anyone have any good memories of WBUX's stint with all 70s music in the early or mid 90s? if i remember correctly they actually were one of the first stations in the country to do the all 70s format even before WMGK i believe. shortly afterwards many stations picked it up. my memory of WBUX's version was extremely professional and impressive for an AM station with excellent jingles and jocks. i can still hear the one in my head ... your 70s music connection, WBUX! it sounded as professional and tight as any big city FM station and it was all local. shortly after dropping the format, the frequency ran into all sorts of changes and trouble. a short lived all-news format. then it was off-the-air for a number of years. now of course it is catholic radio.
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Your 70s Music Connection ... WBUX!
- Thread starter Interstate 78
- Start date
WBUX was '70's months before WMGK. While MGK was more of a '70's classic hits station, WBUX played pop, disco, rock, and even the 'bubblegum' '70's hits. A memorable moment was the fantacy concert at Applebachsville, a theatre of the mind concert weekend that actually had some back roads in upper Bucks congested with people looking for the concert! I would guess the format idea started with a tie-in to the 1570 frequency.
WBUX changed formats to a sort of alternative pop after WMGK went all '70's. As the original post said, they went off the air for a time over a local dispute over building a higher tower, tried all news, talk, and finally was sold and became WISP.
WBUX had a history of format changes from 1948 to the end. In the '60's they block programmed country and pop music, ran Carl McIntire's 20th Century Reformation Hour" live in morning drive. They went all country in the spring of 1967 but were also pushed out of that format when WRCP in Philadelphia went country that September. In the '70's they were top 40, standards/big bands/dixieland jazz and AC.
Some notable staff were Bob Hamilton who went on to Philadelphia, L.A. & Miami as a major name jock,
Jerry Masters, who became Lee Masters at WRCP and filled the morning slot at WNBC in the '70's when Don Imus was exiled to Cleveland, became a major country programmer & later president of E! network, and Joan Stack, mother of actor/commedian Tim Stack. Rockin' Ron Cade was there before going to WRCP, later to WOGL. And longtime WOR newsman John Wyngate 'retired' from New York to WBUX. Brad Segal of WOGL was the news director during their all news attempt, then he returned to WOGL.
Needless to say, this was once my favorite station as a kid.
WBUX changed formats to a sort of alternative pop after WMGK went all '70's. As the original post said, they went off the air for a time over a local dispute over building a higher tower, tried all news, talk, and finally was sold and became WISP.
WBUX had a history of format changes from 1948 to the end. In the '60's they block programmed country and pop music, ran Carl McIntire's 20th Century Reformation Hour" live in morning drive. They went all country in the spring of 1967 but were also pushed out of that format when WRCP in Philadelphia went country that September. In the '70's they were top 40, standards/big bands/dixieland jazz and AC.
Some notable staff were Bob Hamilton who went on to Philadelphia, L.A. & Miami as a major name jock,
Jerry Masters, who became Lee Masters at WRCP and filled the morning slot at WNBC in the '70's when Don Imus was exiled to Cleveland, became a major country programmer & later president of E! network, and Joan Stack, mother of actor/commedian Tim Stack. Rockin' Ron Cade was there before going to WRCP, later to WOGL. And longtime WOR newsman John Wyngate 'retired' from New York to WBUX. Brad Segal of WOGL was the news director during their all news attempt, then he returned to WOGL.
Needless to say, this was once my favorite station as a kid.
Kevin Moore was the PD and afternoon jock when WBUX was 70s. Kevin now does a Saturday night request show on WLEV in Allentown. Scott Lowe, who went on to Y-100 and was last in evenings at B-104 in Allentown was the midday jock. They only had live jocks from morning through afternoon drive - evenings they had an interesting local automation system. They had long cassette tapes that played from 7 pm to 5:30 am the next morning.
In the late 80s, WBUX was standards with Jack Pinto in morning drive and Diane Theodore, who later was in mornings at WLEV as Diane Gray, in evenings. I believe she's doing mornings at a Harrisburg station now. During this period, Kevin was a weekend afternoon jock and primary weekday fill-in.
And Mike Wood, who you hear on KYW as the PECO spokesperson was a part-time news person at WBUX during the same period.
In the late 80s, WBUX was standards with Jack Pinto in morning drive and Diane Theodore, who later was in mornings at WLEV as Diane Gray, in evenings. I believe she's doing mornings at a Harrisburg station now. During this period, Kevin was a weekend afternoon jock and primary weekday fill-in.
And Mike Wood, who you hear on KYW as the PECO spokesperson was a part-time news person at WBUX during the same period.
Some other WBUX notables:
Bill Taffrow (middays after 70's format): Now at B101 doing swing
Lesley vanArsdale (not sure when she was there): Now at CBS3.
Dan Troillo (pre-, post- and during 70's Connection): last heard, doing work for Comcast.
...and I wonder what ever happened to the King of Trainwrecks, Sundays with "The Big BA" Bob Altimari????
Bill Taffrow (middays after 70's format): Now at B101 doing swing
Lesley vanArsdale (not sure when she was there): Now at CBS3.
Dan Troillo (pre-, post- and during 70's Connection): last heard, doing work for Comcast.
...and I wonder what ever happened to the King of Trainwrecks, Sundays with "The Big BA" Bob Altimari????
radiophiler said:
Interesting side note, when I was there, after power down we went to an all-night feed with USA RAdio. Not sure what happened, but that came to an end, so the tapes came back towards the end of my tenure. The end came when the owners decided to take the station off for a few years while the two towers, condemned by the township, were replaced. That took a while, sheesh!!
There's a good question.....whatever happened to Jack Pinto?
Jack Pinto returned to WBUD where he had been for many years before WBUX. He hosted afternoon drive until WXKW afternoon hosts Brooke & Roberta got a syndicated deal; WBUD ran their show in afternoon drive in delay, chopped up, and Pinto was reduced to introducing traffic breaks - he sounded very angry at this role. Eventually he was given afternoon drive again until they eliminated personalities, he then hosted an all Sinatra show, which I believe is still on doing that show (Sunday mornings?) even though they eliminated all other personalities.
Rockin Rob mentioned:
Lesley vanArsdale (not sure when she was there): Now at CBS3.
Dan Troillo (pre-, post- and during 70's Connection): last heard, doing work for Comcast.
Both Dan Troilo & Lesley Van Arsdall are at
Lesley vanArsdale (not sure when she was there): Now at CBS3.
Dan Troillo (pre-, post- and during 70's Connection): last heard, doing work for Comcast.
Both Dan Troilo & Lesley Van Arsdall are at
Rockin Rob mentioned:
Lesley vanArsdale (not sure when she was there): Now at CBS3.
Dan Troillo (pre-, post- and during 70's Connection): last heard, doing work for Comcast.
Both Dan Troilo & Lesley Van Arsdall are at CBS 3.
I'm sure both will be thrilled you remember them from their WBUX days.
Lesley vanArsdale (not sure when she was there): Now at CBS3.
Dan Troillo (pre-, post- and during 70's Connection): last heard, doing work for Comcast.
Both Dan Troilo & Lesley Van Arsdall are at CBS 3.
I'm sure both will be thrilled you remember them from their WBUX days.
After I left college with my broadcasting degree (while at Millersville I did PT work at WARM 103) I got the EARLY (5:30am) Sunday am gig at WBUX in the early 90’s. I remember having to use the colored cards to pull music, pulling my own news, sports and business and recording the Accu wx forecasts. At the time it was Music of Your Life and then went to the previously mentioned 70’s format. Many thanks to WBUX for allowing my to put in my time. I used it as a learning experience and ended up moving on to bigger and better stations before leaving radio (my choice). I remember working with Dan Trillio, Kevin Moore and Scott Lowe (who I think was also working at WPST at the time!)
Chris
Chris
For the record, I never worked with LVA.
Dan was the PD at the time (and hired me) and was teamed up with (possibly ex-) WRDV'er Dan Lennon in morning drive, followed by Bill Taffrow and then Jay Blizzard in PM drive. After BUX, he went to WJSE, then disappeared.
Some other names from my days there: Marlene Antoinette (she went to WZZD afterwards, then left for a gig at WHYY), Gerri Bender (host of "Gerri's Place" on WRDV), Laurie DeMarco (worked with her at WDRE).
There's also the time before Holy Spirit took over, when they were all news, with Brad Siegel as News Director (he is now with KYW as the suburban bureau chief, taking over for the retired Jay Lloyd).
I even remember, before the news format, they returned to the air with Radio AAHS (before that sat format chucked a 7), and even teased that they would be the Bucks county home of the Phillies (which I believe either never materialized, or only lasted a season).
Dan was the PD at the time (and hired me) and was teamed up with (possibly ex-) WRDV'er Dan Lennon in morning drive, followed by Bill Taffrow and then Jay Blizzard in PM drive. After BUX, he went to WJSE, then disappeared.
Some other names from my days there: Marlene Antoinette (she went to WZZD afterwards, then left for a gig at WHYY), Gerri Bender (host of "Gerri's Place" on WRDV), Laurie DeMarco (worked with her at WDRE).
There's also the time before Holy Spirit took over, when they were all news, with Brad Siegel as News Director (he is now with KYW as the suburban bureau chief, taking over for the retired Jay Lloyd).
I even remember, before the news format, they returned to the air with Radio AAHS (before that sat format chucked a 7), and even teased that they would be the Bucks county home of the Phillies (which I believe either never materialized, or only lasted a season).
It's a shame that there are no outlets for the Big Band/Swing format let alone pre 1960 Jazz. Radio is after all a business. The early 70's were a good time for those formats, WIBF,WBUX and WWDB. Then a brief revival in the 90's with WJZ in Mt.Holly. Not to forget WPEN and WRDV which is still playing a lot of nostalgia.. I don't remember a lot of the DJ's from those stations but I do remember they seemed knowledgeable about the music and sounded like they enjoyed it.I guess the best way to listen to it is have already built up a personal library. Nothing like the best format of all...My Own Records.
Not only is all of the above disappearing so is 50's Rock "N Roll, Doo Wop and R & B of that period. It is almost unbelievable how much music has or is in the process of disappearing. The conundrum is: How can anyone judge what they like if they never hear it? Does radio have any responsibility to try and keep the music alive? Probably not since people can search it out on internet radio or with friends or relatives with a good library.
One of these days, just like people are asking who Benny Goodman was the next step will be, Who was this Elvis I heard about?
Not only is all of the above disappearing so is 50's Rock "N Roll, Doo Wop and R & B of that period. It is almost unbelievable how much music has or is in the process of disappearing. The conundrum is: How can anyone judge what they like if they never hear it? Does radio have any responsibility to try and keep the music alive? Probably not since people can search it out on internet radio or with friends or relatives with a good library.
One of these days, just like people are asking who Benny Goodman was the next step will be, Who was this Elvis I heard about?
Sure there are, but they're non-commercial.
There is WRDV. Limited signal, sure, but with the internet stream, everyone's equal. Who needs commercials?
And, we have at least one former WBUX personality.
Bill
It just puts responsibility on the listeners to support the station. If everyone does, it's just fine.
Speaking of WBUX, for the past few years there was a very low power station on 1670 AM somewhere in Bucks Co. that had been playing old tapes of the original overnight MOR music WBUX used to play when they first went 24 hours in the 1980's including WBUX jingles. It was also streamed on the internet. The station is no longer on the radio or the internet. I liked it on the net in the last few Decembers because they played a nothing newer than the '80's all-Christmas music format - was very similar to the pre-recorded Christmas Caravan of Music 'rival' WNPV played each year. I'm assuming this 1670 incarnation was a one man operation? I never found where the 1670 signal came from (no legal ID) but it was fairly clear around Perkasie.
Any connection / relation between Jack Pinto, Walt Pinto and Joey (Pinto) Reynolds ?
K
Kevin
Guest
You are correct “The Greatest Hits of the Seventies“ stations gained traction in 1994 to about 1998. Here in Detroit the station that did “The Greatest Hits of the Seventies“ was WYST 97.1. I’m not sure, but I think “The Greatest Hits of the Seventies“ was a product of CBS Radio. Here in Detroit it lasted less than 3 years 1994-1997.
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