WAEB Playlists 1960

 

I've written about 790 WAEB-AM once before. That was a post about to the Gene Kaye show. But WEAB has come up in passing at least half a dozen times. [LINK] Recently I found a stack of 1960s Record surveys. It lists the top 40 records and what's unusual is that this set is sequential. I have April 18th through May 16th of 1960. It's interesting when you read though it because Percy Faith "theme From A Summer Place" was #1 on Billboard for the year and it's not on the chart at all. But #2 Jim Reeves "He'll Have to Go" and #3 The Everly Brothers "Cathy's Clown" both place. You can compare the 1960 top 100 Billboard singles here [SOURCE]  I also scanned the surveys and uploaded them for your reading pleasure.  

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THEME HERE 

The back of each survey had the24-hour WAEB weekday schedule printed on the back. I typed that out here just to make this more searchable. From a 1964 schedule we can see that many of these DJs were still on WAEB 4 years later. The list then would be Jay "Jumpin' Jay" Sands, Ernie Stiegler, Gene "Jivin' Gene" Kaye, Joe "Tiger Joe" McLaine, Gary "Daddy G" Levine, and Perry "Merry Perry" Allen.  Let's delve into the bioagraphies of the 1960s crew. 

TIME	SHOW	HOST
6:00 - 9:00 AM	Clock Watchers	Kerm Gregory, Nedd Flemming
9:00 - 11:00 AM	Toast & Coffee	Ernie Stiegler
1100 - 2:00 PM	Flemming & Co	Nedd Flemming
2:00 - 3:00 PM	Hits for the Mrs.	Joe McLaine
3:00 - 5:00 PM	Discapades	Kerm Gregory
5:00 - 6:00 PM	Discapades	Gene Kaye
6:00 - 6:30 PM	News / Spotlight On Sports	Jay Sands/Ernie Steigler
6:30 - Midnight	Paging The Stars	Gene Kaye,  Joe McLaine
Midnight - 6:00 AM	All Night Show	Bud Nerr

Kermit L. Gregory - Kerm graduated from Muhlenberg college in 1951, meaning he may have been a DJ on the original closed cable iteration of WMUH as it started in 1948 at 640 AM. Gregory began his radio career as an announcer with WHOL in Allentown and joined WAEB in 1955. He went to WILK in Wilkes-Barre in 1962 as program director. From 1971 to 1982, Gregory was operations manager of KEZL in San Diego. While a WAEB disc jockey, he was the first host for Castle Rock at Castle Garden in Dorney Park as a summer attraction in 1956. He had actually returned to radio in the Lehigh Valley at WKAP in 1983 after a 20 California detour. By 1985 he was back at WAEB doing that Dorney park gig again but the Dorney park dance hall burned down the following November. He died in 1992 at the age of 58 in Cajon, CA. 

Nedd Flemming - Back in 1953 Nedd was the Sports Director on WEST in Easton, PA. Nedd was with WAEB at least as early as 1956. Broadcasting announced his promotion that year. Cash Box recording his move away from the mic in 1960. "Kerm Gregory, five year veteran of WAEB-Allentown, Pa., is now the station’s program director, replacing Nedd Flemming, who’ll devote more time to sales." 

Ernie Stiegler - Ernie died in 1990 at the age of 64. Actually a graduate of the University of Florida he was a sports broadcaster in college at 850 WRUF-AM, though multiple stations carried the university live sports feed. He hosted “Toast and Coffee” for year and became assistant manager eventually retiring in 1969 to go into advertising. 

Joe McLaine - Like many of these DJs he's named in passing in the book Masterpiece in Progress by Jeff Steinberg back in 1986. He's mentioned in Cash Box in 1959 at WAEB [SOURCE] running a contest. But in 1958 Broadcasting names him at another area station "  JOE McLAINE, formerly with WEEU Reading, Pa., as d.j., joins WHOL in similar capacity..."  So we know he went from WEEU then to WHOL, then WAEB. The 1966 edition of the Working Press directory lists him still at WEAB alongside  Jay sanders, Ernie Steigler, Gene Kaye, and Bobby Dee. 

James "Jay Sands" Sidoti - Sidoti is an Italian surname if you were wondering. He was a local guy from Eastson, PA. His radio career began in 1951 at WEEX in Easton, PA. But he had actually taken a radio training course at the New York School of Radio Technique in 1950. He  later worked at WGPA in Bethlehem. He first got into WAEB to do news in 1957 eventually becoming news director.  In 1963 he became program manager.  His "clockwatcher" radio show was popular in the Lehigh Valley from 1957 to 1971. He worked in TV sales and service and works some slots at WSAN and two years at WKAP in the early 1970s. He went back to WAEB and hosted the Gold Mine Club on WAEB from 1980 to 1987.  He died in 1987 at the age of 57.

Gene Kaye - Article here. 

Bud Nerr  - Bud seems to have had a short career in radio. Bud Nerr pops up on these surveys in the Spring of 1960 and in one issue of Cash Box in 1959 next to Al Martino in a group shot [SOURCE]. 

Breakfast at Sardi's

September 1948 was a pivotal moment in the career of Jack McElroy, and it didn't go well.  But let's start there at the peak, the ABC-TV report on 1948 mentions McElroy and he gets a half page headshot on page 49 between Erwin Canham and Louella Parsons. [SOURCE]  

"All radio was saddened early last year by the sudden death of Tom Breneman, beloved host of Breakfast in Hollywood. A radio institution, Breneman had gained a reputation as a premier showman and it is in the same tradition of show business that his program continues on the ABC network as a cooperative feature with Jack McElroy at the helm."

The New York Times wrote about the change on September 12th that year with more detail and invoking a third name. 

"Jack McElroy, who has been singing on the show and helping out generally, will step into the top position as successor to Garry Moore in running "Breakfast in Hollywood," the program of the late Tom Breneman on WJZ-ABC at 11 A. M. daily. Mr. McElroy will take over on Tuesday. The program will move into the 2 P. M. time with the broadcast of Oct. 4, when Kay Kyser's new program starts in the morning period." 

Breakfast in Hollywood was a morning radio show created and hosted by Breneman. He hosted it from 1941 to 1948 but on three different radio networks at different times: NBC Blue, ABC and Mutual (kinda). When it debuted in January of 1941, newspapers referred to the program as "Breakfast at Sardi's", named for the working restaurant from which the program was broadcast. That first version of the show also two regulars who were staff the hostess, Nell Olson and Bobby Batuga, the Maitre d'. This first version of the show was only 30 minutes long and broadcast from KFWB. 

After it got going, there were two shows every weekday at Sardi's. At 8:00 AM they did a live broadcast to the East Coast, airing at 11:00 AM EST. Then breakfast was served and a second show, heard live in the West, began at 9:30 PST. There was no script, just Breneman asking everyday people questions and taking in the occasional celebrity guest. It was so popular it spawned a copy cat program on Mutual "Luncheon at Sardi’s." That broadcast on WOR from a different, unrelated Sardi's in New York City with a different different, unrelated host, Bill Slater. (More on that another day.) That original building still stands today but it's been a strip club since 1971.

On August 3rd, 1942 the program was picked up by NBC Blue and the program moved to Radio City at 1539 North Vine Street. This site, [LINK] claims that Breneman bought the building and the Hollywood Roof Ballroom next door in 1938, converting them into a radio studio and Tom Breneman’s Hollywood Restaurant. There may be something to it, but 1938 is before the radio program even started at Sardis. (Breneman was also only the "honorary" mayor of Encono. Nice try AI.) I think they just have the year wrong. I also remember that address coming up once before in reference to the Radio Room, cafe. [LINK]  (If you look at this 1948 photo you can see both signs.)

1539 North Vine Street in 1948

These sources are all slightly wrong. The Hollywood restaurant opened initially at 1525 N. Vine St. [SOURCE] In 1945, the Blue Network rebranded as the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). Then in December of 1947 The Hollywood restaurant expanded next door to 1539 Vine, the former Empire nightclub. Four months later in April 1948, Breneman died of a heart attack. There are pictures of the line out front on April 28th learning there would be no show that day. He died 2 hours before show time. [SOURCE]  His name was replaced on the marquee with the words: American Broadcasting Company. You can use these signage changes to date pictures. 

Tom Breneman was born in 1900 and raised in Wayneboro, PA. He later attended Columbia University. He started in vaudeville, and in 1927 he became program director at 1020 KFVD-AM in Culver City, CA. In 1929 he starred in a radio comedy series called
Tom 'n' Wash in which he played three characters. From 1931–1932, he used the on-air name Tom Brennie, and hosted "Laugh Club of the Air" on NBC in New York. A 1931 issue of Radio Digest lists the syndication: WJZ, WBAL, WFAA, WIOD, WGN and KOA. That expanded from there. You can listen to a souvenir album with Breneman hosting here.

Tom "Brennie", Radio Digest Jan 1932

His earlier program, Laugh Club was a show with audience participation, and even Billboard called it "one of the very first." So in that way it prefigures Breakfast at Sardi's. I found a 1932 entry in Broadcasting magazine which refers to his latest program the “Tom and Wash Laugh Club.” I don't think that was a formal name, just a confused press release.  [SOURCE] Breneman's obituary reports that he later returned to Hollywood and managed two radio stations and then went to San Francisco in a similar capacity." Those would have been KFVD again and it's sister station KFAC. Those stations were part of the CBS/Don Lee network at the time. In 1937, Breneman he became the host of "Secret Ambition" at KNX. 

Breneman was only 46 years old. Before that fateful day in 1948, the ABC radio series had gone by the name “Breakfast In Hollywood”. After the death of Breneman, Jack McElroy took over.  The format remained largely the same, with a lot of Q&A with the general public. I know it's weird but I suspect that ABC didn't understand why the audience loved Breneman, and picked McElroy because he looked like Breneman; a friendly Lou Costello figure.  Sadly, it didn't work, but you can hear a continuity between the program and later television talk shows like Steve Allen, Jack Paar, even Letterman. 

July 12th 1949 Promo

Without Breneman the chemistry didn't work, and the ratings dropped. I know that ABC booklet says that Jack McElroy took over directly but it's not true. Garry Moore stepped into the role first, and he quit by July 1948. Moore was doing six shows a week for "Breakfast in Hollywood" as well as his regular spot on "Take It or Leave It." When the New York Times reported the change on July 13th, they had not even named a successor. [SOURCE] Consequently the pictures of Garry hosting the program are few. One AP News feature on Moore stated "Unlike Breneman, Garry doesn't kiss the ladies or wear their hats. He has his own line of gags." Cliff Arquette took over briefly followed by John Nelson, Nelson left to host the TV version of Bridge and Groom. Then they tapped Jack McElroy.  Supposedly Arch Presby was also host at one point but I've never been able to corroborate that. 

Jack McCoy NBC Radio Trading card #3 (1953)

McElroy's tenure lasted until the program ended on July 6, 1951. ABC attempted a revival as "Welcome To Hollywood" which debuted on NBC in 1952. Jack McCoy hosted the attempted Saturday morning reboot. Don Rickles was the announcer. Sometimes that's erroneously cited as McElroy again. I found one source that reports George Jessell was the host, in 1953. that might have been a fill-in.  It wrapped permanently in 1954. McCoy died in 1991.

Before Breakfast in Hollywood, Nelson and McElroy were probably best known for an ABC program, "Bride and Groom" where Elroy was a singer and announcer. John Nelson was the program's host. Bride and Groom had an audience participation component which is probably what made NBC think it would work. It ran from November 26, 1945, to September 15, 1950. An obituary in the Circleville Herald says that McElroy was a singer in his hometown of Pittsburgh, KS. His career ourtide these two shows is not well documented. He was born in 1913 and died in 1959 of lung cancer at the age of 45. Arquette later went on to a strange type of fame on Hollywood Squares. He died in 1974 at the age of 68.

DJ Laurence Cockaday

Laurence Cockaday, about 1931

Laurence Marsham Cockaday, what a name. (Sometimes it was written incorrectly as Lawrence.) That poor guy must have been picked on as a kid. He was born in 1894 in Greenville, NJ. So he would have been about 28 in 1922 and 37 in the image above where he looks oddly nervous. Cockaday was an engineer but also a writer, teacher and inventor. But there is one event in his history which raised his profile to the national level. He was a key person behind a 1922 live radio concert broadcast which was heard by likely more than a million people, helping to popularize the medium. More here.

We have mostly general biographical information on Cockaday. Around 1917 he was an electrical engineer for the New York Interborough Railroad (IRT). A 1923 issue of Popular Radio states that Cocakday instructed in radio theory on the U.S. Training ship Granite State in 1918. He filed his first patent in 1919.  In 1921 he was involved in the broadcast of a Jack Dempsey title fight [SOURCE]. That prefigures his later, more notable broadcast.

By 1922 he was one of the three founders of Popular Radio Magazine with E.E. Free and K. Banning. At the same time the L. M. Cockaday & Company sold radio components out of his Bronx apartment at 2674 Bailey Ave. It was renamed Superadio Corp. around 1921. [SOURCE] Then he went on to authorized Silver-Marshall and Precision Coil to make is radios like the LC-26 and LC-27.  Rich Post (kb8tad) wrote a feature on Lafayette Radio in 2012 which mentions Cockaday. [SOURCE] More here.

I also discovered that in adition to his magazine articles, Cockaday authored several books: Radio-Telephony For Everyone (1922) and 23 Lessons in Radio (1931) Radio Experimenters' Handbook (1932) and two others he co-authored Short-Wave Handbook with Walter Holze (1933) and How To Build Your Radio Receiver with Kendall Banning (1924).  The latter two there were reprinted in the 1990s by Lindsay Publications. He also wrote many pamphlets on the assembly, operation, and repair of his own and other makes of radios.

K. Banning, L.M. Cockaday with QSL cards

Cockaday even appears in the Library of Congress (LOC) photography catalog in four images [SOURCE] These images are poorly labeled. Three identify some of people and a rough date of between 1920 and 1925. He poses with Banning (above) and or Dr. Edward Elway Free. One however specifically states August 1922, and that it's of the first live radio broadcast of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra from the stadium of the College of the City of New York. 

The image titled "Radio At Stadium" taken in contest with the one from 1922 it can only be from the same event at Lewisohn Stadium. It's clean doric-style columns are very identifiable. Built in 1913 it hosted thousands of free concerts. (It's a damn shame they let it rot) The New York Philharmonic left the venue for Lincoln Center in 1964 and the building  was demolished in 1973. The New York Philharmonic website repeats the 1922 claim but without a precise date. [SOURCE]

"In 1922 the Philharmonic was one of the first symphony orchestras to broadcast a concert over the radio, and in 1930 became the first American orchestra to broadcast regularly coast-to-coast. Many of these radio broadcasts still exist in the Archives today and are available to visitors."

These images in the Library of Congress (LOC)  all appear to be from the George Grantham Bain Collection. I've also found other Bain collection images of Cockaday which seem to be missing from the LOC. They may have been omitted deliberately, or just mislabeled. 

Radio At Stadium

The New York Times lists regular broadcasts from Lewisohn in 1926 [SOURCE] on WJZ and WRC. But it also notes that Willem Van Hoogstraten has been the main conductor  since 1922 which corroborates his presence on that first 1922 broadcast. The book The Mighty Music Box also states August but not a date. The book On The Spot Reporting does as well. Many websites cite the date of the broadcast as occurring on August 12, 1922 over WJZ in New York, with Hoogstraten conducting but cites no source. The book History of Radio to 1926 by Gleason Archer gives the date as August 24th. Presumably there are conflicting sources. However, they are all wrong and/or incomplete. 

As Free, Banning and Cockaday were all editors at Popular Radio you might expect good coverage of their own event.  [SOURCE] Well, let me tell you... The feature article was huge. It was in the October 1922 issue and stretched from page 130 to 137 and even includes diagrams of the telephone exchange system. (below)

Telephone exchange for WJZ broadcast

The feature specifically states that the concerts were broadcast for five evenings, starting Friday, August 11th, skipping Sunday then resuming on Monday the 13th, continuing Tuesday 14th, through Wednesday the 16th, of 1922. Using a single Westinghouse microphone set up by Harry Hiller and William Frazier they picked up the audio and piped it to WJZ across the river in New Jersey who broadcast it on 833 kHz. WJZ had only signed on in September of 1921, so this was only weeks before it's first anniversary. Supposedly more than a million people tuned in. 

Cockaday and Banning, 1924

On Nov. 14th, 1924 he gave a lecture at the Annual Detroit Radio Show. By 1927 Cockaday sat on the advisory board for WGL. [SOURCE] He was the Technical Editor of the New York Herald Tribune around 1930.  The Journal of the Acoustic Society of America lists him as a member in 1935 with the address 461 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY; this may not have been a real residential address. That same address is used by many publications, labs and businesses. Today it's a Brooklyn parking lot.

In 1935 the book Making a Living In Radio by Zeh Bouck, Cockaday was listed as the Editor of Radio News. A 1938 issue of Radio & Television gives his Ham calls as W2JCY.  Those calls appear to have been assigned in 1936. The Radio Amateur Callbook put it in bold print with the address 547 Second Ave. Pelham, NY. But it also lists his old calls as 2AAK, 2AE, 2OG, and 2XK. The last reference to his W2JCY call sign was in 1966, [SOURCE] though the Radio Amateur Callbook puts it in the hands of Murray Goldberg by 1953. Cockada may have give up ham radio as early as 1941. I don't see entries between those dates. His 2OG calls go back to at least 1913 at the address 227 Audubon Pl, Brooklyn, NY.

From 1930 to at least 1937 Cockaday taught at New York University. One source reports that he enlisted in the US Navy in 1940, but Radio magazine calls him a Lieutenant Commander in 1937 as does the 1925 Yearbook of American Military Engineers. A U.S. Naval Academy register lists him as a Captain in 1947 in the department of Electrical Engineering. He retired with that title in 1957. There the record stops: no DXing, no teaching, no lecturing, no new patents, no writings. Cockaday died in 1986 in Rockville, MD. In a 1924 article by Don Herold he was asked "What do you like best about radio, Mr. Çockaday?" He responded "The bedtime stories..." 

The Midnight Jamboree WEVD (part 2)

Gene King, left. very camera shy.

In 2012 I wrote an article about the Midnight Jamboree which debuted on 1300 WEVD-AM in 1936. I did not expect I would need to write a Part 2 at the time. I used the sources I had available at the time and it felt fairly complete. A recent comment from a reader [HERE] pointed out that personal letters between Ev Suffens (stage name for Raymond Nelson) and writer Ayn Rand, describe Suffens as the host of Midnight Jamboree. The problem is that multiple sources also name Gene King as the host. Someone on the internet was wrong, and it might be me; so I revisited the subject.

Back in 2012 I rarely cited sources. It seemed unnecessary with informal writing like a blog.  It was my readers questions (and even researchers questions) which drove me to cite sources initially for my own use. I think my original source was the Arnold Passman book The DeeJays. [SOURCE] It does not specifically say that King is the host but Passman refers to the program as Gene King's; full apostrophe S. In 1942 the Ohio state University Monthly [SOURCE] specifically stated:

"...[King] started announcing for WEVD, became after a time, chief announcer and conducted the tremendously popular "Midnight Jamboree," New York's all-night recorded music program, to which an estimated 300,000 turned for nocturnal entertainment."

The Chief Announcer claim is corroborated in the 1939 Radio Annual. [SOURCE] The book Music in the Air also lists him as the host. "New York contemporaries of Symphony Sid included Gene King, whose Midnight Jamboree on WEVD (Eugene V. Debs) featured
current bands and vocalists..." [SOURCE]

Gene King, probably U. Ohio grad pic

The earliest I can place King by citation, at WEVD, was August of 1937. He's named, alongside Bill Resnick as station staff in an issue of Billboard. [SOURCE] This aligns pretty well with the date from that Ohio State publication stating that he was in Spain "..when the Franco revolt broke out..." that would be July 1936. That's a good source but I had more.  The UC Law Journal of Race and Economics [SOURCE] mentioned King at WEVD in a foot note referencing a New York Daily News article in November of 1939. Maybe the most important citation I found is Broadcasting Vol. 19, No. 8 of October 1940 [SOURCE] which specifically states:

"Gene King has resigned as conductor of the daily program Jamboree on WEVD, New York, from midnight to 4 a.m. to preside over a daily record series on WOR, Newark, entitled Danceland, which started Oct. 14, 3-3:30 p.m"

 

So it's clear that Gene King was the host of the Midnight Jamboree for a period of time, starting in 1936 and ending in 1940. But we also know the program ran into 1942, so clearly King was not the only host. Was he the first? 

The first Ayn Rand letter to Ev Suffens is dated April 6th. [SOURCE] Notably this is before King returned from Europe. Dismuke.org cites this as well. [SOURCE] But the answer is back in those Ayn Rand letters. In her June 10th letter [SOURCE] she complains about the new announcer of the Midnight Jamboree. She does not name him, but does criticize his playing of Jazz. (Gasp!)  So Ed Suffens was only the host prior to June of 1936. How much earlier did the program begin?

The Daily Worker reported the radio schedule of WEVD, WEAF, WOR, WABC, and WJZ daily from 1924 through 1936. So in reviewing those schedules, we can say with confidence that February 20th, 1936 was the first episode of the Midnight Jamboree. [SOURCE] Prior to that time, the midnight slot was held by a dance program, and usually preceded by an opera program. Ev Suffens was only host from February to June of 1936, a period of about 6 months. 

The DJ name Ev Suffens only appears rarely outside in the letter of Ayn Rand. The name appears in Variety in October of 1933 as the former director of the Provincetown Playhouse, then launching a drama and Opera studio. [SOURCE]. Then in the 1938 Radio Annual he's listed as the chief announcer at WEVD. [SOURCE] He seems to stop using the name after that. But a Raymond E. Nelson starts directing TV programs in the early 1940s and that may be him. That Ray Nelson later became the VP of the NTA film network. 

But who then was hosting the Midnight Jamboree after King left in 1940? There is a little disambiguation. There was a Gene King at KCTO in Columbia, LA in the late 1960s and another at WPCH in 1932. [SOURCE] Neither of these is our Gene King. King went on to WOR, and then WCOP as reported in Part 1. After King left the program, it's profile declined significantly. You might think it ended but for two references... 

One of the last references to the Midnight Jamboree was in a September 1942 issue of Broadcasting Magazine. [SOURCE] It does not name the host. It's also mentioned in Radio Daily. [SOURCE] They both probably got the same press release for Carl Post's piano gig on the show. But a 1941 issue of Billboard lists the host as David Niles.

 "Those stayer-uppers who tune into Station WEVD here for the nightly dance music kicks offered by the titularly swing-tinted Midnight Jamboree must think they have the wrong wave-length, unless they're used to the clever introduction given the show by its conductor, David Niles, who is also the station's chief announcer."

I had thought that was the end of it but a 1958 issue of Downbeat lists the show still on air. [SOURCE] The formerly 4-hour weeknight program had become just a 3-hour Sunday special. In1947, Ernest Tubb's Midnite Jamboree on WSM had overshadowed it, absconding with the name. David Niles obituary in the New York times [SOURCE] states that he started his career on WMCA in 1933 after a career in the stage and silent movies. He was the chief announcer at WEVD for 37 years. Sources confirm his presence at the station well into the 1960s. Billboard describes him as the News Director in 1966. [SOURCE]

You can hear Niles voice on a transcription disc from 1948. [LINK] Billboard confirms Niles was the Jamboree host, as early as 1940. [SOURCE]  Note that it's absent from this radio schedule [LINK] which otherwise places Niles on a talk program.  I suspect he took the Jamboree over from King directly. But there could have been a gap, and the earliest reference I can cite is this very critical July 1941 quote in Variety. [SOURCE]

"Manhattan has five stations on the air 'till 4 a.m., WHOM, WHN, WEVD, WNEW and WOR. After four o'clock just WNEW and WOR fight it out; WHN quits at three. But it plays the loudest records, positively. If a disk is just wild that's not enough for WHN, it's got to be frantic... Sunday nights David Niles (WEVD) has New York to himself from three to four. And what does he do with it? Nothing. Davey ought to change that maudlin paragraph Introducing his final 15-minutes in which he 'rests, relaxes, and reminisces.' Hear it twice and it starts to take on a comedy angle, But Davey must like it because he serves it regularly at 3:45."

It seem like Suffens started the Midnight Jamboree, and Gene King built it into a popular jazz-inflected program. Then Niles went back to a very mellow classical playlist. Rand would have been pleased but apparently popular listeners were not.

DJ AJ Fritz

 

Lehigh radio host Alfred Henry Fritzinger Jr., known to many as AJ Fritz. He was the host of the rock radio show “FritzRocks” that began in 1996 on 91.3 WLVR-FM where he won the annual Lehigh Valley Music Award for Best College/Community Radio Personality six consecutive times. More here. 

His program also appears to have been broadcast on WMUH at least in 2023 and 2024 according to Spinitron. At WLVR Fritz had the title "Chief Operator" an unusual title. In 2016 the Radio & cable Industry Guide listed him more simply as Station Manager. Back in 2015 The Lehigh Bulletin [SOURCE] quoted Fritzinger:

“Most college radio stations are run by outside entities, and many college radio stations have sold their licenses... he lifeblood of this station is our students.”

The history of WLVR-FM goes back to 1946, when it was affiliated with the Lehigh student newspaper, The Brown and White. That campus paper, and many other local publications ran Fritzinger's obituary. In 2014 he oversaw tower improvements and a power increase at WLVR from 33 to 200 watts. That increase may not sound like much but it changed the station from a local Bethlehem/Allentown station to one that reached distant suburbs. 170 Meters HAAT can do that.

Born in 1957 in the Lehigh valley, he spent his 20s living in Brooklyn, NY and working at Goldman Sachs.  Fritzinger was on air at the Bethlehem radio stations 1100 WGPA-AM in the 1980s and 96.5 WZZO-FM in the mid-‘90s. But what he was quoted most often about was WLVR. 

 

Fritzinger is a relatively uncommon surname, but I've never found a single trade magazine that mentioned his name, not at WZZO or WGPA or anywhere really other than WLVR. But you can see his Surname in Leigh High School year books from the 1930s. His family has been in the area a long time. Perhaps a distant relative, George Fritzinger owned a dozen radio stations on the west coast including KKOB, KAZN and KFAC. [SOURCE] But I really do hope he's related to George H. Fritzinger, who worked at the "Telediphone Department" under Thomas Edison in the 1930s. [SOURCE]

Fritzinger was a liver transplant recipient in 2013 and died December 31st, 2024.  A memorial was held at Fearless Fire Co. #14 Mach 29th 2026. [LINK]  He was only 67. His family asked that donations be made to The Gift of Life House. [LINK]