” and the beautiful music format “Music Just for
the Two of Us.” Here is a grouping of stations, using these
formats. "Love Rock" was very similar to Drake-Chenault in
sound....basically formatted reel to reels with announcer intros and
outros, jingles, position statements, id's, buffers and etc.. I
can only assume that the methodology was very similar with deadrolls,
"EOM" placement and formatics. "Music Just for the Two of Us" was
a beautiful music format with voiced buffers, no song identification
was done.
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| 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) |
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![]() 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. |
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| 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 |
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| TM Productions |
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According to Scott Davis, whose father was a jock with WGY(AM) in Schenectady, New York, he discovered the format as it was on the station's FM sister station WGFM. He says, "As a music lover, it was great to able to listen to ALL parts of a song uninterrupted, including the intro." He goes on the describe the format as containing 15 minute segments of music consisting of 2 currents, one oldie and 1 recurrent. The first stations using the "Stereo Rock" format included KXXY, Oklahoma City and WMAQ-FM, Chicago. Others included WFBQ, Indianapolis, WSAI-FM, Cincinnati. The format was conceived for TM Programming by George Burns, of Burns Media Consultants as an "adult alternative" to screaming DJ's, teenage contests, bubble gum music, etc.. The style of the format was one that was more in the "FM tradition" style of presentation, as opposed to the "AM style" of Drake-Chenault and other syndicators. The "voice overs" were done by long time Dallas area DJ, John Borders. At it's peak, TM had this format in over 100 markets. Some of the jingles used were from the TM SR-1, SR-2 and SR-3 series from the mid 70's. According to Scott, there were different series of tapes, that would change or flavor the format to be more album oriented. The album oriented tapes would include back announcements with mention of the album the cut was from.In the 1980's TM Productions merged with Century 21 Programming to form TM-Century. For a look at TM-Century Productions now visit tmcentury.com. |
| 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) |
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![]() 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. |
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| Audio Coming
Soon WHBF-FM,
Rock Island, Illinois. This was recorded on November 11, 1975 at
Macomb, Illinois. It's a great example of "TM Stereo Rock."
According to Scott Davis, the jingle series was from the TM SR-1.
The last song on the aircheck "All I Have To Do is Dream" from the
Everly Brothers was the only song from the 50's included in the Stereo
Rock package. The oldie "In the Summertime" by Mungo Jerry was
from oldie tape number 203(out of 200-222), cut #12. TM revised
these oldie tapes every couple of years. Cuts #15, Everly
Brothers and cut #16 "Popcorn"(not included on this aircheck) were
replaced the next year by "The Joker"-Steve Miller Band and
"Everlasting Love"-Carl Carlton. thanks to Scott Davis, a TM Stereo Rock expert for his contribution!! thanks to Jon Rohrer for his TM Stereo Rock Demo!! |
| More Music Programming |
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The format seems to be similar to TM's Stereo Rock, in that, the currents would be grouped in pairs and voice tracked right on the reels. There seemed to be more than one way to announce the current two song sets, some were announced at the segue, others would drop in a custom station ID slogan line but each set would end with a back announce. Each announcer would have his own set of reels, probably dayparted. Oldies were back announced and would lead into spot sets. Each jock also did a series of local PSA's which were inserted within spot sets, and custom weather intros, which introduced local announcers with the weather forecast. There were also customized drops with station ID's for music segues. It was really not bad as far as achieving a "like live" sound, while being automated. I'm sure the major drawback of the format was the intense amount of work it required to customize for each station. I'm not familiar with any stations using the format within central Illinois, or at least within my listening area. The station on the demo was KASK. The More Music Productions also did a format called "The Great Hits" which was more similar to what Drake-Chenault was doing with XT-40 or Solid Gold. The voice overs seemed a little less "stiff" and more energetic. They also offered several variations, and dayparted examples. Again, I'm not aware of any local stations running the format. The station used on the demo was KIOQ in Bishop, California. They were also
syndicators of "The
Chronology of American Music" a competitor of Drake-Chenault's "History
of Rock and Roll." |
| More Music "The Great Hits" |
Unknown | |
| Still seeking audio...... | ||
| Century
21 Programming |
The "Z-Format" was created by Dave Scott and Mike Rice for KFMZ in Colombia, Missouri after Mike had a falling out with Drake-Chenault. (I assume that Mike was a former employee of the D-C??). Chip worked at KFMZ, and later at KIRL in St. Louis, then at Century 21 in Dallas. If anyone has anymore information about the company...the format....or any Illinois/Indiana radio stations which programmed any of their formats....please e-mail me at dougquick@dougquick.com thanks to Jon Rohrer for his Century 21 Z-Rock Demo!! thanks to Chip Douglas Mosley for his information about Century 21!! thanks to Cliff Rogers for his contribution of music reels from Century 21's "Z Format" and "AC" format.
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| Radio
Arts |
Radio Arts was yet another of the radio syndicators which supplied various formats and programs to radio stations. The company produced the formats: "American Rock," "Sound 10,""Bright and Easy Country," "Encore" and "The Entertainers." Radio Arts also produced several weekend features including "Your Hit Parade" which starred Andre Baruch(the original announcer for "Your Hit Parade") and Bea Wain(Andre's wife and former Big-Band era singer) and "The Polka Parade." Former client services employee of Radio Arts, Chris Edwards worked there for around a year and said it was a treat to have them in the studio for their taping sessions every few days, how much history they both represented in the music business and they were "both the nicest people you could imagine." Chris Edwards also described the radio formats produced by Radio Arts. "American Rock" included a 2-thousand cut library, "Sound 10" was the adult contemporary format, "Encore" was similar to the "Music of Your Life" format with MOR standards, and "The Entertainers" contained several variations which could range from MOR standards to an MOR/soft rock format." The voice of "The Entertainers" was Ron Russ who was also working at KBIG. Brian Bierne was the voice of "American Rock" while working at KRTH, Jerry Bishop of KFI/KGIL was the voice of "Sound 10" and Dick Sinclair who also hosted the "Polka Parade" Show was the voice of "The Bright and Easy Country" format. The company also offered unannounced versions of their music reels, but also offered custom promos, time announcements and other custom production elements for their clients. The studios were located in Burbank, California at the end of the southbound Pass Avenue off ramp on the 134 Freeway. Chris admits the company joke about some drunk failing to break and wind up as part of the furniture in Studio B. It's unknown how many stations the company serviced or for how long during the era, or what happened to the company. As far as I know there were no central Illinois format clients, although local Danville, Illinois AM station WITY ran the "Your Hit Parade" program during the 1980's. thanks to Jon Rohrer for his Radio Arts American Rock Demo!! thanks to Chris Edwards, Client Services of Radio Arts for his information about the company!!
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| Draper-Blore
Radio |
Chuck Blore, was a former radio programmer from the L.A. area and was part of the development of live and automated automated radio formats. Other than that, I've been unable to find any other information about this one-time popular radio format company. This format was under consideration at WDBR in Springfield, but the kick off automated format ultimately became Drake-Chenault. This wasn't the case with WDZ and WBNQ. Both central Illinois stations utilized the "Olde Golde" format for a time. It's unknown when WBNQ began it's experience with contemporary music automated formats, even though even then it was an "oldie" format. WDZ began around 1970 airing "Olde Golde." I was totally new with automated radio at the time, and even though it got my attention with it's "canned" sound, the music selection that was on WDZ included quite a few 50's songs which were unfamiliar to me. I liked the consistent , jock-less sound of the formatics and the custom jingles, as I had never heard anything like it before. The format was later replaced by one of local origination which ultimately was better than any automated format in central Illinois for quite a few years. Check out details on WDZ section of Area CHR Stations. WBNQ, on the other hand, left Draper-Blore in either 1973 or early 1974 and went with Drake-Chenault. Former WBNQ P.D. Denny Adkins, years later, said the format change was made because of quality issues and problems in getting programming updates on time. When and where Draper-Blore appeared and disappeared to is unknown. If anyone knows anything about this once prominent radio programming company please e-mail me at dougquick @ dougquick.com.
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| updated 6/30/2007 web master: Doug Quick copyright © 2001-2008 Doug Quick |