Cincinnati’s WSAI with a good 5kw signal at 1360 went “Top 40” in the summer of 1961. Program Director Gene Nelson was hired from WKBW in Buffalo and installed “the Fabulous Forty” format playing just 40 records with news at :15 and :45 and “Sport Shorts” at :30, around the clock. Nelson did mornings, 6-9, followed by Dick Wagner 9-Noon, Paul Purtan Noon-3, Mark Edwards 3-7, Ron Brittain 7-Midnight and Mike Sherman overnights.
Dusty Rhodes started on weekends in September, 1961. Ron Brittain went to 6-9 and Dusty took over 9-Midnight in early ’62. Local newscasts were handled by News Director Dan Young, Tony deHaro, Lou Eberhardt and Wynn Moore.
Dusty Rhodes, WGRR, 1998
Dusty Rhodes, WGRR-FM Hamilton Ohio, 1998
With a tight playlist, a maximum of 14 commercial minutes per hour, and highly identifiable personalities, the station immediately overtook low power WCPO within one rating book, hitting #1 after the Reds World Series loss to the Yankees in ’61. By February of’63, WSAI was the highest rated station in the Top 30 markets with an overall 42% share in Pulse. Rhodes did evenings through August, 1966 when he left to spend a year at CKLW in Windsor-Detroit. His ratings usually topped 50%. He was one of the five Good Guys who brought the Beatles to Cincinnati during their first American tour in 1964 and in ’65 he was named “Cincinnati’s Most Popular Dise Jockey” by Billboard magazine.
WSAI was very involved in the community with the station deejays doing record hops every weekend and playing on the station’s basketball and baseball teams. “The station that loves Cincinnati” continued playing the hits through 1978 when out-of-town management took it country. “The Dusty Rhodes Show” aircheck came from WSAI in the summer of ’66.