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WPDH 35th Anniversary June 4th & June 5th

xmradiopro

xmradiopro

WPDH 101.5 will be celebrating their 35th anniversary as a Rock station on June 4th & June 5th...i found this info of past DJs at WPDH...


Past DJ's (aka the WPDH Airforce)


Full Time:
• Peter Clark (Program Director and Morning show host 1980--1984, formerly WSPK/Poughkeepsie, later with WFLY/Albany, WPIX-FM/NYC, WSSH/Boston, WWLI/Providence, Q-92/Poughkeepsie, WHUD/Peekskill, currently at 91.3 WVKR/Poughkeepsie)
• Tim Massie (Morning news anchor 1980--1984)
• John Tobin
• Ron Rizzi (former Program Director)
• Ron Nenni (later of WPYX)
• Mike Harris (became General Manager of WEOK/WPDH)
• Ken Gonyea (later of WRWD-FM)
• Kevin Belcastro (later of WPYX, now PD at Southern Broadcasting Stations in GA)
• Stew Schantz (later of WSPK, later WSKS and then WUPE-FM, deceased June 11, 2010. )
• Rick Buser (former Music Director, later of WEXT, WBPM, WRNQ, WKZE-FM, and now with Fox News Radio)
• Pam Brooks (now on WRKI, I-95 in Danbury, CT)
• Matt Walsh (later of WKLS, CNN Headline News, CNN International)
• John Steffanci (later of WKIP)
• 'Bubbles' (morning show sidekick with Schantz/Stefanci and Sussman/Stefanci)
• Joe Sussman (later Program Director Q-104/WQBK Albany and WPYX)
• Wolf (later of WPYX)
• Kevin Karlson
• Pete McKenzie
• Reno
• Frankenberry (now Program Director on WCZX)
• Bill Palmeri (longtime Program Director and Operations Manager, now General Manager for Citadel Broadcasting in Scranton Wilkes-Barre radio Market))
• Greg O'Brien (former Program Director of both WPDH and WRRV. though not simultaneously, and before that, WPDH Music Director)
• Susan Browning (evenings- also at WNEW, WDRE, WYNY, WFAS, Metro Networks)
• Clayton Tragg, The Rock and Roll Rebel, later of Q-104/WQBK Albany
• "Mad Mike" Colvin (Producer of, and voice actor on, several WPDH morning programs Most Notably: "Wakin' Up with the Wolf", "Cooper & Zolz", and "Cooper & Tobin", Voice characters included "40's Man", "Cognac the Magnificent", "Guy", and parodies of various sports announcers voices.)
• Rockin' Steve
• Rick Zolzer
• Erica Pierson (later on WLNY55 a Long Island TV station; now on-air at WLVG)
• Shelli Sexton
• Jeff Jensen
• Bill Moran aka "the Moranimal" (now producer of the Brother Wease show)
• "Dirty Ernie"
• "The Doctor" Dan Giannascoli
• Rich Coelho
• Greg Gattine (former Program Director, now on WDST in Woodstock, NY)
• Brandon Terry
• "Tigman"
• Scotty Perry "Scotty On The Air" Voted Best Radio Disc Jockey In Hudson Valley & Best Disc Jockey Website in 2007s Best Of In The Time's Herald Record
Part Time: • Justin Foy (now on WDST in Woodstock, NY)
• Jay Burstein
• "The Candyman" Scott Carlin (onetime Promotions Director, later Program Director then Operations Manager)
• Jim Hansen (aka Steve Clark on WCZX) - died suddenly after his first full-time air shift on WCZX, in 1994
• Chris Donahue (aka Marty Allen on WCZX)
• "Tommy Potatoes"
• Jack George (aka Jack the Ripper on WRRV)
• Amy Salerno (now a traffic reporter for WCBS-AM in New York City)
• Steven Colvin (Also part time on WRRV 92.3 & 96.9 late-nights)
• Anthony (aka Tony) DeBarros (now an editor at USA TODAY)



Notable alumni
•Mike Breen, sportcaster, began his career on WPDH/WEOK around 1982-83, reading the news in the morning. Later, news/sports sidekick for Imus in the morning on NBC, play-by-play commentator for the NBA on ABC and the lead commentator for New York Knicks games on the MSG network. He also works NBA games for ESPN, and was formerly a play-by-play announcer for New York Giants preseason games, as well as for regular season NFL games on both Fox and NBC.
•Jason Barrett, former program director of WPEN in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, began his career hosting the wrestling show "No Holds Barred" on Sunday nights.
•Freddie Coleman, now of GameNight on ESPN Radio, entered radio at WPDH as music director and overnight host, later working at sister station WCZX.
•Jay Reynolds, ESPN Radio; spent time at WPDH as news anchor & news director (1992-1998).
•Karlson and McKenzie of WZLX in Boston, Massachusetts spent time at WPDH before returning to Boston.
•Bob "The Wolf" Wolffeld, longtime morning host, now the same at WPYX in Albany.
•Dead Air Dave started his on-air career at WPDH, years before becoming a personality on 92.3 K-Rock New York and later adding dump button duties for The Howard Stern Show.
•Roger Clark (The Rajah) did fill-in newscasts on WPDH. He is now a reporter and fill-in anchor for New York One News in New York City.
•Loscalzo from WNYU started his pro career at WPDH and went onto WRCN, WDRE and WXRK. He's now at MTV.



HD radio
Cumulus Broadcasting began upgrading its stations to HD Radio broadcasting in 2005. One of the first ten stations to be upgraded was WPDH.
 
Freddie Coleman of ESPN radio actually worked at K104 prior to working at WPDH AND CZX and had a gig or two prior to that.
 
MusicRadioUSA said:
Erica Pierson (later on WLNY55 a Long Island TV station; now on-air at WLVG)...
Click to expand...

WLVG was "Love 96.1" until Barnstable sold it. It is now "My Country 96.1" under the calls of WJVC. So if she's still on the air, that might be where she is now.
 
Anyone have a update on which WPDH DJ's will be on June 4th & June 5th for their 35th Anniversary ? So far I haven't heard any mention on the air about this...
 
Just heard Robyn Taylor announce the actual 35th Anniversary of WPDH is June 1st, she said the on air with special DJ will be on June 4th & June 5th this weekend.
Should be a great happening all weekend.
 
The Poughkeepsie Journal published this article about this weekend's upcoming WPDH 35th anniversary weekend. It ought to be exciting, and I am looking forward to the trip down memory lane. It will be great to hear the voices from the past when WPDH was locally owned, and a truly fabulous station. They are still good, but having to answer to the corporate overlords has diminished The Home of Rock and Roll. The guests will even play some original vinyl records. They still have turntables? I remember WPDH lots of the old stuff when the storage room as well as the WEOK transmitter room was flooded back in the '90s.
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20110602/ENT04/106020303/WPDH-marks-milestone&odyssey=mod%7Cmostview
 
WPDH has been around for 35 years, and it continues to do so beating WBPM in many ratings books. WBPM is also what they call it "Classic Hits" rather than classic rock, by calling it WBPM as a classic rock station, they should go after WPDH. In the past, WRKW was on 92.9 back when it was "Quality Rock" before it became "92.9 Rock" and the went to oldies and then to classic hits when it was "Classic Hits 92.9" until it went to a classic rock leaning classic hits station under Randy Turner (or Randy Turnip).

Did Randy Turner ever worked for WPDH?
 
IIRC, WPYX didn't do anything special for their 30th anniversary last year... but that was to be expected (remember that PYX 106 nowadays is running off the bird/automated much of the day with only two local drivetime spots under CC ownership now...)

Pretty interesting that WHRL (Channel 103.1) decided to dump alternative and go talk (WGY simulcast on FM) just a few days before PYX's 30th anniversary... nice to see WPDH having a celebration of some kind, unlike either WQBK (35th anniversary last year) or WPYX (30th last year) :)
 
I'm disappointed that early PDH staffers Ron Nenni and Ron Rizzi only did pre-recorded hours playing generic classic rock with few recollections. The Pam Brooks and Bill Palmeri segments were fun and I'm looking forward to engineer Rob Dyson playing vinyl tomorrow. The reunion weekend gives the impression that PDH was a family and a fun place to work. The station appears at times to have had an outsized influence in the industry when compared to its market size. PDH started out in '76 as a wide-playlist album station before falling into the industry-sanctioned AOR groove and finally to the generic classic rocker rut. But it had an auspicious start and turned me on to a lot of music I still appreciate today.
 
musichead1029 said:
I'm disappointed that early PDH staffers Ron Nenni and Ron Rizzi only did pre-recorded hours playing generic classic rock with few recollections. The Pam Brooks and Bill Palmeri segments were fun and I'm looking forward to engineer Rob Dyson playing vinyl tomorrow. The reunion weekend gives the impression that PDH was a family and a fun place to work. The station appears at times to have had an outsized influence in the industry when compared to its market size. PDH started out in '76 as a wide-playlist album station before falling into the industry-sanctioned AOR groove and finally to the generic classic rocker rut. But it had an auspicious start and turned me on to a lot of music I still appreciate today.
Click to expand...

This is Rick Buser here...

I have to say I listened most of the day yesterday (hanging at the pool with my smartphone and the "TuneIn" radio app). I really enjoyed it.

I agree that the Rizzi/Nenni hours would have been better had they been there live. There would have been so many more stories to tell and time to tell them, but they don't live in the area any longer. I still appreciated hearing them. Nenni really sounds different to me now. But he's been in the San Francisco Bay area for some 20+ years, so I guess at some point you're going to sound like your environment!

It was great hearing Robyn and Pam together. I wish Robyn didn't have to go do the sponsored-appearance during her show, because they were having such a good time and bringing back some great memories for me.

I think Palmeri did an outstanding job while he was on. I really enjoyed some of the tunes he played (hadn't heard Marillion in awhile). He was very laudatory toward Greg O'Brien (who couldn't be there), and I was unaware that Greg does a lot of concert-type voiceovers now. Check out his digital demo here:

http://promo.concerts.com/voice-talents

Click on Greg O'Brien, of course. Phenomenal pipes that every male radio jock would die for!

I was happy to hear Stew Schantz got a few mentions during the day. If Stew was anything, he was a nice guy. He probably wouldn't have counted me as a "model employee", but that's on me. I'm glad to hear people remembered him fondly on-air.

I hope to catch a bit of Pete Clark today if I get a chance.

I think the takeaway from all of this is that while the personalities are important, it's really a testament to the listener base and the various owners of the station. In a way, it's kind of like your favorite baseball team. Players will come and go, but it's the team and the continuum of the team that really matters to the fans.

So, congratulations on 35 and still kickin', PDH.
 
I have most of the airchecks complete, but I'm going to do more during the week until if it's going to be done, I will be posting it soon. For the most part, I will be posting some airchecks from the WPDH's 35th Anniversary Weekend from yesterday which is later on.
 
heyitsrick said:
I was happy to hear Stew Schantz got a few mentions during the day. If Stew was anything, he was a nice guy. He probably wouldn't have counted me as a "model employee", but that's on me. I'm glad to hear people remembered him fondly on-air.
Click to expand...

Stew Schantz was on WPDH from 1980 through 1988 until he left the station and joined WSPK's "K-104" as a Top 40/CHR station from 1988 until 1998 when Mark Bolger was doing mornings on "K-104" back in the 90's. He passed away last year as you see in a post from last year.

http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=169897.0
 
Former station owner Rob Dyson mentioned today Ron Nenni did evenings 7 to midnight when WPDH first went Rock on June 1, 1976...anyone know who did mornings on WPDH on June 1, 1976 ?
 
MusicRadioUSA said:
Former station owner Rob Dyson mentioned today Ron Nennidid evenings 7 to midnight when WPDH first went Rock on June 1, 1976...anyone know who did mornings on WPDH on June 1, 1976 ?
Click to expand...
Actually, Nenni wasn't hired until the rock format had been on the air for a few months. Roy Rutanen did mornings for WPDH as a rocker - I'm not sure he was there from Day 1 (I believe I started listening about Day 5). Rob did mention the name of the guy who did mornings for the (also mostly automated) country format that proceeded the rock. Rutanen was the only live jock on the station for the first few months of rock before Ron Nenni was hired for evenings. Nenni also voiced some of the automation system intros for the new music.

disney fanatic said:
Stew Schantz was on WPDH from 1980 through 1988 until he left the station and joined WSPK's "K-104" as a Top 40/CHR station from 1988 until 1998 when Mark Bolger was doing mornings on "K-104" back in the 90's. He passed away last year
Click to expand...
I believe Stew was also on air at WSPK during its brief stint as an album rocker in 1977-78 before he joined WPDH.
 
I just found out...Pete Macy was the first jock on WPDH Mornings June 1, 1976...


musichead1029 said:
MusicRadioUSA said:
Former station owner Rob Dyson mentioned today Ron Nennidid evenings 7 to midnight when WPDH first went Rock on June 1, 1976...anyone know who did mornings on WPDH on June 1, 1976 ?
Click to expand...
Actually, Nenni wasn't hired until the rock format had been on the air for a few months. Roy Rutanen did mornings for WPDH as a rocker - I'm not sure he was there from Day 1 (I believe I started listening about Day 5). Rob did mention the name of the guy who did mornings for the (also mostly automated) country format that proceeded the rock. Rutanen was the only live jock on the station for the first few months of rock before Ron Nenni was hired for evenings. Nenni also voiced some of the automation system intros for the new music.

disney fanatic said:
Stew Schantz was on WPDH from 1980 through 1988 until he left the station and joined WSPK's "K-104" as a Top 40/CHR station from 1988 until 1998 when Mark Bolger was doing mornings on "K-104" back in the 90's. He passed away last year
Click to expand...
I believe Stew was also on air at WSPK during its brief stint as an album rocker in 1977-78 before he joined WPDH.
Click to expand...
 
Hey Rick! Glad you could tune in on your phone, but sorry you weren't there in person. It was a blast catching up with old friends and saying those call letters on the air again. I mentioned you around the time I played DC Star from the 1st WPDH LP. You were a big part of PDH's success in the 80's and you should be able to share some of the credit. Maybe in five years you can be part of the 40th?

I'd like to thank everybody who listened, who worked there in all departments over the years, and also the businesses who sponsored the station and made WPDH the huge continuing success it still is 35 years later! And special thanks to program director Gary Cee for putting this whole thing together every five years.
 
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