History | WBT's '70's Evolution
At the end of the 1960s, WBT's local and national sales
continued to do well. In fact, in the May 19, 1969 edition
of The Jeffcaster, General Manager Paul Marion was "singing
the praises of Harold Hinson and his staff...April was
the best sales month in WBT history." But the ratings
trend was clear. Big WAYS, the top-40 powerhouse in the
market, with Jay Thomas as the morning man, was eating
BT's lunch in the age bracket that really mattered, 25
to 49.
Along the way, General Manager Hinson was
being advised by David Klemm of Blair Radio, WBT's national
advertising rep, that the days of old-line network affiliates
were over, days when long-established stations could
rely on their history and reputation to keep them
popular and competitive.
It was about that time that J-P President
Roger Soles implemented across the entire corporation
a rigorous regimen of strategic planning, whereby each
subsidiary must construct and follow detailed, long-term
operational and financial plans. In earlier times such
plans were short on strategy, long
on guesswork and suitable for filing and being forgotten.
So, in mid-1970 at a strategic planning
meeting Harold Hinson went way, way out on a limb and
advanced the proposal to (1) drop the CBS Radio Network
entirely, and (2) replace the current program director
with someone who knew "contemporary
adult" music
inside and out, and had the talent (and nerve) to develop
and enforce a rigid format and a sacrosanct playlist.
No timid souls need apply.
Management bought the whole deal (though
some of the less enthusiastic members, as the months
went by, grumbled all the way to the bank).
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Tom McMurray |
Within months Harold had hired as PD Tom McMurray, friend
of David Klemm, and a man full of ideas and confidence.
McMurray brought with him Bob Lacy, John Lambis and Mike
Ivers, all of whom had worked with Tom in New England.
In March of '71, the new format kicked
off and the impact was dramatic and immediate.
After a few months the station surpassed WAYS in the
ratings and stayed there. Tom, now deceased, was a master
of his craft and deserves a huge amount of credit for
WBT's turnaround and success in the coming years.
There is a web
page devoted to Tom McMurray and his
years at BT, based largely on Tom's own account of those
times. We urge you to read the page and listen to
the sound clips. You'll hear many of the station's
jingles and voices, perhaps your own. Don't buy everything
on the page as gospel. For example, some who were in
a position to know deny that any advertising
was cancelled to make way for the new format. And Tom's
recollections of "saving" the
station are a little too heavy on the "I" than
the "we" as
to whom credit is due.
At any rate, enjoy the page and the sounds,
and if you were a staffer at WBT during those somewhat
tumultuous years of change, take a bow for all your work
in making the station a success.
