CKLW is Back in The Lead

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Who Are The 25 People Who've Had The Biggest Impact on Radio?

Who are the 25 people that have had biggest impact (good or bad) on the radio industry over the past 25 years. The results of our poll will be published in the November 13 issue of Radio Ink -- celebrating the 25th year of the magazine.

  • Once your votes start coming in, we will add more names to our poll and update the order on a daily basis.
    By voting you are picking the person you believe had the biggest impact on the radio industry over the past 25 years. You can also leave additional names in the comment section of this story below or e-mail them to [email protected]

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35 COMMENTS

  2. CKLW held a party for its Big 8 listeners on July 15th, celebrating 50 years since the stations transformation into the Windsor/Detroit #1 spot. Some 200+ people attended! Many of the Big 8’s talent were there, and it was a great event. To us, it was proof that the stations legacy hasnt been forgotten some 30 plus years since the format went away. I wonder how many stations could pull this off?

  6. My favorite station of all time is WMEX 1510 Boston in the 60’s!! Woo Woo Ginsberg at night!! Even better than the Big 8!! And I think WABC was overrated simply because had a big signal in NYC.

  8. Dan Ingram is the best,&WABC was great,but I still give my vote to CKLW.I was very proud to work there for a year in the early 70’s.The Big 8 rules!

  9. I appreciate everyone is passionate about their stations like CKLW and WKBW but can’t understand the lack of love for WABC. It had a 20+ share in NYC. Dan Ingram, Ron Lundy (“Hello Luv, Good Morning, this is Ron Lundy from the Greatest City in the World”), Harry Harrison. I know Cousin Brucie was a hack (still is) but Dan Ingram? Dan Ingram, the greatest Top 40 DJ in history? And 77 WABC Degrees? I used to tape their year end countdown on my cassette player off my Mickey Mouse Radio and still can’t listen to “Heart of Gold” without hearing Dan Ingram humming along at the end because I listened to it so many times. All in all, I love the reminisces. Vote early, vote often.

  12. As far as 50K stations go, WABC rules! Best sounding, best DJ’s, THE best jingles. Can’t beat it. As far as format consistency, WFIL Philadelphia couldn’t be beat. Hands down the tightest Top40 station in the nation.

  15. Grant Hudson is dead on! Working with him and the rest of the talent that went through those doors was a fairytale!!!

  18. And then the CRTC killed the Big 8 with CANADIAN CONTENT RULES. a large part of the music played had to be Canadian Content, (Band, Singer, Band leader, etc.). See below;
    https://www.thebig8.net/demise.html
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_content
    https://thewalrus.ca/2004-11-media/
    So much for the CRTC and the liberal egg heads running it. Then again it is a Canadian station so too bad. I am 76 now and was a teen from ’54 to ’64 which was the beginning of the Big 8. I remember it fondly.

  19. The Big 8 was just that.. Tom Shannon, Big Jim Edwards, Dave Shaffer and Frank Brodie to mention a few…”the beat goes on”

  21. Im with Grant Hudson on his comments, I also spent a lifetime doing radio,and to look back through the years and many stations and formats, CKLW truly was a standout. The best station EVER for the Motor City/Windsor area and way beyond! Yes, CKLW was AWESOME!

  23. The station was awesome. Just awesome. And working there was magical. I’ve spent my life in the radio business and nowhere else did I ever see so much talent in one building. For a period of time, life was a fairytale.

    • Grant, I could not agree with you more. I count myself lucky, having been able to work with a number of that crew at WWJ in the 1980s. 🙂

  24. Our family vacationed on the beaches of Lake Erie and The Big 8 did boom across the water to our Channel Master transistor radio. Just a few years later, my brother’s voice would on that signal … “Jon Belmont, CKLW 20/20 News.” He wasn’t even 20-years-old. That station was magical!

  25. With Many great competitors in their home market (WJBK, WKNR, WXYZ), the BIG 8 was a constant and consistent leader, partially because of their broader reach, (they could be heard in 4 Provinces and 40+ states), partially because of their 20/20 news format, and partially because of the great musical aptitude of Rosallie.

  29. CKLW ruled the airwaves in the midwest during the 70’s. The most listened to radio station I ever heard. What power they had!

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