WABX SWITCHES AGAIN

By David Fenton

     WABX-FM, once "the radio station of your wildest dreams," more recently a station floundering without identity, has just undergone a major management and programming shift.

     Long-time station administrator John Detz has moved permanently to KWST in Los Angeles, another station in the Century Broadcasting Corp. chain, as has former station manager Betsy Strand.  Presiding over ABX since its formative days in the late sixties.  Detz had been dividing his time between KWST and ABX in the last two years, a division which has been blamed for contributing to ABX's demise as a creative force.

     Newly named as station manager is Al Wilson, whose experience in the radio field lies mostly in advertising sales.  Wilson worked with Century National Sales before his recent promotion.  The General Manager of ABX is now Shelley Grafman, also the head of another Century "rock" station, KSHE in St. Louis.  Grafman has Bob Burch, also currently of KSHE, collaborating with him in determining the music that people in southeastern Michigan will get to hear on WABX.

The Original X

     WABX gained its identity in Detroit beginning in 1967 as one of the nation's first "underground" FM stations, the only place in town where you could hear the long Bob Dylan cuts, where the DJ's used their real names and didn't talk like automotons.  It presented a wide variety of music, including folk, blues, R&B, and jazz, in addition to the usual rock standards.  And at ABX the disc jockeys had total freedom to pick the music.

     Beginning in the early 70's, a number of other rock stations emerged.  Except for brief initial periods at WKNR and WRIF, programming at these stations was rigidly determined by the management or program director.  Disc jockeys followed written instructions on what to program in what order, sometimes being allowed a tiny amount of choice.  The "formatted" stations were much more "hit"-oriented and repetitious than ABX.

     About 18 months ago the ABX management, looking for what they thought would he more listeners, higher radio ratings and therefore more profits, instituted a strict commercial format at ABX which gradually got tighter and more restrictive.  At the end of the process, ABX had degenerated into a curious mixture of white "soft-rock" middle-of-the-road music blended in with black R&B hits, going so far from their original audience as to playlist Tony Orlando and Glen Campbell.

Newly Laid Plans

     While the new management of ABX emphasizes that the changes it is making are still in the preliminary stages, it doesn't look like the "new" ABX approach will sound very different from what is already available on W4, RIF, and similar stations throughout the country which are utterly programmed and devoid of creativity.

     The new approach will, from all indications, make ABX into a heavily commercial, 98 per cent white pop/rock station.  The format which has been instituted only specifies four new records which must be played each hour, leaving the rest up to the jock. Indeed, this is a "looser" policy than at either RIF or W4.  However, the choice available to the DJ has been severely restricted to certain areas.

     For example, Al

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WABX     continued from page 13

Wilson told us that at present, ABX is playing no Motown, R&B oldies, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, or Earth, Wind and Fire; no O'Jays, no Isley Brothers, absolutely no jazz--in fact, no black music whatsoever, although Wilson offered that a few of the above were being "considered."  Aretha Franklin won't be heard urging the DJ to "hang on in there" on ABX--she's out.

     When pressed on how ABX will differ from the other FM rock stations, Wilson mentioned that the X would be playing complete album sides and will also engage in "block" programming, meaning three or four tunes by one artist in a row.

     In one other important aspect, ABX will be exactly like W4 and most other rock stations--it will have no news department whatsoever.  News was at one time a hallmark of the ABX approach.  Now disc jockeys will read wire service reports, but will do no independent reporting nor any of local origin which doesn't hit the wires.  The special audio reports, features, in-depths, etc, formerly offered by the station's now discharged Cindy Felong, are out.  Wilson did say that the X was planning several public affairs programs.

PROMISES, PROMISES

     When interviewed by this reporter two months ago, former ABX General Manager John Detz told us that the station couldn't hope to survive by duplicating the basic approach of the two big Detroit area rock stations, W4 and RIF.  Detz told us that the X would be gradually adding more rhythm & blues, some commercial jazz, and more varieties of older music.

     Apparently Century Broadcasting did a turn-around on Detz's promises, because ABX is doing none of the above, and is instead trying to compete with the two big rock stations in town by being essentially the same.  Meanwhile, the audience still hungry for a meaningful--indeed inspirational--fusion-music station has almost nowhere to turn.  At a time when black music is selling like crazy to white people, when the distinction between jazz, rock and R&B is fusing into a popular contemporary form, ABX is refusing to budge.

THE RATING GAME

     Radio ratings, produced with somewhat random sampling methods by national rating companies, determine those stations with which advertisers will spend their money, thereby maintaining a grip on the programming policies of commercial radio throughout the U.S.  "Ratings are the name of the game," as Wilson told us.  There is a quarterly "rating period" going on in Detroit right now.  lf ABX does not do well in this rating and the next one, you can be sure there'll be another shift in programming philosophy at Century Broadcasting.  But probably the direction of a more intelligent, sophisticated, well-blended black-music approach, coupled with an informational perspective, will remain untouchable.

Image caption:  Al Wilson, ABX station manager