WRKO

The station signed on in July 1922 as WNAC. It moved around the dial in its early days, and settled on 1230 kilocycles a few years later. WNAC was founded by John Shepard III, a Boston businessman whose father, John Shepard Jr., had a department store empire throughout New England and saw the potential of radio to publicize himself and his stores enough to finance his son's venture.

In 1937, WNAC became an NBC Red Network affiliate. Four years later, WNAC's frequency changed to 1260 kilocycles.

In December 1942, the Winter Street Corp., the holding company for Shepard family interests, announced it would be sold to General Tire and Rubber for $1.24 million. Winter Street was controlled by trusts set up for two of the children of founder John Shephard Jr.: John Shephard, III (general manager of WNAC). John Shepard III remained with the station as general manager under a five-year contract.

Here’s Chuck “Chuckles” Knapp, heard (scoped) doing an ultra high-energy show in April of 1967. [ LISTEN ] (13:18)

For a brief time in 1956 and 1957, WNAC was affiliated with both Mutual and NBC after WBZ dropped NBC programming. The station remained a Mutual affiliate until the network, of which General Tire was a part-owner, was sold in the late 1950s.

As network programming moved from radio to television, WNAC aired a mix of middle of the road music, news, sports and talk shows. But major changes came to WNAC in March 1967. The station's call sign changed to WRKO, the format switched to top 40 hits, and the Yankee Network shut down.

Left to right, Al Gates, John Rode, Chuck Knapp, Joel Cash and
the Boston Playboy Bunnies circa 1967

WRKO's NOW 30 from July 24, 1967.

The move to a Top 40 format in March 1967 was an enormous success. For the next decade, WRKO was one of Boston's top-rated radio stations, and absolutely dominant among its target audience of listeners in the 18-34 demographic. Known to its listeners as "The Big 68," WRKO was home to such well-known personalities as longtime morning man Dale Dorman, Chuck Knapp, Joel Cash, Johnny Dark, J. J. Wright, J. J. Jeffrey, Harry Nelson (who later became Program Director of WRKO in 1978), Shadoe Stevens, Frank Kingston Smith (who was known as "Bobby Mitchell"), Steve Anthony and many others. Mel Phillips, who replaced Bob Henabery as program director, served in that position from 1967 to 1972 before being replaced by Scotty Brink.

WRKO in 1967 even took a dig at market leader WBZ, a Westinghouse Broadcasting station that played pop music. In advance of WRKO's format change to top 40, WBZ tried to get in front of WRKO by adopting the slogan "Boss Radio" (used on famous RKO General top 40 station KHJ in Los Angeles). WRKO, in response, was rumored to have had their DJs reading a liner that said "WRKO, putting the Boss in the Restinghouse." WRKO did ultimately drive WBZ out of the top 40 format.

Music survey dated January 15 1970, featuring DJ Shadoe Stevens.

WRKO's other main competitor was AM 1510 WMEX, which was Boston's original Top 40 station, starting the format in 1957. Even though WMEX's city ratings were good, it had a highly directional signal did not effectively reach many of the suburbs, especially at night. WRKO (and the growing popularity of FM rock stations) eventually drove WMEX to a format change in 1975, with WRKO remaining Boston's sole AM Top 40 station.

In May 1975, WRKO's airborne traffic reporter, "The Red Baron" (Rick Blumberg), joined the morning team with Dale Dorman and Bill Rossi. The Red Baron was both the pilot and traffic reporter, flying at 1000 feet over Boston, in a fixed wing aircraft. 1975 and 1976 were the only years that WRKO had an aircraft in the sky.

WRKO was propelled in its success by the introduction of the so-called Drake format originated by radio programmer Bill Drake. In contrast to other Top 40 formats at the time, it featured very tight formatting with a strict minimal talk, more music approach presented in a very straightforward manner. This format was adopted by other stations across the country, including RKO General stations KHJ Los Angeles, WHBQ Memphis and WOR-FM in New York (now WEPN-FM). Virtually any station using the Drake sound rose to the top of its market.

Mike Adams in August, 1976. [ LISTEN ] (5:41)

A short but high-energy aircheck of Mike during Boston’s Bicentennail celebration in the Summer of 1976.

The station is celebrating something called "Beaver Day" on March 2, 1977, with Johnny Dark at the microphone. [ LISTEN ] (36:50). The date on this aircheck is March 9, 1977, and Dale Dorman is sitting in for Johnny Dark on his morning program (looks like Johnny called in sick). [ LISTEN ] (50:21)

Mike again on Christmas day, December 25, 1978. [ LISTEN ] (32:19)

The disco era is in full swing, and WRKO is doing its part to burn a hole through the genre - but there’s plenty of Rock to be found. This is a scoped presentation but heard are the artist titles, promotions for picture disk giveaways, concerts and more.

Ron O'Brien on the air on July 19, 1978. [ LISTEN ] (22:39)

This is probably the best that WRKO ever sounded as a Top 40 station. (Current WRKO Talk listeners never heard what this station was really like.) RKO General really knew how to program a tight radio station.

A scoped composite aircheck featuring Big Ron O’Brien, Willie B & Tom Murphy working hard on November 30, 1978. [ LISTEN ] (45:11)

By the end of the 1970s, however, rock and Top 40 radio had begun to migrate from AM to FM. In a three-year period from 1978 to 1981, WRKO lost a chunk of its audience. The station tried to compete with the surge in FM listening, first with a short-lived focus on album cuts and later by switching to more of an adult contemporary music format, featuring a morning program with market legend Norm Nathan. A switch to a country music format was also reportedly briefly considered.

In 1980, WRKO began running talk programming during evening hours. On September 27, 1981, the station switched to an all-talk format. At 6:00 p.m. on that date Justin Clark played the last song, "American Pie" by Don McLean. WRKO has been a news and talk station ever since.

WHO WORKED AT WRKO? Here is the list: Dave Allan, Chris Bailey, Jerry Butler, Johnny Dark, Dale Dorman, Charlie Fox, Arnie 'Woo-Woo' Ginsburg, Beverly Hudson, Tim Kelly, Chuck 'Chuckles' Knapp, Bobby Mitchell, Robin Mitchell, Tom Murphy, Harry Nelson, Kris Earl Phillips, Ken Raposa, Bill Smith, Frank Kingston Smith, Shadoe Stevens, Dan Tucker, Charlie Van Dyke, Dude Walker, and Johnny Williams.

Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Wikipedia, AirChexx, Big Apple Airchecks.