590 MIGHTY MEMORY #469

PHOTO INDEX: FORMER WEJL AND WARM PERSONALITY KIM MARTIN.

RECRUITING TALENT

WARM Radio always had a reputation of recruiting on air talent from surrounding radio stations. Tommy Woods, Terry McNulty and Joey Shaver, three members of the Sensational 7 came from local radio outlets. Harry West came from Reading and became the morning man. When West left in 1968 to go to KQV in Pittsburgh, WARM looked to a former staffer Len Woloson to return to WARMland. When Woloson left WARM suddenly, for a time the Mighty 590 had George Gilbert fill in as the morning man. A nationwide search ensued for a new morning guy. Interviews went on and on until WARM decided on their new guy. It wasn’t anyone from a far away market but a guy broadcasting in Scranton on WEJL AM. To usher in the 70s WARM chose Kim Martin. Martin came to WARM in early ’71 and did the noon to 3pm (Double G’s old stomping grounds) initially. Then when Woloson left Martin did the mornings. Martin had an easy style about him which was a precursor to a subtle style in the new genre of WARM jocks. He was best known for gentle jabs like referring to WARM news reporter Kitch Loftus as Kitch Newsworthy. But that style was only on WARM for a short time because the big Philadelphia market came calling and Martin wound up there using the name McClintock. The instability of the WARM morning drive time show ended in July of 1973 when Harry West returned to WARM after working at KQV in Pittsburgh and WSBA in York.

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #470

PHOTO INDEX: THE FIRST WARM SURVEYS ON 8 AND 1/2 BY 11 PAPER, THE FIRST SMALLER SURVEY SHEET, THE NEXT GENRE WITHOUT PHOTOS, BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS WERE ADDED AROUND 1965, A FEW YEARS LATER ARTIST RENDERINGS OF WARM'S JOCKS WERE ADDED, THE GOOD GUYS SHORTENED THE FORMAT BUT STILL KEPT THE RENDERINGS AND FINALLY IN 1971 PHOTOS WERE ONCE MORE ADDED.

FOR THE MUSIC GEEKS

By request here are some of the WARM survey sheets which highlight the actual music. Note the progression of the format from its earliest days to the final ones put out in 1971. (Click to enlarge to see).

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #471

PHOTO INDEX: WARM SURVEY SHEET WITH ANTI DRUG MESSAGE.

WARM'S WAR ON DRUGS

As the innocence of the early 1960s faded, and long before Nancy Reagan launched her "Just Say No" campaign, WARM Radio utilized an anti drug message. Recognizing that the new, more progressive music had drug overtones, WARM carefully looked at its play list. Still, the station could not ignore popular music trends. However WARM proactively ran anti drug campaigns and even went so far as to "message" their philosophy on their weekly survey sheets. Where acne cream once reigned and news of dance "hops", WARM now had some pretty stiff anti drug messages. Click to enlarge on this survey sheet from the October of 1970. By the Way, the number 1 song in WARMland on this survey was the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There".

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #472

PHOTO INDEX: SCRANTON FOR GOVERNOR LICENSE PLATE AND NEWSWEEK COVER OF BILL SCRANTON.


BILL SCRANTON AND WARM

What does a former Governor of the State of Pennsylvania have to do with WARM, the Mighty 590? Plenty. The guy owned it. Bill Scranton got involved in the broadcasting business in the fifties purchasing WARM TV and the 590 frequency. (The TV station would become WNEP). WARM with its impressive call letters as well as its 5,000 watts was an attractive entity for Susquehanna Broadcasting. (They had just got WSBA in York, Pennsylvania up and running. Lou Appel who was then associate with Susquehanna called Scranton up and asked him if the station was for sale. Scranton said yes but that he was in negotiations with a Ken Cooper from New York City for the outlet. True to his word, Scranton kept negotiating with Cooper even though his interest was dwindling. Appel and Art Carlson kept after Bill Scranton because they knew the potential WARM held. Finally, Scranton gave up on Cooper and began to negotiate the sale. Appel said that he could never get over the reaction of Bill Scranton during the business meetings which took place every time during a Scranton City sized snow storm. Scranton kept on reiterating that he (Scranton) was an honest and straight forward person who was a man of his word. Appel told Phil Eberly, the author of “Susquehanna Radio: The First Fifty Years” that he found this humerous because he had no reason to believe that Bill Scranton was any type of scoundrel in business or otherwise. The deal was done with the honest Mr. Scranton. Appel had his station, he put Art Carlson in charge of it and WARM began its assent as the top dog in NEPA Radio. And Bill Scranton? He went on to become a U.S. Congressman, Governor of Pennsylvania, Presidential candidate, Ambassador to the United Nations as well as a trouble shooter for many U.S. Presidents. He also appeared on numerous national magazine covers throughout his life.

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #473

PHOTO INDEX: ADS FOR RECORDS ON THE BACK OF WARM "GOOD GUY" SURVEY SHEETS. THIS WAS FROM THE EARLY 70s.

SELLING THE SONGS

WARM Radio got into the business of added revenue in the early 1970s. For years the major Top 40 Radio Stations like CKLW in Detroit, WCFL in Chicago, WFIL AND WIBG in Philadelphia as well as WMEX in Boston produced long play albums with, what else? The hits of the day. The albums were also walking commercials for all of the jocks on the radio station. WARM entered this arena with a “Good Guys Present 16 Greatest Hits”. It sold for about $1.99 in some stores and in a weird sort of way was a precursor to what eventually did WARM in, non stop music on the FM side. It was an album with no commercials or jingles and it was in stereo. But FM and the demise of Top 40 radio was a long way off as “The Good Guys” promoted their shows and music through these albums.
Another thing WARM did was promote various albums on the back of their top 40 survey sheets. WARM always sold advertising space on them but the early 70s gave the music industry new opportunities to promote cross over artists like Joe South. Popular in folk and country circles, South was the type of act that fit into WARM’s growing older demographic. Those teenagers who danced at Sans Souci now were getting married, slowing down a bit but still listening to a softer blend of music than the burgeoning progressive movement. Joe South was a natural.
Again, the Greatest Hits Album as well as the ads on the back for more mainstream artists exhibited once more how WARM changed with the times. But one constant was that whether it was a long play album with all of the hits or a new artist, either one, you heard it first from the Mighty 590 WARM.

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #474

PHOTO INDEX: WARM NEWS DIRECTOR JERRY HELLER. (FROM PHOTO PROVIDED BY KEVIN JORDAN).

EXCLUSIVE NEWS

Recently I was doing some TV coverage for a local TV station and I was struck by the fact that the media pretty much traveled in a pack. It got me thinking about how WARM news was covered back in their halcyon days. I was told by a news reporter that Jerry Heller the News Director at WARM urged his reporters to get exclusive sound from the subject of a news story. Let me explain: let’s say there was a government official talking about a budget cut. At a news conference with a whole room of reporters, everyone covering it there got the same sound. What Heller wanted, even demanded, was that his reporter linger behind and ask their own question to either get a different take of what was said, an entirely different perspective than what was portrayed or just a different way of saying what the subject said to the others. WARM sometimes required its reporters to phone in sound. This was done by going to a land line, unscrewing the mouthpiece and hooking up two circuits to the inside of the phone. You transmitted your sound that way through the phone lines. That way, the story was on the Mighty 590 even before the reporter got back to the newsroom. WARM Radio was always rated number 1 in news. It was because reporters were encouraged to work just a bit harder and get all of the story. WARM was for sure “First News First” but it also did its best to get the most exclusive sound they could. The WARM News Department operated on the age old broadcast principle, “what came out of that speaker was the most important thing you did”.

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #475

PHOTO INDEX: WARM'S LEN WOLOSON AND GEORGE WASHINGTON.

LENNY AND GEORGE

Today we celebrate President’s Day which is part of a traditional three day weekend. But once upon a time Lincoln’s Birthday (February 12th) was celebrated as well as George Washington’s Birthday. WARM Radio once ran a type of promotion that garnered a lot of attention in its fledgling days. WARM Radio’s Len Woloson (who was doing all nights) agreed to dress up as George Washington. To set this up, the station management arranged a bogus phone call that reported a figure looking like Washington was seen on the banks of the Susquehanna throwing silver dollars into the river. The management at WARM were no fools but also were very frugal. So Lenny just threw one or two for effect. The intrepid Frank Jay who doubled as a sales rep followed Woloson uh, Washington around reporting it as if it were a news story. Like children following the pied piper, the local media followed suit and reported the pilgrimage. Woloson then walked across the Market Street Bridge from Kingston to Wilkes Barre . The plan was for Woloson to walk into the always crowded Europa Lounge on Public Square in full Mount Vernon regalia and order a piece of cherry pie. People were making such a fuss that somehow Lenny never got around to ordering the pie. It has been reported that Len wasn’t making a lot of money at the time and opted for a few steak dinners while he was there instead the less inexpensive dessert. Whatever the case, WARM’s little promotion had its desired effect. That station with “the crazy kids music” had gotten the attention of the media, adult listeners and history buffs. Again, the promotion cost little but gained a lot. In future Presidential holidays, Tommy Woods visited lucky winners with Cherry pies. (See 590 MIGHTY MEMORY #561, February 15th, 2009) WARM also gave away those pies in subsequent promotions. But it all began with Lenny Woloson taking the bait and posing as our first President.