Dia Stein, middays; Bimp the Wonder Panda, mornings; and Unkle Roger McCall.
WSAY
This was "The New WSAY," a WHAM clone owned by Lew Dickey, Sr., not the previous Gordon Brown-owned album rocking WSAY.
- Lew Dickey Sr. offering anyone $50 to climb a tower and replace a bulb.
- Management refusing to buy chairs once they'd renovated the studios, so we brought in our own lawn chairs. Jack Slattery to me, "I view this as a bad omen." (Jack was correct about that.)
- While studio renovations on French Rd. took place, we broadcast from a townhouse across the street. Each time someone slammed the entry door downstairs, the record playing in the upstairs studio skipped.
Jazz 90.1 / WGMC
With Fred Wesley of James Brown's JBs fame.
- One year, in a surreal moment right out of WKRP, our Christmas bonus was a turkey. We were allowed to visit the roof turkey gallery where we could select the frozen bird of our choice.
- There was a very balky reel-to-reel tape deck. GM Jim Trayhearn said we could replace it only when it "really broke." After a few months of frustration, someone took it to the second story window and dumped it out into the parking lot below. He (I don't recall who) then went into Trayhearn's office and said, "Well, that tape deck finally gave it up...."
- Newsman Blaine Schwartz used to really go out and dig for news in investigative reporter-like fashion. I recall one scoop where he found that a local car dealer was "bugging" the sales offices, so that when the salesman went to "talk it over with his manager," they could listen in on the conversation amongst the potential buyers. BUSTED!
- Unkle Roger did the morning show at one point, but enjoyed overnights more. I would be driving in listening to him and he'd said it 3:14 when it was 5:14, but as in Vegas, that didn't really matter overnights. When I arrived about 5:30 am, I never knew who would greet me along with Unk. He befriended a lot of musicians and interesting characters and tirelessly advocated for local bands. He was a beautiful soul with a huge heart. One morning we were "cross-talking" and I asked why he had such a large stick with him. He told me he was walking home and would use it to "beat off dogs." A good deal of LOL'ing ensued.
WCMF and WSAY
GOLDEN MEMORIES FROM WCMF and WSAY
Branding, naming, taglines & Slogans, voice talent, Audio production. I'm here to help you do more.
How can I help you?
BIO
Many of these memories are actually true. Others may me slightly addled by time, but the gist of what Stephen Colbert calls "the ring of truthiness" is there.
WCMF
- We used to do downstairs live concerts. One was scheduled with John Valby, but I had my serious doubts. He assured me he had "clean versions" of all his songs. I listened at home and 15 minutes into it, had to pull the plug. He tried, but he just couldn't help being obscene. Amusingly so, but still "Dr. Dirty obscene.
- Jerry Garcia and the Godcheauxs being interviewed by Ted Edwards. The GM/owner bursts into the studio, alerted by all the snorting sounds. "You've gotta get those people out of there! They're doing cocaine on the air!!!!" Gary Whipple explains to him that Jerry Garcia is as big as John Lennon and almost as famous as God. The GM ponders, then says, "Well, fine, but the minute the interview is over I want them out of here!"
- We were giving away Jefferson Starship picture discs. I was doing my last break and said, "And stick around for Bill Martin, he'll have more Jefferson Starship picture dicks to give away." Once I recovered, I tried to say it right, but again said, "picture dicks." Lost it, then answered the first listener call from a guy who wanted to know whose picture was on the dick.
THE SOUL JAZZ SPECTRUM
On Sunday nights at 9 pm (ET) on Jazz 90.1 in Rochester, I host the Soul Jazz Spectrum. It's one hour where the groove survives and thrives, featuring Grant Green to Greyboy, Soulive to Jimmy Smith. There's a heavy Hammond B3 component, but if it's in the pocket, chances are I'll play it.
HEAR HERE
To learn more about The Soul Jazz Spectrum and see one groovy and hip list of great soul jazz albums, go here: The Soul Jazz Spectrum.
To listen to the show live from wherever you may be, the Jazz 90.1 stream can be accessed here: Jazz 90.1 streaming live.
And for those who just can't wait to let their lobes dig the show, just click on the Jazz 90.1 box below.
IT ALL BEGAN AT A LITTLE 1,000 WATT RADIO STATION IN WESTERN NEW YORK
And in a way, it did. While at SUNY Geneseo working on my Communications degree, I began working the 4:30 pm to sign-off shift at WCJW in Warsaw, NY. A daytime station, "The Heart of Western New York" went dark for the day when the sun went down. In the summer, this could be 8:45 pm. In the winter, I just got there and went back home. Biggest challenge: creating a 15-minute newscast in just 30 minutes in the days of teletypes, cart machines, and razor-blade editing.
After college, I worked in advertising and radio at various agencies and stations, including ICE Communications, Roberts Communications, WCMF and "The New WSAY." In the ad biz, I was a writer and eventually creative supervisor. Radio-wise, I hosted the morning show at WCMF (pre-Wease) and was mid-day host, along with being program director at both stations.
At WCMF with Blaine Schwartz and Bimp the Wonder Panda.
AIRCHECKS
For those with a penchant for nostalgia or a high audio tolerance level, here are three radio airchecks from back in the day. Click either or all three if you're eating Grape Nuts and have time to kill.
.
The Chuck Ingersoll of today, or so he claims.
Looks like he's serious about creativity.
STUFF MY RELATIVES FIND FASCINATING
Or so they say. As we know no one likes to read anymore, here's a brief bulleted bio of selected highlights with no claim on comprehensiveness
or chronological order, but sporting a modicum
of accuracy.
- Owner, operator, and big shot of Ingersoll et al Communications, an esteemed ad agency that numbered Kodak, Bausch & Lomb, Xerox and LaserMax as primary clients during its 10-year existence.
- Multiple Addy excellence citations for Ad Council of Rochester programs, along with a few Aurora Awards and other ad biz praise along those lines
- Winner of Gold 2009 MarCom award for production of healthcare radio commercial
- Entrepreneur magazine award for advertising excellence
- Author of 121 Great Sales & Annual Meeting Themes
- Strong understanding that in advertising the most important thing is sincerity, and once you've learned to fake that, you've got it made (just kidding, loosen up)
- Possible favorite quote of all time: "Why are you unhappy? Because 99.9 per cent of everything you think, and of everything you do, Is for yourself. And there isn't one."
– Wei Wu Wei