PHOTO INDEX: GEORGE GILBERT OF THE MIGHTY 590.
PICKING THE MUSIC
One of the early duties operations manager and then soon to be Program Director George Gilbert had was picking the music. In the 60s with the Beatles and English invasion, Gilbert struck a fine balance between rock, pop and adult standards. You would see songs from Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Frankie Layne and even Nancy Wilson. Sometimes the songs registered in the bottom third of the top 40 but they were there. Gilbert had a fondness for the harmonies of the Four Freshman and The Lettermen. At one point in the early 60s the Lettermen sang his closing theme. The passing last week of the Arbors Joe Cass reminded me that Gilbert programmed the music of the Arbors amidst Tommy James' "Hanky Panky" and the Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody To Love". Gilbert and his successors in picking the music struck a fine balance that gave the kids the rock and roll but the older folks a chance to "chill" with some adult contemporary. The Arbors in the 60s were a perfect tonic and WARM Radio and its management knew just how to apply it.
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