skip to main |
skip to sidebar
PHOTO INDEX: WARM SURVEY SHEET WITH ANTI DRUG MESSAGE. WARM'S WAR ON DRUGSAs the innocence of the early 1960s faded, and long before Nancy Reagan launched her "Just Say No" campaign, WARM Radio utilized an anti drug message. Recognizing that the new, more progressive music had drug overtones, WARM carefully looked at its play list. Still, the station could not ignore popular music trends. However WARM proactively ran anti drug campaigns and even went so far as to "message" their philosophy on their weekly survey sheets. Where acne cream once reigned and news of dance "hops", WARM now had some pretty stiff anti drug messages. Click to enlarge on this survey sheet from the October of 1970. By the Way, the number 1 song in WARMland on this survey was the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There".
BILL SCRANTON AND WARM
What does a former Governor of the State of Pennsylvania have to do with WARM, the Mighty 590? Plenty. The guy owned it. Bill Scranton got involved in the broadcasting business in the fifties purchasing WARM TV and the 590 frequency. (The TV station would become WNEP). WARM with its impressive call letters as well as its 5,000 watts was an attractive entity for Susquehanna Broadcasting. (They had just got WSBA in York, Pennsylvania up and running. Lou Appel who was then associate with Susquehanna called Scranton up and asked him if the station was for sale. Scranton said yes but that he was in negotiations with a Ken Cooper from New York City for the outlet. True to his word, Scranton kept negotiating with Cooper even though his interest was dwindling. Appel and Art Carlson kept after Bill Scranton because they knew the potential WARM held. Finally, Scranton gave up on Cooper and began to negotiate the sale. Appel said that he could never get over the reaction of Bill Scranton during the business meetings which took place every time during a Scranton City sized snow storm. Scranton kept on reiterating that he (Scranton) was an honest and straight forward person who was a man of his word. Appel told Phil Eberly, the author of “Susquehanna Radio: The First Fifty Years” that he found this humerous because he had no reason to believe that Bill Scranton was any type of scoundrel in business or otherwise. The deal was done with the honest Mr. Scranton. Appel had his station, he put Art Carlson in charge of it and WARM began its assent as the top dog in NEPA Radio. And Bill Scranton? He went on to become a U.S. Congressman, Governor of Pennsylvania, Presidential candidate, Ambassador to the United Nations as well as a trouble shooter for many U.S. Presidents. He also appeared on numerous national magazine covers throughout his life.
PHOTO INDEX: ADS FOR RECORDS ON THE BACK OF WARM "GOOD GUY" SURVEY SHEETS. THIS WAS FROM THE EARLY 70s.
SELLING THE SONGS
WARM Radio got into the business of added revenue in the early 1970s. For years the major Top 40 Radio Stations like CKLW in Detroit, WCFL in Chicago, WFIL AND WIBG in Philadelphia as well as WMEX in Boston produced long play albums with, what else? The hits of the day. The albums were also walking commercials for all of the jocks on the radio station. WARM entered this arena with a “Good Guys Present 16 Greatest Hits”. It sold for about $1.99 in some stores and in a weird sort of way was a precursor to what eventually did WARM in, non stop music on the FM side. It was an album with no commercials or jingles and it was in stereo. But FM and the demise of Top 40 radio was a long way off as “The Good Guys” promoted their shows and music through these albums.
Another thing WARM did was promote various albums on the back of their top 40 survey sheets. WARM always sold advertising space on them but the early 70s gave the music industry new opportunities to promote cross over artists like Joe South. Popular in folk and country circles, South was the type of act that fit into WARM’s growing older demographic. Those teenagers who danced at Sans Souci now were getting married, slowing down a bit but still listening to a softer blend of music than the burgeoning progressive movement. Joe South was a natural.
Again, the Greatest Hits Album as well as the ads on the back for more mainstream artists exhibited once more how WARM changed with the times. But one constant was that whether it was a long play album with all of the hits or a new artist, either one, you heard it first from the Mighty 590 WARM.
