I put the links in for radio reference to follow up on a comment, there really wasn't much radio until late at night that's when you could pick up KAAY out of Little Rock. There was also WSHE out of Miami you really had to work at being entertained by any media in those days. Nothing like now where you are bombarded anywhere you go.....Clyde Clifford link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Clifford
KAAY Little Rock Link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KAAY
WQAM Courtesy Gerry Johnson
OK, I listened to Rick Shaw and WQAM on my, wait for it...transistor radio! That thing was glued to my ear! It would really piss me off, when WQAM would turn down their power, or whatever they did, but it wouldn't come in very well after a certain time in the evening? Right? Oh, i-Pod, eat your heart out.
ReplyDeleteGood day! Tara
wqam was tiger radio,wnog was,for a while elephant radio,and late at night you could pick up clyde clifford at kaay in little rock arknansas.those were the days!
ReplyDeleteWasn't Little Rock FM? Weren't a lot of good stations at the time. I think there was some underground station that broadcast out of Miami that you could pick up every now and then if you added a clotheshanger to your antennae,
ReplyDeleteWQAM is the first radio station in the state of Florida – February 1921 and counting...
ReplyDeleteAs usual, my brain will engage for a limited amount of time and I will likely drift from the immediate subject at hand, so hold on, here we go... Once again the following hinges on whether or not my memory [or what’s left of it] serves me correctly... If you were there, this may jog your memory too...
“Five—Six—Ohh [pause] Won-der-ful, Dubble Yew – Cue – Ayyy - Emmm [insert tiger roar here}. Not just the Rick Shaw Show, but “Jeeeeeeem Dun-lap” – And the Dusty ol’ Dunlap Ditty Bag. And who could forget “The Amazing Adventures of Chicken Maaannnnn” [He’s everywhere! He’s everywhere!].
Whew, that was all we “rock and rollers” had for radio in the late 50’s into the 60’s.
[I’m omitting WNOG out of respect for Helen Baroni, Lynn Bailey, and & “Twilight Time”].
And then it happened... “MOTHER” – WMUM–FM in Ft. Lauderdale [maybe Palm Beach]. A far cry from AM radio. When Underground “Rock” radio was in its infancy, where the DJ would talk low and slow and “hip” and use terms like “dig it” or “far out” and the music was in STEREO!!!. It was almost ALL music, with very little DJ, and they would play whole album sides!!! Clapton, Led Zep I, Crosby Stills and Nash, Jimi Hendrix, Buffalo Springfield, Jefferson Airplane, Yardbirds, Deep Purple, Creedence, Janis w/Big Brother, Dylan, and most everyone who had played at Monterey Pop, Woodstock, Atlanta, and were currently headlining the Fillmore.
Circa 1970-71, I was renting a 2br. house [$160/mo.] just a block and a half southeast of the Teen Club/Police Department; on the roof of that house, on a tall staff, I had a dedicated FM antenna for the sole purpose of allowing my old Fischer 400 tube type receiver/amp to pick up WMUM, and another FM station WBUS “The Magic Bus. Needless to say that when I wasn’t hangin’ at the Pier, or cruizin’ Dog 'n' Suds or Chris’ Gourmet Castle, there was always music on at my house, and that quite a few of the local "heavies" of the day [whose names you would recognize if you were around at the time] would stop by and enjoy a few tunes and a beer or 2 or 3 or ...
MOTHER lasted a few years, but not for as long as many had hoped. WSHE came along shortly after WMUM went away... I think “Mother” may have failed due to lack revenue and WSHE [play on words?] came along with a different business model [can you say advertizing?] and tried to fill her spot. It was never the same again... I’m pleased to say that I was there when “Mother” and “The Magic Bus” were doing their thing...
By the way, what was the name of that horse with no name?
Seagate Homeboy
The reason that WQAM faded out at sunset was that all AM stations had to go to directional patterns - including WNOG. This made it so that WNOG's signal went up and down the coast, but not inland. I am sure that WQAM had the same thing. This allowed the stations like WLS in Chicago to be heard as their signals "skipped" down to Florida.
ReplyDeleteAs far as WNOG goes, don't forget "swap shop" and other fine programming.
WNOG also had the curious practice of hiring a high school senior and making him a DJ. In 69 that was Bob Woodill, in 70 it was me. We had the joy of working every Friday night, all day Saturday and half of Sunday. Luckily, most of it was canned feed from NBC, but we did do a top 40 show on Friday and Saturday nights.
Trivial poop - at Christmas break in 1970 Woodill, who worked as a regular DJ for WNOG for a few years before joinging the Sheriff's department, asked me to take a shift for him as I was back from college. Since I wasn't worried about my future in radio, at 11:30 on a Saturday night I played Led Zeppelin and some Yes. Woodill must have run to a phone and asked me what in the #$%^%&^ I was doing. So - there WAS Led Zeppelin in Naples in 1970.
Marty Jones
class of 70
WMUM-FM WAS A 100,000 WATT 'PROGRESSIVE ROCK' RADIO STATION THAT WAS OWNED BY KNIGHT BROADCASTING OUT OF FALL RIVER, MASS. THE CONCEPT WAS THE BRAINCHILD OF TOM McMURRAY WHO BROUGHT IN GEOFF FOX AS IT'S FIRST PROGRAM DIRECTOR. BOB SINNETT WAS SENT DOWN AND HIRED ME TO MANAGE THE STATION DURING THE 2 1/2 YEARS IT WAS ON THE AIR. THEY WERE LOCATED DIRECTLY ON THE BEACH IN SO. PALM BEACH WITH ANCIENT EQUIPMENT AND A SHUNT FED TOWER GROUND IN THE SALT & SAND. ONLY REAL COMPETITION WAS FROM WBUS-FM (MAGIC BUS)OUT OF MIAMI. WSHE-FM WHICH WAS RUN BY A LADY "JACKIE" WHO CAME ALONG LATER ( AFTER IT'S DEMISE)IN AN ATTEMPT TO STEAL MOTHER'S FOLLOWING. ONCE 'STEREO' WAS AVAILABLE TO LISTENERS THE BIGGEE'S LIKE WQAM-AM, WIRK-AM, smaller WPOM-AM(?) AND OTHERS PALED IN EXCITEMENT THOUGH PROBABLY NOT IN LARGER REVENUE. THE WINNING TICKET FOUNDATION OF "MOTHER" WAS IT'S INCREDIBLE VARIETY OF MUSIC, ON-AIR TALENT, 'GREEN'PROMOTIONS AND TIES TO THE POCKETS OF ALL THE ROCK PROMOTERS LIKE SIDNEY DRASHIN (ROLLING STONES-JAX), DAVE RUPP ('1ST INTERNATIONAL POP FESTIVAL'-STONES-JOPLIN-ROTARY CONNECTION-ETC ETC. AT WHAT BECAME MOROSO'S MOTORSPORTS PARK), JON STOLL MANY, NUMEROUS SHOWS UNDER 'FANTASMA PRODUCTIONS' AND, OF COURSE, MARGIE SEXTON (GULF ARTISTS WHO PROMOTED -ALL- THE REALLY BIG SHOWS AT THE TIME). THERE WAS ALSO A STRING OF SMALL PROMOTERS ALSO WHO KEPT THE STATION AFLOAT WITH 'BEGINNER' ARTISTS LIKE TOM PETTY, BOB SEEGER, ALMANN BROS.BAND, AND A BAR BAND FROM JAX.FL CALLED LYNYRD SKYNNER, 10 YEARS AFTER, ETC. MUSIC WAS PLAYED IN 'SETS' ON SUBJECTS AND ALL MUSIC WAS PRETTY MUCH SEQUAYED TOGETHER. I THINK MOST OF THE D-JAYS 'GOT IT' (THE CONCEPT) EXCEPT THE 19 YR.OLD P.D. ONCE YOU TURNED IT ON- IT WAS HARD TO TURN IT OFF. "YOU HAD TO LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER". IT WAS HELD TOGETHER BY THE GRANDEST GROUP OF SOULS IN THE BIZ ( FROM THE BOOK-KEEPER TO RECEPTIONIST- SALES, TALENT, ENGINEERING- MANAGEMENT)WHO SOMETIMES PLAYED AS HARD ON THE AIR AS OFF- WHICH MIGHT HAVE CAUSED IT DEMISE. NORMAN KNIGHT WANTED THE BUGS(2-FCC PINK SLIPS)OUT OF HIS HAIR AND SOLD IT TO RICHARD FAIRBANKS. IT BECAME WJNO-FM AND THEN WAS RENAMED AFTER IT'S OWNER RICHARD M FAIRBANKS (W-RMF). I WORKED IN MANAGEMENT & SALES AT ALL OF THE ABOVE- WMUM-FM, WIRK AM-FM (13 YEARS) AND 4 YEARS AT WRMF-FM. THEY WERE ALL POWER HOUSES IN THEIR DAY BUT, HARD TO SUPPORT A PROGRESSIVE ROCK FORMAT ON $5.50 PER COMMERCIAL. I HAVE READ THAT THE FORMAT WAS CONSIDERED 'UTOPIAN' WHEN IN FACT IT TOOK 'REAL TALENT' TO CREATE THE MUSIC SETS, BLEND THE MUSIC TOGETHER AND ATTRACT LISTENERS LIKE ANTS TO HONEY WITH REALLY CREATIVE COMMERCIALS- LIKE "AS LONG AS YOU'RE GOING TO HELL-WHY NOT DO IT ON A HONDA". THE SURVEYS ( WHICH MAKE OR BREAK A RADIO STATION)WERE A JOKE- WMUM-FM HAD A H.U.G.E. FOLLOWING AND WILL ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED AS A HALLMARK IN BROADCASTING. TOO BAD 'IT'S ALL ABOUT MONEY ' NOW AS THE 'CHAINS' HAVE NEVER PICKED UP THE BALL AND RUN WITH IT. WMUM-FM / PALM BEACH WILL ALWAYS BE LOVED LIKE YOUR MOTHER...AND BE A LEGEND
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