590 MIGHTY MEMORY #430

WARM’s George Gilbert. (Photo: Sweensspace.blogspot)

DOUBLE G’s SALES ADVICE 

A friend of mine shared this anecdote with me about George Gilbert. 
In the mid 90s, George Gilbert was employed as a Snior Sales Representative at WARM and Magic 93. Tim Durkin, the late Sales Manager and Joey Shaver the WARM Sales Manager thought with Gilbert’s past reputation on the Mighty 590, he could garner the stations new clients. And he did. His low key but friendly personality made him a success in his efforts on that level at WARM. 
One of the things Media Sales Representatives need to do is get out in front with clients. Using the phone to try and get a face to face meeting with a client is sometimes very hard to do. My friend was struggling and getting pretty much nowhere saying his entire spiel over the phone and then getting a no. 
Gilbert in the next cubicle called him over and said, “Can I give you some advice?” And my friend, happy that someone was throwing him a lifeline retorted, “Sure”. Gilbert said, “Next time you call a prospective client, just give him your name, the station and say I’m calling about an idea that I want to share with you. Then don’t say anything else. You’ll gey face to face meetings”. 
My friend resumed his work following GG’s methods and got some meetings and other future successes. Tommy Woods is fond of saying how the original WARM jocks were always a team. My friend and most likely Gilbert’s other coworkers in Sales saw that teamwork aspect of George Gilbert, not as a jock or Program Director, but as a Sales mentor. 
Teamwork: a tradition of the Sensational Seven that is still part of the WARM heritage. 

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #431

The beach, the summer and WARM. 

WARM AND SUMMERTIME 

Now that the weather has finally broken and we are seeing temperatures of above 70 degrees in WARMland, I always tend to remember WARM Radio as being an integral part of my summer. Home from school, you had the opportunity to blast the Mighty 590 all day long. And much to the chagrin of our parents, deep into the early morning hours. WARM was always part of the area music scene with WARM day at Rocky Glenn Park, the dances at Sans Souci Park and Hansons at Harvey’s Lake. Then of course there were the record give aways, the cash calls and the remotes where you could get up close and personal with any of the WARM air personalities. 
And in between the news, the top forty music, the 20/20 sports, the commercials and the patter of the disc jockeys who were part of the fabric of our summers was the ubiquitous WARM jingle. For listeners of the Mighty 590, it was indeed “the good old summertime”.
 

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #432

Tom Woods (center) with Peter and Gordon. (Photo: Tom Woods Facebook page). 

MEETING THE STARS  

One of the "perks" WARMland personalities had was the opportunity to meet the rock and roll stars of the era. One of the guys who was very connected to the music scene at WARM was Tom Woods. Woods was the Music Director of the station and along with Program Director George Gilbert had a huge say in picking the records heard on the Mighty 590. 
Facebook has given former members of the WARM Sensational 7 the opportunity to share their memories. Here's one from Tom Woods' Facebook page regarding a visit from Peter and Gordon.
Here's a blast from the past...This is me with Peter and Gorden in 1965 just as they arrived from England for WARM DAY at Rocky Glenn Park. Sadly Gorden passed away in July of 2009. Gorden Waller is the one with glasses. This was their first time in the United States. Their big hit.."A World Without Love". 
One of the hit songs Peter and Gordon had was actually by Paul McCartney and John Lennon.

 

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #433

Tom and Fran Woods on their Wedding Day in 1964. (Photo: Facebook). 

A WARM WEDDING 

This week former WARM Sensational 7 member Tom Woods posted a photo on Facebook of his wife Fran and Tom on their wedding day in 1964. Tom and his wife have been together for 49 years now. Tom got married when he was in the midst of a stored career on WARM. 
What happens when a well known disc jockey ties the knot at the number 1 radio station in the market? You do what other people do......just get on it with and do what other people did at the time. 
Except though that on Tom and Fran’s big day, George Gilbert who was on the air, did updates as to what was going on. Gilbert detailed the time of the church service, the reception and a few other things WARM listeners might have been interested in. WARM’s Terry McNulty was in the wedding party and Tom tells us that at the time, all of the WARM on air personalities were married. 
The wedding was held at St. Mary’s Church in Plymouth, now All Saints Church and from all accounts that day was a successful launching pad for the 49 year old marriage. Tom is long remembered for his 6 to 9PM stint as a WARM personality before moving on to WTOP in Washington, D.C. 
He is currently in semi retirement. The man with the good looks and dulcet tones keeps busy doing local TV commercials for various businesses. He is seen on TV doing ads for Green Briar Village and the long time married man has a new client he’s representing on TV. WARMlanders are you ready for this? Tom is is the spokesperson for “All About Singles" in one of their TV ads. What better spokesperson than a guy who is closing in on a Golden Anniversary. To Fran and Tom…many more.

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.