Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Columbia F I.% 11ank Gil-man Gamecock Staff Writer There is nothing worse than moving to Columbia and having an AM-FM radio in your automobile. Unless, of course, your tastes run along the country lines or symphony orchestration accompanied by engine knock. As anyone who has lived in this region long enough to know will tell you, "progressive " rock 'n' roll on the local airwaves is more or less foreign turf. There has been only one station that has ventured into the field. WCOS 141 ?MAIN S1REE1 5 W RI. & SAT 11:15 Iii w t nu iiI \ 1 I Ii rald Pra For more informatio talk to M Progressive FM, but soon advertisers and the folks in Columbia were clamoring for more of that "good ole Nashville sound." So what we have now is strictly a choice between two Top 40 stations and the soon to be realized WZLD FM, which will be presenting a combination of "easy. listening" pieces and all those familiar hits we have probably heard more than enough of. There are a number of reasons for the progressive rock void in Columbia, but the central issue involved is the oldAmerican staple, money. If the advertisers don't pay, no one survives. And that's the fact in radio life. The advertising problem af fected the WCOS-FM in rock experiment in two ways. First, and most obvious, was getting advertisers at all. According&t Woody Windham at WCOS, advertisers were reluctant tc support the progressive rock format in fear of losing the market they already had. It seemed that a backlash reaction had a lot to do with sparse ad sales. Also advertisers were not satisfied with the market the station was attracting which was composed of , as Mr. Windham put it,people on street corners sparechanging." In other words , it was believed that thi "hippie" community had ni money to spend. So, the ad vertisers did not spend. The second problem whici allegedly shackled WCOS was thi response to the few ads that weri being aired. As it turned out, callers wouk complain to 'the statiot nen who have a solid four ~nergy of the future. If agram - NUJPOC. You'll plant theory and opel difficult problenu principles. n on how to take off, our lcal navy recruiteri Rock: Doom management about the ad vertisements destroying the atmosphere of the music . Ap parently they didn't want any ads at all. Things got so bad in this area that 60 second spots were going for the low price of 75 cents a spot and Windham himself was the major advertiser on the statior adatin in Math and Physi that's you, Look into our spend a year learning the ation. These details will e through application of Fu Set your sights high. n person, or call him. ed when he was promoting concerts in the area. That is bad. Subsequently, country music meant more money for the station and the switch from a progressive rock format took place .. Money talked. There is a bit of hope in the offing, though, WNOK-FM has recently changed their format to a more or less middle of the road 'rock' presentation, which has been pleasant at times, but wasn't really worth listening to for more than a song or two. The WNOK-FM audience seems to be young and con servative, so the station will satisfy some need, at least in that area . The new station in town, WZLD-FM will be presenting a mix of 60 percent oldies and 40 percent current songs from the "Billboard" "easy listening" charts. This follows the successful formula used by other stations across the country, financially successful that is. WZLD will be going on the air within the month and can bc located on the 96.7 frequency. The station will offer, if nothing else, some relief for the starved listeners of WCOS-AM and its counterpart WNOK. That is the That is the rock situation in Columbia and there's not much hope for any change in the near future. As Lee Garvey at WZLD said, "Columbia is just not ready for a progressive rock station." And with that in mind, it is suggested that when purchasing a new car, leave out the FM radio, or move to Atlanta. Enginei $ WayTo Be Someoi Join The Nu If you'" an outstandin or someone who can m technology, you may qualify for on Nuclear En s's. Men with superior abilii Nuclear Propulsion Officei many detaih of nuclear pro rihance your ability to soive ndamental engineering Go Navy. 271 Columb (Campus Calendar THURSDAY, JULY 11 Final Exams. Exams will be held for 12:30 p.m. classes from 8 10 a.m.; for 2 p.m. classes from 11:00 a.m. -- 1:00 p.m.; for 7:45 classes from 7:45-9:45 p.m. and for all other classes from 2-4 p.m. End of first term of summer school. Hatha Yoga Short Course, Thursdays July 11-Aug. 15 from 5:30 - 7 p.m., Physical Education Center 114, tuition charged, contact the Division of Con tinuing Education at 777-2589. FRIDAY, JULY 12 Registration for second session summer school, Carolina Coliseum, according to I.D. number. SATURDAY, JULY 13 Second session summer school classes begin. No late registration will be held until Monday, July 15. SUNDAY, JULY 14 Film, "Red Dust," Russell House Theatre, 7 and 9 p.m. ,r Your Fhe Top ie Special iclear Navy g engineering graduate, aster advanced e of our top programs. gmneermng. y. Men who want to e Candidate pulsion Lt. Rick McManus 1 Middleburg Drive im S. C. 765.5991