New Jersey Shore Trip

Sitting out a rain storm I flipped on the radio in Ocean City, NJ.I did a band scan and was reminded of the fly-over status that New Jersey is stuck with. With radio powerhouse markets on each side of the state they are left with a lot of spill-over.

At the bottom of the dial 88.1 WJPG and 89.9 WJGH simulcast religious talk 24/7. Right now WJGH has a construction permit to bump up the juice form 550 watts to 1500 which would leave the two stations coverage overlapping along the shore line. When I tuned in I could hear both airing some tepid country music. 92.7 WLOM-LP appears to be airing the same program as well but that could have been bleed. A little further up the dial 90.5 WXGN is airing christian rock. They've been on and off air since first constructed in 1996 at Eagle Academy School. The station was off air for most of 2012 due to funding problems. I never caught a station ID or a live DJ, but I did hear a very tasteful Hurricane Sandy ad.

But a chunk of the local radio dial isn't local. Since the sad sell-off of the New Jersey Public Radio chain 89.7 WNJN has simulcast Philadelphia's WHYY and of course 91.3 WRTQ is just a simulcast of WRTI from the same metro as it has since 1993. Up the dial I caught 94.3 WIBG airing oldies and 95.1 WAYV spinning CHR. Nothing new there in a long time. Those are some stable book ends there. 100.7 WZXL was playing the Offspring's "Self Esteem" which warranted a short stop. As a result of that I discovered today that band is still together and has released six albums since the last time I cared what they were up to. The last thing I caught on the FM dial was 103.7 WMGM giving away Alice in Chains tickets at an Electric Factory show in Philly.

Tuning into the MA band I was thrown at first catching the station tag line "Cool 98-3" on 1490 WBSS That's the ID for WTKU on the FM band. The Geator himself still has a gig there. This makes a little more sense when you know that both stations are owned by Longport media. It's a branding faux pas but who listens to AM anymore anyway?  WMIB-AM 1260 was rocking oldies as was 1400 WOND-AM. the rest of the week WOND airs New Talk so it was serendipity. 1020 WIBG-AM was running a strange Spanish tropical program. I am no expert in salsa but I know that Eminem isn't salsa. 

The following morning I caught Champ and Company on 1450 WPGG-AM. The crew was doing a Trivia bit. Very confident and very wrong callers kept calling in and trying to answer questions from half an hour earlier.. guessing wrong. But not just wrong hilariously wrong. Someone actually guessed the bailiff on Night Court was played by Al Martino! This has to be heard to be believed. And to think they only dropped their ESPN simulcast of 97.3 WENJ back in October 2012.

Flooded Radio Stations

In natural disasters people turn to radio for emergency information. radio is uniquely available in most disasters. When the lights go out a 9 volt battery can keep you connected to information by radio even when cable is out, the phone lines are down, and there are no bars on your cell phone... you can tune in and get information. Radio is structured to survive most disasters. But among these... flood waters are the hardest to endure for a broadcaster.  You can see a few videos below ranging from total destruction to tales of survival.

WMIZ and WVLT 92.1

Cork City Community Radio

Midwest Family Broadcasting (WHIT, WLMV, WOZN, WJQM, WMGM, WOZN, WWQM)

WCDO 1490/100.9

Beating Up Barry Gray

Barry Gray was a lot like Walter Winchell in many ways. They were both mudslingers no doubt, but Walt was a bit more political and presented himself at least ostensibly as a news man, hence those teletype sounds. Barry Gray was more of a gossip. This is why Lee Mortimer punched out Barry Gray and not Walter Winchell. Though later Winchell had his own spat with Gray. they had some things in common...suffice it to say that Barry Gray got in a lot of fights.

Barry's fight with Lee began in 1946 and started to appear in issues of Billboard as accusations of libel. In January of 1947 Gray had been on WOR-AM for about 2 years doing overnights and doing interviews and slinging gossip like a low-rate Walter Winchell. Lee said that "nobody hit anybody" but that's not what Gray's face looked like. 

Barry Gray's real name was Bernard Yaroslaw.  In radio, Gray had started out as just another disc jockey on WMCA flipping records but then did an interview one night with Woody Herman. The format became what we now call talk radio. For that reason he is sometimes called the father of talk radio. By October of 1949 he was doing overnights on WOR expounding on that talk schtick.

In 1952 he started the spat with Winchell. Winchell called him “Borey Pink” trying to make an offensive connection between Barry's Jewish heritage and communism. But in 1955 Gray had a chance to fight back. Winchell's favorite watering hole was the Stork Club. Relating to a public libel scandal, an effort was being made to revoke it's liquor license. It was a bit of a conspiracy by Winchell's enemies. Gray went on a tear inviting some of those enemies on his radio show including even Ed Sullivan. The book Let's Go To Press by Ed Werner records the following incident:

"On the show, a  guest had asked Gray, "What is your ambition in life, is it  to be another Walter Winchell?" Gray had replied forcefully,  "Yes, my ambition is to be another Winchell. After all, how  long can he expect to live?"

Gray later claimed that Winchell previously hired some thugs to rough him up. It may be why he left town in 1948. Gray took his show from New York to Miami, broadcasting from 1140 WMIE-AM. He broadcast the program live from a series of night clubs including the Kitty Davis Night Spot, Copa Lounge and Danny & Doc's Jewel Box .. (weak source on that last one) Things got a little hot for him professionally after a few altercations and an incident where he clubbed someone over the head with the microphone. 

Barry returned to WMCA in 1950 and stayed for almost 4 decades. He didn't leave until 1989 on the heels of a format change. He took the opportunity to return to WOR-AM. that parlayed into "The Barry Gray Show" which aired on WOR-TV. The TV show didn't last, but Barry stayed on WOR-AM until his death in 1996. He was 80 years old.  He was voted 1996 "Talk Show Host of the Year" by the National Association of Talk Show Hosts.

The Howard Green Stations

I had never heard of Howard L. Green. But then, about a week ago, I read a quote in Radio-Info that got me asking some questions about Philadelphia radio history. 

"The five stations it bid on are still known around South Jersey as “the Howard Green stations”, despite having been acquired by Access.1 from the Green estate and then by Atlantic."

Howard Green died in 2002, at the end of a 50-year career as a radio and television magnate. He was 72 years old. His empire was based in Linwood, NJ; a neighborhood off Scull Bay to the South west of Atlantic City. His first gig in radioland was in at 1230 WENY-AM in Elmira, NY. he was still a college student. He moved from there to 1350 WCBA-AM in Corning, NY. Later, he was an announcer and salesman at 1380 WAYZ-AM in Waynesboro, PA.

He came to New Jersey in 1957 for a gig as GM of a news talker, 1400 WOND-AM and shortly after that, he purchased it. He built 103.7 WOSJ, which started broadcasting in 1961 from Pleasantville, NJ and later re-licensed to Atlantic City. Before that move they also changed calls to WMGM. They picked up the calls after 1050 dropped them in new york following their payola scandal in 1962. The station ran an automated "Wim-Gim" Top-40 format in the 60s. Then flipped to rock in the 70s.. still automated. Sort of hideous really. More here.

He later went back and bout 1230 WENY-AM and then 92.7 WENY-FM. He became the owner of the first station he worked at. It probably felt pretty good. In 1991, he bought 1580 WTYO-AM in Hammonton, NJ. After buying the station he changed the calls to WONZ-AM, then in 2001 changed them again to WGYM-AM. He also picked up 1240 WMMB-AM in Melbourne, FL one of the last stations he bought was 1440 WJAB-AM in Portland, ME he company name was South Jersey Radio, Inc. But everybody knew the name Howard Green.

His radio ownership was just a piece of the whole picture. He also owned TV stations, newspapers and at the age of 29, he was elected President of the New Jersey Broadcasters Association. Later he became the group's President and later Chairman of their Board of Directors. The Millennium radio group actually gives out a Howard L. Green scholarship. His legacy is assured... in some ways. He'd also be horrified to see WOND-AM and WMGM are all presently owned by the "Atlantic Board of Linwood NJ LLC, Debtor-in-Possession." That's right, it's being held not by his estate, but by outside interests who own it's debt. That's all that's left of South Jersey Radio, Inc.

Chez Show and the Copacabana

The Copacabana Lounge first opened November 10th, 1940. The club was located at 10 East 60th Street in NYC. The owner officially was Monte Proser but the club was in bed with mob boss Frank Costello. Costello installed Jules Podell as his man inside the business. Eventually Podell was the name on the lease.

Jack's broadcasting career began a decade earlier at WMCA-AM where he delivered a radio version of a Broadway gossip column he wrote for a New York theatrical publication. Variety claims a plug in an Ed Sullivan column landed him this gig.

But the Copa gig began in 1947. Eigen had a program on WHN cut a deal with Copa boss Jules Podell to do a radio program. It was to be broadcast live from The Copacabana Lounge, one of New York's busiest nightclubs. Podell made arrangements with 1010 WINS-AM to carry it. The whole program was done with 2 turntables, 2 microphones and 2 phone lines. The program ran midnight to four AM, seven days a week. It debuted April 22nd, 1947. Eigen's theme song was "Jack, Jack, Jack" performed by the five DeMarco Sisters. (Interesting to note that in 1944 the club had a no blacks policy, banning African-Americans from the venue and thus the radio show). More here. Fred Allen regularly mentioned Eigen on his broadcasts, adding to his reputation beyond Manhattan. More here.

The program ended in 1950. The Copa started a new show that diminished the role of the disc jockey. New Host Johnny McKnight started in October of 1950 and the new show "Meet me at the Copa" via WVNJ-AM in New Jersey. By Then WINS had backed out and Eigns program was on WMGM. n Chicago Eigen's did a program called "Chez Show" on 670 WMAQ-AM. It was love from the Chez Paree restaurant was was 30 minutes long and ran 6 nights a week. It was similar to his Copa program and began sometime in 1951. More here.

He worked a year in St. Louis radio. Then returned to Chicago in 1960 to resume The Jack Eigen Show on WMAQ. He stayed there until at least 1966. he relocated to Florida in 1971 where he continued to broadcast on local stations. I wish I could say witch ones. He died in Fort Lauderdale in1983. Not bad for a kid from Brooklyn who started out as a pin setter in a bowling alley.

200 hours of Peter Tripp

On January 20th of 1959 DJ Peter Tripp host of "Your Hits of the Week" launched a wake-a-thon for the American March of Dimes. Not a walk-a-thon, a wake-a-thon. He stayed awake and on air for 200 hours. Trip was at 1050 WMGM from 1955 to 1959 and was a nationally known top-40 DJ. He had worked at KUDL, WHB and spent more than a few years at WEXL More here, and here.

To keep the attempt honest, and to get attention to the cause WMGM erected a transparent broadcastbooth in Times Square. There, any New Yorker could watch. At the time it was the longest period without sleep on record. There was both a morbid and a genuine medical interest in the attempt. For Tripp the stunt was partly for charity and partly to help his career. He was entangled in the same payola scandal that was killing Alan Freed. Peretz Lavie described the event in his book The Enchanted World of Sleep.

"Only toward the end did he begin to show signs of behavioral deterioration when, during the night clear signs of psychosis accompanied by hallucinations appeared. Trip began to suspect people were drugging his food in order to make him fall asleep."

The experiment got ugly. WMGM hired Psychologists to monitor him. The took daily poloroid pictures of him. They examined him, weighed him, took his temperature and watched him even in the bathroom. WMGM staff hounded him all the way to the toilet to make sure he stayed awake. His body temp began to drop and he was clearly getting paranoid. He ran into the street on the 4th day and was chased by staff, tackled and dragged back into the studio. He still had 4 days to go. This descent is detailed in the documentary Secrets of Sleep.




He heard voices, he hallucinated and on the last day they attached electrodes to his head and monitored his brain waves. They detected REM-like phases in his wakeful brain. He was essentially insane at this point. Despite actual diagnosed psychosis, he was still able to to his show, which amazed pretty much everyone. The problem was that by now, he actually thought he was not Peter Tripp, just an imposter. Life Magazine showed up to photograph the now psychotic DJ.

He stayed awake a total of 201 hours and slept for 24 hours afterwards. He had permanent personality changes that led to his eventual divorce. Tripp was still indicted by the DOJ only weeks after his stunt and accused of taking $36,050 in payola. He was found guilty and fined $500 and given a six-month suspended sentence. He fought with his PD at WMGM and was fired in 1960. He tried again at KYA in San Francisco, and again at KGJF in L.A. but it was over. His third attempt at WOHO in Toledo was just sad. He marketed exercise products and retired to palm Springs. He died in 2000 of a stroke at the age of 73.

***************UPDATE***************

I've compiled a list of all known DJ "stay-awake" marathons. 
Mr. Tripp is not the present champion. 
I've posted the list HERE!