South and Central Jersey Radio of the 70's

[Classic Puker]

Large Axle:

Yes, yes she is a Pygmy [tm]. And no, she should not be slumming with us Radio Slime who, if you are what you eat, are 88% Wendy's triple cheeses, from coupons stolen outta prize vans.

(p.s... Ixnay on the amela-tay amico-day afia-may references. Her family was in town for that concert, and they looked awfully, um, comfortable.)


And now an open letter to the crappy Radio Business...


Dear Crappy Radio Business (note to censor-bot: a "crappy" is a type of fish, pronounced with the Boston 'A'!):

FOR GOSH SAKES (oy, this is getting ridiculous... is Mrs. F a charter member of the 700 Club or something? I'M SICK OF THIS!! YER GOIN' DOWN IN NOVEMBER! THE WHOLE MIGHTY LOT O'Y'UNS!!... ahem...), will somebody please throw a cushy gig at Big Jay? I had to up my prescription (lenses, not anti-psychotic meds! But that's coming!), because his posts are actually meant to be long-winded radio tirades... NOT printed word! There's a lot of things I could do, if I wanted to go blind, and this ain't one of them! So pleeeeeeze..!!! 



(And while you're at it, dear Radio Fairy, get me off the "Hair Dryer"... you know, the one with 4 towers and the null toward Newark!  )

[HarrytheK1]

BTW, Jay, just to keep the record straight, you are right.  It was not you who committed that dastardly Burger King deed on Hal Murray.  I waited a while to confirm that because I was waiting to see if the guilty part(ies)y would come forward.  But, alas, he(she)(they) has(have) not, and I will not reveal the identity of the perpetrator(s).  Who do you think I am?  Big ------ Bompensiero?...and did they ever explain why he was called Big ------?  Was it a compliment or an insult?

You're also right that it would have been a better story if they did it to George Benson.  Not only would George have stuck around for more burgers, he probably would've hidden in the men's room until the morning so that he would have some food handy in case he got hungry in the middle of the night.  More than once we'd be on our way to lunch when George would make me stop at the 7-11 so he could get something to eat...while on the way to lunch!  RIP Benson Burner

As a matter of fact, I think the fact that George and too many other classic 11-7 personalitites (Bob, Hal, Seymour) are gone is one reason that a documentary about 11-7 would not be feasible or work.  There's no video of 11-7 (although I do know it was a radio station) and probably precious little audio either, and, even to those in the industry, talking heads pontificating about the good old days can be pretty dull. It's true that 11-7 had more than the average number of wild, wacky, weird and wonderful people and situations, but, when you think about TV shows or movies about radio (WKRP in Cincinnati, News Radio, FM, etc.), they all featured wild, wacky, weird and wonderful people and situations (Dr. Johnny Fever, Les Nessman, Bill McNeal, imaginary office walls, etc.)  Although 11-7 did do things that nobody else did, I'm not sure how much interest there would be in those things after the radio-interested public has already seen a radio station drop turkeys from airplanes.

Regardless, for those of us who were there, we have a lot of good memories and good friends.  Of course, nobody there ever made any good money, which definitely would have beat the hell out of this memories and friends bullbleep 

 

 

[dtandler]

Can somebody please translate Big Jay & Famous Amos's posts into English, please? :-) Kidding, I second Amos's emotion, somebody give Jay a job, please, before we run out of space here!

[bigjay]

Don.
I can't speak for the Classic Puker, but I will curtail my stream of consiousness for this board, as it's over the heads of many casual readers who are indeed bored by my historical disertations about dead radio stations. I've been told privately by many people that they enjoy the history lessons and didn't KNOW about a lot of this stuff..but I'll stop. I guess it's more important to do posts about "So which station comes in best in Little Egg Harbor on cloudy days when the wind is Southerly at 25 knots." Let's start a thread. I suppose this isn't the forum for the kind of information that I have to share. So I'll just stop. I just thought that with a market of over 1 million people SOME radio fans might want to know about their favorite stations and personalities. So many wonder "whatever happened to....." that I felt compelled. But I guess I was barking up the wrong tower. 

The only reason I've done that at ALL is to show that there IS a very cool history about local radio in New Jersey that deserves to be told. I guess a message board targeting New Jersey radio is the wrong place to talk about radio in New Jersey. Maybe I'll do it on the New Mexico board.

IF I do post anymore, it'll be short, sweet and only an answer to a specific question that someone may have. I'll go back to hibrination now growing weaker...and weaker by the moment with my Rip Van Winkle beard intact.. I'll be like McArthur...I'll just fade away....bye now kemosabes..
Remain BIG.

[dtandler]

Jay,
     I really was kidding, my friend. Keep making these long posts. They're entertaining. Unfortunately, it's your only outlet right now, but that's gotta change soon.

[bigjay]

Donny Boy.
Of COURSE I knew you were kidding. My reply was so tongue-in-cheek, I bit off a piece and it's still bleeding due to the warfarin I take. But I was also advised by a good friend that some may find my LENGTH an issue. Funny, I've never been told THAT before. But you are correct Don my faithful friend (even when it ain't politically correct for you to BE my pal), my fate will be changing soon...for the better. Bank on it.
BE BIG

[Tom McNally]

Jay -

I also look forward to your long messages.  They are certainly a lot more
interesting than the other stuff posted on this board lately.

I remember when 11-7 came on the air and it came in great in the Atlantic City
area.   I remember taking a ride up to see where the studios were back
when I was 17.   A couple of friends and I listened to it all day (not at night though)

... tom

[HarrytheK1]

There's been a good deal of discussion on this board about the free-form format Joey Reynolds' installed on the old 11-7 radio, which many remember very fondly. 

Joey did reach his goal when Taft Broadcasting picked up both Joey and the format for KQV radio in major-market Pittsburgh.  However, as posted earlier, Joey and the format lasted only 3 or 4 months at KQV!!!  Even by radio standards, that's a crash-and-burn lack of longevity.  When a format doesn't work, it's never just because of one (or even two or three) causes.  It's always a combination and culmination of reasons.  Does anybody have any knowledge or insight as to why this visionary format came to such a screeching end?  (At least, we know it wasn't because of shaker bars, multiple tattoos and nipple rings.)

By the way, Jay, in response to your question, I believe Marcia Knicely's were real.  I heard that from a guy who says he was "in a position" to know. :-)




.

[bigjay]

In response to both Tom and Harry...
I know that 11-7's brash and refreshing format was a radio guy's DREAM. Do what you WANT? Play what you WANT? Have a shif that was as short at 1 1/2 hour? Actually TALK between records on AM RADIO?? Oh my. The signal on 1170 WAS pretty good heading south..as I remember driving over to LBI during a summer afternoon and it booming in on Rt. 72. And I DO remember hearing it down to just about A.C. But being daytime only was a killer. I keep seeing an ad for someone to buy a Daytimer with 50,000 watts down in Richmond. Wonder why no takers? Because people's lives don't end at sundown. Maybe Gordon Lightfoot's, but you know what I mean Lee Michaels? Anyway. I was NOT part of the KQV debacle. I remember they had either the current mayor or former mayor on as Morning Man..and they did a lot of stunts like we did at 11-7..but I think TAFT was at the end of their rope with the station ANYWAY, with or without Joey, and just moved on. I don't know. Jerry Kristafer at WDRC may be able to shed light on that. See if anyone can contact him there. ALSO..why not just ask JOEY? He'll talk about ANYTHING on the air..and he does that 5 hours a night on the WOR network.
It's NICE to know that Marsha's WERE real. Holy cow...pardon the pun. I couldn't believe it when she got the all night job at WNBC..just like many couldn't believe I did years later. But she was there quite a while. I also think that Joey's grand plan was to syndicate the idea of that kind of radio, and without a big flagship station like KQV it just didn't have the legs. Strangely, look at how many really cool stations were kinda LIKE that...including...ahem...101.5, REAL RADIO WTKS in Orlando when Howard did mornings..they had HUGE shares there. I think other broadcasters however are so afraid to think out of the box. They forget that radio is theater of the mind and radio is a lot of people's BEST FRIEND. I've always tried to use that approach. I know I ain't everyone's cup of tea, but I give it my all everytime the mic goes on. Ask ANYone who's ever worked with me. I have never "phoned-in" a show like SO many other folks do. It would be like a singing star who has 50 hits just kinda blowing through the catalog with no spark or even LIKING them anymore. THAT'S why people PAY the money to SEE you..or, in radio's case come back to LISTEN to you. It's a relationship that sometimes takes 2 years or more to develop..but companies want instant results. Hey..we ain't pudding or Cream of Wheat. Well I did look like Farina once when I had a perm. But that's another great Joey story for when I start talking about WNBC.
I've taken up too much of Don Tandler's time talking about this stuff. It's MUCH more important to know what number "What Kind Of Fool" by the Tams made it to on the Good Guy survey. What a Great Freakin' Record though, huh Donny boy?
BE BIG
www.reelradio.com

[dtandler]

Peaked at #4 on the Good Guy Survey, #6 on the All American Survey, #9 nationally. Great song, king of record pigs. Oh wow! Closest you or I are gettin' to the "Time Machine" these days.....