former wkbw radio personalities

It starts with The Perry Allen show, with an Irv Weinstein KB Pulsebeat Newscast with some of the great writing and style Irv would become known for in Buffalo over the next 40 years. Faron Young, Capitol Records star, flew in to Buffalo from Nashville; The Pony Tails drove up from Cleveland; The Four Dates and Fabian of Chancellor Records flew in from Philadelphia; and the local recording group, The Tune Rockers, performed on the roof of one of the stores in the plaza. writing about the people, places, and ideas that make Buffalo unique and special. Cher. WKBW-TV signed on and continues as one of the top ABC affiliates in the country. On July 3rd, 12 beautiful models, all wearing toreador pants and banners proclaiming them to be Miss KB toured downtown streets and businesses distributing the stations new Top 30 tunes sheets and fliers stating, Its Hot! He remembers playing the two transcription records from which these audio clips came in his grandmas basement as a little guy. One night I got mad at my boss who had just come home from his honeymoon. If you watched Elvis shake his hips on Ed Sullivan for the first time, and you then listened to Elvis on the radio It wasnt likely KB, even though your memory might tell you otherwise. Cash prized ranged from $25 to $100. Tommy Shannon first made girls swoon at WXRA Radio, from a location way out in the boonies. Kelly, a local talent who joined KB in March of 1958, had a rock solid audience and had a style which could be easily modified to fit into Lawrences master plan. When the world wide web opened up in 1994, Channel 7 was the first Buffalo station online with www.wkbw.com. Each of the new disc jockeys showcased in a nearly wrapped music package, surrounded with all the happy excitement the stations new sound was to feature. Jacey Brooks will join Bulls head coach Becky Burke's staff as an associate head coach. Buffalo Morning Radio around the dial in 1989, Buffalos 1520 WKBW Radio: WNYs great contribution to 20th century pop culture, The scary sounds of Halloween on WKBW: 5 hours worth of K-Big talent on display. They got a good gimmick and made it work.. For three weeks prior to July 4th, a teaser campaign was used to stimulate interest in the arrival of audio activity when Future Sonic Radio comes to Buffalo. Local newspapers carried story after story about the impending big change at WKBW. Jim McLaughlin introduces Halloween 1973, and reminds youDont turn around. Under the guidance of Dick Lawrence, Director of Programming, Promotions and Publicity for the station, KB made a drastic change in its format by virtually eliminated all previously carried programs, both network and local, and substituting what Lawrence called, ultra modern broadcasting techniques designed to entertain, inform and serve the greatest majority of the radio audience.. The block where these buildings stood on Main Street is now a grass-covered park. Listeners were urged to apply adhesive tape to their backs in the form of the station call letters and asked to allow themselves to tan in the sun. The first broadcast on that snowy night was the James Cagney classic film, Yankee Doodle Dandy. This page is not available in other languages. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. Suivez l'actualit francilienne, le trafic en temps rel, la mto, les faits divers, les bons plans culture et loisirs avec BFM Paris le-de-France, premire chane info de Paris et d'le . Here hes on KBs lawn with Clint Churchill Jr., WKBW General Manager Al Anscombe, KB Polka Beehive host Stan Jasinski, salesman Jim McGrath and Roger Bakerwho, after returning to KB from WBES-TV, dabbled in sports but focused on sales. He would join WGR in 1972 where he . WKBW-AM History. AM Buffalo is one of the longest running and most successful locally produced programs in the country. The rock nroll era had arrived on a respectable, long established Buffalo radio station. 14 market. One night, Reynolds started playing an endless loop of a The Four Seasons song, and locked the studio door from the inside. You hear the voice, writing and production of Jeff Kaye; the engineering and production of Al Lafler, Dan Kreigler, and many others; the voices and writing of Dan Neaverth, Jim McLaughlin, Don Berns, Stan Roberts, Sandy Beach, Jack Armstrong, Shane Gibson, Joe Downey, Ron Baskin, Henry Brach, Jim Fagan, Don Lancer, Irv Weinstein, and others. The proof is in a quick search of WKBW on your favorite search engine. Known for his trade mark humor and his cutting edge comments, Sandy says his sense of humor would get him in trouble when he was in school "I had to walk home nearly everyday because I had. (Buffalo Stories archives). Didnt know a think about KB prior to getting off the plane in Buffalo, said Perry Allen. Biondi, known by many as the Wild Itralian had a legendary temper. As host of the "Don Weeks And The WGY Morning News" for almost three decades, Weeks is one of the Capital Region's most well-known and respected radio personalities. ", Over the years Sandy has changed stations, formats and hairstyles but feels that Buffalo was always a good fit, saying " I managed to pick places where my personality and the things I like to do fit.". http://blog.buffalostories.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/KB58sm.mp3. These Halloween productions are brilliant examples. One boy from Cardinal OHara High School was convinced that it was The Beatles weird looks more than their musical ability thatmade them popular. What helped him decide his career path was he says he wanted to entertain people and didn't want to wear a tie. For the last fifteen years he's been a talk show host at WBEN930am. Spot surveys taken over the first weekend of the new operation found literally hundreds of persons dotting beaches and back yards with WKBW large and white on their backs, arms and legs. Neaverth recalled that his first radio work was as a young teenager, when he, his longtime friend and collaborator Joey Reynolds, WEBR jockey Danny McBride, and others set up a closed-circuit radio station at a Boys Club in Buffalo, under a sponsorship deal with a local pizzeria that "paid" the jockeys in free pizza. BUFFALO, NY In the 1960s and 70s, Buffalos WKBW Radio billed itself as one of Americas two great radio stations.Never was that more on display than on Halloween night. BUFFALO, NY For me, hearing the name Stan Jasinski conjures up images of my grandfather, sitting on his South Buffalo porch listening to cassette tapes of polka radio shows he had taped the previous weekend. Ironically, the man who brought Elvis to Memorial Auditorium was out at KB when the station went Rock n Roll full-time. For that reason, KB owns a special place not only in Buffalos pop cultural lexicon, but also for thousands and thousands of fans, who just like the ones in Buffalo, fell asleep with their transistor under their pillow, wondering where the hell Lackawanna was. In addition to his duties with WKBW, he owned an artist-management firm, a music publishing company and was associated with the Mike Conner Publicity-Promotion office which was headquartered in Beverly Hills. KB broadcast to the white area on the map. Please contactus at. ", Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. K-BIG Feature #4: DJ Tommy Shannon. . Rachele Mongiovi: The Channel 4 reporter left the station last week, a move that was reported here weeks ago. He is followed by another top flight personality, Dick Biondi, who was most recently with WHOT, Youngstown, Ohio. The rock nroll era had arrived on a respectable, long established Buffalo radio station. Gotta be careful what you say on a 50,000 WATT radio station., In the latter part of the50sJohn Barrett and Perry Allen evolved a call letter-napping. Someone, as established in the promo spots, had stolen one of our Ws, recalls Allen. First, Clint ran the Hidden Bankbook contest were a book with a deposit slip of $5000 was hidden in a remote area pasted inside a sewer pipe. However, I was told Channel 4 management wouldnt let her do an interview until after she left the station. I was thinking NBCold, ultra classy posturing. As the outgoing public face of The Electric Company, Buffalo Bills offensive lineman Reggie McKenzie and his fellow guard Joe DeLamielleure were given plenty of credit for O.J. writing about the people, places, and ideas that make Buffalo unique and special. Click image to learn more. In 1958, plans were underway for a huge, all-encompassing youth group, which was to be headquartered at the station. Immediately, adults started to try to make sense of the mania. Lawrence meant the 4th of July; Allen showed up the 4th of May. Perlman landed at the CBS owned and operated station in Sacramento, Calif., which is the No. He was a member of the staff that included Perry Allen, Russ "the Moose" Syracuse, Art Roberts and Dick Biondi along with Jack Kelly (all Night). Across town at WBNY-AM, the first true Top 40 format in Buffalo was inaugurated in the summer of 1957. His first radio job was WWOL in Buffalo with Dick Purtan, then WKWK, in Wheeling, WV. Youll hear Stan speaking between the songs, and if youre like me with a very limited understanding of Polish The only words youll understand are a few numbers, and the words Lucki-Urban and Stromberg-Carlson, the latter being a manufacturer of some of the finest radios of that era. Sandy Beach was in the original broadcast in 1968, Jack Armstrong was in the 1971 version, and Shane in 1973. He was a concert promoter and recording artist (who could forget Rats in My Room, even if they tried?). Cichon puts his wide range of professional experiencefrom college professor, to PBS documentary producer, to radio news director, to candidate for countywide elected officeto work in producing meaningful interpretations of the two centuries worth of people, places, and events that make Buffalo the unique place that we love. He rose to fame as a Top 40 radio personality during the 1960s and 1970s, amassing large audiences in places such as Hartford, Connecticut, Cleveland, Ohio, Detroit, Michigan, and his hometown of Buffalo, New York. Azar, Jolls and Weinstein held their respective positions until Azar's retirement in June 1989. 0. Tom could be seen every afternoon from 1965 until 1978, and weekends until 1995. She, of course, represented the Polish community at . Hernando, on a WINE promo with a microphone flag edited from WXRA to read WINE. The masterful promotional folks at KB knew that by sending out this warningwith hope of it being published, that people would flock to hear, as Jeff Kaye puts it in the intro to the 1971 version of the dramatization, what all the hubhub was about. Its the 1960s version of dont click on this link. (Buffalo Stories Photo). Azar also hosted Buffalo Bandstand, a local franchising of American Bandstand, and on at least one occasion substitute hosted the national show in place of Dick Clark. Youll also hear from Russ Syracuse, Johnny Barrett, Art Roberts, and Dick Biondi. Despite a pioneering spirit and great imaginative programming, each of those true rock nroll pioneer stations had unique problems. Another strong personality from WDRC . It would have been the Beatles' first concert in North America. Beyonce. On July 4, 1958, Futursonic Radio was alive on WKBW. Shelton Square, featuring The Palace Burlesk and WWOL Radio. Young people were paying attention, but society not yet. As often happens, over the last 50 years, for better or for worse, people who remember Guy King or the earliest Tom Shannon or Daffy Dan Neaverth shows, will think they heard those things on KB, forgetting those early pioneering rock nroll days. Henry Ford didnt invent the automobile, he was just the first to make the same car available to everyone. Clues were given each hour and the first person to dial the mystery number was to receive the cash price. Don Yearke, known as Don Keller the Farm Feller back in the early 60s on KB, was recognized along with his KB Litter Box by a fan in Southern Pennsylvania. As many of the smaller stations in Buffalo were churning out rhythm and blues music all day, at night, for Buffalo and the entire eastern seaboard, the Hound Sound was around.. WKBW-TV followed the team to the current facility in Orchard Park, N.Y. in 1973 (known then as Rich Stadium and now as Ralph Wilson Stadium). Western New Yorks embedded in his DNA. Halcovage's contract began March 30, 2023, and runs through March 29, 2028. Traffic was snarled for hours in what was considered Buffalos Times Square, and is now just considered the MetroRail tracks in front of the Main Place Mall. He had a nightly ritual wearing a purple robe lighting a purple candle on his purple radio while talking over his Night People" instrumental theme which was "Tarantula" by The Tarantulas. Azar died March 25, 2021, at age 91 at Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital in Williamsville, New York, following years of old age-related decline.[7][2]. Al Anscombe was a sports announcer under Roger Baker at KB before serving in the Air Corps in World War II. The place: 1420 Main Street in Buffalo, New York - the original home of WKBW-TV. He's been inducted into three halls of famebut admits that early on, he did consider being a CPA instead of a radio broadcaster. The station began under the direction and ownership of the late Dr. Clinton H. Churchill. While inspiring many of the changes that came to KB and many other stations around the country, the Hound stayed true to his style, and founded WBLK Radio; where he continued to uncover and spotlight new artists, both in Buffalo, and to a syndicated audience around the country. The Mods, formerly The Buffalo Beetles from Buffalo Teen News magazine. From 1958 to 1988, Al Lafler had his hand on the rudder of the production sound that allowed KB to stand head and shoulders above the rest. His first radio job was WWOL in Buffalo with Dick Purtan, then WKWK, in Wheeling, WV. His next programs were morning shows and at that point Joey had evolved into more of a talk intensive program. Sandy Beach started in 1968 at WKBW Radio. The day: November 30, 1958. A month after the groups first appearance on Ed Sullivan, a couple of doors down from Sheas Buffalo, the Paramount Theatre sold out a weekends worth of closed-circuit showings of a Beatles concert. Of course, his face and voice were everywhere for Bells Supermarkets and dozens of other Western New York businesses through the years. Azar lived in Pinehurst, North Carolina with his wife Edith, and hosted a weekly jazz radio program on WLHC-FM Life 103.1 through at least the late 2000s. It played for over an hour, during which the station management arrived, police and paramedics showed up (in case Joey was incapacitated). As program director of WBNY, he shot the 250 watter from near obscurity into first place on both the Pulse and Hooper surveys. Rick Azar began his career at WHLD radio in Niagara Falls in the early 1950s. Part of the legendary lineup of DJ at WKBW in the early 70s, . K-BIG Feature #2: Visit the history WKBW Radio Studios located at 1430 Main Street. Later during KBs first month under the FutureSonic format, another promotional stunt which meet with tremendous interest and success was the KB Beach Buddy, KB Beach Beauty contest. His more famous co-workers will tell you, his credo Good enough isnt good enough, helped give KB such a great sound over the years. Azar also did basketball play-by-play on St. Bonaventure basketball games on Ch 7 during the Bob Lanier era. The studio was on rural Niagara Falls Boulevard, in a location which soon would be the home of Swiss Chalet for the next 50 years. The Beatles also played a concert at Torontos Maple Leaf Gardens in August 1965. Some of his regular voices included "Jack Armstrong" - All American boy; "Maude Frickette" - the 104 year old teenager; and "General Shelby Singleton Silvers Junior Esquire Y'all" - an older southern gentleman. But 370 miles away in Baltimore, the show showed up in the ratings as number 4. K-BIG Feature #2: Visit the history WKBW Radio Studios located at 1430 Main Street. By Steve Cichon steve@buffalostories.com @stevebuffalo, Excerpt from 100 Years of Buffalo Broadcasting. Reynolds made a cameo appearance on the ill-fated Buffalo Night in America broadcast on WBBZ-TV in July 2012. Click image to learn more. Click image for more. Never before, and never since, has a radio station been so dominant in Buffalo. [6], Azar was noted for his tough, blunt personality and willingness to editorialize on-air in an era when sports talk was not yet a developed medium. Reynolds and Neaverth, on behalf of WKBW, were offered the chance to bring The Beatles to Buffalo Memorial Auditorium on February 10, 1964, the day after the band had appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. Roberts was the morning personality on WKBW from 1963 to 1971 before leaving to take in Boston. It almost happened! No content may be copied or reused without written permission fromForgotten Buffalo. He's a proud Buffalonian helping the world experience the city he loves. He has been a talk show host since. Rick Azar was the first voice heard on WKBW-TV on November 30, 1958. Stations like WBNY, WWOL, WXRA, and later WYSL and a host of others were capturing the imaginations of young people in Buffalo. George Hound Dog Lorenz, the Godfather of rock n roll radio (not just in Buffalo, but PERIOD) first plied his trade in Western New York at Niagara Falls WJJL, as early as 1951. The person: Rick Azar. The Joey Reynolds Show was a resounding Number 1 in Buffalo. I once threw an ashtray at Gene Taylor. It was . His work in the community for dozens of causes and charities over the last 60 years has been unmatched. It presented, in capsule from, a regular broadcast day, on the even newer KB. Through the years, he called Canisius and Niagara basketball, Buffalo Bisons baseball and Buffalo Bisons hockey. (Buffalo Stories archives). The gauntlet was tossed to the audience, Find the individual concerned and win a swimming pool. Clues lead to the ultimate uncovering of the culprit who had in his possession a letter W.. 50 kW NBC sounded better to my sadly warped values. everyone seemed to want to know. Even though the present building is 30 years old, it still stands as a modern fixture in the city landscape with silver reflective panels. Awards were made to area teenagers who performed special service to their community or fellow teenagers through school or other activities. wkbw; Scripps Local Media Like all the departing Channel 4 reporters, she had nothing but nice things to say on social networks about her time in Western New York. The club included a weekly newsletter and discounts from KB advertisers. While Reynolds' present persona can be considered mellower by comparison, he still retains a loyal audience. Strictly from a Buffalo point of view, in the late 50s and early 60s, KB was one of many stations cranking out the music and antics that made for great rock n roll radio. Ricardo Efrain Thomas Aquino Carballada de Babilon[1] (April24, 1929[2] March 25, 2021), known professionally as Rick Azar, was an American broadcaster who spent 31 years at WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York. Hes remembered most for peeking at us through the hole in the record behind the microphones of upstart WBNY radio in the 1950s as Daffy Dan, then WGR Radio, and then 25 years at WKBW Radio with most of those years as Buffalos morning man. The 25-year veteran of Buffalo radio and television has written five books and curates The Buffalo Stories Archives-- hundreds of thousands of books, images, and audio/visual media which tell the stories of who we are in Western New York. Ironically, the man who brought Elvis to Memorial Auditorium was out at KB when the station went Rock n Roll full-time. When the station went rock and roll in 1958, Tommy would dominate not only Western New York but also about 17 states and a couple of Nations. People from all over the country, and not just Buffalo transplants, have built websites dedicated to keeping the memory of WKBW alive. Enter WKBW Radio, soon with the corporate backing of owner Capital Cities (now THE DISNEY CORPORATION, by the way), and its monstrous 50,000 watt signal. He's been inducted into three halls of famebut admits that early on, he did consider being a CPA instead of a radio broadcaster. The new format included a large amount of public interest information and services. The station was located at 1420 Main Street in Buffalo, New York, and the call letters stood for "Well Known Bible Witness". Buffalo News archives. Among the others on KBs deejay staff in the mid-50s were Herb Knight, George Hound Dog Lorenz, and Larry Brownell. Narrated by Irv Weinstein, Instant KB was actually released on a single-sided album sized record for distribution sponsors on the local and national level. If theres a start date for Beatlemania, you might choose Feb. 9, 1964 the date of the bands first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. About 60 percent of American televisions were tuned to the performance of the nations No. When station manager Al Anscombe first convinced the Reverend Clinton Churchill to make the switch to Top 40, initially, the station was stocked with out-of-towners at the direction of the man whod established WBNY as the citys Top 40 leader, program director Dick Lawrence. Granite, under the direction of CEO W. Don Cornwell. If you are experiencing difficulties logging in or are a subscriber getting a paywall, please try one or more of the following steps. Don Weeks. . The call letters of WADV-FM were changed to WYRK-FM in 1981. On July 4, 1958, Futursonic Radio was alive on WKBW. The studio was on rural Niagara Falls Boulevard, in a location which soon would be the home of Swiss Chalet for the next 50 years. Click image to learn more. George Hound Dog Lorenz, the Godfather of rock n roll radio (not just in Buffalo, but PERIOD) first plied his trade in Western New York at Niagara Falls WJJL, as early as 1951. But eventually, a base of homegrown talent sprinkled with some of the most talented people from around the country, KB built an unprecedented following in Buffalo and around the country. In Denver, Colorado, he hosted a radio-television simulcast on KOA-AM, and launched (and hosted) the first nationwide satellite radio programming featured on more than 35 radio stations coast-to-coast. My great grandfather lived in an apartment in the yellow house on the right. Before Top 40 came to KB, Stan Barron hosted the Morning Clockwatcher show, live each morning outside the Main Street studios. 53 television market. A Lackawanna boy who worked in the Bethlehem plant before turning to radio, his broadcast persona was a deep, melodic voiced blue-collar everyman. (Coast to Coast had been heard on crosstown rival WABC for several years, before that station dropped the show in favor of an in-house offering from Doug McIntyre, which led Premiere to seek WOR as the new New York affiliate.) Dorothy Ireland was on the air daily as Kay B. Cooke with interviews and homemaking tips. Buffalo Web Design by. The mastermind of the new format was program director Dick Lawrence who with a collection of fast talking jocks, quick colorful jingles and the latest wax, put the management at WKBW on notice. Now, more than 50 years later, WKBW-TV has broadcast tens of thousands of movies, local programs, and newscasts. We offered a reward to the listener who could first find Dick and return him to KB. When station manager Al Anscombe first convinced the Reverend Clinton Churchill to make the switch to Top 40, initially, the station was stocked with out-of-towners at the direction of the man whod established WBNY as the citys Top 40 leader, program director Dick Lawrence. Russ Syracuse, who came to WKBW from WNDR in Syracuse, was next in the line-up with the 9 to 11 AM and 12 to 2 PM time segments under his care. If you watched Elvis shake his hips on Ed Sullivan for the first time, and you then listened to Elvis on the radio It wasnt likely KB, even though your memory might tell you otherwise. The next day I was fired.. He spent much of his retirement in Whispering Pines, North Carolina before returning to Buffalo in 2014.[2]. He writes about Buffalos pop culture history. He rose to fame as a Top 40 radio personality . The person: Rick Azar. Sandy says he was prepared for the first day fifty years ago, but Stan Roberts advised him to rent furniture, adding "he didn't exactly say I know you're going to make it big here. (News file photo) By Sharon Cantillon. The day: November 30, 1958. Catching up with names in the news while I was out of the country: Nancy Sanders: A local legend in media circles who has worked behind the scenes at all three local news departments, Sanders left her job as news operations manager at WIVB-TV (Channel 4) this week and is getting social media love from those she has mentored in a 45-year broadcasting career. By Alan Pergament. Neaverth has entertained his present and former fan base by featuring his quick wit and the great memories of WKBW Radio. It is unlikely she would return to Buffalo TV. The Beatles in Buffalo? Either they werent well financed, or had daytime-only signals so weak that they couldnt be heard throughout the city and all the nearby suburbs. Over 600 imitation firecrackers were distributed to the audience, each one containing either movie passes, Elvis Presley dog tag jewelry, gift certificates for free records, ball point pens, cigarette lighters, pocket notebooks and checks valued at $1.52 or $15.20. Tag on a dozen more years at WHTT, and a few more at KB again, and Danny moved our fannies on the radio for half a century. You have permission to edit this article. His big break came in 1966, when he joined WIXY Radio in Cleveland. Three different versions of the war of the Worlds appear. What to my wondering ear should appear but a polka, hold everything! "The Commander Tom Show" anchored the afternoons with a mix of cartoons and information with Tom Jolls and puppets "Dustmop" and "Mattie The Mod!" http://www.staffannouncer.com/kbhalloween/wotw73.mp3. Fred Klestine and Jeff Kaye, WKBW, late 1960s. For that reason, KB owns a special place not only in Buffalos pop cultural lexicon, but also for thousands and thousands of fans, who just like the ones in Buffalo, fell asleep with their transistor under their pillow, wondering where the hell Lackawanna was. Its a part of Buffalos past of which we should all be proud. Reynolds is often regarded as an early progenitor of "shock talk radio", whose sometimes outlandish on and off-air stunts garnered widespread publicity. He instead stated that, though he was comfortable being in the public spotlight, he did not feel an overwhelming need for it and felt that he retired at the right time. He signed the station on with the words, "Ladies and Gentlemen, WKBW-TV Channel 7 is on-the-air!" According to Al Anscombe, GM at the time, advertisers who associated with the traditional format were given to option of continuing their schedules free of charge through the Future Sonic change with many renewing at greater levels a month into the new sound. KB was a hit from day one.. She joined the station in 2012 as a weekend morning co-anchor. In a matrix thathas repeated itself time and time again as American Pop Culture has evolved, the aversion to the Beatles was just as strong as the fanaticism of their young followers. In 1974, Jeff Kaye became the afternoon drive host on KBs competitor WBEN, effectively ending any future reworking of the covering of the invasion half of the show which remained mostly unchanged through the different broadcasts. Buffalo Bills guard Reggie McKenzie and WADV-FM disc jockey Fred Klestine. My initial handshake with the radio station came upon landing in Buffalo, recalls Perry Allan. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Buffalo Stories Archives. When you browse the blog here at Buffalo Stories LLC, youre bound to not only relive a memory but also find some context for our pop culture past and see exciting ways how it might fit into our regions boundless future. Thats especially true when you consider what Oats said in one of his priceless TV interviews, -- after signing what turned out to be a meaningless contract extension -- that he would be at UB unless some other school came in with something crazy. Alabama came through with something crazy at around $2.5 million a year.
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