I listened to WAMO many times in the early 1970's in my hometown of Pittsburgh.

This show was F.M. radio at it's absolute finest.

WDVE (KQV F.M.) and WYDD (defunct April 1975) were close seconds.

Hope you enjoy it, it ain't never comin' back.

Happy Memorial Day, brothers and sisters of the airwaves!


https://youtu.be/b0Kxo6JRKHk

"Brother Love" sounds familiar. Think he may have worked in Philly at one time.

Entirely possible.

A little history on WAMO Pittsburgh -

"In 1948, the station signed on as WHOD, licensed to Homestead, Pennsylvania.[2] It was originally owned by Steel City Broadcasting, Inc. (Pittsburgh is known as the "Steel City.) It was powered at only 250 watts and was a daytimer, required to go off the air at night.

It changed its call sign to WAMO in 1956 (the AMO referred to the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers), and switched its city of license to Pittsburgh. WAMO served the area's African-American community for the following 50 years, playing R&B and soul music, with some Black talk and news programming during the week and religious programming on Sundays. In 1960, it added an FM simulcast on 105.9 WAMO-FM (now WXDX-FM). Over time, WAMO-FM became an urban contemporary station while WAMO 860 specialized in Black news, talk, classic soul music and urban gospel."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAOB_(AM)


In my heyday, late 60's early 70's, WAMO primarily served the black community of Pittsburgh, and was a source of pride.

They occasionally threw in creative programming such as Brother Love, which expanded their listenership exponentially.

When I worked in the steel industry in Pittsburgh in the 70's, the shop radio was tuned to WYDD (hard rock) for half the shift, and WAMO (soul/funk) for the other half, by agreement of all steelworkers.

It was another example of radio exposing me to music I never would have heard otherwise.

Temptations, Motown, Parliament, Funkadelic, and much more.

It was a time to remember.

Porky Chadwick, "The Daddio of the Raddio", "The Platter Pushin' Papa", became famous on WAMO.

When you mentioned Parliament that reminded me of their song "I just want to testify, what your love has done for me. " Don't remember the title, it might have been "Testify" but it was from the 60s. Their sound dramatically changed from soul to funk in the 70s. I believe they were originally known as The Parliaments, then later Parliament. Their music changed so much you wouldn't believe it was the same band. I think Brother Love might have worked at WFIL 560, and possibly an FM station in Philly in the 70s. WFIL was famous for the popular " Boss Jock" radio format which was very successful at the time. Even though they were AM, the music ruled, and after short newscasts it was always back to more music. They had a tremendous signal for just 5kw, which easily reached central and southern NJ very well.

Thanks, ZR.

I have a feeling this might have something to do with the shift in the music -



"Calvin Eugene Simon (born May 22, 1942) is a former member of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic.

Simon was drafted into the United States Army in 1966, and served with C Battery, 3rd Battalion, 13th Field Artillery Regiment, 9th Infantry Division during the Vietnam War in 1967–68.[1]"


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Simon

I believe one other member of the band went to Vietnam, not sure which one.

As the Chambers Brothers said, Their souls were psychedelicized!"

And kudos to Philly, of course, for all the great music made there during those days of fire and thunder!

I feel independent radio stations like WAMO played an important role in the communities they served, actually became part of the communities identity, a far cry from the nationally syndicated stations of today, that sound mechanical and lifeless.with their loop music feeds and non stop commercials.

WAMO was also the longtime home station of legendary DJ Porky Chedwick, who introduced Pittsburgh to R&B, along with the "oldies" format.

I'm glad I got to listen to WAMO when it was still a real radio station.

I just wanna testify, that Parliament song was big on the radio here in the PNW, specifically Vancouver AM stations 1410 CFUN or 730 CKLG. Haven't heard it since way back then, but remember it well, soulful R&B.

Thanks, John! It was a great song!