I
was the Morning jock
and Program Director
in 1958-59. Mac Richmond
and I became friends...in fact I think I'm the only dude to
work for all of his stations...Las
Vegas, D.C. and Boston (WMEX) where I was the morning
newsguy.
Mac
waddled in to the studio one day bemoaning the cost of the
power bill to keep running WPGC-FM (remember this was in the
late 50's so nobody even knew what FM radio was.) He said
he'd sell the FM to me for $10,000! I told him I didn't have
the money...he said I should call my folks. He said I could
put $1,000 down and get it. What's it worth today?
'Gentleman'
Jim Granger
Jim
was morning man in 1959-60 and may have gone to Richmond
radio directly from WPGC from 1961 onward. He was a very popular
personality at WEET, WLEE and WGOE before moving on to television
in the early 70's. He also hosted a very large golf tournament
that he referred to as Virginia's largest. Sadly, Jim passed
away in April 1991, but is not forgotten.
Pat
McCoy
Pat
was morning man in 1960. He later managed a small radio station
in Upstate New York for a year. Then went to The New Yorker
Magazine in Advertising Sales for 20+ years, followed by another
10 years doing the same thing at Playbill Magazine, from which
he retired in 2003. He & his wife now live in Connecticut.
Pat
writes:
On
Bob Howard & Max Richmond
Before
I update my own data, a couple of words about Bob
Howard. I read his son's comments. Bob was a difficult
guy, but a hard worker. I am glad to see he profited mightily
before he died. Before 'PGC I worked for Bob in Baltimore
(WAQE which later changed its call letters to WTOW). After
Bob left, the owner, Sam Booth, hired two successive genuine
lightweight managers. Neither of these guys could sell and
all of the other salesmen left shortly after Bob did. Business
fell off dramatically.
I
recall Bob as more relaxed there than at 'PGC. Good Lord,
he could not have been more tense. Max
Richmond was an even more difficult man to work for than
Bob. Max would come down from Boston and harass everyone,
Bob the most, of course. He had an office hidden away in the
back of a bunch of file cabinets and partitions. He loved
to pick up his phone and listen to everyone's phone calls,
sometimes butting in, but most often just listening. I never
heard him make a positive comment to anyone.
Bob
once invited me to the first night of Passover seder, a new
experience for me. The two boys were small. Both had water
pistols and were squirting indiscriminately before their parents
took them away. We sat down to the table, all of us wearing
yarmulkes, Bob read from scripture, then we sampled the food,
gefiltefish and matzo ball soup, a few other less than appealing
dishes. I thought how could these two people, both fat, be
so heavy eating like this? How uninformed I was. After the
tasting Mrs. Howard cleared the table and brought in platters
of roast beef, noodles, vegetables, etc.
On
Working at WPGC & Fame
I remember my surprise the first time a listener asked for
my autograph. I thought he was kidding. The two incidents
in which my celebrity counted for anything both had to do
with my wife. She was going downtown on a bus, standing, chatting
with another woman from our apartment complex. The woman asked
what her husband did. My wife replied that he was Pat McCoy
on WPGC. With that, a young black man sitting within earshot
offered her his seat, saying he listened to me every morning.
Later,
when my son was born, the daily WPGC Salute was to my wife
for giving birth at Georgetown Hospital. Many of the nurses
were listeners. They came into her room to say hello. She
enjoyed the attention.
The
history of the station
was interesting reading. I did not know they went to 50 kW.
When I was there the only 50 in DC was WTOP. At 10,000 watts
we were the second most powerful station in the market. FM
was just beginning to have meaning. We simulcast Daytime and
played Big
Band music until 10:00 PM. Bob tried to sell it in half-hour
blocks. That was just as I was leaving.
Incidentally,
my schedule was 6:00 (Or Sunrise) until 10:00 Mon-Sat. News
at 10:25. Lunch 10:30 till 11:00, news at 11:25, news headlines
at 12:05, news at 12:25 and 1:25. Then home. Saturday I left
at noon. Friday and Saturday nights I did a remote (warmer
months only) from a Drive-In Movie theatre.
On
Others At The Station
I
remember some of the 'PGC people; Jerry
Kearns, whose grandmother ran Blair House; Tom Shaeffer,
a sales guy who got me talent fees on several of the pieces
of business he sold, thank you. Ray Quinn, former NBC announcer,
and Bill Leonard, Legislative Assistant to a US Senator the
rest of the day. Both of these did the news
on my morning show
for a time. Both were great professionally and personally.
On
The Photos Below
The
pictures with Chubby Checker
and Guy Mitchell were both taken
at remotes we did at Foley Ford. I did four for Ken Foley,
a great guy. The one with Gene Barry
(Bat Masterson) was a remote at a shopping center. He
was preceded that day by Dion, who had recently split from
the Belmonts. I picked up Dion at his hotel in my VW Beetle,
not knowing that his manager was with him. The two were great
sports about riding in cramped quarters. We did lots of remotes
in those days, often with recording artists as guests.
Jerry
G (Ghan)
Jerry
initially did nights with the 'Late Date Show' on WPGC in
1961. Later that year he succeeded Pat
McCoy in mornings, a role he continued in until leaving
the station for KYW in Cleveland in 1963.
In
1964 and 1965 he toured with the Beatles
as a roving reporter for NBC & Group W stations to cover
their concerts coast to coast.
Today
he
and his wife own and operate operate two restaurants: The
Greek Islands Cafe and Asaggio Pizza Pasta in San Diego's
Seaport Village with a third restaurant in the works. Recently
he also began voicing tracks for Chicago's 'Real
Oldies 1690' and has been inducted into the Ohio Radio
Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
Harv
Moore
Harv
Moore 'The Boy Next Door' is a native of Pelham,
New York but came to WPGC from Frankfort, Kentucky in March
of 1963. Initially, he did nights till sign-off but within
a few months was moved to mornings
when Jerry
G left for KYW in Cleveland, starting just days before
the tragic JFK assassination.
Harv
was also Program
Director when Dean
Griffith (Dean Anthony) left in 1964 for WMCA
in NY until the arrival of Cousin
Warren Duffy in 1966. He also served as Music Director
from 1971 when Davy Jones
left for WMAL-FM but was promoted to Program
Director again in 1972 when big
Wilson vacated the position.
Harv
continued in mornings
until early in 1975 when he accepted an offer from former
WPGC General Manager,
Bob Howard to do mornings
in Buffalo at WYSL. Today, Harv does mornings at WECK
/ Buffalo.
Harv
writes:
On
Coming To WPGC:
Wayne
Hetrick was the Chief Engineer. He and his wife put me
up at their house until I found an apartment and could move
my family to D.C. Our
studios were
in SE Washington in the WMA bus terminal...in the spring they
would paint the buses (orange and black), and the paint fumes
would drift in the windows of our studios.
On
Milt Grant:
When
I first started at 'PGC I recorded the Milt
Grant show every Thursday night. His producer was a guy
named Danny (can't come up with a last name). He was a character.
We had a lotta laughs. Milt was a funny guy...serious...but
funny. It ran Sunday afternoons. I still have one of the tape
boxes labeled "The Milt Grant Show 2:00-2:25". (Not
the show...just the box). Bob
Howard gave me an extra $20 a week to record the
show...lotta cash in 1963...bought a lot of cigs! I was still
smoking at that time (like everyone else)...$2.50 a carton!
On
'MacNamara':
In
1963, we had a newsman we called MacNamara
("MacNamara here!")....helluva voice..He lived right down
the street from the radio station...real name, Ted Radomski....he
used to tell me about his brother who was struggling in an
off Broadway show...several years later he was a superstar...the
"off Broadway show was "Hair"...Ted's brother was one of the
writers - Bill Rado (Radomski).
On
the multiple 'Bob Raleighs':
The "original" Bob
Raleigh #1 (Rolle Ferrar) and I started at WPGC the same
day in March of '63. BobHe was working in West Palm Beach
- I was in Frankfort, KY. He and I became best friends, and
we still are to this day - he is my son Bill's godfather.
Bob left WPGC (was forced out), went to WWDC, then WEEL in
Fairfax, VA and then to WBZ in Boston. He just retired after
20 years there. I have really lost track of the other Raleighs
- there were several - several "Dean
Griffiths", too. Last I heard, Bill
Miller was in Frederick, MD at a country station.
On
'The Redhead':
The
Redhead (Joanie Fierstein) came to work for us in 1972
as a receptionist. I started using her on my show doing drop-ins,
and then I asked her if she could come in a little early,
drive the Money Car on
my show, and then come in and be on the show with me. As I
got busier in my PD job, I needed a secretary, so Joanie came
in at 6, was on the show with me 'til 10, and then was my
secretary for the rest of the day.
Fierstein
was her married name. When she came to work for us in '72
she was divorced. After I moved to Buffalo, she stayed on
at 'PGC for a while, but then they let her go. At one point
she considered moving to Buffalo to continue her radio career,
but then went to work for NASA. At some point, she remarried
- her last name was Dell-Erba. She had a daughter, and then
she kinda fell through the cracks. All the people that she
was friends with at the station lost track of her. I think
she married for the third time, and moved somewhere in the
Frederick area.
On
the 'Crusin' 69' album:
The
Cruisin' 69 tape
was an actual aircheck music and all. It's a pretty amazing
story of how that all came about. The only part that I had
to "recreate" was the very beginning and the very end.
A friend of mine in D.C. had a music tip sheet, and he told
me a guy named Howard Silvers was trying to locate me to do
a Cruisin' LP. He was very persistent, so I finally called
him. He said he wanted to do a Cruisin' '68 for Baltimore,
and wondered if I had any tapes of myself.
I told him I never worked in Baltimore...I
worked in D.C. He said, "Well, Baltimore / Washington are
considered one market". I told him I would look. I really
never wanted to go into my basement archives, and start searching
for airchecks. I didn't really save airchecks. Again, he was
persistent, so I acquiesced. The only tape I found from circa
'68 was a complete aircheck from 1969. I sent it to Howard,
and he loved it. The only thing I did was cut an intro and
an outro here in Buffalo. The rest of it was "pristine".
On
Bob Howard & the Sale of WPGC:
Bob
Howard had a "right of first refusal"
should the station ever be put up for sale. It was a signed
document from Max (Mac) Richmond.
When the station went on the market, and it was announced
that it was being sold to the Marriotts, Bob exercised his
right of first refusal. He told me that he was trying to get
some backers to put a deal together.
Glenn
Potter called me at about 11:00 one night...woke me and
my wife out of a sound sleep...doing mornings, I was getting
up at 4AM. He told me that he and the Marriotts were buying
WPGC, and he wanted me to assist them in doing some "community
ascertainments" that were required by the FCC.
I
told him that Bob
Howard
was also trying to buy the station, and that I worked for
him, and assisting the Marriotts would border on "treason".
He said Howard did not have the financial backing to buy the
station. He said, "So, you're not going to help us?"
I said, "I can't".
When
the Marriotts took over, I knew my days there were numbered.
I was the enemy. Potter
called me into his office one morning after my show, and said
"things were not working out". And they weren't.
In
the meantime, I had been talking to Bob
Howard's
attorney, Jason Shrinsky. He was putting a deal together for
someone that was going to buy what became DC101 - I think
the guy was "Benderson". The negotiations dragged
on and on.
Bob
Howard
could not put the money together to buy 'PGC. The Marriotts
bought him out. It was over $500,000. Bob used the money to
buy two stations in Buffalo, WYSL
and WPHD in Oct '74., and
he asked me to move here to program the two stations. I
had worked for him since 1963, so we had a good working relationship.
Bob
sold the stations in '89 - walked away with 4.3mil...he passed
away in 1993.
On
His Days Since Then:
New
owners came in and cleaned house - I mean EVERYBODY - 'cept
me. I stayed on for a while, but decided to move on. I was
doing the morning show with my friend Bob Taylor - The Taylor
& Moore Show...highly successful. We had created the mythical
Land of Fa - ruled by the Fa King. We told every Fa King joke
you can think of. It was hilarious if I do say so myself.
(We put a CD out a coupla years ago, and it was the #1 best
seller here in Buffalo for months).
Anyway,
the new owners thought they were building a better mousetrap,
and brought in a new morning show. I think they had 4 different
hosts in 4 weeks. Taylor and I went to another station in
town, but we were on in the afternoon, and the format was
different.
In
1995, independent record promoter Jerry Meyers and I started
a small record company, producing and recording local singers.
In 1998, the program director of Oldies
104, WHTT / Buffalo coaxed me into doing a Saturday show.
Then, they asked me to do 12n-3p Monday thru Friday. Then,
they asked me to be Assistant Program Director, and do 10a-3p
Monday thru Friday. I later did afternoons, 2-7p.
My
contract was up Dec 31, 2006. They let me know in October
that they were dropping Oldies, going to a "Mix"
format. I wasn't comfortable with that. They asked me stay
on thru March 31, 2007 during the transistion. They still
have me on their website. They want me to do some weekend
work and special products, but I'm just kicking back for the
present time.
Columbus
writes:
Most
things seem so much more magical in the distance than when
you get there...I heard Harv
Moore on WPGC when I was in high school...the time when
your favorite songs have this once in a lifetime significance...its
hard to live up to that...but he did....Harv was a genuinely
funny guy...didn't have to prepare stuff...just talking with
him the humor was so natural...and he knew how to live in
a big picture kind of way... on the edge but in control...
always with a feeling for the people around him...we all have
regrets ...and I mean this in the best way...I don't think
Harv has too many... he's really a huge talent and a humble
great guy...
On
Inheriting the Morning Show:
Although
I'm not sure of a timeline, I do remember Harv asking me to
consider going to Buffalo and that seemed to be months before
he left. Then suddenly boom, Jim
Collins was the new Program
Director and Jim's giving me a pep talk about how I'd
be great doing mornings in the style of a Charlie Tuna or
Robert W. Morgan.
Mike
Cohen writes:
I
can tell you that Harv Moore
in my opinion was more than just a WPGC Good Guy. He was a
Great Guy. Harv was the consummate morning man who was entertaining
and funny. Consider... Harv aired one of Washington's highest
rated morning shows without a producer and without being raunchy.
(Harv occasionally got "spicey" but never crossed
the line. Besides, its a lot harder to be funny and clean.)
Harv was and I'm sure still is a "class" act. You
can count me as a big Harv Moore fan both professionally and
personally.
Anita
Miller ('April May') writes:
Harv
let eveyone get their 15 minutes of fame every chance he got
and for a man of his fame that was amazing -- no ego just
the boy next door for real. He told jokes about my blueberry
muffins on air: I believe they were used for door stops and
paper weights. Said my parents were going to enroll me in
cooking school but I burnt the application! We got a lot of
mileage out of my lack of culinary skills. I had to put the
fire department on danger money every time I turned on the
stove!
Rick
Young writes:
Glenn
Potter was looking to make changes in the station from
the get-go. Harv was fired in January '75. Harv was not about
to take direction from him, and THAT was no secret. Plus he
had a fallback deal with Bob
Howard which surprisingly took some time to put together.
Harv was one hell of a nice guy, that I can absolutely attest
to. I remember the day well. It was snowing like hell, and
Potter entered Harv's office to give him his two weeks notice.
Harv said he knew it was coming, but was surprised at the
timing. Anyhow, and I wasn't there, he basically said "I'm
outta here now".
I
remember seeing Harv's office after he had left, and wondered
what else was coming down. Barry Richards had this gig on
Channel 20, and Harv and the
Redhead were guests periodically during the transition
to Buffalo. Then he was gone, and Joanie dropped off the map.
There was a kind of real sadness as to what had transpired
during my almost one year there. Morale had plummeted after
the sale, and the Mormons were a disaster. They knew nothing
about how to treat people, or about the radio business.
Columbus
Columbus
joined WPGC in the September of 1971 for nights from a small
station in Coatesville, PA. He moved to middays in 1972 when
Tom Allen left to program
WMEX in Boston. In early
1975, Harv Moore left for
WYSL in Buffalo and he inherited the morning show where he
remained until late in the year when he left for the Production
Director gig at WLS
in Chicago. Today he is a top voice actor in the Windy City
and is the staff announcer for the Judge Mathis show.
Columbus
writes:
The
Coatesville job was a short stay...I was raised in PG County...went
to Suitland High...then the Univ. of Maryland...graduated
in ' 70......Today I'm still a voice actor in Chicago...my
main gig now is as staff announcer for the Judge Mathis show...
What
a great website...the "blowtorch" line alone makes
you feel proud to have been a part of it...you know for years
I never thought much about WPGC then I saw the Cameron Crowe
film, Almost Famous... I'm sure the other guys from
the' 72 to' '75 years had similar feelings...in many ways
we were like the band on the bus rolling through the heartland,
just headed somewhere with our music ... and dreams of things
not as they were but as we longed for them to be...it was
a pretty special time...
On
Harv Moore:
Most
things seem so much more magical in the distance than when
you get there...I heard Harv Moore on WPGC when I was in high
school...the time when your favorite songs have this once
in a lifetime significance ...its hard to live up to that...but
he did....Harv was a genuinely funny guy...didn't have to
prepare stuff...just talking with him the humor was so natural...and
he knew how to live in a big picture kind of way... on the
edge but in control... always with a feeling for the people
around him...we all have regrets ...and I mean this in the
best way...I don't think Harv has too many... he's really
a huge talent and a humble great guy...
On
Inheriting the Morning Show:
Although
I'm not sure of a timeline, I do remember Harv asking me to
consider going to Buffalo and that seemed to be months before
he left. Then suddenly boom, Jim
Collins was the new Program
Director and Jim's giving me a pep talk about how I'd
be great doing mornings in the style of a Charlie Tuna or
Robert W. Morgan.
Tim
Kelly
Tim
joined WPGC from WCFL / Chicago in early 1976 for mornings
after Columbus left for WLS.
He stayed until The
Great Strike That Struck Out in May of 1977. He later
worked at KFI with his wife Evelyn
(of Money Girl fame) and
did mornings at the Beat, KKBT.
Tim
writes:
I
came to WPGC from WCFL in Chicago. I went up to WRKO
after it became clear that we were never coming back from
the strike,
and first did afternoons, and then mornings. Ev
was my sidekick / traffic girl, with her using the name Beverly
Hudson.
We
then went on to KFI / LA for 3 years, to do Tim and Ev til'
late 81, and then I went back to doing a solo act on KIIS-FM,
til '87 when Lehman and I merged our 2 small syndication companies
to form Premiere. I'm currently the chairman and CEO of KB
Global, a fast food franchising company I started with my
brother Terrance. KB franchises a concept called Great Wraps!
to the LA and Orange County ares. We have 12 restaurants opening
in the first half of 2004.
My
remaining media projects are, All
Comedy Radio, to whom I am senior advisor, and a partner
in the venture (couldn' t stay away from comedy, my first
love) and Exec VP / Member of the board for Vital Options
International, producers of the Group Room, America's only
Cancer talk and advocacy program, heard on 100 stations nationwide,
and across Europe.
Jim
Elliott & Scott Woodside
Jim
came to WPGC from WEAM
where he was PD for middays & Music Director duties in
1975. He had previously worked in Washington doing late nights
at WRC.
In 1977, following The
Great Strike That Struck Out,
he returned to the station to do mornings, initially teamed
with Don O'Day. In the summer
of 1978, Scott Woodside
joined him for morning news.
Elliott
& Woodside left
the station in early 1982, accepting a then staggering offer
from Q107.
He later did mornings at B106, middays at WAVA & eventually
became VP of Pop Promotion at Arista Records in NY. Today
he runs his own airplay consulting firm.
Jim
writes:
I
am alive and well in Cresskill, NJ and own my own company
called "The Spin Doctor, Inc" . It's an airplay
consultancy for the record labels and is doing quite well.
While at Arista, I did weekends and fill in at Z100/NY for
about 6-7 years and then did some work at Jammin' Oldies before
it turned Urban. I still get the bug once in a while....and
always seem to run into people that grew up listening to me.
I
occasionally take some time and go to this site and sooooo
many memories come flooding back. Many people don't appreciate
what they've got in living day to day...whether it be a great
soul mate or a great radio station.
On
What Made WPGC Great:
WPGC
was a GREAT station and so far ahead of its time in that we
were one of the first successful FM stations (due to the heavy
penetration of FM in the DC market).
WPGC
was part of people's lives...they came to us to be with friends
, to hear new music, to be entertained and to win great prizes
(and a lot of cash)....and the loyalty of the listener was
reciprocated by on air personalities that really cared about
the station, the community and each other.
On
the 'WPGC Rocks' Album:
As
far as the 'WPGC Rocks'
LP, the songs were definitely my era at WPGC...but I'll
be damned if I can remember ever seeing it. WPGC was such
a powerhouse back then we would never have given anything
away that had such a glaring error. We probably just put them
in a dumpster and someone got hold of a copy.....a true mid
70's rarity.
Foxx
& Theismann
Dave
Foxx came to WPGC during The
Great Strike That Struck Out in May of 1977 from sister
First Media station, KYAK
in Provo. Initially he did middays but moved to mornings when
Elliott & Woodside
departed for Q107
in early 1982. He then inherited mornings, teamed up first
with Joe
Theismann
and later
Dude
Walker.
Dude
& Dave
Dude
Walker came to WPGC shortly after Elliott
& Woodside left
for Q107
in early 1982. For a short period of time he did afternoons
before moving to mornings where he joined Dave
Foxx.
Walker
& Howe
Sadly,
'Dude & Dave' only lasted a few months before J.
Robert Howe was brought in from sister station KYAK
in Provo. Joining the pair was Redskins Quarterback
Joe Theismann.
Dude
went on to do mornings at WASH
then went to morning fill-in at B104
in Baltimore for 'Brian & O'Brien'. Today, he operates
his own voice over company and is heard as the imaging voice
on numerous stations around the country.
Dave
Foxx, Joe Theismann
& J. Robert Howe
Brought
back for mornings yet again, Dave was teamed with J.
Robert Howe when Dude left for mornings at WASH. Today,
Dave is the imaging guru at Z-100 in NY.
Joe
Theismann
is an on-air analyst for ESPN's Sunday Night football. If
anyone knows of the whereabouts of J.
Robert Howe,
please email the webmaster.
Baker
& Burd
Jeff
Baker & David Burd
were assembled by PD, Al Casey
in 1983 to try and combat the declining ratings in AM drive.
Today, Jeff is a professional actor and is the Production
Director at WAVA.
David Burd does weekends at WMAL.
