• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

1301 Ohio street gone!

R

radio lover

That location onced housed WBOW-WZZQ from the early 60's to mid 80's. Union hospital used the building briefly and than Crossroads Communications. Drove by it today and saw that demolition had recently been done.
 
In the 1960's the two top 40 radio stations in Terre Haute wanted to let the public drive by and see everyone working on the air. The old Remington Rand building at 1301 Ohio Street, I believe that was the buildings former occupant, fit that description in the 1960's. WBOW called it "The Showcase of the Wabash Valley" or something very similar. WTHI-AM had the studio window at 918 Ohio St. which is now demolished. Since we are speaking of history, does anyone remember the huge promotions these stations did? I remember my mother winning a freezer full of food from Great Scot Supermarket with WTHI-AM. Joe Badger, the disc jockey, was buried in a camper with food over it for several days. Another big promotion was the treasure hunt with cryptic clues given out over the air. Radio had to be fun in those days. Now advertising packages are sold for the naming of the studio after their business. I must be getting old.
 
My bet is that a convenience store/gas station will soon appear. Far more profitable than any radio station. Building was dubbed the termite palace!. Good riddance!
 
I remember driving back and forth thru Terre Haute from Champaign to Evansville in the mid-60's and enjoying the Top 40 radio rivalry between 1230 WBOW and 1480 WTHI. Who was it who called themselves the Air Force? I had heard The All-Americans and Good Guys, but The Air Force was one I hadn't heard before. I never hear radio battles like that anymore. Maybe because there's no competition to speak of any longer? Whatever...It was radio at it's best!
 
You have a great memory! It was the WTHI-AM Air Force. Yes, the competition was fierce and many people in radio today should talk to some of the veterans of that age who are still around. Barry Kent at WTHI-FM, or HI-99, probably could tell a few stories handed down. Promotional budgets just are not the same as they used to be.
 
My memory is still hangin' in there. I can't remember though whether it was WBOW or WTHI who had a guy who used to work in Evansville and I think Paducah? Brian was his name, I think and he was on the air in Terre Haute for years, if I recall correctly? There was another station, too, WAAC, but I can't remember their format? MOR, maybe? I even remember driving thru one time and hearing Barney Pip on one of the stations. Terre Haute was a great radio town.
 
WAAC was a combination news, talk and MOR music day-time only station. In the morning it was news, mid-morning was the Tip Show with recipes and household hints, around noon it was Radio Bingo, early afternoon Speak Out and later in the afternoon until sign-off was music, news and traffic reports. The weekends were mostly MOR music. CBS News was on the hour. A great station with a lot of work showing on the airwaves. A former boss of mine said it was number one in billings during one period of time. Unfortunately, Midwest Communications owns the station under the call letters, WBOW. Sometimes it is on the air and sometimes off the air. When the station is on the air it relays the Midwest company conservative talk station in Paris, Illinois. One person stated Midwest lost their lease for the transmitter site. A sad situation for a once great station which broke the mode of radio programming.
 
Brian Thoms Hayden worked for WTHI first then came to WBOW. Barney Pip worked in Brazil for a while on 97-DJ in Brazil. That station was ran by Ricky the K Kaufman.
 
Hayden, that's it. I remember him on WROZ from it's Top 40 days around 64' or so...back in the days of Jack Etzel & Charlie Shoe. I thought he worked for WKYX Paducah, too, but I guess I'm wrong about that one. I do though recall hearing him on a Terre Haute station driving thru. Just couldn't remember which station it was.
 
Regarding Barney Pip, he came by a station I was working for representing a jingle company out of Indy. A nice guy. He thought about working at our station, but never did. It would have been an honor to have him with us. A great jock from a great period in radio.
 
Once you wrote about Barney Pip, I looked him up on the Internet. I knew Barney Pip worked in Chicago but didn't know his tragic history and the fatal crash that took his life. Apparently he had a disorder that at that time was hard to treat but he bravely managed the rough and tumble of the radio world. I have heard of him before you mentioned the name but after reading the article, I have a new respect for the legendary DJ. I don't remember Brian Hayden. I usually listened to WBOW and the two FM's in town, WVTS and WTHI-FM. Brian probably worked for WTHI-AM but that is a guess.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom