As I said in my post earlier this week regarding the Forgotten Film
FM, I've been thinking a lot lately about radio, a medium I've always loved. The one station that is likely most responsible for that love is the late WCAU 98.1 FM and their "Hot Hits" format of the '80s.
This format was a form of Top 40 that focuses on high energy presentation, as little talk from the DJs as possible, avoidance of even the slightest moment of dead air, and heavy rotation of the biggest hit songs. In regards to DJ talk, it wasn't that the DJs shouldn't talk at all, but that the talk be concise, to the point, and to serve in the transition of programming, and WCAU-FM's DJs did that excellently.
This format was created by a consultant named Mike Joseph, who had also been instrumental in creating the Top 40 formats of legendary stations WABC-AM in New York and WFIL-AM in Philadelphia, among others. Joseph had refined his format into what he would term "Hot Hits," and the format debuted in 1977 in Hartford, Connecticut to ratings success.
In April 1981, Joseph met with the management of WCAU-FM in Philly to help the station and its struggling disco/dance format (disco being pretty much dead by 1981). After a few months of testing and tooling behind the scenes, the Hot Hits format made its debut in September 1981.
It was an instant success.
The music, the jingles, and most importanly, the DJs, all hand-picked by Joseph, worked together to create a station that was energetic, fresh, and very
very 80s. The best way to explain all this is through the sound of the station itself, and thanks to recent YouTube posters and aircheck collectors, I can do this for you now.
Here is early midday jock Rich Hawkins a mere day or two into the new format.
The most popular DJ at the station, and my favorite DJ of all time, was Terry Young, the "Motormouth." He was funny, strange, fast, and very popular, especially with younger listeners. Here he is in November 1981 during his 7 to midnight shift.
Here is a composite of several DJs and dayparts from February 1982.
Here is a whopping 16 minutes of 98's first major morning man and "shock jock" Barsky in February of 1983. He would be fired in 1985 but return to Philly in the '90s at several Philly stations for many years afterwards.
You can hear the station undergo changes here and there as the 80s progressed, especially in jingles. Here is Jefferson Ward from July of 1985.
As other stations started to erose ratings from the station here and there over the years, and with station owner CBS high on the oldies format that was very successful on their New York City station, WCAU's days as a Top 40 station were numbered. Here is the station from October 28, 1987, days before it would flip to the oldies format.
Two bits of irony about the station's flip to oldies: the station had been an oldies station through much of the 1970s already, and as the station today has included a good deal of 80s songs into their current classic hits format, they're starting to sound more like they did in the 80s.
Thanks!
