V107.3 Today

[Capulet]

WMMS Next Generation owned The End.

Vodood,

The best part of Next Generation is when they sent that engineer to cut the wires of Howard Sterns victory party broadcast in Cleveland in June of 1994! He beheaded Lannigan and buzzard "dolls" on stage !

Heard some of that event chronicled on You Tube. What a hoot! Stern & sidekick come on dressed in milatary garb to to mock the WMMS " we go to war " bulls**t.

Stern's quick wit made a laughing stock out of that felonious and hideously regretable attempt at "radio war".

I take the opposite viewpoint. The Stern incident was the worst possible thing to happen to the NextGen Buzzard.

It short-circuited any initial buzz the increasingly alternative format had, and persisted after John Gorman actually left two years later. (Also note that WMMS and WMJI were already in hot water for the pilfering of Scene magazines with Stern's cover, this after Scene canceled their long-running ad contract with both stations - Heidi Kramer took the fall for that.) It took place weeks before Brian & Joe assumed the morning drive slot. Both ensuing trials (Bill Alford and Kramer) were embarrassments for the station. And it became a defining moment for Stern, and for WNCX, who used footage of the beheadings in TV promotional ads well into the 2000s.

Forgot about the trials & stealing the magazines........those were pretty funny too. How much did those lawyer bills come too? A " comedy of errors " ;D Those shennanigans ( rhymes with Lannigan ) really stopped Stern dead in his tracks! LOL!

 

[VODood]

I was talking WMMS vs The End, ie alternative radio, ratings, etc. Didn't mention Stern/WNCX, etc. But if you like.. I remember Stern going after Lanigan's wife on the air. Lanigan's agent, I'm told, places a call to the right people (Buchwald, etc). Stern never mentions John or his wife's name again (instead referred to John as "cyclops"). We (WMJI) taped LWM & Stern everyday. Left channel was LWM and right was Stern. We also taped other morning shows in the market, Brian & Joe, etc. I loaded six VCR decks every night to tape AM shows the following morning. Boxes and boxes and boxes of VHS tapes (this was the 90s) filled with airchecks. We also use them for Best Ofs... but mainly for legal issues if any arose, on our side or from another station.

 

[Capulet]

We (WMJI) taped LWM & Stern everyday. We also taped other morning shows in the market,.... I loaded six VCR decks every night to tape AM shows the following morning. Boxes and boxes and boxes of VHS tapes (this was the 90s) filled with airchecks. We also use them for Best Ofs... but mainly for legal issues if any arose, on our side or from another station.

Interesting....thanks for the info.........Seems to me like alot of time energy and expense for the possibility of a " legal issue " to arise.
Seems a bit extreme.

Just curious if a legal issue ever did arise where those recordings mattered?

 

[VODood]

Like I mentioned also used the LWM, later just L&M, audio for Best Ofs and Knuckleheads cds. Taping a show with reel to reels would be more costly. Could get six hours on a tape if need be. So not a waste of time, etc. I thought it a great idea to tape the other AM shows. Should one be punching around and hear something worth checking into further then you can do so. Many benefits.

I also used the same idea to tape a few days of the WMMS "30 years in 30 days", aka "Bury The Buzzard" fiasco from Oct '98 for posterity. Still have a few of them in a box. Includes Denny Sanders' famous interview with John Lennon.

 

[Capulet]

Vodood,

Thanks for the reply. More for promos instead of depositions!

 

[VODood]

You just wish you had thought of it

 

[Capulet]

You just wish you had thought of it

Thought of what?