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SONGS CARTED UP & ON THE RADIO AS THE BLIZZARD OF '78 APPROACHED

R

Runrigger

In general, here are the currents that were on the radio as the blizzard of '78 approached
STAYIN’ ALIVE...Bee Gees
SHORT PEOPLE...Randy Newman
BABY COME BACK...Player
JUST THE WAY YOU ARE...Billy Joel
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS...Queen
YOU’RE IN MY HEART...Rod Stewart
SOMETIMES WHEN WE TOUCH...Dan Hill
DANCE, DANCE, DANCE...Chic
DESIREE...Neil Diamond
EMOTION...Samantha Sang
(LOVE IS) THICKER THAN WATER...Andy Gibb
HERE YOU COME AGAIN...Dolly Parton
HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE...Bee Gees
DON’T LET ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD...Santa Esmerelda
SERPENTINE FIRE...Earth, Wind, & Fire
SLIP SLIDIN’ AWAY...Paul Simon
TURN TO STONE...ELO
WHAT’S YOUR NAME...Lynyrd Skynyrd
PEG...Steely Dan
NATIVE NEW YORKER...Odyssey
I GO CRAZY...Paul Davis
COME SAIL AWAY...Styx
LOVELY DAY...Bill Withers
BACK IN LOVE AGAIN...LTD
THEME FROM “CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND”...John Williams
LONG, LONG WAY FROM HOME...Foreigner
HEY DEANIE...Shaun Cassidy
THUNDER ISLAND...Jay Ferguson
FALLING...LeBlanc & Carr
BREAKDOWN...Tom Pttty & The Heartbreakers
THE NAME OF THE GAME...Abba
LAY DOWN SALLY (Eric Clapton)
YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE...Debby Boone (ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH)
YOU CAN’T TURN ME OFF (IN THE MIDDLE OF TURNING ME ON)...High Inergy
JACK AND JILL...Raydio
SENTIMENTAL LADY...Bob Welch
RUNAROUND SUE...Leif Garrett
BLUE BAYOU...Linda Ronstadt
IT'S SO EASY...Lind Ronstadt
HEAVEN ON THE 7TH FLOOR...Paul Nicholas
ON THEIR WAY UP THE CHARTS:
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY...Little River Band
ALWAYS & FOREVER...Heatwave
DUST IN THE WIND...Kansas
OUR LOVE...Natalie Cole
POOR POOR PITIFUL ME...Linda Ronstadt
LADY LOVE...Lou Rawls
NIGHT FEVER...Bee Gees
CAN'T SMILE WITHOUT YOU...Barry Manilow
EBONY EYES...Bob Welch
FEELS SO GOOD...Chuck Mangione
BOOGIE SHOES...KC & The Sunshine Band
IF I CAN'T HAVE YOU...Yvonne Elliman
BABY HOLD ON...Eddie Money

And since we're at the 30th anniversary, someone sent me this at work today. Check out #3:
http://jokemail.blogspot.com/2007/11/spoiled-under-30-crowd.html
 
Runrigger,

Thanks for bringing back the memories. During The Blizzard of '78. All we had, was our battery operated AM radio.
The AM/FM Stereo in the living room only ran on electricity. Radio-Info should create a place here. Where archieve
information can be shared/stored. Both Jimmy Gray, Holland Cooke. Have written excellent posts about life on The Trail during The Blizzard Of '78. And Jimmy, along with poster "mwaite" wrote about the rivalry between JB-105 & PRO-FM.Stuff so detailed. That its worth noting for future generations. Good radio from The Trail during "The Week That Stood Still". Kudos to Charlie Jefferds and crew at 920 WJAR-AM for going above & beyond as well!
 
Cool memories, for sure. It took me 6 hours to take my usual 45 minute drive to the station that day but I made it and just on time! I had hoped to be early to help with cancellations, etc, and let the office go home but I never anticipated the situation on the roadways, where 2 lane roads became 6 with 5 of them shut down. We were a midnighter of an FM, but I called the OM to get permission to stay on all night and ran the air shirt from 6P til 6a when our regular morning guy was brought in by the National Guard in a Hummer. I know this is a short version of the story and, since we were supposed to be shut down at midnight, there weren't any spots to run so for the most part, carts remained in their racks but there were RECORDS pretty much everywhere as we continued to entertain and inform Southeastern CT that at least SOMEONE was out there as pretty much every other station in the region had shut down due to storm related difficulties. Thanks for the memories.
 
I remember the blizzard but wasn't old enough to have been in radio then. Frankly I don't even remember how the music stations handled it but am willing to bet format went right down the tubes. I'd guess WPRO AM became more informational even though they were still a music station but the FM which was top 40 at the time probably stuck to music. I could be wrong with the following but am wondering what was on the AM and FM bands at the time. What my guess are:
AM
550: don't know or remember
630: WPRO still kind of a top 40 but more news and information
790: was WEAN still all news then
920: I think they were a music station then. Probably AC.
1110: WHIM country
FM
92: PRO FM top 40
93.3: Dunno but they weren't WSNE at the time. I think they were an actual Taunton station
94: Weren't they JOY and beautiful music?
95.5: WBRU as they always were with whatever was considered album rock
98.1: Dunno
101: Dunno but were they WLKW beautiful music?
105: JB 105 top 40

And you could have just slapped on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack album and no one would have known the difference.
 
England Dan & John Ford Coley

truthandjustice said:
Jimmy Gray, Holland Cooke. Have written excellent posts about life on The Trail during The Blizzard Of '78.
Click to expand...

http://members.aol.com/cookeh/WPRO77.html

I'm not sure WHY, but they had me do 6-to-midnight -- instead of my usual 7-to-midnight -- those nights...possibly so Gary DeGraide could tunnel-into the snow drift that was Coventry, where he lived.

I went looking for airchecks, and don't have any; but did find some 35MM slides I'm taking to a photo lab. If I can get 'em digitized, I'll link 'em here.

Measurably, it was "the storm of the century," and over 100 New Englanders DIED.
But, like many other locals, I remember it fondly. We had fun.
 
I wonder if something like this happened today if stations would get the kind of employee support they had back then. Would stations even want it or tell everyone to track a week of shows and go home? Would employees voluntarily just come in and stay there or find the quickest way to get out while they could maneuver the roads?
 
"Weekend In New England," by Barry Manilow, who told me that its success surprised him. "It's a waltz in quarter-time" [or some similar musical term I may be misquoting], "and the title isn't in the lyrics."
 
During the winter of 92-93 where we had something like 10 straight weekends of snow and some storms during middle of the week (That was the year of the "Storm of the Century" that started down in Fl sparking something like 40 tornados and ran up the coast, dumping 2-4 feet of snow from Penn to Maine) the air staff & snowball staff was in for the storms as far as I can remember without fail...those 3-4am drives to the trail sucked
 
Moonstruck said:
I remember the blizzard but wasn't old enough to have been in radio then. Frankly I don't even remember how the music stations handled it but am willing to bet format went right down the tubes. I'd guess WPRO AM became more informational even though they were still a music station but the FM which was top 40 at the time probably stuck to music. I could be wrong with the following but am wondering what was on the AM and FM bands at the time. What my guess are:
AM
550: don't know or remember
630: WPRO still kind of a top 40 but more news and information
790: was WEAN still all news then
920: I think they were a music station then. Probably AC.
1110: WHIM country
FM
92: PRO FM top 40
93.3: Dunno but they weren't WSNE at the time. I think they were an actual Taunton station
94: Weren't they JOY and beautiful music?
95.5: WBRU as they always were with whatever was considered album rock
98.1: Dunno
101: Dunno but were they WLKW beautiful music?
105: JB 105 top 40

And you could have just slapped on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack album and no one would have known the difference.
Click to expand...


this list has to include 1290 WICE, a station very rarely mentioned here. in the early 70's it was a pretty influantial top 40 and the late 70's (78) it really was the 1st talk station in the state. i would think Sherm was on then
 
What Memories!!....you know whats funny about that music list?...lots of pd's that program stations that play that kind of music now say no one knows half of those songs
 
concerning stations on air during the blizzard..

WSNE was then WRLM in Taunton, on route 44. Building there housed the station and a bowling alley.
 
jimmyone said:
concerning stations on air during the blizzard..

WSNE was then WRLM in Taunton, on route 44. Building there housed the station and a bowling alley.
Click to expand...


Was the station in the building that Taunton 10 Pin Lanes still uses today? My dad used to take me there when I was a little kid. I was only about 8 or 9 years old. I used to use the Game Room and then have Grilled Cheese sandwiches in the bar. This was 1977 and 1978. Are you telling me that there was an actual Radio station in the building? Funny thing is that I almost remember this being true. I know that there was a building that looked like a transmitter right down the street and I have a vague recollection of seeing some call letters on a door inside that bowling alley. But I never thought much of it. I didn't think there would be an actual radio station inside the Bowling Ally. Besides..... I was only a little kid. I was more concerned with playing pinball and then eating my Sandwich.
 
WOW...I was doing mornings at WLIT 950am in Steubenville. I'll never forget that day. I fired the transmitter up at 5:58am(500 watts pre sunrise).....two minutes early. Wouldn't you know it we got a QSL card a few days later from a listner in Alabama saying they picked us up before 6am.....The owner wanted to know why we signed on 2 minutes early! ;D ;D ;D ;D ???

By the way none of our music was on cart...all played on 2 qrk turntables.
 
So who in Providence radio was in the biz during the blizzard in Providence or elsewhere?You'd have to be at least in your late 40s now.
WPRO:Yorke and St Pierre
PRO-FM:Giovanni
HJY:paul and Al somewhere else,Charles I assume
B101:TC,Ed McMann,Tom StJohn
Lite:David Jones,Charlie Jefferds,don't know about Art Spencer but he's probably old enough
 
Now I feel old. With the exception of the hauntingly bad Debby Boone, Dan Hill and John Williams every one of those songs is in my Ipod. Now where did I leave the Geritol??


Runrigger said:
In general, here are the currents that were on the radio as the blizzard of '78 approached
STAYIN’ ALIVE...Bee Gees
SHORT PEOPLE...Randy Newman
BABY COME BACK...Player
JUST THE WAY YOU ARE...Billy Joel
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS...Queen
YOU’RE IN MY HEART...Rod Stewart
SOMETIMES WHEN WE TOUCH...Dan Hill
DANCE, DANCE, DANCE...Chic
DESIREE...Neil Diamond
EMOTION...Samantha Sang
(LOVE IS) THICKER THAN WATER...Andy Gibb
HERE YOU COME AGAIN...Dolly Parton
HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE...Bee Gees
DON’T LET ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD...Santa Esmerelda
SERPENTINE FIRE...Earth, Wind, & Fire
SLIP SLIDIN’ AWAY...Paul Simon
TURN TO STONE...ELO
WHAT’S YOUR NAME...Lynyrd Skynyrd
PEG...Steely Dan
NATIVE NEW YORKER...Odyssey
I GO CRAZY...Paul Davis
COME SAIL AWAY...Styx
LOVELY DAY...Bill Withers
BACK IN LOVE AGAIN...LTD
THEME FROM “CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND”...John Williams
LONG, LONG WAY FROM HOME...Foreigner
HEY DEANIE...Shaun Cassidy
THUNDER ISLAND...Jay Ferguson
FALLING...LeBlanc & Carr
BREAKDOWN...Tom Pttty & The Heartbreakers
THE NAME OF THE GAME...Abba
LAY DOWN SALLY (Eric Clapton)
YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE...Debby Boone (ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH)
YOU CAN’T TURN ME OFF (IN THE MIDDLE OF TURNING ME ON)...High Inergy
JACK AND JILL...Raydio
SENTIMENTAL LADY...Bob Welch
RUNAROUND SUE...Leif Garrett
BLUE BAYOU...Linda Ronstadt
IT'S SO EASY...Lind Ronstadt
HEAVEN ON THE 7TH FLOOR...Paul Nicholas
ON THEIR WAY UP THE CHARTS:
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY...Little River Band
ALWAYS & FOREVER...Heatwave
DUST IN THE WIND...Kansas
OUR LOVE...Natalie Cole
POOR POOR PITIFUL ME...Linda Ronstadt
LADY LOVE...Lou Rawls
NIGHT FEVER...Bee Gees
CAN'T SMILE WITHOUT YOU...Barry Manilow
EBONY EYES...Bob Welch
FEELS SO GOOD...Chuck Mangione
BOOGIE SHOES...KC & The Sunshine Band
IF I CAN'T HAVE YOU...Yvonne Elliman
BABY HOLD ON...Eddie Money

And since we're at the 30th anniversary, someone sent me this at work today. Check out #3:
http://jokemail.blogspot.com/2007/11/spoiled-under-30-crowd.html
Click to expand...
 
and.u.r? said:
So who in Providence radio was in the biz during the blizzard in Providence or elsewhere?You'd have to be at least in your late 40s now.
WPRO:Yorke and St Pierre
PRO-FM:Giovanni
HJY:paul and Al somewhere else,Charles I assume
B101:TC,Ed McMann,Tom StJohn
Lite:David Jones,Charlie Jefferds,don't know about Art Spencer but he's probably old enough
Click to expand...
I missed it by 7 months. I started at 1370 WKFD, The Radio Outhouse, err...The Radio Lighthouse, in September, 1978.
As for those in the biz at that time...at B101, I believe that Dave Newfell and Scott Gibbons were in the biz, when the Blizzard hit, but not in Providence. On WHJJ, I'm sure that Bruce Newbury (Terry O'Brien) was on the air, as well...possibly at WEAN.
 
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