1 of 1- Jim Southern
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As the years pile up....
Since I am 77, over the past several years, I've become accustomed to younger folks not being familiar with recording artists I met in my DJ days (Johnny Cash being the lone exception). However lately I have come across a few younger ones that had no idea what a radio disc jockey is or was. Added to that was the realization that I could not name one DJ that's on the air (and I'm not sure if there are any at all) here in the Portland, OR market (One station I've stumbled across is playing the old "AT40" shows with Casey Kasem once a week).
Some of my favorite memories of the bygone days were the guys that were playing "more music" or "all the hits, all the time" or "platters that matter". Names like Herb Oscar Anderson, Dick Biondi, Russ "Wierd Beard" Knight, Jimmy O'Neill, Murray The K, Big Fat Chuck Dan, Emperor Hudson, Art Laboe, all were radio jocks that managed to spend at least an hour in my car radio over the years. I will say that the most remembered of them all was the Wolfman, especially on the radio late in the midnight hour on some Mexican powerhouse. What a fun time it was back then!!
- GrimsbyFan
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Re: As the years pile up....
Thanks for sparking some really good memories, Jim. Back then I listened to "personality" radio wherever I could find it (I lived in Montreal in the 60's). There was one station that became my favorite - WBZ in Boston. I could pick it up on my transistor radio after dark and listened to it all the time when we vacationed in southern Maine. Every night I would especially look forward to the banter between Bruce Bradley and Dick Summer as they transitioned from Bruce's evening show to Dick's all-night broadcast.
None of the DJ's at WBZ were screamers - just humorous, often quirky guys who made you listen to the station as much for them as the music. And they were encouraged to do so by their program director:
"Each month there was a staff meeting. At the meeting he would always remind us to play some of the top tunes he left in the rack in the studio. And then he’d say, “I don’t want to hear two records back to back. We pay you guys to entertain. Entertain.” What a joy it was, what an honor to be a WBZ D.J."
One interesting aspect of the station was recounted by Dick Summer. At that time radio stations had very tight playlists, but WBZ was different, as Dick Summer explains:
"Now it can be told…WBZ never had a format. The guys on the air played whatever we wanted to play, including records from our own personal collections, and tapes from local artists. And in between every single record/tape, we had fun. Oh we had fun."
Sounds like the way Andy Travis programmed his DJ's on WKRP in Cincinnati.
- memphis boy
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Re: As the years pile up....
Very cool! I remember here the first FM rock station played pretty much what they wanted including whole sides and telling you when to start your tapedeck. This was great for a while then the deal went down and the format became scripted. And of course going back to the 50s you can't beat Dewey Phillips.
- Flo
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- From: Coshocton, OH
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Re: As the years pile up....
Loved the WBZ comments. Perfect, just the way I remember it. Especially the Bruce/Dick banter. I listened to a lot of stations at night in passing, but the two that always held me were WBZ and WLAC. Could never choose which one I liked more. Both had a major impact on my life later on.
- aflem
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Re: As the years pile up....
GrimsbyFan wrote:
Every night I would especially look forward to the banter between Bruce Bradley and Dick Summer as they transitioned from Bruce's evening show to Dick's all-night broadcast.
Dick Summer eventually ended up doing all nights on WNBC in New York with his "Lovin' Touch" shtick, a sort of way out there metaphysical approach to an overnight show. It wasn't my cup of tea, but I appreciated what he was trying to do.
That incarnation of WNBC in the mid-70s was amazing, with John Lund as program director, who issued an order that every jock on the station should be like a "morning man" - witty, entertaining, funny and full of personality. Guys like the late Oogie Pringle and Vernon With A 'V' were incredible.
They would do anything. One Halloween night, Oogie did the entire show - all three hours - in the voice of Dracula - including all the live spots! It was hilarious and unforgettable. Then there was the evening when they told listeners that the Soviet Union was jamming their signal and they'd be hearing Russian radio. At which point they went to a traffic report warning of a huge back-up on the one road into town because the yak died. Another time, they did live coverage of a huge parade down Broadway - except there wasn't one.
You never knew what they were going to do next, which made them - in my opinion -the greatest radio station I've ever heard.
Names like Herb Oscar Anderson, Dick Biondi, Russ "Wierd Beard" Knight, Jimmy O'Neill, Murray The K, Big Fat Chuck Dan, Emperor Hudson, Art Laboe, all were radio jocks that managed to spend at least an hour in my car radio over the years.
This article is from February, but it may surprise you to know that Art Laboe is STILL on the air in L.A., and celebrating an unbelievable 80 years in radio. He's almost as old as the medium itself - he'll be 95 in August! And he's credited with creating the slogan "oldies but goodies."
Radio legend Art Laboe, the original oldie but goodie, is still on-air after nearly 80 years