I was hired at WKLO as a night newsman (6pm-12m). By 1961, I was doing the 9am-12n DJ show, and afternoon drive news. By the Fall of 1961 I also was doing the Coca-Cola Hi-Fi Club on Friday nights. It was a live remote record hop done at area high schools.In December of 1961, I was drafted and served two years at Ft. Jackson , S.C. as a Broadcast Specialist. After being discharged, I returned to WKLO where I stayed until I left broadcasting in 1973. The majority of my time there was spent as a newsman and later News Director.
I have a Hooper Rating sheet from January 1964 that shows WKLO with 32% of the audience from 6am-12n, and WAKY with 24%. In the 12n-6pm period, WAKY had 33%, and WKLO had 27%. This was very typical of the 60's and 70's when WAKY and WKLO went head to head. The two usually had a combined audience of about 60% or more of the people listening to the radio.
I think that this is the thing about early top 40 radio that younger people today can't appreciate. These stations were GIANTS in their markets. There was no real FM competition, and in Louisville there were maybe 12 signals that were available. WAKY and WKLO just dominated this market until the early 70's when the expansion of FM started breaking the audience into smaller pieces.
I believe I was the only air person to span the entire period of the "glory days" of WKLO, from 1960 to 1973.
The Repository thanks Allen for sharing!
