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Dedicated in memory
of Jim
Collins
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Harv
Moore today
|
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 November 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 is
now retired in Buffalo.
Harv
Moore 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. He 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 Bob Raleighs - there were
several - several "Dean Griffiths",
too. Last I heard, Bill
Miller was in Frederick, MD at a country station.
On
Dean Griffith (Dean Anthony):
Dean
Griffith was very highly regarded by record company representatives.
He was first to play new releases, and he broke a lot of records
out of D.C. He had an amazing ear. Consequently he received
a lot of "special attention" from the record companies,
and was able to procure a lot of "unavailable" material.
I'm sure the Program Directors and Music Directors from the
other D.C. stations were scratching their heads when they saw
the Evening
Star Top Ten, wondering "how in the heck did
he get those (Beatles
songs ahead of everyone else)?"
On
The JFK Assassination:
I
remember vividly what happened that afternoon. Each jock had
a news shift. After I got off the air at 10am I did the news
for Bob Raleigh. We did the news from
a little desk in the control room. I was sitting at the desk
talking to Bob while he was on the air.
Eleanor,
the building cleaning lady, called the radio station, and said
she was watching TV, and a bulletin
came across that President Kennedy had been shot. I immediately
went to our teletype, and it was just coming across from UP.
I tore it off and ran to the control room. I'll never forget;
I sat down at the little news desk, and Bob said, "Harv,
read it very slowly".
As
I recall, (WPGC Program Director,) Dean
Griffith (Dean Anthony) was at lunch at the time, but heard
the news and returned to the station immediately. At that point
he called in MacNamara to
cover the story.
When
it was learned that the President had succumbed, we immediately
dropped format, and went to generic instrumental music, and
that continued until right after the funeral. The day after
shooting, the mood was obviously somber, and MacNamara
and I continued to keep the listeners informed, as did the other
jocks.
On
The Beatles:
Re:
the Beatles, I
have read in several books the account of their first U.S. concert
at the Washington Coliseum as to who was on the bill
with them. They listed The Chiffons and Tommy Roe.
A fellow DJ friend (and Beatlemaniac) had given me an "original"
poster from the show, with The Chiffons and Tommy
Roe listed as the opening acts. I knew this was wrong because
the opening acts were Jay & The Americans and The
Righteous Brothers and The Caravelles. I know, because
I talked to them in the stands on the afternoon of the show.
What
happened was: as we all know, there was a blizzard on the east
coast, and the Beatles
had to take the train from NYC to DC, instead of flying. The
Chiffons and Tommy Roe couldn't make it in, so they
had to get some last-minute opening acts.
Several years ago on the anniversary of the Beatles
show, I had Kenny Vance of Jay & The Americans on
the air with me by phone, and he verified this.
On
his novelty 45, 'Interview of the Fab Four':
'Interview
of The Fab Four' was Bobby Poe's idea. He recalled the
Buchanan & Goodman hits of the late 50's where they
took excerpts of hit songs to tell a story. I met Bobby in the
Spring of '64. He had a hit with The Chartbusters', 'She's
The One'.
I
had written a song called, 'Breaking Hearts To Him Is Just
A Game', co-written with Don
"Pee Wee" Reese (Riis). Don was working with me
at 'PGC at the time. I had found a couple of girls who called
themselves, The Delights. They were from Hyattsville,
MD. We recorded a demo at the station, and I took it to Bobby.
He loved it. He placed it with Arlen Records out of Philadelphia.
Bobby
and I wrote the script to 'Interview', and we recorded
it at Edgewood Studios in DC. Ed Greene was the engineer. He
went on to become the chief recording engineer for The Cowsills.
The Chartbusters were in the studio at the same time, working
on a followup to 'She's The One'. Bobby knew that I had
written several songs, and he asked if I could write something
really quick so that The Chartbusters could back me up.
I
wrote 'I Feel So Fine' in about 20 minutes, and it sounds
like it! Bobby placed the record with World Artists Records
out of NYC. They were hot with Chad & Jeremy, and Reparata
& The Delrons. They released it on American Arts Records.
'Interview' was out about 2 weeks, and we got a "Cease
& Desist" order from Brian Epstein.
On
his 45, 'I Told Santa Claus I Want You':
In
1965 I was producing records for a band called 'Nobody's
Children'. I got the name from nationally renowned independent
record promoter Joe Cash. The band was originally called 'Adam's
Apples'. They were students at Suitland High School. I had
them under contract with United Artists Records for two years.
Then I produced a re-make of 'I Can't Let Go' (the Hollies
hit), and placed it with Neil Bogart at Buddah Records. So,
'Nobody's Children' was then under contract for two years
with Buddah.
The
group did a lot of traveling. They went on a dance show in Cleveland
with Greg Allman. Before they were the Allman Brothers, they
were called Allman Joy. Neil Diamond released "Cherry Cherry",
and the promoter for the record company offered to have him
come to D.C. to do a hop for me. We chose the Manassas Armory.
Neil flew in on a Saturday morning, and we rehearsed with 'Nobody's
Children' at Popey's Tavern that afternoon. The group backed
him up that night at the show. Neil stayed overnight at our
apartment in Maryland. I saw him backstage two years later in
Baltimore when he was a superstar, and then again here in Buffalo
in the 80's. He rememberd me both times.
I
had written a Christmas song called, 'I
Told Santa Claus I Want You'
with a Beach Boys sound in mind, but I had no one to record
it. I rehearsed it with the guys from 'Nobody's Children'
who were still under contract with United Artists Records, and
we recorded it at Edgewood Studios in D.C. with engineer Ed
Greene. It was 'Phil Spector meets The Beach Boys'. I was a
huge fan of both. The kids did a helluva job on it. Lee Travers
borrowed a glocksenspiel from Suitland High School for the production.
It came out great.
I
sent it to Florence Greenberg at Scepter Records, and she loved
it. They released it just before Christmas in '67. Unfortunately,
that was the year that stations around the country had backed
off of Christmas songs. It did get played on WMCA in New York
though! And, of course, Cousin
Duffy played the hell out of it at 'PGC.
I
produced under the name 'Phil Music'- a play on words. Back
in the day we used to pad up to news time at the top of the
hour with instrumental 'fill music'. The labels on UA, Buddah
/ Bullet and Scepter all read "Produced by Phil Music".
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
'The Redhead(s)':
The
original 'Redhead' was
my wife Vicki. She used to read the school lunch menus on my
show in '67 and '68. On Sunday night I would tape her reading
the NFL scores. She had trouble matching up teams with their
nicknames...really screwed 'em up. Fans would call me, and holler
at me: "Will you please tell The Redhead that it's
not the 'Kansas City Jets!".
I
remember Connie Lawn. Nice lady. As
she points out, she was at 'PGC for a hot minute. They kinda
threw us together to see if something might work.
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 Program Director's
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 where she still works to this day. At some
point, she remarried - her last name is now Hoffman and she
has a daughter.
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 want me to do some weekend
work and special products, but I'm just kicking back for the
present time.
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.
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...
BD
Howard writes:
My
dad (General Manager,
Bob Howard) hired Harv Moore
out of Kentucky and he seemed to stay with him forever, very
few others stayed long! My dad and I had a falling out in'71
(by then my folks had already split) and he and I didn't speak
for more than a decade. When we reunited, he was in Buffalo
and Harv was still the Morning Mayor. I felt as though he was
perhaps stuck in a time warp. He seemed to be, next to Dick
Clark, the second oldest teenager in existence.
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.
Photos
|
A
very young Harv in 1963!
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Print
Materials
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on thumbnails below to see enlargements.
Articles
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on the image below to see enlargement.
Print
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Miscellaneous
Sound
Files
Airchecks
Newscasts
 |
09/11/69 |
:59 |
|
03/11/70 |
3:39 |
|
01/01/71 |
2:21 |
Contests
|
05/67 |
Balloon
Buster 1 |
2:01 |
|
1973 |
Fantasy
Baseball |
1:25 |
|
10/01/73 |
Cash
Kick Off |
:57 |
Jingles
|
1964 |
Morning
Mayor -
© PAMS
'The Jet Set'
|
:13 |
|
1966 |
© Spot
Productions 'Thatman'
|
:07 |
|
1972 |
Jock
Cut © PAMS
42a
|
:01 |
(Special
thanks to Jonathon Wolfert for the above).
Promos
Sweepers
|
1964 |
Jock
Roll Call (with Dean
Griffith (Dean Anthony), Bob
Raleigh (Rolle Ferrar),
Jerry G &
Don Pee Wee Reese) |
:32 |
|
02/4/67 |
Request-O-Matic
Solicit |
:14 |
|
03/26/67 |
Best
Bet of the Week |
:13 |
|
1969 |
Request-O-Matic
Solicit |
:13 |
|
01/01/70 |
Top
100 of 1969 Stager 1 |
:04 |
|
01/01/70 |
Top
100 of 1969 Stager 2 |
:05 |
Spots
Miscellaneous
Audio
|
|
Small
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