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[yonkstur]

Woody Woodlawn. Woody Woodlawn sponsored some kids' show on WDAU, but it really is a fuzzy memory.

That might have been Uncle Ted with the Milktruck on the set when he was at WDAU TV. His picture was on a WDAU promotional sheet from the 50s or 60s that was on Beale's Blog just a few weeks back. So I'm thinking it might've been Ted Raub.

Yonkstur

 

[masterg]

Woody Woodlawn. Woody Woodlawn sponsored some kids' show on WDAU, but it really is a fuzzy memory.

That might have been Uncle Ted with the Milktruck on the set when he was at WDAU TV. His picture was on a WDAU promotional sheet from the 50s or 60s that was on Beale's Blog just a few weeks back. So I'm thinking it might've been Ted Raub.

Yonkstur

Yonkstur, you just punched a huge button with me. Okay, if you check those pics on Howie's blog you'll find a gentleman named By Phillips. "By" being short for Byron. I am near positive that By Phillips did that Woody Woodlawn show. (I will never, EVER, get past the fact that you knew Chuck Pyle!)

 

[yonkstur]

Yes you are correct. That was By Phillips, not Uncle Ted.
Chuck Pyle and I, both graduates of Career Academy of Broadcasting, Joey Shaver was the one who did the sales job on us and our parents. He toook us into the WARM production room and had us read a sample commercial. And no matter how bad we sucked................he told us, "That was wonderful....................". Chuck had more talent than I did. We lived in this dump called McClean Gardens on Wisconsin Avenue. Dorm style rooms, shared bathroom, a bunch of retired WWII civil service retirees lived with us. There was a Roy Rogers up the road and a place that had Peanut Butter and Jelly subs, 3 for a buck. There was this rough bar on Sundays that had all the pasta you could eat for $2.00. Some Sundays it was the best pasta sauce you ever had, some other Sundays it was like 11 year old tomato soup was poured on top of it. We later found out that the chef was having marital troubles and when things were good the sauce was good. When they were bad, the sauce was awful. Mr. Dave McAndrews was/is an alumni.
Through the good offices of this board, I had one of my old reel to reel tapes from the school radio station, WCAB, transferred by a member to CD. I was terrible. Listening to it in CD sound makes me shake.

Yonkstur

Yonkstur

 

[masterg]

A couple other guys locally were CC grads, the first name coming to mind is Tim Karlson. I do believe Tim came directly to WSCR from Career Academy. There was another broadcasting school in the DC area at the time, Columbia School of Broadcasting, which was always clear in making the disclaimer that they were not connected to CBS in any way, shape, form. Oh, thanks for the reminder that Shaver was CC's local rep, totally forgot that. Wonder what WARM got paid for those studio auditions? They had to have gotten a piece of the action.

Hereabouts, we briefly had The American Academy of Broadcasting. An ambitious name for what amounted to little more than a couple rooms in downtown W-B. The biggest room, as I recall, was the office/reception area. There was a "studio" complete with board and one cart machine and turntable, and a classroom. AAB was owned by Long John Wade, who at the time was a WFIL jock. Wade's first AAB "campus" was in Philly, and I heard it was more substantial than what was here. Why he chose W-B was always a mystery. Wade died not all that long ago, and not at an old age, maybe early 60s.

By Phillips, and here I go one more time with a fuzzy memory, was sort of WDAU's station personality. I suppose he was mainly a radio guy, but did that Woodlawn Dairy kids' show and I could swear he hosted a "sit on Santa's lap" thing WDAU did. My last recollections of Phillips were of him being the radio and TV voice of B.J. Smith Furniture. Man, it would be great if anyone here had more info on this guy, which I doubt is the case. As with most guys from that era of radio, he had a "set of pipes." Rich, resonant, but very friendly.

 

[yonkstur]

A couple other guys locally were CC grads, the first name coming to mind is Tim Karlson. I do believe Tim came directly to WSCR from Career Academy.

Almost. Right after completing CAB, Karlson entered a contest sponsored by WPTS Radio. It was called "Disc Jockey For A day". I think there were two winners, Tim Kidwell of Scranton and a 17 year old from Pittston, me. (Truth be told, I think we were the only two applicants/prize seekers). We both were on the air with Bob Serafin, then the morning guy at the station. I did some news and weather and Serafin asks Tim if he wanted to intro a song. He put on Carole King's "It's Too Late", hit the post perfectly, even impressing Serafin. Shortly thereafter, he got the job at WSCR.

I don't know if WARM got a cut from the school deal but I'm sure Shaver did.
To his credit, he gave you an honest critique and did tell you what you needed to work on.
Yonkstur

 

[masterg]

I have no idea why I've been referrring to Career Academy as CC. A senior moment perhaps? I would imagine anyone old enough to remember CAB is old enough to be intimate with those senior moments. I realize that this thread is straying far afield from its original intent, but, and this is just my opinion, these things should go where they go, just like good conversation.

So, nope, I hever heard that WPTS story before, and I worked with Tim for years. I do know he was fired at WSCR so Tom Rice could hire some old US Navy buddy of his, and unless I'm totally nuts, Timmy was fired right around Christmas, maybe even on a Christmas Eve. Tim was the consumate radio guy; smooth, tight, glib, upbeat, great pipes. In short, an excellent BOSS jock. And a nice man, too.

Anyone recall the WPTS line-up circa, oh, let's say 1970-72? Thom Welby popped into my head recently, any other WPTS names? WARM had to have gotten a cut, Yonk, they sure wouldn't do it for free. Their minimum on studio time was $50 an hour, so they either paid Shaver or CAB, or worked some sort of a trade deal, they just didn't look the other way while one of their production studios was being used for any commercial purpose. Honestly, I don't blame them...

 

[yonkstur]

Anyone recall the WPTS line-up circa, oh, let's say 1970-72? Thom Welby popped into my head recently, any other WPTS names?

Jerry Gilroy died in April of 1971. Until then, he was the morning jock. They had a truncated format where he did mornings, then came back in the afternoon from 12noon to 1pm. He went by Cranberry Gilroy because of his diminutive size. After he died, Bob Serafin did mornings, Rick Shannon, the PD did mid mornings, and Paul Grimes did afternoons until sign off. He signed off every night with the Angels "Thank You and Goodnight". At one point, Serafin quit and they brought in a young Scott McAndrews to do mornings. So you had McAndrews in the mornings, Rick Shannon, then they brought a guy named John Frederick in who might've been Frantic Fredie from WSCR. Thom Welby arrived in 1972 or 1973. Norman David Cohen did Sundays. Up until 1971, they had polkas on at 4pm but discontinued that practice. They played oldies as a primary format but played newer top 40 songs. They had the WPTS double play, 2 songs in a row. The biggest advertisers were LuLac Oil company, Honda, Detato's Supermarket in Pittston, Marriotti Lumber and Vullo Tire.

WARM had to have gotten a cut, Yonk, they sure wouldn't do it for free. Their minimum on studio time was $50 an hour, so they either paid Shaver or CAB, or worked some sort of a trade deal, they just didn't look the other way while one of their production studios was being used for any commercial purpose. Honestly, I don't blame them...

I'm not sure they got a cut because we were all told to come up after 6PM after regular business hours.

Yonkstur