'On Your Santa Information Station, WPGC'

Good Guy, 'Marvelous Marv' Brooks came to WPGC at the tender age of 20 from another 1580, WPAC in Patchogue, Long Island in August, 1964 for Afternoon Drive, a shift he covered until new Program Director 'Cousin' Warren Duffy arrived in 1966 at which time he moved Marv to double duty as Morning News Guy with Harv Moore and Production Director, explaining why Marv's voice is heard on so many commercials.

In addition, he continued doing a weekend air shift on Saturday nights. As it were in 1966, that happened to correspond to Christmas Eve, on what turned out to be a White Christmas with nearly a foot of the stuff in some suburbs causing numerous cancellations including a few Christmas Eve services.

Regular format was abandoned for seasonal favorites from years past. With not enough Rock & Roll holiday tunes available to sustain long form programming, a very MOR-ish library is heard throughout his 6-hour shift up to sign-off on the FM at midnight.

Of particular interest though was the then-current song by Simon & Garfunkel, '7 O'clock News / Silent Night', a collage of the pair singing while news actualities of actual events of 1966 are heard over their background.

The narration on it was done by radio great, Charlie O'Donnell of KRLA in LA and announcer with Dick Clark on 'American Bandstand'. Later in his career, Charlie was a frequently heard game show voice man on shows like 'Wheel of Fortune', 'The Joker's Wild', 'Tic-Tac-Dough' and many others.

There was current WPGC Pulsebeat News too on this Christmas Eve. Notably, Russia still led in the race to the Moon, though the U.S. was quickly narrowing the gap. The USSR had just landed the unmanned 'Luna 13' on the surface.

Christmas Eve wouldn't be complete without the requisite reports of Santa's progress on the 'Santa Information Station' as tracked by NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command who since 1955 had followed St. Nick by radar as he made his way around the Country when a child mistakenly called their hotline inquiring about his arrival. Accordingly, Major Bill Martin is heard numerous times throughout the night as the Big Guy's reindeers rendezvoused with a DC destination.

'The Happy Holiday Sound of WPGC' also featured seasonal jingles from PAMS along with numerous station promos touting the upcoming special countdown on New Year's Day of the WPGC Top 100 of 1966 with the voices of midday man, 'Bob Raleigh' (Bill Miller), the 5th of 6 different jocks to use the house name at WPGC over the years along with 'Cousin' Duffy who remind listeners of the WPGC year-end souvenir surveys available at all the usual locations at better record stores around the Beltway.

Also customary at this time of the year were greetings from the office staff at WPGC. A couple of them heard here included ones from 'Good Gal', Joanne Morse, a secretary at the station and Bookkeeper, Elizabeth Bern. Of course, the rest of the air staff lend their voices to greetings of their own, often in tandem with artists of the day including the Supremes, Temptations and Jimmy Dean.

Marv would leave WPGC in 1968 over Union related issues (he was Shop Steward) but quickly landed on his feet as Program Director of the former WOL-FM on 98.7 where he launched WMOD's All-Oldies format. By the early '70's as that station transitioned to more current music, he became the House Announcer at the Capital Centre for both the Bullets and Capitals.

Marv's widow, Lynn adds her remembrances of his days in DC at 'Funtastic' WPGC and elsewhere on Marv's page.

Sadly, Marv passed away of a massive heart attack on 02/23/98. A life-long smoker, he came out against the practice late in life. Marv was a witty, consummate pro in all aspects of his career and is fondly remembered as a true 'Good Guy' in the fullest sense of the phrase.

Many a Washingtonian spent their holiday that Christmas Eve with WPGC. Marv was their companion on the most special night of the year as well as a week later on New Year's Eve which similarly, happened to fall on a Saturday night that year.

 

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