Talk:WSAN
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WSAN is part of WikiProject Lehigh Valley, which is building a comprehensive and detailed guide to the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania on Wikipedia. To participate, you can edit the attached article, join or discuss the project. |
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[edit] History merge with WSAN.
This page should have been moved to WSAN when the call sign changed instead of creating a new article. Added history merge tag to WSAN per User:JPG-GR's suggestion since there has been no objection. RobDe68 (talk) 21:45, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Edit history for WSAN
A history merge was not possible, therefore some edit history for WSAN can be found in the redirect pages' WSAN (FM) and WYHM edit histories. RobDe68 (talk) 21:32, 21 March 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Studio 13 WKAP
In Sept of 1978, a local club DJ by the name of Mike Jacobs came up with an idea to broadcast live an entire evening of music commercial-free-at a local niteclub. At the time the station was an independent local AM station. The PD, Chris Bailey, Station Mgr Jerry Duckett and the staff were very interested in the project that could help them in competition with their cross-town nemesis WAEB 790AM and add a possible ratings boost to the TOP40 outlet.
The facility to be used was "The Castle Garden Ballroom" located in Dorney Park in Allentown, PA. The parks owners, Robert Plarr and Robert Ott were also on board for this project. After extensive renovations, Castle Garden was opened for business in the late fall of 78. Crowds averaged about 300-450 per night and the owners and mgmt were looking for a spark to drive this to bigger and better crowds. The ballroom had a capacity of approx 2000 people and 300-450 looked pretty thin at the time.
The idea was refined and in Jan of 79, Studio 13 debuted with a bang. It was broadcast Saturday's from 9:00 PM - 2:00 AM with DJ MIke Jacobs as the DJ/Host/MC. Bill Sheridan ( now employed by Nassau Broadcasting ) and Shotgun Steve Kelly were the Board Techs .Sponsorship for the show was secured and Pepsi-Cola came on board as the primary sponsor. Commercials were inserted by Bill & Steve by having Mike Jacobs backtime the breaks in the music and then the station inserting voice-only commercials over the breaks in the music while the music played the instrumental break WITHOUT INTERRUPTION. Listeners heard them only! The show opened with the Parliament's " Shit, Goddamn, Get Off Your Ass & Jam " followed by Bell & James " Livin It Up ". This resulted in a FCC Warning to the station and made the local news. The first night the crowd was 600 people. After the news coverage and word of mouth, Studio 13 averaged 2,000 people per night and could have done more had there not been a Fire Marshall's limit on the amount of people.
WKAP realized a ratings jump from 3.8 to 23.4, Saturday evenings from 9:00PM to 12 Midnight in a 1 month period and maintained this throughout the summer till the shows conclusion on Labor Day of 1979 at the Parks request.
The Mgmt of Castle Garden also invested in and shot a 1-hour video pilot entitled " Castle Garden" that it tried to syndicate, but alas it went nowhere due to poor promotion.
The one bright spot was in the fall of 1979 in NYC at the Annual Billboard Disco Forum & Convention. Mike Jacobs received an Honorable Mention as DJ of the Year for the Philadelphia region and was invited to spin at the Roseland Ballroom during the convention. WKAP also fared well at this convention being nominated for Most Inovative Breakout Radio Show for the year 1979, but losing out to WCAU_FM in Philly.
Mike Jacobs continued in radio and clubs in the area until 1997 and then retired!
The Lehigh Valley has never seen another show of this caliber since " STUDIO 13 ".
WKAP has since faded from the Lehigh Valley radio scene and Top 40 AM Personality Radio is now history, but the memories still survive!!
