Follow the link to read the story of this long-running radio show. Five or six foxes shake and gyrate on the stage each night to KUXL records, and Jones assures us they are the liveliest of them all. Curt Lundgren, who would go on the air as Evan Curfew, tells us that the studio was in the basement of the South Side Lumberyard Building, right behind McCarthys Restaurant on what is now 394. I hope you have some audio clean up program. Police said they did not use tear gas to break up the crowd. Or so reported the Minneapolis Tribune, the day after that. Then on Wednesday, July 8, 1964, were back to the old KUXL! WLOL first went on the air on June 6, 1940. The photo below was posted on Facebook by Paul Strickland, who says. On December 16, 1964, afternoons changed from jazz to Rhythm and Blues. The station even gave trading stamps three and a half million every week to listeners who called in at the right times. The small 1000 watt daytime station was located at 1470 on the AM Dial. (Minneapolis Star, March 14, 1966). The text is rather small; it reads: Today WWTC Radio trades violins for violence. We hired an advertising agency which represented a large local chain of drug stores where free samples of Formula 63 where to be made available. One was a big man about 64 tall, the other much shorter and wearing a white Stetson hat, white boots and a red and white country-western outfit that was so loaded with rhinestones that he literally shimmered when he walked. CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE, WDGY Air Staff 1986. This photo was taken in 1969 after he came back to replace Rob Sherwood when he left for KDWB-AM. At the same time, the station will be entering the background music field, supplying a separate channel of music to supermarkets, offices, plants, and other installations, reported the Minneapolis Daily Herald on August 8, 1962. The Original Rock and Roll Station. Call sign: WDGY Frequency: 740 AM City of license: Hudson, WI Format: Oldies Owner: WRPX Area Served: Minneapolis-St. Paul Sister stations: 94.9 El Rey Contact Address: 300 St Croix Trail S, Lakeland, MN 55043 Phone: (651) 436-4000 New furnace, electricity etc. Sources are cited, if known. JAVASCRIPT IS DISABLED. He also mentions his concern about working around a transmitter that could light up light bulbs without putting them in an electrical socket. We needed new transmitters, new phones, new carpet, new roofs, new this and new that. Shapira wrote about how difficult it was to sustain a jazz show in Minneapolis, and how Johnson, first hired early in 1971 to do the news, wanted to give it a try. The contributed recordings fromfriends and contributors of both airchecks and other material are greatly appreciated. As a courtesy, once we had been exposed, the agency called them apologetically offering to rescind the non-cancelable clause. Shot of Johnny Canton's desk area at WDGY-AM when he was the music director. Also my parents listened to WDGY in the mid to late 50's and on the long drive to the lake as well. The 9-tower array beaming 50,000 watts was used to produce one of the most restrictive signals in the USA. The stations R&B programming had averaged about two hours daily during recent months when the stations sign-off time local sunset had been late afternoon. Its IN but NOT far out!!!! The control board (using slider pots) was in the left middle of the shot and two reel to reels in the middle right. Unfortunately the photos arent dated, but we do know that the band formed in 1954 when Augie returned from Korea. Because WTCN-TV was sold to a different company (Chris Craft Broadcast, Inc.), the two stations had to have different names. could get them on my Lloyds Transistor Six when the batteries were dead., I dated a girl who lived on Fremont Ave. between 101st & 102nd streets. The recordings of the contributors to this web site who recorded them off the air may show up on other sites. WDGY was certainly a much different station pre-Beatles than it was as the 60's progressed. . R&B existed right here in the Twin Cities, but was apparently a well-kept secret. They would play pranks like play the identical songs for an hour and see if anyone noticed. Phone : (651) 436-4000. . Garcia was so good that Colonel Parker pulled him off early so he wouldnt upstage Presley. By 1955 the station was starting to play covers of rock n roll in with Perry Como and Doris Day. We do know that the station was playing rock n roll from the WMIN Top 40 dated August 4, 1958. Along with enough news to give you information, but not anxiety. KDWBs general manager at the time, Gary Stevens, claimed that they did not buy WYOO-FM to shut down a competitor, but rather to take advantage of what they saw as a good deal. At about 9:30 pm, someone with a shotgun wounded three police officers who, with about 20 others, were trying to break up a crowd of about 200 who had gathered at the site of a firebombing. Ad courtesy Jeff Lonto. In May 1961 it was purchased by Red Owl Stores, Inc. which was seeking diversified subsidiaries. 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. The music first played on KUXL was of the Percy Faith/David Rose/Henry Mancini/Peggy Lee/Bing Crosby/Lawrence Welk fare. Solomon Burke performed on May 28, 1965. I know nothing about Billy G! As part of the anniversary celebration, listeners were urged to send the station a birthday card with a favorite song from the last year, and if it was drawn the listener could win the Yesterhits Souvenir Album and a chance of winning one of six Hondas. This site does not charge any fees to listen to the posted recordings. The call letters WDGY were based on the name of the founder Dr. George . When Hagman moved to WDGY, he brought the Top Forty concept with him, as well as the Mutual Broadcasting System, which aired programs like Queen for a Day and Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. A schedule from April 1955 shows Eddie Cantor and a lot of Springtime Serenade, but also shows just identified by the DJ (Bill Rudd and Irv Smith put in a lot of time.). As for ownership, that, too, is a jumble. Thats easy to remember. Of course, we could say that sixty three times an hour, and if no one was listening, it wouldnt be that easy to remember. So, we had to do something to let people know we were there there. 1,135 Sq. WDGY: Dick Driscoll remembers trying to sneak in some peppier tunes in the mid- 1950s, to his bosss chagrin. Donald K. Martin at the mic again for a July 7th, 2008 interview. (1960's). KDAN may not have been muchbut it provided me opportunity and a beginning. KQRS 92.5 FM started out as KEVE-AM on September 1, 1963. Billboards? Im guessing that KAAYs Beaker Street was influential here. It was perhaps the only American commercial radio station the Russians had to jam to prevent their people from hearing all that decadent American Rock & Roll! The slogan was 15 KSTPTHE MUSIC STATION., The Insider made note of the change to a rock format, playing a mix of current and older top 40. The Strib is online now! David Hersk remembers that Edwards had a late night show where he called himself Uncle Merle and played plenty of rock n roll in 1954-55. KDWB Studios, 1976 Courtesy RadioTapes.com. The competition, sometimes friendly, sometimes not, resulted in memorable merchandising promotions and concerts. They were born in St. Pauls Swede Hollow. Sincerely by the McGuire Sisters. We asked them what WPBC should be playing and it was almost unanimous that we should play the top 40, rock and roll, Stewart recalled. By 1972/1973, KRSI and KQRS had almost identical Progressive Rock shows. The switch was preceded by a five minute retrospective radio collage of the history of WDGY, and the first song played was John Denvers Thank God Im a Country Boy.. On November 8, 1954, WMIN hosted a four-hour remote from the new Melodee Record Shop at 704 Hennepin Ave., advertised in the Minneapolis Spokesman. Thats what caused the severe distortion, despite registering a 4 on my Wards Airline signal strength scale of 1 to 5. Jimmy also worked at KDWB-AM and KRSI prior to this gig. In April 1963, the listings showed Jerry Boyum on from 6 to 10 am, Mort Garren from 10 to 2 pm, and John Sewall from 2 to 7 pm. It discussed an article in the December 3, 1958 issue of Variety, in which Richard J. Miller, president of St. Louis radio station KXLW claimed that: most Negro emphasis radio is a cheap insult to Negroes, a source of self-generated bigotry, religious quackery, charlatanism, and a wallow of ugly, primitive and harmful sounds. This a recnet PR photo. If it doesnt do, Ill be back in the rat race.. Where is the equipment? In 1954 and 55 Bob Bradley and Jerry Cunning played R&B tunes. Show more. When did they first hear this new music that some loved, some hated, some called just a fad, but few could ignore? Interestingly enough, in my KUXL file I found an article from the Minneapolis Spokesman, the black communitys weekly newspaper, dated December 26, 1958. To celebrate its first anniversary, WDGY is happy to present this album of YESTERHITS FROM YESTERDAY. It includes a collection of twelve of the greatest hits from the last year. One more testament to the sheer effective radiated power in WDGYs nighttime lobe. In 1959, WDGY gained a formidable challenger when KDWB launched. Think of all the bad karma we collected every time we played Puppy Love by Donny Osmond. For his Masters Thesis on the history of WDGY, Jerry Verne Haines interviewed WDGY announcer Leonard D. Bart on June 15, 1970. They used KUOM AM instead of WLOL AM because they did not want to scare away their AM Top 40 listeners by playing even only one hour of the FMs classical music. It will be historical and contemporary, sweet, hot, lowdown, enlightened Chicago style or very cool. Its billed as the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, complete with nine-piece band, singers Bobby John and Jimmy Thomas and a girl trio called the Ikettes. People walking by the facility at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds would comment, what is this? U100 the twin cites powerhouse playing top 40 and album rock from the speakers with no one in the booth! Selby and Avon Streets. The situation was very ironic when he talked about the flash success of KUXL in the jazz field. Zingale urged the Tedescos to change the stations format to all R&B, and they considered it, but since they were only a 1,000 watt daytimer, they figured that a more powerful station would just steal the format and leave them hanging. WDGY operated on a number of different frequencies before settling onto 1130 AM in 1941. Alan Freed found another award made by the station to the American Legion North Side Post on May 1, 1962, for Excellence in Community Service. The epic blizzard of March 1965 prevented Bobby Blue Bland from making a KUXL-sponsored dance at the Marigold, but a local musician was found to substitute, admission price was lowered, and the event still drew 2,600 people. My wife and I had long discussions late into the evening. Interestingly, he was listed as age 29, she 24. 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. The transmitters were destroyed, as was the entire engineering area and furnace room. A construction permit was granted to install a new transmitter and a permit was granted to increase power to 1kw on October 1, 1963. Theres a ton of stories circulating about Top 40 began inspired by an Omaha tavern juke box, developed by a college statistical department, guided by BBDOs Hit Parade formula for Lucky Strike you name it. In a blurb in the Minneapolis Star (September 1, 1977), station manager Dale Webber was quoted as saying the reason for the change was getting out of the ridiculous Top 40 market. There were three other country stations on AM in the market at the time. Tune to the wtcn 1280 signal. Jim Dandy, Perry St. John, Scott Burton, George Young, B. Mason Dean. The 9-tower array beaming 50,000 watts was used to produce one of the most restrictive signals in the USA. But, neither was it going to be a full-time jazz station as some had hoped. Sometime between March 1976 and January/February 1979, the station flipped to Disco. WDGY moved from 1130 to 630 AM and became sports station KFAN. History The WDGY callsign was used for another well-known station in the area from 1925 until 1991 and broadcast at 1130 kHz. A September 21, 1958 playlist shows jocks Bob Bradley, Tom Wynn, Jim Boysen, Dan Anderson, and Sandy Singer. The crowd moved west down 4th Street, smashing store windows, until they got to the Selby-Dale neighborhood, where many of the Citys 10,000 black people lived in what could only be described as a ghetto. Jay Philpott posted it to Facebook, and listed the names: Brian Cosmic Phenix, Bob Lange, True Don Bleu, Tim Kelly (nee Sebean), Smokin Joe Hager, Chuck Britton, Dave Cooper (nee Hamilton), John Sebastion (PD), and Dave Thompson. The radio studios are on Utica Avenue South in St. Louis Park . The stations music survey was Top 15 Teen Tunes, and included 5 Top Comers selected by a High School Panel of Experts. In about 1970 there was a shake-up of personnel. Its Ipanema, not Impanema. Ill always be grateful for the little station in the funky building on Military Road in Newport. Its complex. Hed also done some research in music therapy, and planned to play records for what they did for the listener. This has been the only transmitter location for the station since it signed on the air. No Top Forty. Photo by Greg Helgeson, Minnesota Music magazine, Bumper sticker @ 1980 1984. WDGY Radio is a Oldies radio station serving Minneapolis-St. Paul. WDGY/Minneapolis has modified its Top 40 format to an AOR-slanted approach. The Original Rock and Roll Station. Those seven people included Mr. and Mrs. Rob and Hartman decided to use U100 because of the dial position on an FM tuner you barely had to turn the dial to fine-tune between 980 AM and 101.3 FM they were within a couple millimeters of being in line on a 1970s-style AM/FM stereo tuner. But the advent of WDGY was the quantifiable arrival of the genre that influenced lifestyles, attitudes, fashion, language, and of course, radio formats for generations to come. KANO was started in 1956 by Jack Lemme, who owned a radio station in Little Falls. [This was what Ed Skotch wanted to be The Nations Most Attention-Programmed Station, remember?] The mother of all remotes was when several people from the station took over the Ebony Lounge, which was located in St. Paul over Roadbuddys Barbeque. WCOW was a precursor to KDWB, so it must have been another station. After a couple of changes the call letters became WDGY (Dr. George Young) in 1926.