MMUS FM: Georgia's 1st Only Statio
N 1960, THERE were only a few I FM stations enjoying any measure of financial success, except those tagging along on the skirts of a successful AM sister. This gloomy outlook did not, however, deter the establishment of WKLS. On December 2, 1960, WKLS became Georgia's first independent commercial FM outlet. When WKLS went on the air, Atlanta's FM programming was haphazard. There were no independent FM stations, with the exception of an educational FM. The others duplicated their AM rock n' roll and network broadcasts. Our initial programming consisted of a limited number of tasteful commercials, easy-listening instrumental music, and adult-slanted programs.
ult-slanted programs. During the past 5 years, WKLS has grown from a 6350-watt monaural fledgling to a maximum power stereo outlet with dual antenna polarization. WKLS was the first FM station in Atlanta to limit the number of commercials each hour, the first FM station to play mostly instrumental music, the first to feature a weekly Broadway Show, the first to present a full 4 hours of dance band music on Saturday night, and the first to broadcast in stereo. On Nov. 11, 1965 WKLS began broadcasting with 100,000 watts horizontal and 100,000 watts vertical, to become the first Atlanta FM station to make use of the new twin antenna idea using present maximum allowable FM radiated power in two different planes.
Certainly the ideas used by WKLS were not new or unusual for FM. The fact is, many of the nation's successful FM operations were visited, and techniques and ideas were borrowed from various operations in different parts of the nation.
Programming
In 1960, FM radio in Atlanta
was simply a duplication of AM
programming, except one which
carried classical music. It was our
feeling that we should appeal to
the large middle segment of the
audience—the general area between rock n' roll and classical.
We further reasoned that there
were persons at each end of the
music lover's spectrum who could
be wooed away to middle-of-theroad type music at least part of
the time. Then, too, since we were
the lone FM-only service, we knew
that we were destined to make our
program service fairly general,
with, perhaps, later specialization
to reach particular audience segments.
Our decision to make our programming all-instrumental, with
the exception of special shows,
was a result of this thinking.
Many persons may be thrilled
when, say, Frank Sinatra sings;
others may detest him. We simply decided to avoid this choice.
Cowardice, maybe . . . but remember, we had to reach a maximum number of a very small potential audience at that time.
Since most of our potential audience would be in their late
twenties, thirties or forties, we
planned to liberally sprinkle our programming with big-band music
of the '30s and '40s, mixing this
with standards by Percy Faith,
Montovani, Andre Kostelanetz,
etc., plus bright little groups and
some novelty music to inject the
"pepper" to what would otherwise
be a bland dish.
Only three of us would be operating the station 17 hours a
day at the outset; therefore, it
was imperative that we automate. Even though one of us had to be
there, we could be doing double
duty—recording music, making
announce tapes, keeping the books,
phoning prospects, or typing let.
ters—while the station ran itself.
For economy plus consistency, all
the music was recorded from discs
onto tapes for use in our selfdesigned automation system.
Music was selected for its general appeal following the guidelines previously outlined, then split
into fast and slow tunes. All slow
music was recorded on one set
of tapes, while fast music, including novelty tunes, marches
up-beat dance band tunes, and
small combo music was recorded
on another set of tapes. We began with a meager library of
about 60 hours of slow music and
half that much fast music, adding as we went and eventualbr
building a fine set of tapes.
In the morning from 7 to 9 we
programmed one fast and one
slow tune (wakeup-type music).
From 9 to 12 a ratio of three slow
to one fast were used; at lunch.
dinner time and late evening we
stayed with slow music. At most
other times three slow and one
fast are used. This tempo balance
has changed somewhat from time
to time, but regardless of our desires or listener demand, we've
been able to control the general
overall tempo and "feel" of our
programming at different times
using the same system and taking
advantage of all our music. We
can use old or new tapes and still
carefully control the music, selecting the ratio needed at any particular hour. It's a system that's
worked out well for us.
We do deviate from our general
format by using Broadway Show
or sound-track albums on a Wednesday night program. Saturday Dance Date runs on Saturday
from 8 until midnight, featuring
names of the big-band era in halfhour segments. The morning program features weather every 10
minutes and time-temperature
every 3 minutes. Three editorials,
clipped from different newspapers, are broadcast at 12:30,
6:30, and 11:30 PM. Weather reports are programmed every hour.
Total number of announcements
are held to six per hour, with no
double spotting.
On-Air Image
Many stations install elaborate
equipment to insure the finest
sound, purchase the finest music
libraries, and program outstanding music—then hire green highschool kids to announce. A station's total image is carried by
its announcers. Anyone can play
records, but the announcers carry
the station message into the home.
They must be professional. We
couldn't afford to hire fine staff
announcers, so we did the next
best thing. We brought in the
finest available local men on talent
fee to tape many station breaks
and promotional announcements.
They had to be pleasingly pre3ented, with reasonably slow pace
and professional phrasing. We
think it's paid off.
One other consideration: music
was recorded on tape with 10 seconds silence between tunes to give
the station a slow, easy-going
pace. This pointed up the difference between us and the frantic
AM programming. No jumping
cues or snappy play-offs, but relaxed, adult presentation of both
music and announcements. We had
no objection to selling our sponsor's products, but strived to do it
in an adult fashion.
Finally, we decided to omit news because it is so well covered on many other stations in
Atlanta. We couldn't do better
than one of the big AM stations
with the finest news staff in the
state. Of course, this decision
also saved us some money.
Top view of time-temperature machine.
Time drum is shown uncovered, with
the head (left arrow) just completing a
time announcement cycle. Small part of
drum (right arrow) has 12-hour tracks:
larger part has 60 one-minute tracks. Total
time announcement reads: (small drum)
"Six (large drum) thirty-two."
WKLS Engineering
In the beginning money was a
vital factor (as is usually the
case). We reasoned that power
wasn't of top importance because
we were offering a somewhat
exclusive service, and listeners
would come to us. This was true
at the time. Antenna height was
important in order to reach as
many potential listeners as possible, so we placed our equipment
on a hill near Atlanta. It was
more economical, anyway, to buy
a hilltop lot in a rural area than
to build that much steel downtown. We used a 1-kw transmitter
and an 8-bay antenna mounted on
a 270-foot tower, resulting in an
ERP of 6.35 kw and a radiation
center of 510'.
For economy, the WKLS studio
was located in the transmitter
building, a frame structure housing a cement block studio to assure good sound-proofing. The studio window looked directly out
on the automation system so the
man on duty could be recording or
making announce tapes and still
see the equipment in operation.
The automation system utilizes
Ampex 450's, with a silence-sensing circuit. An intersperser
switches to a different key function after every period of silence,
selecting the tape deck as switched by that key. A 10-minute timing
cam inserts an announcement
every 10 minutes at the end of the
music. The announcement comes
from another Ampex 450, followed by a 25-cycle tone which
restores the music cycle. With the
advent of multiplex stereo, we
simply changed the heads on the
450's, added a stereo simplifier,
and continued much as before.
When WKLS began stereo operation in May 1962, it seemed
advisable to raise power. We applied for 32.000 watts, but were given only 19,000 as a result of
the FM freeze that was then in
effect. Increasing competition and
the advent of vertical polarization
eventually indicated the need to
make the final move to maximum
power in both planes, which was
accomplished in November 1965.
A Rust FMT-15-HV transmitter
with twin 15-kw power amplifiers
feeds two independent transmission lines, one to each antenna
bank (a Jampro 8-bay vertically
polarized antenna was installed on
the tower beneath the existing antenna). Jf one or the other
transmitter amplifier fails, we can
still operate with reasonable receptivity until repairs can be
made. Studios were moved to
downtown Atlanta, and most existing equipment updated or replaced. A twin Moseley STL carries the programming 12 air-line
miles to the transmitter site.
Recent equipment additions include an ATC-55 automatic cartridge machine from which all announcements now come, plus an
Audichron time-temperature machine that automatically reads out
the correct time (to the minute)
and accurate temperature upon a
signal from the announce cartridge. The time and temperature
announcements have been invaluable from a sales standpoint, and
have added a vital service that
most automated stations do not
offer. The time-temperature service is a highlight of our morning
program from 6 to 9 AM.
Station Promotion
Listeners have to find out about a radio station, of course; it's
vital to have a group of loyal
listeners. But, if the programming is good enough, and the signal adequate, listeners will find
you naturally through word of
mouth.
Advertisers are a different
story. If limited money is to be
spent for promotion, it's only logical that it be spent telling the
prospective advertisers about the
station, and telling them in a
clever and memorable way. We
don't claim to be star promotion men, but here are some of the
things we did—a few of them terribly corny in retrospect.
Tiny postal cards were sent out
before going on the air, with the
caption, "FM IS GROWING IN
ATLANTA. SOON ON THE AIR
—WKLS, 96.1 mc." With each
mailing the size of the card was
increased until the final card,
timed to be received right before
opening day, told of the on-air
date.
Mailings offering a cash prize
for knowing the call letters of the new FM station were sent
out to agencies and prospective
sponsors, with a blank for the
answer. Returned correct answers
received new pennies. Not much,
but a cash prize nonetheless.
A slide presentation explaining
stereo FM along with a stereo
tape will attract the interest of
service clubs and get the story
across. It's surprising how many
people have questions about FM,
and how many go out and buy
FM sets when they see the slide
presentation. We use a live taped combo, with slides to match showing the instruments and their
positions, to demonstrate what
stereo is, then briefly plug WKLS
as the pioneer FM-stereo station
in Atlanta. It's effective and impressive.
We often rubber-stamp the outside of direct-mail envelopes with
a curiosity-tickling phrase such
as: Message from Alexander G.
Bell inside, to announce sponsorship by the telephone company,
or 202,000 FM Homes Now in
Atlanta, to pique interest in more details. In one instance, we sent
a sheet introducing a program
sponsored by an airline in one of
their ticket envelopes. Comment
was liberal.
An antique automobile with a
sign on the side, "Good Old Music
—WKLS," was another of the
early promotions that proved effective. We drove it all over town
on sales calls, and parked it near
the expressway during morning
and evening rush hours.
In all methods, we've followed
two basic rules: Don't say too much, for most persons get a
great deal of mail and must read
quickly. Send out pieces regularly, so people won't forget you.
Large city or small, big promotion effort or small, some promotion is vital to establish a station
as an important, permanent business. to keep people from forgetting you.