Growing up, I listened to some of the greatest radio stations and talent in the industry. I loved New York for that reason alone! I could listen any time throughout the day (and into the night) and hear the best of the best. I still remember many of the actual breaks they did and can still hear them in my head as if it was yesterday! That’s how much they impressed me with their timing and talent.
Hearing Dan Ingram play 1962’s “The Stripper Song” by David Rose every afternoon at 5pm made me smile every single time. It was all meant in fun as Dan talked through the song, about going home after a hard day at work. You can use your imagination from here. No doubt, times were different.
He had plenty of other benchmarks, including “the word of the day”. One day in particular Ingram just threw in his beloved bit, almost unnoticeably over a 10 second intro. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Word of the day is “hemi-demi-semi-quaiver!” Hemi-demi-semi-quaiver! That’s the little thing that hangs there in the back of your throat that wiggles and goes, “guh guh guh guh”! Silly right? You bet! But that was the point.
How about the time he said, “We were talking about potholes a little while ago on the news, on account of having a lot of potholes around town – a lot of potholes on the Major Degan and some eager young officer raided the Major Degan! Umm – It’s not that kind of pothole fellas! Gee – wonder what they would do with a joint session of Congress?”
How about Run Lundy in middays starting his show every day with “Hello LOVE! Good morning, everybody!” I remember him playing Diana Ross, and over the intro said, “Music Radio 77 WABC with Ron Lundy and Diana Ross…(she sings “Touch Me In the Morning”) He adds, “Oh but wouldn’t I love too…(she sings “and then just walk away”). “He continues, “Honey, if I ever touched you neither one of us would ever walk away!!”
Who can forget when Cousin Brucie (Bruce Morrow) was on WABC before going over to 66 WNBC. Dan used to call Brucie the man with a hernia of the voice! I remember one break in particular from George Michael at night over Santana. “Music Radio 77 WABC. I’m George Michael with Santana. Hey baby – you gotta change your EVIL ways… right after you and I have one more date!”
It didn’t stop at WABC or even in NYC. It was all over the county. If you’re an industry veteran, then you too can rattle off the talent of the 70s and 80s that truly inspired many of us to get into the business. Here’s a partial list aside from those above.
Harry Harrison – WABC NYC, Larry Lujack – WLS Chicago, John “Records” Landecker (Who can forget “Boogie Check”) – WLS Chicago, Dale Dorman – WROR/KISS Boston, Dick Sloan – WXLO NYC, Glen “Bumper” Morgan WXLO NYC, Dr. Don Rose – KFRC San Francisco, Bobby Ocean – KHJ Los Angeles, Charlie Van Dyke – KHJ Los Angeles, Rick Dees, KIIS Los Angeles, Jay Thomas, Power 106 Los Angeles. Al Bandiero – WXLO NYC.
There are literally scores more that we can all add from other great stations in great cities. BTW, 99X NYC had what I thought was the greatest top of the hour ID ever. “wx–ELLO New York!”
The little things made such a huge difference. It always bothers me when I hear people denigrate the state of radio today. We still have great talent in the industry, and something I learned from Erica Farber while at RAB, who happened to be GM at WXLO NYC during its heyday, is that radio is as good as it’s ever been. It is, without a doubt, different, but we need to find ways to let young people know it’s still an exciting, creative, and fun business. We just have to find and inspire fresh new talent and let them develop as we did all those years ago. We can all play a part in the education process.
Perhaps we need to visit universities and colleges or high schools on career days. We have to start with explaining that radio is not the old-fashioned desktop or bedside device it used to be. We need talent that goes beyond being on air. Radio needs social media experts, video and audio producers, digital strategists, podcasters and content creators, etc. If we only try to find people who want to do what we used to do – we will have a difficult time finding anyone at all. We can all look for talent everywhere. It could be someone you meet in a phone store, restaurant, or a bank teller. They just need to know that we have many opportunities available that may fit their skill sets.
Bob Lawrence serves as a Market Manager for Seven Mountains Media, overseeing the company’s Parkersburg, WV/Marietta, OH cluster. He has held virtually every position in the business over his 40+ year career, from being on-air in Philadelphia, San Diego, and San Francisco as well as programming legendary stations including KHTR St. Louis, KITS Hot Hits and KIOI (K101) San Francisco.
Bob also honed his research skills over ten years as Senior VP of Operations at Broadcast Architecture, eventually launching his own research company and serving as President/CEO of Pinnacle Media Worldwide for 15 years. Bob spent five years as VP of Programming for Saga Communications before joining New South Radio in Jackson, Mississippi as GM/Market Manager. Prior to joining Seven Mountains Media, Bob served as General Manager for the Radio Advertising Bureau, overseeing its “National Radio Talent System”.
