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Old Cleveland Area Pirate Radio

D

dannykewl

I'm starting this thread to give the "What DJ's you miss" thread back it's original purpose.

What stations do you remember?

I remember WMHR 1600 Maple Hts. in 1965 (These I picked up when I lived in Garfield Hts.).

WIKD 1370, 1967? May have been in Garfield. (May have been 1390?)

WBDJ (World's Best Disc Jockeys) 1460 1968 This may have been in Bedford? It was either WBDJ or WIKD (but I think WBDJ) - the only station to air The Naturals 45 "Baby You Got It"/"10 to 1". The Naturals were from Garfield Hts. Both sides of the 45 were played, and I happen to have the 45 (no, I wasn't connected with those stations, I acquired the record rather recently), and there happens to be YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNQi6EpGlh0 "Baby, You Got It"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HqoDrWCFnQ&feature=related "10 to 1"

If you remember this 45 on the pirates, this will probably be the first time you heard it since then, unless you were connected with the group or station. Heck, maybe band members running the station?

I also remember a station about 1070 KHz maybe later in 1967, maybe KAOS radio. These stations only seemed to last a couple of months, then a new one would re-appear.

Maybe 1966, one in Parma on 530 KHz. I also remember one around 730 Khz. I can't recall any FM pirates around that time, but my exposure to FM was very sporadic until 1968.

I can't remember any of the DJ's names on those stations.
 
There were scores of bootlegs in the Cleveland area during the '60s, with an inordinate number of them in Parma and Maple Heights. The earliest may have been KDJ 540 in Parma, which was on from '63 to about '65, mostly on Saturday nights. WCBN 1610 in Parma had a fairly long run in '65-66, about the time KOS (Radio Chaos) 1560 was operating. KCN 1040 had a huge signal from Parma (listenable from Avon Lake to Mentor), but didn't last long. Other's included WPCC in Lakewood, WMCC Parma Heights, FODD (the guy's name was Fred Fodd) in Garfield Heights, WPCK (?) in Berea, and as already mentioned, Don Allen's WMHR. Back then the FCC was extremely active in shutting down the bootlegs, and the regional guy from Detroit, Ed Atems, made frequent visits to Cleveland to knock on the doors and scare the living daylights out of the bootleggers (and their parents).
 
I listened to the one in Berea. The guy took requests sometimes. One time, he asked for nobody to call in except for one person who was far away, and wanted to find out if his signal got out that far. One time, while talking to him on the phone, he told me he was going to have to sign off for the night because he was holding is microphone and everytime he talked into it, he got a shock.
 
Quote from: GoodBuddy on Today at 10:51:27 AM (from "WHAT NORTHEAST OHIO DJs WOULD YOU LIKE TO HEAR AGAIN AND MISS THE MOST?" thread)

"I have not seen Paul since we graduated from high school in 75. I'm not positive, but I think he became a minister and moved out of state."

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

That's about the last I heard of Paul also. Last I heard, years ago, was some electronics company he maybe engineered for, out of state, but could be a minister as far as I know by now. I do recall he hardly ever swore, etc. I hear his sister owns a dance studio in GH.

Even though Paul was a DJ, and so inspiring to go pro at the time, I don't think he was ever on a "legit" station (I could be wrong), so I moved the discussion here.

IIRC, Paul went by the name of Paul Johnson on the air at his own station.
 
I remember KDJ, I erroneously reported 530 in my original post for this one, but yes, 540 is correct. I couldn't quite remember the call letters, I was thinking KHJ, but that's in L.A. Came in weak in Garfield Hts.

I remember one on I believe 540 in GH, where I actually walked up to a side street just maybe a half block north Garfield Blvd.. with a transistor radio in my hand. I lived by Granger and E 135th, and the signal was kind of weak, but they kept mentioning GH. I found the house, but I got "cold feet" when I got there. The signal wasn't really strong until I got on their street, can't remember, but I don't think it was far from the old GH post office.

No one remembers WIKD (WIcKeD)? Or WBDJ - their sung jingle went "Music - music - music, records - records- records, W-B-D-J!". Those were probably the strongest two by my place.

I never caught the Berea or other Parma bootlegs, nor Lakewood. I do remember one on 1040 now (not 1070 as I posted earlier), and KAOS (KOS?). I never got to hear FODD, what freq. were they on? I should have got them in GH, unless that was the one on 540 I tracked down and got cold feet, and came home.
 
There was one operating in Maple Hts. or Garfield Hts circa 1974 using the call letters WDGY. I saw the operation.... friend of a friend. Not sure what frequency. He used some old jingles from the real WDGY in Minneapolis. Even had a cart machine as I recall.
 
SonoSational18 said:
There was one operating in Maple Hts. or Garfield Hts circa 1974 using the call letters WDGY. I saw the operation.... friend of a friend. Not sure what frequency. He used some old jingles from the real WDGY in Minneapolis. Even had a cart machine as I recall.
Click to expand...

Yes, that was Paul K.'s station that was mentioned in the DJ's thread. We probably know each other. I used to go on as "Bwana Don". I'm about 3 or 4 years older than Paul. The set-up was in Paul's basement. Remember the "home-made" turntables? Paul used to go by "Paul Johnson", and his younger sister sometime DJ'ed also.

The station started out in a garage on the same street on 670 Khz, then the xmitter was moved to Paul's basement as WKBC "The Big 16" (1610), and also "100 Watts of Smile Power", even though the station was more like 100 MILLIwatts. It was on the Garfield side of the Garfield-Maple border. About a year later (1972?), Paul got hold of some jingles (maybe from WDGY Minneapolis?), and renamed the station WDGY, still on 1610, and also started an FM simulcast, which probably had a power output of around 25 mW, so really both stations probably would have been legal or nearly legal under Part 15.

Remember we spun many records no one else played (that I know of) like "Just Always" by Glass Harp, I'll have to think of some others.

I'm going to Photobucket a couple pics of the studio I took way back then, and I'll come back and post a link.
 
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