Bill Randle & post-talk WBBG = Jack's ancestor

[jimmy_1]

With the big Jack news of this week (WCBS flip), I remembered something similar about 25 years ago (c. 1979) going on at WBBG 1260 AM in Cleveland. When WBBG finally pulled the plug on their talk format, you heard the flip - Ted Alexander talking politics, then saying "I'll say it one last time - SUPERTALK 1260 WBBG - then with Anita Ward singing "Ring My Bell", Ted Alexander said, "We're going to ring your bell over and over and over.". After that they played "Hollywood Nights", followed by "Mack the Knife". The next day, Bill Randle gave a speech (paraphrasing) that the songs they were playing are part of major research he and others performed on peoples' favorite songs. Randle kept hammering home statements that his research had led to a format including these specific songs, and all songs played on this new venture were researched and shown to be listener favorites regardless of their origin or niche format. I think the researched tunes lasted a year or so before WBBG became the "Big Band Grandstand".

 

[NeilParks]

Music on WBBG

IIRC WBBG went through a couple of changes between SuperTalk and Big Band Grandstand.

First there was Super Gold--essentially a return to the WMGC Rock & Roll oldies format that preceded Super Talk. Then there was "Music of Your Life"--music selected by a national syndicator but hosted by local DJs. After that came the Big Band Grandstand.

(Somebody jump in and correct me if I'm remembering wrong.)

 

[JohnnyMorganWXJX]

Re: Music on WBBG

> IIRC WBBG went through a couple of changes between SuperTalk
> and Big Band Grandstand.
>
> First there was Super Gold--essentially a return to the WMGC
> Rock & Roll oldies format that preceded Super Talk. Then
> there was "Music of Your Life"--music selected by a national
> syndicator but hosted by local DJs. After that came the Big
> Band Grandstand.
>
> (Somebody jump in and correct me if I'm remembering wrong.)
>

July 25, 1981, 6.00am: Jim Davis kicked off the Music of Your Life format on WBBG 1260 by playing "In the Mood" by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra.

That came directly from Jim Davis's goodbye on 1420 WRMR last summer.

Now, this does make matters a bit sticky, and we'd need to contact Jim Davis for the timeline. For a while he was National PD of the MOYL format, and either at the same time or after that he was PD of WBBG.

 

[jimmy_1]

Re: Music on WBBG

Are any of the Supertalk guys still around other than Ted Alexander? I know Randle is dead. Specifically, I am interested in knowing about Merle Pollis, Ed Fisher, and Dean Rufus.

 

[OldAkronite]

WBBG SuperTalkers, And Ex-WJW/850 Talk Hosts

> Are any of the Supertalk guys still around other than Ted
> Alexander? I know Randle is dead. Specifically, I am
> interested in knowing about Merle Pollis, Ed Fisher, and
> Dean Rufus.

Last I heard, Merle was still doing stuff for WELW/1330.

I wouldn't bet on it, but I'm not sure Ed Fisher is alive.

And then, of course, there's former sports guy Bruce Drennan, who got his start in Cleveland on "SuperTalk 1260". (I can STILL hear him say "SuperTalk 1260...(attempt to lower voice)...W...BBG!" in my head.) I think everyone knows what happened to him.

I'm wondering, too, about some of the former WJW/850 talk people, since that station was pretty much the direct successor to WBBG's talk format.

The sad story of Joel Rose is well known, of course. My fading memory tells me Merle was over at 850, too. How about evening host Doreen Lazarus and the paranormal show "Beyond the Norm", sort of doing the Art Bell thing before Art was even around? Doreen was a very, very nice lady, a real sweetheart. Last I heard, she was in the public information office at Tri-C, after a stint at then-East Ohio Gas.

-OA