Grooving with WABC

The “young sound,” as it is sometimes called, was pioneered and perfected at WABC about eight years ago; and since then has been imitated almost everywhere. Nearly every big city has a station whose format is similar or identical, and, in the trade itself, it is not unusual to hear a reference like the one made by a station manager in a recent issue of an advertising journal. “We are,” he said in describing his own outlet, “a WABC-type station.”

There are some things you should know about the “young sound.” The first is how to recognize it. And that’s easy enough, really. The pace gives things away; the records come quickly, all of them hits; the commercials go quickly, most of them musical. From disc jockeys to jingles, everything is fast; everything is loud; everything has the big sound. Frantic crescendo is the effect.

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Anthony R. Dolan

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The “young sound,” as it is sometimes called, was pioneered and perfected at WABC about eight years ago; and since then has been imitated almost everywhere. Nearly every big city has a station whose format is similar or identical, and, in the trade itself, it is not unusual to hear a reference like the one made by a station manager in a recent issue of an advertising journal. “We are,” he said in describing his own outlet, “a WABC-type station.”

There are some things you should know about the “young sound.” The first is how to recognize it. And that’s easy enough, really. The pace gives things away; the records come quickly, all of them hits; the commercials go quickly, most of them musical. From disc jockeys to jingles, everything is fast; everything is loud; everything has the big sound. Frantic crescendo is the effect.