I noticed on Scott Fybush's web site that WYSL is celebrating it's 20th anniversary on the air. Congratuations goes out to Bob Savage for transforming a rural daytime radio station into a 20kw operation. In this day and age of corporate ownership, it is nice to see someone with ties to the community make good. Happy 20th anniversary Bob and many more to come.
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WYSL's 20th Anniversary
- Thread starter The Voice of Reason
- Start date
and the call letters were born in Buffalo in 1966.........on 1400khz and 103.3mhz
MediaBoy4Radio said:
Not exactly...it's bit more complicated than that. McClendon changed the 1080 call from WINE to WYSL in 1960. He then sold the 1080 station in 1961 to Dynamic Broadcasting who then applied the WUFO call.
McClendon then moved the WYSL call to 1400 kHz after the sales of 1080.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WUFO
I bothered to check because I always remember 1400 as WYSL as a kid in the 1960s, and I started paying attention to radio when I was 8 or 9 (roughly 1964).
Richard in Allentown, PA (hometown: East Aurora)
rdcuffpa1 said:
Good notes. I too tracked the history of WYSL Buffalo. Having listened to WYSL as a kid, been a "teen d-j" (kind of funny to even write that phrase) on WYSL-FM and worked at WYSL-AM for a spell, the station has history with me.
The first time I heard WYSL-AM 1400 Buffalo as a Top 40 format was in '64. I believe it had just flipped from Beautiful Music. I chanced upon it while they were playing California Dreamin' (although it might have been Elusive Butterfly.) The original Sean Grabowski (John Sepanik, Jack Kelly) was doing middays and the first jock I heard. He was major-market smooth.
WYSL was way ahead of the Randy Michaels-Critical Mass curve of "rippin' the competition" on the air. It's very like a young Ben Homel in Hamburg, being the radio junkie he was, heard those promos as a kid. Long before the Kiss-Magic feuding, WYSL was running "while KB is playing commercials, we're playing the most music" promos... bam, into a hit. Pretty edgy and catchy stuff in the mid 60's. WYSL called itself "The Toy Bulldog." It printed the WYSL Music Guide and did "instant requests" which weren't instant, but recorded and well produced and sounded great.
Gordon McLendon played an active part in the station doing editorials (long before Bob Howard appeared as "Mr. Soundoff.") WYSL did "WYSL 20-20 news... no sooner done than said..." and at night, the newscasts were short, tight, and locked out with "WYSL 20-20 news... no sooner said than done." Read aloud for best results.
WYSL never beat KB, but it did give the big 50kW flamethrower a good run, having only 1 kW day and 250 W. night from a tower atop the Graphics Control building, with the radiant W-Y-S-L blinking call letters astride the tower, easily seen from the I-190.
If WYSL had been on 550 or 930 (in other words, if it had a 5kW regional signal) it may have been a different story. But as we know, if "ifs and buts were candy and nuts, it'd be Christmas every day."
Some very good jocks and news people, personalities in their own right, plyed their trade at WYSL. Dick Kemp, Tim Kelly, Larry Vance, Steve Kelly, Hall Martin, Jack Evans, Jack Sheridan... Rufus Coyote, Tom Donahue, Steve Mitchell, Bob Taylor and Kevin "The Weatherman" O'Connell. News people included Shiela Murphy, George Redpath, Jim McLoughlin, Ray Marks, Alan Christopher, L-B Lyons... and many others, including a multi-talented guy whose name isn't coming to me now... he later worked at WEBR and WBEN, was a brilliant writer and painter... damn! Al Wallack will read this and post his name.
That's it. Friday afternoon production awaits.
Jim Pastrick
At the first Radio Reunion we did in November 1996, a whole afternoon was given over to guys from WYSL. Kevin O, Tim Kelly, Jerry Reo (Jim Bradley), Donahue, and several others (I have to go back and listen to the tape). One of my favorite memories of all-time was listening to those guys go on about how they tried to slay the KB dragon. It was awesome, because the history of Top 40 in Buffalo is always KB, KB, KB....people forget what neat little stations YSL/PHD were, well into the 80s. I don't think KB becomes the legend it is without YSL breathing down their necks.
While I'm here, another great memory from that Reunion - Joey Reynolds on the air when the Jumbotron fell. My first thought was, what an incredible practical joke he just played. The Arena was only a month or two old, and it would have been the perfect hoax...if it weren't true.
One of my resolutions for '07 is to go back and finish transcribing the tapes from those three reunions: 1996, 1999, and 2000. I think the whole history of Buffalo Top 40 is in those three weekends. It'd make a great book and/or website some day.
Schuh
While I'm here, another great memory from that Reunion - Joey Reynolds on the air when the Jumbotron fell. My first thought was, what an incredible practical joke he just played. The Arena was only a month or two old, and it would have been the perfect hoax...if it weren't true.
One of my resolutions for '07 is to go back and finish transcribing the tapes from those three reunions: 1996, 1999, and 2000. I think the whole history of Buffalo Top 40 is in those three weekends. It'd make a great book and/or website some day.
Schuh
As one of the disembodied voice guys for Bob at WYSL I am really honored to be a part of it. It is so weird to be saying those call letters with a 1040 before them. I too, was a young radio efascinato (if that's not a word it oughta be) listening in Niagara Falls in the mid 60's to Sean, and Jerry, and Jeff Eustis on WYSL. And I probably heard Jim Pastrick on 103.3 as a teen deejay with the likes of Ruth Guysdorfer, and Kevin O'Connell I remember calling the instant request line, (and Jim P..do you remember this? it was brilliant) they had the "script" that you were supposed to say on the Little Bulldog Top 40 and you would go:
"Hi this is Jeff Gill from Niagara Falls, and I would like to hear the number 5 song, Good Lovin, by the Young Rascals..for Cottrell Ford" McClendon actually SOLD the requests as SPOTS!! Brilliant....
I ended up getting my first job at Eddy Jo's WHLD, and going on from there (via WNIA among other places) to enjoy 37 years in broadcasting, and now run our imaging and production companies in Atlanta, and North Carolina. Proudly, WYSL/1040 is one of my favorite clients.
Congrats Bob on 20 years..We need to do some fresh imaging!
Jeff Laurence (Gill)
www.autumnhillstudios.com
"Hi this is Jeff Gill from Niagara Falls, and I would like to hear the number 5 song, Good Lovin, by the Young Rascals..for Cottrell Ford" McClendon actually SOLD the requests as SPOTS!! Brilliant....
I ended up getting my first job at Eddy Jo's WHLD, and going on from there (via WNIA among other places) to enjoy 37 years in broadcasting, and now run our imaging and production companies in Atlanta, and North Carolina. Proudly, WYSL/1040 is one of my favorite clients.
Congrats Bob on 20 years..We need to do some fresh imaging!
Jeff Laurence (Gill)
www.autumnhillstudios.com
That's one helluva "disembodied" voice, brother!
We've kind of taken this thread for a ride, so first, congrats to Barrister Bob Savage on 20 years af WYSL, Avon. Many years ago, when the station was perkin' on 1030, I recall listening to it one fine day at my home just south of Buffalo. So being the radio jerk that I am, I phoned in a QSL and who would pick up the phone? None other than the noted attorney himself!
Y'know, somewhere in the Pastrick Archives (OKA "the boxes of radio junk in the basement") I have an America's Top 40 D-J's vinyl disc that has a Bob Savage track with him introducing Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress from his WAXC days, "Robert Craig Savage... the Hollies have been entertaining us all summer with this one... Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress on Wax-Cee 14-60..."
Jeff, the WYSL Buffalo "Instant Request script" was a classic! I actually use a template of that routine today for the "At Work D-J" and "Select-A-Set" features that I do on my midday show! Of course, I try to be more gracious than the guys back in the day who would bark at callers, "No! Say it THIS way..." when I screwed up the third take. That kind of prepared me for working with Jeff Kaye or Steve Mitchell
The first time I walked into the WYSL studios in the Statler, Dick "The Wild Child" Kemp was on the air. My eyes must have looked like saucers! It was the the first time I saw a real board (a big-ass Gates with a mess of rotary pots, 16 inch transcription turntables, ATC cart decks and Ampex 350 series reels) and a real chain-smokin' top-40-dee-jay up close and personal.
Kemp was dressed to the nines. You guessed it, T-shirt and jeans. When I was introduced to him, he was pleasant but in a gruff yet avuncular way said something like "you don't wanna do this for a living, kid... get a real job." (I didn't listen to him OR my father.)
In the raised overview studio that night was the "Instant Request" producer. To this day I think it was Tim Kelly... and some sweet young thing who was rubbing his shoulders. "Being the 'Instant Request producer' must be a realllllly stressful job, nice perks!" I thought. By the way, whoever that young lady was, she had really nice perks.
Radio... what bid-ness!
Bob Allen and Ken Kiedrowski were in charge of the WYSL-FM. Ken checks in here and drops an email from time to time. Truth be told, I wasn't a regular on WYSL-FM. There were jocks a lot better than I. But it was an amazing and unheard of opportunity for aspiring jocks like me (who sounded more like the pimple-pocked kid behind the counter at the Quickie Mart in The Simpsons) who were addicted to radio. That's why to this day, I try to graciously mentor people who really want to be in the business. I also give them the same advice Dick Kemp gave me, but they don't wanna hear it. Kids!
I also remember Jeff Gill on 1440 WJJL... what a station that was at the time! Continued success and congratulations to you as well. Your advice on the Production Boards is widely read and appreciated.
It's early in the morning... I gotta fire up the snow thrower, pish off my neighbors and clear the driveway... I'm workin' a Saturday shift this weekend.
_________________________________________________
By the way, the guy whose name I couldn't remember from WYSL news is Kevin Gordon. A true renaissance man.
We've kind of taken this thread for a ride, so first, congrats to Barrister Bob Savage on 20 years af WYSL, Avon. Many years ago, when the station was perkin' on 1030, I recall listening to it one fine day at my home just south of Buffalo. So being the radio jerk that I am, I phoned in a QSL and who would pick up the phone? None other than the noted attorney himself!
Y'know, somewhere in the Pastrick Archives (OKA "the boxes of radio junk in the basement") I have an America's Top 40 D-J's vinyl disc that has a Bob Savage track with him introducing Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress from his WAXC days, "Robert Craig Savage... the Hollies have been entertaining us all summer with this one... Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress on Wax-Cee 14-60..."
Jeff, the WYSL Buffalo "Instant Request script" was a classic! I actually use a template of that routine today for the "At Work D-J" and "Select-A-Set" features that I do on my midday show! Of course, I try to be more gracious than the guys back in the day who would bark at callers, "No! Say it THIS way..." when I screwed up the third take. That kind of prepared me for working with Jeff Kaye or Steve Mitchell
The first time I walked into the WYSL studios in the Statler, Dick "The Wild Child" Kemp was on the air. My eyes must have looked like saucers! It was the the first time I saw a real board (a big-ass Gates with a mess of rotary pots, 16 inch transcription turntables, ATC cart decks and Ampex 350 series reels) and a real chain-smokin' top-40-dee-jay up close and personal.
Kemp was dressed to the nines. You guessed it, T-shirt and jeans. When I was introduced to him, he was pleasant but in a gruff yet avuncular way said something like "you don't wanna do this for a living, kid... get a real job." (I didn't listen to him OR my father.)
In the raised overview studio that night was the "Instant Request" producer. To this day I think it was Tim Kelly... and some sweet young thing who was rubbing his shoulders. "Being the 'Instant Request producer' must be a realllllly stressful job, nice perks!" I thought. By the way, whoever that young lady was, she had really nice perks.
Radio... what bid-ness!
Bob Allen and Ken Kiedrowski were in charge of the WYSL-FM. Ken checks in here and drops an email from time to time. Truth be told, I wasn't a regular on WYSL-FM. There were jocks a lot better than I. But it was an amazing and unheard of opportunity for aspiring jocks like me (who sounded more like the pimple-pocked kid behind the counter at the Quickie Mart in The Simpsons) who were addicted to radio. That's why to this day, I try to graciously mentor people who really want to be in the business. I also give them the same advice Dick Kemp gave me, but they don't wanna hear it. Kids!
I also remember Jeff Gill on 1440 WJJL... what a station that was at the time! Continued success and congratulations to you as well. Your advice on the Production Boards is widely read and appreciated.
It's early in the morning... I gotta fire up the snow thrower, pish off my neighbors and clear the driveway... I'm workin' a Saturday shift this weekend.
_________________________________________________
By the way, the guy whose name I couldn't remember from WYSL news is Kevin Gordon. A true renaissance man.
JimPastrick said:
Takes me back...as a kid (who had the fascination but not the gumption to actually follow the dream) I remember WYSL and WKBW...and being very surprised once I realized that WYSL was on this graveyard local channel, vs. KB at 50kW. WYSL certainly had a presence that eclipsed its stature. I remember Jim McLaughlin and Kevin O'Connell both being there before they went to KB and WBEN.
And I also remember the WYSL tower along the "Niagara Section" (rarely called the 190 by the locals back then) -- it was the Larkin building at the time, IIRC, before it was rebadged the Graphics Control building.
One thing that's different about that era is that call signs played a more integral role in a station's on-air personality... as the length of this thread indicates, those call signs (like WYSL) occupy a special place in the memories of many. And the jingles that included the IDs, like "W - N - I - A, one-twenty-three!" or "G - R - fifty-five!"
Sorry for helping to hog the WYSL congrats thread. Nowadays, when I am up in the Flower City, I spend some of my radio time listening to WYSL as a rare example of a successful, smallish-market, all-news station.
Richard in Allentown, PA
A
anderson
Guest
Congrads on 20 years well done, Mr. Savage. WYSL has come a ways from when it was a daytimer on 1030, we used the bathtub for storage, Dave LeFrois and I would be in production yelling at people to "Don't slam The Door!!", and the Mike Morgan show was on. Glad I was able to be a part of it!
B
bilco
Guest
Listening to WYSL in the early 60's shaped a lot of what I did as talent in radio over the next few years. I started at the cOllege station at Fredonia, WCVF in 1962, then progressed to board operator at the old WBUF, went on to other stations, the Airforce and out west, where I'm now over on the engineering side and have been for some years. Good to hear about the old WYSL people.
Bill Croghan CPBE, WBØKSW
Chief Engineer
KOMP/KXPT/KENO/KBAD/KWWN
Lotus Broadcasting
Las Vegas, NV
email to loteng (at)lvradio.com
Bill Croghan CPBE, WBØKSW
Chief Engineer
KOMP/KXPT/KENO/KBAD/KWWN
Lotus Broadcasting
Las Vegas, NV
email to loteng (at)lvradio.com
Mr. Savaaaage (that would be the pronounciation Francais)...congrats on 20 years!
I remember visiting the "little house on the prairie" in Avon back in 1986 just as you were getting on the air, and I remember the first WYSL entry in the Broadcasting Yearbook... "Promotion Director: D. Frodo". For those of you not in the know, Frodo was one of Bob's English Sheepdogs!
Hopefully, there are Wahlburgers and root beer floats in our future sometime this summer...cya!
I remember visiting the "little house on the prairie" in Avon back in 1986 just as you were getting on the air, and I remember the first WYSL entry in the Broadcasting Yearbook... "Promotion Director: D. Frodo". For those of you not in the know, Frodo was one of Bob's English Sheepdogs!
Hopefully, there are Wahlburgers and root beer floats in our future sometime this summer...cya!
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