WAPE "The Mighty 690" - Jacksonville 1965

In the 1960s, 70s, and into the 80s, the big AM radio station along the U.S. eastern seaboard was WAPE "The Big Ape" in Jacksonville. WAPE put out a monster 50,000-watt signal on 690 that blanketed the east coast from Washington DC to Miami. "The Mighty 690" was the "home town station" for communities throughout the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida.

This is a 2-minute composite clip of the Dino Summerlin Show from "The Big Ape" in early 1965, accompanied by a few vintage postcard views of Jacksonville.

Picture yourself back in the 1960s, speeding along a back road somewhere in the Southeast, listening as the miles roll by to the Country Club of the South.....The Big Ape.....The Mighty 690.....from Jacksonville!

Category:

Music

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[WillSing4Label]

Were there Greasers here in the 1960's?

[dwtpa97]

By Greasers, do you mean guys like "Bowzer" from Sha Na Na? Those guys were a little more mid- to late-1950s. By the time of this clip, there was a lot of surfer types, and the English invasion had started. Don't know if that's what you were asking, but thanks WillSing4Label -

[WillSing4Label]

@dwtpa97 That was exactly what i was looking for, Thank you dwtpa97, It is nice to know, Jacksonville had some Greasers in the 50's. Thank you once again.

[dwtpa97]

Thank you, WillSing4Label, for your interest and comment! 

[beatlejim64]

Ah,....those were the days..the DJ's were talking to you...great sounds...Beatles ...Stones...Motown...the TOP 40 hits...great times...

[dwtpa97]

Yes, we miss them - those were indeed good times! Thanks for your post, beatlejim64.

[MyRumplestiltskin]

@THEMOJOMANsince1959 Ah beep beep, 6 days a week. Listen all you can to the mojo man.

[dwtpa97]

Yes, enisorian, WAPE and WPDQ were a couple of great stations, not only in Jacksonville, but up and down the east coast of the U.S. as well. WAPE is considered one of America's truly classic Top-40 stations. The ape call is still used by WAPE-FM, every hour or so. Thanks for your comment -

[ajentertainment]

@jERRYKIEFER Me again..I couldn't believe WAPE was #16 in Jax when I first went there. PDQ was cleaning up. I was made PD, brought in Honest John, Alan Sands (not Burns), Tom Clark and went to #1 overall and stayed that was until Stan Kaplan bought it and fired everybody (except Honest, who he put on midnite-6am. John didn't stay long because he couldn't stand the new jox/PD/management. Ron Wayne had already come over from PDQ by the time I got there. Dale Kirby was already there as Asst. Eng.

[ajentertainment]

@jERRYKIEFER Thanx for the nice words Jerry...When I first went to The Ape, we had jingles by The Swingle Singer...not only horrible but LOOOOOOOOOOONG..each jingle was at least thirty seconds long, so I got in the production room and edited them to about ten seconds. When we became number one, in the fall of 67, I convinced Mr Brennan, owner, into getting PAMS series 18 jingles, then added some Gwinsould and Pepper/Tanner stuff later. It was TOO MUCH fun working there.

[THEMOJOMANsince1959]

Whatever happened to TheMojoMan from  WPDQ in those days?