The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 61

The Miami Herald Wednesday December 17 1986 TU-nadio 3E For 20 years ridden radio waves become even more and more important The wave is here" 98 Gold adds soul Effective Jan 1 98 Gold (980 AM) will drop its present oldies rock and roll format and will adopt the sound of "Heart and a syndicated format featuring mostly black artists from the 1960s along the lines of The Big Chill and Stand By Me movie sound tracks The station which has already changed call letters from WBSS to WWHR is also expected to begin broadcasting in AM stereo sometime next month Provided by Satellite Music Network of Dallas and features according to WWHR general manager Sam Consiglio lot of Motown and Apparently the format will sound much like that of the old Radio Hit (WHTT-AM) which was owned for about six months in 1982 by Metroplex Communications (owners of Y-100 WHY1 1007 FM) As and is a syndicated satellite service most of its announcers will be heard live from Dallas The only 98 Gold deejay to keep his air shift will be morning manprogram director Linda Thornton Radio 'y 5I y'nrVi s'v Herbert Dolgoff: Evolved from Top 40 to country to Spanish hits Florida and from one of the largest Hispanic communities aided in opening door to such Latin American superstars as Julio Iglesias Jose Luis Rodriguez and Raphael Though Dolgoff says now an avid Latin music fan he know much about the style when he purchased WCMQ AM and FM and had to depend much on his Spanish-speaking staffers (including Betty Pino still with the station) to determine which records to play But with 40000 Latin Americans in Dade County at that time he did know a promising opportunity when he saw one Local Spanish radio once limited mostly to political-oriented talk has diversified over the past decade to include four Spanish music stations WCMQ AM and FM now share the Spanish music radio market with Radio Suave (WSUA 1260 AM) which plays Spanish music and Super (WQBA 1075 FM) which plays mostly Spanish and some English Adult Contemporary While WCMQ Arbi-tron ratings have declined in recent rating books WCMQ-FM maintains a steady second place among local Spanish-language stations quality and amount of Latin artists has tremendously increased Spanish music has become commercially valuable to US record companies" said Dolgoff Spanish radio has become more and more important to advertisers in South Florida When we first started local and national advertisers want much to do with Spanish radio Now an important part of their media plan Within one month we can now bill three times the amount of advertising we billed in our entire first year at WCMQ believe Spanish radio will From Top 40 to Adult Contemporary Spanish music Herbert Dolgoff has been contributing to the progress of South Florida radio for more than 20 years seen the local industry change from a like-minded medium where one pop music station like WQAM (560 AM) could draw a now-unheard-of 25 percent audience share to a major national market with more than 40 stations offering half as many different formats watched South Florida Spanish-language radio grow from two to nine stations and propelled his own local properties WCMQ 1210 AM and 923 FM from minor contenders with few watts that sold for about $400000 each in the early 1970s to a valuable combination that recently sported a combined price tag of $15 million After the scheduled closing of Dolgoff 's sale of WCMQ AM and FM to Spanish Broadcasting System of Florida Inc next week he says leave the stations with feelings of nostalgia and satisfaction lot of people in radio want to end up owning a station been a fairy-book story for said Dolgoff 61 Dolgoff be leaving the radio business just be retiring from full-time station management He'll continue to contribute to the operation of WTHZ-FM a Contemporary Hit Radio station in Tallahassee purchased by Dolgoff last year and managed by his son Howard Dolgoff He also plans to open a radio consulting business in Miami where offer advice on radio station acquisitions sales and programming Originally a lawyer Dolgoff was lured by the radio business in the late 1950s in his home town of Omaha Neb when his legal services were hired by Todd Storz (the man who invented Top 40 radio) He was appointed vice presidentgeneral counsel of Storz Broadcasting which owned several stations across the nation including WQAM (which is now owned by Sunshine Wireless Co) In 1966 Dolgoff settled into full-time radio management as general manager of WQAM Among his crew were the deejays including Rick Shaw Roby Yonge Dan Chandler Lee Sherwood and others virtually invented promotions in those days it was a crazy fun time" Dolgoff remem-bcrs Dolgoff left WQAM in 1969 to operate the country station WWOK (which was previously WAME and is now Spanish-language WSUA 1260 AM) In 1972 he bought a 250 watt daytime station changed its call letters from WLTO to WCMQ-AM and its format from traditional Spanish standards to popular Latin music Two years later he purchased country music WQXK-FM and changed it to the first Spanish-language FM WCMQ-FM Both stations have since increased in power the AM to 25000 watts and the FM to 50000 watts By focusing more closely on contemporary Latin American hits he helped modernize Spanish music radio in South Jay Michaels Etc been a memorable month for David Harris General sales manager of Y-100 for the past five years Harris was recently appointed the new vice presidentgeneral manager of WTMI (931 FM) a post assume on Jan 5 In addition Harris has been elected president for 1987 of the South Florida Radio Broadcasters Association an organization that promotes the radio industry in South Florida Other new officers are: Larry Kent sales manager of Joy 107 (WJQY 1067 FM) vice-president Steve Avellone general sales manager of Love 94 (WLVE 939 FM) treasurer and Charles Bortnick vice-presidentgeneral manager of WSHE (1035 FM) secretary Nice Guy Dept: Some area radio stations are getting into the spirit of the holiday by sponsoring benefits for local needy children Among the major good deeds this season are (940 AM) Holiday Fund which is spotlighting various charities in daily news blocks and accepting pledges from listeners WINZ raised more than $38000 in a similar effort last year Love 94 will bring a smile to the faces of many underprivileged children when it hosts a free performance of the Ringling Brothers and Bamum and Bailey Circus Dec 24 at the Miami Beach Convention Center The station will provide free circus tickets to more than 6500 kids through several area charities What started out as a short pledge drive on WAXY (1059 morning show blossomed into an effort that has raised more than $40000 since Friday for Kids in Distress a residential community for abandoned and abused youth in Wilton Manors on your shopping list Radio nicnLicirrs Tomas Garcia Fusts 8:30 am WQBA (AM 1140) Jose Ramon Garrigo (Spanish) Sandy Payton 9 am WIOD (AM 610) Mercury Morris Al Rantel 9 am WNWS (AM 790) Dr Tim Mor-agne behavioral sciences specialist at Nova University will discuss changing behavior Bill aider 120 pmn WIOD (AM 610) Topic: Christmas giving Guests: Julia Sosnick and Keith Grulke from Neiman Marcus Ninoska Perez Castellon 3 pmWRHC (AM 1550) Topic: Tax Laws (Spanish) Shirley Peters 7 pm WNWS (AM 790) Elaine Nussbaum author of Mike Miller 8 pm WIOD (AM 610) Topic: Christmas toys Guests: Sue Fust from Praise Toys Unlimited and Jodi Levin from Toy Manufacturers Assoc Joy 107 Concert Hour 9 prru WJQY (FM 1067) Kenny Rogers and company Larry King 11:05 pm WIOD (AM 610) and WPBR (AM 1340) Film critic Paul Attannasio A perfect gift for the hard-to-please muo Miami Herald 1 Herald Plaza Miami Florida 33132-1693 Please send me maps $720 each Amount enclosed (Make check or money order payable to The Miami Herald Publishing Co) hams Address City State Mom 4 awU tor (Mrwry I I I I I I I I I I I I KEY Proaram in progress Closed captioned for the hearing impaired A In stereo where available Movie ratings: Excellent Good Fair Poor For more details about sports programming see Sports section For complete daily television listings refer to The Herald Sunday TV book.