Sunday, July 2, 2017

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #195

WARM DAY MEMORIES REVIVED  #7

HOW WARM GOT THE SEASONS TO PLAY AT WARM DAY

 One of the great “gets” for the historic WARM Days at Rocky Glen was the 4 Seasons. Legend has it that Frankie Valli practiced in the WARM studios and the group had to be shuttered into the park under cover. Bill Stuart who was the Music Director at WARM at the time shared this account of how the Seasons came to the event along with a very big organ they traveled with during their tours.
"As music director it was my job to line up artists for WARM Day. Any way we played and more importantly charted a song by this female artist, who I can't recall her name now . So, I called this guy, I think his name was Jerry Weintraub, Weinstein, whatever who managed the Four Seasons at that time. Gave him all the info, he said "I'll get back to you kid"....I figured that was that never to hear from him again. About a week later I get a call at the station and it's HIM!!! He said "You got um!!!!” I said, “Wait, what?” He said, “You guys are one of the few stations playing "my girlfriends record" and for that I'll give you the Four Seasons for WARM Day!” WOW!! I ran into Ted Hepburns office and said, guess who I just got for this WARM Day? The ****ing Four Seasons!!! "
Some 50 years later, when I co-owed WKXP in Bloomsburg with Scottie Young, I get a phone call from Ted Hepburn telling me "Kirby wants to know what you guys are going".  First of all Ted Hepburn has no idea who I am or that I ever worked for him at WARM. When I told him who I was and that I'm the guy that got the Seasons for WARM Day he said to me..."You know what I remember about that situation"..."how in the hell are we going to get a damn Wurlitzer organ up on the stage?” 
Well they got the organ on the stage, Ted remembered that BUT not the song or the girlfriend. We’re still trying to figure out the girl friend but that’s a mission for another day. In the meantime, we thank Bill Stuart for that input. By the way, Frankie Valli is now worth 80 million bucks. That’s a lot of Wurlitzers! 

 

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