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The WHDH TOilet FLush

P

PaulBWalkerJr

Guest
Does anyone have an aircheck of this? Someone said it happene din 1994 when they flipped to syndie sports talk. It was mentioned in a thread below and I'm curious to hear it...
 
Yes It happened when they flipped. I don't think the person who did it was rolling tape (they have never offered to play it for me) but it is one of the funniest stories I have heard.
 
I remember hearing it and then hearing Norm Nathan's rightful tirade. He said it was as if the idiots at WHDH/ WEEI had flushed 50 plus years of outstanding broadcasting down the sewer. Who knew the sewer is where most of the new WEEI would originate.

If you want to hear it, may I suggest you go to your nearest and dearest porcelain facility and hit the play-back handle. You usually find it in the top right corner of the water infused sound box. And don't forget to put the lid down when you finish. ;)
 
A toilet flush of a different sort used to happen on Let's Talk About Radio, as Bob B would salute the
Telecom Act of '96...(flush...)
 
From what I understand, it was just a wise-guy board-op who thought that he was being cute.

Agree with Norm Nathan, though. Complete, jar-headed disrepect for a great radio station (it its day) which gave us Jess Cain, Leo Egan,
and many other great broadcasters presented, funded, and promoted with professionalism and taste.
 
That is one way of looking at things. The other is that the management, at the time, was content to flush heritage call letters down the drain, with no ceremony or production piece to mark the occasion. Meanwhile, here was a stunt that insulted nobody's race , religion, etc., and people still talk about it 12 years later. Curious...
 
Howie has mentioned that just before the change, he was selling off WHDH
mementos like plaques to newsmen, etc., that were
somehow left behind. Not sure who got the money. (I couldn't hear much of
Howie's show on WHDH--working on a machine at the post office and
there was too much interference. I was glad when he moved to WRKO.)
 
WHDH Toilet Flusher

It was a famous FLUSH in my book.
As a former 'HDH'er I sighed mightily when the call left 850 AM. I think the toilet flush was an appropriate ending as things went. I wouldn't call the board-op a "cute", "wise-guy" as another message inferred. I think he was Really Feeling Feisty ;) . It was the last time the WHDH call letters were heard as legal ID on 850 AM (no it wasn't me, I left 'HDH in 1990).

Listening to the sign off (thanks for posting the mp3) makes me laugh but I also feel nostalgic. It was the sad end of an era. The record books have the board-op who did the "flush" as annonymous... but..
I know who did it, the former board op who was "on duty" and "flushed". He reads this board and probably will/would have identified himself if he wants/wanted to do so.

I won't "out him" here but salute him for a clever and timely piece of audio production which has become a legend. 8)
 
Re: WHDH Toilet Flusher

UncleAL said:
It was a famous FLUSH in my book.
As a former 'HDH'er I sighed mightily when the call left 850 AM. I think the toilet flush was an appropriate ending as things went. I wouldn't call the board-op a "cute", "wise-guy" as another message inferred. I think he was Really Feeling Feisty ;) . It was the last time the WHDH call letters were heard as legal ID on 850 AM (no it wasn't me, I left 'HDH in 1990).

Listening to the sign off (thanks for posting the mp3) makes me laugh but I also feel nostalgic. It was the sad end of an era. The record books have the board-op who did the "flush" as annonymous... but..
I know who did it, the former board op who was "on duty" and "flushed". He reads this board and probably will/would have identified himself if he wants/wanted to do so.

I won't "out him" here but salute him for a clever and timely piece of audio production which has become a legend. 8)
Click to expand...

'rko's offices are smelling much better since 'hdh went down the toilet...

http://wrkoproducers.blogspot.com/
 
You are correct Al that the infamous flusher is probably a reader of this board, and wishes to remain anonymous.

I have met him on a couple of occasions and no matter how many times I hear the story, it still makes me laugh. I can't recall any other station going off with such fanfare. I have been sworn to secrecy as to his identity.
 
Re: The WHDH Toilet Flush

I too know the individual in question - have known him for years. I can assure you that he does, in fact, read this board, and that he is alive and well, and still working in radio in the Greater Boston area. Those who know him best know that he can be one feisty, off-the-wall dude! ;D Probably one of the biggest problems with radio today is the blandness of it all. (All in the Family had done the same stunt many years earlier...) Agree with the stunt or not - at least it was unexpected, and not the same-old, same-old...
 
FUNNY???????????????? Flushing the career histories of the likes of Jess Cain, Bob & Ray, Norm Nathan, and many more great talents down the toilet is a S*^*y thing to do and only an idiot could think that was funny. So, if the crapper fits...wear it !

Neggy said:
Yes It happened when they flipped. I don't think the person who did it was rolling tape (they have never offered to play it for me) but it is one of the funniest stories I have heard.
Click to expand...
 
Casa.... the story as he tells it is a riot, someday I may be able to share it with you or he will decide to himself, but the way he tells the story is funny.

I share the opinion of others on the board that letting "heritage" calls like 'HDH fade away without any recognition was a sin, and that like the mouse giving the eagle that is swooping down on him the finger, it was the last great act of defiance.

Like it or not, it IS radio history.

Now Merry Christmas to one and all... I have to get to work.
 
Believe it or not, I agree with Casablanca on this one.
Think of it this way, how would everyone feel if WBZ AM was taking off the air at the sound of a flush? Bostonians would run CBS Radio out of town like villagers after Frankenstein!

Sorry folks, that "flush" was in bad taste, and an insult to all (in my opinion).
 
The board-op who ran the infamous "toilet flush" was probably making a statement basically to tell the higher-ups (whoever, at that time, decided to throw away probably one of the most recognizable call-letters in the market, W-H-D-H) "this is what I think of your trashing 60+ years of service down the toilet", in comes the flush. I'll be honest. I didn't like the idea of somebody flushing 60+ years of great radio into the toilet and was a little miffed when I heard it at home, that night. However, in hindsight, when I saw WLVI's Award Winning newscast replaced by a local version of "Entertainment Tonight" last week...... it kinda reminded me about the loss of WHDH some 15 or so years ago. How soon they forget. The board-op was right on the money. :'(

It kinda makes me wonder if 50+ years of Channel 56's tape, film and documentation went into the dumpster at 75 Morrisssey Boulevard last week when the sale went through. (I hope not.) But imagine 50 years of Boston Television history gone because they didn't care. (Let's hope that's NOT the case.) Don't forget though, WHDH Radio put a "tongue and cheek" promo for a parody clearance sale on the air, just before they jettisoned the call-letters some 15 or so years ago. Cute at the time, I'm sure. But today it seems kind of stupid. IMHO.
 
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