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After my last column, I found out 890 WLS was going to air a show titled “WLS Unwound: Personalities of the MusicRadio Years.”

The July 26 program featured Tommy Edwards, Chuck Knapp, Catherine Johns, Chuck Buell, Jim Kerr and others sharing their WLS memories. Good news, you can hear a replay of the show via YouTube and many other sources.

Speaking of the Big 89, longtime WLS news director Bud Miller passed away. Gene Honda and Grant Henry shared with me how Bud got his commercial radio start in the 1950s on WDWS. Miller was one of those great news voices from the AM Top 40 era who made you stop and listen.

Before I go to the reader who prompted this week’s topic, a Quiz Question:

The Temptations and Four Tops appear at State Farm Center on Oct. 16. Name the first Top 20 song AND the biggest Hot 100 chart song for both. Answer at the end of the column.

Shelly Heath grew up in rural southern Iowa, “a rock radio desert.” “During the day, we could hear Des Moines (KIOA) and Kansas City (WHB). At night, if it wasn’t for WLS and KAAY Little Rock, we were out of luck.”

Shelly wondered, “were there many 50,000-watt clear channel AM stations doing rock ‘n’ roll in the ‘60s and ‘70s?” The answer: Not many, but those that did were, for the most part, pretty good.

Let’s go up the dial:

• 640 KFI Los Angeles
  • for a short period in the late ’70s early ’80s.
  • 660 WNBC New York
    • tried top 40 in the ’70s with Don Imus in the morning and Cousin Brucie after he left WABC. Not much success going up again WABC.
    • 770 WABC New York
      • was like WLS, both owned by ABC, a huge station in terms of audience. A more-music station with great personalities like Dan Ingram, Ron Lundy, George Michael and my mentor Harry Harrison.
      • 800 CKLW Windsor
        • . Another great more-music station built around quality personalities. Their secret weapon was Rosalie Trombley, one of the best music directors in the country. Plenty of artists like Bob Seger and the Guess Who launched successful careers thanks to her unwavering support. Elton John’s “Bennie And The Jets” would not have been a hit without her. If you travel to Windsor, there is a statue in her honor.
        • 800 XEROK
          • across the border from El Paso, Texas. A 150,000-watt border-blaster that was a mainstream top 40 in the ’70s.
          • 890 WLS
            • was such a strong brand it outlasted most of the AM Top 40s around the country.
            • 1020 KDKA Pittsburgh
              • , a Group W Westinghouse station. When ABC-owned KQV went Top 40 in 1958, it made a sizable dent in KDKA’s ratings. So they pulled the middle of the road records off the air and in its place, the Top 40 hits of the day. With an award-winning news department, Pirates baseball and a late-night talk show, they were a different kind of rock station.
              • 1030 WBZ Boston
                • , another Westinghouse station. Same template as KDKA minus baseball. Two outstanding personalities when the WBZ signal reached over half the country, Bruce “Juicy Brucey” Bradley and all-nighter Dick Summer.
                • 1090 KAAY Little Rock
                  • was a top 40 favorite with a massive signal that reached well into Canada, Central and South America, Cuba and The Bahamas. It was the home of one of the first progressive rock shows on AM radio when Clyde Clifford in 1966 began the “Beaker Street” overnight show.
                  • 1090 XERB
                    • across from San Diego, the home of Wolfman Jack from 1965-71.
                    • 1100 KYW/WKYC Cleveland
                      • . KYW was another Westinghouse station. NBC took control of the station in 1965 and continued Top 40 for the rest of the decade. WKYC was on Fred Winston’s resume.
                      • 1510 WLAC Nashville
                        • . From the ‘40s until 1973, Gene Nobles, “John R.” (John Richbourg), Herman Grizzard and Hoss Allen laid the foundation of rhythm and blues radio. I could write a whole column on the impact of this radio station’s nighttime programming. From ’73 to ’79: just a run of the mill Top 40 station.
                        • 1520 WKBW Buffalo
                          • . Covering the Eastern seaboard, it was home to awesome personalities like future Price Is Right announcer Rod Roddy, Dick Biondi, Danny Neaverth, Jack Armstrong, Joey Reynolds and Tom Shannon.
                          • 1520 KOMA Oklahoma City
                            • . It was a Storz Station at night covering from Texas into Northern Manitoba and every state and province west until you reached the Pacific Ocean. It was the nighttime rock ‘n roll lifeline for small towns in the Dakotas, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, etc.
                            • 1570 XERF
                              • across from Del Rio, Texas. It was primarily a country music station, “with your good neighbor along the way,” Paul Kallinger. For a period of time in the early ’60s, its 250,000 watts were home to Wolfman Jack.

                              Thanks, Shelly, for asking. Column ideas and questions? Let me know.

                              QQ answers:

                              — Temptations first top 20 “Way You Do The Things You Do,” biggest chart song “I Can’t Get Next To You.”

                              — Four Tops first top 20 “Baby, I Need Your Lovin,” biggest chart song “Reach Out I’ll Be There.”

Radio personality Mike Haile’s column publishes every other Thursday in The News-Gazette. Reach him at mitm@whms.com or by texting 217-351-9797.