I am pretty sure I heard a character say that WKRP was an "AM" radio station. Was it common back then for AM radio to have rock stations that actually played modern (in its time) music?
sharelol. Yes, young one, AM radio ruled the air until the mid 70s. Cars didn't even come with an FM band. So WKRP, in '78, would have been one of the last AM rock stations.
shareI lived all around the country in the 70's and in many areas the best music stations were on the AM band. Now ask about 8-tracks.
Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.
Ok, tell me a little about 8-tracks. I remember seeing them in older cars growing up, but never actually used one or saw them used.
share8-tracks were a continuous spool of tape usually with an entire album on it. I never cared for this format because you could not rewind it. For more information, see Wikipedia. They go into detail and show diagrams of how it works.
"I will not go down in history as the greatest mass-murderer since Adolf Hitler!" - Merkin Muffley
Like that was the *click - whhrrrr - click* worst part of an 8-track tape. 😎
shareSpeaking of cars, many of them didn't even come with a radio. It was an optional feature back then.
shareYes, the cheap Ford Pinto I drove in my pizza delivery job in high school (1978-79) only had AM.
My mom had an AM-FM in her late 70s Plymouth, but FM was mono.
My own used car in high school, an AMC Hornet, was AM only.
I purchased an AM=FM cassette stereo which I mounted on the bottom of my dash board, just above the carpet floor (screwed into that part of the car).
Back n the day WNBC 66 AM in NY was the biggest thing around....you wouldn't have really heard about FM at all.
I accept the premise that FM was doing more of an AOR format back then....which would have been high school and college age listening....Jethro Tull....Genesis...BTO...etc....progressive stuff....But WKRP was timed perfectly in that the world was changing and AM/FM was becoming equally acceptable.
...so depending on the market and the year the biggest station could have been am AM or an FM