A Return to the Era of Around 1970

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Welcome to Central Illinois' On-Line Broadcast Museum, and if you're a return visitor, welcome back!

Everyone is hopefully familiar with radio countdowns, you know, the Casey Kasem American Top 40, in which he counts down from number 40 to number one in the popular music weekly survey. All Top 40 stations would either air a syndicated countdown program or conduct their own research and air their own version based on local sales of popular music recordings (or just make them up).

This time, I'll be doing the same for TV shows. Instead of counting down, though, I'll be counting up, starting at number one. Spotlighting the top five shows, then listing the others from number 15. The real ratings would rate every single network's prime time show, sometimes listing as many as 120 shows.

We'll all go back to 1970. I was a sophomore (see picture above) during that TV season, and life was much different from what it is now. I didn't have access to cable TV, as most, like me, were still receiving 3 or maybe 4 stations on an antenna. If you were in a major city, you might have had cable, but you would probably have only a couple more channels than you get with an antenna, all on channels 2-13.

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Central Illinois geography was different, too. There was no I-72. So, to travel from Springfield to Champaign, you would have to take US 36 to Decatur, then Illinois 47/48 to Illinois Route 10 to Champaign. Outside of a small portion of what was to become I-72 from Monticello to south of Illinois Route 10, it was all 2-lane!  I-55 only existed around Springfield's east side. US-66 was still a "thing!" I-57 was fragmented between Rantoul and Pesotum, and between Tuscola and Effingham. I-74 existed between Indianapolis and Mohomet and between US 51 south of Bloomington and Peoria. 

No cell phones; most homes had a single landline phone (with a mile-long curly handset cord that could offer at least a chance of privacy) and maybe one additional bedroom extension phone. FM radio stations at the time were seldom presenting a full-time rock format (unless you were near a major metro area). When it came to music, AM was still king, mostly represented by the full-time powerhouse radio stations like WLS, WCFL, and KXOK. Secondary markets featured full-time Top 40 formats like WIRL, WCVS, and WBOW.

To help you understand what 1970 and the era were like, I've included a number of Classic Radio selections from the most popular stations and DJs across Mid-Illinois at that time, WLS, KXOK, and even one from the early years of KSHE.

If you're wondering when other contemporary radio stations would start to populate the FM band, this may put this era in a better context. WDBR went on the air in 1972 as an Oldies/Top 40 mix format, then shifted to a live-sounding, more adult Top 40 format in 1973. Meanwhile, WSOY-FM would become Y-103 in 1980 as "The Love Rock." Others wouldn't bring their contemporary formats until much later. Listen to some early airchecks from the central Illinois radio stations by clicking here.

Check out the videos and audio selections below, and if you want to get ahead of the clothing trends, put on a pair of sandals, beads, and some bell-bottom jeans, and get it on!