Radio Disk Jockey Rules

Every now and then Facebook coughs up a gem. This happened last Thursday when someone posted a link to the WABC Performance Policies written by the legendary Rick Sklar when he was the Program Manager at the height of the station’s popularity back in 1965. His DJs at the time included "Cousin Brucie" Bruce Morrow, Dan Ingram, Harry Harrison, Chuck Leonard, and Ron Lundy who were easily heard during the evening and night here in Columbia SC. I might add that Bruce Morrow can still be heard on Sirius 60’s on 6 several nights a week.

As I started to read the WABC Rules, I realized that they were not significantly different from the ones I abided by here at WCOS. Thinking back to other stations that I used to listen to before going into the business, I can tell that these were pretty universal and paint a pretty good picture of what Top 40 radio was like back then. And what I miss the most about music radio today.

The first few sentences from the memo say it all.

“A WABC disk jockey has to say very little to be successful, but he must say the right things and say them in the right way.”

“When a WABC disk jockey speaks he speaks with tremendous excitement, enthusiasm and DRIVE!”

“EVERY TIME the red lights in the studio signal that your mike is live this has to be one of the great minutes in your life! You let the audience know it!”

“You are paid to be happy. You are paid to be enthusiastic. You are paid to smile.”

“When that mike is live NOBODY IS HAPPIER, MORE ENTHUSIASTIC, OR SMILING MORE THAN YOU.“

There are twelve more pages included in this memo, but these few thoughts on a common theme captured what was to me the essence of listening to Rock and Roll radio and even more important to those of us who were DJs in the ‘50s, ‘60s and early ‘70s! We called this projection and you would not believe how physical this was. When the music was playing, we were bouncing around in the studio chair while loading up the next commercial cart, queuing up the next jingle and slip-queuing the next record. I call that the DJACBB, or Disk Jockey Air Chair Behind Boogie.

We typically did five hour air shifts those days in the medium size markets such as the one that WCOS was in. By becoming one with the music and the show this way, our shifts felt like they flew by. This was even truer when the telephone was active with requests and dedications or when we were at remote locations such as Doug Broome’s Drive In or Gene’s Pig and Chick. Remote shows from drive in restaurants were the Holy Grail for the aspiring radio DJ. For, you see, we were in the middle of our audience with great one on one contact, seeing happy excited faces as they knocked on the back door of the radio booth, requests in hand, carefully written on small scraps of notebook paper from their school books or napkins, sometimes with splotches of ketchup or mustard on the corner. I understood completely that these scraps of paper contained the requestor’s utmost hopes and wishes.

How do I know this? Many nights, after the show was over and I was powering down the turntables, cart machines and audio board, I would be able to count the lipstick stains left on the windows by the young ladies who’s dreams came true thanks to that special request. Just in case you were wondering, no, the “cool cats” didn’t kiss the glass but they did catch my eye and give me the “thumbs up” as they left the parking lot that evening.

Another mainstay of the DJ patter from Rick Sklar was the WABC Chime time and the WABC temperature. Every other song played on WABC ended with a chime sounder and the DJ was required to say “WABC Chime Time is…” and then give the time. Alternate records did not end with a chime sounder but the DJ was required to announce the WABC temperature. My boss, Woody Windham had a great acronym for that “TT,BB” he would proclaim; “Time, Temp – Boom Boom!” We were to say everything we wanted to say over the tail of the song that was ending and the intro to the next song before “Walking up and hitting the post” on the record that was starting.

“What does all that mean?” you may ask. Most songs of the day had a fade ending to them. As the music trails off, the DJ does his “outro” then if one is scheduled for that break, plays the commercial, Public Service Announcement or promo (promotional announcement.) A jingle may be used in place of the announcements or in addition to them. In that case the jingle is always last to prime the pump for the song that followed. As the new song started, the DJ would talk over the musical intro and finish the instant the vocalist sang his or her first word. Hence “walking up the record and hitting the post!” That is almost a lost art these days, as almost no one still on the air still does this.

Other WABC rules covered the non music features such as news, weather and sports. In my case these days that would be my “on this day in history” or “celebrating birthdays today” WUSC show segments. They were kept short and quick and always followed by a “kicker,” an upbeat fun song. WABC also had rules about playing the #1, #2 and #3 songs each hour. That doesn’t work so well today since all of my songs are over 40 years old. But there is an “A-list” of very popular oldies, what is called heavy rotation these days. You may hear an oldie that you have never heard before or haven’t heard in a long time. That is to keep the playlist from getting stale. But you will always hear a heavy rotation song every half hour.

Rick Sklar made one thing very clear; “Let me re-emphasize that when you speak in these short bursts of sustained energy you say very little. There is no place on WABC for the talkative jock.” The ‘50s, ‘60s and early ‘70s radio experience was all about the music. The jock’s responsibility was to mix it all together seamlessly and entertain the audience. To me is like being a musician playing a live concert and the music, carts and tape machines are keys on the audio board, the musical keyboard with the announcer’s voice being the solo!

In an interview recorded in 1982, when WABC switched from music to talk programming, Sklar said:

“Everything has to end, that's life, WABC is … like anything else it's part of life, couldn't go on forever. But … it was a wonderful thing … it was a one-of-a-kind … I don't think there'll ever be another station quite like that. I mean, the scope of the thing was so huge, was so grand; everything that was done was on such a massive scale. We gave out buttons, we gave out 14 million with the WABC call letters and if we spot you we'll give you $25,000. You know, this stuff is … it's just not done today.… We'll miss it.”

We lost Rick Sklar on June 22, 1992 due to an error in the operating room for a minor procedure. He was posthumously inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame the following year. His legacy embodied that radio experience that we all enjoyed as kids and young adults. I miss the fast paced energy and fun that was the radio experience but I’m sure that Rick is up there programming that heavenly rock and roll station. I wonder if Wolfman Jack is one of his jocks. Oh MY!