Posts tagged Arts

Sounds of Classic New York Radio.  WKTU 92.3 FM.

As we look back on the life of Don today, I couldn’t help but think about how influential radio was on so many of our careers. And how far it’s come (or fallen,  depending on where you sit.)  For me, one major story is that of WKTU. The right station in the right market for the right time.

In 1975,  WKTU started playing an adult contemporary format. At that point, WKTU was positioned as a “soft rock” station and called “Mellow 92”. Ratings were relatively low. The station held on to the format in spite of low ratings until 1978. That June, when a station executive visited New York’s Studio 54 on half a dozen occasions, he was very impressed with the crowds there. He then got the idea that a disco music-based station was needed, as several FM-based Top 40 stations were leaning disco in other markets. As a result, the station management purchased 200 disco records and brought them into the station. Keeping the same airstaff, adding Paco from their Spanish-language AM station WHOM, and with no notice, the station abruptly flipped to a disco-based rhythmic top 40 format with the tagline “Disco 92” at 6 p.m. July 24, 1978. That fall, the station rose from “Worst to First”, unseating WABC in the 18-30 age demographic. Air personalities of this era included Kenn Hayes, Randy Place, Paul Robinson, Trip Reeb, Mary Thomas, Dave Mallow and Joe Guarisco. During the height of the disco craze, WKTU was the station to follow in New York.

At first, WKTU played mostly dance/disco and a few rhythm-friendly pop and rock songs (such as “Miss You” by the Rolling Stones), but by 1979, the station began to add more R&B music as well as rhythm friendly new wave rock. By then, WKTU was still regarded as a disco station, but could be more accurately described as rhythmic contemporary hit radio. Since that term was not yet used, the station had been classified as urban contemporary. During this period, disc jockeys such as Paco, Rosko, J.D. Holiday (Paul Zarcone), Dale Reeves, Bob Bottone, Jim Harlan Carlos DeJesus, Joe Causi, Guy Broady, Jay Thomas (yes, THAT Jay Thomas), Freddie Colon, Don Geronimo, Al Bandiero and Dianne Pryor graced the airwaves, as the station continued to be at or near the top into the 1980s.

This was a serious soundtrack for me as I explored parts of New York beyond Brooklyn.

On July 13, 1985 WKTU aired the historic Live Aid concert, and taht  night,  at  midnight, the station switched to an album-oriented rock format, adopted the nickname of “K-Rock”, and changed their call letters to WXRK.

Now, K-Rock was great  for what it was. It  was the FM Stereo home of Howard Stern, for example. It introduced some great  progressive mixshows. But there will  never be another 92 KTU.

(The WKTU call letters, by the way, later reappeared on New York City’s 103.5 FM with a dance pop format in 1996, which would later become HOT 103, and then — HOT 97).

I listened to a lot of radio growing up in New York. The ORIGINAL KTU will always hold a special place in my  heart.