Don't remember Bill Goodall. I, too, am an active ham and am not familiar with him. WGEE had an almost "legendary" PD in Bob Todd, who later went to work at WBRI after WGEE collapsed. Bob was there on E. Raymond Street for many years through the 60's and well into the 70's, even when it was WNIR and maybe WNTS, as well. For many years, prior to 1970, WGEE-AM was mainly an R&B station while WGEE-FM owned the Country Music market before WIRE got so popular. Bob was "Country Music DJ of the Year" at WGEE-FM sometime in the 1960's. I met Ralph Emery (ex-WSM/Grand Ole Opry fame) at a book signing many years ago where I asked him if he knew Bob Todd. He did...and remembered Bob as being one of the top C&W DJs in the country at the time. Bob was also PD during WGEE's "Parade of Hits" era in the early 70's when I was there. Lots of good memories for me. WGEE's Parade of Hits had a great sound, but few people knew about it. As an AE, it was a hard sell for a station with puny ratings. Rollins, Inc. just would not promote the station.
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KR4BD said:For many years, prior to 1970, WGEE-AM was mainly an R&B station while WGEE-FM owned the Country Music market before WIRE got so popular. Bob was "Country Music DJ of the Year" at WGEE-FM sometime in the 1960's.
Yes, Bob Todd was indeed a class act. But you have your pre-1970 picture slightly out of tune. Daytime was simulcast. Bob Todd and Country Music were on AM. Bob Todd and Country music on AM/FM from 6 A.M. til 10 A.M. Stan Barton and his off-center look at the world from 10 til 2 and then Sid Woods rolled in at 2:00 P.M. with one very ON-center collection of talk and a broad range of music focused on the Black community.
Arnie Johnson was manager and his description to the advertising community was that "our country music is more of a descendant of the Chicago Barn Dance.... not the Nashville Opry." Bob Todd was good at bringing a balance to that music mixture..... working in the right Nashville stuff while keeping one foot touching the Chicago-Iowa-Ohio Midwestern taste of country. It was Bob Todd who introduced us to Connie Smith (OHIO!) before she became hot-stuff in Nashville.
About time WIRE went country there was a new sweet style sweeping Nashville and I forget who the national program genius was who put together the format and station image for... for... was it "Countrypolitan"? It swept the nation in the late 60's. WIRE swamping WGEE was not just a local Indianapolis only event. That same scene played out in market after market across the country. I sold briefly for WINN in Louisville in 1970 and they took their 1,000 watts and Countrypolitan and just smashed the old line daytime country music station across the river which I think was 5KW down at 500-something on the dial... was it WTMT?
Going back to the off-center Stan Barton: One of his favorite routines went something like this: It would of course be after 10 A.M. and he would be doing a live-read of a commercial that included the phone number of the sponsor and something like this would come out: "O.K. Baby... I'm telling for the last time to get your head out from under the cover. Reach over there and grab the lipstick out of your purse on the night stand and write this number on the wall-paper."
It was an era that provides many of us with fond memories, but you can't go back. The technology has changed. The business climate has changed. The mood and mentality of the audience has changed. But to this day to walk into a room with those big windows, a console as big as a hog in a bar-b-que pit, two or three big 16 inch turntables is not a museum experience.... it's a spiritual event. It is like walking into the church where you were married years ago or where you had the funeral for your parents.
I have no doubt the young folks today who are programming the cluster full of automation machines will someday have fond memories of their younger years..... but I can't ever see them walking into a computer room 40 years from now saying: "I'm overwhelmed. This room reminds me of when we got married, when our children were baptized, when we said goodbye to our parents. This room makes me feel great!"
Thats O.K. I'm fine. Radio has changed. But something else has changed too. I'll be in church tomorrow morning. You know what I will be thinking? "This don't remind me of where we got married. This doesn't remind me of where our kids were baptized. This place isn't at all like when we buried our parents!"
And then I'll say: I'm glad it has changed. Wish I could say the same thing about radio.
Goat Rodeo Cowboy...
Ernie Johnson was gone with the change to the "Parade of Hits" format which happened in the Spring/Summer of 1970...several months before I got there. I was told, but my memory probably has failed some in the nearly 40 years that has passed, that the AM and FM were simulcast with Bob Todd and Country music in the mornings and the stations split around mid-day with the AM going R&B and the FM staying with the country. But again, I may be wrong on this. I got there in mid-September and Harry Callahan was the GM (nice guy). Rollins hired him out of some big ad agency in NYC to run the place. I answered an ad in the paper to work there after spending the summer at WILO in Frankfort as News Director, AE, DJ, Janitor, etc.
Bob Todd was a trooper devoting his life to WGEE through all sorts of turmoil, format changes, GM changes, etc. I know that tWGEE must have had some R&B programming shortly before I came because one of my first assignments there was to try to collect the bad debts from many of the advertisers... That was sure fun!
Another DJ that I remember was a guy named Jim Johnson. He had worked at WSMJ in Greenfield prior to coming to WGEE. The place sure did have a revolving door. As I recall, Most of the DJs made $130 per week and they had to have FIRST PHONES to work there (3 tower directional).
Ernie Johnson was gone with the change to the "Parade of Hits" format which happened in the Spring/Summer of 1970...several months before I got there. I was told, but my memory probably has failed some in the nearly 40 years that has passed, that the AM and FM were simulcast with Bob Todd and Country music in the mornings and the stations split around mid-day with the AM going R&B and the FM staying with the country. But again, I may be wrong on this. I got there in mid-September and Harry Callahan was the GM (nice guy). Rollins hired him out of some big ad agency in NYC to run the place. I answered an ad in the paper to work there after spending the summer at WILO in Frankfort as News Director, AE, DJ, Janitor, etc.
Bob Todd was a trooper devoting his life to WGEE through all sorts of turmoil, format changes, GM changes, etc. I know that tWGEE must have had some R&B programming shortly before I came because one of my first assignments there was to try to collect the bad debts from many of the advertisers... That was sure fun!
Another DJ that I remember was a guy named Jim Johnson. He had worked at WSMJ in Greenfield prior to coming to WGEE. The place sure did have a revolving door. As I recall, Most of the DJs made $130 per week and they had to have FIRST PHONES to work there (3 tower directional).
KR4BD said:Ernie Johnson was gone with the change to the "Parade of Hits" format which happened in the Spring/Summer of 1970...several months before I got there. I was told, but my memory probably has failed some in the nearly 40 years that has passed, that the AM and FM were simulcast with Bob Todd and Country music in the mornings and the stations split around mid-day with the AM going R&B and the FM staying with the country.
Minor correction, but it was ARNIE Johnson. Arnie was made of cast iron... except for his stomach, He used to gobble Maalox tablets or something of that sort. A straight, straight shooter. Ran the place like a military operation in some ways. Following WWII he had remained in the Reserves through the years and his paper-work system was a result of that.
I was there May 65 to November 66. There was no splitting of the programming between AM and FM. I don't recall any facility in the building that would have permitted such a split in that era. I don't recall there being a production room that could have originated separate programming even in a pinch.
KR4BD said:I know that tWGEE must have had some R&B programming shortly before I came because one of my first assignments there was to try to collect the bad debts from many of the advertisers... That was sure fun!
To say that "WGEE must have had some R&B programming" is a bit of an understatement. The Rollins chain at the time they established WGEE was primarily oriented to the Black audience in all their cities. The only reason there was any country music on the station was that the Black population of Indianapolis at the time of it's origination did not appear to be large enough to support R&B all day long so since no one else was doing country they decided to carve out the morning hours to go after another audience. When it came to home office support the Rollins company KNEW sales and programming for the Black community. Catering part of the day to Country left Arnie on his own.
WIRE went Countrypolitan and that took the glamour off the Country programming for WGEE. A local group bought the old WAIV FM (classical music broadcast from the top of the old Dearborn Hotel) and create WTLC and that gutted WGEE's exclusivity in the Black market. These two changes happened sometime in the 1966 to 1969 era. The people I was working for tried to buy WAIV but were turned down. They sold to WTLC instead.
KR4BD -
My dad used his real name, George L. Davis, when he worked there from December of 1970 to March of 1971. I spoke to him today and he remembers doing the middays shift (10-2). Most of his general memories are pretty sketchy, but he does remember a pretty nice studio and board. The other thing is that the guy who hired him had a heart attack during his time there. He is not sure if that was Harry or someone else.
Here is a short sampling of a couple of his airchecks. I noticed a couple of things: Instead of always saying "W-G-E-E", the shorthand version of that was "W-G", as in "W-G's Parade of Hits". Paul Harvey ran every weekday at 12:30. There was a listener classified spot that my dad would read live on the air called the "W-G Trade Parade". And most all of the songs were currents, with just a few recurrents, but almost no gold, maybe 1 cut per hour. At least on middays, no top of the hour news to speak of. The jocks talked before and after just about every song.
Thursday, February 18th, 1971 (11:45 - 12:15) *=current
Long, Long Time - Linda Ronstadt
Burning Bridges - Mike Curb Congregation*
Oh Me, Oh My - Lulu
Beautiful People - New Seekers* (from Easy Listening Charts #11)
Short Pepper Tanner "Fun One" Jingle
One Bad Apple - Osmonds*
PSA into short "Fun One" jingle
Country Road - James Taylor*
Me and Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin*
Top of Hour ID and Jingle - (spoken) "The Hits Parade 24 hours a day of WGEE and WGEE-FM..." (sung) "Indianapolis"...
Yesterday - Beatles
Imaging ID (spoken) - "You're in the Middle of 3 from W-G"
Theme From Love Story - Henry Mancini*
Everybody's Talkin' - Nilsson*
Imaging ID (spoken) - "W-G plays 3"
Love Lines, Angles, Rhythms and Rhymes - Fifth Dimension* (hitbound)
Friday, February 19th, 1971 (11:05 AM -12:05 PM) * = current
It's Up to You, Petula - Edison Lighthouse*
Free - Chicago*
For All We Know - Carpenters*
Have You Ever Seen the Rain - CCR*
Special Feature - "W-G's Trade Parade" - Read live by George L. Davis - Today for sale: 1965 Ford Galaxy and a "Slim Jim" # 760128
Imaging ID (spoken) - "Another W-G Big 3"
Help Me Make it Through the Night - Sammi Smith*
Bein' Green - Frank Sinatra* (reached #22 on EL chart)
1900 Yesterday - Liz Damon Orient Express*
If You Could Read My Mind - Gordon Lightfoot*
Burning Bridges - Mike Curb Congregation*
Close to You - Diana Ross (LP Cut)
I Dig Everything About You (not sure of artist)
Imaging ID (spoken) - "You're in the Middle of 3 on W-G"
Since I Don't Have You - Vogues* (reached # 8 on EL charts)
One Toak Over the Line- Brewer & Shipley*
The Long Way Around - Linda Ronstadt* (#17 on EL charts)
When I'm Dead and Gone (not sure of artist)
Amazing Grace - Judy Collins*
Theme from Love Story - Andy Williams*
Your Song - Elton John*
Top of Hour ID and Jingle - (spoken) "The Hits Parade 24 hours a day of WGEE and WGEE-FM..." (sung) "Indianapolis"...
Everything's Good About You - Lettermen* (# 6 on EL chart)
My dad used his real name, George L. Davis, when he worked there from December of 1970 to March of 1971. I spoke to him today and he remembers doing the middays shift (10-2). Most of his general memories are pretty sketchy, but he does remember a pretty nice studio and board. The other thing is that the guy who hired him had a heart attack during his time there. He is not sure if that was Harry or someone else.
Here is a short sampling of a couple of his airchecks. I noticed a couple of things: Instead of always saying "W-G-E-E", the shorthand version of that was "W-G", as in "W-G's Parade of Hits". Paul Harvey ran every weekday at 12:30. There was a listener classified spot that my dad would read live on the air called the "W-G Trade Parade". And most all of the songs were currents, with just a few recurrents, but almost no gold, maybe 1 cut per hour. At least on middays, no top of the hour news to speak of. The jocks talked before and after just about every song.
Thursday, February 18th, 1971 (11:45 - 12:15) *=current
Long, Long Time - Linda Ronstadt
Burning Bridges - Mike Curb Congregation*
Oh Me, Oh My - Lulu
Beautiful People - New Seekers* (from Easy Listening Charts #11)
Short Pepper Tanner "Fun One" Jingle
One Bad Apple - Osmonds*
PSA into short "Fun One" jingle
Country Road - James Taylor*
Me and Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin*
Top of Hour ID and Jingle - (spoken) "The Hits Parade 24 hours a day of WGEE and WGEE-FM..." (sung) "Indianapolis"...
Yesterday - Beatles
Imaging ID (spoken) - "You're in the Middle of 3 from W-G"
Theme From Love Story - Henry Mancini*
Everybody's Talkin' - Nilsson*
Imaging ID (spoken) - "W-G plays 3"
Love Lines, Angles, Rhythms and Rhymes - Fifth Dimension* (hitbound)
Friday, February 19th, 1971 (11:05 AM -12:05 PM) * = current
It's Up to You, Petula - Edison Lighthouse*
Free - Chicago*
For All We Know - Carpenters*
Have You Ever Seen the Rain - CCR*
Special Feature - "W-G's Trade Parade" - Read live by George L. Davis - Today for sale: 1965 Ford Galaxy and a "Slim Jim" # 760128
Imaging ID (spoken) - "Another W-G Big 3"
Help Me Make it Through the Night - Sammi Smith*
Bein' Green - Frank Sinatra* (reached #22 on EL chart)
1900 Yesterday - Liz Damon Orient Express*
If You Could Read My Mind - Gordon Lightfoot*
Burning Bridges - Mike Curb Congregation*
Close to You - Diana Ross (LP Cut)
I Dig Everything About You (not sure of artist)
Imaging ID (spoken) - "You're in the Middle of 3 on W-G"
Since I Don't Have You - Vogues* (reached # 8 on EL charts)
One Toak Over the Line- Brewer & Shipley*
The Long Way Around - Linda Ronstadt* (#17 on EL charts)
When I'm Dead and Gone (not sure of artist)
Amazing Grace - Judy Collins*
Theme from Love Story - Andy Williams*
Your Song - Elton John*
Top of Hour ID and Jingle - (spoken) "The Hits Parade 24 hours a day of WGEE and WGEE-FM..." (sung) "Indianapolis"...
Everything's Good About You - Lettermen* (# 6 on EL chart)
C
cspotrun
Guest
Jinglefreak said:KR4BD -
My dad used his real name, George L. Davis, when he worked there from December of 1970 to March of 1971. I spoke to him today and he remembers doing the middays shift (10-2). Most of his general memories are pretty sketchy, but he does remember a pretty nice studio and board. The other thing is that the guy who hired him had a heart attack during his time there. He is not sure if that was Harry or someone else.
Here is a short sampling of a couple of his airchecks. I noticed a couple of things: Instead of always saying "W-G-E-E", the shorthand version of that was "W-G", as in "W-G's Parade of Hits". Paul Harvey ran every weekday at 12:30. There was a listener classified spot that my dad would read live on the air called the "W-G Trade Parade". And most all of the songs were currents, with just a few recurrents, but almost no gold, maybe 1 cut per hour. At least on middays, no top of the hour news to speak of. The jocks talked before and after just about every song.
Thursday, February 18th, 1971 (11:45 - 12:15) *=current
Long, Long Time - Linda Ronstadt
Burning Bridges - Mike Curb Congregation*
Oh Me, Oh My - Lulu
Beautiful People - New Seekers* (from Easy Listening Charts #11)
Short Pepper Tanner "Fun One" Jingle
One Bad Apple - Osmonds*
PSA into short "Fun One" jingle
Country Road - James Taylor*
Me and Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin*
Top of Hour ID and Jingle - (spoken) "The Hits Parade 24 hours a day of WGEE and WGEE-FM..." (sung) "Indianapolis"...
Yesterday - Beatles
Imaging ID (spoken) - "You're in the Middle of 3 from W-G"
Theme From Love Story - Henry Mancini*
Everybody's Talkin' - Nilsson*
Imaging ID (spoken) - "W-G plays 3"
Love Lines, Angles, Rhythms and Rhymes - Fifth Dimension* (hitbound)
Friday, February 19th, 1971 (11:05 AM -12:05 PM) * = current
It's Up to You, Petula - Edison Lighthouse*
Free - Chicago*
For All We Know - Carpenters*
Have You Ever Seen the Rain - CCR*
Special Feature - "W-G's Trade Parade" - Read live by George L. Davis - Today for sale: 1965 Ford Galaxy and a "Slim Jim" # 760128
Imaging ID (spoken) - "Another W-G Big 3"
Help Me Make it Through the Night - Sammi Smith*
Bein' Green - Frank Sinatra* (reached #22 on EL chart)
1900 Yesterday - Liz Damon Orient Express*
If You Could Read My Mind - Gordon Lightfoot*
Burning Bridges - Mike Curb Congregation*
Close to You - Diana Ross (LP Cut)
I Dig Everything About You (not sure of artist)
Imaging ID (spoken) - "You're in the Middle of 3 on W-G"
Since I Don't Have You - Vogues* (reached # 8 on EL charts)
One Toak Over the Line- Brewer & Shipley*
The Long Way Around - Linda Ronstadt* (#17 on EL charts)
When I'm Dead and Gone (not sure of artist)
Amazing Grace - Judy Collins*
Theme from Love Story - Andy Williams*
Your Song - Elton John*
Top of Hour ID and Jingle - (spoken) "The Hits Parade 24 hours a day of WGEE and WGEE-FM..." (sung) "Indianapolis"...
Everything's Good About You - Lettermen* (# 6 on EL chart)
what a HORRIBLE playlist! is it any wonder this station went away?? but hey, give my regards to your dad George, i remember him from WFBM-1260, i didn't know he was at WGEE, it must have been a paycheck until he could get a "real" radio job.
please post your e-mail i would like to make arrangements to get that aircheck, i collect airchecks of Indianapolis radio from the late 50's 60's & 70's and this would be very nice to have.
Quote from: cspotrun on Today at 1
cspotrun said:Jinglefreak said:KR4BD -
My dad used his real name, George L. Davis, when he worked there from December of 1970 to March of 1971. I spoke to him today and he remembers doing the middays shift (10-2). Most of his general memories are pretty sketchy, but he does remember a pretty nice studio and board. The other thing is that the guy who hired him had a heart attack during his time there. He is not sure if that was Harry or someone else.
Here is a short sampling of a couple of his airchecks. I noticed a couple of things: Instead of always saying "W-G-E-E", the shorthand version of that was "W-G", as in "W-G's Parade of Hits". Paul Harvey ran every weekday at 12:30. There was a listener classified spot that my dad would read live on the air called the "W-G Trade Parade". And most all of the songs were currents, with just a few recurrents, but almost no gold, maybe 1 cut per hour. At least on middays, no top of the hour news to speak of. The jocks talked before and after just about every song.
Thursday, February 18th, 1971 (11:45 - 12:15) *=current
Long, Long Time - Linda Ronstadt
Burning Bridges - Mike Curb Congregation*
Oh Me, Oh My - Lulu
Beautiful People - New Seekers* (from Easy Listening Charts #11)
Short Pepper Tanner "Fun One" Jingle
One Bad Apple - Osmonds*
PSA into short "Fun One" jingle
Country Road - James Taylor*
Me and Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin*
Top of Hour ID and Jingle - (spoken) "The Hits Parade 24 hours a day of WGEE and WGEE-FM..." (sung) "Indianapolis"...
Yesterday - Beatles
Imaging ID (spoken) - "You're in the Middle of 3 from W-G"
Theme From Love Story - Henry Mancini*
Everybody's Talkin' - Nilsson*
Imaging ID (spoken) - "W-G plays 3"
Love Lines, Angles, Rhythms and Rhymes - Fifth Dimension* (hitbound)
Friday, February 19th, 1971 (11:05 AM -12:05 PM) * = current
It's Up to You, Petula - Edison Lighthouse*
Free - Chicago*
For All We Know - Carpenters*
Have You Ever Seen the Rain - CCR*
Special Feature - "W-G's Trade Parade" - Read live by George L. Davis - Today for sale: 1965 Ford Galaxy and a "Slim Jim" # 760128
Imaging ID (spoken) - "Another W-G Big 3"
Help Me Make it Through the Night - Sammi Smith*
Bein' Green - Frank Sinatra* (reached #22 on EL chart)
1900 Yesterday - Liz Damon Orient Express*
If You Could Read My Mind - Gordon Lightfoot*
Burning Bridges - Mike Curb Congregation*
Close to You - Diana Ross (LP Cut)
I Dig Everything About You (not sure of artist)
Imaging ID (spoken) - "You're in the Middle of 3 on W-G"
Since I Don't Have You - Vogues* (reached # 8 on EL charts)
One Toak Over the Line- Brewer & Shipley*
The Long Way Around - Linda Ronstadt* (#17 on EL charts)
When I'm Dead and Gone (not sure of artist)
Amazing Grace - Judy Collins*
Theme from Love Story - Andy Williams*
Your Song - Elton John*
Top of Hour ID and Jingle - (spoken) "The Hits Parade 24 hours a day of WGEE and WGEE-FM..." (sung) "Indianapolis"...
Everything's Good About You - Lettermen* (# 6 on EL chart)
what a HORRIBLE playlist! is it any wonder this station went away?? but hey, give my regards to your dad George, i remember him from WFBM-1260, i didn't know he was at WGEE, it must have been a paycheck until he could get a "real" radio job.
please post your e-mail i would like to make arrangements to get that aircheck, i collect airchecks of Indianapolis radio from the late 50's 60's & 70's and this would be very nice to have.
Well, the playlist appears to have been taken directly from Billboard's Easy Listening charts, with a few top 40 hits thrown in like the Osmonds and Janis Joplin. Personally, even if the approach was MOR, I would have added some gold. This appears to have been an appoach between MOR stations like WFBM and WIBC and true bonafine top 40 like WIFE.
Thanks for the comments about my dad. He is doing well, retired from radio and running his own entertainment business in the Tidewater, VA area. You can view his radio history at the 440int.com web site. If you look there, you will see tha WGEE was, in the big scheme of things, a job he had between his big gig at WFBM and more high profile jobs at KOY Phoenix and WOAI San Antonio. But, he was grateful for the full time work. In his own words, "The WGEE job helped me get the job at KOY in Phoenix".
You can e-mail me at [email protected]. I have other Indy airchecks as well, including WIGO, WFBM, WIFE and some others.
There were lot of AC hits at the time of that 1971 aircheck. The AC/easy listening format seemed to slowly fade away in the years after that. There are almost no strictly AC hits anymore. With the advent of call out research radio became very wary of adding much of anything. These days it's up to tv commercials or shows (like American Idol, Grey's Anatomy etc) to start the few new songs that get any radio airplay.
Saw Bill at the Columbus Hamfest about a week ago...he's not a young man anymore, but his mind is sharp & he still has that 'radio voice'...IndyDan said:This may have been prior to the times you guys worked at WGEE, but does anyone remember a guy named Bill Goodall? I think he worked there in the 60's, but is still very active today in ham radio and has shared a few stories of his time there with me.
BobOnTheJob said:Saw Bill at the Columbus Hamfest about a week ago...he's not a young man anymore, but his mind is sharp & he still has that 'radio voice'...
I usually bump into him at the hamfests as well, and have done some test sessions with him as a VE. I hope I am half as good of shape as he is when I am that age.
Bruce Sommers actually came to Indy as the morning guy at WXLW when Bill Shirk was programming and was afternoon drive. Bruce came from the Cincinnati Market. I do not believe he ever worked at WGEE where Ron Hofer and I did weekends. He also did not work at WFBM which was a good music format.
My understand is Bruce is "Truckin Bozo"on Sirius Satellite Radio
My understand is Bruce is "Truckin Bozo"on Sirius Satellite Radio
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