Big Hits - Y100.9 Format Flip

[JIBGUY]

All those guys , a couple thosand of them, (and some gals) back then were having fun! -And having such fun was contagious to the listeners. Probably less than a hundred jocks are 'having fun" these days. Styles of on-air presentations come and go. Having fun on AM radio in the 60's ended in the 70's with the opposite trend of low-key-approach 'progressive FM'. Come the 80's, so many morning shows tried to look like they were having fun with fake laughter. And while right now, most jocks are reading liner cards on VT, the future will get back to personality... it will HAVE to. Otherwise terrestrial radio will (does) sound like anyone's iPod. In fact, iPods will get "old", as listeners will come back to radio seeking some new and different music and friendly voices. I just hope corporate radio wakes up and provides that product when the away-from-iPod shift begins.

 

[Time Traveler]

DJ's had talent, personality--remember Woo Woo Ginsberg, Boom-Boom Branigan, Joey Reynolds and countless others? People listened to the radio to hear the DJs--music was secondary. That is gone--we old-timers miss that. The on-air talent was generally outstanding.

There is a strong tendency here to remember the past thru rose colored glasses. Yes, there were some outstanding talents back in the day, but there a whole lot more who were nothing but "Johnny Deejay". Why do you think Bill Drake was so successful with his tightly-formatted, liner card approach to radio 45 years ago? Because he (correctly) realized that most jocks had very little to say, and took forever to say it. Have his principles been taken too far? Absolutely, but even back then he knew most listeners tuned in for the music, the dj was just there to tie it all in together. Why do you think WMEX got away with (except for Arnie G.) "house names" for his airstaff? How many "Dan Donovans" or "Fenways" were there anyway?

Yes there were exceptions. Joey Reynolds was one of them. By his own admission, he was a comedian...he got into radio because that was the only venue available at the time. He had talent, and it showed.
I'm not so sure about Arnie & Boom-Boom. I'm more inclined to think that both were just in the right place at the right time. Arnie's whole schtik was his horns, buzzers and other assorted sound effects. He had the good sense to get out of it in the mid 60s while he was still on top...his act was getting tired if he'd hung in another couple years he would have sounded really dated & unhip.
I don't know why everyone seems to remember Boom-Boom. I'm guessing it's because he was at WPTR in afternoon drive for so many years. I certainly don't remember him as being any great shakes, and while airchecks of him seem to be pretty rare, those I've heard don't contradict that. The only thing that stood out about him to me was that he always sounded like he was out of breath.

I can't argue with that! I think that most of the Boom Boom legacy was simple longevity at WPTR. He joined WPTR around 1961. Over the years, alot of DJs came and went through WPTR who sounded alot better and alot hipper! By 1969, both Boom Boom and WPTR were sounding pretty old and tired. By 1973, WPTR fired Boom Boom as they were at last trying to update their sound in a very competitive market. In 1973, WPTR faced competition from three other local Top 40 AMs, and two Class B Top 40 FMs. However, until just recently, Boom Boom was voice tracked on a local Albany area AM "Real Oldies" station. I guess that there is something to market longevity....