WMCA AM 570, New York City: "Independent Radio Station" 1951 US Army

• published: 26 Apr 2015
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more at http://showbiz.quickfound.net 'Military training film on a New York radio station, WMCA, owned by the Nathan Straus family, showing its ownership, management and activities. Good view of radio in the era when most stations were locally owned and operated.' Public domain film from the Prelinger Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied. The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WMCA WMCA (570 AM) is an AM radio station in New York City, owned by Salem Communications and broadcasting with a Christian radio format consisting of teaching and talk programs. The station's studios are in Lower Manhattan and are shared with co-owned WNYM (970 AM). WMCA's transmitters are located along Belleville Turnpike in Kearny, New Jersey. The station's daytime coverage includes New York City and Nassau and Westchester counties in New York State, as well as parts of New Jersey and Connecticut. Prior to switching to its current programming in 1989, WMCA's best-known incarnations were as a locally-programmed talk radio outlet during the 1970s and 1980s; and before that as a Top 40 outlet featuring its lineup of disc jockeys, known as the "Good Guys". WMCA is credited with having been the first New York radio station to broadcast a recording by the Beatles... Early years After first testing as station 2XH, WMCA began regular transmissions on February 1, 1925, broadcasting on 428.6 meters wavelength with a power of 500 watts. The station was the 13th radio station to begin operations in New York City and was owned by broadcasting pioneer Donald Flamm. The station's original studios and antenna were atop the Hotel McAlpin, located on Herald Square and from which WMCA's call letters derive. In 1928 it moved to the 570 kHz frequency, sharing time for the next three years with municipally-owned WNYC. On April 19, 1932, the Federal Radio Commission approved WMCA's application to broadcast full-time on 570 kHz. In December 1940, Flamm had to surrender the station to industrialist Edward J. Noble, who had just resigned as Undersecretary of Commerce, in a transaction involving prominent political figures including Thomas Corcoran. Flamm's subsequent legal battle against Noble resulted in a congressional investigation and eventually ended in a financial settlement, though not the return of the station. Through its early decades WMCA had a varied programming history, playing music, hosting dramas, and broadcasting New York Giants baseball games. In 1943, it was acquired by the Straus family when Edward J. Noble acquired the Blue Network and its owned-and-operated stations from NBC, including WJZ (now WABC) in New York; the Blue Network would later be renamed the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). In 1945, host Barry Gray began dropping music and adding talk with celebrities and later call-in listeners; he is thus sometimes considered "The Father of Talk Radio", and his show lasted on WMCA through several decades and format changes. WMCA began playing hit music in the late 1950s with a Top 40 format. Among its disc jockey staff were future legends Scott Muni, Frankie Crocker, Harry Harrison and Murray "the K" Kaufman. In 1960, WMCA began promoting itself by stressing its on-air personalities, who were collectively known as the Good Guys. Led by program director Ruth Meyer, the first woman to hold the position in New York City radio, this was the era of the high-profile Top 40 disc jockey with an exuberant personality aimed at a certain audience segment. With the advent of the Good Guys format, WMCA became more "on top" of new music and started to become known for "playing the hits." In the early 1960s, the top 40 format was still young, and the field was crowded in New York City. Two major 50,000-watt stations, WMGM (frequency now occupied by WEPN) and WINS, had battled each other, playing pop music for years. Then in 1960, WABC joined the fray and started featuring top 40 music. Ultimately, it was WMCA's earnest competition with rival WABC that forced WMGM (in early 1962) and then WINS (in spring 1965) to abandon the top-40 format.... Talk era The station finally adopted a full-time talk radio format labelled "Dial-Log Radio" in 1970 and the "Good Guys" music era was over, however the "Good Guy" theme eventually did make a comeback in a promotional marketing effort... Christian era Since September 16, 1989, WMCA has been doing a Christian radio format, typical for Salem Communications. Initially it had the slogan "New York's Christian Radio", later changed to "New York's Inspiring Talk"...