WHK AM1420 is running 100th Anniversary sweeps featuring quick, brief snippets from WHK personalities of the past.
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100 years old!
- Thread starter johnbasalla
- Start date
Good that you are letting us know what happens these days at WHK. Between aiming for such a narrow audience with their programming and dealing with a deteriorating transmitter site and all-time high interference on the AM dial, the station has such few listeners these days.
Doubt you'll hear any from Gary Dee, Joe Finan, Mad Daddy, Les Levine or the Gay 90s show. Perhaps they can get Johnny Holliday!
Salem wanted none of the WHK archived materials or memorabelia when they bought it. It all went to anyone who grabbed them. Some items can be seen in the 1996 movie Telling Lies in America about a fictitious WHK dj in the early 60s. The movie recreated the old WHK studios in a warehouse. The film is by Joe Esterhazy who grew up in Cleveland.
Salem wanted none of the WHK archived materials or memorabelia when they bought it. It all went to anyone who grabbed them. Some items can be seen in the 1996 movie Telling Lies in America about a fictitious WHK dj in the early 60s. The movie recreated the old WHK studios in a warehouse. The film is by Joe Esterhazy who grew up in Cleveland.
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During WHK's 85th anniversary, they commissioned a special which aired which featured Gary Dee, and others. In fact, to this day, you occasionally hear a sweep with Gary Dee comically and sarcastically saying: "Wait 'till Goddard sees my whoolybear!" I've also heard Joe Finan and Johnnie Holliday in sweeps where they, themselves, mention their names. The station also hosted an 85th anniversary party. Maybe more fun will come in this 100th anniversary.
They do have a cadre of strong advertisers. Bob Frantz occasionally mentions that if his show didn't have the support, he wouldn't have gotten the extension of his show into its 3rd hour.
VintageMac
Banned
It's spelled Joe Eszterhas but he was born as József Antal Eszterhás. That's a great movie and has many Cleveland spots in it like the West Side Market, Lake Erie by Perkins Beach and the old Stas Funeral Home.
Wasn't Joe Finan principally on WERE? And Mad Daddy was only briefely on WHK before moving to New York; most of his years in Cleveland were on WJW in a sponsored night block?
Which Johnny Holiday or Holliday? There must be about a dozen in American radio history.
Is it available for streaming on any of the usual sources? (Save me doing a search which will give me at least a dozen links that don't lead to it, please!)
You may be thinking of Howie Lund who was on People Power WERE and on WIXY.
Joe Finan was one of those first rock DJ's here who achieved early success on KYW. He was caught up in the payola scandal, then ran a station in Denver creating one of the first all talk outlets. He returned to Cleveland, first doing mornings on WIXY and then was hired away by Carl Hirsch and eventually put in middays after Gary Dee was snatched from WERE during their country/hot talk days with hosts Wild Bill Wilkins, Carolyn Carr and Doc Lemon. He was also 180 degrees opposite the present stand of WHK.
Mad Daddy joined WHK in 1958 and was a big success, helping make the station into a dominant top 40 outlet.
Johnny Holliday (Bobbitt) was a very popular afternoon drive DJ at WHK in the 1960's, later working at WINS, KYA and becoming a sports play by play announcer and sports director for the University of Maryland. He's still around at 87.
"Telling Lies in America" was released on DVD and may still be available. Kevin Bacon plays the WHK dj.
Joe Finan was one of those first rock DJ's here who achieved early success on KYW. He was caught up in the payola scandal, then ran a station in Denver creating one of the first all talk outlets. He returned to Cleveland, first doing mornings on WIXY and then was hired away by Carl Hirsch and eventually put in middays after Gary Dee was snatched from WERE during their country/hot talk days with hosts Wild Bill Wilkins, Carolyn Carr and Doc Lemon. He was also 180 degrees opposite the present stand of WHK.
Mad Daddy joined WHK in 1958 and was a big success, helping make the station into a dominant top 40 outlet.
Johnny Holliday (Bobbitt) was a very popular afternoon drive DJ at WHK in the 1960's, later working at WINS, KYA and becoming a sports play by play announcer and sports director for the University of Maryland. He's still around at 87.
"Telling Lies in America" was released on DVD and may still be available. Kevin Bacon plays the WHK dj.
VintageMac
Banned
I don't bother with streaming too much so I couldn't tell you but I first saw the movie a long time ago on DirecTV on one of the Starz channels or similar. Later, I found it on blu-ray (around $13.00 now) but it also has the movie Traveller on it which is pretty funny as I recall. It was also on DVD.
VintageMac
Banned
I just checked Tubi which I've used and the movie is there:
Telling Lies in America (1997)
Karchy Jonas vows to win the High School Hall of Fame contest so he can impress his classmate Diney. Eventually he does win, and in the process befriends Billy, the DJ who hosted the contest, who introduces Karchy to lifes wild side.
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