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crmc
Guest
I often wondered what an investment in the repair of the ground radials at the site, a new tuning shack to synchronize the towers and a new transmitter would have done to fix 590.
Most would recall when it was a blowtorch.
Most would recall when it was a blowtorch.
In 7+ years with that company(through the mid-80s), I can honestly say that once, and only once, did I have any contact with Rick McDonald - and that was a fleeting glimpse of him as he blew through WARM's lobby during a visit. And so help me, that might've been his only visit to Avoca during my years there. He wasn't exactly a warm and fuzzy type. Most thought he was cold, aloof, totally driven by stats, research, and some maniacal formula he had for soft rock formats. Those who did have contact with him regularly described him as the type who always had a pile of file folders under one arm, a briefcase under the other, a pipe clenched in his teeth, and forever in a hurry, almost like he was trying to look busy. Draw any conclusion you like. Again from my 7+ years, I can tell you that York loved guys like that. Oh, and I can also swear that I never once saw a memo from him during the aforementioned time frame.
Critiques, IMO, are by their very nature negative. And they certainly should not be offered by any manager to anyone WHILE they are on the air.
Harry DID leave WARM before. He went to KQV for one year in the late 60's. It was not a continuous history with WARM
Kee-rap, WICC on 600 was a minor blowtorch with only a kilowatt. They (we) were on a saltwater island offshore Bridgeport CT and I could get them on 84 almost into Promised Land/Lord's Valley (maybe not that far) during the daytime. Maye it was because WARM was deteriorating, but it showed what a kw could do with a good ground system protecting Albany.
As Fr. Murgas showed many years ago, 80% of success is just showing up. Ok, that was Woody Allen (Keyes, "The Quote Verifier"), but without his discovery of the counterpoise, signals that didn't show up would not be a success. Ex: WARM, 2007.
Y
yonkstur
Guest
until he returned to WARM around 1974 I believe.
July 13, 1973.
Yonkstur
July 13, 1973.
Yonkstur
yonkstur said:
So, who do we remember doing AM drive at WARM during Harry's KQV/WSBA stretch? Seems to me that Kim Martin did a piece of that time, and George Gilbert too. Martin was a "steal" from WEJL where he'd been doing mornings for a bit(I mentioned this in some other thread). He couldn't have been at WARM much more than a year(if that)before hitting the bigs with a job in Philly. Was it WIBG? If I had to make a wild guess here, I'd say that George Gilbert found Martin the job at WIBG in order to move him along so they could make room for Harry to return. Gilbert had himself worked there.
masterg said:
Kim Martin (real name Clarence McClintock) was heard by a PD who was from the NEPA area and was then PD at WIBG.
He later became a record promoter and told me the story about hearing Kim and bringing him to Philly. After Martin left Philly, he was working at the old Treadway Inn on Rt. 6 for some time, as a bartender and so on. He later returned to the Philly area and was (is?) doing voice over work. I was at The Treadway one time having lunch with this promoter (I can't remember his name now) buy someone yelled out "Hey Kim, the lights out in the bathroom" and Kim came by our table and talked for a few minutes. From what I understand Gilbert was not pleased working mornings and also put a memo out telling the staff that he would only be doing mornings until a new morning man was found.
Martin came to WARM with the understanding that he would be doing the noon to 3pm shift, but was moved to moorings after Len Wolosen was fired. Martin hated doing mornings and that was a major reason he just WEJL.
Since I did work there, it's kind of embarrassing to even ask, but what was the chronology of morning talent at WARM, let's say, from 1965 to 1975? Woloson was enormously popular, but got himself in trouble and was gone. Harry came, went, came back. GG did mornings for a while. Kim Martin(McClintock)was a real short-timer. And apparently Martin did not have a contract, or he wouldn't have been allowed to walk. Unless what I suspect is true, and stated before, that GG managed to work his contacts in Philly and get him an offer. I wouldn't rule that out, GG had lots of contacts in Philly, good friends in influential places. As an aside; contrary to what most believed, WARM was not big on contracts. Harry and Ron Allen were the only two that ever had them, and has been mentioned before, Ron's came late in his career with WARM.
Here's another one I have no answer for; what, if any, airshift did GG ever do on a regular basis? As long as I knew him, he was management, and outside of voicing an occasional promo, he did nothing on the air at all.
Here's another one I have no answer for; what, if any, airshift did GG ever do on a regular basis? As long as I knew him, he was management, and outside of voicing an occasional promo, he did nothing on the air at all.
masterg said:
Harry was there in the mid 60's left in 69. Wolosen then came to do mornings, then Martin, Gilbert then Harry again. Before Harry (say 1966 or 67)I dont know). Maybe someone else out there knows.I do remember a guy named Don Stevens who worked there and went to WSCR for a brief time. He "may" have been doing morning first? He might also have been PD before GG.
GG's regular air shift was 10 to noon. From what Kim Martin and also the WIBG PD told m, Gilbert t has nothing to do with Martin going to WIBG and was a bit upset, as that was where he used to work.
Gilbert tried for years to get into WIP, but was never hired.
I completely forgot Don Stevens! Couldn't tell you a thing about the man, other than knowing he did mornings on WARM at what was likely the beginning of their incredible market dominance, and maybe for some time thereafter.
Woloson's first shift at WARM was overnight, he was The All-Night Satellite, which played on the relatively new insertion of the word satellite into America's vocabulary. How and when he went from there to mornings is a mystery to me, always has been.
Speaking of WIP, it was a dream of mine for years to land a job there - never got anywhere near it. GG had great pipes and great instincts, and I think he was also making great money as WARM's Ops Manager before leaving for Stainless.
Woloson's first shift at WARM was overnight, he was The All-Night Satellite, which played on the relatively new insertion of the word satellite into America's vocabulary. How and when he went from there to mornings is a mystery to me, always has been.
Speaking of WIP, it was a dream of mine for years to land a job there - never got anywhere near it. GG had great pipes and great instincts, and I think he was also making great money as WARM's Ops Manager before leaving for Stainless.
masterg said:
Woloson may have been at another station the group before coming back to WARM, not sure though.
GG from what the grapevine was saying at the time left for the Stainless job because he felt he should have got promoted to GM when that position was open. HAve no idea of that was true or not. Rumor also has it that GG met Scott Arthur when they were both interviewing for a job at WIP. GG told him the all night show was open at the time at WARM and Arthur ended up coming to WARM. He did overnights for some time (circa 1974-75), as doing somewhat of a talk show with celebrities on the phone. After that he was moved to daytime and then left for an on air TV job someplace. He was a big movie buff.
GG wanted to be GM of WARM, that was no secret. What happened was this; when the job opened up, corporate made GG and Jim Davey co-GMs. Apparently it was some sort of "test" to see who they wanted for the job. In the end, and very predictably, WARM went with Davey, because Davey had a sales background with Susquehanna, and Susquehanna NEVER moved programming people into GM positions. GG was not happy, but settled into the OM job for several years, a job largely created for him. Susquehanna had a long history of taking care of people, so while GG was denied the GM job, they gave him an office, a car, an expense account, and a title.
Scott Arthur isn't a name often mentioned in connection with WARM, most people don't remember him. Whatever became of the guy is yet another mystery to me. During the early to late 70s, WARM saw a steady parade of talent come and go. I'm thinking Steven Allen Scott, Pete Gabriel, Jim Drucker, Kris Chandler, Bob Woody, etc. WARM wasn't the great place to work that most assumed it was.
Y
yonkstur
Guest
Here's another one I have no answer for; what, if any, airshift did GG ever do on a regular basis?
According to the old survey sheets I have, in the late 50s mid 60s he did noon to 3, "Double G here from noon to 3"..........
Then in '67 when they added an hour to Harry's show, he did 10 to 1pm,
Then when Pete Gabriel came in 1969, Gilbert did 1 to 3pm.
After that, maybe late '72, '73, he stopped doing the air thing.
When they added that extra hour to Harry's shift in 1967, that was done to replace Don Stevens who had the 9am to noon show. Stevens was the OPerations/Programming Manager, a job Gilbert got after he (Stevens) left. Stevens had this great voice and was known for two things, at 1030AM every morning after the newscast, he'd say, "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OF WARM, WE'RE HALFWAY HOME!"
The other was for his on air renditions of songs. He would actually sing on the air. One of his mainstays was "Welcome To My World".
I understand he passed away some time ago.
Yonkstur
According to the old survey sheets I have, in the late 50s mid 60s he did noon to 3, "Double G here from noon to 3"..........
Then in '67 when they added an hour to Harry's show, he did 10 to 1pm,
Then when Pete Gabriel came in 1969, Gilbert did 1 to 3pm.
After that, maybe late '72, '73, he stopped doing the air thing.
When they added that extra hour to Harry's shift in 1967, that was done to replace Don Stevens who had the 9am to noon show. Stevens was the OPerations/Programming Manager, a job Gilbert got after he (Stevens) left. Stevens had this great voice and was known for two things, at 1030AM every morning after the newscast, he'd say, "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OF WARM, WE'RE HALFWAY HOME!"
The other was for his on air renditions of songs. He would actually sing on the air. One of his mainstays was "Welcome To My World".
I understand he passed away some time ago.
Yonkstur
If there was one thing WARM offered that was a jock's dream it was that short airshift. GG understood the merit in keeping talent fresh and new, which is why the short shift survived for years at WARM. Three hours on the air? God, no sooner did you get settled than it was time to say good-bye. Over time, those shifts went to four hours, and in some cases, five hours.
I don't mind telling you, Yonk, you rattled loose some old and vague memories of Don Stevens singing "Welcome To My World." Whatever lengthening of Harry's shift took place in the 60s, it was back to three hours by the mid to late 70s.
The shifts were
6-9
9-Noon
Noon-3
3-7
7-Midnight
Midnight-6
Where they evened the score was on weekends. They were almost all 5 or 6 hour nightmares.
I don't mind telling you, Yonk, you rattled loose some old and vague memories of Don Stevens singing "Welcome To My World." Whatever lengthening of Harry's shift took place in the 60s, it was back to three hours by the mid to late 70s.
The shifts were
6-9
9-Noon
Noon-3
3-7
7-Midnight
Midnight-6
Where they evened the score was on weekends. They were almost all 5 or 6 hour nightmares.
masterg said:
Jim Davey had a great nick name "Sir Lucnh Alot" and looked like "The Big Guy" on WKRP, who character name was Art Carlson who was a Susquehanna big wig. Very funny.
I remember Kris Chandler felt working there was a big come down after working at WFIL and the Philly market in general. He hated the place, pretty much did not pay attention to PD Ron Allan and called the staff a bunch of amateurs. I believe he was the first to stop talking between spots. I don't remember who replaced him, maybe Rick Walker?
His stay was short and he returned to Philly.
Something I don't think is not well know is that GG used to travel down the highway to the Milton/Willimsport area to hear what talent was available that might sound good on WARM. Bill Stuart and Bill Kelly both were heard and hired from WMLP in Milton, which at the time was a great little station. I also believe that one or two people came from the Williamsport area to WARM. WMLP at that time was co-owened by a Scranton native my the name of Vic Michales, who later sold his interest (mid 70s) and then the station lost it's charm.
Did anyone ever notice how few of the Sensational Seven had as good a second half of life? I see Harry these days as a tired, lonely guy whose wishes he could push re-wind. Ask Harry, Tommy Woods, GG, Jerry Heller, Len Woloson; given a chance to re-live those times they'd go back in a heartbeat. All of them came to see, some painfully, that the "station was the star" and it could thrive in those days almost regardless of who got plugged in. There are exceptions to the after-WARM realities, but not many. Those who were there in the 70's saw WARM become the corporate beast and it was a nasty place to work.
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