• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Northeast Ohio Talk Radio Hosts - Where Are They Now?

O

OldAkronite

This post is moved up from a response below, but I'd like to expand it past just WBBG/1260 and WJW/850. I have, of course, pretty much the entire old WHLO/640 talk lineup's answers in my head, and posted that long ago, but how about other hosts? How about ex-3WE talkers?

-----------------

> Are any of the Supertalk guys still around other than Ted
> Alexander? I know Randle is dead. Specifically, I am
> interested in knowing about Merle Pollis, Ed Fisher, and
> Dean Rufus.

Last I heard, Merle was still doing stuff for WELW/1330.

I wouldn't bet on it, but I'm not sure Ed Fisher is alive.

And then, of course, there's former sports guy Bruce Drennan, who got his start in Cleveland on "SuperTalk 1260". (I can STILL hear him say "SuperTalk 1260...(attempt to lower voice)...W...BBG!" in my head.) I think everyone knows what happened to him. ;)

I'm wondering, too, about some of the former WJW/850 talk people, since that station was pretty much the direct successor to WBBG's talk format.

The sad story of Joel Rose is well known, of course. My fading memory tells me Merle was over at 850, too. How about evening host Doreen Lazarus and the paranormal show "Beyond the Norm", sort of doing the Art Bell thing before Art was even around? Doreen was a very, very nice lady, a real sweetheart. Last I heard, she was in the public information office at Tri-C, after a stint at then-East Ohio Gas.

-OA
 
> Merle Pollis is indeed back doing daily commentary for WELW 1330-AM in Willoughby. He was off for a while after his wife passed away.

Merle is one of the creators of the all-telephone talk format. In the early 1960's. he programmed WJAS-1320-AM in Pittsburgh, one of the first all-telephone talk stations. He came to WERE 1300-AM where he brought in Joel Rose, Gary Dee and Howie Lund and created the "People Power" format.

Gary Short (Channel 43)did an all-night talk show at WERE before he was replaced by the Larry King national radio show. Count John Manelesco did the original paranormal/psychic line program there, and there were Ceatta Mickey, Liz Richards and Pete Franklin Sportsline. George Forbes did a show while he was president of Cleveland City Council.

WERE's moment in history came when one of Cleveland Mayor Dennis Kucinich's aides pulled WERE's broadcast line out during a press conference in retaliation for negative comments on the station.

Count Manelesco has passed away, as have Howie Lund and Pete Franklin and Gary Dee. Gary Short is retired from Channel 43, Liz Richards is an attorney in Florida. Former WERE sports talker Charlie Steiner is retired from ESPN.
 
Former WERE
> sports talker Charlie Steiner is retired from ESPN.
>


While he may be 'retired" from ESPN, Steiner is still quite busy, hosting a daily show on XM's Baseball Talk Channel (175) and doing Play-By-Play on radio for the Los Angeles Dodgers
 
> Merle is one of the creators of the all-telephone talk
> format. In the early 1960's. he programmed WJAS-1320-AM in
> Pittsburgh, one of the first all-telephone talk stations.
> He came to WERE 1300-AM where he brought in Joel Rose, Gary
> Dee and Howie Lund and created the "People Power" format.

How far the mighty have fallen...as the home of the once vaunted "People Power" is now a brokered talk station, which actually uses that slogan in IDs from time to time.

I wasn't really able to pick up WERE/1300 down here in Akron, so I don't know much of that history first hand as a listener. Of course, I know Merle, Joel, Gary Dee and others you mentioned from their later stints on other stations.

How about former 3WE talkers? I definitely heard them. Of course, Gary Dee had a stint at 1100 (though I also heard him where he made his mark in the market, WHK/1420). Former G98 jock and later WGAR PM driver Danny Wright did a short stint as a talk host on 3WE...he's now, of course, "Wright All Night" (syndicated overnights, Jones Radio). Where's Tom Bush these days?

And one name popped into my head for some reason - Jaz McKay. Remember him? The former 3WE talker now does nights at Infinity talk KMJ/580 in Fresno.

-OA
 
> How far the mighty have fallen...as the home of the once
> vaunted "People Power" is now a brokered talk station, which
> actually uses that slogan in IDs from time to time.
>
> I wasn't really able to pick up WERE/1300 down here in
> Akron, so I don't know much of that history first hand as a
> listener. Of course, I know Merle, Joel, Gary Dee and
> others you mentioned from their later stints on other
> stations.

And former WMJI news director and morning show host John Webster was PD of People Power WERE/1300 in the early 70s.

> Where's Tom Bush these days?

He's currently "PD" (as much as one can be in a brokered talk format) at WERE/1300.
 
>
> And one name popped into my head for some reason - Jaz
> McKay. Remember him? The former 3WE talker now does nights
> at Infinity talk KMJ/580 in Fresno.
>
> -OA
>

Thanks for mentioning Jaz McKay. I loved his show on 3WE and I always wondered what happened to him.
 
> > How far the mighty have fallen...as the home of the once
> > vaunted "People Power" is now a brokered talk station,
> which
> > actually uses that slogan in IDs from time to time.
> >
> > I wasn't really able to pick up WERE/1300 down here in
> > Akron, so I don't know much of that history first hand as
> a
> > listener. Of course, I know Merle, Joel, Gary Dee and
> > others you mentioned from their later stints on other
> > stations.
>
> And former WMJI news director and morning show host John
> Webster was PD of People Power WERE/1300 in the early 70s.
>
> > Where's Tom Bush these days?
>
> He's currently "PD" (as much as one can be in a brokered
> talk format) at WERE/1300.

He also dabbles with some imaging work at WERE, probably to get him something to do. Sad.

- nate81<P ID="signature">______________
Nathan Obral
University Partership Representative
Student Senate
Lorain County Community College, Elyria, Ohio

http://www.lorainccc.edu</P>
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom