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Crisman - Williamsport PA

S

Sgt Friday

Guest
I was driving to Pittsburgh early last Monday and heard Gary doing his morning thing on KISS. Excellent is the only word I could come up with to describe what I heard. Starting at 6am he came across as upbeat, informed and put more callers on the air in the 35 minutes I listened than most jocks put on in a week. What a concept huh? Having fun, interacting with the audience, laughing with them and making them the most important part of your show. He didn't once talk about selling houses, his new child, no korney frog sounds, or tell me about what's happening with Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes (and theres a subject for another day). It was all local, news, traffic, and the listener. Not to mention they have a great promotion going on : "Extreme Makeover " Kitchen version (or something like that) We all could learn from him (at least I did) . What a pro.

I don't know Gary but have read about him before. I was trying to remember did he work with Frank Koshelski at WMJW at one time? I think I met him there one day with David DeCosmo.
 
Gary has never worked anywhere in commercial radio but Williamsport. He was born, raised, and mostly educated in Williamsport. For four years Gary was in Miami, as a student at the UofM, where he was the voice of The Hurricanes, or more accurately, half the team that was the voice of The Hurricanes - the other half of that team was Roy Firestone. Gary and Roy are life-long friends.

The spelling is Chrisman, BTW, and he has made his life in his hometown, and worked damned hard at it. He never worked at WMJW, but did for a time have an ongoing segment on WNEP's PM Magazine. He is an extremely talented individual who has somehow maintained his enthusiasm for radio for what is now 30 years in one of America's greatest smaller cities. And there is nothing wrong with smaller cities and towns, they are what America is all about. I had the privilege and pleasure of working with Gary at what was essentially the beginnings of his radio career, and it was my pleasure. Although not in constant touch, we remain friends to this day.

And let's not forget his morning partner Gail, she brings a lot to the table. One of the many things that makes Gary such a success is that he knows what his audience wants, he knows how to draw listeners and keep them. He is the very definition of topical; if it's worth talking about, Gary is talking about it.
 
Gary is one of the most talented and friendly morning people I have ever met. His stage shows with all his characters are legendary. I really hope that if changes come to CC Williamsport, both Gary, Gail (and Rodney ..for that matter) all survive. Gary is as much a part of that community as the Little League World Series and the "Grit"...assuming it's still being published.
 
Rodney The Boy! He'd be about 57 now. Based on a real individual, BTW. GRIT is now some sort of magazine, no longer published in Williamsport. The Lamade(as in Lamade Stadium) family sold GRIT back in the early '80s, shortly thereafter it morphed into a magazine and left town. If you were a newcomer to Williamsport and called it "The GRIT," you'd be swiftly corrected. It was just GRIT, drop the "The."
 
Just wanted to add my two cents....Chrisman and his group are the best on the air...I wish they were in our area...they would give alot of people a run for their money.
 
Late to the party, but wanted to add a couple of things:

It's amazing to me that its been 16 years since I worked at KISS with Gary. While I was only there on the air for a year as News Director before being transferred to Harrisburg; I continued to do the "Steve From Turbotville" character on the show and in Gary's stage productions. While I've had some good fortune in radio since then, I can honestly say I have never truly enjoyed myself as much as I did when I was on the air with Gary and K.C. (later Gail).

I'm quietly hoping Gary will resurrect the stage show. There's been some buzz, but nothing firm. I'd love to come back and belt out some more Sinatra on stage. Plus, hanging out with the whole crew was a true joy.

Bill "Aaron" Rehkopf
WPOC Baltimore
 
i remember gary from way back in the mid 70s's. i was working at wilq and he did mid days (?) at wwpa. vince sweeney did afternoons at wwpa back in 76.
 
Does WILQ still do a split with country and rock? Never came across a station like that before or since - They were country during the day, then rocked at night.
 
you are correct! WILQ was country from 12m to 7p and rock from 7-mid. i don't believe they do it any longer. we did have some great cross overs at 7p and mid........aerosmith to conway twitty and merl haggard to foghat!
 
And despite the oddball mix, they dominated that market for years. In fact, although Chrisman owns mornings, WILQ still may be a nose ahead over all throughout the rest of the day.
 
It's not impossible that whoever buys Kiss FM in Williamsport will come in from out of town and not be familiar with the market. They'll see Chrisman's huge payroll and make a snap decision that he would be a quick way to save a ton of cash.

Anyone?
 
iman said:
It's not impossible that whoever buys Kiss FM in Williamsport will come in from out of town and not be familiar with the market. They'll see Chrisman's huge payroll and make a snap decision that he would be a quick way to save a ton of cash.
Click to expand...

Not too likely. Anyone buying the Williamsport cluster will have at least done a bit of homework on the matter. Gary's worth is pretty self-evident.

BTW, I believe the buyer will be a small ownership group. What goes around comes around, and I believe the CC sell-off is just the start of a swing of the pendulum the other way. It may take several years, but local ownership will probably prevail again.
 
It may take several years, but local ownership will probably prevail again.
Click to expand...

From your mouth to God's ear. Against all odds, I happen to think you may be right, and it'd be the best thing for radio in general across America. Deregulation and corporate ownership have destroyed so much in this country.
 
Crisman is my Hero....I wish he and his team were in our area too....What a wake up call they would send to the morning teams here.
 
Someone mentioned the change over from Top 40 to Country on WILQ at night. When I went there in 1972, (I had been at WMPT) it was deceided to make WILQ 24 hours. Now at the time Alpha Broadcasting owned WLYC/WILQ and was doing top 40 on daytimer WLYC. I remember at sign off WLYC would say "for music into the night turn your radio to 105.1 FM." When I went there the swtich would happen about 2 AM, after a few months I added some talk to the mid night to 1 (sometimes 2) period with a show called "Hour One." Yeah I thought up the name all by myself. anyway, I used to hate making the switch, but we did have a lot of listeners who would stay, even after WILQ changed from Top 40 to Country, as for a period of time WILQ was the only Williamsport station on all night. This was the period of the Flood of 1972 in which WMPT's studios were pretty well decimated. I had been doing all nights prior to the flood and left not too long after. I worked part time at WLYC for a few months when they offered me all nights.
 
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