1967

DALLAS -  KBOX was a legendary top 40 station in its own right.  Unfortunately its place in history will always be over-shadowed by the format's most legendary station - KLIF.  For ten years, KBOX put up a solid fight against KLIF, occasionally winning a daypart here or there in the ratings, but KBOX could never quite catch up to the "Mighty 1190."   In January of 1967, KBOX threw in the towel and adopted a country music format.  The move paid off (both for KBOX and KLIF).  KLIF's ratings rose sharply without a competitor, and KBOX saw much higher ratings as Big D's top country station.

The other station in Dallas that saw huge gains in 1967 was KIXL.  The beautiful music outlet vaulted all the way to second place in the fall survey, with the help of a 7.2 share on the FM half of the simulcast.  This was an amazing feat when you consider only one other FM outlet even topped a 1 share during 1967.

FORT WORTH - While Dallas' top 40 landscape was reduced to one station, the top 40 battle continued in Fort Worth.  Despite the competition, KFJZ's ratings became more dominant, and it became clear in 1967 which station was the leader in Tarrant County.  One format shift did shake up the ratings as KNOK, which had been dedicated to "soul" music as far back as the mid-fifties, returned to those soul roots after brief run as a gospel station.  

Many people are surprised to see how poorly WBAP and WFAA fared in the ratings during this period.  Remember, they were still involved in a time-sharing agreement that streched back to the 1920s.  Neither station wanted to surrender their time on the 50,000 watt 820kHz signal, so they agreed to flip-flop between the frequencies several times each day.  While one station was on 820, the other would be on 570, and vice versa.  Therefore, a radio tuned to 820 all day long could theoretically "switch" stations several times!  While this arrangement permitted WBAP and WFAA to share the 820 signal, it prevented both stations from gaining an appreciable audience, and as the ratings game grew ever more important, the stations would eventually be forced to scrap the arrangement for the sake of stable listenership.

©2012 Arbitron Inc.

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