'Cousin' Warren Duffy came to WPGC in 1966 as Program Director and afternoon man, positions he held down until 1968 when he left for sister station, WMEX in Boston. He later programmed KMET in Los Angeles. From 1994 - 2004 he did afternoons in Los Angeles at Salem's religious talk, KKLA.

 

 

In 1959, we put a "Good Guys" Top 40 format together at a little station in York, PA owned by Susquehanna Broadcasting.  For its time, it was very innovative.

The company purchased a station in Ohio (Akron to be exact) and in 1961 they named me as their first program director at WHLO and of course, the "Good Guys" format trailed along with us.

By 1966, the station came to the attention of Bob Howard, the GM of WPGC, whose family lived in Cleveland.  He would monitor the station when he visited his relatives, and somewhere about 1966 he and I got in touch and next thing you know, I was living in Silver Spring, MD and I was the afternoon jock and the PD of WPGC.

I left WPGC to take a hiatus, moving briefly to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands for a time of rest and re-focusing because - frankly, 45s were dying out and LPs were coming in and that meant a new format which I called "underground" and took that format to Boston and WMEX - also owned by the company that owned WPGC.  Then, I brought the "underground" format to Los Angeles and in 1969, put it on the air at KMET FM.

I returned to the air briefly in 1974 - with Wolfman Jack - on KDAY here in Los Angeles - a blend of albums and 45s that was semi-successful until the station was sold to black ownership and all the white guys were fired - including me.

Washington was one of my best cities in radio, until I came to Los Angeles.

On The Air Staff:

I was there for about 3 years - using the name "Cousin Duffy."  Jack Alix had been one of our competitors on WEAM - so we hired him to join us.  Also, from the upper Michigan peninsula - I hired a DJ and since Peyton Place was such a big hit TV show at the time, we changed the guy's name to Bob Peyton - he did our mid-days.

Harv Moore was the morning man when I arrived and he was still there when I left.

One of our weekend DJ's was Bob Raleigh - who we called "Tiger Bob" when he was playing records.

Marv Brooks had been one of the disc jockeys when I got there, but we thought his talents were better used in the newsroom and so he became one of the station's premier news talents.

On Memorable Station Promotions:

I remember coming on the air with a big promotion: for the March of Dimes, I marched from Dulles Airport to the Washington Monument - and as long as the phones kept ringing, I kept walking.  I don't remember how much money we raised, but I do remember I walked in a blizzard from 6 in the morning to about 6:30 that night.

We had many, many successful promotions and events connected with the station including the WPGC "Hide the Picnic" where we invited listeners to come to a free picnic - but we only gave them clues to the location.  They had to find out where the big event was being held. That was lots of fun.

And of course, hosting the concerts with Hendrix and Joplin - with Jim Morrison - and so many others.  Brings back wonderful memories.

On Beatlemania:

The Beatles had already hit by the time I got to Washington.  I was one of the first 3 program directors in America to feature The Beatles on WHLO in Ohio -- they had recorded a single on a small label prior to their major releases on Capitol Records, and we made one of them our PICK HIT OF THE WEEK, played it every other hour and even had Brian Epstein on the air thanking us for playing their record in America.  None the less, we tool full advantage of connecting to the British invasion while I was at WPGC.

I have no airchecks - no jingles - very few souvenirs from that era - just some wonderful memories of a time in radio history that perhaps can never happen again. 

On The Passing of Jack Alix:

Jack and I were young kids getting started in the radio biz back in DC. As I remember, he was at WEAM when I first heard of him. For a very long time General Manager, Bob Howard and I were very aware of Jack's presence in the marketplace and his great work and secretly we always hoped he would someday be part of our Good Guy team.

Then he arrived and quite honestly we didn't know what to do with him so we gave him the evening show. But as you know, with 'PGC being a daytimer back then, I didn't even get to do my entire drivetime show during the winter (we signed off at 4:45PM for a few weeks). So it took a little convincing but Jack came onboard and he was simply wonderful to work with.

He was very professional -- far beyond his years (or mine). He never
argued, never disagreed, always made things work for the good of the station and that was always his first thought. He also had a terrific promo mind and was constantly bringing famous recording artists to town for live shows. We teamed up on a few of them over at the old Arlington Roller Rink - remember?

He always had a smile. That's what I remember most about Jack. He was never down or depressed. He always had something to smile about. It -- and he -- were infectious. He not only smiled, he laughed out loud long before the internet. It was a combination giggle / laugh and many times he laughed so hard he broke into a cough. He was simply a joy to be around.

He went on a vacation to Mexico one year and brought me a beautiful silver gift back from his trip. In all of my years in broadcasting, nobody before and nobody since has ever been so thoughtful. He was a real pioneer. He was a good friend back in the '60's. I send my condolences to his family and my thanks to God for knowing - and have the chance to work with - such a great, great man.

 

I remember Cousin Duffy's '68 Cadillac - he had a brand new gold convertible painted with a psychedelic scheme that most thought bizarre. I was thirteen and I kinda liked it. In those days, it was probably pretty cool among the hip crowd, but most thought he had ruined the car and destroyed its resale value.

 

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