Don Geronimo's stellar career reads like a who's who in the annals of radio history with stops at WOKY / Milwaukee, 13Q / Pittsburgh, 99X / New York, WCAO / Baltimore, PRO-FM / Providence, WWDC / Washington and WDRQ / Detroit as well as WPGC on 03/17/80 where he was brought in by Program Director, Scott Shannon for the first real skirmish with Q107's Uncle Johnny.

His impact was immediate and long felt; during his tenure WPGC righted itself and regained the CHR crown in DC. In 1981 he left for KIIS-FM in LA followed by stops at WLS & B96 / Chicago.

Don made his return to the Nation's Capital in 1985 doing afternoons at WAVA then moved to mornings the following year replacing Charlie & Harrigan. By then he had teamed up with Mike O'Meara and the rest is radio history.

At the time of this aircheck, Don had been at WPGC a little over 1 month. His first mission was to stop the hemorrhaging of teen numbers at night. To that end he was successful although it would take another 6 months or so to reverse the trend entirely. The 'Top 5 at 8' was a regular countdown feature each night for pimpled, prepubescent punks who thought this stuff mattered.

Much of his shtick involved listener phone calls. It was not uncommon for Program Director, Scott Shannon or Dave Foxx to periodically call him from another studio, posing as a listener. This technique did wonders in priming the pump and generating other legitimate callers to such an extent that Geronimo referred to his regular callers as the 'Not Ready For Nighttime Players'. On this tape you'll hear him mention the 'Boogie Check', a feature 'borrowed' from one John Records Landecker at WLS. Ironically, Don would wind up at the same station in the not too distant future.

Contesting at the time was also 'borrowed' from KHJ, Los Angeles with 'The World's Easiest Contest'. A simple listen & win deal, when the 'Magic Cash Register' rang, the 77th caller would win up to $10,000 but never less than $100 at any time. In this case the winner also got a copy of Blondie's then current album, 'Eat To The Beat' and qualified for an 'Eat To The Beat' party with Mr. Geronimo and 25 of their friends.

The winner mentions having previously won Linda Ronstadt tickets and was promised a Geronimo T-shirt. Said mentioned shirts were given away early in 1980 as a means to build his fan base.

Positioning statements in use at the time included the venerable, 'Where People Get Cash'.

Special thanks to Matt Craig of Big Apple Airchecks.com for the above.

 

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