Friday, May 31, 2013

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #428

Pocono Drag Lodge Reunion banner featuring WARM. 

WARM, TRUE OLDIES AND CARS!!!! 


One of the basic audiences of WARM, the Mighty 590 in its heyday was  the car enthusiast. If you were fixing a hot rod in your dad’s garage, or going to the Pocono Drag Lodge for their summertime races, WARM was the station you listened to for details of the race and results. And if you were lucky enough to drive a car back then, your dial was set to 590! The last few summers, WARM has been a huge part of the Pocono Drag Lodge Reunions. We’ll be giving you more information on the 2013 event. 
 But to hold you over this weekend, WARM will be featuring car songs as part of the True Oldies Channel weekend feature. The weekend ends with Shannon's "Cruisin' America" show from 8pm yo 1am Sunday Night. Pop the top, rev the motor up or cool it down to an idle as you recall the best car hits of the great era of cars and rock and roll.

Scott Shannon of the True Oldies Channel heard on WARM, the Mighty 590.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #429

Frank Sinatra.  (Capitol Records) 

SINATRA AND WARM 


Like many radio stations across America, WARM has had a constant relationship with Frank Sinatra. I bring this up because it is 15 years ago this month that the Chairman of the board passed away. Sinatra was a mainstay on WARM Radio as a music entity when it started in 1940. If a radio station wasn’t playing Sinatra, it was on a shortwave frequency. When WARM changed over to a rock and roll format in 1958, you would think that WARM would never play Sinatra again. But the programmers at WARM knew Sinatra would always have a place. During the 60s, Sinatra was on the WARM Top 40 charts with “Summer Wind”, “Strangers In the Night” as well as his last number one hit on the WARM charts “Something Stupid” sung with his daughter Nancy. 
WARM survey with Frank and Nancy Sinatra at the top of the charts in 1967.

During the 90s, when Sinatra’s “Duets” albums came out, both Ron Allen and George Gilbert premiered them on their short lived radio program which ran between 1 to 3pm. After WARM exhausted its talk format, Sinatra returned with Sid Marks syndicated program first heard on Saturdays and then on Sundays. While WARM no longer runs the program, many people have fond memories of it. And that is true for the music of Sinatra which has been part of WARM, and the Mighty 590 through the years. 

Fifteen years after his death, Sinatra’s link with WARM and other radio stations across America is still part of the soundtrack of many lives.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #430

WARM’s George Gilbert. (Photo: Sweensspace.blogspot)

DOUBLE G’s SALES ADVICE 


A friend of mine shared this anecdote with me about George Gilbert. 
In the mid 90s, George Gilbert was employed as a Snior Sales Representative at WARM and Magic 93. Tim Durkin, the late Sales Manager and Joey Shaver the WARM Sales Manager thought with Gilbert’s past reputation on the Mighty 590, he could garner the stations new clients. And he did. His low key but friendly personality made him a success in his efforts on that level at WARM. 
One of the things Media Sales Representatives need to do is get out in front with clients. Using the phone to try and get a face to face meeting with a client is sometimes very hard to do. My friend was struggling and getting pretty much nowhere saying his entire spiel over the phone and then getting a no. 
Gilbert in the next cubicle called him over and said, “Can I give you some advice?” And my friend, happy that someone was throwing him a lifeline retorted, “Sure”. Gilbert said, “Next time you call a prospective client, just give him your name, the station and say I’m calling about an idea that I want to share with you. Then don’t say anything else. You’ll gey face to face meetings”. 
My friend resumed his work following GG’s methods and got some meetings and other future successes. Tommy Woods is fond of saying how the original WARM jocks were always a team. My friend and most likely Gilbert’s other coworkers in Sales saw that teamwork aspect of George Gilbert, not as a jock or Program Director, but as a Sales mentor. 
Teamwork: a tradition of the Sensational Seven that is still part of the WARM heritage. 

Thursday, May 2, 2013

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #431

The beach, the summer and WARM. 

WARM AND SUMMERTIME 


Now that the weather has finally broken and we are seeing temperatures of above 70 degrees in WARMland, I always tend to remember WARM Radio as being an integral part of my summer. Home from school, you had the opportunity to blast the Mighty 590 all day long. And much to the chagrin of our parents, deep into the early morning hours. WARM was always part of the area music scene with WARM day at Rocky Glenn Park, the dances at Sans Souci Park and Hansons at Harvey’s Lake. Then of course there were the record give aways, the cash calls and the remotes where you could get up close and personal with any of the WARM air personalities. 
And in between the news, the top forty music, the 20/20 sports, the commercials and the patter of the disc jockeys who were part of the fabric of our summers was the ubiquitous WARM jingle. For listeners of the Mighty 590, it was indeed “the good old summertime”.