• 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

Old Time magazine article about WVCA

raccoonradio

raccoonradio

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,962291,00.html

From 1986, an article about Simon Geller who had been the one-man-operator of W-V-as in Victah,
W-V-C-A, Gloucester, MA--a commercial classical radio station (also accepting donations from listeners)
that was in jeopardy of losing its license to Grandbanke Corporation (they claimed the public
wasn't truly being served with news, sports, PSAs etc.) Check it out. (For one thing, I didn't
know that Gloucester-based playwright Israel Horovitz--father of one of the Beastie Boys, IIRC--
was not only a fan of the station but he based one character of a play he wrote on Geller
(...the character dies on air).

These days it's oldies and AC on a station with bright, uptempo jingles ("We play your good time
favorites--NorthShore 104 point 9!") and the Sox and Celts.
 
Thanks for the link, Bob. To hear Elmer, try this link, scroll down 2/3 of the way. For the record, he never liked Mac Bell (many people don't). As far as Horovitz and others, we all jumped on his bandwagon at sometime or other, but, to me...there's only one man who knew Geller the best...his chief engineer and friend...never mentioned by anyone in any article...Ralph Karcher. If Simon were alive today, he'd be sure to mention him first.



http://www.geocities.com/radiojunkie1/audio.html
 
Thanks--I think I heard part of all of this clip before. I get the idea that "sign on" and "sign off"
times were the same as "when I get up" and "when I go to bed"... :)

The WCGY-to-Eagle 93.7 clip --I didn't hear it live because I went to a movie that afternoon...I had
heard the format would be changing at 4 pm or something but I remember I went to see Albert
Brooks in "The Scout", the opening day of that baseball-related movie. When I got back in my
car, the new format was already on.
Proof: the page says that the clip comes from 9/30/94
And from imdb.com, the release date of The Scout?
"Release Date:
30 September 1994"

indeed :)
 
Growing up on the North Shore, I can clearly remember the mono signal of WVCA and Geller's very distinct voice. Geller had a very unique way of saying "Gloucester, Massachusetts".. He also used to ask outright over the air for money to pay the bills. I sort of remember a fair amount of dead air or the scratching needle sounds at the end of a record, especially if Geller was temporarily occupied with something else, or had to be away from the board.. Wasn't the strongest of signals until the Tangers' upgraded and modernized the facilities..
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom