Does anyone in the East Coast US remember the AM radio station WABC in NYC? They had a battle of the bands contest named The Big Break during the late 60's, early 70's. It was hosted by "Cousin Brucie" Bruce Morrow. I wonder if there are any musicians out there who were part of these contests or knows someone who played in one. I am doing important scholarly research on AM radio in the late 1960's.

• Bill M.

What day is Surf Rock's birthday? Looks like Surf Rock and I was born the same year. Maybe we are both Libras?

mom_surfing
when all the planets were lined up just right i used to be able to pick that station up in my car when i lived in florida. i don't remember much about it though.

carol

Yup. When we went upcoast in the early hours, we could pick it up if the weather was just right.

CUTBACK

I remember . . . of course, I grew up in South Jersey, so it really wasn't too much work to pull in WABC. Locally, our "hits" station was WFIL in Philly . . .

I was just a kid, but still remember listening to the radio then . . . I like to listen to the sound checks that are out there on the Internet - I remember all of those "jocks"!

-Dick

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flatwound01
I remember . . . of course, I grew up in South Jersey, so it really wasn't too much work to pull in WABC. Locally, our "hits" station was WFIL in Philly . . .

I was just a kid, but still remember listening to the radio then . . . I like to listen to the sound checks that are out there on the Internet - I remember all of those "jocks"!

-Dick

WFIL was my favorite too circa 1972-76. Jim O'Brien was my favorite. He tragically died too young in a skydiving accident. So much incredible music over such a short time span, we took it so much for granted. I don't think anyone under 35 could comprehend a time when the top 40 was actually worth listening to.

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

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Hey Bill!
I just happened to see your post about the WABC Big Break. Of course, it's been awhile since you posted, but I thought I'd respond anyway. I, along with my high school buddies, participated in and won the Big Break in 1969. We were in a band called The Strangers This was the year Steppenwolf was the featured act where we witnessed the keyboard player falling over backwards in the middle of a song. Got to meet them in their dressing room. They were mighty trashed...
Anyway, I'm still in touch with some of the members of The Strangers. We have lots of memories and even some paraphernalia from the show. Fond memories.

Jamie Coan

Last edited: Oct 14, 2023 16:04:21

I was there. My band (with me) competed in the contest in Summer 1967. On a Sunday we drove to the Empire State Building in Manhattan from the Sheepshead Bay area of Brooklyn. The parking lot was in the basement of the building and we took an elevator into a music studio belonging to radio station WABC. We met disc jockey Bruce Morrow ("Cousin Brucie") https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Morrow, who hosted our one-song recording session in person--and still works at WABC as a D.J. They played the recording back for us while we were there--it sounded totally professional, far better than our impression of our sound. It took me twenty seconds to recognize my own guitar playing on playback.

To get a spot in this competition all we did was volunteer.

Three of our five band members were the same as had performed at the NY World's Fair in 1965. One of my sisters replaced the drummer and another sister added bass guitar. We had prepared two songs for the competition, our own instrumental arrangement of "Goldfinger" (and it was dynamite) and an uptempo vocal cover called "He's the Kind of Guy." I could not find this song on Youtube or streaming, only unrelated songs. We should have played Goldfinger but we played the cover.

The entire experience was overshadowed by our drive. Twe blocks into the voyage from my parent's home the windshield wipers on my dad's old Ford station wagon died, with rain pouring down hard and continuously. I steered the car based on looking through the water streams on the windshield, sticking my head out the window, and receiving reports from band member Don, who sat by the front passenger window. Our desire for the adventure overcame the irrationality of driving through New York City nearly blind.

Fortunately, the rain quit while we were performing and the trip back was uneventful. So was the result as we never heard another thing about it.

Insanitizers! http://www.insanitizers.com

Last edited: Oct 15, 2023 19:31:41