One of the coolest stations in the area, hands down, had to be WNOP when it was at the foot of Columbia St. Besides floating on the river, the atmosphiere there was great. The port hole window with the excelent view of the city, the "Bubble-Gum" machine, Leo Underhill, "Sober" the dog, the "Wide-Load" cart, even the neon call letters on the roof. It had to be the most unique radio station anywhere. Oh yeah, how could I forget the jazz. "And now the news from the Associated Press, brought to you by Genesee Cream Ale". Anyone care to elaborate?
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WNOP's "Jazz Ark" days
- Thread starter RRontheX
- Start date
RRontheX said:...Besides floating on the river, the atmosphiere there was great. The port hole window with the excelent view of the city, the "Bubble-Gum" machine, Leo Underhill, "Sober" the dog, the "Wide-Load" cart, even the neon call letters on the roof...
Now I'm really feeling like "50" is moving-in fast. I learned to appreciate Jazz because of that station. It seemed odd to a young guy that such a big signal would just shut down at dark [I thought only little small-town stations bailed at night, and wasn't old-enough to understand the Canadian clear channel stuff]. I recall listening to Leo Underhill and the records that skipped during a choppy river... I guess five-grams of phono tracking weight wasn't enough at times!
My favorite station of all time.
Bob Nave is a V.P. or something like that with PNC Bank downtown, the last I heard. I hear him doing voiceovers on WMKV-FM. I don't know if his BOP Connection is still on, though.
Bunky Tadwell, a.k.a. Walt Harell is still around somewhere, the last time I asked.
Ray Scott, Leo, Dick Pike, are all playing jazz with St. Peter. Pike did make it to the jazz wake in 2000.
Don't know about John Royer.
I can't remember the name of the Big Band guy on Saturdays, but he left to go to Louisiana.
Jeff Nimmo ruined the station when he became station manager. He replaced Bob Nave with himself. Jeff is no Bill (his dad).
The CNN experiment was a joke.
The Ken McDowell, former news anchor on Channel 5 tried to buy the station after the CNN experiment, but couldn't come up with the cash.
Tim Harrier and possibly others, also tried but failed to buy it as well.
I guess that is why Al Vontz, Jr. finally had enough of the jazz lovers who had the champagne taste, but beer budgets, and simply gave the station away in 2000.
To the Catholics credit, they got the daytime power increased to 2500 watts.
According to my late friend, Dick Plessinger, the Catholics missed their short window of opportunity to increase their nightiime power when the Canadiens were announcing abandonment of AM. I forget the details. He told me there was a time, many years ago, WNOP could have applied for, and gotten 50kw daytime. I had a hard time believing that, but he was an absolute radio genius and wouldn't have told me that if it weren't true.
If I had known what the Catholics were paying for the station in 2000, I would have found a way to buy it myself.
If WKRP in Cincinnati was ever patterned after a real station, I could see it being WNOP.
Any former WNOPers, I sure do miss you. (including Darksoldier)
Tom
Bob Nave is a V.P. or something like that with PNC Bank downtown, the last I heard. I hear him doing voiceovers on WMKV-FM. I don't know if his BOP Connection is still on, though.
Bunky Tadwell, a.k.a. Walt Harell is still around somewhere, the last time I asked.
Ray Scott, Leo, Dick Pike, are all playing jazz with St. Peter. Pike did make it to the jazz wake in 2000.
Don't know about John Royer.
I can't remember the name of the Big Band guy on Saturdays, but he left to go to Louisiana.
Jeff Nimmo ruined the station when he became station manager. He replaced Bob Nave with himself. Jeff is no Bill (his dad).
The CNN experiment was a joke.
The Ken McDowell, former news anchor on Channel 5 tried to buy the station after the CNN experiment, but couldn't come up with the cash.
Tim Harrier and possibly others, also tried but failed to buy it as well.
I guess that is why Al Vontz, Jr. finally had enough of the jazz lovers who had the champagne taste, but beer budgets, and simply gave the station away in 2000.
To the Catholics credit, they got the daytime power increased to 2500 watts.
According to my late friend, Dick Plessinger, the Catholics missed their short window of opportunity to increase their nightiime power when the Canadiens were announcing abandonment of AM. I forget the details. He told me there was a time, many years ago, WNOP could have applied for, and gotten 50kw daytime. I had a hard time believing that, but he was an absolute radio genius and wouldn't have told me that if it weren't true.
If I had known what the Catholics were paying for the station in 2000, I would have found a way to buy it myself.
If WKRP in Cincinnati was ever patterned after a real station, I could see it being WNOP.
Any former WNOPers, I sure do miss you. (including Darksoldier)
Tom
In my earlier post:
"The Ken McDowell" should be "Then, Ken McDowell".
The Saturday afternoon Big Band DJ was Max Warner. I needed a night's sleep to remember the name.
Post Jazz Ark Days, I remember, Val Coleman, Dennis "The Ironman" Michaels, Mark Stevens, Angelo Catanzaro, The Darksolier (Phil Anson), Gary Keegan, Walt Harrell playing the part of Walt Harrell (not Bunky Tadwell), Downtown Scott Brown, Jazz musician Wilbert Longmire, and others, I may think of later.
"The Ken McDowell" should be "Then, Ken McDowell".
The Saturday afternoon Big Band DJ was Max Warner. I needed a night's sleep to remember the name.
Post Jazz Ark Days, I remember, Val Coleman, Dennis "The Ironman" Michaels, Mark Stevens, Angelo Catanzaro, The Darksolier (Phil Anson), Gary Keegan, Walt Harrell playing the part of Walt Harrell (not Bunky Tadwell), Downtown Scott Brown, Jazz musician Wilbert Longmire, and others, I may think of later.
I was the $3/hour Chief Engineer at WNOP in 1974-75...and while I didn't spend much time at the studio, I do recall the morning audio tests that were done just before sign on. A call was made to the studio, Leo Underhill turned on the microphone & said a few words, which I listened to through the transmitter on the dummy antenna. At 1 minute before sign on, the carrier was placed on air. About 10% of the time, Leo would forget to turn off the microphone. That sometimes was the highlight of an otherwise boring day on Delhi Mountain (where the transmitter was so old it wasn't capable of being remotely controlled...or so Don Cook the local consultant dictated). Various belches, pill bottles being opened, beverages being swallowed, etc would make it onto the air in that 60 seconds....did anyone reading this ever hear any of those "unintended" transmissions?
major said:I almost forgot Dave Worford. If there was ever a real "Johnny Fever", I nominate him.
Does that make me Venus Flytrap? ;D
Do any remember WNOP’s television advertising splash on Channel-19? [Early-70s?] They promoted themselves as “Radio Free Newport” and Leo Underhill appeared in the flesh – I believe “Sober” was in on the action also. I may be confusing them with another, but didn’t WNOP have some very-early connection to Channel-19 before the WXIX sign-on? 'Think I once read that their original allocated calls were WNOP-TV [?]
A college friend [and Jazz fan] living in Highland, IN [near Chicago] could hear them at his home on his father’s 60s-vintage McIntosh receiver before 750kHz began operation in northwest Indiana!
A college friend [and Jazz fan] living in Highland, IN [near Chicago] could hear them at his home on his father’s 60s-vintage McIntosh receiver before 750kHz began operation in northwest Indiana!
They moved to their current transmitter site around 1973. Does anyone know the history of their old site? Location, was the signal better or worse from the news site, etc?
major said:My favorite station of all time.
Ray Scott, Leo, Dick Pike, are all playing jazz with St. Peter. Pike did make it to the jazz wake in 2000.
Ray Scott - what a class act. Really. The world needs more like the Gray Wolf.
Ah, the old stompin' grounds...I was a production flunkie & board op for Bill Nimmo on Sunday mornings.
There were many, err, discussions about the direction the station was going with Geoff in charge. Much of that same music Geoff was pushing is now standard fare on WCIN.
I still remember some of the old Shelly Berman dropins:
We Never Order Pizza
We Never Offend Penguins
and my personal favorite -
Wet Nooses Often Pinch
I almost forgot the sign-off with Lou Rawls version of the National Anthem, classy. I was introduced to the station thanks to my uncle, who was a listener and a big fan of jazz. I was just a high school kid when we went to one of those jazz nights at the Captain's Anchorage, listening to De Felice (spelling?) and eating $5.00 lobsters. I met Ray Scott and he told me to come down to the station sometime. A week or so later, I sat in with Stu Williams and thought to myself, "I could really dig working here". A couple of years later, a guy I went to NKU with (I can't think of his name) was either working or doing intern there in the evenings after they would sign off the air, but kept broadcasting over Warner Cable. Remember that? Anyway, that place became a regular hangout for a few of us. I never heard "Wide-Load" on the air, but we listened to it in the production room. I often wondered if they just put a mic right next to a toilet. As for the "Bubble-Gum Machine", I think about it every time I hear Willy and Seg during the Stooge Report, with their one-liner inserts.
NoWayNoCC said:Now it stands for "We're Not Operated Properly."
Dont forget the final days when it stood for things like:
Weird Nuns Offend People
We Never Offer Pennance
The Catholics actually called just before midnight 1/1/01 and said they would not broadcast for 6 hours while they performed an exorcism on the final Satanic hours of Jazz.
BobOnTheJob said:They moved to their current transmitter site around 1973. Does anyone know the history of their old site? Location, was the signal better or worse from the news site, etc?
Don't remember about the signal being better of worse, but I remember that the old site was in Highland Heights, Ky. It was located right off Johns Hill Road about a mile southeast of where NKU now stands. They use to refer to it as the Heath Kit Special at sign off. A few years ago, there were still some of the comcrete pillars where the guy wires attached from the towers.
RRontheX said:I almost forgot the sign-off with Lou Rawls version of the National Anthem, classy. I was introduced to the station thanks to my uncle, who was a listener and a big fan of jazz. I was just a high school kid when we went to one of those jazz nights at the Captain's Anchorage, listening to De Felice (spelling?) and eating $5.00 lobsters. I met Ray Scott and he told me to come down to the station sometime. A week or so later, I sat in with Stu Williams and thought to myself, "I could really dig working here". A couple of years later, a guy I went to NKU with (I can't think of his name) was either working or doing intern there in the evenings after they would sign off the air, but kept broadcasting over Warner Cable. Remember that? Anyway, that place became a regular hangout for a few of us. I never heard "Wide-Load" on the air, but we listened to it in the production room. I often wondered if they just put a mic right next to a toilet. As for the "Bubble-Gum Machine", I think about it every time I hear Willy and Seg during the Stooge Report, with their one-liner inserts.
Can't remember the year, but I can remember listening the day WNOP's studios caught fire. It was when they were located at 606 Monmouth St in Newport. Ty Williams was on the air at the time. He mentioned that there was a fire, put on an album and left the mike open and split. You could hear the sirens in the backround and some other noises for a few minutes before there was dead air.
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