Talent: JACK LACY
Station: WINS New York
Date: April 18, 1965
Time: 1:01:12 (unscoped)
               26:48 (scoped)

"You give us 22 minutes, we'll give you the world."

WINS made news in 1965.

In a ground-breaking move, WINS dropped its long-time Top 40 format on April 19, 1965 (see Rock Radio Goodbyes), becoming only the third station to adopt all-news programming in the U.S. So ended a long tradition of music programming at WINS, whose beginnings can be traced back to 1924, when it was housed in Gimbels Department Store as WGBS. Future baseball broadcast legend Mel Allen was a WINS DJ in the late '50s. Alan Freed, Murray the K, and Bruce Morrow (Cousin Brucie) would follow in the '50s, along with Mad Daddy, Paul Sherman, Jack Lacy, Stan Z. Burns, Stan Shaw and others.

After WINS went all news, Lacy worked at WBAL Baltimore and KIQQ Los Angeles. He died in Spain in 1996, aged 79.

We'll probably never know, but what's with all the pauses in the John Gleason newscast beginning around 19:26? Seems odd for an otherwise excellent sounding announcer. He's distracted by something.

Hear Jack Lacy on WINS (UNSCOPED) here. 

Hear Jack Lacy on WINS (SCOPED) here. 
 

(The Don Shuttleworth Collection)

Enjoy Johnny Holliday from WINS from April 18, 1965 (UNSCOPED) here. 

Enjoy Johnny Holliday from WINS from April 18, 1965 (SCOPED) here. 


(The Don Shuttleworth Collection)

Talent: BOB LEWIS
Station: WABC New York
Date: June 13, 1965
Time: 25:29 (unscoped)
            15:00 (scoped)

Bob Lewis starred on both AM and FM.

Lewis - known as "Bob-a-Loo" to his many fans - started at WABC in June 1962 on the all-night show, which he called the "All-Night Satellite." He came to Musicradio from WHNC New Haven and WMGM and WINS in New York. The late hours didn't agree with him, so he moved his peppy chatter to weekends and fill-ins. Despite his success and popularity, Lewis eventually tired of WABC. He wanted the opportunity for growth that free-form FM was providing - so he crossed the aisle in 1967 to WABC-FM where he did a show called "Some Trust in Chariots" while still doing weekends and fill-ins at WABC-AM.

Lewis left WABC entirely in 1969 to go to go cross-town at WCBS-FM. The station had just started a progressive rock format, and Lewis fit right in. He was a master of complex collages and montages of sound, when jocks were allowed to do that sort of thing. He worked at WNEW-FM in the '70s then did swing work at WYNY in the early '80s. Lewis was a well-sought-after voice talent, with a client list that included Volkswagen and IBM. He died in 1987 at the age of 49.

Enjoy Bob Lewis on WABC (UNSCOPED) here. 

Enjoy Bob Lewis on WABC (SCOPED) here. 

(The Bill Dulmage Collection)

Enjoy Russ "Weird Beard" Knight at KILT here. 

(The Joe Fazio Collection)

Talent: GEORGE "HOUND DOG" LORENZ
Station: WBLK Buffalo, New York
Date: August 4, 1965
Time: 20:23 (unscoped)
             6:39 (scoped)

It was known as "The House That The Hound Built." And for the last eight years of his life, George "Hound Dog" Lorenz put his heart and soul into it.

Lorenz, who championed rhythm and blues throughout his three-decade radio career, applied for and got the final available FM signal in Buffalo in 1962. On December 10, 1964, WBLK went on the air at 93.7 (the call letters stood for Benjamin L. Kulick, an early financial backer of the station). From the beginning, WBLK played rhythm and blues, an oddity on an FM dial that was at the time mostly classical, jazz or easy listening fare. But the Hound wanted to rock!

Lorenz got his start in radio in the mid-40s at Buffalo's WXRA. He moved to mornings at WJJL Niagara Falls, New York, in 1948, originally using the moniker 'Ol Man Lorenz. He started calling himself Hound Dog Lorenz in 1951, getting the name from the expression "doggin' around." As he explains it, "One of the jive expressions at the time was if you were hangin’ around the corner, you were doggin’ around. So I’d come on and say ‘ Here I am to dog around for another hour.’ That’s how they got to call me the hound dog.”

Lorenz went to WKBW in 1955, where he gained a massive following thanks to the station's huge 50,000-watt signal. He left three years later with the station about to switch to a Top 40 format. The Hound was no fan of Top 40, claiming it “is hurting the record industry, is lowering radio listening, and is decreasing a new artists chance to make it."

In 1960 Lorenz moved to suburban Buffalo station WINE, which ironically became the city's first R&B outlet later that decade as WUFO. After WINE, he began syndicating his show via World Wide Programming. The next stop was WBLK, where he stayed until his death on May 29, 1972 at age 53. And all these years later WBLK is still playing rhythm and blues, though nowadays the format is referred to as urban contemporary. The Hound would be proud.

Enjoy Hound Dog Lorenz on WBLK (UNSCOPED) here. 

Enjoy Hound Dog Lorenz on WBLK (SCOPED) here. 


(The Don Shuttleworth Collection)

Enjoy Garry Kemp on Radio Caroline (UNSCOPED) here.

Talent: KELLY (BOB SHANNON)
Station: KDWB Minneapolis
Date: August 26, 1965
Time: 49:35

Bob Shannon was a star both behind the mic and in front and behind the camera.

Born Robert Lee Adams in St. Catharines, Ontario, in 1942, Adams envisioned a career in acting but got into radio in his teens as Bob Shannon at KXIV Phoenix. From there it was on to KRUX Phoenix - where at one point he was 20 points ahead of his nearest competitor - and other biggies like KDWB, WKBW Buffalo, WXYC Cleveland and KXOX St. Louis.

So many big stations! Shannon jocked at WIXY Cleveland, KDKA Pittsburgh then returned at KDWB in the '70s as "BS in the Morning." At KDWB, he gained instant popularity with stunts that included broadcasting live from the streets of the Twin Cities while distributing cans of beans during the gas shortage of the mid-1970s which he promoted as a "natural gas substitute." His influence led to the National Association of Hurricanes naming hurricanes after boys in addition to girls. Hurricane David in 1979 was named after his son.

In 1976, Shannon was then lured to the west coast where he jocked KCBQ San Diego and at KFI Los Angeles, with later moves toKHJ, KLAC and KRTH in the City of Angels.

Shannon also had an outstanding acting career under the name R.J. Adams. He appeared on TV shows like Kojak, All in the Family, General Hospital, Hill Street Blues and Murder She Wrote. Adams was also seen in movies including Rocky IV. He later started a film production company that focused on historical documentary projects and documentary. Somehow he found time to squeeze in a 35-year acting coaching career at The Actors Workshop in Los Angeles and Orange County. A full life indeed, that ended with Shannon dying of a heart attack January 26, 2015.

Enjoy Bob Shannon (as Kelly) on KDWB here.  
 

(The Bill Dulmage Collection)

Talent: JACK SPECTOR
Station: WMCA New York
Date: September 10, 1965
Time: 1:01:39 (unscoped)
             29:20 (scoped)

"Look out street, here I come!"

To a generation of New Yorkers, Jack Spector was "Your Main Man."

The native of Mineola, New York, spent some four decades entertaining New York and area listeners. Spector started his career in 1955 and had gigs in West Virginia, Albany and Chicago. He arrived at WMCA in 1962 just around the time the station re-branding its jocks as "The Good Guys." All of the jocks had a schtick, so to speak, and Spector's was that he closed his 1-4 p.m. show every day with a line given to him by R&B great Jackie Wilson, "Look out street, here I come!"

Spector - who in December, 1963 became the first New York jock to play a Beatle record (I Want to Hold Your Hand) - stayed with the station until 1969 when he moved to WNBC. That was the same year he released a break-in record called "Moonflight" under the name "Vik Venus, Alias: Your Main Moon Man."

When WMCA dropped Top 40 in favour of talk in 1970, Spector stayed on as a sports-talk host. In 1971, he moved to WHN, an easy-listening station that became a country music station during his time there. Spector left WHN in 1974 to go to all-oldies WCBS-FM, where he hosted "The Saturday Night Sock Hop" and another weekend shift plus serving as a swing announcer. After leaving WCBS-FM in 1985, he returned to WNBC where he hosted "Sports Night" for a short time. then it was off to WPIX-FM and its adult-contemporary format. He stayed on when the station switched to a smooth jazz format as CD 101.9 (WQCD).

Spector's last radio stop was adult standards-formatted WHLI in Hempstead, New York. He also did some fill-in shifts at WCBS-FM. On March 8, 1994, he collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack while on the air at WHLI. The last song he played by Louis Prima's "I'm in The Mood For Love." He was 65.

Enjoy Jack Spector on WMCA (UNSCOPED) here.

Enjoy Jack Spector on WMCA (SCOPED) here.
 

(The Charlie Ritenburg Collection)

RESTORATION BY ROB FRANKEL

Talent: DUSTY RHODES
Station: WSAI Cincinnati
Date: October 16, 1965
Time: 33:08

More from Cincinnati radio legend Dusty Rhodes!

Enjoy Dusty Rhodes on WSAI here.
 

(The Dusty Rhodes Collection)

Talent: DICK ROBINSON
Station: WDRC Hartford
Date: October 21, 1965
Time: 9:18

"Deejays were big brothers and Dick was one of the best."

Dick Robinson's radio career was almost over before it started.

In 1956, Robinson was badly injured when he was attacked by hooligans at a school dance. Not only did he suffer a fractured nose, but surgeons nicked his vocal cords as they performed a tracheotomy. Doctors told him he may never regain the use of his voice, but he recovered and went on to a brilliant radio career.

His father had told him that "only clowns got into broadcasting", but Robinson followed his dream and by 1957 was at WARE in Ware, Massachusetts. He slowly worked himself up to larger markets - WRED in Holyoke, Massachusetts, WSPR in Springfield, Massachusetts, and WPRO and WHIM (where he was program director) in Providence, Rhode Island.  In 1963, Robinson moved into the biggest market of his career - WDRC - where he would spent the next 13 years, first as the station's evening jock, and later and vice-president and station manager.

Robinson's night-time show became "DRC on DRC" or the "Dick Robinson Company." His show was a cacophony of drop-ins, plus Lone Ranger and Tonto jokes, and he did a nightly Big D Late Show involving puns on show biz celebrities appearing in mythical. It was theatre of the mind and there was much telephone interaction with listeners.

Robinson branched out in 1964 by starting his own broadcast school - the Connecticut School of Broadcasting. In 1967, he moved into sales part time, and moved to broadcasting weekends only the following year. By 1969, he was gone from the WDRC airwaves completely while continuing to work in sales. Robinson was named vice-president and station manager of WDRC AM-FM before leaving the station three years later to focus on his broadcast school. The veteran broadcaster returned to the airwaves with a syndicated show called American Standards By The Sea, broadcasting from his yacht sailing along the U.S. eastern seaboard. Naturally, one of his affiliates was WDRC. Robinson also has his own radio station, Legends 100.3 (WLML) Lake Park, Florida, and his broadcasting school has grown to 12 locations from Massachusetts to Miami.

"He entertained. He didn't just through the motions," Ed Brouder, a deejay and radio historian, told the Hartford Courant. "I think all the deejays back then were a bridge ... deejays were big brothers and Dick was one of the best."

Enjoy Dick Robinson on WDRC here.

(The Bill Dulmage Collection)

Talent: DICK PEPLOW
Station: CJIC Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Date: October or November, 1965
Time: 8:25

The 1050 dial position is perhaps best associated in Top 40 radio lore with CHUM Toronto, or WMGM New York. But to listeners in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, the hit station to hear at 1050 was CJIC.

In 1965, Dick Peplow was entertaining listeners in the early evening shift at CJIC. During his long career, he also worked at Ontario stations CKCY Sault Ste. Marie, CKPR Thunder Bay, CJKL Kirkland Lake and also in St. Thomas, Ontario, Dawson Creek, B.C., Yellowknife, Winnipeg and Sudbury.

Peplow was also a city alderman in Yellowknife. In 2000, he established what is now known as sootoday.com and in 2003 founded baytoday.ca.

Peplow died July 13, 2007. He was 63.

Enjoy Dick Peplow here.
 

(The Don Shuttleworth Collection)

Talent: DAN INGRAM
Station: WABC New York
Date: November 9, 1965
Time: 8:23

"That's Lazy River ... in the key of R"

Remember the night the lights went out?

It was November 9, 1965. Thanks to a faulty relay near Queenston, Ontario, more than 30 million people in several northeastern U.S. states plus the province of Ontario were plunged into darkness for several hours. The power began to go off at 5:16 p.m. and before long about 80,000 square miles were without electricity. Trains stopped between stations, theatres closed and stranded travellers slept in hotel lobbies. In New York, Times Square went completely dark, an unusual sight for "The Great White Way."

The beginning of the blackout is captured on this fascinating aircheck of Dan Ingram's afternoon WABC show. The 'check begins with Jonathan King's Everyone's Gone to the Moon, which is starting to play very, very slowly. Ingram notices and demonstrates the quick wit and timing that made him a radio legend. At that moment, nobody knew what was happening but it's obvious something is wrong. The newscast that ends this aircheck makes no mention of the problem but it quickly became one of the biggest stories of the year.

Hear Dan Ingram on WABC during the Great Northeast Blackout here.
 

(Scrapbook archives)

Subject: TOMMY VANCE
Station: KHJ Los Angeles
Date: November, 1965
Time: 6:03

Right in the midst of the musical British invasion, Los Angeles Top 40 radio listeners had their own radio British Invasion with the arrival of Oxford, England-born Tommy Vance.

The legendary British jock was at KHJ for a while in the mid-'60s before returning to the U.K. for a long British career with stops at Radio Caroline, Radio Luxembourg, Radio London, BBC Radio 1 and Capitol Radio. He was a regular presenter of Top of the Pops at Radio 1 and a highly sought-after voice-over artist.

Vance originally began his U.S. radio career under the name Rick West. When he arrived at KOL Seattle, legend has it that Tommy Vance was the only deejay jingle available on the station's jingle package at the time so that became his name! (His real name is Richard Anthony Crispian Francis Prew Hope-Weston). He kept the Vance moniker when he moved to KHJ in 1965, and after returning to the U.K. after running into immigration trouble.

Later in his career, Vance presented the Friday Night Rock Show on British digital television channel VH1 and had his own show on digital radio station Virgin Classic Rock.

He is credited with interviewing more than 10,000 guests, including Prince Charles and the Rolling Stones.

Vance died March 6, 2005 in Dartford, England, at the age of 63.

Hear Tommy Vance on KHJ here.
 

(The Jim Southern Collection)

Talent: BOB GREEN
Station: WKNR Dearborn, Michigan
Date: December 4, 1965
Time: 14:28

It wasn't just radio. It was art.

The epitome of the smooth '60s Top 40 jock, Bob Green performed his show the way an artist might paint a picture. Tight and bright, the show moved along quickly without sounding hurried. Green sprinkled in personality and humour while juggling spots, jingles, music, weather and sports updates effortlessly.

A native of Rochester, New York, Bob Greenstone got his radio start at WSAY in his hometown in 1958, where he did a nine-hour shift daily as Mac McGuire. He wasn't there long, soon moving to WGVA in nearby Geneva. Green arrived in the Motor City in 1962 at WKMH then moved south to WQAM Miami. His audience share nearly tripled from nine per cent to 24 per cent in his nine months there.

Green returned to Detroit to join the brand-new WKNR in the fall of 1963 (in an interview with keener13.com he notes that WKNR was one of the first stations to brand with a word, rather than call letters). After its launch on Halloween night, Keener 13 jumped from a 0.9 share to a 16 in just four short weeks. With its tight playlist and personality jocks, Keener would leap to a 30 share by the time the first year was up, despite a night-time signal that didn't cover Detroit's east side.

After nine years at WKNR, and with the end of the Keener era in sight, Green left for KULF Houston in 1972, where he was program director. The following year he founded Bob Green Productions, which has offered high quality commercial audio production to agencies and corporations for several decades

Enjoy Bob Green on WKNR here.
 

(The Bill Dulmage Collection)

Talent: ARNIE "WOO WOO" GINSBURG
Station: WMEX Boston
Date: December 12, 1965
Time: 27:27 (unscoped)

Nobody put the fun into Top 40 like Arnie "Woo Woo" Ginsburg.

The epitome of the frantic and funny '50s and '60s jock, Ginsburg was New England's leading Top 40 personality during his nine years (1958-67) at Boston's WMEX. Everything about him stood out - there was the non-traditional radio voice that led to Ginsburg calling himself Old Leather Lungs and Old Aching Adenoids. There were sound effects - kazoos, whistles, cowbells, buzzers, oogah, car horns (the "Woo Woo" nickname came from the train whistle he used). There were Ginsburg's memorable live reads for the drive-in fast food restaurant Adventure Car Hop, which featured the Ginsburger in honour of their most vocal advertiser. Even the name itself stood out - Ginsburg used his ethnic-sounding birth name when many jocks at the time opted for on-air monikers - a move that made him seem even more human to his listeners. Toss in Ginsburg's steady stream of corny jokes and you had a winner.

Ginsburg got his radio start in 1956 as an engineer, with occasional fill-in on-air duties, at Boston station WORL. He moved to WBOS later that year where he further developed his on-air skills. In 1958, Ginsburg began his stay at WMEX, appearing on the Night Train show seven nights a week (he taped his Saturday and Sunday night shows). His Friday night sock hops at the Surf Ballroom at Nantasket Beach were the place to be for New England teens for a decade. After leaving WMEX in 1967, Ginsburg moved to WRKO and later jocked at or managed several other Boston stations.

In 1970, Ginsburg appeared on the Cruisin' 1961 album recreating a 1961 WMEX show, part of a series of recreations featuring leading '50s and '60s jocks. The album begins with Ginsburg's famous theme song by the 3Ds ("Gather 'round, everybody; 'cause you're about to hear/the show that's gonna make you/smile from ear to ear/It's Arnie Ginsburg, on the Night Train show.") Below, you can hear a REAL Arnie Ginsburg show, on WMEX in 1965.

Enjoy Arnie Ginsburg on WMEX here.
 

(The Sam Ward Collection)

Talent: RICK SHULTZ
Station: WHEE Martinsville, Virginia
Date: December 26, 1965
Times: Part 1 - 36:01 (unscoped)
           Part 2 - 1:01:11 (unscoped)

(Rick Shultz, 1968/Courtesy Barry Michaels)

It's 1960s Top 40 radio the way we knew and loved it!

All the bells and whistles from that time are here, including an endless stream of sound effects and reverb. And Rick Shultz's hyper-frenetic delivery has to be heard to be believed! The energy never lets up for a second. It's exhausting just to listen to - just imagine what Shultz went through!

We asked Rick about his career, and this is what he told us...

Enjoy Rick Shultz on WHEE (Part 2) here. (1:01:11)
 

(The Barry Michaels and Rick Shultz Collections)

Talent: DAVE DIAMOND
Station: KBLA Santa Monica, California
Date: December 27, 1965
Time: 28:47 (unscoped)
           4:06 (scoped)

Dave Diamond was one of the original Boss Jocks on KHJ, but he didn't stay long.

Diamond, who held down the 6-9 p.m. shift at KHJ when Boss Radio launched in April 1965, left after four months for KBTR Denver and then moved to Los Angeles rival KBLA before the end of the year. This is where we hear Diamond, the radio legend who also jocked in L.A. at KFWB, KRLA, KIIS and KFI. He was also at KFRC San Francisco from 1968 to 1971 and did stints at WSAI Cincinnati, KOIL Omaha and KTLK Denver among other stations

During his time at KBLA and KFRC, he called his show "The Diamond Mine", where he popularized such bands and performers as The Doors, The Seeds, Linda Ronstadt and Iron Butterfly. The native of Howard, South Dakota, retired from broadcasting in 1982 to go into teaching.

Diamond passed away of pneumonia in 2014. He was 77.

Enjoy Dave Diamond on KBLA here. (UNSCOPED)

Enjoy Dave Diamond on KBLA here. (SCOPED)

(The Tom Howard Collection)

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