Indy is Historically a Personality Driven City!

[On The Air Everywhere]

After attending Kevin Spencer's beautiful funeral yesterday, a few of us radio folk stole away to a drinking establishment to toast our friend. The conversation steered toward personality in this town. Think about it. The WIFE GOOD GUYS... then the WNAP era of Buster Bodine, and Chris Connor. Then onto Bob and Tom and even Smiley. The radio stations that win here have histrically proven to do it with intense personality presence. Why hasn't any of these stations like Jack and the Track figured that out? Do you really think 18 songs in a row wins? My friend told me she had been listening to 104.5 lately, but she couldn't tell me the name of the station. All she could tell me is that it Cumulus owned it. That is what the listeners are taking away from that experience? Cumulus owns it??? Are you kidding me? She is not in radio, by the way, and also couldn't tell me the name of one personality on 104.5.


On a final note concerning our good friend Kevin. His ashes were put into a 1940's era radio, and placed under a wonderful photo of him on the air. Just a beautiful sentiment for such a great human being, who loved radio so very much.

 

[mjcarter1981]

I agree wholeheartedly about the personality issue...growing up in the 70's, my family listened to WIRE 1430 with Bill Robinson, Lee Shannon, Ken Speck, Dana Webb, etc., and of course there was Gary Todd and later Jeff Pigeon on WIBC. I also remember Jay Reynolds on WNDE, and now WFMS with Jim Denny and JD Cannon...they're personalities, and they're always #1. Corporate radio has squelched the personalities out of radio.

I never knew Kevin Spencer, but I heard him a few times. Any time one of the brotherhood passes, it affects us all. May God bless!

 

[bamster71]

That's why everyone is so excited about the new people at the track. They have been around Indy a long time, and are very involved in the city. Plus they are really good. That chick they just fired was all full of her own opinions and tried to push them on people and I never saw her volunteer unless it was for the radio or television. She was really mean to the guy she was working with at a WalMart once, and I decided that I didn't want to listen to anyone like that. Great job at the track and many years to come with the new group!

 

[On The Air Everywhere]

I can tell you Willie B works there. He does a decent job with phones. Would you happen to know THAT GIRL's NAME?

 

[AndTheLambGoesBAA]

That's why everyone is so excited about the new people at the track.

Did they put you up to this? What a lively sense of humour.

Connor and Bodine. Browning and Jack.

Best joke I've heard all day.

I just can't stop laughing.

 

[bigtime]

Jay Reynolds never worked at WNDE. He was at WIFE in it's glory days.

 

[bamster71]

Sorry. I thought this was an open forum where you could share your thoughts. Not sure what you found so funny, but am glad you got a good laught. You're welcome! ;D

 

[AndTheLambGoesBAA]

Sorry. I thought this was an open forum where you could share your thoughts. Not sure what you found so funny, but am glad you got a good laugh.

Of course this is an open forum.

Are you telling us that you were sharing your true thoughts? That you weren't joking? That people are excited about Greg or Kelli in the same way that they were once excited about Moto or Bodine.

Ponderous.

 

[bamster71]

Yes, and it's all relative. Anybody would be an improvement over Ann, so we are all pretty excited about the new group.

 

[AndTheLambGoesBAA]

Anybody would be an improvement over Ann, so we are all pretty excited about the new group.

So "we are...?"

Thanks for checking in Willie.

 

[bamster71]

If Willie is a nice guy, then I'll cop to being him. In reality, my name is Sam and I used to work at Emmis and Channel 8 so I have an interest in this forum. Sorry to disappoint you.

 

[AndTheLambGoesBAA]

Sorry to disappoint you.

No disappointment. Hell, I'm the one who should apologize to you. I really thought you were joking. But seriously, I am interested in knowing how you equate Greg and Kelli to the legendary talent of this market. What, to you, makes them that special? Or is it just that they're not Ann and Tom?

 

[bamster71]

Both are from the area and have been there 14 or 15 years, so they have strong community ties. Kelly owns a media firm that she's had since the mid 90's and is on several boards, so she's really got her pulse on what's going on. She and Greg have both done lots of television, and they have done morning news talk and have won lots of awards. It is so hard to find good talent that isn't transient and wanting to move onto a bigger and better market, so they are lucky to have them. Heard that Emmis tried to get them, but it didn't work out for some reason. I wish them luck.

And it doesn't hurt that they aren't Ann and Tom, either.

 

[AndTheLambGoesBAA]

Both are from the area and have been there 14 or 15 years, so they have strong community ties. Kelly owns a media firm that she's had since the mid 90's and is on several boards, so she's really got her pulse on what's going on. She and Greg have both done lots of television, and they have done morning news talk and have won lots of awards. It is so hard to find good talent that isn't transient and wanting to move onto a bigger and better market, so they are lucky to have them. Heard that Emmis tried to get them, but it didn't work out for some reason. I wish them luck.

And it doesn't hurt that they aren't Ann and Tom, either.

I know lots of people who are from here, write copy, donate their time to charity, have won awards, appeared on TV, etc. Tom Berg included. I can appreciate the spirit of your answer, but it doesn't tell me why Greg and Kelli - from a radio talent standpoint - are comparable to the historic personalities referenced by the original poster. Thanks for the reply. Again, my apology for the misunderstanding.

 

[mjcarter1981]

Jay Reynolds never worked at WNDE. He was at WIFE in it's glory days.

Who did mornings at WNDE around 1982? I remember being on a show that was broadcast from Lafayette Square mall where the guy had a small band and did a Carson-esque "stump the DJ." I was a teenager and I won a WNDE shirt for stumping him...I was thinking it was Jay Reynolds...but I've slept since then.

 

[N_D_Radioguy]

... and I never saw her volunteer unless it was for the radio or television.

A. So I have to volunteer as a function of keeping my job or doing it well?

B. So I have to check in with you every time I do choose to volunteer?

C. So the only kind of volunteering that really matters in stuff that doesn't get pub for my show?

D. So you're gonna follow all the on-air folks around all the time to see if we volunteer or not?

E. Do you make a habit of stupid statements like the one above or was this a one-time thing?

 

[hipporadio]

As a youth-resident Hoosier, I need to weigh-in here. I discovered the AWESOME and legendary 93.1 WNAP on a GE tube clock radio in my parent’s bedroom during a “trop opening” in ‘Spring 1969... I immediately-abandoned my exclusive proclivity to listen to 890, 1000, 1360, and 1410 on AM. ...I fashioned a crude FM antenna from coat-hangers and climbed the 50-foot TV tower to receive 93.1 on my ‘50s McIntosh FM tuner given to me by my Grandfather [would a 16-year-old do that today?]. In 1970, I was religious in my attention to WNAP... I was drawn to the new music and “King Freak” at nite... THAT WAS GREAT RADIO... I LOVED IT!

“Corporate” has FAILED-us in this new millennium. SLAM-DUNK!

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

A. So I have to volunteer as a function of keeping my job or doing it well?

B. So I have to check in with you every time I do choose to volunteer?

C. So the only kind of volunteering that really matters in stuff that doesn't get pub for my show?

D. So you're gonna follow all the on-air folks around all the time to see if we volunteer or not?

E. Do you make a habit of stupid statements like the one above or was this a one-time thing?

As they say in the antique business: One man's junk is another man's treasure.

Is it not acceptable for some to cling to the memory of a second tier or third tier personality? And maybe for reasons the rest of us don't understand or appreciate. I used to work with a guy in Indy who found some way to work the following line into conversation at least once a day: "Everybody to his own taste, said the farmer as he kissed the cow."

Indy radio has indeed been driven to some extent by personalities. (I don't know that Indy is different than other markets. Believe it or not, other cities have personalities also.) How many of your remember Howdy Bell.... often called "Ding Dong" Bell my his friends and co-workers. Will he win a place in the Personality Hall of Fame? Maybe not. But for a period of time he made radio listenable for us in that time.

 

[hipporadio]

Indianapolis is overly-incestuous as radio goes... That said, could we possibly rebuke Bernie Weber from his 1260 home; Chris Conner from “The Buzzard”, or Big John or Jeff from 1070... ALL THREE stations with ALL FOUR PERSONALITIES have never been the same since.

I hope here at R-I, we are entitled to “reflect” upon a BETTER AGE in radio—beyond one one that constantly invites so-called “commentary” directed at AMP. Some of us cherish a better era!

 

[bigtime]

[
Who did mornings at WNDE around 1982? I remember being on a show that was broadcast from Lafayette Square mall where the guy had a small band and did a Carson-esque "stump the DJ." I was a teenager and I won a WNDE shirt for stumping him...I was thinking it was Jay Reynolds...but I've slept since then.
[/quote]

By 1982 WNDE had gone to some sort of AC format that wasn't working. Not sure who they had on the air. Jay Reynolds was on WIFE from about '65 to '69 when he went to WABC for overnights. He returned to WIFE in '76 around the time Jack Armstrong joined the station, but WIFE's new owners weren't able to maintain the success the station had under Don Burdon's ownership. Jay later did sales at WFMS, but returned to the air in the 90s when Bill Shirk owned 106.7. It was either country or oldies when Jay was there.