Rock Radio Scrapbook
AIRCHECK OF THE WEEK
For week of
April 15, 2012
Edition #676
Subject:
WMGM becomes WHN
Station:
WMGM/WHN New York
Date: February 28,
1962
Time:
23:53
He was a US Marshal
and Jerry was his name.
So they called him Jerry Marshall and widespread was his fame.
He went to catch the outlaws, Bob Callen and Ted Brown
Who were roping old Dick Shepherd's sheep and herding them to town.
Sing a song about Western hero men will never ride the range again.
They're on 1050 WMGM.
Lyrics to WMGM theme song, early 1960s
WMGM's time as a Top 40 station was short but very sweet.
The station at 1050 on the New York AM dial played rock 'n' roll for less than a decade - from the mid-to-late '50s to 1962 - but it was a memorable time. Top personalities like Ted Brown, Jerry Marshall, Norm Stevens graced the WMGM microphone, as did Dick Shepherd, Bob Callen, Bob Lewis and Peter Tripp.
Two of top 40 radio's greatest stunts involved WMGM. In 1959, Tripp did a record-breaking 201-hour on-air marathon to promote the March of Dimes. The year before, WMGM took an on-air call from a man purporting to be Charles de Gaulle. It wasn't the French president, but a hoaxster from Top 40 rival WINS who announced on the WMGM airwaves, "Everybody knows in New York the best station is WINS. Viva la France."
WMGM was born in 1948, when the station changed its call letters from WHN to reflect the ownership of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer by owner Loew's Broadcasting. Its days as a Top 40 station ended in 1962 when Loew's sold WMGM to Storer for $10.9 million, then a record for a single station. Rock 'n' roll ended at WMGM at 5:30 p.m. after Bob Callen played "Peppermint Twist" by Joey Dee and the Starlighters. WMGM became WHN again, with a half-hour preview of the new easy-listening format aimed at an older audience.
Hear the switchover of WMGM to WHN here.
WHN became WMGM in 1948
(Scrapbook archives)
AUDIO ENHANCEMENT by Andy Rebscher
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