WFAA itself only signed on in signed on in June of 1922. It changed frequencies a couple times but starting in 1938 it moved to 570. The share agreement was truly bizarre. WBAP Radio would broadcasting on 820 from midnight till six AM. Then WFAA took over till noon and WBAP broadcast the afternoon slot and WFAA took over again until midnight. Apparently WFAA thought it was worth working for every minute of clear channel signal time they could get on 820. To further complicate this nonsense, they aired NBC network programming on 820 kHz and ABC network programming on 570 kHz. To signal the frequency changes on air WBAP staff always rang a cowbell. John Allen hosted the program for it's entire run. Guests included Lynn Hoyt, Katy Prince, Frances Beasley, Terry Lea, Louise Mackey and Dale Evans. He had a number of co-hosts over the years including Bob Shelton, Emcee Jimmle Jefferles, Bert Noyd, Emcee Norvel Slater, Announcer Eddie Dunn, Board Operator Red Lucas and many others. They had skits, stand up comedy, an orchestra, an awkward number of black-face routines and a live studio audience.
In 1945 they debuted an FM simulcast on W5X1C on 94.3. The arrangement continued until the early 1960s gradually adding their own programming until they became an MOR station. On May 1, 1970, this messy and senseless share time arrangement came to and end. WBAP paid $3.5 million dollar to WFAA to buy them out. WFAA was relegated to 570. They dropped the WFAA call letters in 1983 becoming KRQX. The call sign still lives on as Channel 8 on the TV band.
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I'd always heard WFAA stood for 'Working For All Alike', and WBAP for 'We Bring A Program'.
ReplyDeleteI'm still sorry that KLIF moved from 1190 to that 570 slot. I have years and YEARS of listening to "K-L-I-F... 1190!' bumpers.
Mike Y
Dallas, Texas
Sorry to come to the party six years too late for this correction to be timely, but you oversimplified how the hours were split between the two stations.
ReplyDeleteHere, courtesy of the DFW Radio Archives site, is the 1963 schedule for the 570/820 operation of WFAA from 3:00pm to midnight. Note the switching back and forth several times per day (not just every six hours) and that the split alternated configuration during weekday evening "prime time" hours ... and also that they weren't on overnight at all:
http://www.dfwradioarchives.info/WFAASched63.JPG
My parents and I used to listen to "Saturday Morning Roundup" and the "Early Birds" back in the late 1940s and most of the 1950s. I also enjoyed listening to KLIF in the late 50s and early 60s, when I was in high school; this was all the way from Comanche TX. -- Cheryl Braziel Montoya
ReplyDeleteThere are several errors in the description of the share arrangement between WFAA and WBAP. I listened to the 820 frequency every morning from 1944 until I went off to college in 1955. WBAP in Ft Worth came on the 820 air wave at 5:00 AM with their cow bell and reports of commodity trading and live reports from the Ft Worth stock yards. Between 6 and 7 AM they had live C&W Music by the Sheb Wooly band and the Light Crust Doughboys. At 7:00 AM they gave the 820 frequency over to Dallas' WFAA which began with a brief news summary and daily devotional by a local church pastor. The Early Bird show did not begin until about 7:10 or 7:15 and ran until 9:00 AM at which time 820 was given back to WBAP in Ft Worth and WFAA went to the 570 freqency. In those days, there was no ABC radio and NBC owned two networks. The 820 frequency was affiliated with the NBC Red Network, no matter which station, WBAP or WFAA was using it at the time. 820 was a 50,000 watt clear channel frequency that could be heard over most of the US and Mexico. The 570 frequency was affiliated with the NBC Blue network which was allocated a power of only 5,000 watts and heard only over the North Texas region. The switching of frequencies between WBAP and WFAA had a real purpose. It allowed Dallas and Ft Worth each to have an AM broadcast station transmitting at the powerful 50,000 watt clear channel level without having to allocate another clear channel frequency to the region. As best I can remember, the frequency swapping went on every 2 hours all day and I think was off the air after a 10 PM newscast until 5 AM the next morning. The courts decided that NBC was breaking the anti-trust laws owning two radio networks and that is when the Blue Network became ABC. (William Gorman, wdgorman@verizon.net)
ReplyDeleteThat corresponds to my memory of the stations except that I remember them signing on at 5:30 am (820) and 6:00 am (570) and signing off midnight.
DeleteIt probably changed over time. That's something the printed sources were not always great at catching.
DeleteAre you sure? My dates and times seem to align with contemporary news accounts: http://www.dfwradioarchives.info/1950s.htm
ReplyDelete