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RADIO IN THE 1960s

Growing

The 1960s were a decade of change for radio. Having weathered the challenge of television in the 1950s, something that most observers said was un-likely, radio was growing as an industry in the 1960s, even if individual stations faced struggles.

New Role

But radio was no longer the national entertainment medium it had been in the 1930s and 1940s, playing network programs of comedy, drama, information, and music. Starting in 1948 with the advent of network television, the networks transferred many of their popular radio shows and their stars over to television. Jack Benny, Lucille Ball, Amos 'n' Andy, and dozens of other stars and shows ended up on the visual medium.

Transistors

But radio survived and even prospered. In 1949 there were 80 million radios in the United States. In 1965 there were 228 million. Most of the growth was provided by a 1948 invention at Bell Laboratories, the transistor. This small electronic replacement for vacuum tubes provided the technology for the growth of a new market for radios. Radios in houses and in cars became smaller, better, and cheaper. By 1960 a typical AM/FM radio cost only thirty dollars; an AM-only radio cost fifteen dollars.

Music

These two technologies, television and the transistor, transformed radio. With expensive program development switched to television and millions of automobile commuters in need of entertainment, radio stations turned to music. The most successful format was the Top 40 station, which played only the most popular records listed by Billboard magazine. By 1967 the National Association of Music Merchants reported that 90 percent of all radio programming was music.

Commercialism

This 90 percent excluded commercials, which brought impressive revenues as radio audiences grew. In 1963 a radio executive testified before a government committee that twenty-five commercials per hour were not excessive. Former FCC chairman Newton Minow decried in 1965 the chaos of commercialism on the radio:

To twist the radio dial today is to be shoved through a bazaar, a clamorous Casbah of pitchmen and commercials which plead, bleat, pressure, whistle, groan and shout. Too many stations have become publicly franchised jukeboxes.

Disc Jockey

For most stations the glue that held together the incessant mix of music and commercials was the disc jockey, a voice that moved from music to advertisement and back, reminding the listener to what station he or she was tuned. In large markets the deejay could earn up to one hundred thousand dollars annually and become a media star. Murray the K and Klavan and Finch were top deejays in New York, and Bob Crane was the top deejay in Los Angeles. In 1965 Crane left radio to star in the television series Hogans Heroes.

Ethnic Radio

The demise of the national networks, which by the 1960s provided little more than an hourly news break and an occasional sports program, led to the rise of the demographically specific radio station. In addition to stations that catered solely to the young listener with rock 'n' roll music, many stations were in the market for black listeners. For example, in Chicago there were three stations for black listeners: WAAF, which featured jazz and shouts of "Uhuru" (freedom) at the end of its shows; WVON (Voice of the Negro), which played almost entirely music; and WOPA, which ran advertisements tailored to its mostly black, poor audience ("We don't care if you're on ADC [Aid to Dependent Children], just one question: do you want a wig?").

Responding to Society

Radio's success was an example of the power of new technology and the ability of entrepreneurs to adapt to it. It also responded in a telling way to the segmentation of American society.