http://cincinnati.com/blogs/tv/2010/09/15/goodbye-wsai/
2601 West 8th Street will have a new tenant.
2601 West 8th Street will have a new tenant.
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WSAI building to meet the bulldozer
- Thread starter JeffDavis
- Start date
The soundtrack of my youth came from that building...sad to hear it's going away.
That's gonna be a bit of a tight squeeze between the tower and the other high rise building.
Never got to listen to WSAI since my transistor couldn't pick it up forty miles north of Dayton. But I remember listening to Steve Kirk on WING during that era who worked there previously as did Ron Britain of WCFL Chicago and the late Bwanna Johnny who I once met when I was a teenager when he did weekends at then-top 40 WTUE. Never heard of Dusty Rhodes until I heard him doing weekends at 55 KRC. A lot of history took place there and I'm sure everyone will Dusty's old place as well as myself.
I'm not envious of many folks, but if you cranked out the hits on W-S-A-I, add your name to that short list. I could only imagine how cool that was.PROjammer said:As someone who had the privilege to work there, it was the time of my life!!!
How many Cincinnatians does it take to change a light bulb?
NINE. 1 to change the bulb, and eight to go on about how great the old light bulb used to be.
NINE. 1 to change the bulb, and eight to go on about how great the old light bulb used to be.
How many dumb@$$$ does it take to make a gregariously dumb@$$ statement. 1..upndownthedial.upndownthedial said:How many Cincinnatians does it take to change a light bulb?
NINE. 1 to change the bulb, and eight to go on about how great the old light bulb used to be.
upndownthedial said:How many Cincinnatians does it take to change a light bulb?
NINE. 1 to change the bulb, and eight to go on about how great the old light bulb used to be.
You really show your age AND your ignorance by making a statement like that. Plus, you have no interest or appreciation of the history of radio in Cincinnati. If you didn't like the thread, read another one; if you are able of course.
FRR said:upndownthedial said:How many Cincinnatians does it take to change a light bulb?
NINE. 1 to change the bulb, and eight to go on about how great the old light bulb used to be.
You really show your age AND your ignorance by making a statement like that. Plus, you have no interest or appreciation of the history of radio in Cincinnati. If you didn't like the thread, read another one; if you are able of course.
AMEN!
I've got very fond memories of 1360-WSAI. It's what helped to make me a complete obsessed music freak and realize my addiction to the radio industry. I remember visiting their awesome glass wall studio when Jim Scott was on the air in the early 70's. What a beautiful studio with an absolute awesome view of the entire Cincinnati valley. I'm really sad to hear of the building's destruction. I remember meeting Jim that day who was very friendly. I'm really surprised that no other station chose to make this their home to save it.
Although it is always sad to significant pieces of our life's memories pass into oblivion in all honesty how many radio stations can you name that have remained in the same building?
In my memory and during the teen years, WLW in Crosley Square, WIZE in the Salvation Army Building with the tower on the roof on High street. On checking Google street view that is now an empty lot. WBLY which is now totally gone as a station was on the second floor of the old Chamber of Commerce Building. WHIO will soon be moving along with their TV studios so there goes another.
Since moving to Los Angeles, most of the stations there have moved so many times as to be hard to list. KNX and KCBS TV and FM abandoned fairly recently the historic Columbia Square building where Jack Benny once did his radio shows.
Here in Iowa where I now reside, the old Broadcast Center (home to KBIZ and KTVO-TV) downtown now houses a book store and coffee shop so at least that building survived as will Columbia Square as a residential and commercial complex. The owner of the Book store gave me a mental tour telling me where the Romper Room set was in the area now occupied by his office and the news set just behind where the check out counter now sits.
So I guess that as we grow older we have to accept change and modern needs don't always require those old facilities.
In my memory and during the teen years, WLW in Crosley Square, WIZE in the Salvation Army Building with the tower on the roof on High street. On checking Google street view that is now an empty lot. WBLY which is now totally gone as a station was on the second floor of the old Chamber of Commerce Building. WHIO will soon be moving along with their TV studios so there goes another.
Since moving to Los Angeles, most of the stations there have moved so many times as to be hard to list. KNX and KCBS TV and FM abandoned fairly recently the historic Columbia Square building where Jack Benny once did his radio shows.
Here in Iowa where I now reside, the old Broadcast Center (home to KBIZ and KTVO-TV) downtown now houses a book store and coffee shop so at least that building survived as will Columbia Square as a residential and commercial complex. The owner of the Book store gave me a mental tour telling me where the Romper Room set was in the area now occupied by his office and the news set just behind where the check out counter now sits.
So I guess that as we grow older we have to accept change and modern needs don't always require those old facilities.
I have gone bye the West 8th Matson Place site in the past week and it looked pretty bad. Knee
weeds in the front of the entrance . Damage to the side of the main bldg. The old neighborhood
ain't what she used to be either ! Price Hill has taken a major hit over the years. The houses
around the site are in a depressed state ! Its sad this is and was a piece of Radio History and
after Booth Broadcasting sold both stations ( WSAI AM1360 & WINK FM ) the property site
was never maintained . Before they left and gutted the inside studios of the main building ;
they ripped off the white concrete building The Big W S A I gold metal call letters. That
building still houses transmitter equipment and the 700 foot plus free standing tower also holds
other commerical broadcast antennas ; which they make money from .
My memories go back to having my dad drive up to Price Hill and he would sit out front in the
car while I walked around the back and held onto the fence so I would not fall off the cliff
down the hill . I would hang on the fence and watch Dusty Rhodes do his show. Sometimes
I would come later after the drive in and see Bob White do his show sponsored all night by
White Castle hamburgers.
I was in a radio club and we got a tour of the station when I was about 16 ! I watched a young
Jack Stahl and Mark Holiday do the news from the white brick bldg on WJBI FM aka Jupiter
Broadcasting Station . WSAI was owned by Jupiter Broadcasting and had several other owners
prior to it being sold to Booth . Owned out of Detroit. Booth owned it when it was sold.
I have seen photos of WSAI's call letters under the WLW call letters when they owned it back
in the day ! Someone may know that old address ; I think downtown somewhere. I remember
when Jim Scott came to WSAI and he parked his Mobile Home in the driveway close to the
white brick bldg.
I worked at WSAI three times over the years . We had a night watchmen their for a period of
years in the 80's named "Rocky".....He was a very thin man and he liked to drink . Rocky is no
longer with us ! After he was let go ; they installed the electric fence . Prior to the fence ;
many of the cars in the lot had their batteries taken , tires cut , windows broken into and
things taken . Even though district three Police were just a stones throw away. It was a rough
neighborhood even in the 70's and 80's and it got worse into the 90's.
I worked in the Original studio with the Large Glass panorama window to the right of the jock
and turntables on the left . Carts were wall to wall around the back and side. Newsroom in front
of the jock thru window. This was the radio studio that was touted as the best radio station
view of a Major downtown city ( Cincinnati ) as mentioned in Billboard Magazine and Bob
Hamiltons radio report many years ago and if you saw the window from the inside in the jock
chair ----- you were blown away by the Cincy Skyline and the lights after dark. I remember
sitting their while the record played and thinking what a great gig !
We used to run down the steps to the coffee machine during records . The coffee was there
24/7 and Free. When I first worked their it was a Union Shop and you had to join the union
or they would let you go . Later the Union was thrown out . Voted out ! Management was
happy about that ! Over the years that Bldg housed WSAI 1360 legandary call letters and
WSAI FM later to be WINK FM and for a period of time KIX-94 Country. Because of the big
gold call letters on the white brick bldg. everyone thought the 700 foot tower in the front
yard was WSAI 1360 and it was not . That Tower was WSAI FM . WSAI ' AM towers were
in Greenhills on a plot of ground with a small house and remote studio inside . They had three
Towers out there for 1360 at 5000 watts.
Maybe I am giving too much inside radio technical crap and no one cares now ; but I guess I
think if you are reading this ; you must have some emotional connection to the radio station.
I have so many memories of the place ; the night Rocky fell into the Christmas tree and knocked
it over, "Sam Jones" screaming into the Newsroom CB radio , Hal Van Tassel falling down in the
main hallway , Doug Anthony telling me I could not skip a newscast , Ted Stecker and Tony
George getting into a verbal battle in the hall , WSAI knocked off the air ,and the "Whats her
name generator kicking on " , Dickie Shannon ( WCFL ) on WINK thowing snowballs in the drive-
way , Chuck Boozer making Randy Douglas cry and walk out of the studio ! The phone call from
Morton Downing Jr. ( the old man ) telling the all night jock WCPO 1230 was the first top-40
station in Cincinnati ; not 1360 WSAI and getting all upset on the phone. He did not like the
promos we were running. Downing worked at WCPO in the 60's.....
I guess all total I spent 9 years in that building and worked with many people . I remember like
it was yesterday 1994 saying goodbye to Bennie and walking out thoes front doors toward
the White Concrete Bldg with a funny feeling in my stomach ; a sad feeling , a feeling of I was
losing a friend and when I got to my car in the lot ; I just sat there for about 10 minutes and
thought when I pull out of here ; I will Never be coming back to WSAI 1360 ! I have worked
at other radio stations over the years in other Cities and none of them has affected me in this
way. There will always be a Special Memory for me at West 8th & Matson Place.
One of the " Many Jocks who worked there " over the years........
weeds in the front of the entrance . Damage to the side of the main bldg. The old neighborhood
ain't what she used to be either ! Price Hill has taken a major hit over the years. The houses
around the site are in a depressed state ! Its sad this is and was a piece of Radio History and
after Booth Broadcasting sold both stations ( WSAI AM1360 & WINK FM ) the property site
was never maintained . Before they left and gutted the inside studios of the main building ;
they ripped off the white concrete building The Big W S A I gold metal call letters. That
building still houses transmitter equipment and the 700 foot plus free standing tower also holds
other commerical broadcast antennas ; which they make money from .
My memories go back to having my dad drive up to Price Hill and he would sit out front in the
car while I walked around the back and held onto the fence so I would not fall off the cliff
down the hill . I would hang on the fence and watch Dusty Rhodes do his show. Sometimes
I would come later after the drive in and see Bob White do his show sponsored all night by
White Castle hamburgers.
I was in a radio club and we got a tour of the station when I was about 16 ! I watched a young
Jack Stahl and Mark Holiday do the news from the white brick bldg on WJBI FM aka Jupiter
Broadcasting Station . WSAI was owned by Jupiter Broadcasting and had several other owners
prior to it being sold to Booth . Owned out of Detroit. Booth owned it when it was sold.
I have seen photos of WSAI's call letters under the WLW call letters when they owned it back
in the day ! Someone may know that old address ; I think downtown somewhere. I remember
when Jim Scott came to WSAI and he parked his Mobile Home in the driveway close to the
white brick bldg.
I worked at WSAI three times over the years . We had a night watchmen their for a period of
years in the 80's named "Rocky".....He was a very thin man and he liked to drink . Rocky is no
longer with us ! After he was let go ; they installed the electric fence . Prior to the fence ;
many of the cars in the lot had their batteries taken , tires cut , windows broken into and
things taken . Even though district three Police were just a stones throw away. It was a rough
neighborhood even in the 70's and 80's and it got worse into the 90's.
I worked in the Original studio with the Large Glass panorama window to the right of the jock
and turntables on the left . Carts were wall to wall around the back and side. Newsroom in front
of the jock thru window. This was the radio studio that was touted as the best radio station
view of a Major downtown city ( Cincinnati ) as mentioned in Billboard Magazine and Bob
Hamiltons radio report many years ago and if you saw the window from the inside in the jock
chair ----- you were blown away by the Cincy Skyline and the lights after dark. I remember
sitting their while the record played and thinking what a great gig !
We used to run down the steps to the coffee machine during records . The coffee was there
24/7 and Free. When I first worked their it was a Union Shop and you had to join the union
or they would let you go . Later the Union was thrown out . Voted out ! Management was
happy about that ! Over the years that Bldg housed WSAI 1360 legandary call letters and
WSAI FM later to be WINK FM and for a period of time KIX-94 Country. Because of the big
gold call letters on the white brick bldg. everyone thought the 700 foot tower in the front
yard was WSAI 1360 and it was not . That Tower was WSAI FM . WSAI ' AM towers were
in Greenhills on a plot of ground with a small house and remote studio inside . They had three
Towers out there for 1360 at 5000 watts.
Maybe I am giving too much inside radio technical crap and no one cares now ; but I guess I
think if you are reading this ; you must have some emotional connection to the radio station.
I have so many memories of the place ; the night Rocky fell into the Christmas tree and knocked
it over, "Sam Jones" screaming into the Newsroom CB radio , Hal Van Tassel falling down in the
main hallway , Doug Anthony telling me I could not skip a newscast , Ted Stecker and Tony
George getting into a verbal battle in the hall , WSAI knocked off the air ,and the "Whats her
name generator kicking on " , Dickie Shannon ( WCFL ) on WINK thowing snowballs in the drive-
way , Chuck Boozer making Randy Douglas cry and walk out of the studio ! The phone call from
Morton Downing Jr. ( the old man ) telling the all night jock WCPO 1230 was the first top-40
station in Cincinnati ; not 1360 WSAI and getting all upset on the phone. He did not like the
promos we were running. Downing worked at WCPO in the 60's.....
I guess all total I spent 9 years in that building and worked with many people . I remember like
it was yesterday 1994 saying goodbye to Bennie and walking out thoes front doors toward
the White Concrete Bldg with a funny feeling in my stomach ; a sad feeling , a feeling of I was
losing a friend and when I got to my car in the lot ; I just sat there for about 10 minutes and
thought when I pull out of here ; I will Never be coming back to WSAI 1360 ! I have worked
at other radio stations over the years in other Cities and none of them has affected me in this
way. There will always be a Special Memory for me at West 8th & Matson Place.
One of the " Many Jocks who worked there " over the years........
Radio Fish Heads said:"Sam Jones" screaming into the Newsroom CB radio.
"Sam of Jones" (not to be confused with the WSAI newsman of the same name) ...Now THERE was a CHARACTER! Does ANYONE have any idea what happened to him? I know he became Cunningham's unsung producer & after that (maybe about 15 years ago) no one seems to know...
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