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Favorite Radio Personality In The Pittsburgh Market-Past Or Present

I just want to say great thread guys! Keep the information coming! Great to have several people who were truly in the game, when Pittsburgh radio was great!!
 
What about the really early pioneers of personality radio like Sir Walter Raleigh, Sunny Jim Kelsey, Frankie Crocker, Perry Marshall on WEEP, Tony Graham, Jack Armstrong on WEEP, Dick Blanchard, Barry Kaye, Jay Morton, Dave Shallenberger, and Terry Lee among many more on WWSW in the Fifties and WMCK in the early Sixties.
 
Favorites of the past: Rege Cordic, Ed King's "Book of Fate" on "Program PM" and his Party Line with Wendy, and old friends of happy memory that include Bill Steinbach, Ron Rininger and Fred Honsberger.
Favorites of the present: Carol Finelli, Mike Pintek, Diane Byrnes of "Echoes of Erin" on WEDO and Jay Thurber's "Radio 9" on WRCT.
Terry Lee fits in both categories.
 
Without a doubt, IMO, Larry O'Brien and John Garry were my favorite radio personalities of all-time. I listened to them religiously every morning when they were on WTAE. I was in college at the time, and had the opportunity to interview them for our college paper (CCAC), right when they were doing their show. Larry & John were two of the nicest people you could ever meet, and so was Intrepid Scout, their producer. There was nothing pretentious about these guys at all, and you could see by watching them work just how talented they were and how much fun they had doing their morning show. Another OB & G story. Longtime listeners know how much fun they had poking fun at Annette Funicello and always playing "Pineapple Princess". Every year on Annette's birthday, Oct. 22, they had a big birthday blowout on the air. One year, I had my mom bake a pineapple birthday cake and called them to ask if I could bring it to them. They were like, "Sure, just come on down". I drove to Ardmore Blvd, and just walked in the front door, went right to the studio, and Larry, John, Scout, and myself all enjoyed some cake while they were doing the show. Could you imagine someone doing that today? I really miss hearing them on the air. I hope retirement is treating them well.
 
db59 said:
Without a doubt, IMO, Larry O'Brien and John Garry were my favorite radio personalities of all-time. I listened to them religiously every morning when they were on WTAE. I was in college at the time, and had the opportunity to interview them for our college paper (CCAC), right when they were doing their show. Larry & John were two of the nicest people you could ever meet, and so was Intrepid Scout, their producer. There was nothing pretentious about these guys at all, and you could see by watching them work just how talented they were and how much fun they had doing their morning show. Another OB & G story. Longtime listeners know how much fun they had poking fun at Annette Funicello and always playing "Pineapple Princess". Every year on Annette's birthday, Oct. 22, they had a big birthday blowout on the air. One year, I had my mom bake a pineapple birthday cake and called them to ask if I could bring it to them. They were like, "Sure, just come on down". I drove to Ardmore Blvd, and just walked in the front door, went right to the studio, and Larry, John, Scout, and myself all enjoyed some cake while they were doing the show. Could you imagine someone doing that today? I really miss hearing them on the air. I hope retirement is treating them well.
Click to expand...

O'Brien and Garry actually liked each other, which isn't always common among radio teams.
 
Bill Hinds of Double-Double.

The backstory is he let me announce a record on 970 when I visited the studios after a day of swimming lessons as a kid at the YMCA on Wood Street, just a few doors down from the Sherwyn Hotel. I was wide-eyed with wonder at how it all worked...everything was still on transcription discs then. The jingles, spots and of course the music.

I even recall the WWSW newspaper ads of the era: "One station...individual..."

All things considered (as an also ran to KDKA by the 60's), they did have a good lineup of personalities, each very distinctive and memorable.
 
I always enjoyed Dave Shallenberger at Double Double. They really did have a great lineup during the fifties. Ray Lehman, Harry Lockhart, Sam Goodman, Ralph Weithorn. This was after KD stole Cordic, Pallan and Williams.
 
You arrived in 1979, six years after Ted Atkins put his version of WTAE on the air. There were things that went on before you got there.


Debaser said:
Boss Radio said:
The WTAE guys were good, but that station was heavily formatted by Atkins. He had two-page memos on the proper way to execute a time check. The exception was morning drive, where O'Brien and Garry got a chance to stretch out.
Click to expand...

(I realize I'm late to this party, but this thread was just pointed out to me.)

This statement is patently false. I worked for Ted at WTAE for 6-1/2 years and never got a memo with a single line about the proper way to execute an air check.

(don berns)
Click to expand...
 
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