What Storz did was apply the Top 40 concept to rock n roll. But the Country format was gaining acceptance among older baby-boomers and melding that growth with WDGYs big 50,000-watt signal gave new purpose to the station and validation to a growing, willing audience that perhaps Country musics time was coming. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}445805N 924001W / 44.96806N 92.66694W / 44.96806; -92.66694, For the radio station which held the WDGY callsign from 1926 to 1991, see, Learn how and when to remove these template messages, Learn how and when to remove this template message, http://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=16, https://startribune.newspapers.com/image/186746317/?terms=wdgy&match=1, Radiotapes.com Historic Minneapolis/St. Doing the research for this page has taken all of my resources, from the all-important Facebook, Star Tribune, and Wikipedia, broken links, bad info and all. Its president was Marvin Kosofsky, who said he was not going to change the jazz programming, which had been taken over by Art Hoehn and Paul Franklyn. Herb Oscar Anderson was the first disk jockey on the air with the new Top 40 rock n roll format that morning, and the jocks and the new sounds boosted the station from a tepid Number 4 to second place behind behemoth WCCO. An invaluable source of information about the history of WDGY comes from a Masters Thesis written by Jerry Verne Haines in 1970. Well, they got out of the rock n roll business but stayed in the radio business until November 1972, when the station was sold and became WYOO. We thought you could come up with a new product called Formula 63. Haines wrote: Rock and roll had a difficult entry into the Twin Cities market. Contacts. Jeff Lonto: KDAN was depicted as an FM underground rock station, the complete opposite of what it actually was. Proceeds would go to a charity mutually agreed upon by the two teams. (Were they ahead of their time?) The station was nicknamed "WeeGee," the phonetic pronunciation of the call sign, and its format was near the top of the ratings for several years. We hope you will enjoy our first birthday edition YESTERHITS FROM YESTERDAY and join us in listening to the second year of Much More Music on 1130 Radio WDGY. KUXL hosted the Impressions at the Marigold Ballroom on January 22, 1967. The Catman was Tom Bernard who at one time was a record rep (Capitol Records, I think). See the new transmitter here courtesy www.radiotapes.com, Aerial shot of the 9-tower array courtesy Tom Gavaras. Jay Philpott was the only holdover from the old format they had me doing 7 to Midnight until I left for WLOL in July 1980., Country music (SMN County Coast To Coast) (1982-1984), Contemporary Hit Radio (SMN Rock America) Hot Rock 950 KRSI (1984-1985), The last KRSI logo, 1985, courtesy Jeff Lonto, Simulcast with KRSI-FM as KJJO (1986-1988). He truly loves the business. Not sure what this is announcing. And then, nothing. It was fun, and by then, Charlie was on the mornings, and I did the news and the bits. The license for that station expired in 1938, partly because mechanical television development was heavily discouraged by that point. The disturbance was considered contained by 2:30 am. I do not remember much about Gene Leader. WDGY (740 AM, " The True Oldies Channel ") is a daytime-only oldies radio station serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota. The format changed to classical music in 1961. The reels are changed by an actual human person., Oldies, the all-timers but not whammo smashes, not instantly recognizable but they sold a lot., Top country hits new reels sent in weekly. the second line is pretty shocking: Skotchs research concluded that the suburban housewife was a lonely person was too busy to hear her troubles and who tied herself in knots over small problems. The new owners immediately requested permission from the FCC to change the call letters back to WMIN. It was emceed by Jack with KUXL, and is believed to be the first appearance of Brown in the Twin Cities. Then they would have to schlep the transmitter in a big box (about the size of a single hole outhouse) back to Minnesota. Jerry Telser, 10-2 electrifying the afternoon airwavesJohn Pete, 6-Midnight seasoning your evening with top pop hitswide-eyed George Murphy, holding sway with the night people from midnight to dawn. The music first played on KUXL was of the Percy Faith/David Rose/Henry Mancini/Peggy Lee/Bing Crosby/Lawrence Welk fare. We hope you will enjoy our first birthday edition YESTERHITS FROM YESTERDAY and join us in listening to the second year of Much More Music on 1130 Radio WDGY. So many questions. While there were clearly some country/western shows Saturday Hoedown, Western Favorites and perhaps some old time songs Tin Pan Allan was on a lot there were others with intriguing names: Most importantly, WMIN had three powerhouse disk jockeys: Bill Diehl worked at WMIN from 1948-49 and from 1951-55. The only coordination was (sometimes) the Pick Hit of The Week as a freebie to a record maker.. Later they would admit that the Todd Storz they often disparaged very well may have saved radio at a time when television was stealing its audience. Here is what had happened. I know nothing about Billy G! And, Im sure it was after checking with their attorney, one by one they dropped our little campaign. As always, much more information and many airchecks are available at www.radiotapes.com/wwtc.html and http://twincitiesradioairchecks.com/wwtc.html. WDGY's Charlie Van Dyke & Donald K. Martin in the studio during their morning show. Skotchs idea was to create something new. We sold spots a dollar a holler.. For a short-lived, rather obscure radio station, a lot of activity was logged. Everyone seemed to be just milling about. Airchecks from 1955 57 on www.radiotapes.com seem to indicate that the music was pretty middle-of-the-road, but they did play Hound Dog on September 7, 1956 Its #1! The station was DJ-driven, with a July 2, 1956 ad touting the Fabulous 4+1: Herb Oscar Anderson, Don Loughnane, Jack Thayer, Bill Armstrong, and Bill Bennett. Jack Thayer had started his career here, from 1942-1951. An obvious reference to his old employing station. WWTC AM Radio is something of an oasis in the local radio market. The DJ on the air, Ron Block, noticed the pall of smoke in the hallway and left the building. The format on the 500 watt station was folksy to the point where it may have out-folksied WCCO. Meanwhile the station was being sold, and they moved over to KQRS (which was then KEVE) to continue playing jazz after dark fell and KUXL was off the air. He plays what the station management calls race music, and what is perpetrators call soul music. I got my First in 6 weeks at Brown Institute. By the 1960s, the station didn't use the name itself, but the name stuck among people in the radio industry for many years to come. When constructed, a Bloomington transmitter location made sense as there was little development to the south at the time. The rest of that Sunday night, people continued to mill about. The show was emceed by KUXLs Jack Harris and Billy G. Little Miltons hits were listed in an ad in the Insider as Were Going to Make It, Blind Man, and More and More.. In the photo below, the KUXL trailer is in the parking area behind the building. A Billboard Magazine from July 9, 1966 shows that it was a 250-watt independent station operating 15 hours/day. WDGY gained the (perhaps unfortunate) nickname Weegee after a time. Photo dated November 6, 1942, courtesy Minnesota Historical Society. . Ill tell it right when I find it again. We dug up the Colonel, I called and told him what we had in mind. They all said the same thing, essentially: screw your non-cancelable contract. The station was licensed as 500-watt daytimer serving South St. Paul. He has been at KQRS in the Twin Cities for years, doing the morning show. band (which had necessitated the Mighty 1130s switch in the first place.) Good music. An envelope dated October 1, 1956, is addressed to 10350 Fremont Ave. The next morning we were all there and I still remember seeing Howie Anderson shoveling the wreckage out the engineering entrance. Sometime between March 1976 and January/February 1979, the station flipped to Disco. In late 1976/early 1977, the station rebranded itself as Y-11 (never losing its WDGY call letters) and switched to a progressive rock, album-oriented format. The first we hear of programming that was not Percy Faith and not (by this 21st Century womans standards) patronizing, comes in mid 1964. Packhorse/Pecos Paul Denault -There was also a Packhorse Paul and/or a Pecos Paul same guy? After several call letter changes, including WHAT and WGWY, Young settled on WDGY, which was based on his initials. The term we are using to describe this particular form of AOR is Coloradio. Our research and general observations indicate that this is the direction of AM Top 40 radio, so we may as well start now.. Contributed by John Pratt 12-6-07. We were doing just that. Never would have believed this if I hadnt seen it with my own eyes!. The station played Country music with a heavy emphasis on local North Suburban news and sports. KTCR signed on on April 5, 1962, as a Country station. My wife and I had long discussions late into the evening. Storz's stations were heavy on promotion, headline-grabbing contests, and high profile dee-jays (usually using echo-chamber microphones). On August 26, 1974, live at the Minnesota State Fair, the oldies format became boogie, with KDWB alumnus Rob Sherwood heading up a wild and crazy format as U100. I do enjoy it! Jackie Wilson was scheduled to perform at the Marigold on January 14, 1966, but didnt arrive until midnight, causing a near-riot at the ballroom when the 1,600 people in the audience became annoyed. Police were called and the City Council discussed the matter. They want smooth, slick, uncluttered radio., Ad from Minneapolis/St. There were other ways for Twin Citians to hear pre-WDGY rock n roll, of course: Records from Melodee Record Shop in Downtown Minneapolis, movies like Blackboard Jungle, and live performances of pop, jazz, and country acts. He was in town doing two shows at the Flame Nightclub at 16th and Nicollet in downtown Minneapolis. This aircheck has the music scoped out, but the commercials and promos are left in, providing a glimpse into the times. With a constant bombardment of loud jingles, the jocks would scream YEEEEWWWW ONE HUNDRED! and BOOGIE! when they werent giving the time, temperature (its 72 degrees in Frriiidleeeeey!) or bad jokes. It was a small shack hoisted on a small tower on the corner of 9th and Nicollet. Our family cabin was located north of Park Rapids. Rhythm. Here was a country station, WCOW, and on Saturday afternoon and evening, along came Mr. Luxurious digs, no? says Curt. Also, a fun fact is that in October 1964, wide-eyed George Murphy (something you cant see on radio) became Dino Day and began hosting A Date With Dino on Channel 9 TV. In July 1966 (Smith sold out to Kosofsky?) ARSA: ABOUT: SURVEYS: STATIONS: WDGY 1130 AM. Oops! In a June 4, 1959, article in the St. Louis Park High School Echo, it was reported that the FM station would feature dance band music on Fridays and Saturdays. The Stewarts had worked at WCCO in various capacities since 1944. Last week Ed Skotch of KUXL announced plans to introduce features designed to cheer up the lonely housewives, and now Bill Stewart of WPBC says he has started a new format of happy music and other features of make people feel better.. If it doesnt do, Ill be back in the rat race.. First, the story of the building. The frequency was originally 1140 kc. Ed replaced Machine Gun Kelly when he split for KHJ. Cream City purchased the station from Franklin Broadcasting of New York. After 64 years of dormancy, an amateur radio group in the area acquired the W9XAT call sign in 2002 with the intention of using it for mechanical and narrow-bandwidth TV experiments. probably not. In July 1957 Kamman was doing the noon to 2pm show from Southdale, just off the Garden Court. A newspaper schedule dated December 19, 1972, shows the same preacher tapes, as Ray Moss called them, from 6 am to 1 pm. Good New Show on KUXL: Saturday at 5:00 pm is the time to listen to all the old hits on Bill Blast Hits of the Past. The show, hosted by Al Collins of Music City, downtown Minneapolis, received good response from listeners. Subject: Re: Guest Book for Scott Gary Burton. Oh, sure, was my response. And, I can confirm that the man was everything his name implied: he was Little (411 tall), Jimmy (for James Cecil), and he admittedly was full of the Dickens. But thats another story. I didnt exit at McKnight drive. Oh the Cookie Station KDWB!!! So they convinced Edwards to do it and he became Merle Hub Cap Edwards. Back to the drama. At the time it was programming Classical music. As always, these recordings will be available at no charge to you. Take the elevator, said the sign. Lets do bullets: Douglas Rice, Director of 3-man news department, General Manager: Robert W. Smith (Wolfman Jack). Minneapolis / St. Paul radio station WDGY 1130 AM survey chart for the week of 1970-02-13. KUXL sponsored dances at various venues, and brought in national acts. In an interview given for the Rondo Oral History Project of the Minnesota Historical Society, Yusef Mgeni remembered that KUXL was a strange hybrid type of station. K-COW said, Uh uh! Its the swinginest!, In March 1958, WLOLs catchphrases were The Best Sound for Miles and Miles Around and Bigger, Better, Brighter than Ever.. KDWBs listeners were gradually migrating to the FM signal. Im guessing that KAAYs Beaker Street was influential here. Al Tedesco purchased the station in 1968. Matter of fact, the spots started at 6 AM and by 10 seven of the eight stations had called the ad agency making all kinds of threats. The station had a country format at the time and was owned by Benita Soho of Los Angeles, doing business as Newport Broadcasting. The last listing in the paper as WMKT was April 11, 1970. The station again went dark, this time for good, but when? The Beatles, Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, The Eagles, ZZ Top, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, Ike & Tina Turner, The Who, Rod Stewart, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Carlos Santana, Billy Joel, The Doobie Brothers, The Steve Miller Band, The Beach Boys, Van Morrison, The Animals, Guess Who, Neil Diamond, Herman's Hermits, The Supremes, Sam and Dave, Stevie Wonder, The Four Seasons, Blood Sweat and Tears, The Allman Brothers, Johnny Rivers, Sonny and Cher, The Moody Blues, The Spinners, Grand Funk Railroad, Three Dog Night, The Box Tops, Chicago, Electric Light Orchestra and the list goes on. Stand with Ukraine. WDGY operated on eight frequencies [1] by the time it settled on 1180 AM. Our studios were at the transmitter at [Seventh and] Davern Street in St. Paul and engineers played both records and commercials.. The banner gives the shows host as Dave Reau, and the time slot as 11-11:15 am. But stay tuned. So many questions. U100 signed off for the last time at midnight on Wednesday September 15, 1976. The KDWB Seven Swingin Gentlemen, 1960: Randy Cook, Dick Halverson, Bobby Dale, Sam Sherwood, Bob Friend, Lou Riegert, Hal Murray. At that time the station was also playing show tunes, Lawrence Welk, and shows like Dragnet, Bob Hope, The Great Gildersleeve, and biographies. Billboard Magazine from July 9, 1966 shows that it was a rep... Frequencies [ 1 ] by the two teams and by then, Charlie was on the 500 watt was... Was owned by Benita Soho of Los Angeles, doing business as Newport.! Uncluttered radio., Ad from Minneapolis/St 's Charlie Van Dyke & Donald K. Martin the! Same thing, essentially: screw your non-cancelable contract two teams actually.! Of AOR is Coloradio air, Ron Block, noticed the pall of smoke the... 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