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Radio Listening Memories

W

wxctintern

Guest
I'm bored so I thought I'd start this topic. What are some of your memories of listening to the radio? I'm 23 years old.

When I was about 6 years old I used to listen to BIG D-103 because that's the station my parents used to listen too. The following year I got my own radio in my room. At night I used to fall asleep listening to Buffalo's KB-1520, which was a Country Station at that time. I didn't know about DX and Skywave back then so I just thought they were a super powerful station since they were in Buffalo, NY and I was in Bristol, CT. When I was 8 I started listening to WHCN and WCCC becuase those were the stations my school bus driver listened too. I liked WHCN better than WCCC. At night on my own personal walkman I like listening to Washington's WTOP 1500. When I was 11 I was back listening to BIG D-103. I was also enjoying Lite 100.5 and WNTY 990. (At that time 990 was an Adult Contemporary Station). When I was 13 I started listening to Radio 104. I grew tired of that after anout 6 months. And began listening to mostly KISS 95.7, but I also liked the Classic Rock music on WZMX and WHCN. In April 1997 I found JAMZ 910 and I've been a fan of Urban Music ever since. Here's a quick short story from 1998. At that point in my life I knew I wanted to work in radio. My mom and I were going to an event in Cheshire and on the way we passed the studios of WNTY 990. I almost jumped out of the car because I was dying to see what was inside. Today I listen to Hip-Hop. I like both Hot 93.7 and Power 104. I also enjoy the Jones Oldies format on WATR 1320. And I like listening to Dr. Joy Browne on WMRD 1150 and the Clark Howard and The Dream Doctor on WTIC 1080. And my ultimate favorite is Car Talk on CT Public Radio.
 
> I'm bored so I thought I'd start this topic. What are some
> of your memories of listening to the radio? I'm 23 years
> old.

Ok, well I'm 39, live in central (Worcester County) Massachusetts where I've lived most of my life. I am not in the radio industry.

When I was a kid, I listened to WORC-AM...Dave O'Gara was the morning guy back when morning "teams" where one-man bands. WORC-AM back then was probably top 40/adult contemporary. Now, Dave O'Gara plays the same songs as oldies on WORC-FM, Oldies 98.9. Dave's "sidekick" was newsman Philip James Lagious. My mother always hated Phil's voice.

And, in no particular order, as the years have gone by:

PRO-FM/Providence (Jimmy Grey in the morning, also a one-man morning team), Tony Bristol, David Simpson, Big John Bina, and Tony Mascaro (TM in the pm!)

JB105 (WPJB??), also in Providence, I think....Bill (Silver) and Al (Norman) in the morning; Mike Waite in the evening?? Cant remember any other names

WXLO-FM/Worcester, MA...Harry Jacobs in the morning, Roger X on traffic

WROR-FM (98.5)...The Joe and Andy Family morning show (Joe Martelle and Andy Moes)

WVBF/Boston...Loren and Wally keep going and going. Lots of memories with these guys. Anyone remember probably back in the 80s when WVBF fired everyone except L & A, kept them from 6am to 10am and had the Music Of Your Life the other 20 hours of the day?? Remember when Wally also had his own afternoon show?? Remember their trips around the world??

Wasnt Mighty Mike Osborn with WVBF back in the early to mid 80s with a show called Soap Sunday?? Anyone else remember Soap Sunday. I (and most of the country) was heavily into General Hospital back then with Luke and Laura's wedding. (I hang my head in shame). Soap Sunday was heavily into that too. Mike wasnt Mighty back then, though. He was just plain old Mike.

Currently, I listen regularly to WROR with occasional sprinkles of Oldies 103 except for right now with the all-christmas format.

Other stations from other areas I've lived and/or regularly travelled through for previous jobs:

WZEA, Seacoast 102/Seabrook and Hampton New Hampshire area..back in the mid to late 90s...WZEA has since changed call letters. I dont remember any personalities or the morning team. But I liked the music and the weekend summer "Beach Girl".

WERZ, 107.1FM, Portsmouth NH...I initally rotated WERZ with WZEA..once WZEA changed formats, I stayed with WERZ. Jeff and Sarah were the morning team back about 1998.

WGNI/Wilmington, North Carolina area
Q98/Fayetteville, NC
WHOM/Portland, Maine
WQEZ(??)/Bangor, Maine

Syndicated shows Ive listened to in the past:

Dr Joy Browne
Dr Laura (only because I loved it when she yelled at the callers)

Bob and Sheri (out of WLNK/Charlotte)

I tend to change my "regular" station only when there are music and/or format changes that I dont like. For example, I was listening to WVBF and Loren and Wally back in the mid 90s when WVBF went country and became WCLB (later WKLB). I think that is when I changed to the original 98.5 WROR and found Joe and Andy.

And that's about all I can think of. Hope that's what you were looking for.
 
Aged 24:

My two biggest radio memories were listening to WFAN every night Capt. Midnight Steve Summers and then after that Farell on the bench. Those were the shows I always was listening to.

I also remeber when 104 flipped. I was taking a test drive in one of the cars of the dealership I worked for I think I heard Ma$e on there... I was slightly confused then realized that they had "Flipped The Power Switch".
 
Forgot another memory:

Back around 1985 or 1986, while commuting to college, I would listen to Bob and Zip in the mornings at WAAF/Worcester (or Boston as they refer to themselves). Never listened to WAAF any other time of the day, hated the music, just liked Bob and Zip. Bob left for another station (Baltimore??) leaving Zip alone and I think they brought in Greg Hill from another shift to temporarily run mornings.

Zip was pretty much lost without Bob and rarely said anything. In fact, I remember listening one morning when Greg said to Zip "Yo, Zip, say something man, I cant do this alone". And that ended my WAAF days.

I also remember the original WROR 98.5/Mix 98.5 flip. Had been listening to WROR and Joe and Andy in the mornings anyway. They decided to dump Andy to get away from all the talk altho, in my opinion, Joe was one of the "talkier" morning people to begin with. Anyway, stayed thru the flip to Mix, stayed with Joe. Joe took some time off for throat surgery, his contract was not renewed, and they eventually brought in John Lander. Gave Lander a try, didnt like him, aand it was time to find a new station. Not sure who I went with...might have been WVBF which would have been a couple years before the flip to country.
 
> I'm bored so I thought I'd start this topic. What are some
> of your memories of listening to the radio?
I grew up in a suburb just north of Springfield. I have too many memories of listening to radio to list here but here are some things I miss from the old days. Tommy Mac on WHYN's Saturday Night Oldies Party. The Phil D. show on WRSI(Greenfield, later on WHAI)on Friday Nights. Waking up to Garry Craig on WTIC-FM and later waking up to Larry Carringer on WHYN-FM. Also miss the early days of WRNX, which signed on in 1990 and sounded like a professionaly-run college station at the time. Speaking of college radio, I have to mention WCCH-The Ten-watt blowtorch atop the Holyoke Soldier's Home. The radio voice of Holyoke Community College, WCCH sounded like a pirate station complete with god-awful sound processing and Hardcore Punk and Metal as the music of choice. It didn't result in me becoming a fan of Hard music, but I viewed the station and its amateaurish presentation as an open door into the world of radio, which I later took full advantage of. I did my first show on WCCH in October 1990. Good thread! By the way, I'm 35.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by BerkSHireTim on 11/20/05 01:29 AM.</FONT></P>
 
This is going back a few years.....I grew up in NJ but both sides of my family were from Hartford & every year we would go there to visit. Most of the time it was very boring...especially during my high school years. But back in the mid 60's I "discovered" WDRC-1360. For one thing, I think the transmitter site was pretty close (I was in West Hartford)..but beyond that I really thought they were something very special. It was a combination of great personality jocks, the non-stop promotions, the jingles etc. I recall calling in & never getting the feeling I was being "talked down to" because I was a kid.

During one holiday period I asked if I could see the studios. They had to sort of sneak me in because security was fairly tight. I got to see their fairly "state of the art" studios from the engineer booth checking out both AM & FM jocks. Ken Griffin was on that day and I recally he was doing a "character" bit and when he did the other voice he would go off mike. Many years later, while working @ WMAS am/fm, I worked with Ken very briefly. He was doing the "Music of your life" on WMAS-1450 but he was only there a very short while. I was doing part time on both stations. In addition to MOYL I was also on "Disco 95" across the hall.

Anyway...much later I had heard that WDRC and it's PD Charlie Parker were referred to as "legendary" . And so many who passed through WDRC, WPOP or both went on to many major market successes.
 
> I'm bored so I thought I'd start this topic. What are some
> of your memories of listening to the radio? I'm 23 years
> old.
>
The seventies bring back some distinct radio memories, but the AM Top 40 wars come to mind from the "Swingin' Sixties." I was glued to WABC's Top 100 from 1967 the week after Christmas. Dan Ingram's show took a somber tone the day after Bobby Kennedy was shot. "Wonderful WAVZ" and "Boss Radio" WNHC kept New Haven radio entertaining. Charlie Parker's WDRC and the "Big 14" WPOP were legendary. CKLW and WCFL were awesome at night.

WMCA - The "home of the good guys" was great Top 40, but I became a talkradio listener when their format changed around 1970. Far left, right and in-between views were represented on one station during a stormy period in our history, unlike the one-sided views on big talk stations today.

WDRC-FM - Like WOR-FM in NYC, Top 40 on FM was unusual then. They were my favorite station in the early seventies, shying away from the bubblegum and MOR often heard on AM Top 40. Otis in the Nighttime would play "Stairway to Heaven" every night up to midnight to meet the AM simulcast.

WPLR - After a brief stint playing "Marakesh Express" & "Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town" as Popular 99, this progressive album station became truly great. It was an eclectic mix with intelligent presentation from people like Gordon Weingarth. WPLR has evolved, but they're still excellent.

WWYZ - I remember the first day of the Natural 92 in 1976. Bob Craig nurtured that mellow sound in the right place at the right time.

WLNG - Paul Sidney & company on air during a hurricane in 1976 playing Gogi Grant's "The Wayward Wind" was an experience in local radio.

WCDQ - The little station that could really hit its stride in the mid 70's. When Jerry Kristafer did his first show, I knew he was going to be "Making WAVES."

WNVR - This Naugatuck/Waterbury upstart made one of the most all-out efforts to shake up that town in 1978. Sebastian, Joe McCoy & Chris Berman were all on there. Like WCDQ, it didn't last but not for lack of trying.

There's more... WPOP going news, WTIC-FM's flip in 1977, WKCI in '79, WHCN pushing FM converters for cars... and that's just the seventies!
 
I remember listening to Dr. Chris & Jose on KC101 in the AM, then Glenn Beck & Pat Grey on KC101's morning show, Mike McGowan in PM drive and Kelly Nash at night.

and then there was Jeremy Savage on PM drive on KISS and Maze at night!
 
I remebered listening to this guy Kerry Collins who jumped ship out to Providence. Although Jagger and Co have been holdin down pretty well in his absence. What we really need is more Dollar Bill.
 
even though its not that long ago... i used to love listening to scott papacuri (sp?) on kiss... that is untill he got caught smoking crack. my parents as well listened to big d 103 and i remember loving it as a kid. too bad its gone. also when tic was top 40... good times. dont really remember too many jocks... just ross and courtney with scott and craig and company and mike mcgowen afternoons on kiss.
 
I remember listening to Bob Crane and Wally Dunlap on WICC in the '50s, when I was in grammar school, and thinking, "I want to work there some day." They were gone when I finally did, but my dream came true before the decade ended and it was the start of a long career in the media.<P ID="signature">______________
Use "Radio-Info" in e-mail subject line.</P>
 
> I'm bored so I thought I'd start this topic. What are some
> of your memories of listening to the radio? I'm 23 years
> old.

I remember the good days in the 80s when bob steal was still @ 1080/Brad Davis @ 1360 and earlier when WTIC had to sign off every mourning to switch thier antenna to daytime pattern..

I also remember when 96.5 was URBAN for about 5 years (Just the best R&B) .. I dunno why they dumped the format,it was doing well for them..

I remember when 89.9 (WQTQ) was a good R&B station... (Now they mix in that hop hop crap)

I remember when 88.7 (WNHU) was the BEST hardcore metal station i had ever heard!!

Sad................
 
My favorite time was when 96 TIC-FM and 95.7-WKSS (it became Kiss 95.7 in May of 1989) were at each other's throats. Both were straight CHR/Top 40 stations then. It was the days of the late Ernie Anderson voicing their hourly IDs (you used to hear him on ABC in the 1980s). Bob Steele was THE guy in radio for many years (R.I.P. Bob). WTIC-FM switched to their HOT AC format in June of 1994.
 
My memories bounce around both time (mostly 60's thru 80's) and markets (CT and NYC), so here we go:

WICC 600 Bridgeport, back when Morgan Kaolian did traffic reports, and Walt DeVanis did the weather with such memerable phrases as "... a warm cold front is coming to the area" and "... and that's the weather, Al" - Of course we can't forget air personalities like Al Warren and Frank Derek, and newscasters like Tim Quinn, Dave Newton, Bob Pantano, Dick White among others.

WNBC 66 NYC, with the likes of Big Wilson and Ted Brown - just when the station was starting to get popular with the younger crowd and newcomers such as Don Imus (the first time, before getting exiled to Cleveland), Wolfman Jack, Captain Frank Reid, and the defection of Cousin Brucie from WABC.

WABC 77 NYC, with the whole lot of folks from H.O.A. to Harry Harrison, Dan Ingram, Ron Lundy, Cousin Brucie, Chuck Leonard, Frank Kingston Smith and of course you had to tune in for Howard Cosell's "Speaking Of Sports". Who remembers the strike in the 60's when Rick Sklar had to go on-air along with others such as former WPKN General Manager Jeff Tellis? Of course, I remember the dying days of MusicRadio 77 which saw such fill-in talent like WEBE's Peter Bush - one of the last people to do a rock and roll show on WABC.

WNAB 1450 Bridgeport, with Tiny Markel - an early pioneer in talk radio. Not much of a signal at night. Of course this is probably a major reason why 1450 didn't take off as WJBX. I loved the WJBX jingles too - it was a fun listen!

WDJF 108FM Westport, with their automated rock format in the mid/late 70's - many years before I would ever walk in to contract engineer the joint under call letters WEBE.

WMMM-AM 1260 Westport, mid-80's, going from beautiful music/MOR to an oldies format - I remember the thrill not long after I started my stint there and getting the AM stereo monitor tuning corrected and then playing the Mama's and Papa's "California Dreamin' - for the time in technology I think the Kahn AM Stereo system put Motorola to shame! Of course the station could have been the basis of "WKRP In Cincinnati" with all the things that happened there - they would have had so many scripts!

I have many, many more but this is just a nutshell to share with everybody.
 
Ross Courtney and Scott were great. I think once Ross left, the Kiss morning show went to hell in a big way. Ross is at WOGL in Philly now, I believe.
 
The Dude wrote, "I also remember when 96.5 was URBAN for about 5 years (Just the best R&B) .. I dunno why they dumped the format,it was doing well for them.."

96.5 was never urban. They leaned rhythmic for most of their years as a CHR and spent a couple years on and off as a rhythmic CHR, but weren't CHR. When they went too far in the rhythmic direction (at a time when rhythmic product was waning), the ratings really derailed (picking the wrong songs didn't help), causing an overcorrection to a very white Hot AC.

But for six or seven years, they were unstoppable. Kiss switching to CHR only helped TIC-FM, btw. They got their highest numbers after Kiss signed on....
 
October 1984? Same time I got my Restricted Radiotelephone Operator's Permit (The ol' yellow card) wonder how many Kiss jocks have those now. (same thing could be said back when I got it by the people who held class 3 licenses)
 
23 Year old here: working CT and NY


Like few people: Younger used to rock the the beatles on BIG D 103 baby! Don't really remember the jocks, this was before my radio bulb lite up.

As I got older, in HS. Used to listen to alot Radio 104 (Dee Snyder in the mornings) and (spelling is probably WAY OFF!) Wilcow ? middays who i remember (correct me if im wrong) used to def push the limits especially for a midday show!!

I was Sad when Dee got booted, but i did enjoy listening to Bubba taking over (and he was the one that got me to even think radio)

like some, i remember the day they switched to power...calling all my friends going nuts on what happened.

Looking at this list makes me realize. I don't have many memories do I.

(i remember rocking out to Quad City DJ's Cmon Ride the train!)
 
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