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Those were the days!!

V

VoiceGuyJack

I imagine there is only a handful out there that can remember the beginnings of FM radio in the Buffalo market. I'm talking about the days before FM was an available feature on your car radio (or very few radios, anyway) Oh sure, those clunky Halicrafters were around and offered FM, but for the most part all radios were only AM. A few stations were around mostly college owned and a few classical. If you listened to radio in those days it was AM.

It was in that era (1963), that I landed a job here in Buffalo, doing news at a pioneer FM'er owned by the legendery George "Hound Dog' Lorenz. I was between gigs and the "Hound" gave me a break and put me on doing "rip and read" news from midnight to six with a British all night jazz guy named Jeff (something). I can't help but smile now some 45 years later.

I would have to say that our listeners were few. In fact I believe there were only three of us. Jeff and I and the girl I was dating at that time. In fact, I bought her an FM only radio so she could listen to me and know I wasn't catting around all night.

My memory is a bit foggy on the next point, but I believe the studio was located in the old Mars hotel on Delaware near Chippewa. Approximately on the site of WGRZ TV. This place was quite the spot. It had a pool in the lobby and was a favorite venue for the ladies of the evening. Many of whom were on a first name basis with the "Hound man". I guess the rent was cheap and the perks were plenty.

I didn't hang around for long. A better opportunity presented itself and I moved on.

I guess we all have some favorite stories from the old days... that's just one of mine.
 
Yeah, I remember we had a '66 Olds 88. Equipped only with the AM radio. The late '60's we got a black FM converter and attached it to the dash so we could pick up the FM stations - mainly Crawford's big WNY station - 'DCX. 100K watts of pure power right in the middle of the dial.

Speaking of 'DCX, does anyone remember that 'DCX's AM station was supposed to be 'KBW? I know KB was religous at one point, but how did KB fit into 'DCX as being it's AM?

I remember a lot of the FM stations - late '60's - were your ROCK 102 automated type or underground rock stations that played album cuts like what QFM 97 did when it signed on. Before it became the big 97Rock.

Does anyone remember Skip Edmunds? What's he up to these days?

Bill
 
Jack and Bill, thanks for your posts. I wish I had been able to hear FM in those days. The first FM radio I ever saw was an FM only Finco or something like that at a service station. I don't ever remember it being on! The next one was a sleek GE portable AM/FM. It belonged to one of our neighbors, the father of a girl I liked. Seems like he used to listen to WBEN-FM which was Classical I believe way before the Rock-102 days.

What I would give to have heard WADV with their eclectic Jazz and WBLK back in the days when "The Hound" was in the air. Those were exciting days in FM radio, before the suits learned they could make money with it. FM was like a strange new world when I discovered it in Miami in 1966.
 
Speaking of 'DCX, does anyone remember that 'DCX's AM station was supposed to be 'KBW? I know KB was religous at one point, but how did KB fit into 'DCX as being it's AM?
Click to expand...

WKBW's FM CP was 105.7. Never happened. If it was Churchill or CapCities that turned in the CP, it was a fateful decision. The rest, as they say, is history.
 
Nobody did air work on WBLK in 1963 because they didn't go on the air until 1964. The first all night personality was Geoff Reid who was a native on England. Program was called Penthouse Jazz. Reid lasted only a few months and was eventually replaced with Sam Arrigo who would later join WYSL using the name of Danny Sinatra. After Arrigo left WBLK, I asked the Hound why Sam Arrigo became Danny Sinatra. Hound smiled and offered, "Maybe he doesn't want anyone to know that he's Italian!".

Arrigo did a lot of remotes at a bar called the Black Orchid. He loved to interview the dancers and make them sound super sexy. One night, he returned to the studio and I asked him how beautiful the girls really were. He's response: "They look like pigs".

Then there was Mr. Blues, Gerald Poumpey. He woud do live remotes at a rough bar called Johnny's Ellicott Grill. Before he would leave for the remote, Poumpey would remark, "They're gonna kill me. I know they're gonna gill me". Hours later he would return to the studio and sigh, "Well, I made it out alive!".

Lots of strange goings on at WBLK that listeners never knew about.
 
I stand corrected Caveman..it must have been '64. Forgive me...my memory of events that happened 44 years ago are a bit sketchy.

VoiceGuyJack
 
While on the topic of yesteryear,
I have a question:

Is there anyone in the Buffalo market that started in Buffalo and stayed at the same station for 50 years or more?

Just wondering...
 
I stand corrected Caveman..it must have been '64. Forgive me...my memory of events that happened 44 years ago are a bit sketchy. VoiceGuyJack
Click to expand...

Hell, I can't find the car keys and the remote... so there's no need to apologize for something that happened in '63, '64... (44, 45 years ago) Most of us were listening to radio, doing our 8th grade geography homework at the time. The fact is, you were there, working with some legendary people. Bravo for you!
 
Yeziknoradio said:
Is there anyone in the Buffalo market that started in Buffalo and stayed at the same station for 50 years or more?
Click to expand...


I'm not there yet.....it just feels that way.
 
In answer to Yezi's question, Jim Roselle has been a host on WJTN in Jamestown for 55 years now. It's not the Buffalo market, but it's close enough. I think that's a longevity record that will never be matched. His summer stints at the Chautauqua Institution are legendary. He's talked to some pretty famous people through the years. He's a great guy!

Here in Buffalo, Clint Buehlman lasted 34 years at WBEN. I think Dave Benders arrived at WBFO in 1969, which means he's closing in on 40 years. He was a volunteer early on and didn't become a full time employee until 1977. But he doesn't really have an on-air presence as program director. So, if you're talking about air talent, Clint would seem to hold the Buffalo record. Still, Dave and ALW are the grand old men of public broadcasting in Buffalo, and could make it to 50 years at their respective stations, which would be quite an accomplishment!
 
Longevity

Don't forget Roger "The Cockroach" Christian. 30+ years on 102.5 and still counting...
 
Back to the early days of 'BLK. I remember that the station had a variety of music in it's first year. Ron Kitson was the first morning man and he played country music.

I don't have a clear memory of which music genre was aired middays and early afternoons (I was in school), but I do know that one of the jocks around that time was future news legend Ray Marks.

From 5pm-7pm, 'BLK was top-40 and the host was Ernie Jones. His theme song was Bill Justis' "Raunchy." Then, The Hound, of course, with soul and r & b from 7 - 10PM.

I was 11 years old, and 'BLK in '64 was the first time I'd ever heard The Hound. While I can listen to the airchecks and appreciate his out-of-the-box style and creativity now, I was too young to 'get-it' back then. At that age, Joey was the air personality who really spoke to me.

There's a lot to be said for George Lorenz' forward-thinking and vision to put his music on FM. Travel back in time for a moment and just imagine the "bucket of cold water in the face" effect of hearing WBLK on the 1964 FM dial otherwise populated by WBUF, WEBR-FM, WGR-FM, CHFI-FM, WHLD-FM, WBEN-FM, and WBIV all playing essentially canned beautiful music.

WADV, to it's credit, was sort of "pop standards" with live music hosts, but closer in its DNA to the beautiful music stations than to 'BLK. As I recall, WYSL-FM and WWOL-FM were simulcasting their AMs.

The FM boom was still a few years in the future and 'BLK was a real anomaly on the band. Does anyone know how well WBLK did in sales those first few years?

Today, I have the good fortune to host a blues show on a public radio station, and my own unspoken mini-tribute to The Hound is an unabashed act of thievery. I open each show with The Hound's theme: "The Big Heavy" by Cozy Eggleston.

Nick Seneca
 
VoiceGuyJack said:
It was in that era (1963), that I landed a job here in Buffalo, doing news at a pioneer FM'er owned by the legendery George "Hound Dog' Lorenz. I was between gigs and the "Hound" gave me a break and put me on doing "rip and read" news from midnight to six with a British all night jazz guy named Jeff (something). I can't help but smile now some 45 years later.
Click to expand...

Can you imagine that today? In '63 a live all-night host and a live all-night newsman! 45 years later it's unthinkable. How did we ever get here?

Nick Seneca
 
One more thing: WBLK was in stereo, quite progressive at that time, since the only other stereo stations I remember in '64 were WADV, CHFI-FM, and CKFM (when it crackled in to Cheektowaga).

Nick Seneca
 
Does anyone know how well WBLK did in sales those first few years?

I can tell you from first hand experience that WBLK was doing so well that their paychecks bounced. WBLK was so notorious that several banks refused to accept WBLK checks. Mr. Lorenz was well aware of the problem and he offered to cash the checks himself as funds became available. In early 1966 they had five formats:
jazz, country, top 40 rock, polkas and R & B every day. You simply can't get away with so many formats on one station in a major market. Plus they had no sales department to speak of. Lorenz tried to do nearly everything himself and he literally worked himself to death. A few years later, the music became nearly all black and that's when the station started to make money. Very likely it was after George died in 1972 and his son took over that the cash started coming in.

A little note of humor: One afternoon in mid November I overheard part of a phone conversation between the Hound and the owner of a poultry store in the Broadway Market. Hound wanted to give each employee a turkey on Thanksgiving. The discussion got quite heated when it came down to how many spots would be traded for each turkey.

Not sure who worked the longest at any one station but the longevity record for one personality would have to go to Ramblin' Lou. He must be close to 90 and is still on the air.
 
caveman-97 said:
I can tell you from first hand experience that WBLK was doing so well that their paychecks bounced.
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I guess that's not surprising. Even if they'd had a sales department, selling advertising on a maverick FM in those early days would've been nearly as difficult as selling ads on an HD-2 channel today.

Nick Seneca
 
Give credit to Dan and Nancy Lesniak for making WADV the Buffalo market's first stereo FM.
The station's penthouse studios on the 22 floor of the Rand building was a technical showplace.

I had the pleasure of following Voice Guy Jack for about a year on 106.5.
 
"Ohhh yeah, yeah yeah, Hound-doggers, Hounds around in Hound town..."

I was a punk kid and bona fide radio junkie when I first heard the Hound doing his act on WBLK. I listened because the music was cool and the Hound was "out there" and very different. I was a contrarian even at an early age. But I was still a kid and rather clueless. At the time I didn't know I was listening to a living legend. I didn't know about the Hound's legacy on WKBW and his stature in the national radio community. Sure, I also listened to Reynolds on WKBW and 1400 WYSL and 1230 WNIA, but it wasn't until a friend's father heard me listening to the Hound that I got the lowdown on the guy... and mad props for my choice of radio stations.

"We don't run down at sun down," the Hound would needle WUFO every night in the summer when WUFO had to sign off around 8:30 or 8:45. WUFO was a cool radio station too. The first jock i heard on WUFO was a guy who called himself Red Blood. Gary Byrd and Duane "Double D" Donavant were also great WUFO jocks. Byrd later moved to WYSLm where he did nights and then on to New York City, first at 1600 WWRL and later on WBLS-FM, where he worked with Frankie Crocker.

I remember the Hound doing live commercials for Audrey & Dells record store and other clients, including spots for Richard's Wild Irish Rose. Even the commercials were entertaining.

WBLK may have debuted in stereo, but its stereo generator was cooked and for a long time it broadcast in full fidelity FM mono.

Another WBLK jock I remember listening to was Bradley Cool. He was a white guy who, as the story goes, was a gifted technician and TV repair man. He was a damn fine jock and also did a talk show on WBLK. He bridged the color gap with genuine sincerity and listeners of color didn't seem to care if he was white or green.

Another good WBLK jock was Dave Baco. His voice wasn't the best, but this guy, also white, had a very tight presentation.

"When it's news time, its snooze time, Hound's coming back, back, back (head to head reverb) before you know it, so don't blow it, get on the horn right now and let the Hound know where you want the music to go..." The Hound was way ahead of his time, soliciting for request calls before the news cast. And IIRC, he did phoners with the request lines.

"Time for the Hound to take a walk down the hall (playing a real bluesy bed under, which may have been The Big Heavy, but also may not have been... can't recall)... at the end of the hall, there's a door, (sfx, door open, slight creak)... The Hound opens the door... and now, we're in the Blue Room (might have said Blues Room)..."

The Hound would use theatre of the mind to set up songs and feature artists. He was every bit as important as Alan Freed in the development of Rock n Roll. Arguably moreso. A true legend, locally and nationally.

BTW, he rests in peace at St. Matthew's Cemetery, Clinton Street, West Seneca.
 
Re: Longevity

SirRoxalot said:
Don't forget Roger "The Cockroach" Christian. 30+ years on 102.5 and still counting...
Click to expand...

That's probably close to like 35+ years - didn't he start there when Rock 102 hit the air in '73?

And Joe Chille's been at WBNY/WJYE for 30 years.
 
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