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Big Ange sighting

Tooling down the road, top down with his hair blowing in the wind. From a distance he really don't look much different than he did when he was playing the hits for his little cupcakes on WPRO. The legend lives!
 
> Tooling down the road, top down with his hair blowing in the
> wind. From a distance he really don't look much different
> than he did when he was playing the hits for his little
> cupcakes on WPRO. The legend lives!
>-------------


That's funny. I actually thought he was dead... or close to it. I interned for him back in 1986 when he was at WKRI. I found him bossy and insensitive. I had an NBC jacket at the time. He told me that I needed to get rid of that piece of crap. He wasn't even joking. I worked for him for two days and decided that I no longer was going to put up with him. The weird thing is that he and I got along great on the phone. He even liked me in person. But the problem was that I didn't really care for him all that much after we met.


John<P ID="signature">______________
Awsome Voiceovers for your station.
JohnChartier.com
206-600-2629
</P>
 
> > Tooling down the road, top down with his hair blowing in
> the
> > wind. From a distance he really don't look much different
> > than he did when he was playing the hits for his little
> > cupcakes on WPRO. The legend lives!
> >-------------
>
>
> That's funny. I actually thought he was dead... or close
> to it. I interned for him back in 1986 when he was at WKRI.
> I found him bossy and insensitive. I had an NBC jacket at
> the time. He told me that I needed to get rid of that piece
> of crap. He wasn't even joking. I worked for him for two
> days and decided that I no longer was going to put up with
> him. The weird thing is that he and I got along great on the
> phone. He even liked me in person. But the problem was that
> I didn't really care for him all that much after we met.
>
>
> John
>

I worked for Big Ange while he was at WKRI. I outlasted him while he was PD. I outlasted most of the PD's there, as I worked there from 85-93. Big Ange was by far the most unusual PD to work for an tried to make a PRO out of KRI. He didnt last too long there as his contract expired an was not renewed.

Johnny Boots
 
> > > Tooling down the road, top down with his hair blowing in
>
> > the
> > > wind. From a distance he really don't look much
> different
> > > than he did when he was playing the hits for his little
> > > cupcakes on WPRO. The legend lives!

I wonder how fast Bristol would be on the hotline if Ashley called her listeners twinkies.

>
> I worked for Big Ange while he was at WKRI. I outlasted him
> while he was PD. I outlasted most of the PD's there, as I
> worked there from 85-93. Big Ange was by far the most
> unusual PD to work for an tried to make a PRO out of KRI.
> He didnt last too long there as his contract expired an was
> not renewed.

KRI gave contracts?
 
> KRI gave contracts?
-------------

I Highly doubt it.



John
<P ID="signature">______________
Awsome Voiceovers for your station.
JohnChartier.com
206-600-2629
</P>
 
> > KRI gave contracts?
> -------------
>
> I Highly doubt it.
>
>
>
> John
>
Big Ange had a 1 year contract with perks. He worked for Owner David Hill and GM Ken White. I was there the longest next to John Parente and Chief Engineer Joe Matias who were there longer. The day his contract was over Vin Lewis took over as PD and then unknown Tony Knapp became the MD. Having been there through 4 ownerships and numerous changes in staff the book I could write could be interesting.
 
> Big Ange had a 1 year contract with perks. He worked for
> Owner David Hill and GM Ken White. I was there the longest
> next to John Parente and Chief Engineer Joe Matias who were
> there longer. The day his contract was over Vin Lewis took
> over as PD and then unknown Tony Knapp became the MD.
> Having been there through 4 ownerships and numerous changes
> in staff the book I could write could be interesting.

Perks must=food

Seriously though I found him to be a good guy, although opinions probably vary greatly from person to person.
 
I wonder what he's doing now? I met up with him in 84 when he was PD of an Oldies station in Gorham, Maine...1590 WASY(since silent). Came within an eyelash of becoming the place's Chief Engineer. And a more jerrybuilt facility
you'd never see...console on a desk and Technics turntables crudely mounted on small boxes. Place ran 5 kW day, 2.5 kW night into 4 towers. Joe Thomas
was there as well...the Beef Brothers! I remember going to dinner with them-it was Chinese, even though the station was on top of a pizza joint-! and running up a 50.00 dinner tab....LOLOL!!!!
I went out to the transmitter site and helped him with the audio processing....he'd turned up the high end too far ....


Dave Gardiner

WVCH 740

Chester/Philadelphia
 
> I wonder what he's doing now? I met up with him in 84 when
> he was PD of an Oldies station in Gorham, Maine...1590
> WASY(since silent).

Someone once posted that they saw an ad in a church bulletin for some advertising service run by him. I don't know what kinds of ads. One of our moderators,Les,has some good Ange stories but most probably couldn't be posted here. One he told was about Ange driving a station van through a bank drive-in window that wasn't high enough for the van & apparently the overhead lost the battle with the van.

His day in radio was one when the jock was a celebrity in the truest sense of the word & the situation may have been too over the top & expected to change but it's gone too far in the other direction. Back then top 40 radio was aimed at both sexes & more than just teens. Listeners would actually imitate Ange. I'd wait for him to play Angie by The Stones because he'd call himself Angie on the air sometimes & the throaty moaning of his name over the intro & even Jagger's voice would begin. Now stations send jocks out for appearances & remotes & nobody even knows who the hell they are save for a few fanatics who follow them. We need to go partway back to the future.
 
> Joe Thomas was there as well

JOE THOMAS!?!?!?!?!?!?

Jeez, there's a name I haven't heard in decades! I remember when he was doing middays at WPRO. I remember one day when he called a female listener an "old bag" and was canned not too long after that.
 
Re: I spoke to Big Ange

I spoke to Big Ange two months ago, hes living in Johnston and doing well. He still has that great voice.
Its too bad he cant get on somewhere. We need some old timers to remind us what radio is all about. He had some crazy numbers in the old days ratings somewhere in the 40s and 50s, I know there were less stations then but can you imagine half the state tuning into you. <P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by bluesocean on 07/03/05 02:54 PM.</FONT></P>
 
Re: I spoke to Big Ange

> I spoke to Big Ange two months ago, hes living in Johnston
> and doing well. He still has that great voice.
> Its too bad he cant get on somewhere. We need some old
> timers to remind us what radio is all about. He had some
> crazy numbers in the old days ratings somewhere in the 40s
> and 50s, I know there were less stations then but can you
> imagine half the state tuning into you.

Stations don't want stars anymore. They will tolerate them if the personality can be sold to the sponsors & the personalities themselves are not too troublesome or deanding but that's basically morning drive. When it comes to music stations after morning drive in Providence the only saleable commodities are Charles & Laurenti & possibly Charlie Jefferds because he has name recognition. I agree with you though. Frankly if you compare music radio then & now,the current scenario doesn't come close. Even some of the suburban AM music stations of the 70s & 80s did a better job than the FM'ers do today.
 
Re: Jock Itch you hit it right on the head

> > I spoke to Big Ange two months ago, hes living in Johnston
>
> > and doing well. He still has that great voice.
> > Its too bad he cant get on somewhere. We need some old
> > timers to remind us what radio is all about. He had some
> > crazy numbers in the old days ratings somewhere in the 40s
>
> > and 50s, I know there were less stations then but can you
> > imagine half the state tuning into you.
>
> Stations don't want stars anymore. They will tolerate them
> if the personality can be sold to the sponsors & the
> personalities themselves are not too troublesome or deanding
> but that's basically morning drive. When it comes to music
> stations after morning drive in Providence the only saleable
> commodities are Charles & Laurenti & possibly Charlie
> Jefferds because he has name recognition. I agree with you
> though. Frankly if you compare music radio then & now,the
> current scenario doesn't come close. Even some of the
> suburban AM music stations of the 70s & 80s did a better job
> than the FM'ers do today.
>
 
Re: I spoke to Big Ange

> I spoke to Big Ange two months ago, hes living in Johnston
> and doing well.

If you have any means of contacting him, please tell him
that Les, who used to bust his hump at WYNG, would like to
swap e-mails with him. Would really love to remind him of
stuff like the flaming wastebasket and the marvelous destruction
of a bank's roof over an outside teller window. I'm sure he
can tell some good ones about me...like popping a chair
through the control room window. He can reach me at:
[email protected].
<P ID="signature">______________
xmitterbuilding100.jpg

Due to continuing underwhelming popular demand...</P>
 
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