WFOM Marietta Survey May 21 1967

Another survey from WFOM Marietta, Georgia, a station that had a loyal fan base even in competition against WQXI mere miles away. Click to enlarge, audio version here.

SM95 The Music FM Nashville 1976-1983

SM95, WSM-FM Nashville, was a unique station for the late 70s and early 80s, blending a mixture of pop, west coast rock, oldies, light jazz, and even contemporary Christian music into a format that captured young adult listeners for years. John Young was the first program director, followed by Mary Catherine Sneed, Donna Brake, and Bruce Sherman. Here's a group shot from the 80s.

Back row is newsman Mike Donegan, jocks Gary Beaty and Karen Gerson, Gary Wright, Iris Wray, and jocks Bruce Sherman, Donna Brake, Steve Henderson, unknown, and Andy Pearson. Front row CBS promo guy and jock Kris Bradley. Click here to hear a 5 minute aircheck of Steve Henderson on SM95.

Several years ago there was an SM95 reunion party in Franklin, Tennessee. Jock Skip Woolwine edited this video of the event:

WFIL Philadelphia Survey Jan 15 1968

Another fine WFIL survey from early 1968. Click to enlarge, audio version here.

Nashville My Hometown PAMS Record and More

I wondered if there was a Nashville version of the My Home Town song from PAMS. Turns out a friend of mine had the record! Click here to listen.

WKDA didn't sell the whole concept, but they did sell the B side of the record. Here's the story of Elm Hill Bill.


PAMS jingle company has a page with more examples. And here are a few more versions,

Portland Maine, Louisville Kentucky, and Austin Texas.

KCBQ San Diego Survey March 29, 1964

Just in time for John Lennon's birthday, Timmy sends us the KCBQ survey from March 19, 1964. Click to enlarge, audio version is here.

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.