Hot Air

R.I.P. WABC

For more than two decades, WABC, the New York City broadcasting behemoth, was the most influential pop-music radio station in the country. But last week, bowing to increased competition from FM radio, WABC announced that it was converting to an all-news, all-talk format.

Six of the seven AM stations owned by the American Broadcasting Cos. have already made the change to chatter. KABC, WABC's California cousin, has been talking away for 22 years, the last eight as the No. 1-rated station in Los Angeles. "It's just a reflection of the times," commented KABC Program Director Wally Sherwin. "People have an insatiable hunger for information."

Top 40 music may have declined drastically since the days of Lennon and McCartney, but AM could not do full technical justice to a terrific song even if it had one to play. The quality of music reproduction on AM radio is so far behind FM capability that an all-talk format is about the best the wave band can handle. You can't dance to palaver, of course, but at least you can hear it. sb

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