Not syndicated guys like Howard or Imus–who were the local guys you listened to in junior high/high school, when you could have a radio on the bus or drive to school?
In Cleveland in the 80s (in fact, in all of NE Ohio) it was the WMMS Morning Zoo. WMMS 100.7 was an FM giant in those days, one of the pioneers of progressive FM radio. By the 80s, they were the AOR rulers in that part of the country. The Morning Zoo was hosted by Jeff Kinzbach and Ed “Flash” Ferenc, who had a terrific rapport. They were often joined by “Mr. Leonard,” their bungling assistant/producer. Mr. Leonard had an oddly-accented, high, whiny voice, and often “called-in” with outrageous excuses as to why he couldn’t make it to work. Every morning, while waiting at the bus stop, we would stand outside a friend’s window and listen to the “Token [or “Tokin’,” if you were so inclined] Jokes of the Morning,” which usually consisted of Polish jokes. (It’s a Cleveland thing.)
Jeff & Flash were cancelled in 199 . . . 5, maybe? They had gotten pretty stale by that time, and WMMS had changed formats umpteen-million times to compete with classic rock station 98.5 WNCX.
The only cooler thing on Cleveland morning radio was the traffic report on WGCL (which was what 98.5 was at the time, a Top 40 station). Reports were handled by Baron Aviation, based out of Burke Lakefront Airport, and were always signed off with a joyful, “Dave Baron, WGCL Skyyyyyyyyyyyy Pilot!”
I like Alice radio’s Sarah and Vinny here in SF.
Unfortunately I don’t get to listen to more than a couple of minutes of them.
I usually walk to the muni station for my commute and I have no portable radio. Sometimes my wife will give me a lift, so I can catch them, but it’s only a few blocks.
When I commuted to Fremont and my wife let me use her car, I’d get a solid hour of them. I used to pray for a traffic jam so I could listen to more of the show.
We as kids never had control of the radio in the mornings, it was Papa O what made the decisions on that. So we grew up with Dave Maynard on WBZ-AM, Boston. I grew rapidly tired of listening to him shill for Oreck vacuum cleaners and making goofy wake-up calls.
This would have been around 1980-82; by the time I got into high school the radio wasn’t on in the mornings anymore.
When I’m not listening to a CD or NPR in the morning, the dial is tuned to the morning show hosted by none other than Dee Snider (Snyder?). Why, yes, the very same Dee of Twisted Sister. What, in the name of all that is fluffy, is this man doing in my radio?
Oops, I answered too hastily. We’re talking long ago here aren’t we.
Ok.
I attended H.S. in northern rural Maine. One AM station. Top 40. Farm reports. I didn’t even know radio was considered entertainment until I moved outa there.
In Portland ME, there was The Captain and Mark. They weren’t bad, as well as can be expected in such a small market. They were dedicated subscribers to all those “Funny Stuff Compilations” that virtually every second rate radio station receives, but I kind of liked them.
I grew up in Indianapolis, and listened to Bob and Tom on the local classic rock station, WFBQ. They are still on Q95, but now that they are sindicated they are everywhere. If you’ve heard them, you probably either love them or hate them. I’m kind of partial to them, since I grew up listening to them. So, even though they are sindicated now, they weren’t when I was in high school.
In high school, my long, red-haired hippy looking female bus driver smoked cigarettes and blared ‘98 Rock’. I don’t remember who they were, but back then it was mostly just spinning records, not as much talk as we have today.
Well, when I was a wee lad in my elementary school days, I listened to Imus on WNBC AM 660 in New York. In retrospect, he sucked and trust me - like Howard or not, Imus stole his whole schtick from him.
I also listened to Howard when I was in DC and so was he (on DC101) and in NYC on his current station.
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Well, I know he’s syndicated now, but I used to listen to Howard Stern when he was only on W-ENNNNNN-BC in NY. I grew up listening to WABC (“The music’s on us!”), when the local jocks were Harry Harrison, Cousin Brucie, and Dan Ingram. I think Imus was on WABC also, and then moved to WNBC, where, as Satan said, he sucked and ripped off Howard. He was usually drunk.
Jonathan Brandmeier
Kevin Matthews
Danny Bonaduche
(Not sure if I got all of the spelling right.)
Then they all scattered and moved to different stations and times. Then I moved to Denver and listed to Howard Stern every morning. Then they pulled Howard and I’m back to listening to music.
As a youngster, before I had a radio of my own in my room, we suffered through Mom’s choice every morning: Wally Phillips on WGN in Chicago. He’s an icon in broadcasting in this neck of the woods, but he was just one 1950s era cliche after another. He used to use clips from comedy albums and recent tv broadcasts to intersperse as he read copy. It was lame!
When I had a choice on my own as a junior high and early high schooler, the cool morning show was Steve Dahl. Also whoever was morning guy on WBBM-FM in Chicago, which was the HAPPENIN top 40 station in our area in the early 70s. One of those djs was one Jim Shannell, who advertised himself on the air as “Captain Whammo,” who in his evening incarnation had a call in feature known as the “Whammo line,” where kids asked for their favorite records, and teenage girls flirted with “The Captain.” This was in competition with (and a direct ripoff of) WLS’s “Boogie Check” line, but most of us were too cool in 1974 or 1975 to still be listening to AM radio.
An interesting aside (well, at least to me), in my own radio days, I crossed path with Jim Shannell, who had a life change and went into Christian radio.
Monster, the Brandmier/Matthews/Bonaduce lineup, which came about 15-20 years later, is still legend in this town. The stunt were Bonaduce (yes, the same guy who played the annoying little brother in the Partridge family) challenged Donny Osmond (then in town touring in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”) to a boxing match was particuarly funny.
Growing up in Detroit, I used to listen to JJ and the morning crew on WRIF. The only thing I remember was his sidekick was an ex-wrestler named Dick the Bruiser and used to do a bit called proctoscope where he would play records backwards to hear the subliminal message.
Dick Purtan, bar none. (The only think better than Purtan was Purtan and his engineer/sidekick, Tommy Ryan.)
Purtan was originally on evenings on WKNR in Detroit (the WKNR call letters have been used in at least four different cities in the Great Lakes region), then went to WBAL, Baltimore where the city fathers were offended by his humor and he returned to Detroit at WXYZ. He then moved to CKLW in Windsor, finally moving back to WOMC, Detroit (and splitting up with Ryan).
His “put on” phone calls were utterly hysterical. (I often figured that the FCC telling him to tell the recipient that they were being recorded had as much to do with moving to CKLW as the money he was offered.)
Always sharp. Always intelligent. Adult humor without the “shock” drivel.
Got to go with the Greaseman, C3!! “Da uniform may have said Greez Manelli, but everyone knew me as… dun-dun-dun, Sgt. FURY!!” and the difference between sail-boatin’ wimmin and power-boatin’ wimmin’s!!! Tooo nicshe…
First of all, Falcon, Lou Brutus - a swell guy who bought me a beer when we were at a convention together last year - is not doing a syndicated radio show called Hard Drive. He has a website for it and they might stream.
Second of all, allow me to say that the Greaseman was undoubtedly the most unfunny moron I have ever heard on radio or otherwise. Untalented, racist, not funny. Anyone who thought anything he did was vaguely amusing I have to wonder about their sense of humor.
He even makes the idiots down here *John Boy & Billy seem funny in comparison. And trust me - these rednecked syncophants are horrible.
*I HAVE BEEN SMOKE-FREE FOR:
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7711 cigarettes not smoked, saving $963.88.
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