590 MIGHTY MEMORY #546

PHOTO INDEX: THE JACKSONS.

WARM AND THE "J 5"

WARM Radio played the hits. To be sure, WARM was never a trendsetter or had "breakout" debut records. But when a group was hot, WARM played their tunes. Such was the case with the Jackson 5. WARM dutifully played every Jackson song that came down the pike. And the jocks added their commentary to the songs whether it Bob Woody's making fun of the group's ode to a rat, "Ben" or the simple but upbeat song "ABC". Former WARM staffer Joe Middleton spent some time with the group in the mid 70s and was interviewed by The Times Leader today as well as this sister blog, "The LuLac Political Letter". From the Times Leader. Joe Middleton of Pittston worked for the Jackson 5 during the group’s 1973 tour. Middleton assisted with the merchandising on the tour and said he spent a lot of time around the young pop sensation. He recalled Jackson with both fondness and sadness on Thursday. “The kid was a prankster,” said Middleton. “He was great. He was fun to be with. You could tell he had talent, but he didn’t have a normal childhood. Michael had no life. That’s why the kid was screwed up. He never left his father’s side. He was the cash cow. Nothing could happen to Michael. Without Michael, there was no Jackson 5.” Middleton said he wasn’t surprised to hear stories, years later, about the negative impact that Jackson’s father, Joe, might have had on his son’s psyche. “The father was a very stern taskmaster,” he said. “The other boys would have some time to have fun, but Michael was under the father’s thumb all the time.” To look at Joe's comments on LuLac, go to Edition #859, dated June 26th, 2009. Of the many songs played on WARM from the Jacksons, perhaps the one that bridged the music gap between the WARM of the 50s to the WARM of the 70s was their remake of "Rockin' Robin".

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #547

PHOTO INDEX: WARM LOGO AND FATHER'S DAY LOGO.

WARM AND DADS

WARM Radio had a promotion for everything and Father's Day was no exception. WARM had a "Dress Your Dad" contest with Kranson Klothes for many years. The old Packard suit outlet in Scranton ran a promotion with WARM called "Suit Yourself Dad". Various eateries had "Breakfast For Dad" contests while the Mr. Kleen car wash in Exeter (still thriving by the way) ran a few remotes around Father's Day weekend in the early and mid 60s. Yes WARM honored the dads and even to this stay WARM's True Oldies Channel format is featuring "The Founding Fathers of Rock and Roll". Now here is a few dad oriented tunes WARM played over the years for all the dads on Father's Day.

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #548

PHOTO INDEX: FORMER WARM PERSONALITY PETE GABRIEL NOW AND PETE GABRIEL THEN ON WARM SURVEY SHEET.

THE MIGHTY GABRIEL RETURNS

Pete Gabriel showed up in WARMland the other day and a reunion broke out. Gabriel was on the Mighty 590 from 1968 to about 1971. Known as a Gentle Giant and one heck of a WARM softball softie, Gabriel first did the 10am to 1pm shift then gravitated toward the 1pm to 4pm slot until finally doing drive time from 4pm to 8pm. Here's Bill O'Boyle's recap on Pete's visit and reunion with other WARM staffers from the Times Leader:

Four men gathered at Cooper’s Waterfront Restaurant in Pittston on Monday to reminisce.
You might say it was an evening filled with WARM memories.
Pete Gabriel, Jerry Heller, Harry West and Joe Middleton shook hands, hugged and smiled as they recalled their years at the Mighty 590. All four were employees of Susquehanna Broadcasting when WARM ruled the airwaves in the 1960s.
They were part of WARM – the AM radio station that in its heyday had 60 percent to 70 percent of the radio listening audience tuned in every day. The powerful 5,000-watt station reached beyond Wilkes-Barre, Scranton and Hazleton – its signal pierced the air all the way to Manhattan, Philadelphia, Binghamton and even the New Jersey shore.
WARMland, as it was called, erased the lines of demarcation between counties and towns – creating Northeastern Pennsylvania – and just about every baby boomer and beyond remembers the jingles, the Sensational Seven, record hops, and WARM days at Rocky Glen and Sans Souci parks.
That’s what Gabriel, Heller, West and Middleton wanted to talk about.
“It was a time that will never be repeated,” Heller said.
They told story after story, laughing and sometimes bordering on tears as they recalled events and co-workers who have since passed on.
“What a great time that was working with all those guys,” Gabriel said. “There was such camaraderie; we all got along.”
Gabriel was at WARM from 1968 to 1971. He brought pictures and memories to share with the others. And they had their own stories as well.
“Pete hasn’t seen these guys in a long time – years – and he still feels that closeness from when they worked together,” Middleton said. “They were a team.”
They remembered Len Woloson, Terry McNulty, Ron Allen, Tim Carlson, Bob Oliver and George Gilbert – all deceased – but not with sadness, rather with joy and laughter. They talked about “Little” Joey Shaver, Jim Drucker and Tom Woods who couldn’t make the reunion.
“I’ve never worked with a better group of guys,” Gabriel said. “And I’ve never worked for a station that treated its people better.”
West said the guys haven’t kept in touch much since the station’s heydays, but that will change now. They already talked about getting together again – soon.
“Frankly, there’s not many of us left,” Gabriel, 71, said. West just turned 79, Heller is 69 and Middleton is 60.
Heller served as WARM’s news director and the station placed great emphasis on news.
“I was living in Illinois and I answered an ad for news director at WARM that read: ‘One of America’s great radio stations is looking for a news director,’” Heller said. “That really did sum it up.”
Gabriel and his wife, Sandy, live in Youngstown, Ohio, and they stopped in the area on their way to a family reunion in Plymouth, Mass.
“When I read the story about Harry (West) and WARM in The Times Leader, I was really happy to see a lot of the guys were still around and I wanted to look them up,” Gabriel said. “It was such a great time back then – the kids, the music, the events, and the fun. What station today would allow a personality (McNulty) to pass around a can of pineapple to people who weren’t even in the building?”
The “Sensational Seven” became the “WARM Good Guys” – a collection of on-air talent perhaps seldom seen in radio then, before, or since.
Four of the “Good Guys” ate dinner, laughed a lot, then hugged and vowed to meet again.
It will always be WARM for them.
One of the songs that hit the top 10 while Gabriel was at WARM was Tracy by the Cufflinks:

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #549

PHOTO INDEX: GRADUATION CAP.

WARM AND THE GRADS

WARM RAdio was the soundtrack of our lives. As high school ended, the Mighty 590 held a special place in the hearts of all the grads. After all, our class came of age listening to Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" in late 1968 as Freshman. We danced to The Buoys "These Days" at the St. John's dances on William Street with Harry West, Terry McNulty and Joey Shaver doing the dance hops. Our class celebrated Earth Day in 1970 listening to Three Dog Night's "Celebrate" as well as mourning the break up of The Beatles listening to "The Long And Winding Road". In the summer of 1971, we slow danced to the Temptations "Just My Imagination" our last summer before senior year. On the night of my senior prom, I stopped off at WARM to see the all night guy, Ken Curtis to impress my date. She wasn't but I enjoyed the visit even though he said I was wearing "a monkey suit". Which I was. Graduation day from St. John's in Pittston in June of 1972 culminated with one of the top ten songs, "Morning Has Broken" also being our class song. WARM Radio was the constant companion for untold graduation classes in WARMland. Years later, the WARM line up can be recited sometimes more accurateluy than the roster of our teachers.

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #550

PHOTO INDEX: JOEY SHAVER CIRCA 1966 AND PROMO FOR STUDENT OF THE YEAR.

STUDENT OF THE YEAR

When WARM Radio first took to the airwaves in 1958, the station played that rock and roll music criticized by the older generation at the time. However with its news presence, WARM quickly won over the WWII era moms and dads. To further cement WARM's reputation as a family station, the outlet began to give out scholarships to worthy, achieving students in WARMland. Every year, night time jock Joey Shaver would run a contest culminating in the recognition of a student who not only had good grades but showed good responsibility and citizenship. And of course WARM being WARM, good music was mixed in with the awarding of a student's achievement. After all, WARM never wasted a good demographic.

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #551

PHOTO INDEX: BACK OF WARM SURVEY SHEET PROMOTING FREE TRIP TO LONDON TO SEE THE DAVE CLARK 5.

WARM AND THE BRITS

WARM Radio in the mid 60s hopped on to the British music invasion bandwagon. WARM was involved in a contest with the Revlon Company. The cosmetic firm was touting a product called "Natural Wonder" which was a foundation make up for young women. The contest was nationwide, and according to my records no one locally won the trip but there were more than 9,000 consolation prizes offered. While the Beatles dominated the WARM weekly surveys, The Dave Clark 5 never lagged far behind. Here are two great songs heard on WARM in the 60s by the DC5."Everybody Knows" and "Because".