PHOTO INDEX: THE HITS OF 1966. WARM ANNUAL COUNTDOWN One of the most anticipated events of the Christmas season was the year end countdown of the WARM Top 40 of the year. Usually hosted by Ron Allen, the WARM Top 40 hits of the year was a compilation of listener requests, national record rankings and local samplings from Joe Nardone's Gallery of Sound and the Spruce Record Shop in Scranton and The Square Record Shop in Wilkes Barre. From 1966 and YOU TUBE, the number 33 song in the countdown, Johnny Rivers "Poor Side of Town".
PHOTO INDEX: MRS. "590 FOREVER", TERRY MCNULTY AND MARY CARRANO, FRIEND OF MY WIFE AND OF COURSE, SANTA PLUS A WARM RADIO ADVERTISING CHRISTMAS PROMOTION FROM 1967.
CHRISTMAS IN WARMLAND
One of the best times of year is Christmas and as a young boy growing up, WARM was a large part of the holiday. Starting on or around the 10th of the month, WARM would begin easing holiday songs into the rotation. Harry West usually played “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “Jingle Bell Rock”. Don Stevens played Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” as George Gilbert played the likes of Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra.
By Christmas Eve, the Christmas music was being played non stop and in addition to the rock and roll favorites were the traditional tunes that were introduced to new generation after generation. After having the Christmas Eve dinner, WARM was put on as reports from NORAD chronicled the visit of Santa to his ultimate destination: WARMLAND, U.S.A.
WARM had contests to for Christmas. One I remember was “Ask Santa and Mother Fletcher”. You sent a card in to Ron Allen and asked him for a gift courtesy of Ronzie and Mother. They only picked one prize and when they announced the winner, Mother Fletcher would say “We have a winner, the person who got this gift was pretty much in need. So we hope you understand and maybe you can get what you want from your own Santa”. As was the case with WARM contests, it was simply and very promotable.
Each year WARM had a Christmas contest and then for the kids a follow up event after the big day as indicated by that concert in the Photo Index with Sam the Sham and Joe Nardone.
I had entered WARM Christmas contests for years before I got into the media. But I was touched by a WARM contest. In the early 90s, my wife won a contest on WARM. It was a shopping spree with then morning man Terry McNulty. Sales Exec Joey Shaver coordinated the event and my wife and a friend went to the WARM Studio where they rode by limo to various stores. Trips to the Lamp Factory Outlet, (we still have the floor lamp in the living room), Sugarman’s in East End (where she got a boom box) a party supply store on the West Side, Kranson’s, a few other places I can’t recall and lunch at “Celestino’s in Dupont, now Mambo Italiano. Joey Shaver waited at each store to accompany the prize winners and introduce them to the store personnel. Mary Ann and her friend Mary had a wide ranging lunch with Terry McNulty where they debated the merits of Frank Sinatra vs. Tony Bennett, as well as revealing that his real name was Anthony. Shortly after McNulty’s death, my wife said to me that after spending time with “The Big Fella” during that day was when she fell totally in love with him.
Many people ask why WARM touched so many people. Sometimes you get the impression that it was the big things but in reality it were the small bits and pieces that made WARM memorable to people. My wife won 14 prizes on that shopping spree that day but as I researched this, we struggled to come up with what she won. We only came up with a few. But we did remember the efficiency of the contest “after the fact”, the attention to detail that made Joey Shaver the best sales executive in this region for more than forty years and the kindness, affability and sincerity of Terry McNulty. There are thousands of stories like this and especially during this Christmas season, it is appropriate to remember WARM Radio and its impact.
From You Tube, a few of the Christmas songs heard on WARM in its heyday.
PHOTO INDEX: HELP SIGN. OPERATION CONTACT The music was upbeat, the jocks were pattering, all was right with the world of WARM until the tragic sounder went over the airwaves. OPERATION: CONTACT was now on the air. An ominous voice intoned, "If you have seen name inserted here please have him call WARM at 822-6161 or 346-4646. This is an emergency." Before the era of cell phones, this modest mode of communication was a hallmark of WARM's public service. You knew when this short announcement came on, there was trouble somewhere, someplace in a family. From a broadcasting standpoint, it was simple to do, free and gave listeners a security blankett that no matter what trouble befell your loved ones, even a disappearance or an emergency, WARM was there for you.
PHOTO INDEX: REPRESENTATION OF THE VITAL LINK IN HEALTH, THE NURSE, A CAREER OF THE LATE MRS. RON ALLEN. MRS. ALLEN DIES Just two months to the day of her beloved husband's passing, Mrs. Ron Allen died of cancer. I met Ron's wife twice, most recently at his wake and in the very early 1980s. At the time, an old radio crony from WVIA FM, Liz Hibbard got me a seat on an advisory board of the Health Systems Agency of Northeastern Pennsylvania. To this day, all I remember about the volunteer position was that the meetings were held in the basement of the WARM Building (yes Liz used that as a lure to get me to serve!) and the tons of paper we got on proposed HMOs, Nursing Certifications and what have you. There was this big dinner, one of their annual meetings held at the Woodlands and I got my table assignment not knowing a soul. As I sat there, much to my wide eyed amazement, Ron Allen began to stroll over to the table. Drink in hand, he sat down, nodded to the people there, said hello to me by name (I have no elusions he remembered me, I had a name tag on that said DAVE) and sat quietly. A few minutes later he was joined by his wife Mary Ann who previously was working the room. Sitting down, she, not Ron the sports celebrity dominated the conversations. Nothing about Penn State, the Sensational 7 or WARM. Ron sat there basking in the obvious knowledge about the health care system his wife possessed. It was a pleasant evening filled with better information than those position papers we got at our meetings. The only off topic subjects covered were the trips Mary Ann and Ron took. I thought about this the other day as I got the news from Tommy Woods by e mail and then saw the news on the Radio Info board. Mary Ann was very sick when Ron died but she talked about going to Philadelphia to see what was going on with her condition. She showed great courage at his wake. Reflecting on the two times I met Mrs. A., it is evident to me, that like many of us, Ron Allen "married up." Except that I think he had the good sense to know that from day 1. Here's the obit from the Radio Info Board: Mary Ann Theresa Reap Alabovitz, 69, of the Minooka section of Scranton, died Sunday evening at the home of her daughter, Laurie, following a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. She was preceded in death by her husband, Ronald, Sept. 23. They celebrated their 48th wedding anniversary June 4.Born in Scranton on Jan. 4, 1939, daughter of the late Michael and Marcella Donnelly Reap, she was a member of the Church of St. Joseph. She was a 1956 graduate of Scranton Central High School and a 1959 graduate of the Scranton State Hospital School of Nursing, where she worked in the urology department. She left her career to raise her daughter and returned to work part time as a registered nurse at Laurel Hill Nursing Home in 1969. Over the years, her expertise in gerontology grew. She held various positions during her long tenure there and eventually became a licensed nursing home administrator and held that position. She became a regional vice president for New Health Management Systems in the late 1980s. She traveled extensively throughout the country, managing and consulting for skilled nursing facilities. She was the backbone of the Mountain Rest Nursing Home for many years. She retired from full-time employment in 2005 but continued to do consulting work up until September. Most recently, she was a nursing consultant at the Lackawanna Health Care Center. Mary Ann was a completely selfless person and had a way of becoming a part of your life from the moment she met you. She spent her life caring for others, her patients, her daughter, her employees, her parents and most recently her husband until his death. She was a strong and brave woman and was always able to bring a smile to your face. We will all miss her smile and her irreplaceable sense of wit. She had many personal aspirations that were still unmet and she was taken from us much too early. Mary Ann was a college football fanatic and an avid Penn State Nittany Lions fan. She never missed a football Saturday. She enjoyed gambling and was a permanent fixture at the Greenwood Hose Company bingo every Thursday night. She was an avid reader and rarely sat idle without a book in her hand. Travel was also a passion of Mary Ann's and she did so extensively with her family throughout her life. Most recently, she and her husband traveled to California and Nevada in June. Additionally, she loved her dog, Bear, and rarely left the house without him, taking him every day to McDonalds for hamburgers. Mary Ann and her daughter enjoyed many girls' weekends together. She was not only a mother but a sister and best friend as well.Surviving are a daughter, Laurie Alabovitz, Bethany; and countless friends and cousins who will surely have a void in their lives with her loss.The funeral will be Saturday at 11:30 a.m. from the Eagen-Hughes Funeral Home, 2908 Birney Ave., Scranton, with Mass of Christian Burial at noon in the Church of St. Joseph, 312 Davis St., Scranton, to be celebrated by her cousin, the Rev. Patrick Albert. Entombment, Cathedral Cemetery. Friends may call Friday, 4 to 7 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made to the Ron Allen Memorial Sport Scholarship Fund c/o Pennstar Bank, 801 S. Main St., Taylor, 18517; or the Bethany Village Memorial Garden, 150 Noble Lane, Bethany, 18431.
PHOTO INDEX: A COOKED TURKEY, A WILD TURKEY AND "TOMMY FEATHERS" AKA RON ALLEN, TRACKSIDE ANNOUNCER FOR THE WARM TURKEY TROT.
THE TURKEY TROT
One of the enduring memories of WARM Radio in the 60s and early 70s was the WARM Turkey Trot. Again, this was a vintage WARM contest. Creative, funny, imagnative and cheap. Once or twice an air shift, a fake horse race, featuring turkeys would circle an imaginary track in a wild race to the finish. The race featured 6 or 7 galloping turkeys with handles like "West's Wishbone", "Steven's Stuffing", "Gilbert's Gobbler", "Karlson's Cranberries", "Stewart's Stringbeans" and "Allen's Apple Pie". Ron Allen, featured as "Tommy Feathers" did a race call and had the birds racing for their lives. A listener would call in, be put on the air and pick a personality/turkey in the race. If the turkey won, the caller would get a frozen turkey. If they lost, as happened a great deal of the time, they recieved a "Frozen Radio Dinner". The Turkey Trot was a mainstay of WARM Radio from the middle of November (just after Veteran's Day) to the big American feast day. It is fondly recalled as one of the best promotions and memories of WARM Radio during Thanksgiving.
PHOTO INDEX: WARM'S TOMMY WOODS, GEORGE GILBERT AND THE LATE JOHN F. KENNEDY.
WARM AND NOV. 22nd
45 years ago today, President John F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas, Texas. As the dominant radio station in this market, WARM was the radio clearinghouse for news until TV took over the coverage. George Gilbert was on the air doing his program and Terry McNulty, then the News Director came into the WARM studios and became the first radio voice in the area to announce the death of the President. Gilbert recounted in the WVIA TV documentary “WARMland Remembered”, that up until that time WARM news was exclusively local. But that changed on the 22nd. In the same program Tommy Woods recounts how the radio staff was stunned at the news. “We were an upbeat station, but on that day the music went away and we started pulling music out of our library that hadn’t been heard in years,” recounted Woods. Woods recalled walking around Scranton with Ron Allen in disbelief. “But at some point” Woods recalled, “we had to get back. We had to entertain and we did so with a big smile and excitement in our presentation because that’s what the people needed”. WARM played solemn music and ran news reports until after the funeral. ON Nov. 26th, WARM Radio as its listeners knew it was back. The station played the best of top 40, the News team still followed the Kennedy saga and those great contests went on and on. But WARM and its listeners had changed, just like America did that day. Here’s one of the top songs WARM played in its rotation right after that tragic weekend.
PHOTO INDEX: VINCE SWEENEY, THEN WARM PERSONALITY, DIANE WASTA, STEVE ST. JOHN THEN WARM PERSONALALITY AND THE LATE TERRY McNULTY, ALSO A WARM PERSONALITY.
THE GREAT RACE V
In the 1980s, Wilkes Barre City got involved with an event called The Great American Race. The first one involved antique cars making their way across America. Since that event went so well, anything with the word "Race" in it became a mainstay as part of a radio promotion. WARM got involved in many of these efforts. One of them was a thing called "The Great Race V" sponsored by Celluar One, a company trying to hook WARMlanders on this new fangled handheld gadget called a cell phone. The selling point was you didn't need a cord to talk on the phone. The Great Race was a triatholon I believe and teams from around the area competed. WARM Radio fielded a team and competed in running and boating. According to Vince Sweeney's blog, on the canoes, "Seems I remember us coming in last. Dead last. The river was low. Steve and I carried the canoe more than we paddled it. There's a name for that; portaging." McNulty, a very fit man and good runner for his age competed in the marathon part. I have no memory of how he did. Anyway, this was still another promotion WARM took part in. The interesting thing about promotions like these, especially those done in the 60s through 80s, was that jocks gave of their time for free. There were no talent fees to speak of for these people to show up and participate. Sure it got the word out about a person's show or the radio station, but there was no big monetary payoff. And the station, yes even the Mighty 590 considered it "community" time, ie time without pay. From the photo, the guys looked like they were having a great time. And knowing three of the four as I did, they most likely were. However, it might have been better if someone threw a few bucks their way for lending their "celebrity" to an event.
WARM Radio and Penn State Football was a natural pairing of sports and radio. Northeastern Pa. has thousands of Penn State fans today but even back in the seventies and eighties, WARM had the lock on Penn State fans. The Ron Allen Sportsline regularly broadcast features on the players and the coaches. (This was long before Penn State established their own 4 hour pregame programs). In terms of sales, Penn State was a bonanza for the radio station constantly selling out. However like all good things, the marriage of the Nittany Lions and the Mighty 590 came to an end when the new management at the station let Penn State go to WILK where it's been there ever since. Even as Penn Staters tune in to WILK, there are many fans in the area who remember tuning in to WARM Radio and eagerly waiting for those pocket size Lions schedules at the end of summer to see when their beloved team would play on their favorite radio station.
One of the biggest contests WARM had in the 60s was a thing called Tele-Fun. The object of the game was simple, WARM would pick your name out of the phone book and call you. The announcer would ask what was in the Tele-Fun jackpot. It could be as low as $5.90 and as high as $590.00, the latter no small change back then. Sometimes the dollar amounts would vary but always end with 59 cents. Again, top of the mind awareness of the number 59 or 590. The beauty of the contest was that all you needed to enter was your name in the phone book. "I used to dial the phone number 7 digits in to get a head start" confesses Jean, a 71 year old WARM listener during its heydey. The object was to build audience and when word got out you could win money if you heard your name and called back in 5 minutes and 90 seconds, well then that was a contest no one could complain about. The Tele-Fun contest lines ended around 8PM on the theory that "the kids" needed to do their homework. A few people used Tele-Fun as a premier crank call vehicle but savvy WARMlanders knew a Sensational Seven member's voice when they heard it and the cranks never gained traction. Tele-Fun was in fact an adult audience builder cementing the bond between the rock and roll music it played and the moms and dads who were interested in a little cash just for having their names in the phone book. The numbers by the way were 822-6161 and 346-4646.
FROM YOU TUBE, a song that hit the top 10 at the pinnacle of Tele-Fun, Chris Montez and "Call Me".
PHOTO INDEX: THE LATE TIM KARLSON CIRCA 21rst and 20th CENTURY.
TIM KARLSON
I've told this story before but it bears repeating. I met Tim Karlson in the summer of 1971. A WPTS Radio disc jockey named Bob Serfafin had a contest called "Disc Jockey For A Day." Two guys showed up, me, a 17 year old high school student and Tim Kidwell, a 20 year old from Scranton who was a recent graduate of Career Academy of Broadcasting. Serafin let us run the board and had us do the news and weather. He then let us talk up a record. I did Beverly Bremer's "Don't Say You Don't Remember" and Tim did Carole King's "It's Too Late". I was horrible, Tim was magnificent. The next day I came in and Serafin told me that I'd be flying solo with him. It turns out WSCR hired Tim the next day. From WSCR, (which was a launching pad for many local jocks headed to WARM) Tim landed at the Mighty 590 after the 7 to midnight shift was vacated by T.J. Lambert III. By this time, Tim had a full blown mass of cascading red hair that looked a lot like Arlo Guthrie's do. Tim Kidwell was now Tim Karlson and he was known as "The Crazy Redhead" on WARM. His show was a hit with the youth audience which at that time was migrating over to FM. But Karlson held on to them and things seemed well. But he was restless. He knew there was more to life than just spinning records. In the winter of 1976, I saw Tim sitting in the WARM lobby waiting for a meeting with George Gilbert and one of the suits from Susquehanna. He was set to quit. On the way out the door, I heard newswoman Kitch Loftus playfully tell him "Never say never". I never knew what transpired in that meeting but Tim stayed on at WARM and actually branched out into helping with the Ron Allen Sportsline. In the eighties he made the move to TV and found a home as the sportscaster for WNEP TV after and before Joe Zone left numerous times as well as a few others who used WNEP as a stepping stone. WNEP was more than a job to Tim, it was Northeastern Pennsylvania. When the Red Barons started as a franchise, there wasn't a bigger booster from the video side than Tim who made certain the Barons were a must see destination for sports fans. In the 90s, Tim had a bout with brain cancer and in characteristic style, he made lemons into lemonade. Every night he wore a hat during his sportscast promoting a local charity or concern that was helping his friends and neighbors here in our section of the world. Tim was a generous guy with his time, his infectious smile and well, at times, his crazy redhead personality. The news of his death comes as a shock even though we had reports he was not doing well. My first thought was when I got the e mail from Tommy Woods was, "Heaven must need some Orioles fans." (Ron Allen was of course an Oriole fan). Tim however was born in Baltimore and we shared stories about the Babe Ruth birth place when I saw him in the Barons press box in the 90s at Lackawanna County Stadium. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and his extended friends and clan from WNEP TV. From 1971, here's Carole King with her biggest hit, "It's Too Late" Imagine with me if you will, a young, cleanly coifed red headed preacher's son from Scranton talking up the post on a warm summer July day in a musty old radio station control room. It was the start of a great broadcasting career that we were grateful to hear and see. Rest in peace Tim.
PHOTO INDEX: WARM BINGO CARD AND WNEP'S ANDY PALUMBO WARM CONTESTS
Andy Palumbo from WNEP TV sent this along. A WARM bingo card that was used as part of one of the numerous WARM contests. WARM seemed to make contests an integral part of their programming. The amazing thing was these contests were not big. I mean some of them were like the Pool giveaway and various autos. But the beauty of these contests were they were inexpensive, had as a common denominator an everyman and everywoman quality about them and were simple to play and win.
ADDED NOTE
Regarding our YOU TUBE video and this site, we recieved a nice note from fellow WARM fanatic Gene Forbes. "Those outtakes of Double G & Ron Allen were from my original tapes I recorded back in 1978 when WARM was celebrating it's 20th year. I taped each DJ for an hour each day from Monday thru Friday doing their top 40 show. I also taped Double G On each of the days he was on from noon till 3 (or 2 one day). These tapes are in my archive. Credit for those out takes . It should go to George Gilbert & Ron Allen for broadcasting all those years & were the glue that held WARM together until it's demise in the mid 90's in one way shape or form. A big thank you should go to the original Sensational Seven & to all the jocks & personal who came & went during the tenure of The Mighty 590. Those are the people who should be thanked for making WARM # 1 for over 20 years in a row." Gene Forbes Lake Ariel, Pa.
PHOTO INDEX: THE LATE RON ALLEN. THE JOYOUS GOODBYE Wakes can go either way. They can be a maudlin experience or an uplifting one for those the deceased left behind. On his radio shows, Ron Allen was fond of saying, "Don't get maudlin on me!" I went to Ron Allen's wake on Friday afternoon and it was anything but maudlin. To be sure it was sad but tinged with that sorrow were great memories and stories of Ron as a man, a father, a husband, a broadcaster and as a sports fan. In his coffin was a Baltimore Orioles cap. His wife told me, "We watched every game this year and they finished 27 1/2 games out of first!" Only a sportscaster's wife would know that statistic. There were old radio guys there, people who were part of the WARM family, extended and otherwise. I sat with Tommy Woods and his wife and after sharing some funny stories, Tommy said, "You know, we were like family. We were collectively the Sensational 7 but we were all for one and for the most part one for all". Bill Kelly from WVIA TV and FM stopped by and shared a lengthy conversation with Mrs. Allen and his daughter. Bobby Day from WBRE TV and long time media and records guy Joe Middleton paid their respects as well as countless others I can't even mention. What was striking were the number of people who came from out of the area, John Hancock, Program Director of WARM in the 80s and now a major personality on WBT in Charlotte was there. "When I told Ron I wound up in Charlotte, he immediately interrupted me and said, "WBT, that's the big time!", he was so proud and I was so glad he was so tickled". Kelly Reed came in from out of town as well as others who had to say the final goodbye. "I told him I'd see him again and here I am" said Hancock pointing toward Ron. On air radio and TV tributes flooded the airwaves on WNEP with Sara Buynovsky, WBRE's Andy Mehalschick and WYOU'TV's Lendell Stout. Joe Thomas and Rob Nyehard devoted a large portion of their Saturday talk show with hilarious remembrances of Ron Allen. There were numerous flower arrangements in the funeral home. One was from the Dickson City Class of 1955. By chance, two of Ron's old classmates sat by Tommy Woods and me. And they shared their stories. Like Ron's nickname from gade school. It was "Pi", after the mathematical equation because it turned out that Ron was the only kid in the third grade who knew about that aspect of Math. We asked what type of student he was and she said he was brilliant but never wanted people to know he was that smart in high school. "That changed when he got into radio" said one of the classmates. "I thought he was the smartest guy in the world". The two recounted Ron's return to their 50th class reunion and how even hobbled by his stroke, he was the star of the event. Ron's classmates talked about how kind he was in school and how he enjoyed late night TV, especially Steve Allen. One classmate said, "It was a big deal for us in the fifties to stay up late nights and watch TV while we were in high school. Sometimes we'd go to my house and Ron would love watching Steve Allen who I think was his idol if you ask me". That memory brought to my mind one word to describe Ron Allen: BIG. His ideas always were innovative, they were usually new and they were big. What better way to remember Ron Allen, his contributions to sports talk radio, top 40 radio and broadcasting than the signature Steve Allen theme, "This Could Be the Start of Something Big".
PHOTO INDEX: RON ALLEN BEING NAMED MEDIA MAN OF THE YEAR, RON ALLEN IN A MID 60s WARM SURVEY SHEET WHEN HE DID 3PM TO 6PM, A SKETCH OF RON ALLEN IN 1967 WHEN HIS AIR SHIFT WAS 1 PM TO 4PM, RON ALLEN SUITED UP FOR SOME SORT OF AN EVENT, A DRAWING USED IN THE EARLY 60s OF RON ALLEN AND RON ALLEN WITH HIS FOOTBALL HERO, JOHNNY UNITAS.
REMEMBERING RON
I first met Ron Allen was I was 17. He was doing the 1 PM to 6PM Countdown Show on WARM and I had a scoop. It turned out our high school, St. John the Evangelist in Pittston was bringing in "Digger" Phelps, the Notre Dame Basketball coach for a banquet. I walked into the main studio area and Ron was sitting on the sofa, perusing the Racing Form and eating a Snickers Candy Bar. I introduced myself, breathlessly told him my news and Ron Allen said, "I know". It was then that I realized that no one could ever scoop Ron Allen.
As a listener, he first came to me on the radio after school when he did the 3PM to 6PM shift on WARM. If you listened to the show, you were "palin' with Allen". On the weekends, he did the top 40 Countdown Show. Every kid in WARMland listened to that show, survey sheet in hand, looking to see where our favorite group landed. Allen had as his sidekick "Mother Fletcher", an irracible person of seasoning who escaped from "The Home For the Terminally Silly". His bits with her/him??? were hysterical.
Allen bridged the gap from entertainment to sports. He foresaw that AM radio and its role in pop music would not be dominant and he turned WARM, the place for Music and News as the place to turn for sports. With George Gilbert and Pete Erickson, Allen re-invented WARM into a sports leader. Starting on a Sunday night, the show was live and began in 1974. High school basketball, football, and the Ron Allen Sportsline became a "must listen" entity if you were a sports fan. But Allen, with his vast knowledge of all things sport, also had a way of getting those uninterested or uninvolved with the games to somehow understand it. He was well known on the banquet service and no visit by a sports head of state was not complete without an appearance by Ron Allen. He moved easily among the DiMaggios, Aarons, Mantles and superstars but was almost giddy when you mentioned the name Unitas. A diehard Baltimore fan, Allen rooted for his Birds and Colts but muted that passion to make room for his audience's favorite teams.
Ron Allen worked at the same place for nearly four decades. But don't mistake him for "the company man". Allen seemed to take all the curveballs Susquehanna Broadcasting could toss at him but always seemed to make the ideas work into a particular radio format mandated by the suits in York. Because of his creativity and savvy, thousands grew up with and then matured with WARM. One Susquehanna GM even gave him a "lifetime contract", the only one bestowed on a WARM employee.
Ron's death seems different to me from others because his presence was absent the last 15 years or so. After suffering a stroke, that gift of gab and exhibition of language was silenced. But his old friends kept in touch, getting the hugs and that patented Ronzie smile. Ron Allen might have died physically today, but those of us who loved music, sports and a good lively discussion will always hear forever, "hello everybody, Ron Allen here................". Like the sports heros he covered, Ron Allen gave us time away from the cares of the big bad world, whether it be school or work. Thanks Ron, you will remain "the best there ever was".
Since there is really nothing in video form on the net about WARM, we acquired the knowledge and the tools to put a tribute video on YOU TUBE. It is incomplete because we could not get everyone ever involved with WARM in our production. But we hope you enjoy our tribute to WARM!
The following is a verbatim newspaper account from the Times Leader on the morning of Sept 9th, 1966. The names of the kidnapper, his family, the victim and her family were deleted from this article.
A four day old infant was kidnapped from Taylor hospital during the predawn hours by a 25 year old Taylor man who telephoned a Scranton radio station demanding $20,000 from the child’s parents. The baby was returned to the hospital several hours later unharmed. Agents of the FBI are holding the kidnapper pending an arraignment. He is a former employee of the hospital and at 3am he went to the nursery where he picked up the four year old girl. The kidnapper walked out of the hospital unnoticed. At about 425am, the man called Joseph Shaver an all night disc jockey on a Scranton radio station and asked to speak to Harry West, a daytime announcer on the station. West was not working at the time so the kidnapper told Shaver that he had taken a baby from a hospital and wanted $20,000. Shaver turned on a tape recorder and got most of the conversation with the kidnapper on tape. He immediately called Taylor hospital and confirmed that the baby was missing, advising the hospital to call Taylor police. Shaver then telephoned the FBI in Philadelphia and special agents Thomas Williams and Robert Harvey were dispatched from the Scranton field office to the Taylor police station. The kidnaper called the radio station 6 or 7 times during the early morning hours but Shaver did not put the information on the air for fear he would not call back. Shortly before 7am West arrived at the station and received a call from the kidnaper. Telling West he had the missing baby, the kidnapper declared, “Listen carefully, I’ll say this once and once only. I want $20,000 before 8 o’clock tonight and I’ll call later for details.” West had a tracer put on the station’s lines by Bell Telephone company but the kidnapper never got the chance to call back. After hearing the tape recording of the kidnapper’s voice and checking various other information, Chief Joseph Wincovitch of Taylor deduced who the kidnapper was. The Chief declined to be more specific as to how he knew it was the kidnapper but stated emphatically that the kidnapper is not deranged. Pressed for information, the Chief replied, “I know the people in my town.” Driving to the kidnapper’s home chief Wincovitch knocked on the door and learned that the kidnapper’s wife had just arrived home from her shift as an LPN at Taylor hospital. It was about 7 am by then. The police heard a baby crying upstairs and after questioning the kidnapper they learned it was the missing child. They took the kidnapper into custody and returned the baby to the hospital. Following a physical checkup it was learned the child was unhurt by the experience. A few things about this article, notice how it was written, a lot of redundant phrasing. And nowhere in the article is WARM mentioned, rather it was “a Scranton Radio station”. Until the early 1980s, the lines between print and broadcasting rarely crossed and this article and incident is a prime example. In Sept. 1966, one of the songs Joey Shaver was most likely playing during this drama was "Sunny" by Bobby Hebb.
Going back to school in the mid 60s was as the Buckinghams sang "Kind Of A Drag". To ease the way, Carroll's fast food restaurant ran a promotion where if you walked into the eatery, you'd get a WARM book cover. The back of the cover had photos of the jocks who were part of WARM at the time. This was mid '60s according to my estimates. There was a Sensational 7 but on the cover there were only 6 photos. My only thought on this is this might have been a transition period for Joey Shaver who was hired from WBAX to be the all night announcer. Shaver later was flipped to the 7 to midnight slot and Bill Stuart was moved to the overnights. If anyone can illuminate a bit more on this, please post a comment. The WARM bookcover promotion was a sure sign that summer was coming to an end. The only solace was that in lieu of a transistor radio plugged to your ear, you got to take "The WARM guys" in your bookbag to school.
Here are two "Back To School" videos from YOU TUBE: Timmie Rogers and Herman's Hermits.
PHOTO INDEX: THE LATE DON STEVENS HARD AT WORK OR PLAY IN THE WARM STUDIO AND STEVENS ON THE POPULAR WARM SURVEY SHEET. THIS SHEET WAS FROM OCTOBER 15TH, 1966. THE NUMBER 1 SONG WAS "96 TEARS".
WE'RE HALFWAY HOME
The first words I heard about Don Stevens were ones of ridicule and derision. It was all part of Harry West's way of busting his fellow jocks. Jack Donager was "Jerk" Donager and Don Stevens was "the old man of radio". Don Stevens was "the guy Columbus left behind when he discovered America!" Don Stevens was so old......", you get the point. As a young listener, my curiosity was aroused and I wanted to see how bad this guy really was. After all, if the comments were coming from the lips of my radio idol, Harry West, then Don Stevens had to be a feeble old guy with a puny voice.
WRONG! The first time I heard Don Stevens I was blown away by his voice. It was powerful and forceful but at the same time could modulate down to a gentle cadence that most likely made WARMland housewives swoon. Don held down the 9am to noon slot and after the 1030AM edition of WARM news, (I believe that was the 21rst edition) Stevens would open the mike and boom out "WE'RE HALFWAY HOME". Once in a while, Don would actualy sing on his program. He'd run an instrumental cut of the song "Welcome To My World" and belt it out over 5,000 watts of power. If only there was a tape of that somewhere! But we have a version of "Welcome To My World" which I'm sure even Don Stevens' would approve of. From YOU TUBE, the late Jim Reeves singing the late Don Stevens' signature song.
UPDATE
On 590 Mighty Memory 588, we were wondering who the Original Sensational 7 were. Well with a little research we found that the original guys were Harry Newman, Len Woloson, George Gilbert, Don Stevens, Vince Kearney, Jack Murphy and Jackson Gower.
PHOTO INDEX: FORMER WARM STAFFER AND CURRENT WVIA TV AND FM PRESIDENT BILL KELLY.
WARM MEMORIES
Bill Kelly became one of my first bosses when I first got out of college. As a matter of fact, the first plane ride I had was with Bill when we both went to a broadcast convention (NPR) in Chicago in 1978. Bill Kelly was also the first guy I saw after I tore a bulletin off the UPI machine located in the hallway between the FM and TV studios one hot, cloudy, muggy August afternoon. It simply said, "Presley dead at 42". On that day, we shared a link to the past of rock and roll. In my tenure at WVIA, we never talked much about WARM because we were both looking to build Public Radio. But in the back of my mind, I always had the thought, "This guy worked at WARM!" So it was a pleasant surprise when I found out that one of the first contributors to 590 FOREVER was Bill Kelly. Here's his memory of what WARM meant to him and all of us.
FROM BILL KELLY
Ok Dave, you got me. Today’s posting about your “590 FOREVER, WARM RADIO” blog site catches me nostalgic for the days when The Mighty 590 meant Hollywood to me in far away Towanda, Bradford County. Each of us who worked there, in fact all listeners captivated during those grand years now long “gone from the charts but not from our hearts” have stories linked to the Mighty 590, the Sensational Seven, The Five Towers of Power, PAM Jingles, P.S.B.B, Operation Contact, The Softball Softies, Superior Sonic Sound, the Station of the Year, Top 40 sheets and the Pick Hit of the Week. George Gilbert, Terry McNulty, Bob Oliver and many others are gone, several are ill, some fervently wish they could go back to that time and a few can’t shake bitter memories of fickle broadcast politics in Avoca. It is indeed hard for young people, and for many our own age, to appreciate what WARM meant to those of us who wanted nothing more than to be on-the-air at a radio station that loomed huge in our sense of the business we loved and thought was perfect. Some of us learned that WARM was not all we imagined from years of being teen-aged Fans glued to transistor radios. That was a coming-of-age experience for me, and I was beyond lucky to know when to leave and to find truly stimulating work after the WARM Building. This veteran broadcaster came to WARM after six small-market stations, incredulous one day when Double G called me while student teaching at Danville High School to say “We want you.” I was not the first who got that call and almost found a yellow puddle at my feet. Thirty-seven years later, a short few months ago, Tommy Woods and I gave a Eulogy to George Gilbert that made me realize how much more important he was than “just” the PD of WARM Radio. Getting re-acquainted with his family as George faded made me realize that even the superstars of radio are at their best as husbands and fathers. WARM was phenomenal – nothing in our experience will quite match it.
Our YOU TUBE song of this Mighty Memory is Mary Hopkin's, "Those Were The Days".
PHOTO INDEX: THE FVE INCARNATIONS OF THE POPULAR WARM SURVEY SHEET. THE FIRST SHEET OFFERED BY THE STATION was an 8 1/2 BY 11 SHEET OF PAPER, THE ONES IN ASCENDING ORDER WERE POPULAR WHEN I WAS IN GRADE SCHOOL AND THEN HIGH SCHOOL.
SURVEY SAYS
Never in the pop culture of teenagers growing up in WARMland was there a more sought after piece of paper than the weekly WARM Music Survey sheet. It usually came out on Fridays, just in time for the Saturday countdown show from 1pm to 6pm. In my youth, Ron Allen did the top 40 countdown every Saturday afternoon. Back then Catholics had no Saturday night Mass so the last half hour of the show was listened to by WARM listeners who wanted to know the top song of the week. There were times when WARM caused some consternation by not getting the sheets into the stores on time. Gulp, sometimes you got them on Monday but even if you knew the number 1 song, you just had to have one. The survey sheets were available wherever records were sold. You could drop by The Globe or Spruce Street Records in Scranton, Richie’s Record Rack or the Kresge Store in Pittston (the manager at the Kresge Store delighted in not putting the sheets out when they were available and harshly rationed them out. God forbid if you took a handful, he’d chase you out of the store!) Miracle Mart in Kingston, The Book and Record Mart in Wilkes Barre, or The Square Record Shop to get your hands on one. As a youth, I rooted actively for my favorite groups to take the number 1 slot. In 1965 I had a “two for” when the 4 Seasons hit the number 1 spot in November 1965 with “Let’s Hang On” and then repeated the feat with their version of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice” under the name The Wonder Who. In the 60s by the way, whatever your favorite group was, you just never rooted against the Beatles. The survey sheet was compiled by the Music and Program Director. They took the national trends, called around to the local record stores, got the sales figures, tabulated input from phone calls to the station and came up with the list. When you look now at a WARM survey sheet, you’ll see everything from the Rolling Stones to Gary Lewis and the Playboys to Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Eddie Arnold on one given compilation week. That tells me that while most people were listening to WARM, the powers that be who formulated the Surveys also listened to the voice and taste of the listener. There were five incarnations of the WARM survey sheet. The first an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet, the second a smaller long sheet with the photo of a member of The Sensational 7, the third with an artist’s rendering of the personality and the fourth and fifth editions were small red, white and blue versions, first with a photo, then a artist’s portrait. Some of us saved many of the WARM survey sheets, one or two people might have saved every one. The secret of the success of WARM was to make the small details other stations ignored a “must have”. By 1960s printing standards, it was a minuscule financial investment. But the free survey sheet was worth its weight in gold to young music fans that would gather every Monday and discuss where their favorite group or song landed on Ron Allen’s Countdown. And just in case any of your peers doubted your claim, you had the survey sheet to prove it! From You Tube, the number 1 song on November 13th, 1965 (Ron Allen was on the sheet) Barry Young’s “One Has My Name, the Other Has My Heart”.
And from October 15th, 1966, the number 40 song in the Countdown, "Girl On A Swing" by Gerry and the Pacemakers. Don't believe me? Hey, survey says man!
PHOTO INDEX: THE SENSATIONAL SEVEN IN A CONTEST AD FROM 1959.
WHO ARE THESE GUYS?
A question has come up as to the identities of The Original Sensational Seven from WARM. When I started this project, one of the toughest things finding out were the exact dates of what started and when. I knew from anecdotal evidence that WARM went rock and roll in the summer but that was it. The Sensational Seven names I know were King Arthur Knight, Harry Newman, Len “The All Night Satalite” Woloson, Ron Allen, George Gilbert and Don Stevens. I’m missing one. But the photo I posted from WVIA FM’s program guide has Harry West who arrived in 1959, therefore not making him one of the original technically. I’ve posted the photo, did everything to enlarge it but to no avail. As far as the Sensational Seven, the original, that’s all I got. The Sensational Seven became the six when Don Stevens left in the mid 60s and everybody seemed to get an extra hour. Anyone who can elaborate, please do.
HOUSEKEEPING
The original posts to Memory #590 have been duplicated on Memory #589 because of a technical glitch. It might only be with me but I figured I wanted those comments read. They are appreciated. As for the photos and e mails I’ve received so far, thank you. I’m putting them in files and I will use every single one of them. Keep ‘em coming. One of the songs The Sensational Seven most likely played was this one by Little Anthony and the Imperials.
PHOTO INDEX: THE FAMOUS WARM COVERAGE MAP DEMONSTRATING THE POWER OF THOSE 5,000 WATTS AND HARRY WEST HOLDING A RECORD INDICATIVE OF ONE OF WARM'S STRENGTHS, ITS MUSIC MIX.
IT'S THE MUSIC!!!!
There is much debate as to what should be considered the first rock & roll record. Bill Haley’s "Rock Around the Clock" (1955) became the first rock and roll song to top Billboard magazine's main sales and airplay charts, and opened the door worldwide for this new wave of popular culture. Rolling Stone magazine argued in this century that "That's All Right (Mama)" from 1954, Elvis Presley's first single for Sun Records in Memphis, was the first rock and roll record. But, at the same time, Big Joe Turner’s "Shake, Rattle & Roll", later covered by Haley, was already at the top of the Billboard R&B charts. As we mentioned before, Joe Dobbs' WICK Radio played some of the earliest rock and roll in the Wilkes Barre Scranton area before WARM. But when WARM signed on the air with rock and roll in 1958, this is some of the music the station showcased. “At the Hop” by Danny and the Juniors, “Twilight Time” by the Platters”, “April Love” by Pat Boone, “Little Star” by the Elegants, “Volare” by Domenico Modugno, “It’s All In the Game” by Tommy Edwards, “Sugartime” by the Mcguire Sisters, “Catch A Falling Star” by Perry Como and “Tequila” by the Champs were songs constantly heard on WARM during 1958. Perhaps the acceptance of this station across all age groups happened (notwithstanding the WARM news commitment) happened because Rock and Roll was just invading the pop culture of music. With rock and roll were the vestiges of the pop music of the 50s. The doowop of the Elegants was a perfect tonic for the smooth, lush sounds of the Platters. The early success of WARM as well as rock and roll was that the music with the beat also was palatable to the moms and dads who gave a listen to this new sound in town, WARM Radio. Perhaps no two songs typified the contrasts of music more than the Diamonds “Little Darlin’” (released in 1957) and Tommy Edwards’ “It’s All In the Game” from 1958. This music provided the bridge in styles, and WARM Radio gave people of all ages the vehicle for those great songs that became the building block for not only the Mighty 590, but for rock and roll itself.
PHOTO INDEX: WARM BLOG EDITOR TODAY IN FRONT OF 1958 CHEVROLET, COURTESY JO-DAN MOTORS, BOTTOM PHOTO, BLOG EDITOR IN BACK OF 1956 CHEVROLET, COURTESY OF MY UNCLE LENNY, THE UBIQUITOUS TRANSISTOR RADIO AND THE FIRST "NEW WARM" LOGO.
WELCOME
If you look at the plethora of subjects on the Internet, you will not find a tribute to one of the greatest entertainment stories of 20th century broadcasting. That of course is WARM Radio, the Mighty 590. Today, with the launching of “590 FOREVER, WARM RADIO”, that changes. Since I began The LuLac Political Letter in 2006, I have seen first hand the impact of a blog/site that people respond to. My initial effort dealt with politics and I thought I might be just a voice in the wilderness. After all, I was told, everyone was blogging. But much to my surprise, LuLac has become a “must see” for political and pop culture junkies of all stripes. And for that I’m forever grateful and continually amazed.
Now most sites are entertaining and self serving. Many autobiographical. With LuLac, my personal references dealt with the politicos I’ve met in my life and how it connected to the site. Because WARM was such a major institution in this area, 590 FOREVER will be filled with personal references. I’m hoping that fans of WARM, former employees, people who have WARM memorabilia, and anyone remotely connected to the radio station will share the information with me. We’ll post them as part of our “Five Ninety Mighty Memories” series, as is or with editorial tweaking. If you have something that might not be as polished as you like, we’ll pull it together and post it. My point is the memory doesn’t have to be perfect. E mail me with your stories and photos, we’ll make a historical record that will do this institution proud. I’m at yonkstur@aol.com or yonkstur@ptd.net. Our mission is to make this great radio station alive once more in the hearts and minds of its fans.
My own journey with WARM has lasted 50 years. I was just 4 years old sitting on my front porch with my sister when a neighborhood boy ran excitedly down the street saying “There’s rock and roll on the radio”. WICK in Scranton did play rock and roll but the station did not have the power to reach a large audience. Just the year before in 1957, Dick Cark’s “American Bandstand” went on national TV. Having an older sister in high school, gave me an entre into the world of hula hoops, poodle skirts and 45 singles. Sunday evenings were spent after supper tuning in to WARM because until the Sullivan Show, there wasn’t much on TV. When I turned 10, I got my own radio and would steal away at night listening to WARM feeling a sense of triumphant mischief when at midnight, Father John Catour of the Christophers would broadcast his 60 second message of faith to start the new day. Ten years old and up at midnight! That was living in 1960s Pittston Junction. Much to my surprise, I found that WARM Radio not only entertained but educated us all. From an early age, WARM News exposed me to politics and world leaders. Terry McNulty told us of the death of John Kennedy, Robert Oliver, in dulcet tones announced that “the 31rst President of the United States, Herbert Hoover had died”, and Jack Doniger chronicled the death of World War II statesman Winston Churchill.
As childhood gave way to my teenage years, I became acquainted with members of the WARM staff. The voices in the radio box came to life in the form of actual human beings. Writing a music column at the time, I coaxed the editor to include an assignment about local radio so that I could have an excuse to “drop on by” as credentialed media. I walked through Pittston with Bill Kelly when he did his “March of Dimes” walk and Joey Shaver recruited me for a broadcast school in Washington, D.C. In later years, these two men would become my bosses, Kelly at WVIA TV and FM and Shaver at Cable Rep Advertising. In their own ways, both imparted practical business knowledge that is still with me to this day. I confess I used WARM for my own career purposes as a PR person for United Way and other entities. Tommy Woods used his incredible voice to do videos for companies I was associated with giving them a network feel. The late Terry McNulty was game for any type of promotion involving the community. The late George Gilbert and I sat on the Bi County Bicentennial Commission together in 1976. When I wrote a sports column in the 80s, I constantly crossed paths with Ron Allen. My boyhood idol, Harry West got involved in more of my projects than I think he’d care to remember. There wasn’t a promotion WARM Radio wouldn’t try and there wasn’t one I couldn’t dream up. Some soared and some sunk but the commitment was always 100% from the WARM staff. Attending to the task at hand, sometimes I’d look at the banner or the behemoth station vehicle and think, “I’m here with WARM”. At times, when I was in the company of Woods, West, Gilbert, Allen, McNulty or Shaver, I’d think, “Jeez, this guy was one of The Sensational Seven!” Later, I worked at WARM as a sales rep when it went Talk. So my history with WARM is a known commodity to all who know me. But because of what WARM meant to me, I realize others might have more interesting and compelling stories. And this blog/site will be a vehicle for those inclined to share.
Before I came up with this concept, I thought long and hard of why I should do it. My friends on The Radio Info Board say WARM is dead and can never ever be revived. A few members of the “Sensational Seven” have expressed apprehension that even now with other careers in the rear view mirror, the only thing they are best remembered for was WARM. My younger colleagues give me blank looks when I wax poetic about a 5,000 watt radio station that was popular when their mom and dads were just in diapers. All of these things are true. WARM Radio as we knew it will never return. Currently the people at 600 Baltimore Drive (Phil Galasso, Brian Hughes and Sam Laguori) are making a valiant effort to preserve the music and I commend them for it. But the WARM we knew is no more. But so is The Latin Mass, Roger Maris’ home run record and The Ed Sullivan Show. Even though those things have lost their luster, they deserve a point of reference in our culture. The miracle of internet blogging will assure WARM of its niche in the history of broadcasting.
Once, in a conversation with a member of The Sensational Seven, he wondered “why are we that popular after all these years?” My answer to him was that after WARM declined, nothing of comparable worth succeeded it. WARM was left for dead on the side of the road, yet 60s powerhouses like WABC in New York, WKBW in Buffalo and CKLW in Detroit reinvented themselves and became forces once more in their local markets. The only things fans of WARM have to hang on to are those “Glory Days”. As I mentioned earlier, when I worked as a sales rep for WARM in the late 90s, advertisers didn’t buy the station with the 2.1 share I was selling, they bought that one moment in time where WARM had a 40 plus share. Clinging to a good memory is sometimes better than nothing. And the people who brought us WARM after its heyday, gave us very little to attach our emotions to.
As far as those blank looks from the young people, I’m used to it. I’ve explained the difference between the band “The Dead Kennedys” and the real Kennedys who have passed on, the Beatles vs. Wings debate, and the fact that there was once black and white TV more times than I care to say. This internet history of WARM is welcome to all, those of us who lived with it daily, those who shaped and formed it into the giant that it was and those who are just a bit curious about what the fuss is regarding “The Mighty 590.”
So, I invite you to take a journey with me into the world and memories of 590 FOREVER, WARM. When WARM switched formats 50 years ago, a song blared from the tiny, tinny transistor radio urging its listeners to “Come Go With Me”. Now, as we begin this endeavor, courtesy of the Del Vikings, I invite you to do the same.
Political analyst for WBRE TV's Pa. Live program and post election commentator for WBRE TV's Eyewitness News Daybreak show. Author of the book "A Radio Story/We Wish You Well In Your Future Endeavors" and "Leges Vitae" "26 Rules of Life" and the new novel, "Weather Or Knot". The blog editor also writes various news articles and columns as well as upcoming literary projects. The blog editor was a frequent guest on WYOU TV'S INTERACTIVE NEWSCASTS when political issues were discussed on the national, state and local level. Yonki was a weekly panelist on WYLN TV 35's Friday Topic A program. He also appeared on the Hazleton, PA. station on Election Night doing coverage and did special projects and stories for WYLN TV 35's 10PM Newscast "Late Edition".
