Don Martin, Founder of WSLM in Salem,IN passed away on August 22 2010 at the age of 90.
http://www.dawaltfuneralhome.com/obits/obituary.php?id=38470
http://www.dawaltfuneralhome.com/obits/obituary.php?id=38470
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Don Martin's Passing
- Thread starter BobOnTheJob
- Start date
Later Don.. You always did it your way, no matter if it made you popular or not.. Local to the bone... A guy that loved Salem and his AM/FM stations... His kids have kept it local...
I did hear the 'Weather Bird' screeching out the forecast a couple months ago. I do have a few clips of the tick tock recorded if, heaven forbid, they ever go away. What a classic that station is.Neil Griffin said:
I wish I still had some of those Standard Rate and Data (SRDS) books from the 1970's. That's where stations could advertiser their rates to regional/national media buyers before the internet. Yes, once a month this huge book would come out with the latest station rates (or no rates) and information. Geeky? Yes, but for a young radio nut, great reading.
IIRC the SRDS ad for WSLM was always exciting. Mr. Martin's station would do anything to promote your product or business.
His station boasted that they had giant searchlights, gyroplanes and numerous solutions for your marketing challenge. If anybody here has one of those old SRDS's and post a reprint of the WSLM entry that would be great.
RIP Mr. Martin. You shared your name with a popular MAD Magazine cartoonist.
And something "Bob on the Job" would appreciate, because he's heard the tape.....The "blinker-light" (in Salem) will be at half-blink in honor of Mr. Martin's passing.
IIRC the SRDS ad for WSLM was always exciting. Mr. Martin's station would do anything to promote your product or business.
His station boasted that they had giant searchlights, gyroplanes and numerous solutions for your marketing challenge. If anybody here has one of those old SRDS's and post a reprint of the WSLM entry that would be great.
RIP Mr. Martin. You shared your name with a popular MAD Magazine cartoonist.
And something "Bob on the Job" would appreciate, because he's heard the tape.....The "blinker-light" (in Salem) will be at half-blink in honor of Mr. Martin's passing.
I'm going to sound like Maxwell Smart here but, "Would you believe..." WSLM went to an urban format overnights serving Louisville with mobile studios there. IIRC this was in the early 1980s and lasted a few years. Come sunrise, it would revert to part country music, part religious talker. Does anyone else remember this?
I remember it for the horrible audio...I suspect it was being sent back to Salem via a dial-up phone line.
I remember the show but don't remember who did it. There was a studio in Luavull and it was sent to Salem on a phone line. Sometimes when the phone rang on the air then they pushed the on switch they would talk prior to the show.
It had a good signal even then in the city so the show was well received.
At that time it was a good experiment for overnights. Around this time the broadcasters prayer and signoff stopped. Remember the broadcasters prayer? This was night plan 2 after Nitecap with Herb Jebco. Are they on at night now on Becky's Class A?
Good times, good times.
It had a good signal even then in the city so the show was well received.
At that time it was a good experiment for overnights. Around this time the broadcasters prayer and signoff stopped. Remember the broadcasters prayer? This was night plan 2 after Nitecap with Herb Jebco. Are they on at night now on Becky's Class A?
Good times, good times.
The Urban programming on WSLM-FM was run by one of radio's best known hustlers and grifters, Perry "Dr. Popp" Pierce, allegedly out of Columbus, OH.
He was known for going from market to market brokering time for Urban programming (remember, at the time Louisville and Boston were the two largest Black/Urban markets without full-time Urban programming), hustling up advertising, then getting into financial, woman, or drug problems. He had time on WXVW, Jeffersonville (12 mid-6 am from mid 1981 until summer of 1982, when GM Charlie Jenkins had to give him the boot for unpaid airtime fees and other problems Pierce attracted. He was a positively HORRIBLE announcer, by the way!
After being booted from 'XVW and replaced by another Urban programmer (which I helped and advised), Pierce laid low until the spring of 1983 and started on WSLM-FM with a mono POTS feed from a jury-rigged studio at 22nd and Broadway in Louisville. He lasted until mid-1984, by which time WLOU and WJYL were full-time Urban...then he disappeared.
He was known for going from market to market brokering time for Urban programming (remember, at the time Louisville and Boston were the two largest Black/Urban markets without full-time Urban programming), hustling up advertising, then getting into financial, woman, or drug problems. He had time on WXVW, Jeffersonville (12 mid-6 am from mid 1981 until summer of 1982, when GM Charlie Jenkins had to give him the boot for unpaid airtime fees and other problems Pierce attracted. He was a positively HORRIBLE announcer, by the way!
After being booted from 'XVW and replaced by another Urban programmer (which I helped and advised), Pierce laid low until the spring of 1983 and started on WSLM-FM with a mono POTS feed from a jury-rigged studio at 22nd and Broadway in Louisville. He lasted until mid-1984, by which time WLOU and WJYL were full-time Urban...then he disappeared.
Any anticipated sell-off of all or part of WSLM-AM after Don Martin's estate settles and the prerequisite Transfer Of Ownership/Control by the FCC to the heirs?
Despite the very rough physical condition of the 1953-built offices and studios, WSLM still provides considerable services to its listenership and would be worth a re-build. They have a pretty good 5kw/d footprint and, with modernization of the RF plant for much greater efficiency, they could improve on their flea-power 46 watt ( I believe that's it) night authorization.
Incidentally, I'd go back to the studio, re-arrange those corny, classic home brew jingles for a more modern sound and use 'em!
Despite the very rough physical condition of the 1953-built offices and studios, WSLM still provides considerable services to its listenership and would be worth a re-build. They have a pretty good 5kw/d footprint and, with modernization of the RF plant for much greater efficiency, they could improve on their flea-power 46 watt ( I believe that's it) night authorization.
Incidentally, I'd go back to the studio, re-arrange those corny, classic home brew jingles for a more modern sound and use 'em!
I'd imagine that Don's daughter is in line to inherit the station as she already owns the FM simulcast. And we both know that if anything changes in the operation of that station, Don will return from the grave and heads will roll!
How long do they have to transfer control? Nothing has been filed yet.
I saw Don's son at a festival yesterday...he concurs that if anything changes at the station, pappy will return from the grave. The plan is to "keep things as close as possible to the way they've always been" and if possible, keep ownership within the family (they are still working with their lawyer as far as transfer filings goes). Don was at the station working a few hours before his passing...he may not have died doing what he loved, but he came darn close!
My first radio gig was WSLM from January 1988 to September 1989. To clear up one of the questions that has been posed, the Weather bird was voiced by Don's late wife Charlotte. During the summer of 88 or 89, Troy Mobley and I kept the station on overnights doing "The Rock N Roll Classics" show. The show was very popular for requests from most of Southern Indiana. The highlight was the night that we followed Jack "Flannelmouth" Fultz and he asked up to let someone call in a do a poem that he didn't have time to air on his show. The guy called in just after midnight, we put him on the air and he recited his poem about Jack and his on air crew. The end of the poem was "but really, I don't like flannel, 'cause he's a Son of a bitch". I disconnected the line and said "Troy...no more poetry on the air". We never heard complaint number one about it, despite getting over 100 request calls every night we were on the air.
allanhackney said:
Not that you worked there but admitted it. Allan, Allan, Allan. Let's talk about Flannelmouth. I have to guess he left because he died. His classic bit about always buying male chocolate Easter bunnies because they had "more" chocolate has to be a classic.
WSLM was a study in oddity. My grandmother used to listen because of their "organ music" segments. They had a guy who would go to churches and record people playing the organ. Thye could also send low quality cassette tapes in. This was around 10am. The station really was everything to everyone.
Most radio stations took hits from locals because thye tried to copy big vity stations and failed. WSLM was really in it's own mold. Local, unique, and, even if you didn't appreciate it for the production value or world class talent...
it was like watching people who watch clips of disasters. You were always waiting for the next train wreck.
Because WKRP episodes are usually credited to WKRQ don't forget that just "as God as my witness I thought turkeys could fly" Don's tossing duck decoys out of his plane in downtown Salem is still fondly recalled by the glass replacement business in Salem.
I looked at Don's Obit again. It stated twice he was a broadcast icon. As much as I have recalled the chickens in the yard at the station, teh former vehicles now serving as filing cabinets, and the other things that made WSLM what it was...it was a memorable place.
Do the phonetics WSLM have a meaning other than SALEM?
Do the phonetics WSLM have a meaning other than SALEM?
ChiefEngineer said:
I fully believe this is why the big guys are having problems. They got too big for their britches. They forgot they are there to serve the listeners first. If you don't serve the listeners, then you eventually won't be able to serve the shareholders. They didn't serve the listeners, so they moved on to other sources of entertainment. Don may have had odd ideas for programming, but it was always entertaining. That's all the listeners want.
So when did Flannelmouth die? I'm still thinking he was the voice of the Weather Bird. I used to listen every night, but I guess just before he left the air, I started working in the evenings and could not listen. After that I lost track of him.ChiefEngineer said:
Please tell more about the duck decoys.
So when did Flannelmouth die? I'm still thinking he was the voice of the Weather Bird. I used to listen every night, but I guess just before he left the air, I started working in the evenings and could not listen. After that I lost track of him.KyDXIn said:
Please tell more about the duck decoys.
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I'm sorry, who are we talking about? The guy that did the eddie gilstrap motors commercials?
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