You'll Never Get Rich In Radio Handbook - 1977

Back in 1977 I was two years into my first real radio job at WKZL Winston-Salem NC. One of the big thrills for me was working with one of my boyhood idols, Steve Norris of WTOB. That year the station staff came over for a surprise birthday party. Linda Norris, at that time married to Steve, gave me the following birthday card:

I didn't know it at the time, but this was the best radio training that I'd get! I'm posting a couple of the 12 pages below, and you can click them to enlarge, but you can download the entire card as a .pdf file by clicking here. 

 

Here's a shot of Linda Norris at the birthday party. She's the one on the left. Linda later worked for a advertising agency in the Triad. I've since lost touch with her, but I won't forget her or her advice.

Wayne Ashworth's WTOB Memories

WTOB 1380 Winston-Salem NC was one of the best sounding Top 40 stations around from the 60s on. Jocks like George Lee, Willie Edwards, The Flying Dutchman, and later Rick Dees and Steve Norris kept the station ahead of rival WAIR. News Director Wayne Ashworth published these photos on Facebook, and they're reposted here with his permission.

 

Ralph Beavers and Wayne Ashworth in front of the WTOB studios in the Thruway Plaza. 

 

Bob Dale at the board.

"Wild Child" Willie Edwards on the air at WTOB.

WTOB digs Reynolds High School pennant

Tiny Tim in the studio with WTOB jock Steve Norris.

Long time jock Buddy Latham with a great board shot.

WTOB promotional materials. I wonder what that record is.

Thanks again to Wayne Ashworth, WTOB News Director, seen here from 1969.

PAMS Winston-Salem My Hometown Record

Listen to or download "Winston-Salem My Hometown"

Here's a slice of retro for you. PAMS jingle company in Dallas made this generic song available to local radio stations around the country in the 60's. The station would find a local sponsor, write some lyrics, and presto!, a local hit.

There were over a hundred localized versions of this record, all recorded in Dallas. Radio Use Only blog has an amazingly complete story for you to read.

Bonus retroness: Thalhimer's Department Store was the local sponsor for this record through the local Top 40 station 1380 WTOB. Here's where you might have stumbled upon this record back then.

WKZL Winston-Salem Arbitron Numbers 1976

I walked into WKZL in Winston-Salem in January 1975, the day that WSGH became WKZL. The station was one of the first commercial album rock formats in North Carolina, and within one year was the overall #1 in listeners. The format was a loose mixture of rock, jazz, top 40 songs and some oldies. Just a step away from free-form, you could hear Sky King's "Secret Sauce" next to Hall & Oates, or a Donovan oldie next to Triumverat's "Spartacus". Jocks during the first two years included Alan Cameron, Randy Kabrich, Steve Day, Bruce Key, Reid Stott, Ron Spivey, Jerry Smith, Steve Marshall, Mitch Clarke, Lee Cameron, Nick Archer, Steve Norris, and Kitty Kinnin. There was a great production staff as well, consisting of Jack Shaw and Rowell Gormon.

Here's an aircheck of Alan Cameron reporting live from the Led Zeppelin concert at the Greensboro Coliseum in 1975. We couldn't get tickets from the record company because we were so new, but the Zep was so loud outside the Coliseum that Alan sounded like he was front and center. Thanks to Keith Weston for this aircheck. Listen here.

Want to see the whole six page Arbitron report? Download the pdf file here.

Here's a pic of Alan Cameron. It's blurry, just like much of the 70s.

WTOB Winston-Salem NC QSL Card

WTOB in Winston-Salem North Carolina was the first AM station that I listened to as a teen in 1965. Years later I lived in Willingboro, New Jersey, but still cruised the noisy upper AM band for odd stations. One evening among the jumble I heard the familiar sounds of WTOB fading in and out. I wrote the station with info and got this card in the mail. Click to enlarge:

WTOB Winston-Salem NC Survey August 15, 1969

WTOB and WAIR were the two Top 40 stations in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. WAIR was on 1340 and WTOB on 1380 so much channel switching went on. Here's the WTOB survey from August 15, 1969. Text version of the survey is here. 
Click any image to enlarge.

WAIR Winston-Salem NC Survey Sep 05 1969