590 MIGHTY MEMORY #434

The late Guy Randall. (Photo Osterhout Free Library) 

 JUST A “GUY” PASSING THROUGH 

The headline on this 590 Mighty Memory is not intended to diminish people in radio passing through. As a matter of fact, it is a badge of honor to go from one radio station to another. That means you are more than a “one hit wonder” and someone who has real talent. One of the people who passed through the Mighty 590 was a legendary broadcaster from the area. Guy Randall ended his broadcast career at WARM. Randall worked at WARM from 1981 to about early 1984. Randall did a Sunday afternoon music show in addition to doing news reports when WARM was indeed the news leader in the area. 
My first memories of Randall are vivid. When I was 9, I had a triple threat combination of the mumps, the measles and the chicken pox. I mean I had them all at once. And our family doctor quarantined me to my room. For company, I had my sister’s transistor radio and other than visits from my vaccinated family, that was it. One afternoon I heard a voice that really knocked me out but that voice was playing music my parents listened to. Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Louie Armstrong, Judy Garland, Nancy Wilson, they were all people on the Ed Sullivan Show that I  as a young rock and roll fan, ignored.  But the announcer made the music interesting. And his name was Guy Randall. His show was on from 2pm to 6pm on WILK and his style was easy and deliberate. I wound up listening because his show led into Phillies baseball. 
Later on when I was in college, I did a part time stint as an intern at WBRE AM and FM. At that time, the dual station, owned by the Baltimore family was All News. It was part of NBC Radio’s national all news radio commitment. There was a network feed for 40 minutes but the other 20 had to be made up by the local affiliates. Guy’s role was to be the afternoon anchor, prior to that, at 10 am he’d go out and cover stories. On my first day I got to ride with him to a fire. As a newsman, Guy got the sound, the facts, the story and then filed it right away. During the ’76 primary campaign Randall coordinated the radio coverage for WBRE. The Pennsylvania primary was very competitive. Jimmy Carter visited, Morris Udall, so many surrogates. Guy made sure we had sound on all of them. 
Guy would always come into work carrying a few pens (you could count on him for a spare one if you needed it) and a brown bag. That brown bag sat on his desk until after the 2pm news and then he’d dig in. There was always a sandwich on rye and an orange. When it was a tough day, he’d saunter on down the hall and buy a PayDay. But then he told me he switched to M and M’s because the nuts would get in his teeth and hinder his delivery. When I asked him why he got into broadcasting, he simply said, “I tried it, they liked me, my  voice and Roy Morgan (owner of WILK) gave me a break." His olive skin and graying slicked back hair was conducive for TV but Guy never made that leap. 
When WBRE and NBC ended their all news association, Guy wound up at WARM. He covered a few stories for WARM and was put into service for an entire weekend in September of 1982 when George Banks went on his rampage. Guy is best remembered at WARM not for the way he arrived but for how he left. He, along with many fine broadcasters were fired on a day referred to by WARM historians as “Axe Wednesday”. 
After WARM, he was employed by the sports department of King's College and Pocono Downs Racetrack. He also served as Chairman of Council in Larksville Borough, his hometown for many years. He was a member of  St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church.
When Guy passed away, there were a few mentions of his radio career in his obituary. But for many of us who knew and worked with him, it was easy to fill in the lines with anecdotes and remembrances of a man who was always ready to help a fellow news traveler. 
WARM Radio only had Guy Randall’s multi talented services for just a few years. But in that short time, he proved to be more than just another “guy” passing through. He died in October of 2001 but when WARM fans get together, they recall the dulcet tones of Guy Randall, a great voice, good newsman and good guy. 

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #435

WARM/PHILLIS BUMPER STICKER. (Andy Palumbo blog). 

THE PHILLIES AND WARM 

Opening Day in Major League baseball is a special time of year. Especially in WARMland where the cold winters dominated the months of December, January, February and in some cases even March. A sure sign of spring was the sound of spring training games from Clearwater, Florida where the Phils always sounded so good on WARM. 
The Mighty 590 didn’t always have Major League baseball though. The Phillies were on WILK Radio in the 1960 all the way into the early 70s. WILK then wanted to clear the decks for its Top 40 format. The mantle of the Phils was taken up by WBRE AM n the 70s. Then when WBRE went All News in 1975, the Phillies joined the Mighty 590. It was a majestic partnership that continued until the early part of the 21st century. 
WARM was always the place for Major League baseball. The game was usually preceded by the Ron Allen Sportsline and then morning updates were provided on the drive time A.M. shows the next morning. When WARM switched over to an Oldies Format in the mid 2000s, Yankee baseball was broadcast on WARM for about two years. But budget issues and staffing availability made it impossible for WARM to carry Major League Baseball. 
However, despite that, we do have our memories! As pitchers and catchers start to play for real, it is with fond memories that we remember the role WARM Radio played in bringing sports fans Phillies baseball.

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #436

The top 40. 

WARMLANDERS FORTUNATE 

As I listen to the “True Oldies Channel” on WARM, I appreciate that format more and more every day. Think of all the big top 40 powerhouses that dominated the early days of Rock and Roll. Stations like CKLW in Windsor/Detroit, WLS and WCFL in Chicago, WFIL and WIBG in Philadelphia, WKBW in Buffalo, WMEX in Boston as well as the biggie, WABC in New York City. All of those stations rock and roll heritages are gone. All of them have become Sports Talk or News Talk Stations. Some have gone the religious routes and others are dark. But because of the ownership decisions of Citadel Broadcasting and now Cumulus Broadcasting, plus the dedicated staff, WARM, the Mighty 590 still plays rock and roll music. The songs of the Top 40, for so long dominant in those 50,000 watt powerhouses are but a memory for those listeners in those cities. But here in WARMland, the Top plays on in the form of “True Oldies”, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #437

Promotional signage for Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs concert.  (Click to enlarge).

WARMLAND CHRISTMAS CONCERT 

WARM,the Mighty 590 was relentless in its promotion of rock and roll acts that turned into big events. With the imprimatur of WARM, the concert was always bound to be a big success. In 1967, the day after Christmas, WARM heavily promoted a concert featuring Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. The group had a hit in 1966 called "Little Red Riding Hood", but it's subsequent hits weren't that big. Still, the day after Christmas was a big event and success, thanks to the promotion of the Mighty 590, WARM, the popularity of Joe Nardone and the All Stars as the opening act and the close proximity of the venue, the venerable Sans Souci Park. The average age of the average concert goer today is between 60 and 65. As Ron Allen used to say on The Sportsline, "How 'bout that!!"  

 

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #438

Christmas 1967 Survey. (Click on survey to enlarge).

CHRISTMAS SURVEYS 

The business of the WARM survey sheets did not stop for Christmas. The hits kept on playing interspersed with great yuletide songs and contests. In 1967 the WARM deejays played "Secret Santas" to people who wrote in. And 45 years ago on Christmas Eve, Smokey Robinson and the  Miracles had the number one hit in WARMland. The survey said so.

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #439

WARM’s Harry West. 

  

WHEN HARRY WENT TO COLLEGE 

It was a nice, seasonable day in the summer of 1975. I was the news director of WRKC FM radio at King’s College in Wilkes Barre. King’s had yet to start its Bachelor of Arts Communications program so there was a dearth of commercial radio and TV personalities being talked about on campus. (The student newspaper, The Crown did an interview with then WBRE anchorman Franklin D. Coslett). At the station we had decided to try and bring speakers in from the real world of radio. I was given the assignment of getting speakers. My first choice was my boyhood idol Harry West. Harry West was one of the first people I followed on the radio. Like thousands of youngsters in WARMland I listened to his antics. But I also considered what he did, radio as a career path. 
Harry was about two years back from his foray into major market radio at KQV in Pittsburgh. West returned to WARM on July 13th, 1973 and it was like he had never left. When I called him, West readily agreed to a time and date. Harry arrived on time and I gave him a brief tour of King’s. He addressed about 40 students wgho were active in the radio station. A few Jersey and New York students were prepared to be unimpressed because they had grown up listening to Cousin Brcie, Dan Ingram and other major market radio stars. But Harry wowed them too with his down home philosophy, his engaging manner and his brutal honesty about how hard the radio business could be. He was only scheduled for an hour but stayed for two opining about FM radio (then in its infancy) as well as college radio. He told us that what he found with college radio in Northeastern Pennsylvania was that there was an element of professionalism he hadn’t seen elsewhere. I don’t think it was a line of flattery but even if it was, we didn’t care. Afterwards I think we sent Harry a bottle of Dubenet Wine for his trouble. 
I did not personally hear it but my dad told me that when Harry opened his show the day after, he said, “Well friends, after all these years, I finally got to college and I might not have flunked!” He then went on to talk about his visit for about three minutes. He lauded out attention and questions as students and then said it was his pleasure to speak to us. Even after all these years, so many of those people who attended that “lecture” say, “the please was all ours”. These impromptu “free” community events were just another hallmark of why WARM Radio was so popular.

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #440

The late Art Carlson of WARM Radio, the early days. 

ART CARLSON DIES

Art Carlson, one of the founders of Susquehanna Broadcasting and by extension WARM died earlier this month. Carlson was 81. Carlson was a native of St. Paul , Minnesota and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1950. He went into radio sales and worked for two radio stations and a television station. He left WDGY Minneapolis/St. Paul in 1957 to go to New York with ABC Radio Services Department. In 1958, he joined the he joined the Susquehanna Broadcasting Company as General Manager of WARM, Wilkes Barre/ Scranton . Art came to Akron in 1960, when Susquehanna acquired WHLO (formerly WHKK). As Vice President and General Manager, he completely revamped the format and made the station a major factor in the Akron/Canton market. He was Senior Vice President of Susquehanna located in York , Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Radio Advertising Bureau and served as its Chairman in 1988 and 1978. 
When Carlson joined WARM in 1958 he became part of Northeastern Pennsylvania history. He took a floundering radio station and made it into the number 1 radio outlet for years to come. Not only that, he made WARM part of people’s very lives. His training of the WARM air staff even made WARM so popular that NEPA was even nicknamed WARMland. Carlson was instrumental in negotiating the radio station known as WARM from the Scranton family. His training of the WARM disc jockeys was intense, heavily formatted but extremely successful. It didn’t hurt that Carlson was only about ten years older than the radio men he was training. Through the years, he always kept a pulse on WARM and a hand in its operations. 
No one will ever know for sure if the name Arthur Carlson was a tribute or a nod to Art when the show WKRP In Cincinnati came on the air. The character played by the late Gordon Jump was portrayed as a bit of a goof, which I’m told Carlson was not. Still, you have to wonder where the name or idea for it came from. Without it though, Art Carlson was already a legend. Every broadcaster, every manager or man of business wants to have a legacy. Art Carlson’s legacy is not only the unqualified success of WARM and Susquehanna but the legions of radio broadcasters too numerous to mention. But if the Original Sensational 7 and early 1960s broadcasters of WARM were the disciples of rock and roll, Art Carlson was their John the 
Baptist.

  

Editor’s Note: In future 590 FOREVER editions, we’ll relay a few more Art Carlson stories.