… Dance, Dance, Dance …
Here’s the station and format that inflicted some serious damage
on WABC in 1979. Recorded on February 9, 1979, this stereo composite of WKTU Disco 92 opens with the Wake Up Crew, headed by soft-spoken
Paul Robinson and featuring newspersons Peter Newman, Ann Tripp, and Melanie Shorn.
I was surprised at the low-energy, sugary approach of the Disco 92 daytime
staff. Notice the voice similarity to Robinson of midday guy Dave Mallow (13:28) and afternoon driver Ken Hayes (15:23).
That easy-going Gucci Guy Uptown Sound is replaced in the early evening with the deep, latino-flavored voice of Paco (18:28) and a very polished newswoman named Needa (Anita?) Basin. (Our apologies for misspellings, I welcome corrections. No reference material was available.)
That smooth disco boy sound is back (at 24:01) with Randy Place, who rounds out the evening with an introduction to
Studio 92, featuring three hours of uninterrupted music which was featured 11PM – 2AM, six nights a week.
The composite continues on February 10, 1979 with “The Disco Kid”, G. Keith Alexander (26:55), followed by the honey smooth sound of Mary Thomas (at 29:20), and Trip Reed (at 33:33).
Then, recorded on February 11, 1979, you can hear Peter Allen Burkhart (35:59) who reads his own news, and a nice Italian
boy from Jersey, Joe Guarisco, recorded on February 12, 1979.
New York’s music radio audience had been slowly migrating to FM for several years.
But who would have thought that such a low-key approach would be
a giant killer?