Friday, January 24, 2014

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #413

WARM’S LANDMARK CHURCH 

One of the little known stories of the Mighty 590 WARM is the association it had with a Roman Catholic Church in Avoca. When WARM moved from Scranton to that storied building in Avoca, Route 81 was not yet completed. The tannish brown Church on Main Street, Sts. Peter and Paul became a directional landmark for prospective employees, vendors and prize winners who had to make their way to the WARM Studios. If you were coming from Wilkes Barre through Avoca, you made a right at the church. If you were coming from Moosic through Avoca, you made a left and went up the hill. When you couldn’t go any further you made a right. 
This week that venerable Catholic Church like many in the Diocese went the way of the wrecking ball. It was a beautiful church. When I was working for WKQV FM and AM in the late 90s, I had NASCAR duty and Bob Cordaro put the station’s studios in the old WARM building. My wife and I stopped off at Mass on a Saturday in a teeming rainstorm. As the WARM building ceased to exist, so too did the landmark that made it easier to find the Mighty 590. 
When I was a young boy pedaling up that hill (making a right at the church of course) I never imagined that WARM would be gone from that place. Even more inconceivable was the fact that the proud, historic sacred church would fall to ruins. Devotees of WARM and the parishioners of that church will be quick to tell you that there is nothing sacred about change. 
 Sts. Peter and Paul Church a few weeks ago. (Times Leader) 


Sts. Peter and Paul Church in ruins. (Photo: Pa Homepage)

Saturday, January 4, 2014

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #414

590 FOREVER REWIND!!!!!

NOT  THE ORIGINAL SENSATIONAL 7!!!!  BUT CLOSE. THIS WAS A POSTER FROM 1959.


THIS IS WHAT FOLLOWED IN THE MID '60s. 

When I posted 590 Mighty Memory # 416, I had said that the only living members of the original WARM Sensational 7 alive were Harry West, Tom Woods and Joey Shaver. That was incorrect. Harry came from the Lehigh Valley in the late 50s as a newsman and Woods and Shaver came from stations in the Wilkes Barre Area. What I should have said was that in my day of listening to WARM as a child in the 60s, those three gentlemen were part of my daily listening habit. But they weren’t the original Sensational Seven. 
When Don Stevens left in the mid 60s, WARM reduced it’s roster to 6. Harry West took on an additional hour and worked until 10am. George Gilbert moved from noon to 3 to 10am to 1, Ron Allen moved up from 3 to 6 to 1  to 4pm and Tommy Woods took over the 3 to 7PM slot. Joey Shaver and Bill Stuart alternated the 7 to midnight and midnight to 6am shift. By my logic, I should have included Bill Stuart in my Christmas thoughts too. (The red photo was on book covers in the mid 60s and were distributed at Carroll's Restaurants. Don Stevens was still there but this was before Joey Shaver joined the staff.)
A reader pointed out who the Original Sensational 7 were and here is his rundown. 
Harry West, Joey Shaver and Tommy Woods were not “original”.
When WARM went on the air as a rock and roll station the “original seven” were: 6 – 9 AM Harry Newman 9 – Noon 
Don Stevens Noon – 3 
Jack Murphy noon to 3pm, 
Bart Maldon  3-4 and then 7 to 9
Vince Kearney 4pm to 7pm 
Jack Gower 9 to midnight. 
Len Woloson was added, Midnight to 6 AM on January 1, 1957. In addition; Here are some of the other jocks who were on WARM: Kerby (Confer) Scott Paul Roberts Jim O’Leary Art Knight.   
Blog reader Dal Giuliani provided that information and says that all of these listed, plus the guys you always refer to made WARM the memory that it is today. We thank Dal Giuliani for his input and I'm just so curious as to why Burt Waldon would have a split shift. In my research no one seems to know. Someone told me that it had to do with mine updates but no one else could confirm that. So if anyone out there has an idea why, let me know. And if anyone has anything to contribute to this blog in memory of the Mighty 590, send it along.