Radio . . . and Me - 29

My earliest memory, Dear Reader, of great rock ’n roll radio brings in Alan Freed on 10-10 WINS, New York.
It’s late on a Sunday afternoon, he’s putting out a steady stream of rapid DJ patter, then introducing the monster hit, ‘Don’t Be Cruel,’’ by Elvis Presley. (That must have been in 1956.)

A couple of years before, the legendary Freed (even back then!), who had coined the term, “rock ’n’ roll,” had moved to WINS, from Cleveland, to take the evening shift.
In 1958, another legend, Murray “the K” (Kaufman) arrived, starting overnights, and then worked in the evenings, when I began listening to his ‘Swingin’ Soirée,’ ‘on clear radio nights.’
The station had already gone through a storied history:
It began in 1916, as WGBS, a daytime-only Gimbels Store Station, and was bought up by the Hearst Newspaper organization, who gave it the brand, W-I-N-S, which stood for their International Use Service.
It moved from 1000 to 1010 on the AM dial in 1943, and turned on its first 50kw transmitter in 1947. During the postwar period, it was owned by the Crosley Broad-casting Corporation. In 1946, it became the outlet for New York Yankee baseball, with the legendary Mel Allen as play-by-play announcer.
In 1953, the station was sold Gotham, a Seattle company, for $2 million, an astounding amount for that era.
Such were the financial possibilities of having a radio licence in New York!
In 1962, it was sold to Westinghouse, this time for the sum of $10 million.
The station ID, at 59:30 just before the hourly five-minute newscast, was now: “This is 1010 WINS, W-I-N-S, Westinghouse Broadcasting for New York.”
Murray the K, besides doing a 'boss sound' four-hour show, Monday to Friday, (for those 'watching the submarine races') always worked on the sidelines, producing / hosting big musical reviews several times per year with all the current stars, at the ‘Brooklyn Fox Theater,’ and would often broadcast from backstage.
His major ‘coup’ happened as the Beatles arrived at ‘J-F-K’ on their first U-S tour, and their first appearance on the ‘Ed Sullivan Show.’
As their plane taxied to a stop on the tarmac, he took a break from his breath-less and exciting live commentary, evaded the crowds and minimal airport security, ran up the mobile stairs, introduced himself to ‘The Lads’ (who had heard plenty about his show and his record-promotion skills) and then emerged with them … as the self-proclaimed ‘Fifth Beatle.’
No one (especially the DJs from all the other rock stations) knows how he did it!
But, a short fourteen months later, it was all over.
He broke the station’s news blackout by announcing that it was abandoning rock music, for ALL NEWS, thanked his fans, and promptly quit … ON THE AIR!
On 19 April 1965, 10-10 WINS changed its ID to what it is today: “All News All the Time.”
-- The story will continue.