I remember in 1965 when Ken Carter made WORL a Top 40
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Bygone Stations/Formats/DJs/Etc
- Thread starter LetsShakeOnIt
- Start date
Whoa, as a native RI'er, I really appreciated this link to the history of some of RI's greatest radio stations!
Since we're on the subject of Rhode Island, don't forget Salty Brine on WPRO.
I went to a boarding prep school in Woonsocket in the mid-60s, and the daytime Top 40 choices were WPRO and WBZ. I didn't understand directional signals yet and was dumbfounded on why you could not hear WICE 1290 that was only 15 miles away.
Back in the '60s, WICE had a newsman with a great set of pipes. He was just over the top in the way he presented the news where he could make a story about a cat stuck in a tree in Cranston sound like the Russians had just sailed into Narraganset Bay. I *think* his first name was Charles.
I do remember King Arthur Knight and Bill Corsair.
Charles Scovill was his name. I remember when the Bishop of Providence died, the newscast started: (sounder) McVinney....(pause)...DEAD!
With his voice, and the reverb on WICE at the time, it sounded like God himself was making the proclamation.
He was at WICE forever.
With his voice, and the reverb on WICE at the time, it sounded like God himself was making the proclamation.
He was at WICE forever.
Didn't WORC do an allegedly "all request" format back in the 60s? Never actually heard it, but in his book John Garabedian made it sound like it was a really big deal.
"Banana Whackies"???
Were you thinking of apple gunkies?
Anyone have any memories of the late Jim Connors on WMEX from 1971-1972? He became very good friends with Harry Chapin and was the inspiration for Harry's song, W*O*L*D.
@pat donovan, Best rip and read newscaster I have ever heard. There has to be an aircheck of him somewhere.
I used to listen to WORL back when I was in high school and they were doing Top 40. Now I'm not saying they had very few listeners, but one time they were doing a contest: "Who is the premier of China??" and kept repeating the question after every song. After about 30 minutes, I decided to call in since apparently they had not yet gotten the correct answer yet. I won! I got the distinct feeling that I may have been the only one listening...haha
I do remember apple gunkies....but where did I get banana whackies from? Maybe it was both?
I can’t recall if they did a strictly “all request” format but they did seem to take quite a number of on air listener requests.
The afternoon show was titled ‘Open House Party’. Not sure when or if John Garabedian (aka Johnny Gardner) was one of the hosts. I seem to recall John as the evening jock but he may have moved to afternoons at some point. By that time I had “graduated” to listening to crosstown Top 40 rival WAAB 1440.
Anybody remember Scott Wallace I think in WMEX and know whatever became of him?
That reminds me of my college station. The Beatles Red and Blue albums had just been released, and the kid on the air (who played an inordinate amount of Velvet Underground and other proto-punk stuff) opened the mic and said "The fifth caller gets their choice of either the Red or Blue album!"
We went rushing into the studio from the lounge and asked "What the hell are you doing? We don't have those to give away!"
He said "If I get five calls, I'll buy the damn album for the winner myself."
You can guess the rest of the story
I was a huge fan of AM Daytimer WCAS - some of the most creative radio I've ever heard: WCAS Cambridge
Same here. The lineup during the years I listened to it most was Rick Starr, Lisa Karlin, Frank Dudgeon and Moe Shore. Starr went on to become a Group W bigwig, Karlin went on to WCOZ and then to New York, Dudgeon found a home on public radio in West Virginia and elsewhere. Not sure what became of Shore, but the name he gave his show was a memorable one: The Show More Moe Shore Show.
WCAS used to have some rather creative sign-offs, being they were a daytimer. They would use any excuse to say there was an emergency (like a severe snow storm) to keep the signal on at night.
The irony with WCAS is that historically it had ties to the original WJIB on 96.9 before it was sold.
The only time I remember hearing them do that was in the blizzard of ‘78.
Looking back one has to give honorable mention to Kenny Mayer on 1600/92.9 at Midnight on Mondays.
Kenny Mayer, WBOS Radio : Hooligan Archives : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Kenny Mayer was a living anachronism lurking quietly on the fringes of Boston radio. He did a brief stint at WBZ (AM) sometime in the early 1950's, and later...
archive.org
I used to listen to Kenny regularly. Mostly because all the other stations (except WHDH) signed off for "maintenance" Mondays after the midnight news. I think he was pretty much forced to play the older comedy albums to avoid obscenity complaints from the FCC. I doubt he had any way to bleep anything in his basement studio. What happened to the show after he passed away? I vaguely remember a young woman taking over, who didn't have much of interest to say, and I went over to "Jazz in the Night" with Norm Nathan on WHDH.Looking back one has to give honorable mention to Kenny Mayer on 1600/92.9 at Midnight on Mondays.
Kenny Mayer, WBOS Radio : Hooligan Archives : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Kenny Mayer was a living anachronism lurking quietly on the fringes of Boston radio. He did a brief stint at WBZ (AM) sometime in the early 1950's, and later...archive.org