Rock Radio Scrapbook

AIRCHECK OF THE WEEK
For week of March 23, 2014
Edition #776

Talent: JACK ARMSTRONG
Station: WKTQ Pittsburgh
Date: October 30, 1974
Time: 21:35

Jack Armstrong was hired for one purpose - ratings. And he delivered.

In February 1973, Armstrong left Buffalo's WKBW to help launch WKTQ, or 13-Q as it was branded. WKTQ started playing Top 40 on March 11, 1973 and had a 15.7 share in its first book, thanks largely to Armstrong's popular night-time show. So badly was rival KQV blown out of the water that within a year ABC sold the station to Taft Broadcasting, which switched it to an all-news format in 1975.

Armstrong says his 13-Q experience was like none other he had at the two dozen stations he jocked at over his four-and-a-half decade career. In a 2007 interview with Terry Hazlett of the Washington (Pa.) Observer-Reporter, Armstrong cited the birth of his first daughter in the Steel City and the many challenging promotions he had while at 13-Q. They included breaking the world record for longest ride on a rollercoaster, and a show he did in the nude from the station's showcase windows as he "streaked" Pittsburgh.

Armstrong lasted about two years at WKTQ where he was the top-rated jock in western Pennsylvania. Then this radio gypsy moved on - his next stop was WIFE Indianapolis - and from there he went to KTNQ Los Angeles in 1978. Armstrong spent more than a decade in California radio before returning to his home state of North Carolina in the '90s. Armstrong died March 23, 2008 in a fall at his home in High Point, N.C.

Enjoy Jack Armstrong on 13-Q here.

(The Bill Dulmage Collection)

More 1974 airchecks here!