590 MIGHTY MEMORY #510

PHOTO INDEX: THE MUSICAL NOTES FOR THE BALLAD OF WARMLAND.

WERE THERE TWO?

Good friend and old Radio guy Scott Sanfillippo shot me a message on FaceBook asking whether there were two "Ballads of WARMland". Here's what he wrote on his blog:
Those who live in the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton area of northeast Pennsylvania will remember WARM 590 radio. It had a very rich history during its heyday and unfortunately was left hung out to die on its own by its license holder, Citadel Broadcasting. Dave Yonki, who I happened to work with at WARD AM several years ago, maintains a blog called “590 Forever WARM Radio. ” I’m going to have to put a shout out to Dave to see if he can help with this bit of WARM trivia. While cleaning my office today, I discovered an old 45-LP that I picked up several years back but never played. It’s contains the Ballad of WARMland, a station promotional jingle, on one side and a commercial for the old Stop N Go drive-in restaurants on the other. I became confused as it started to play, as it was not the Ballad of WARMland that I have heard over the years. The one on this record was a PAMS jingle and sung by Terri Lee.
So which is the real Ballad of WARMland?
Here's Scott's blog link by the way.
http://www.scottsanfilippo.com/2010/06/the-ballad-of-warmland-or-can-there-be-two/.
I told Scott that I thought the one by Terri Lee was the one that was sold or given away at the old Stop 'N Go fast food joints and thought the second one, with more lush arrangements was the second recording. The latter was used on the fine WVIA TV Documentary. If there are any old WARM employees out there, weigh in on this. Here are the two courtesy of Scott:

I think this was the original. Here's the second one released later.


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590 MIGHTY MEMORY #511

PHOTO INDEX: WARM-WSGD PERSONALITIES AT RED BARONS GAME 1991.EDDIE EGAN, TOMMY WOODS, RJ HARKINS, TIM KARLSON, PAUL CILIBERTO, BOBBY DAY, TOM(TOM MICHAELS)SOSSONG. (PHOTO COURTESY OF BOBBY DAY).

WARM REUNIONS

The Mighty 590 was so big a factor in this community that every time a few people get together and talk about their youth you can classify it as a WARM Reunion. Last year Pete Gabriel passed through the area and a few late era WARM staffers got together with him. The Pocono Drag Lodge is going to focus on a WARMland reunion this year after their highly successful Drag Lodge get together last year. In the mid 90s 0ne of the most significant WARM reunions of talent took place when staffers from WSGD FM, then a powerhouse Oldies Station run by the late Ron Swanson hosted a group of WARM members. The reunion actually came about because of this first reunion at a Red Barons Baseball game in 1991. When the WSGD FM On Air Reunion took place in the mid 90s, it was like a rekindling of the old days and magic that was WARM. There are actual tapes of those broadcasts that exist to this day. The photo above is just a snapshot of the talent that passed through the doors of the Mighty 590, WARM. That’s why WARM is going to live on in the hearts and mind of many people who were touched by the station in some way shape or form. WARM played this song by Tommy James and the Shondells called oddly enough "Gettin' Together". When that song was popular, no one imagined how real the sentiment of this song would be.

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #512

PHOTO INDEX: PETE ERICKSON AND BOBBY DAY AT A SOFTBALL SOFTIES DINNER. (PHOTO COURTESY OF BOBBY DAY.)

THE CONTEST WINNER

WARM Radio in its heyday had thousands of contests but none was more controversial and talked about than the one where WARM issued a hunt for the biggest sports fan in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Amidst much ballyhoo, WARM sounded the clarion call for all fans to register with the Mighty 590 for this contest. Men, women, former athletes, college students, working Joes and Josies wrote in and declared why they should be WARM Radio’s biggest fan. The promotion was done to make the transition in the 70s from a full service top 40 AM to more concentrated sports coverage. You’d still hear Harry West, and the current hits but there would be an incremental increase in the hours of sports programming. Ron Allen’s 20/20 Sports became “The Sunday Night Sportsline”. For a time George Gilbert co-hosted with Allen but the thought was that Allen’s sidekick would be “WARM’s Greatest Sports Fan”. No one knows for sure how it happened. My friends at WARM say their memories are very foggy but Pete Erickson became the number 1 Sports Fan in WARMland. Erickson then co-hosted the show with Allen for many years. When Allen had a heart attack in the mid 70s, Erickson even hosted the show on his own with the help once in a while of Double G and Tim Karlson. Erickson, employed in private industry proved to be a treasure trove of sports knowledge. Between he and Allen, no sports fan could stump them on any question. Erickson became part of the station culture attending and speaking at high school athletic banquets, playing in the WARM Softball Softies games and becoming part of the WARM on air team. When you still mention his name to people of a certain age, they’ll tell you he was a “sports guy” from WARM. Whether it was intended or not (and there are some who will argue that this was an elaborate orchestration masterminded by that promotional genius Ron Allen) the station’s contest for “The Greatest Sports Fan” in WARMLAND yielded positive results in promoting WARM as the place to be for the seminal sports talk radio craze that exists to this day. But it also got in the bargain a person that turned into a legitimate sports presence in the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Radio market for years.

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #513

PHOTO INDEX: WARM AT 70.

WARM-1940-2010

WARM Radio is seventy years old. The logo we are using has a mouse pad. In 1940 when WARM went on the air the only mouses station engineers were concerned with were those at the transmitter. Through the years WARM played music, ran contests and reported the news. That was done via electricity, the phone lines and the old fashioned U.S. Mail. Enter a contest? A stamp. Request a song? The phone. As WARM celebrates birthday #70, listeners can hear the Mighty 590 on their computer and if they want to request a song, they can e mail the guys at the True Oldies Channel. WARM has been here for 7 decades utilizing every innovation to be there for all of us WARMlanders.
http://www.trueoldieschannel.com/ True Oldies link.

http://www.warm590.com/Article.asp?id=598365 Mighty 590 link.

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #514

PHOTO INDEX: WARM "SOFTBALL SOFTIES" SCHEDULE FROM 1984 AND THE SOFTBALL SOFTIES OF THE EARLY 80s. THE VOICE OF THE SCRANTON/WILKES BARRE PENGUINS IS PICTURED ON TOP, BOBBY DAY AND THE PLAYERS ARE FRONT ROW L-R: TOMMY BUFANO, TONY SPADONI, BUDD O'MALIA, TOM DRAZBA, "FAST" EDDIE EGAN.BACK ROW L-R: CLARK KUSCHKE, JACK LAWLESS, BOBBY DAY, GEORGE SMERDON, AND PETE ERIKSON. (PHOTOS COURTESY OF BOBBY DAY).

PLAY BALL

They started out as a roadshow attraction to promote WARM in the early 60s. Then as time went on they took shape and form and actually got pretty good. Through the years the WARM Softball Softies raised money for local clubs and organizations. The team served as ambassadors of the Mighty 590. The games were competitive but also pretty community oriented. At the time this unit of the WARM Softball Softies were playing, these two songs were part of the spring time rotation of WARM's music playlist.

Talkin' Baseball (Willie, Mickey, and the Duke) @ Yahoo! Video

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #515

PHOTO INDEX: "IT'S ONLY WARM FOR ME" PHRASE.

IT'S ONLY.............................

Ron Allen was the one who took over the phrase. Taking something that was part of the vernacular, Allen answered the question, "Is It Hot Enough For You" in a jeopardy like fashion. "It's Only WARM For Me". The beauty of the slogan was its simplicity. WARM didn't even own the thing! It appropriated it and the next thing you knew, WARM Radio owned it. Countless billboards, voice drop ins and buttons bombarded WARMland for years. To this day if you ask a WARMlander the question, they'll give you the right answer. The slogan typified WARM's association with the summer season and its "Happy Summer Days."