590 MIGHTY MEMORY #517

PHOTO INDEX: WARM RADIO SURVEY SHEET PROMOTING "THE LETTERMEN" CONCERT IN 1970.

SLOWING IT DOWN

WARM Radio was always the rock and roll station of Northeastern Pennsylvania. It made its bones if you will by playing rock and roll. But in May of 1970, with the Beatles breaking up, progressive Rock being played on AM station WBAX, WARM was shifting gears slightly adjusting its formatting to a more adult audience. To be sure WARM was still playing the hits but it became more involved in col sponsoring events that brought the station into more of the music midstream. The concert of the Letterman in both cities of Wilkes Barre and Scranton on consecutive days was a step in a more moderate direction. WARM was still king but it was becoming a tad more inclusive in reaching out to an adult market.

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #518

PHOTO INDEX: THE WARM NEWS TEAM, THE LATE BOB CRAWFORD, RICK HERROLD, NEWS DIRECTOR JERRY HELLER AND KITCH LOFTUS, KEVIN JORDAN IN THE FOREGROUND PLUS THE WARM RV/MOBIL UNIT ON THE RIGHT.


FIRST NEWS FIRST


WARM Radio bridged the gap between young and old for a variety of reasons but a major component of their success was WARM News. WARM made a commitment to news early on. In the old days WARM actually had editions of news. They were at the bottom of the hour and live at 55. In 1966 WARM expanded their morning 6:55AM newscast to 7:05 and the 7:55AM newscast to 8:05AM. Around 1968 or so WARM went to news at the top of the hour. The WARM news staff was full of talented individuals. They were intelligent, energetic and competitive. The station was also the breeding ground for many future TV reporters, the aforementioned in the Photo Index Kevin Jordan being one of them. During the time this photo was taken Jerry Heller was the news director. (Kevin Jordan points out that Jerry is holding a "marni" unit that had the capability at that time to go live anywhere.) WARM's two previous news directors before Heller were Terry McNulty (who announced to WARMland that President Kennedy had been killed and Jack Donniger who later moved on to fame and fortune in the Washington, D.C. market. In future updates on this site we'll be telling you more about WARM news.
Our thanks to Kevin Jordan for providing the photo.