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]. 

WEEU Feedback Journal

This is a particularly unusual piece of radio ephemera from 850 WEEU-AM. Most book sellers list it as trade paperback size; this is a little misleading. Most trade paperbacks are 9" x 6"  mass market paperbacks are "6.75”  x 4.25 wide. These are 8.5" x 5.5" which is exactly the size of the Farmer's Almanac which they are designed to emulate. Various covers include clip art from the 1800s, hex signs, farm animals, and rustic fonts. The 200 and 2001 issues switch to black & white photography; one notably of a man fishing. The 1996 and 1995 issues describes it this way:

"A compendium of facts, fun, recipes, remedies, puzzles and pronouncements as culled from the popular talk show Feedback and radio station WEEU in Reading PA."

I have found images of issues from 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2001. Booksellers and worldcat  list all of those and also the 1998 issue. A single sketchy website flugbereit.com, lists the 2000 issue. Altogether there appear to have been seven issues.

The journal was the work of the host of Feedback, Jack Holcomb. The 2995 issue at least was edited by Charles J. Adams III, who was a also connected to WEEU, and a published author in his own right [LINK].  Mike Faust hosts the program today [LINK]. The program has changed with time of course. Today's topics include: politics, national and state news, and local events... but he hasn't entirely gotten away from gardening, home-remedies, and the melee that is every call-in radio talk show. When Holcomb passed the baton to Faust, WEEU stopped printing the publication.

Holcomb started out as a wee little Ithaca College graduate on WEEU working a 4:00 PM to Midnight shit in October of 1956. He played music and delivered the the news. After 44 years on WEEU, Jack Holcom retired to a quiet corner, Saturdays 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM with a talk show about bird-watching. The show isn't exactly new. Jack has hosted it for decades. Back in the day it broadcast from 11:00 AM to 11:30 AM, Monday thru Friday. From 1965 to 1972 the program was called "The WEEU, Birdwatching Society", then he re-named it simply "Birdtalk."  The modern incarnation is called "Jack’s Backyard".

DJ Ray Myers

Raymond Robert Myers was born in 1911 in Lancaster, PA. He was steel guitar player who performed on radio around the region. He was the fifth in a family of nine children and started in music in high school with the trombone then harmonica, only later transitioning to a Hawaiian steel guitar.

He began playing it at local events in churches and amateur contests. With the toes of his left foot he held a steel bar to note the frets and with his right foot he held a custom pick to strum the strings. Did I mention he had no arms?

Playing guitar with your feet has a certain way of attracting attention and though his mother had avoided putting him on a side show,  in 1933 he contacted Robert L. Ripley and in short order Ray was performing at the World's Fair in Chicago, IL. More here.

He returned home to where his family now lived in Paradise, PA. Local radio station in Lancaster, WGAL-AM gave him a slot where he continued to do programs remotely for Ripley which were nationally syndicated on NBC. At the time Ripley was the host of The Baker's Broadcast from 1935 to 1937. A performer from the WWVA-AM Jamboree named Cowboy Loye Pack heard Myers and wrote him a letter. Two weeks later Ray sang his first song on WWVA in Wheeling, VA.

His performances on WWVA spread his fame as a novelty musician in ways that the side-show Ripley program couldn't.  Next year, 1938 found Ray playing on WEEU-AM in Reading, PA with Uncle Jack Nelson into 1940. In 1939 he had a short stint at WHAS-AM in Louisville, KY but returned to Reading within months. But he went on to perform on WSVA-AM in Harrisonburg, VA, WKBN-AM in Youngstown, Ohio and WCHS-AM in Charleston , WV. Some of those dates he played with Radio Dot and Smokey. IN 1943 he had his own show again, this time on WHIS in Bluefield, WV. He remained there less than a year before returning to Pennsylvania. His own mother gave an account of his touring and is the primary source for that information here.

The trail goes cold for almost a decade but Myers had a daily show over radio station WPDX-AM  in Clarksburg, WV as a trio with the Mays Brothers and Cindy Coy. It is probably the same group known as the "Cindy Coy Trio" on WILE-AM in Cambridge, OH in 1949. They signed to Donnett Hit Records that year and were never heard from again. Myers is known to have been playing on WLAC in Nashville as late as 1963. He died in Gordonville, PA, in May 1986.

Rev H.B. Rittenhouse on the Radio

Rittenhouse is a name that resonates in Philadelphia. Rittenhouse Square is one of five Philadelphia parks originally planned by William Penn and his surveyor Thomas Holme. Originally called Southwest Square, Rittenhouse Square was renamed in 1825 after David Rittenhouse. Rev. H.B. Rittenhouse may or may not be related to the above. But I suspect he is. Regardless, his surname certainly wouldn't have hurt his prospects in radio. No surprise then he broadcast on at least nine different radio stations.

His book of gospel songs above mentions no call letters. H.B. had no home station of his own. He leased time where he could find it and advertised in local newspapers. One article describes him as preaching at the Church Of The Nazarene in Hagerstown, MD.  A movie-radio program guide from July of 1942, lists him on 930 WFMD-AM on Saturday the 11th at 3:15 PM and again at 8:00 PM. He did a Monday through Friday slot on WFMD at 7:3- AM. The same document lists him at 8:00 AM simultaneously on WFMD-AM, 1090 WBAL-AM and 850 WEEU-AM. He also was working at 1300 WFBR-AM on Wednesdays. The January issue of the same magazine also has him on 550 WSVA-AM.


A 1942 program listing [here] lists him on 1450 WWDC-AM on Saturday October 10th at 11:15 PM. I also discovered a single clipping that he broadcast on WIBG-AM in 1945. Today WIBG lives in South Jersey on 1020. But back in the 1940s, it was on 990 in Philadelphia. Today WNTP occupies that slot on the dial. A 1943 issue of the Frederick News Post wrote "Rev. H. B. Rittenhouse Everyday 1:00 - 2:00 P. M. 1240 On Your Dial." The calls aren't listed but then or now it'd be WJEJ-AM.

In 1960 he married Andy and Betty DeWitt, he was her uncle. He appears to have settled in Friendsville, PA in the 1970s. His name appears in numerous obituaries alive and officiating. I'm certain it was him as he officiated the funeral of Theodore Coddington in the same town in 1974, and Claudine M. McCullough in 1977, in 1985 at the funeral of Ritchey J. Kahl, and Cleda Blanche Coddington in 1989. His wife, Betty Rittenhouse died in 2007 at the age of 81.

Professor Schnitzel Live On Air!

Some coincidences in radioland are just utterly baffling.  There have been two different men who played a character named "Professor Schnitzel" on the radio at different times and places. Both milked a faux Dutch-German accent and behaved like a rural yokel. They have no connection whatsoever and their careers were separated by about 2,800 miles and two decades. There is no reason to think that either was ever aware of the other. One played the character in the late 1920s, on the west coast. The other in the mid-1950s through early 60s in central Pennsylvania. (One could argue that Larry the Cable guy does his own updated version today.)


The first man to portray the character on air was Clarence Coleman. He was a realtor in San Francisco before the great depression.  He created the character "Professor Herman Schnitzel" in 1927 for a bit on the program "Blue Monday Jamboree" which aired  on KFRC-AM. You can see a group photo from the program here.  The program debuted on January 10th 1927 as a 15 minute short and continued to run weekly. It popularity was such that by February it was 2 hours long. They were scrambling for content to fill the time. 

By June of 1930, the program was syndicated across the entire Don Lee Network, and by the end of the year, it was syndicated nationally on CBS. It's emcee was Harrison Holliway. But Clarence Coleman never worked the character into a regular on the Blue Monday Jamboree. Around 1929 he performed the same character on KYA-AM and even the ABC Western Network. More here

The second Professor Schnitzel was played by Theodore L. Rickenbach. He was a Pennsylvania native and grew up in Reading, PA. He did mostly live comedy and is best known for a series of five 45-rpm comedy discs that were recorded for Butch Records from 1961 to 1968. He also did an LP in 1964 that recycles some of that material. You can see his discography here.

Rickenbach started a radio career in 1932 with the program "Schnitz and Earl." Earl was Earl Shappel on WEEU-AM.  In 1950 he changed co-hosts, needing a classic straight-man and the program became "Professor Schnitzel and Al," with co-host Allen Lane on WHUM-AM Radio. They worked 6 days a week, Monday through Saturday starting at 6:00 AM. He died in July of 1969 in his hotel room. More here and here.

The Philco Radio Dial tells All

This is a picture of a nice old Philco I saw at a yard sale. What's interesting about old radio dial presets is that you can use them to determine where the radio came from, and how old it is even without the model number of the radio. The stations listed here are  WOR, WEEU, KYW, WHUM and WRAW.

From even that short list we can limit our time line. 710 WOR-AM signed on in 1922, and is still on air so that's not useful. They encompass the entire consumer-grade history of radio. KYW-AM is in the same bucket. At first I thought WHUM was actually WHOM, but there was actually a WHUM in reading, PA. WHUM-AM changed calls to WAGO-AM in late 1986 and then WIOV-AM in  about 1990. So we know this device had to have been set up prior to at least the mid 1980s. Seems late but you'd be surprised.

The real  deal closers are WEEU and WRAW. There is a 1340 WRAW-AM in Reading today; where they have been since before 1950. WEEU has a tenure in reading just as long.  So what we have here are two clear channels stations audible anywhere in the north east (KYW, and WOR) and three much smaller AM stations providing local service to the Reading area. I'm pretty confident this radio spend most of it's life on a kitchen table in Reading probably prior to 1960.

Transcription Mystery Disc #158

This 8-inch Recordisc is a recording is very quiet and has some splits along some inner grooves, but it is in otherwise great condition and the bed noise is quite low. It's a recording of a radio broadcast by Willis Meyers and the Bar X Ranch Boys. The opening song is a guitar and vocal harmony duet of "Bluetail Fly." The song dates back to at least 1840, but this recording spins at 33 rpm which dates it definitively to after 1948. This is the second time that I've found a home recording of this song. The first time was way back in February of 2011 here.

Willis Meyers and the Bar X Ranch Boys


At the end of the first song at about 2:05 the guitarist keeps on strumming but they begin conversing about their upcoming appearances. They're playing at Arts Auction in Lehigh, the Millway Ford dealership, the new Eagles home In Pottstown, a highschool near Harrisburg, Hampton's Auction Ground in Birdsboro, a grand opening in York Pennsylvania and then they shout out to the newly wedded Mr. and Mrs. Lester Miller of Reading, PA.

The second track is "I bought a Rock for a Rocky Mountain Gal" which I think was an original by Wilf Carter. That was recorded in 1940, supporting my original date. It's followed by more chatter (at 5:15)starting with a shout out to their sponsor Larry's Electrical Sales and Service at 308 Courtland Avenue, Lansdale, PA. He refers to a specific model of GE TV, the Black Daylight Television. That dates the recording to1950 or later further narrowing the date.

They follow that with a short version of Freight Train Boogie by The Delmore Brothers, and chatter a bit more as the bed noise over takes the audio. They make some reference to playing at 5:00 - 5:30 Monday through Saturday. Billboard further confirms the date and place with a notice in 1947 that the band is performing on WEEU-AM, Reading and WSAN-AM Allentown and WNAR-AM Norristown.In 1946 Billboard listed them only playing Saturdays on WNAR so clearly they had done well in the interim.  I also ripped side B, you can hear the station ID at about 2:40.

Side B

Rushing Clear Channel

I recently read that Clear Channel(specifically CC Media Holding) reported a Q4 loss of $191.3 million for 2013. Compare that to their Q4 loss in 2012 of $43 million. In that same period, Clear Channel Outdoor reported a loss of $148.4 million. The rest of the year as not kind to them. For all of 2012, the company posted a loss of $424 million, compared to a $302 million loss in 2011.  [Source here] Liberal blogs jumped all over this with some dubious math blaming Rush Limbaugh. I'm no fan of his program but the link is dubious.

The connection they use is his salary. In 2008 Rush signed an 8 year contract for about $400 million. That's not his annual salary, that's his total gross revenue under the deal. He's not earning 50 million per year. He received a signing bonus of 100 million. So (300 ÷ 8 =37.5). His prior deal signed in 2001 was worth $285 million. So Rush landed a 35% raise with his renewal. But in the interval Clear Channel had some problems. Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital took Clear Channel private in 2008 and in the process racked up 200 million in debt. 

Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman was quoted as saying “We are very pleased with our Company's progress in strengthening our businesses over the past year, and we look forward to continuing our momentum into 2013...”  I would not be nearly as optimistic after losing 700 million dollars. Moody's estimates that they will be in the hole 16 billion by 2016. Currently they are proposing selling their debt as notes for a total of $500 million that would be due in 2021. Ouch. Their problem is not overpaid talent, it's compound interest on debt.

It's just not accurate to suggest that dropping Limbaugh is a solution to this problem. His ad revenue is probably down, but he's not a money-loser. Despite the efforts of some activist groups such as StopRush, his program rolls on. The focus on his advertisers is savvy, but it doesn't hurt Rush personally. It hurts Premier radio Networks and the radio networks that carry his program such as Clear Channel and Cumulus. But none of those companies release quarterly numbers on ad revenue tied to his program and it's certainly not to their benefit to do so.

I was in Amish country recently and I found that at 2:00 PM I could hear Rush at 5 different spots on my radio dial: 910 WSBA-AM, 580 WHP-AM, 790 WAEB-AM, 830 WEEU-AM , and 1390 WLAN-AM. Those originate in York, Harrisburg, Allentown, Reading and Lancaster respectively. Those were just the ones that came in clearly on a car radio. A total of 600 affiliates still carry his show, nationally. So despite the price tag, those ad revenues are probably well into the black. I would expect that in 2016 when his contract runs out that Rush will have to take a haircut. But in the interim I don't expect any changes.

DJ Shorty Long

Despite their name, it's doubtful that Shorty Long his Santa Fe Rangers ever went to Sante Fe, let alone New Mexico. He was born in 1923, and in 1939 studied violin at the Conservatory of Rome. His real name was  Emidio Vagnoni, but that didn't roll off the tongue of country music fans so he went with a stage name.  Almost his entire country music career seems to have occurred locally in Berks country Pennsylvania. Shorty played the violin the accordion, and sing, just not all three at once.

He was with radio station WEEU-AM in Reading from about 1946 into 1955. He also recorded a couple sides for Cowboy Records and one for Decca, . I found a note in Billboard in 1945 noting that he left WFIL-AM and was being succeeded by the Sleepy Hollow Ranch Gang, because he was departing for The National Barn Dance. The program aired on WLS-AM. It was a big deal. He parlayed those appearances in Chicago into a deal with Victor records in 1949. ON the career upswing he also played New York City's Paramount Theatre with the Foy Willing Trio on the Andrew Sisters' "Eight-To-The-Bar Ranch Show".  While he was in Chicago he also appeared on the WSIL-AM Hayloft Hoedown. More here.

But it didn't last forever.  Record reviews described his cuts as novelties, somewhat dismissively. In 1950 he was touring with other second stringers like Little Jimmy Dickens and appearing on the Hillbilly Matinee on 870 WGTL-AM in Kannapolis, NC... a city so small it remained  unincorporated until 1984. He did vocals on a single for MGM with the "Blacksmith Blues" with art Mooney in 1952, another novelty. Ella Mae Morse cut the same single that year and her version charted at #3. His didn't. The same year King records released a duet with his wife Dolly Dimples titled "Hillbilly wedding, yet another novelty. More here.

Shorty Long returned to his hometown of Reading, PA and his live show on WEEU around 1952.  In 1955 he took on a regular program on WPAZ-AM in Pottstown, PA while still playing on WEEU. His new  show ran 2 hours a day and 3 on Sundays just spinning records.His show ran at least until 1954. that year he made a special appearance at a polio jamboree on WCOJ-AM in Coatesville. In 1955 he went back to RCA Victor, not just as talent, but as an assistant to A&R director Steve Sholes. In 1956 he did music for a Broadway Play called 'Most Happy Fella" it was not country, not even a tiny bit.  He kept making music into the 1970s and then retired. He died in 1991 at the age of 67. Over the years his name was repeatedly usurped diminishing his brand. An R&B artist using the same name cut "Function Junction" in 1966, and "Here Come the Judge" in 1968. Today there's a midget using the name, I kid you not. I think he'd have been amused.