590 MIGHTY MEMORY #473

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.