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Altoona-Johnstown Where Are They Now?
- Thread starter DXDXDX
- Start date
Actually, the Terry MacAlarney thing kind of got blown out of proportion. There is no "Terry MacAlarney". "Terry MacAlarney" is the name given to all the past and present WFBG Radio engineers. This goes back to the time when WFBF AM & FM and Television was owned by Triangle Publications in the 60's. Many men have used the "MacAlarney monicker" through the years including Joe Jarret, Joe Jarret Jr, John Blatt, Gary McGill, etc. The real Terry MacAlarney met his maker the day he walked into the RCA 5000 watt AM transmitter in the early 70's thinking he was opening the refrigerator for a can of pop and the sandwich his wife packed for him that morning. Thankfully the station was on low power directional at the time or the body never would had been identified. In short, just like Forever has "frog names", there used to be "engineer names" also. I hope that I have straightened this out once and for all.
A
allnitesatelite
Guest
Is this the same Mark Thomas who sells cars in Bedford, East Freedom and McConnellsburg? He seems to be a good guy, someone you would trust.
Okay, let's take a look back at the staff members of WMAJ and its sister FM circa 1976-1980. If I left someone out, my apologies and please chime in. I know where some of these people are today and will follow-up after the thread has had a chance to develop.
Pat Farnack
Todd Jeffers---went to krz in harrisburg market with fearless...not sure where he is now
Jefferson Ward
Doug Flodin---went to work for drake-chenault--passed away (brian tumor is what i heard)
Dave Allen---went on to consult & program stations
Croy Pitzer---the megavoice--retired
Glen Holtzer
Warren Williams
Don Hallett---was a programmer up in scranton/w-b market not sure now
Mark Miller
Dorothy Lucie
Fearless Fremish
Barry Drake
Pat Farnack
Todd Jeffers---went to krz in harrisburg market with fearless...not sure where he is now
Jefferson Ward
Doug Flodin---went to work for drake-chenault--passed away (brian tumor is what i heard)
Dave Allen---went on to consult & program stations
Croy Pitzer---the megavoice--retired
Glen Holtzer
Warren Williams
Don Hallett---was a programmer up in scranton/w-b market not sure now
Mark Miller
Dorothy Lucie
Fearless Fremish
Barry Drake
Pat Farnack
Todd Jeffers---went to krz in harrisburg market with fearless...not sure where he is now -- he also spend some time in Columbus and then returned with long time partner Nancy Ryan to WRBT in Harrisburg. I've lost touch with him.
Jefferson Ward---just named Market Manager for Clear Channel in Salisbury/OC. Before that he was with Beasley in Philly and has been at various station in P-town for years
Doug Flodin---went to work for drake-chenault--passed away (brian tumor is what i heard)
Dave Allen---went on to consult & program stations---I believe he is still the IT guy at Critical Mass Media
Croy Pitzer---the megavoice--retired--died many years ago of Lou Gerig's disease.
Glen Holtzer---I believe he went to NYC after State College to pursue a career as an actor
Warren Williams---has a lucrative career as a voice-over artist... based somewhere on the West Coast. Maybe LA area?
Don Hallett---was a programmer up in scranton/w-b market not sure now... went on to Providence and Columbus before spending a decade consulting. He now is in Las Vegas.
Mark Miller---last I new he worked for the Smithsonian. I heard that one of the things he did was capture the audio from shuttle launches
Dorothy Lucie---she has been in LA for years and has appeared as the host of many different TV shows
Fearless Fremish---no idea
Jack Kulp---he has anchored the KOIT morning show for several decades
Gary Sinderson---worked on the technical side of television at stations around Altoona is the last I heard.
More to to follow....
Barry Drake
Todd Jeffers---went to krz in harrisburg market with fearless...not sure where he is now -- he also spend some time in Columbus and then returned with long time partner Nancy Ryan to WRBT in Harrisburg. I've lost touch with him.
Jefferson Ward---just named Market Manager for Clear Channel in Salisbury/OC. Before that he was with Beasley in Philly and has been at various station in P-town for years
Doug Flodin---went to work for drake-chenault--passed away (brian tumor is what i heard)
Dave Allen---went on to consult & program stations---I believe he is still the IT guy at Critical Mass Media
Croy Pitzer---the megavoice--retired--died many years ago of Lou Gerig's disease.
Glen Holtzer---I believe he went to NYC after State College to pursue a career as an actor
Warren Williams---has a lucrative career as a voice-over artist... based somewhere on the West Coast. Maybe LA area?
Don Hallett---was a programmer up in scranton/w-b market not sure now... went on to Providence and Columbus before spending a decade consulting. He now is in Las Vegas.
Mark Miller---last I new he worked for the Smithsonian. I heard that one of the things he did was capture the audio from shuttle launches
Dorothy Lucie---she has been in LA for years and has appeared as the host of many different TV shows
Fearless Fremish---no idea
Jack Kulp---he has anchored the KOIT morning show for several decades
Gary Sinderson---worked on the technical side of television at stations around Altoona is the last I heard.
More to to follow....
Barry Drake
I don't know them.
Missed two...
Pat Farnack---morning news anchor on WCBS
Barry Drake---owner of BackYard Broadcasting
A few stories to tell here. I was a reporter and news anchor at WMAJ from '79-'81, spending most of my time in AM drive.
Tod Jeffers: He's in West Virginia, I think, and may be part-owner of a community radio station. At the time I was there, he was a wild man. When the movie "Airplane" opened at the movie theatre just across the parking lot from the studio, he convinced me to skip classes for several days in a row to see the movie several times. Once, during one of his single periods, he had a young and well-endowed woman in the studio with him. He told me later, "She's a national class gymnast, but she's got world class yabos." Tod was the very definition of old school, wild man morning radio.
Here's a name not on your list: Regis (Bulman) McKenna. He was the PD the night John Lennon was murdered. I came back to the studio from covering a story to find the AM studio bathed in candlelight. Regis was on air, well after his PM drive shift was over, playing Beatles music and crying between songs.
Another name from WMAJ: Beth Wilkinson, News Director. She hired me.
As for Warren Williams, a great programmer, I have one story: Both WMAJ and The X carried local news at the top of every hour. The news anchor could monitor either studio, or turn to a third setting to monitor the newsroom (with clack-clacking UPI machines in the background) output only. We were supposed to switch to newsroom output right before the top of the hour, and start the newscast at :00, regardless of how it would sound on either station. It was up to the jock on each station to hit the post on time. Early on after I moved to AM drive, I made the mistake of leaving AM in my headphones, while the jock (Jeffers, I think) was late getting to the newscast. Not five seconds after my newscast ended, Warren blasted the newsroom door open, jamming the door handle into the wall. He glowered at me and yelled that if I ever did that again, I was fired. Then he slammed the door and stomped away. I shat my pants and stayed the hell out of his way for many months. Warren went to Phoenix from SC and won a Billboard PD of the Year award at some point.
One more story, and one more name: Mark Harley, the GM. Harley had just canceled our network audio service to save some bucks. We had been ABC. We were stuck with UPI Audio, which did newscasts but not longform, and fed hourly cuts to affiliates. (The highlight was a daily feature called My Side, which I used anytime a young sportscaster named Keith Olbermann filed one of his typically funny commentaries.) So we were without a network the afternoon that President Reagan was shot. I and another anchor/reporter (her name escapes me) took air for four solid hours, reading wire copy and getting slips of paper with details from jocks watching TV in one of the production studios.
I never made more than minimum wage, and I never loved a job more.
Tod Jeffers: He's in West Virginia, I think, and may be part-owner of a community radio station. At the time I was there, he was a wild man. When the movie "Airplane" opened at the movie theatre just across the parking lot from the studio, he convinced me to skip classes for several days in a row to see the movie several times. Once, during one of his single periods, he had a young and well-endowed woman in the studio with him. He told me later, "She's a national class gymnast, but she's got world class yabos." Tod was the very definition of old school, wild man morning radio.
Here's a name not on your list: Regis (Bulman) McKenna. He was the PD the night John Lennon was murdered. I came back to the studio from covering a story to find the AM studio bathed in candlelight. Regis was on air, well after his PM drive shift was over, playing Beatles music and crying between songs.
Another name from WMAJ: Beth Wilkinson, News Director. She hired me.
As for Warren Williams, a great programmer, I have one story: Both WMAJ and The X carried local news at the top of every hour. The news anchor could monitor either studio, or turn to a third setting to monitor the newsroom (with clack-clacking UPI machines in the background) output only. We were supposed to switch to newsroom output right before the top of the hour, and start the newscast at :00, regardless of how it would sound on either station. It was up to the jock on each station to hit the post on time. Early on after I moved to AM drive, I made the mistake of leaving AM in my headphones, while the jock (Jeffers, I think) was late getting to the newscast. Not five seconds after my newscast ended, Warren blasted the newsroom door open, jamming the door handle into the wall. He glowered at me and yelled that if I ever did that again, I was fired. Then he slammed the door and stomped away. I shat my pants and stayed the hell out of his way for many months. Warren went to Phoenix from SC and won a Billboard PD of the Year award at some point.
One more story, and one more name: Mark Harley, the GM. Harley had just canceled our network audio service to save some bucks. We had been ABC. We were stuck with UPI Audio, which did newscasts but not longform, and fed hourly cuts to affiliates. (The highlight was a daily feature called My Side, which I used anytime a young sportscaster named Keith Olbermann filed one of his typically funny commentaries.) So we were without a network the afternoon that President Reagan was shot. I and another anchor/reporter (her name escapes me) took air for four solid hours, reading wire copy and getting slips of paper with details from jocks watching TV in one of the production studios.
I never made more than minimum wage, and I never loved a job more.
A
allnitesatelite
Guest
Barney Hoople's Harmony Highway on WNCC, what a classic show. Barney Hoople was from Holsopple. If I recall the show featured a lot of 'dead air', but the tunes and conversational style of Hoople's on-air persona werer the best around. I don't remember him being on the air except for about one day a week. I was told that was the day of the week Denny Pompa called bingo at one of the local firehalls to help make ends meet.
A
allnitesatelite
Guest
Hey...here's another blast from the past. Whatever happened to the best WVAM/WPRR newsman ever...Mark Clemens. Does anyone remember what the
scandal was that sent that character packing? And in a hurry!
scandal was that sent that character packing? And in a hurry!
b344077 said:
actually, a lot of these guys were inspirations for some of us to get into the business. Todd Jeffers & Fearless in the morning on maj...does anyone remember when they did "A Christmas Carol" it was hilarious!!! Todd & Fearless had some of the best bits on their morning show.
Also its nice to find out where some of our fellow co-workers ended up after losing touch with them. I know Ron Adams (who happens to have his own station now around the Ligonier area) has been trying to organize a reunion for former WMAJ/WXLR staff members. So, for as far as reminiscing about the old days, I'm all for it! Helps to remember why we got into the business in the first place.
(gets off soapbox and goes and sits down now) Take care everyone!
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