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Anybody remember "Micky Turntable"? Buffalo's famous promo people...

J

jefflaurence

Well I was in the attic the other day rooting out some moldy boxes with cases and cases of 1/2 inch 4 track master tapes..and cases of 10 inch reels of produced spots...and I found a folder from when I was in the Buffalo market filled with 'tip sheets' from "Micky Turntable"... Anyone remember her? Is it true that the cute picture on the sheet was ether a) not her, b) a real old photo, or c) she never existed, and it was really Frankie Nestro's sheet because it always pushed Motown product?

In a related vein .. Whatever happened to Jerry Myers? He worked out of either Buffalo One Stop or Action One Stop...Aaaah the great days of real record pluggers...I miss those guys.
 
I remember Mickey Turntable. I heard he picture of her was taken in the 60's or late 50's so it was pretty ancient by the time the 70's rolled around. It came out of Buffalo so I suppose the locals here can fill in the details. I had a couple copies until my last move a couple years ago.
I used it a lot at a couple stations I worked at. I sent in the form pretty much every week of what I added and what was hot. Of course I paid the postage. Mostly what was interesting was the last page of DJ's comments. In the days before the Internet it was interesting what was going around at mostly small markets in the Northeast. Sorta pre -Fybush. You could use it to take little digs at your competition, which I did from time to time. Probably helps explain the great reputation I had at the time.
 
I may have gotten the story wrong, but my understanding was the Mickey Turntable sheet was a subsidiary of urban WBLK-FM, which was then owned by George "The Hound Dog" Lorenz. It was told to me that "Mickey" was actually George's secretary.
 
I worked all over the U.S. and was MD at many stations including ones in Dallas, San Diego, Kansas City and Pittsburgh...but there were no better record promoters and colourful music biz characters than in Buffalo, and I've kept in touch with several of them throughout the years. Rich Sargent (The Captain) is still at it, Jerry Meyers is in his 70s and in better shape than most men half his age (the last time I saw him he was touting a group that was playing a benefit show-he and I were both guests on Sandy Beach's show last year), Bruce Moser and the gang at Could Be Wild, the aforementioned Frankie Nestro, and Mickey, who wasn't really a promoter, but her "Behind The Scenes" was an integral part of the regional fabric.

Speaking of regional, some of the folks who came into Buffalo to tour records back in the day were pretty darn memorable: Carroll Hardy, Sal Ingeme and Gunther Hauer (in his 90s now-and he and I are still in touch) are three who come to mind right off the top of my head.
 
It's coming back to me...once I saw "Behind The Scenes" pop up.

Wasn't this some 8 1/2" x 14" typed-and-stapled together thing? I kinda remember it as a low-rent "FMQB", also a stapled-together 8 1/2 x 14 thing 30 years ago.
 
Debaser said:
I worked all over the U.S. and was MD at many stations including ones in Dallas, San Diego, Kansas City and Pittsburgh...but there were no better record promoters and colourful music biz characters than in Buffalo, and I've kept in touch with several of them throughout the years. Rich Sargent (The Captain) is still at it, Jerry Meyers is in his 70s and in better shape than most men half his age (the last time I saw him he was touting a group that was playing a benefit show-he and I were both guests on Sandy Beach's show last year), Bruce Moser and the gang at Could Be Wild, the aforementioned Frankie Nestro, and Mickey, who wasn't really a promoter, but her "Behind The Scenes" was an integral part of the regional fabric.

Speaking of regional, some of the folks who came into Buffalo to tour records back in the day were pretty darn memorable: Carroll Hardy, Sal Ingeme and Gunther Hauer (in his 90s now-and he and I are still in touch) are three who come to mind right off the top of my head.
Click to expand...

Don, I have to agree regarding the local promo gang who also ventured into Rochester regularly. Rich, Frankie, Bruce, Carroll, Jack Perry and many others were among the best. Happily, I've been able to get together recently with Rich and Frankie during trips back to Buffalo.

Glad to hear that Gunther Hauer is still around. I always enjoyed visits from him, George Furness. Merv Amols, Sal Ingeme, Frank Shively and some of the others when they made the swing through town. Shively is also down here in the Carolinas, so we get together a couple of times a year for lunch.

Please give my regards to Gunther next time you make contact.

Larry White
 
Carroll Hardy was the Atlantic labels rep who also serviced Rochester. His favorite restaurant here was the long-shuttered Cathay Pagoda Chinese place on E. Main almost opposite the Eastman Theater; we would often go there or Eddie's Chop House on Main, another fave for record rep-types.

David Cahn represented the Warners labels. Recently David's been an ad rep for Time Warner Cable, and also ran a little local ad agency along with former WBBF star Tim Griffin. I would love to share a colorful story or two about what's transpired in recent years but for discretion. And the laws of libel.
 
I worked at WBLK in the mid 1960s and got to know Mickey firsthand. Most of what's been written is correct. Behind the Scenes had an office in the Rand Building, right next to the WBLK suite. When George Lorenz died in 1972, Joyce took over Behind the Scenes and ran the newsletter until she died of cancer on February 15, 1997. At that point, her boyfriend, Tony Johnson, became the owner and he made some big changes. Scenes got printed on glossy paper for one thing. For another, all music formats were dropped except music for blacks and other minorities such as Hispanics. I had been a reporter to the country section which was eliminated. After my station got dropped from the mailing list I don't know what happpened but am pretty sure that Scenes has been defuct for many years.

Shortly after I started at WBLK, I tried to get a conversation going with Mickey. I asked her what was going on. She responded, "That's behind the scenes". Secrecy was the order of the day when it came to George's business affairs and personal life too.
 
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