590 MIGHTY MEMORY #565

PHOTO INDEX: NEWSPAPER PROMO OF WARM FOOTBALL COVERAGE, 1999-2000 SEASON. (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

SUPER BOWL

WARM Radio in its heydey had very little involvement with the Super Bowl. Oh there was coverage on the news and on the 20/20 sports segment. Then when Ron Allen had the Sportsline, the Super Bowl took center state. WARM however never ran big Super Bowl promotions that I or any of former staffers I contacted could recall. WARM did run pro football on Sunday afternoons. Primarily it was the Eagles until one season, after the Giants won the big game, WARM broadcast the New York team. Then the following season, reverted back to the Eagles. The Eagles stayed with WARM until WILK GM at the time, Gerald Getz told the Eagles WARM was running Phillies games at the same time the Eagles came were supposed to be on. They were joining them in progress. WARM lost the Eagles and as a supplement to its Talk Line Up at the time, not to mention its billing, added the Steelers. The Pittsburgh team was a tough sell in the east but we got some businesses to buy. It was a struggle because WARM was not what it once was signal wise. The sales and promotion staff promoted it heavily giving away jackets to both fans and sponsers. The jackets came from a botched deal with a sports shop that went out of business. If you look closely at the advertisers sponsoring Steelers football, 4 of the 7 were my clients. Seems I did so well selling these accounts, Citadel assigned them to someone else a month before they fired me and told me I wasn't making my billing. That's what happens when they take your clients away. DUH! But WARM's involvement with Super Bowl promotions was pretty limited due to programming factors and the Eagles and Steelers not having Super Bowl years when they were carried on the MIGHTY 590.

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #566

PHOTO INDEX: VINCE SWEENEY, ONE OF THE MAINSTAYS OF WARM DURING THE EARLY 80s AND FORMER WEJL BROADCASTER AND WARM MORNING MAN, KIM MARTIN.

A RECAP

A lot has been written about the history of WARM from the sixties through its demise in the 21rst century. Here is a brief historical recap I worked out. Your comments, objections and talkback are welcome.

The Sensational Seven era ended in mid 1966 when Don Stevens left WARM. After that the station ran with 6 jocks. Harry West until 10AM, George Gilbert 10 to 1, Ron Allen 1 to 4PM, Tommy Woods 4 to 8Pm, Joey Shaver, 8 to midnight, then Bill Stewart doing the overnights. When he left, Steve Sanders took over and after that date there were no more sensational seven jocks. The station ran imaging which proclaimed them as “The Station of the Year” and The Station of the Stars”. In the late 60s, Len Woloson, Pete Gabriel and Jerry Heller joined the staff and enhanced its quality. Gabriel from Ohio, Heller from St. Louis. Harry had gone on to KQV and then wound up at WSBA in York. By the early 1970s WARM was tinkering. Joey Shaver was moved into sales, T.J. Lambert the III came on board along with a guy named Tony Murphy. Ron Allen left the jock scene and began to concentrate on sports and station promotions. Bob Woody arrived in 1972 and was a mainstay at the station for a long period of time. When Woloson left the station, George Gilbert did mornings until a replacement was found. That was Kim Martin who came from WEJL. During this time, WARM was still the dominant station in the market. Jim Drucker did overnights at the time. Bill Kelly came to work in the WARM news department and Robert Oliver, a former newsman withthe station worked an air shift. Moving from news to programming sometimes earned jocks the scorn of news director Jerry Heller. Heller’s news department was the best in the area and he could not understand how anyone would want to leave it. Kitch Loftus, Mike Stephens, Kevin Jordan, Ray Maguire and a few others manned that news desk in the early 70s. Before Harry came back, WARM was running a history of rock and roll deal. Bill Kelly was moved from pm drive 3 to 7 pm to do 9am to noon. Terry McNulty who had done 9am to noon in the 70s was moved back to news. Harry came back on July 13th, 1973. When Disco came on the scene, WARM was still strong but storm clouds were brewing. WARM had begin to do weekend sports shows featuring Ron Allen and George Gilbert and began to dabble in local sports programming. They ran some sort of contest where Pete Erickson was named greatest sports fan of the area and he cohosted those shows. The emergence of WGBI FM affected the ratings a bit as well as the crucial 25 to 54 advertising market. New jocks like R.J. Harkins, Michael Quinn and Steve St. John joined an already on staff of Tim Kidwell Karlson “The Crazy Redhead”, Chris “Starr” O’brien and Ric Herold. In 1978 Warm celebrated twenty five years on the air as the Mighty 590 but more changes started to come. WILK’s success with the overnight Larry King show prompted WARM to bid for the Mutual network which carried King’s show. By the late 70s, WARM ran King overnight but floundered with nighttime programming. Norm Hill, Steve St. John and others filled that slot 7pm to midnight slot. Bill Kimble’s arrival did nothing to shore up the station. If anything it drove some valued employees away. Kimble wanted to do “in tandem” broadcasts. The pairing of Harry West and Jim Gannon turned into a disaster. By the time he left, nerves and relationships were frayed. Vince Sweeney and Steve St. John fared much better. But the station started its hybrid format of entertainment from 6am to 7pm and talk and sports from 7pm to 6am. Bruce Williams was heard when there was no baseball, Dr. Joy Brown afterwards and then Larry King, later Jim Bohanon. In 1986, John David Wells arrived on the scene. While Kimble tried to uproot everything, JDW did the opposite. He proposed to build on the rich heritage of WARM. On the air he was both professional and deferential. Melaine Apple did mid days at this point on the station and Elizabeth Fields did an afternoon noontime talk show. Guys who populated the airwaves were Vince Sweeney, Steve St. John, Norm Hill, Paul Cialberto as well as Kelly Reid doing the sports. When John David Wells left, McNulty took over the morning show and Jim McNulty the former Mayor of Scranton did his Mayor of WARMland show. Ron Allen followed with sports and then at 7 pm the hybrid kicked in. WARM always had a news hour at 5pm. Even with the changes, WARM’s morning drive was still going for about $60.00 in the early 90s. At one point, Jim Loftus the GM of Susquehanna had a nostalgia attack and gave Allen a lifetime contract. He also put on George Gilbert and Ron Allen doing music shows that they used to do years before. But the Magic was on 93.9, not on WARM anymore. The advertisers stayed loyal to WARM up until the end. Elliot Katuna wa sa mainstay as was Tom Hesser, Abraham Chevrolet and Sugarmans. I attribute this to the affinity the advertisers had for the programming and the sales people. Telemedia took over in 1996 and then Citadel. In the interim, guys like Joe Middleton, Paul Ciliberto, the late Guy Randall, the late Jim Emmel and the late Frank LaBarr tried to keep it from exploding into a ball of flames. But by the time Citadel got their hooks into it, it was gone. Rob Nyehard desperately tried to reinvent the place and his positions several times but to no avail. Kevin Lynn was bounced from morning to afternoons with no game plan in mind. When Citadel started dickering on the price of the Phillies, losing the Eagles to Gerald Getz and fired news professionals like Paula Degnman and Bobby Day, you knew it was over. In 2002 they went oldies, pulled the plug on that and then went right wing. Now, they are back to Oldies, sound pretty good, rebuilding a modest community outreach with Sam Lagouri is the only guy standing there. This is my short history of WARM as a listener, advertiser, participant in promotions, fan, and sales representative. Some of the dates might be overlapped but this is pretty close in its accuracy. If video killed the radio star, what killed WARM? Or at least put it on life support.

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #567

PHOTO INDEX: SNOW SCENE.

OPERATION SNOWFLAKE

If you were a kid in the 50, 60s and 70s, and you were hoping for a snow day, WARM, the Mighty 590 was where you needed to be. WARM had posters in all of the schools in Northeastern Pennsylvania telling you to tune in for school closings in case of inclement weather. In the old days, there were storms. And schools rarely closed. Even with 6 inches, you went to school. It wasn't until the 80s that school closings happened with less than 3 inches of snow. There were no morning TV newscasts, no weathermen with degrees who took every storm seriously as an atomic energy project, no doppler radar and no TV screen crawls. WARM was it and they milked Operation Snowflake for all it was worth. Informing the public was the mission, but as always, WARM used it as an audience and revenue builder. With the cold temperatures of the past week, Operation Snowflake came to mind as well as Simon and Garfunkel's "Hazy Shade of Winter."

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #568

PHOTO INDEX: THE ALL NIGHT SATELLITE RETURNED TO WARM RADIO IN JANUARY OF 1969. WOLOSON WAS FAMILIAR TO WARM LISTENERS FROM THE OLD DAYS AND GARNERED NEW FANS WHEN HE CAME BACK TO WARMLAND. OF COURSE WOLOSON WAS MET AT THE AIRPORT, PICTURED ARE WARM STAFFERS JOEY SHAVER AND GEORGE GILBERT.

TOP SONG

One of the up and coming songs that greeted Woloson was Dusty Springfield's "Son Of A Preacher Man".

A GOOD MEMORY

Recieved a great e mail from a fan of WARM. Here's what he said about the Mighty 590.

I'd like to briefly share some of my memories concerning WARM and the effect that WARM had on me many years ago. I grew up in Nazareth in the Lehigh Valley. We had some decent top 40 stations down there including WEEX in Easton and WAEB in Allentown. We also listened t o WABC out of NewYork, but none of those stations had the effect on me like WARM did. My mother and father built a cabin on Lake Wallenpaupack in 1952 and I've been boating, fishing, and hunting the Ledgedale area of the Lake since 1954. In 1964, when I was 10 years old, my Lake friends and I discovered WARM. We were at the cabin almost every weekend of the year, and needless to say, I got hooked on the area and considered the area my true "home".
Every activity I did in Nazareth was just a diversion until it was time to go back up to the Lake again. WARM fast became my link to that wonderful place at Lake Wallenpaupack. I had the radios at home in Nazareth tuned into WARM and more than once my parents got angry with me when they heard an odd weather report and realized that I was listening to WARM instead of a local station. I would listen to Harry West in the mornings getting ready for school and Joey Shaver in the evenings while I did homework. My Nazareth friends thought I was crazy. They had never heard of WARM, too bad for them!
One of my best memories was after a gruelling week of football practice in the summer, a Lake friend (who played for Parkland) and I (played for Nazareth) would head out onto the Lake in one of the boats and we'd just drift around and relax, all the while listening to the great music on WARM on the transistor radio. It didn't get much better than that! In the winter, we'd take the snowmobiles out onto the Lake and sit out under the stars listening to WARM. What great memories!
Some of my favorite WARM ads were "It's only WARM for me", "Rind-a -ding-ding (Stegmaier Beer ads)" and forester Manny Gordon's "Enjoy, Enjoy..."
I also remember Terry McNulty telling Winnie Bosco stories.
In 1972 and 1973 I was at the Penn State Hazleton Campus where I could still listen to WARM. Around that time I especially enjoyed the Ron Allen sports line. By 1974, I was at University Park and FM was taking over the airwaves. From 1964 through 1974, WARM was a constant companion that helped me get through the time I had to spend away from the Lake Wallenpaupack area. I'm glad I was young during those times!
When I'm at the Lake now I listen to the "new" WARM. I think that's what got me started on this rant. Anyway, thanks for reading this!

Scott Smith

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #569

PHOTO INDEX: THE HITS OF 1966.

WARM ANNUAL COUNTDOWN

One of the most anticipated events of the Christmas season was the year end countdown of the WARM Top 40 of the year. Usually hosted by Ron Allen, the WARM Top 40 hits of the year was a compilation of listener requests, national record rankings and local samplings from Joe Nardone's Gallery of Sound and the Spruce Record Shop in Scranton and The Square Record Shop in Wilkes Barre. From 1966 and YOU TUBE, the number 33 song in the countdown, Johnny Rivers "Poor Side of Town".

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #570

PHOTO INDEX: MRS. "590 FOREVER", TERRY MCNULTY AND MARY CARRANO, FRIEND OF MY WIFE AND OF COURSE, SANTA PLUS A WARM RADIO ADVERTISING CHRISTMAS PROMOTION FROM 1967.

CHRISTMAS IN WARMLAND

One of the best times of year is Christmas and as a young boy growing up, WARM was a large part of the holiday. Starting on or around the 10th of the month, WARM would begin easing holiday songs into the rotation. Harry West usually played “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “Jingle Bell Rock”. Don Stevens played Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” as George Gilbert played the likes of Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra.
By Christmas Eve, the Christmas music was being played non stop and in addition to the rock and roll favorites were the traditional tunes that were introduced to new generation after generation. After having the Christmas Eve dinner, WARM was put on as reports from NORAD chronicled the visit of Santa to his ultimate destination: WARMLAND, U.S.A.
WARM had contests to for Christmas. One I remember was “Ask Santa and Mother Fletcher”. You sent a card in to Ron Allen and asked him for a gift courtesy of Ronzie and Mother. They only picked one prize and when they announced the winner, Mother Fletcher would say “We have a winner, the person who got this gift was pretty much in need. So we hope you understand and maybe you can get what you want from your own Santa”. As was the case with WARM contests, it was simply and very promotable.
Each year WARM had a Christmas contest and then for the kids a follow up event after the big day as indicated by that concert in the Photo Index with Sam the Sham and Joe Nardone.
I had entered WARM Christmas contests for years before I got into the media. But I was touched by a WARM contest. In the early 90s, my wife won a contest on WARM. It was a shopping spree with then morning man Terry McNulty. Sales Exec Joey Shaver coordinated the event and my wife and a friend went to the WARM Studio where they rode by limo to various stores. Trips to the Lamp Factory Outlet, (we still have the floor lamp in the living room), Sugarman’s in East End (where she got a boom box) a party supply store on the West Side, Kranson’s, a few other places I can’t recall and lunch at “Celestino’s in Dupont, now Mambo Italiano. Joey Shaver waited at each store to accompany the prize winners and introduce them to the store personnel. Mary Ann and her friend Mary had a wide ranging lunch with Terry McNulty where they debated the merits of Frank Sinatra vs. Tony Bennett, as well as revealing that his real name was Anthony. Shortly after McNulty’s death, my wife said to me that after spending time with “The Big Fella” during that day was when she fell totally in love with him.
Many people ask why WARM touched so many people. Sometimes you get the impression that it was the big things but in reality it were the small bits and pieces that made WARM memorable to people. My wife won 14 prizes on that shopping spree that day but as I researched this, we struggled to come up with what she won. We only came up with a few. But we did remember the efficiency of the contest “after the fact”, the attention to detail that made Joey Shaver the best sales executive in this region for more than forty years and the kindness, affability and sincerity of Terry McNulty. There are thousands of stories like this and especially during this Christmas season, it is appropriate to remember WARM Radio and its impact.
From You Tube, a few of the Christmas songs heard on WARM in its heyday.

590 MIGHTY MEMORY #571

PHOTO INDEX: HELP SIGN.

OPERATION CONTACT

The music was upbeat, the jocks were pattering, all was right with the world of WARM until the tragic sounder went over the airwaves. OPERATION: CONTACT was now on the air. An ominous voice intoned, "If you have seen name inserted here please have him call WARM at 822-6161 or 346-4646. This is an emergency." Before the era of cell phones, this modest mode of communication was a hallmark of WARM's public service. You knew when this short announcement came on, there was trouble somewhere, someplace in a family. From a broadcasting standpoint, it was simple to do, free and gave listeners a security blankett that no matter what trouble befell your loved ones, even a disappearance or an emergency, WARM was there for you.