WKBW Jingles

[Bill Myers]

I just wonder if anyone has a copy of the WKBW jingles package -
'Now Radio Comes Alive - You're Listening to 'KB'.

Does anyone have a copy of that package that I could dub from you or is it possible you can upload it to a website where I can listen to it?

I'm looking for the whole package - not just that one jingle sing.

I would really appreciate it. I can trade jingles with you for repayment if necessary. I have a whole bunch of Buffalo jingles from the late '50's straight up through the 80's, the Buffalo Braves jingle, and unscoped Frank Benny aircheck circa '71 or '72. Also his last aircheck on 'BEN (not a pretty one) before he went to 'YRK and then down to Florida.

I've heard most of the 'KB jingles except for that Radio Comes Alive package and I'd love to hear it.

Also, does Tom Shannon or Danny Neaverth post on this board? It would be really interesting to hear their perspective on the business especially from the '50s as we're getting further and further away from that era. Their reflections or memories of their radio stints would be greatly appreciated.

For example, did Tom ever work with the Hound? I think Tom also worked at WXRA where the Hound started and just wondered if Tom has any reflections on George Lorenz.

Just a quick memory I have of Tom Shannon - I was once working at 'GR 55 and misprounced the name of a park and when I shut the mic off he gently and very politely corrected me to the right way of saying it. He was very gracious and nice about it although I felt major embarassed. Then he began to tell me how the station wasn't gonna renew his contract any longer and that he would be leaving the station. He talked to me - a nobody - like a real professional and I have never forgotten that in all my years in radio and outside of radio. No matter how big of a superstar you are you're not 'that' big where you can't act like a real sincere and down to earth person and I thought that that's how Tom was and I assume still is and he really projected that over the air. John Otto was also like that. Same on the air as off the air. No ego at all - at least in my opinion. Frank Benny was like that.

Thanks everybody and thanks in advance for the 'KB jingles.

Bill

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

The best jingles that ever graced WKBW were in the last package produced by Jeff Kaye. Everybody knows it by "the one that sounds like Blood, Sweath & Tears, Carol King, Chicago and that cut that sounds like "Evil Woman" by Crow.

Tom Shannon is a class act. Present tense. And he's a helluva guy to work with. And he does a mean impression of The Hound. Seriously. Tom worked with the Hound at KB. Tom's a bon vivant, great story teller and has a certain charisma that few folks in the business can claim. It's said he's livin' the life in San Francisco these days and occasionally returns to Buffalo. Look in the dictionary under "charm" and you might see Tommy's picture.

Frank Benny, RIP, was one of the sharpest, wittiest guys you'd ever want to know and work around. What a set of pipes. There are so many good "Frank Stories" from 464 Franklin Street (and Barton Street.) Everybody knows about "the bank job." Few people know that Frank did the funniest self-deprecating shtick about his own foibles, bank job included. The WBEN aircheck ("...ahhh, the chilllldrennnnnn...") from Frank's later years is sad. Not his best work, but it demonstrates his compassion.

John Otto, RIP, was the most incredibly articulate, erudite man on Buffalo radio. The Dean. "Hold the phone, we'll have you on forthwith on our nightly tri-parthide session." In other words, "If I don't get to you, just stay on the line, I'll be here for three hours tonight." Wildly witty, well read and equally intolerant of certain issues and people, John could slice and dice with three words and you'd never know you'd been cut. And his rants were deliscious social commentary and comedy. "You idiots! At one time it was "the love that dare not speaks its name" but now, you fools, you shout it from the housetops."

 

[VoiceGuyJack]

Tom Shannon

I don't believe you will find a more genuine and nicer guy than Tom Shannon. This South Buffalo icon never forgot his roots. Although his career took him to the the top of his profession, he remained untouched by his celebrity. He is always the "perfect" gentlemen and always had time for any of his fans. Tom is no phony. Perhaps, some the "talent" of today would be wise to remember that "fame is fleeting thing". Enjoy it, but don't ever flaunt it.

 

[Bob1370]

"Wildly witty, well read and equally intolerant of certain issues and people, John could slice and dice with three words and you'd never know you'd been cut."

But leaving his convictions aside, no one ever better personified the word "gentleman" than John Otto. 'GR back in the day had more than its share of gentlemen, come to think of it...and so did all of Buffalo Radio's Big Three.

Back in the day, as fierce as the three way competition between 'GR, 'KB and 'BEN for news stories and ratings may have been (and boy, was it fierce), when our team from 2077 Elmwood faced off against people like Ray Marks, Don Dussias, and Shiela Murphy at 'GR and Jim Fagan, Henry Brach, John Zach and Joe Downey at 'KB, things couldn't have been friendlier and more cordial out in the field as we all worked side by side on story after story.