I worked for Harold Fullmer briefly in 1984-85. My first radio job. At that time he had just sold off about 25 Lehigh Valley McDonald's stores and took over what was a very successful sub franchise, "J's Steaks & Subs". He invited everyone from his radio stations, (I think he had 5 at the time) to his house in Vera Cruz for a summer picnic. Guess what was on the grill? All the McDonald's hamburgers you could eat
Later that day we all rode a hayride up to "The Hangar" as it was known. It was an airplane hangar converted being used as a garage for his classic cars. Inside there were many classic cars, including Rolls Royces. Someone from the crowd asked how many Rolls Royces he had, and his reply was, "About two dozen, I think".
Another quick Harold story. We had a going away party for an employee that was leaving the company, (I won't say who). The party was at the Hotel Traylor in Allentown in one of the ballrooms. For those that don't know, Harold was a fairly large man. I don't know if he still is. Anyway, at this rather elegant get-together, this employee that's leaving stands up and gives a little speech about thanking Harold for the opportunity, blah blah blah. Harold was sitting in a big leather captain's chair at the head of the table. He goes to stand up to shake the employee's hand, and this captain's chair sticks right to his backside! The arm rests of the chair were wrapped around his waistline. Harold was great a guy about it. He laughed right along with the crowd. It was so cool to see a multi-millionaire humbled by such a moment.
Harold had many shortcomings when it came to owning radio stations, but deep down he is a very genuine man.
BTW, I have some history on that reel-to-reel automation system previously written about in an earlier post. If it's the one I think it is, it's origin can be traced back to WXKW-FM in the late 70's early 80's. What is now B-104 in Allentown used to be an automated easy listening and country station in the late 70's to early 80's. When they went to Lite 104, they sold the system to Harold. He used it for a country format at WSAN/WXKW 1470-AM in the mid 80's. From there it went to WMGH/WLSH in Lansford. I think it spent about 10-12 years there for Mick Hagerty, who LOVED automation thanks to his Drake-Chenault (sp?) days at WLEV. From there I think he shipped it to York. Meanwhile, back at WMGH, he had an enigineer rig a home made automation system using store bought CD changers. He knew how to save a buck or two :-[
