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VINTAGE WILD (during Nelson Noble ownership and beyond, 1958+)

E

Early Byrd

Help me with remembering some of the personalities that passed through WILD during the years it was the only R & B music station around. Specifically, when it was under the ownership of a family who was in the junk business in South Boston (Nelson B. Noble and family, 1958-1966) and after that. Here are some personalities that come to mind:

Ken Malden (who just died this past year in Miami, where he settled after leaving Boston in 1959, and was a major sports guy on the air down there). Ken Malden was with WILD/WBMS since the early 50s.

Wild Man Steve

Speed Anderson

Jimmy 'Early' Byrd

Buddy Lowe

Chuck Core

Roy Sampson

Joe Pomeroy

Joe 'Soulful' Nac

Mike 'Youngblood' Frisby

James E. Lewis, III

Tony Lewis

Skippy White

Mark Grimes

Al Williams

Doug Boone

Elroy R. C. Smith

Sunny Joe White


There are many many more, I know. Bring me up-to-date until they they stopped having live personalities.
 
And of course:

Ken Johnson
Kandi Eastman
Coach Wil Maye
Paul Porter
Jay Dixon
Elliot Francis
Earl Boston
Diana King
Mike Shannon
Steve Crumbley
Kevin Morrison
Francis Diamond
Coffee Johnson
Marc Coleman
Karen Holmes
Dave Cruise
Mark Jordan
Peebles
Rudy Dottin
Jay Michaels
 
Olivia Fox

Cherry Martinez

This station was GREAT ! Its to bad Radio One Killed this station .
 
Early Byrd said:
Help me with remembering some of the personalities that passed through WILD during the years it was the only R & B music station around. Specifically, when it was under the ownership of a family who was in the junk business in South Boston (Nelson B. Noble and family, 1958-1966) and after that. Here are some personalities that come to mind:
Click to expand...

I thought that WILD didn't flip to R&B until Noble (or his trustee in bankruptcy) sold it to (I believe) Sheridan.

Under Noble (and before R&B), the air staff was Bill Marlowe in AM drive, Stan Richards at midday, and Joe Smith 2:00PM to signoff, except in months when signoff was after 6:00PM. In those months, Ken Malden was on from 6:00PM to signoff.
 
When I used to listen to WILD in the 60's I remember Early Byrd and a guy that called himself the Wild Child. The Chief Engineer was Grady Moates.
 
Nelson B. Noble bought the station in December of 1958 from Bartell Broadcasting, who had the shortest ownership of any owner of any station I know--one year! He sold it in 1966 to a company called Dynamic Broadcasting, the President of which was a Leonard Walk. (Even though Dynamic owned it, I believe the licensee name was Latin Broadcasting). Walk and his two partners owned the land on Corporation Way in Medford, where the transmitter was, for MANY years after they sod WILD to Sheridan Broadcasting.

Nelson B. Noble was a member of a family that owned a junkyard business in South Boston called Scrap, Inc., and also owned a related business called Equipment Maintenance Corp. He committed suicide at his Newton home in July of 1970.

Noble introduced R & B in 1961 on WILD. The station played R & B in the morning and afternoon, with foreigh language programming (Greek & Italian) during the mid-day.
 
Early Byrd said:
Noble introduced R & B in 1961 on WILD. The station played R & B in the morning and afternoon, with foreigh language programming (Greek & Italian) during the mid-day.
Click to expand...

I remember hearing R&B programming (Soul/Motown hits, etc...) on WILD as far back as the mid-'60s, maybe 1964 or 1965, when I started tuning around the radio dial as a little kid.
 
Early Byrd said:
Help me with remembering some of the personalities that passed through WILD <SNIP>. Specifically, when it was under the ownership of a family who was in the junk business in South Boston (Nelson B. Noble and family, 1958-1966) and after that. <SNIP>

Ken Malden (who just died this past year in Miami, where he settled after leaving Boston in 1959, and was a major sports guy on the air down there). Ken Malden was with WILD/WBMS since the early 50s.

There are many many more, I know. Bring me up-to-date until they they stopped having live personalities.
Click to expand...

When Noble first took over WILD from Bartell Family Media--could have been as late as 1958 (Bartell was best known for its presence in Milwaukee and San Diego), the on-air lineup consisted of:

AM Drive: Bill Marlowe (ex of just about every AM in the market). Marlowe played what I would call jazz-pop.

Middays: Stan Richards (ex WORL--950). Richards played what I would call MOR.

PM Drive: Joe Smith (ex WVDA--1260). Smith played teen-oriented Rock 'n Roll. Had the term Rock (without the Roll) been invented yet?

Malden handled news in AM drive and, in months when the daytime-only station was on past 6:00PM, music in late afternoons. Malden's play list was very similar to Marlowe's.
 
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