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Irv Schwartz

The WCLU jingles...I recall "Thirteen Twenty WCLU, Covington Kentucky!" and "Another WCLU Country Classic". And did one of them have a bullet sound effect in it? And the push to talk handset and of course, the mono tube type Gates Yard console. The audio processing was a Gates 39A or B limiter...those things are worth a fortune now. But one of my clearest memories of the place is the "aroma" of the emptied ashtray (yep, smoking in the studio was common then) and coffee grounds mixture in the air studio trash can.

Did they have all the original equipment in the mid 80's? If there was a way to keep it running that long, I'm confident that Irv found it.
 
I listened in the '80s when they were top 40, and the station jingles were gone by then. They did have a pre-recorded top-of-the-hour ID, but it wasn't a jingle.

I do remember that in the run-up to Christmas in 1985 or 1986, they played some type of jingle each evening at sign-off, but it wasn't a station ID. It was a woman singing about such-and-such number of days until Christmas. "Six days 'til Christmas..." Anybody else remember those?
 
Bob, we still had the same equipment. I have some pictures on my Facebook page. When the bankruptcy judge told Irv to get the place spiffed up in 1986, it looked pretty good. But, still that Gates Yard console, Spotmaster cart machines with the giant lever, and the Producer console in Production. We still had an old Ampex reel to reel in Production, but he had bought a couple of junky Akai machines in the years before I had gotten there. The on-air mic was one of those Electro Voice remote newsman microphones. There was an old RCA 77-DX in a cabinet, and we hooked it up one time. It still worked, but Irv didn't want it in the studio I guess. The same QRK green felt turntables were still used, but our processing was now a DAP. We had to adjust it when the FCC gave us Post Sunset in 1985. They originally gave us 250 watts from sunset to 6pm, so that we could be on the air throughout afternoon drive. Then in late '86, they gave us 125 watts for 30 minutes post-sunset, followed by 66 watts for 90 minutes thereafter. They could hear us in Northern KY, but not past downtown on the Ohio side.
 
Jeff, it sounds like the old WJVS studios. QRK turntables with the green felt, an Ampex440 reel to reel and those Spotmaster cart machines with the levers. A few of us were spoiled with prior usage of ITC machines. I've heard the stories from those mentioned and Suzy Gabbard. Big CLU. Memorable! I agree about Rich King - he definitely was not on CLU! WLW and 55KRC, yes.
 
A bounced check for services from Irv is my fondest memory. Had to hurry to the bank as soon as you got yours to beat everybody else for your cash.
 
Les Hollister said:
A bounced check for services from Irv is my fondest memory. Had to hurry to the bank as soon as you got yours to beat everybody else for your cash.
Click to expand...

You just triggered my memory with that one. Someone gave Irv my name when I was in Indy and he called me about working for him. I drove down to WCLU and waited around while he cleaned up some three-ring-circus of activity in his office. At one point he went somewhere in the building and came back with one of those mics that had a little line-amp built in and a battery. "You got a First Ticket. See if you can fix this thing while you're waiting and then we'll go to dinner." I did. Broken solder joint.

Irv was infectious. There was part of me that said "I want to be around this guy. I want some of that to rub off on me." And part of me said: "Run. Run Now." I couldn't bring myself to say no at the end of the interview. I had to drive back to Indy, sleep off the 3-ring-circus enthusiasm, and by the end of the second day, pick up the phone and say: "Thanks for the offer, Irv, but this just isn't right for me."

And what triggered my memory in your story? I think he was cleaning out his shirt pocket and among the contents was this deposit slip from his bank. He laughed and explained it. He had some church broadcasts on Sunday. He had one Black church that always ran close on funds and sometimes their check wouldn't clear. Irv had gotten cozy enough with one teller that she would tell him how close to clearing the account was. If Irv had a $100 check and the account was within $10 or $20 of covering the check, he would reach into his pocket for a bit of cash, make a "contribution" to the church account, and voilá... his check would clear. Let someone else chase all over town trying to get their $30 or $40 check to clear the church account the next day.
 
Mr. Schwartz was a shrewd radioman. He lived (I think) in Montgomery, Ohio in a nice house. (I made a house call one time to collect on a NSF check) He ran a very frugal operation at WCLU. You had to play "beat 'em to the bank" when you got your check. I saw many of djs run out the front door to cash before bounce!

I encountered many operations like WCLU through the years. Radio Shack had many products in these stations keeping things going.
 
Les Hollister said:
Mr. Schwartz was a shrewd radioman. He lived (I think) in Montgomery, Ohio in a nice house. (I made a house call one time to collect on a NSF check) He ran a very frugal operation at WCLU. You had to play "beat 'em to the bank" when you got your check. I saw many of djs run out the front door to cash before bounce!

I encountered many operations like WCLU through the years. Radio Shack had many products in these stations keeping things going.
Click to expand...
Les...I've long been a believer in this theory : If every part purchased from Radio Shack were to suddenly fail, the AM and FM dials would have more silent stations than operating ones.
 
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