From Top 40 to Tech: John Daniels' Radio Journey

On this month's episode of "Radio Split Ranch" we sit down with the ever-entertaining John Daniels. John shares his journey from being a radio enthusiast in the 1970s, to working at some of the top stations in the Northeast.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Radio Split Ranch!
Hello and welcome once again to Radio Split Ranch, a monthly visit with the
Capital Region's great broadcasters of the past and sometimes present.
I'm Warren Garling when I'm not on the radio.
It's been my experience after spending more than 50 years in broadcasting and

(00:21):
enjoying the last three years of these interviews with various radio and TV
professionals that there There comes a time in many careers where a big decision has to be made.
Feed the kids or feed the ego.
Because let's be honest, most of us loved and still love broadcasting for the
great feeling we get entertaining and enlightening the masses.

(00:41):
And the notoriety, you know, isn't bad.
This month's guest, like many of us, had a very satisfying career on some of
the top area radio stations here in the Northeast East before taking a sharp
left turn into a better-paying career outside the industry.
Now, some of us continued to do radio part-time after we got out of it full-time,

(01:02):
but this guy cut the cord completely almost 30 years ago.
So while younger listeners might not be familiar with him, he's remembered fondly
by those of us who used to enjoy his patter-between-platters starting back in the 1970s.
Please enjoy our sit-down with the still-entertaining John Daniels.
Well, I've known this guy for a while, but I haven't seen him for a while either,

(01:25):
and we'll get into those reasons in just a little bit.
But you may remember him from a pretty stellar career at some top stations here
in the market over the years.
John Daniels, welcome to the Radio Split Ranch.
Thank you, Warren. I appreciate it. I'm glad you had a day off today and could
spend it with us because you're one of the smart people.
You haven't been in radio for a while, so you're actually making money now.

(01:47):
Is that what's going on? Yeah.
Getting to the point where I'm going to retire, but I actually left the business in 1996.
Wow. November 15th of 1996. Isn't it amazing how those numbers,
dates, and stuff stick with you? Yeah.
Well, let's go back to the beginning of why you got into the business a little
bit and tell me where'd you develop the love for radio or think that maybe this

(02:10):
is something I could have some fun with?
I grew up cutting my teeth mostly on WTRY.
There you go. I'm South Troy against the world. Okay.
TRY Studios used to be on 92 4th Street in Troy. That's it. Yep. Proctor's Theater.
And I remember listening to them all the time. I knew a couple of people.
I would be one of those kids that would call in to win contests all the time. You and me both. Yeah.

(02:35):
And I just, I loved the people. The music was great.
But the way the people brought it all together. One of the first people I ever
really, really liked listening to.
And, you know, I would bother all the time would be Jay Clark,
who was doing afternoons at the time and programming TRY.
And I just...

(02:56):
I actually got to know people over the years. Rick Mitchell,
I've known for, I think, almost 50 years now. Wow, yeah, yeah.
But, you know. Now, how old were you when this was all happening in your head?
About seven. Really? Okay, yeah. Seven or eight, yeah. See, I didn't really
start listening to radio.
I think I got a transistor when I was about 10 years old. So,

(03:18):
before that, I really wasn't paying attention to the radio too much.
Transistor radios were great. Remember the single piece, the earpiece? Yes, yes.
In school, fifth grade, Miss Conway was my teacher.
I had transistor radio. Back when the World Series played afternoon games. Yeah.
And we had a, you know, my seat was by the window. And I kind of,

(03:40):
you know, snake the earpiece up to my ear.
Yeah, yeah. And I was listening to it and she caught me. Oh boy.
She was wonderful. She says, what are you doing? I was listening to the baseball
game. And she said, don't you think the rest of us would like to hear it?
And I was like, yes, yes. I thought she was going to say, what's the score at
least? You know, yeah, yeah, yeah.

(04:01):
Well, that was nice of her to do that. And then she told you to turn it off,
right? Turn it off. Yeah, yeah.
But yeah, that was, you know, that was kind of the beginning.
And like I said, TRY, you know, I'd call for contests all the time.
I mean, one of the first contests that I ever really won that I really wanted
was when the Beatles were going to Shea Stadium.
TRY was putting a bus together. Yeah, and they were having a contest if you

(04:24):
were the right caller and I was during Jay Clark Wow, I was too young Oh,
no, he wouldn't let my mother,
Get the ticket for me. And it's like, you're talking about broken hearts.
I was hoping you were going to tell me you went to see the Beatles when you
were seven years old. I wish I would tell you that story. I wish I could lie and tell you.
Unfortunately not. Bummer. Bummer. And growing up, just listening to the battle,

(04:48):
T-R-Y and P-T-R, just battling back and forth.
Exactly. And that's what got my love of radio. A lot of inspirations there.
So what did you do to follow up on the path toward there? Where did you go to school?
Troy High. Oh, there you go. You said Troy against the world.
I like that. Yep, yep. Yep. Class of 1999.
Okay, good, good. We're getting long in the tooth.

(05:11):
Really long in the tooth. Well, you did mention you might be retiring soon,
so we kind of figured that out. Yeah, yeah.
Probably early next year. Excellent. Good for you.
And that means you can join our lunch again, which is why what I mentioned when
we first started is I used to see you quite regularly when you had another job
and you had time to drop by the lunch. Actually, it was the same job. Oh.

(05:32):
But I've been working from home for over almost four and a half years. Okay.
But I had more flexibility and the office was closer to where we had lunch.
Ah. And are Louie lunches? Yeah.
Louie Korea. Oh, so you know who it was named after, yeah. Louie,
I love Louie. Yeah. I was at GY, GFM at the time.
Louie and Tony Kowalczyk, two phenomenal engineers. Mm-hmm. And there was,

(05:56):
you know, I had worked at GFM and Tony-
Was one of the engineers that was responsible for putting GFM on as the first stereo FM station.
Wow. An hour before a station in Chicago.
Ooh. Just because of the time difference. There you go. But Lou was,
you know, we bonded over the coffee machine in the back because this was where,

(06:17):
you know, we're on Balltown Road, General Electric, same building as Channel 6, GYGFM.
We bonded over the coffee machine.
Yeah, yeah. Cool. So you actually knew the guy that Lunch is named after.
He started it for the uninitiated, and if you haven't listened to any of the
previous podcasts, swear it's come up once or twice.
He got let go from GE, so he started a group of folks that had been fired from

(06:40):
WGY. Gee, that sounds familiar.
Yeah, yeah. So he started that group, and it grew over the years,
and then eventually became what it is today, which is really anybody that,
gosh, we would probably accept you if you even listened to the radio now.
Now, but anybody that's been in radio or TV in the market, we,
uh, we invite to lunch every couple of months and have a great time.
And it's nice seeing the people, you know, I've been out of the business for a while.

(07:04):
I don't miss what it's become because what I, what I loved about it was the
personality in the radio. There you go.
Now the personality is all voice track. It seems that way.
The people that we get together with lunch, those are the, you know,
that's what I miss the most. Oh yeah.
Yeah. Well, we're all entertainers. and
so and and we'll we love an audience so you

(07:26):
put three or four of us together and we're just going to try to outdo each
other that's all we're just going to make you laugh and then have a good time
so those lunches really are a lot of fun so okay
so you're seven years old falling in love with uh with radio and
then where does it lead well i was
in high school and we had
you know a hockey team in high school and i

(07:47):
got to do some of the pa work oh good when they
played some of other games at rpi yeah and yeah it's yeah i just kind of got
bitten by it but it was always something that i had wanted to do and try was
was my love sure and i got to know everybody i got to know tom rivers who was
working nights sure remember that name jim sullivan who was working,

(08:09):
overnights okay and you know he was like i said i would talk to him all the
time i actually wound up when he left he went he wound up going to work down
on long island he took the train down and i I wound up driving his car from
Troy down to Long Island for him. I'll be darned. And taking the train back.
I'll be darned. But, you know, yeah, Rick, I first met at TRY. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

(08:32):
Tom, I used to come in with Tom, sit in the studio with him.
I would run downstairs from TRY and go across the street to night all news,
pick some stuff up for him, come back.
And it was just, I was just fascinated with it.
So you're in high school at this time and you're 16, 17 years old in there somewhere.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool.

(08:53):
And so, yeah. And that's another thing that just doesn't happen anymore.
People, we were allowed to open the door and say, yeah, you
can come in and watch me kid you know anyway that's watched american graffiti
where wolfman jack comes to the door and of course doesn't
want to let you know he's really the disc jockey but he let the kid
in and talked with richard dreyfus was the character playing the character and
and but we were all like that if somebody showed an interest in what we did

(09:16):
we we didn't say you don't want to do this for a living kid we always said oh
we have so much fun doing this yeah we didn't learn that until after we'd been
working in radio for a number of years i said no you don't want to do this now. Exactly, yeah.
But yeah, so cool. So high school and you're hanging around the radio station, where does it lead?
Well, got out of high school, on my birthday, turned 18, and my father got me

(09:41):
into the Times Union in the mailroom.
And I worked there for a while and I learned how much I really hated it.
And that led me to go to the new school.
Okay, the New School of Contemporary Radio at the time, right?
Tom Brownlee, yeah. Yeah, with Tom Brownlee.
And so that's cool. And so you're just out of high school doing that? You're 18, 19 years old?

(10:03):
I think I was the third class to get out of the New School.
Okay, yeah. So right in the early days. Okay, interesting.
And, you know, it's the people. One of the guys I went to the school with,
Brian Burns, I always wanted to work at TRY. I never did.
But I interviewed with Dan Martin.

(10:26):
Brian got the job dave king doing overnight okay
and it's like okay and so that led me
down the you know literally down the road yeah hudson my job
all right cool so now who is teaching you at the new school tom mertz and charlie
hawn oh they're tom hawn and charlie mertz yeah oh yes yeah okay you get old
if you mix these things up exactly yeah yeah well that's cool because i worked

(10:50):
with them a few years later and then the late 70s i worked with them there yeah Yeah,
two of the greatest guys you ever want to meet who just would do their all to
make you realize that you can do this.
Yeah. You know, it's not rocket science, you know, yeah.
And I learned, I love production work, and I learned how to splice where I could

(11:13):
cut myself with a razor blade and not bleed.
That was, I loved it. Just being able to put things together and make things
different than what they actually were.
Exactly. Or to make something that wasn't quite right, perfect. Yeah, yeah.
Or as close to perfect as you could get. Sure, sure. But that was some of the
best I've, I would, that's, you know, you look forward to something,

(11:33):
it's like you get excited about it.
You know, whoever gets excited about going to school, I was.
Yeah. It was like, this was great.
Plane crash kills five in Rockford. I'm Johnny Douglas for WCFL News.
Two single-engine planes collided in flight and crashed north of Rockford,
Illinois, today, killing all five persons on board.

(11:55):
In sports, defending champions Sandra Palmer and Joanne Carter both finished
today's final round of the U.S. Women's Open at 8 over par, 292.
Chi-town weather, partly cloudy and cool tonight, low 55.
Sunny and warm tomorrow, high 87. Increasing cloudiness tomorrow night with
a low expected in the mid-60s.
POP at 0% tonight and tomorrow with a 10% chance tomorrow night.

(12:17):
Right now, Northside 73, Southside 77, and downtown at Marina City.
Music.
I have 75 degrees on the Michael J. Show.
And so it led you down the Hudson to Hudson. Yeah. Okay. My very first job down
there. Now, was that HUC?
Yep. Okay. HUC. All right. AM and FM. All right.

(12:38):
Mono FM. And how did that come about? Was that something that the school helped
you find, or did you just start beating the bushes, or what?
I was beating the bushes.
Yeah. They did tell you, you know, places to go. Yeah. And yeah,
I'd heard about HUC and went down and I wound up interviewing with Jared Willits,
super jock Jared Willits.
It was Newham Mornings and they hired me and it was, I'm still living at home

(13:03):
in Troy, still working part-time at the Times Union.
Okay. And then commuting down, working-
afternoons at HUC. So it was a daily shift. Oh, yeah. Yeah, good for you because
that doesn't often happen, first job.
I know. And I also, they had a club down there called The Aura.

(13:24):
Back when they had, you know, bars that had really good live music and bands in them.
And we were a daytime station. We signed off at night.
And, you know, I wound up leaving the Times
Union and working there and picking up
some work doing some you know dj work in the
aura nice nice nice you know the money

(13:47):
wasn't the greatest but the drinks were free so they
lost money on that one and and it
was too far to come back i would sleep
on the couch in the you know
in the lobby at the radio station we've all been there until the next day
yeah yeah it's like yeah but you know some joe gallagher
yes first time i ever met joe was through

(14:10):
somebody that i had known from huc okay gary
mitchell okay and gary was he was
a really good jock he worked at try but he
worked with joe okay my brand but friend of
mine from huc lance fitzgerald and i we went up to see him one morning and he
was sleeping on the couch in in the woko studios down on state street and joe

(14:34):
was doing joe's memories i go in and you know So we meet him and we see him.
And I posted something online a while ago.
I don't throw anything away. I don't know where half of this stuff is. That's cool.
But I've got a WOKO album with Joe, a picture of Joe in it. All the jocks were in it, Joe and Jim.

(14:56):
And it was hysterical. Oh, you've got to bring that to lunch next year when
you start coming back to lunch. Yeah, to show it to Joe? Oh, absolutely.
Or just send him an email. No, no, no. You've got to surprise him with it.
So he'll never come to lunch again. Yeah.
Whoa. So how cool is that? I never got on an album cover.
Darn. Yeah. Yeah. I wanted to ask you when you were talking about doing some

(15:20):
DJ work in a nightclub, I never got into that.
I needed to be alone in the studio to do my thing and doing that in front of an audience.
Now, of course, I did remotes and I hosted concerts and such,
but I could never get into the DJ club thing.
Was it something that came naturally to you? Yeah. Yeah, it was fun because
you can see the people's reaction right then and there. That's true.

(15:44):
And this place, The Aura, it was a great bar.
Jerry Parika and Tim Birch owned it. And it was a little out of the way,
but they brought in some great bands.
They brought in Johnny Maestro on the Brooklyn Bridge, Gary Lewis on the Playboys,
some great local bands, Cathedral.
You know, it was just, it was a great place. So, the nights that they brought

(16:05):
in bands, I would play between their breaks on other nights, two nights a week.
You know, I would play the whole night in the bar. Good for you, yeah.
And wound up a little bit later when I wound up working at WFLY,
Fatso Fogarty's. Okay, I remember that.
I did a night at Fatso Fogarty's once a week, Wednesday nights.
In fact, the group you mentioned, Cathedral, I remember, I don't think I ever

(16:28):
saw them, but I remember hearing when they were playing in an area,
you know, place, yeah. Oh, they were great, yeah. Thank you.
Cool. Boy, you're bringing up stuff I just had forgotten about completely.
Me too. Haven't talked about in years. Yeah.
Okay. So you're at HUC and you're doing afternoons. Yeah.
Again, first gig. I mean, I lucked out. I did the same thing.
I did three to seven drive at SNY when I was only 16 and 17 years old for just the summer.

(16:53):
And then when I went back to my senior year of high school, wound up just on the weekends.
But that's a pretty good start, Even for a station that's outside the market,
if you will, not in the major market. But HUC was a feeder station.
Rick Kelly, who for the longest time, I never knew he was John Gabriel's cousin. Cousin, yeah.
But Rick I knew from HUC, but the real Neil Young.

(17:16):
There were a lot of people that came from Hudson to work in the Capital District.
True. It was a feeder station.
You're right. And it was just fun. I mean, it was the first job in radio,
and it was everything that I had dreamed of. Sure, sure.
And it was a top 40 format where you're playing the music of the day? I thought it was, yeah.

(17:36):
Very cool. So how long were you there? Almost two years. Nice.
And then I decided to broaden my horizons and whatnot.
And I wound up sending some tapes out. And I got a couple of offers.
I got one from WCFR in Springfield. Went over to interview.
Beautiful station in an a-frame first station

(17:58):
i'd seen with slide pot boards the studio was
absolutely gorgeous and i got offered the job nice
and i said oh this is great i'm looking forward to it within the next week i
had a couple of calls from wdot up in burlington vermont okay which dot was
legendary yeah that's true and it's like you know waffling back and forth.

(18:22):
But a girl I went to high school with was going to UVM. And I called her up
and I said, Don, I said, a little bit about Burlington.
And she said, it was a great place to work, Lake Champlain. It was gorgeous.
And when I went up to interview with them, they told me it's very inexpensive.
It's just as cheap to live in Burlington, Vermont as it is in Springfield, Vermont.

(18:46):
Not true. Not true. It was expensive to live, but I didn't realize that until after I,
reneged on wcfr and accepted the
job doing nights at dot in burlington okay but
you know it was it was really nice i enjoyed it
it was top 40 when i applied okay

(19:07):
but they had switched format and
they were migrating to like an adult contemporary okay
and i didn't know that they never told me
about oh no time yeah but well
the allure of the town was great yeah four colleges 72 bars
within 10 miles exactly yeah yeah yeah but uh
yeah i had eight months up there nice and then i got let go now that now this

(19:32):
is the first time obviously you're being let go it only took you two stations
that's pretty good but i you know like i said i know no hard feelings like i
enjoyed my time up I mean, again,
a couple of the people I really liked.
I just wish they'd been a little bit more up front with me in the beginning. Yeah. You know? Yeah.

(19:52):
Oh, if you've listened to any of these previous podcasts, I know you've listened
to some. Oh, there goes the water all over my counter. Oh, no.
No, don't worry about it. I don't think you hit anything electrical,
so you're okay. If I light up. Yeah.
I'll just need to get you some more water here. We'll take a break in a few.
But you won't know that listening at home when we do that.
Anyway, what was I going to say? Oh, a friend of mine that I hired at,

(20:16):
well, a friend now, but I hired him as the boss at GNA years ago.
He went by CK on the radio here locally.
He's now up in Burlington. He left GNA and went to Burlington.
He's been there 25-plus years.
Yeah, yeah, and loves it. And we're still in touch, and he just loves up there.
It is a beautiful city. It's a beautiful city.
And that's where the call letters, by the way, WOKO wound up, okay?

(20:40):
OKO is now in Burlington, Vermont. Yeah, that's, that's what he works for.
And so, yeah, so, you know, go figure, but yeah. So it's obviously a nice spot. Yeah. Yeah.
So after, so now you're on the street, right?
Yep. Yeah. So I came home and I started looking and I wound up getting,
you know, a job at, it was WFLY after that.

(21:03):
Okay. All right. And I, you know, I was working at Fly.
They hired me to do production and I was doing nights.
And it was, you know, there was another one of those ones where I've been involved
with three stations that have been going from automated to live. Fly was the first. Okay.
Mario Maza was the program director at Fly at the time. Mm-hmm.

(21:27):
And it was more of soft AC.
Hilary Kelbeck was doing Middays. I don't remember that name.
This is going way back. Yeah.
But, you know, it was a great experience.
But they were changing from the adult contemporary to top 40.
Mm-hmm. Mario wound up leaving.
Mm-hmm. And he had a couple of decades. He went to an NPR station in New York

(21:49):
City where he worked for years.
Nice. Nice. Bob Mason was doing afternoons. There you go. Yep.
And I remember, I still remember he wanted to change his name.
This was back when WKRP was popular.
He wanted to change his name to Dr. Bobby Fever.
They talked him out of that, which is good.
But he wound up becoming program director there. Yeah. And I tell you,

(22:12):
a lot of people have a lot of things to say about Bob, good and bad.
He is one person that I would have gone back to work for in a heartbeat. Nice to hear.
Yeah, that is, that is. You say, you're right. There are people that could really
loved him and others that really couldn't take him, you know,
and, and it's nice to know, you know, from your personal experience that you
loved working for him. Oh, he was great.

(22:34):
He lived, he lived in Catskill. Okay. Now where we were on Albany street,
PTR, TRY, before they tore the towers down, you know, they had a train station
in colony. So he would take the train up.
I would pick him up at the train station.
He would come into the, he would come into the station. He would check his mail.
We would grab a cassette recorder. We'd go over Jerry's Village Inn,

(22:56):
sit at the bar, and go over air checks.
Oh, be darned. He would tear me apart.
He would tear me apart. Then we'd go back over it again.
And he would tell me everything I was doing right and how to fix what I was doing wrong.
Bob Osville was the general manager of the station.
Yep. And this was back when disco was starting to become popular.

(23:17):
Yeah, you're talking mid-70s.
Mid-70s. Yeah. Yeah, there were, I think there were three different occasions
where Bob saved my, he saved my job. Yeah.
He's, you know, if you did what he wanted you to do, he had your back.
And like I said, I, you know, I thought he was a great talent.
When he left, I knew he was destined for better things, bigger and better things.

(23:39):
Sure. But I would have worked again for him in a heartbeat.
Well, speaking of Bob Mason taking the train, you're not going to believe this.
This is a small bunny story here that I had no idea I would ever tell on about
five doors down on this street lived a gentleman that worked for Amtrak and
he used to sit with Bob coming up from Catskill all the time and they'd go out

(23:59):
and have drinks sometimes when the schedule's permitted.
So, I mean, there you go. I mean, it's so many small bunny stories I can tell
you, but for my former neighbor to have known Bob because of his transit. Yeah.
I mean, it killed when they closed the train station. It was just like,
but I was one of those ones where that atmosphere at PTR and fly when everything

(24:23):
was changing over Don Schaefer wound up coming in to do mornings.
We had Kelly Stevens was doing mid days. Bob was doing afternoons.
I'd been doing nights for a while. I've been doing production work.
And the other side of the building was Johnny Williams.
Chuck Taylor was working there when I was there.
I actually, when I was looking for a few things for you today,

(24:45):
I found something that I was sitting in my car looking.
In the parking lot at the station with a cassette recorder. Okay.
I've got Chuck's last morning show on PTR.
Wow. On cassette. Yeah.
And Chuck went on. He was doing a syndicated show for a while.
And I even worked with Chuck for a while because I wound up working at Show

(25:13):
FM for a little bit. Did you really?
Yeah. After I left Fly, I wound up getting hired by GYGFM. Okay.
I was hired to do part-time work on GFM on the air. Okay.
And I was hired to do production.
Okay. With Walt Fritz. Sure.

(25:36):
Jim Leonard. Oh, wow. And myself. Yeah. Jim's a Burnt Hills graduate.
He was a year ahead of me from Burnt Hills, yeah. Jim was my best friend. Wow.
When I got married, he was my best man. How about that?
We lost him way too soon. Absolutely. There was never, I thought he was one
of the best talents in the area. Yeah, yeah.
And I, you know, like I said, we would, Tuesday mornings, we would go to Freer

(26:01):
Park in Troy during the fall and winter and spring, early spring.
We would skate at the Freer Park rink Tuesday mornings. Wow.
Then we would leave Freer Park. We'd go to Holmes and Watson's. Okay, sure.
And we would wind up drinking there for quite a long time.
Quite a long time. Well, I didn't know Jim very well in high school,

(26:24):
but as a junior, I thought I might try out for the co-host position for our annual talent show.
Now, I don't think it was Jim that told me, but I was put in my place very quickly
by probably a senior that said, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute.
Only seniors can co-host the annual talent show, Spartan Spotlight, it was called.

(26:46):
And so I had to back off. And the next year I co-hosted.
But Jim was the co-host in his senior year. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
And we developed a really great friendship with Walt. Yeah, I went to Walt's wedding.
And some of the people that I worked with, after I left flying and went to GYGFM, I was back in 81.

(27:07):
Okay. I mean, I worked with some of the most incredibly talented people.
That was certainly a high point for those stations.
What was the format on GFM? GFM was
another one of the stations that was transitioning from automated to live.
They were 99 The Light. Okay.

(27:29):
Okay. Okay. And that confused a lot of people. It was 99 The Light. Okay.
Interesting. But it was 99 The Light. The Light. Okay. Rick Mitchell was doing mornings.
Okay. And he would bring Phyllis, who was his wife. She would come in and she
would do some on-air work with him. J.W. Wagner.
Really? Was doing middays. Now, I didn't remember that he went over there.

(27:50):
Oh, yeah. Wow. J.W. was doing middays. Okay. Let's see.
Paul Cassidy was doing afternoons. Another one gone too soon.
And Paul lived literally two minutes away from me. There you go.
You know, where I'm in Brunswick.
Tom Parker was doing nights.
And, you know, I was doing, you know, some swing fill-in, doing overnights.

(28:14):
It was great because I also met a lot of people that are in our lunches. Bob Cudmore.
Sure. Dave Green, who was also one of my ushers at my wedding.
Yeah, he and Bob are still very close. They work together.
Yep. Well, Hillary, Hillary, not Hillary, Elly Pankin. Elly Pankin,
sure. Who was doing Middays. Tom McCarthy.
Oh, there's a great voice. Oh, God. Yeah, yeah. Tom was phenomenal. Yeah.

(28:36):
And one of the most talented people, Don Weeks. Oh, yeah.
I mean. Certainly. I wound up getting to know Don a lot better because I used
to work, you go through the stages.
You know, I did almost every air shift. I did mornings, I did overnights.
It's 6.51 as we look up skyward to see CBS Samaritan Kevin McMahon with our

(28:57):
air traffic report this morning. Hi, Kevin.
Well, good morning, John, and it's a beautiful morning up here.
As we look down over the Capital District highways, we've got no major problems or delays to report.
I'm Kevin McMahon, CBS Samaritan for 99 GFM.
Hey, thanks, Kevin. Hey, Kevin, you see that blue Honda Prelude down there?
That one? Yeah. He's not listening to GFM. Do me a favor, would you? Yeah.

(29:18):
You guys. No wonder you two don't have any friends. We have some sunshine this
morning and for tomorrow, guess what? More rain. Could be heavier times.
Around 45 degrees. A cool, raw day tomorrow.
And Sunday, still a lot of clouds around with some scattered showers.
Neil, meteorologically speaking, define raw. Raw.

(29:39):
For those of us that saw Eddie Murphy, I think it takes on a whole different
meaning. Okay, right now with light fog, it's 25. I'm Tim Higgins on 99GFM.
And Tim, you were wrong. Neil and I do have friends, the best that money can
buy. And we'll be right back, right after this important message.
Good morning, John Daniels!

(29:59):
99.5, WGFM's Connected 8. More music, 99GFM.
8.05, and are you ready for a fast break for breakfast?
Well, GFM and Stewart's want to give you coffee, juice, hard roll,
for you, for your coworkers, for you.
Music.

(30:23):
And we don't have to take our clothes off. You ever seen a grown man naked?
I survived Mike Joseph when he came into program.
But when I was doing overnights, I would get done in the morning.
And Dave Green would be doing overnights. But Don would be coming in.
And there were times when Don was doing some of his production work,
putting his bits together. Yeah. So I'd go in and I'd help him,

(30:45):
you know, put them together and get them finished. Cool.
And, you know, he was just, he was so funny. Oh, absolutely.
Absolutely. I don't think I've told this story before, and if I have for regular listeners,
just forgive me, but Don and I, for three years in a row, co-hosted the July
4th parade on public TV over in Pittsfield, Mass., on WMHT locally.

(31:08):
Locally and one year i think the third year we did it
was actually picked up by armed forces tv and
by some pbs stations elsewhere in the country which was
pretty cool because if you might not know this but
the july 4th parade in pittsfield is the largest july
4th parade in the country pretty much and and
they sometimes premiere balloons that

(31:29):
are going to be in the macy's thanksgiving day parade i
never they will test them out there yeah so this is
years ago obviously it was the oh gosh
when was it that he and i did this well you
know what it had to be in the late
80s early 90s yeah probably early 90s because i was working on the fm for a

(31:51):
while before it became well it became the river i was still there but anyway
when it was hold these 99 i worked for them and every once in a while don would
be you know down the hall working in the studio,
probably subbing for somebody on the weekend. I don't know. I just know that I bumped into him.
Well, one year we did, we had a co-host, he did up in the booth of Sherry Lewis.

(32:13):
Okay. The puppeteer, you know, okay. Lamb Chop. Lamb Chop and Charlie Horse.
Yep. Yep. Yeah, I'm old enough. I know. Okay. You remember.
And when they were about to go on the air, we were going live,
you know, around the country at 10 o'clock in the morning, he starts to say
something to her and she's putting the puppets on her arm, on her hands.

(32:33):
And she goes, can't you see I'm doing show prep here? Please be quiet.
You know, and he's, he's telling the story over a beer later on,
you know? And I said, oh, okay.
So a little bit of a prima donna here, you know, sharing buzz.
And he says, yeah, she was nice to work with, but she was, you know, very serious.
So I'm in the studio one day and, uh, and going down the hall and Don sees me coming

(32:55):
and he takes off his shoes and quickly puts socks on his hands and I come in
the door and he's got the two hands talking to each other and,
you know, can't you see I'm getting ready to do my show?
Oh God, I just about fell on the floor.
That's just Don. He was just so quick. And I love the way he would interact with Dick Beach.

(33:16):
Dick was phenomenal. I mean, Dick, Jack Arnike.
I mean, this was back when General Electric owned WGY, WGFM, WRGB.
It was a great place to work on Volta. I'm sure. I'm sure. I mean,
there were so many people.
We had so much fun. A lot of the engineers at Channel 6 were my friends.

(33:38):
Nice. They'd all gone to RPI. We wound up getting, you know,
like a group of, you know, 14 of us would get tickets just outside the student
section for the RPI hockey games. I love hockey. There you go.
And it just, those were, you know, there were some great times.
And, you know, like I said, it was the people, the people that made it.
And it always is, you know, you can overlook a lot of stuff,

(34:01):
including, you know, the paychecks and the hours sometimes because you enjoyed
working with those people. Yeah.
The paychecks there weren't bad because it was a union. Well,
no, you were in a good spot.
Yeah, you were in a good spot. It was a union shop, and it was like,
yeah, that opened my – it's like, yeah, that's pretty good. When I went there
in the early 90s, they were just – the union was just on its way out.

(34:22):
And so they gave me the option of whether or not I wanted to join,
but they were about to sell, and it was going to be a non-union shop for the first time.
When General Electric owned it and we got paid, you know where our paychecks came from?
Bridgeport, Connecticut. You know why? Why? Bridgeport was GE's home of small appliances.
They considered radio a small appliance.

(34:44):
That's why the checks came from Bridgeport.
Okay. Yeah. That's weird. Yeah. That's too much.
So some fun at GFM with all those other people at the other stations all in
the same building. How long were you there?
I was there probably a week, more than eight years.
Wow. Yeah. Wow. we transitioned from

(35:06):
99 the light hit radio 99 gfm
and general electric wound up selling the
stations which was one of the toughest decisions i think that they had probably
yeah because they were legacy stations both am and the fm sure and you know
channel six we're all in the same building for a while yeah but one of the the
people they brought in to do afternoons and i was I was doing nights and overnights for a while,

(35:30):
but Pat Gillen came in to do afternoons, and Pat came from JLK out of Asbury Park in New Jersey.
Pat and I became really good friends, and we're still dear friends to this day.
Nice. I just talked to him yesterday, but when GE sold it to,
I think it was Sky Broadcasting, it was back in the 80s, back when they paid

(35:51):
more than they should have for radio stations.
And it got to the point where every six months or so, when things were getting
really tight and I had to meet a nut with the bank, they would wind up letting people go on air.
They would let people, you know, you know, off air administrative,
you know, and it was, like I said, it was one of those ones where the day I

(36:12):
got fired was five weeks before I got married. Oh, no.
So. Nothing like having somebody at the altar and you don't have a job or did
you have a job by then? No. No, no, you were unemployed.
No, but, you know, I had a severance package and- That's nice, yeah.
I had to get, you know, looking for work when I came back and my wife still married me.

(36:34):
There you go. So, but 35 years this year.
That's terrific. Very good. You got a ways to go. I just celebrated 46 with mine, but that's okay.
She's watching Dateline and taking notes, so I'm starting to worry a little bit.
But it's funny because where we were on Balltown Road, there was a garage right
across the street. Yep. Bob Wagner. Mm-hmm. On the mobile station.

(36:55):
Mm-hmm. And gas station next door. He did car repairs and stuff. I got fired-
May 18th, 1989. Okay.
And 45 minutes later, Pat Gillen got fired.
So we went over to Bob's gas station.
Bob had a refrigerator in the garage stocked with beer. We sat there drinking

(37:17):
beer for the rest of the afternoon.
Looking across the street at what was. Yeah.
But it was all the people with Channel 6. Everybody used to get together, the on-air people.
And one of the
things i love doing promotional work too you know
i think that might have been my calling but i never really pursued
it but when i was working nights i

(37:39):
couldn't play with the gy gfm softball oh yes that's tough well this pissed
some people off because i wound up getting one of the ad agencies to reach out
they got seven up to sponsor the seven up media all-stars okay okay And I wound
up getting people from different stations, TV,

(37:59):
Benita Zahn, Chris Kabasashi from 13, people from GYGFM.
I think Mike Morgan might have even played with us. We would play because we
couldn't play for the station teams.
So we wound up getting this together. Nice. And I wound up getting uniforms,

(38:20):
hats, baseball jackets.
But what really ticked them off was every week. 7-Up would deliver two cases
of soda to the station and.
G-Y-G-F-M had the t-shirts with the logo and the trucker hats.
And here we are. We looked really, really good.
Well, that's not bad to make your fellow disc jockeys jealous now and again. Come on, you know?

(38:45):
Yeah, it was the higher-ups that weren't too thrilled. It's like,
why don't we have this? How did he get this? Yeah, yeah.
So it's like, oh, yeah. But those were some good times. Great memory.
I made a lot of fun friends and memories on the softball field with the GNA
country team that we had for many, many years.
Best. A lot of fun. We played soccer when I was with Fly against the Bay City Rollers. Whoa.

(39:09):
And then we played softball with them.
We got killed playing soccer. Well, sure. We crushed them playing softball. Well, certainly.
They were Scottish, right? Yeah. I mean, what do they know about baseball? You know, exactly.
Cool stuff. Tough, yeah. Yeah. You're the first person I've ever met that knew
the Bay City Rollers. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

(39:31):
Going back to the fly days, the only thing I ever really did to upset Bob Mason
was it was around the 4th of July, and the Blues Brothers were playing at SPAC.
Wow. Now, back in the day, we always got tickets to sit inside,
near the soundboard, parking pass.
Yep. And the woman who was handling public relations for SPAC called.

(39:57):
They were looking for Bob to come up to MC and host the Blues Brothers.
Bob wasn't there. He was off.
So I said, want me to do it? So I got up.
Nice. Got to meet Belushi and Aykroyd. And while I was waiting to meet them,
I went out to the parking lot on the side as playing Frisbee with the band.

(40:20):
And Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn, it was great.
And Bob was not happy. Oh, I'm sure. He was not happy. Yeah, yeah. But that was...
The only time that I ever got to introduce somebody on stage,
I gave away things like a flashlight, a gas can.
But just on the way out, I got to watch the show from backstage.

(40:41):
But when they were on the way out, Belushi asked anybody if they had any gum,
and I just happened to have a pack of gum.
Wow. So I gave it to him, and it was like- Nice. Great memories. Oh, yeah.
I lucked out very much like what happened to you that one time happened to me
quite a few times. My last gig was with WTRY, and I was with them for almost
18 years before being let go in 2020.

(41:03):
And I would sub for Jamie Roberts when she'd go on vacation and occasionally
when she couldn't make certain events.
So I would do some remote broadcasts for her. But the kick and perhaps the high
point of any of those subs was when she couldn't introduce Chicago on stage at SPAC.
Now, Chicago came about at the same moment that I'm getting into radio. I connect those two.

(41:26):
And for me, toward the end of my career, to be able to get up on stage at SPAC
and actually introduce them on stage.
I didn't get to throw Frisbees with any of the group, but it's a memory that will live forever.
It wasn't great giving things away. Oh, yeah. Because it wasn't your money.
It wasn't your stuff you were giving away.
Yeah. But that got me into some trouble down the line.

(41:48):
Now, when I was working, still working at GFM, remember Smith Pontiac and Route 9? Sure.
We had a hands on the car contest. Oh, okay.
It went so long and I had to go down and they wound up sending me down to do
a couple of drops from there.
And it got to the point where there were two people left on the car and they

(42:09):
were worried about how they were holding up their health.
I wound up letting them know that we were giving both of them a car.
Wow. Yeah. Just so that they wouldn't be sick or die on you afterwards. Oh, yeah.
And then, okay, we had a couple of promotions where we had soap opera stars.

(42:29):
I can't remember who it was, but over at the Turf Inn, we wound up going out
taking the winner, a guest, myself, the soap star, and his girlfriend out.
And this was being put on the tab for GFM. Okay. Yeah.
Okay, you're going out. I mean, the star who's there, you know,

(42:51):
being congenial, you know, meeting everybody, he decided he wanted to order some champagne.
You know, and this was back in the 80s. When they got the bill,
almost $800, they were not too thrilled. No, no, no.
What did you, what were you thinking? It's like, hey.
What are you going to do? It's not my money. Exactly. Or GE.

(43:14):
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And you're going to tick this guy off by saying,
oh, that might be a bit too much. No, no.
And you survived. Yeah, I did. Yeah, you did. You did.
And one, just sort of Buzz Brindle. Oh, gosh, sure. Did you work with Buzz for a while?
Yeah, for a while. Okay. Buzz got me into, at the Desmond, he got me into press
conference with my favorite, everybody has their favorite bands of all time.

(43:39):
Mine, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Oh, there you go. So they came in
and they were doing a presser and afterwards we were hanging out for a little
while and they had this little room before you got to the courtyard with a pool table.
And I'm in there playing pool when Frankie Valley comes in and wound up shooting
pool with Frankie Valley. Yeah.

(43:59):
You know, we were talking, it's like, you know, I said, hi, I learned to shoot
pool at the boys club in Troy.
He says, yeah, he learned it at the one down in Newark. Isn't that.
And it was just like, you know, my wife is saying, oh God, he's telling the story again. Yeah.
Yeah, I have one of those wives too, yeah. She leaves the room.
Yeah, it's amazing how they tune you out. And they've learned over the years, yeah.

(44:21):
Because we have some of our favorite stories we like to tell.
Well, that's pretty cool.
I'm not going to go into all the details, but the blind date where I met my
wife of now 46 years was to supposedly go see Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
at the old Starlight Theater.
Bellbird used to run that. Absolutely, yep, yep. Yep.

(44:41):
And I thought, hey, you know, I know people in the box office.
I should be able to walk up and get a couple of press seats, you know.
And it was a farewell tour, one of their many, I think, that they had.
And lo and behold, we couldn't get in. And so I won't tell you how the rest of the date went.
There's absolutely no reason why she should ever have talked to me on the phone

(45:02):
the next day when I called her and said I had a good time.
Three or four things went wrong that night. And yet, here we are 46 years later.
So she's obviously a very forgiving person.
It's like my friend that I'm where I worked with for years at,
you know, at Verizon. Now he told me I married up because I had no choice.
Yeah. I like that one.

(45:24):
That's good. So, so you're a GFM and all of a sudden you're across the street
drinking beers, looking back. Yeah.
Yeah. So what, what, uh, what happens from there?
What happens from there is, you
know, I'm working part-time and doing whatever I can looking for a job.
And then I wound up interviewing up a WSSV,

(45:44):
up in Saratoga. And I wound up getting a job doing middays.
And everybody goes through name changes.
Burlington, Vermont, when I was there, it was like, oh, it's a college town.
You can't be John Daniels. You have to be Jack Daniels.
Well, the guy I was doing, I was doing middays. I got hired to do middays at SSV.

(46:07):
They had John Gilson doing afternoon. So I had to be J.J. Daniels.
But that was a great place to work.
We had our studios were in the officer's quarters, a building on the old air
base in Stillwater. Okay. Yeah.
Where the power was. Okay. Yes. The studios were there. Yep.

(46:28):
Sales offices and everything were downtown on Broadway in Saratoga.
It was a great place to
ago you went there you just had the people jimbo pettiford
who another was a great person rose bibbins
did mornings i did middays john gilson
did afternoons and that was some of the great times because it
was so heavily involved with saratoga oh yeah i mean yeah doing during track

(46:52):
season oh yeah doing sunrise breakfast at the track and just you know doing
things around town It was one of the best environments because just because A,
you're secluded from all the minutiae of the sales.
You don't have salespeople coming in. True. We need you to do this.
It needs to be done right here. It's true.

(47:12):
They had to take and haul themselves up or fax, copy up to get it done. Yeah. Yeah.
It was a great atmosphere. The hours, middays were great. Absolutely. And yeah, I loved it.
But Jimbo was, like I said, he was a great program director.
He encouraged me in a number of things.

(47:35):
And one of them was to scope out and find out about this new station that was
going to be opening down in Del Mar.
And I was just curious about what was going on.
So it's like, okay, yeah, I'll look into it. Let me take a look.
And I found out they were going to be putting a new station on in Del Mar.
It was going to be 3,000 water.

(47:57):
And I wound up sending in an application, a resume.
Okay. Jeff and Cheryl Bush were out of New York City. Okay. And they were putting
the station on. It was W-R-A-V.
Okay. The mix out of Ravina. Mm-hmm.
Bob Costello was the general manager of the station. And you have never met,
out of everybody that I've known, management-wise, in radio, my wife loves him.

(48:21):
We went to a dinner, and he was incredibly, incredibly nice to everybody.
But my mother-in-law got to meet him, and you wanted him to be your grandfather.
And that was one of the best experiences I ever had, because I got hired to
be the program director.
Also, I got to build the station from the ground up. Oh, that's always nice.

(48:44):
Literally. Yes. You know, the equipment, Kevin Smith was our engineer. Yep.
Bob Smith, who was, I think it was, I don't know, he used to fly in to build
it, but it was a sit-down situation. I said, oh, it should be stand-up.
So we got new furniture, but I got input into the audio processing.
Nice. We were, I was live in the mornings, and we were satellite with Jones

(49:05):
Satellite Radio the rest of the day. Gotcha.
And that was some of the best times. but it
also it made me sad because what we
were doing there was kind of like the downfall of
a lot of personality right that's right because you developed
your talent with the overnight jocks you learned what to do how to do it yep

(49:29):
you know the tricks of the trade where most of us cut our teeth yeah exactly
yep and we were the first station in the the capital district to have all All
of our music and commercials on computers. Mm-hmm.
And it just, it was sad because we wound up broadening, hiring people.
We hired Alexis Graham to do middays. Mm-hmm. We got, and John Gilson came down.

(49:53):
He did, wound up doing afternoons for us. Okay. And-
Heather Lamont, I don't know if you know Heather, Heather White.
Oh, yes, sure, sure. I worked with her at Clear Channel, you know, then iHeart, yeah.
She was doing intern and she was doing news with us. She is phenomenal.
She had, her voice reminded me of Liza Gibbons. I knew she was going to do great. Yep, yep.

(50:15):
And funny story is I haven't seen her. Now, I left, well, actually she wound
up moving on, but I have not seen her or talked to her since probably 1995.
I saw her back in October. My niece got married and she is the aunt to my niece's husband.

(50:37):
I'll be darned. But it was, oh, it's just, it was crazy. Crazy.
Yeah. No, she's, she's, you'll still hear her voice on TV. She does a lot of
TV voiceover stuff locally.
Last I knew. Yeah. Yeah. I had a head lunch with her.
Oh, quite a few years ago. go after she decided to go out and,
you know, she was doing production at, for the iHeart group here in Albany and

(50:59):
was let go and decided to just become independent,
just, you know, become, you know, somebody that was, well, she's been doing great voice work since.
And yeah, so I sat with her and said, something I've been thinking about doing
and, you know, just to see if maybe I was on the same wavelength.
And I still do some, you know, VO on the side, but not as much as she does.

(51:20):
And I hear her all over the place. It's terrific, yeah. Yeah.
And, you know, those were great times.
I helped build and put the station on the air. Okay. And then where were the studios for them?
333 Delaware Avenue in Delmar. Okay, all right. Right next to Adams Hardware.
I barely remember them, to be honest with you, as WRAV. I remember reading they
were coming, and that's about all I remember.

(51:41):
I got them to change the call letters. Okay. EMX. Okay.
John Daniels Morning Mix, Jim Leonard along with me. And we've got News Channel
13 meteorologist Arnie Rosen waiting in the wings.
I don't know if they're chicken wings, buffalo wings. Buffalo wings,
that'd be real big. Got to be careful about wings this morning.
Might not be some wings in the air. Oh, by the way, why don't you let everybody,

(52:04):
if they have flights this morning.
Especially in U.S. Air. You should call the airport.
Call the U.S. Air Terminal and find out whether or not they're going to be flying.
Because from what we understand, the strike is still on.
Seven o'clock was the time that the Machinist Union had said they were going
out. And we heard no word otherwise. So we have to assume at this point.
Yeah. The pilots can fly the plane. But if the planes don't work right, why bother?

(52:26):
Yay. Hey, we're going to be talking a little bit later on this morning about
what's in and what's out on college campuses.
So there's something for you to think about, especially if you're parents,
if you've got kids that are going to school, or if you are going to college
yourself, maybe going to SUNY, Union, or if you're going to the Toot.
Okay, we'll clue you in on what's in and what's out. Toot score. We want more.

(52:50):
Transmitter was not a ravina. Jeff and Cheryl, who were the owners,
were good owners, but not good radio owners.
Yeah. You get those people. It happens. I survived four ownerships. Wow.
And a couple of format changes.
We went from being the mix. We were a really good station.

(53:12):
Oh, Bob Gordon was doing, he was one of our salespeople there. Okay. All right.
From the 1960s TV.
Yeah. Yeah. How about that? But, you know, we. Another great voice actor.
He did a lot of commercial work. Yeah, he did.
But he was there when we were going from the mix to W-A-B-Y.

(53:34):
Okay. Playing adult standards. Gotcha. I was doing mornings at the mix and Jeff
and Cheryl were the original owners. They sold it to Mike Riley.
He was another great owner. And then Mike sold it to Bill Hunt.
Okay. And then Bill Hunt sold it to Paul Bendat, who owned K-Lite. Right, yes.

(53:55):
So during the time that Bill was selling it to Paul, they were going to transition it from K-Lite.
The mix to w-a-b-y and we're
going to be moving the studios from del mar up
to you know king's highway yep dennis terrace
yep and we're in the same building as as

(54:17):
k light sure and it was weird because i wound
up going from doing like a hot ac yeah i
was hired to do you know i was i was still working there but
i wound up doing middays because bill shall
cross we're doing mornings i did middays
which that didn't sit well with bob gordon because he thought he should have

(54:38):
been doing so it's like a little bit of attention just like but then david allen
was doing afternoons yep yep and we had a really good thing going switched over
and you know i've never you know Like I said, I love oldies,
but this was even before my time. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah. I love the music. Well, good for you. I love the music. Yeah.

(54:58):
And we wound up being the number seven station in the market. Wow. When I left. Yeah.
The worst part was they didn't know how to sell it. Yeah. Yeah.
So, and if you can't sell it, you can't make money. You've got to cut corners. Hi there. This is Fido.
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(55:19):
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win with the New York State Lottery and 94.5 FM WABY.

(56:09):
Well, David Allen has a standing invitation. I invited him to the Radio Split
Ranch and to our lunches many years ago and just hasn't taken us up on either offer.
He did say one time he was coming for lunch and something came up at the last
minute and he didn't make it.
But he's afraid if he tries to tell his story, he's going to leave too many people out.

(56:30):
Because he's worked with so many people over the years. Oh, yes.
And so I think, and I understand that. But at the same time,
it'd be great to get the story from him. I still remember him with Pick a Show.
Oh, sure. That's where I first heard of him. Yeah, yeah.
And then for many years, he wrote a column in Metroland magazine that would
usually, it was kind of related to entertainment and music and radio and TV and that sort of thing.

(56:53):
Yeah. Yeah, so we've been in touch over the years, but he hasn't sat where you're
sitting quite yet, but I'm hoping he may.
I hope he does, too, because he'll have some great stories. I think he would, too.
Yeah, I may have to extend that invitation one more time. Let him know I'm still here.
So this is, I think, if I remember correctly, we're coming up toward the end
of your radio career here.

(57:14):
Yeah, it got to the point where we were starting to transition everything over
to automated, completely automated.
Because when we originally started the mix, mornings were live,
Jones Satellite Radio the rest of the day.
But then we started migrating live talent into the rest of the day parts.

(57:35):
And after Paul Bendat took over, he knew everything. And-
He fired some of the most talented people in this area, Walt Adams,
John Knott, and it got to the point where my mother, we're having a party for

(57:55):
my mother's, it might have been her 73rd birthday.
It did. and i had gotten everything
moved over music wise onto the
computer and we had oh this was you know
back in the early stages we had two hard drives to
mirror everything yeah and he wanted to go on live before i thought we should

(58:15):
and you know he was he called up while i was at my mother's party and dear friend
of mine who he had his own computer business he came over to help me because
Because one of the hard drives failed.
My boy. So you've only got one and the other one failed. He came in,
he was busy doing his lawn and stuff.
He came in and he worked for like seven hours and he did this as a favor.

(58:39):
Yeah. To get everything back up and running.
But that was when I knew that I had to get out. Yeah. Like I said,
it's the people you know.
Yeah. Jeff Gluck, who was. Oh yeah.
Jeff was a great newsman. Yep. And he worked for GY for the longest time.
Yes. Well, when he left, Jeff went to do public relations, media relations for 9X. Okay.

(59:03):
And, you know, my wife and I, you know, we looked and it's like,
I had to find something with a little more stability.
And I saw that they were hiring at 9X at the time in the paper.
I called Jeff and I said, hey, how do we go about applying?
He told me and, you know, went through, you know, the application process, put it in.
Nice. and I wound up getting an interview with this woman down on State Street,

(59:28):
the building down on State Street.
And when I went in to interview her, she was running late and she had to go out.
So, this other guy in HR, Peter Plourd, he had to do the interview with me.
And I went to talk to him. He says, oh, yeah. Yeah, I talked to Jeff Gluck.
He says he knows you. I talked to him earlier.
It went well. Nice. And then it was November 15th of 1996.

(59:52):
Okay. I went in to tell Paul. Yeah. And I already had everything set.
My last cassette tapes of air checks.
I had my headphones. I had everything set. set so i had everything that
i needed set because i kind of knew how he would react
he was good at firing people but if
you wanted to leave on him and he was in sort of a rush

(01:00:13):
and he was with bill hunt who was also still partly involved with the station
okay and when i told him he was like he and and no x you know no uncertain terms
with many expletives you know to leave the building and it's like okay yeah
he's gonna pay me for two more days to to leave it's like i'm good with that That's too bad.
And even Bill didn't know. The only person that really knew was Scott Rogers,

(01:00:38):
who was an intern of mine, who was phenomenal.
I had been blessed by hiring some really good interns and part-timers.
And Scott already knew what I was going to do.
And so he just, he handled the rest of it after I left.
And they just, you know, filled in for me. And I started 9X,

(01:01:00):
which became, you know, Bell Atlantic, which became Verizon,
which is where I'm putting my headphones on now. Yeah, that's pretty cool. So you've been there.
28 years. 28 years. Not bad. Not a bad place to retire from when it comes time.
Yeah, yeah. Coming soon. They probably won't swear at you when you tell them you're leaving.

(01:01:21):
No. When you work with good people, they encourage you to do things.
Yeah. I've gotten to do some voice work. Nice.
Got down to, you know, before they moved out of everything down to Basking Ridge,
I got to go down to 1095 Avenue of the Americas in New York.
Whoa. To do some voice work for some commercial production.
Nice. That we were doing. Yeah. And also did some in-house video stuff.
It really has been, it's been a great ride with some great people.

(01:01:45):
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But like I said, I don't miss the business of it. Mm-hmm.
I do miss the people. Oh, yeah, absolutely. And you do latch on to things.
I told you Pat Gillen, dear friend of mine, he lives down in Long Island.
And he turned me on to this station out in Sag Harbor, WLNG.

(01:02:08):
It is the type of station that I listened to growing up. It is W-T-R-Y.
They're live. Nice. They do remotes.
They do parades. and it's just
you know in the tony hamptons where exactly yeah
and i got to know one of the engineers he was
doing afternoons down there brian bannon i got to

(01:02:30):
know brian pretty well and a couple of years ago my wife
and i went down to visit him it was the end of march beginning of april
got a tour of the station and it was like
talking to him you get to talk radio yeah
yeah and he was not only a really good jock but
he reminded me of jim o'brien okay he was a good engineer
yeah because jim used to you know when the fcc came in

(01:02:51):
to check your your readings your power you knew
when they were coming to town so he would make sure that everything was within limits
and when they left you know all of a sudden we'd have you know much stronger
signal covering the capital afterwards yes yes yes but you know out of every
place that i've ever visited their on-air studio overlooks the cove and sag

(01:03:11):
harbor it's absolutely beautiful yeah my bucket list And I still talk,
I know the guy that's doing afternoons now.
He was doing middays when I met him because when I went down there,
Chris Buckhout's doing afternoons now.
But Gary Sapien is doing mornings. And Bill Evans, who used to be a meteorologist
at WABC in New York, him and his wife, Sandra.

(01:03:32):
Bought the station and they've kept it true. Nice.
They have over 3,400 jingles that they use and they rotate, but it's, it is great.
Yeah. But what I like about it is working from home. Yeah.
You know, I've got my home office set up, but I've got large screen TV off to
the right and they stream video from the studio and I have them on,

(01:03:56):
on the right side in studio. Yeah.
And he wound up leaving to go to WLIW, the NPR station, to do engineering.
Okay. And he set things up where they have a live stream in their studio.
So what I've got is I've got the big screen with LNG, and I've got the music

(01:04:18):
playing in the background all during the day. So I'm listening to them eight hours a day. Wow.
And they even do, like, from 10.15 to 11 o'clock, they do swap and shot. Oh, more.
Oh, yeah. Are you kidding me? No, are you kidding? It's great.
They're still doing that?
It is. You've got to listen to them. it's phenomenal the
greatest station yeah but then you know
brian just set up the streaming for liw and

(01:04:40):
so i've got an ipad to the side where i'm streaming them no no audio but now
it looks like because i miss the people in the office sure so it looks like
i've got people you know sitting next to me in the office while i'm working
and it's great we did tradio down in tupelo mississippi Mississippi, yeah.
And radio, that was same sort of thing, yeah. Crazy stuff. But that was 1975.

(01:05:03):
We're talking 2024, and they're still doing swap stuff. Yeah.
And some of the stuff that's there, it's like, I wish I was down there,
because I would buy it. You could use it, yeah. Because a lot of people...
Yeah, I'm in Southampton and I want to sell something. I was like,
you're in Southampton? Okay, the house is running, you know,
maybe low-income house is running a million?

(01:05:23):
Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So let's see what you got in here for sale. Yeah.
Well, good for you that you've, you know, kind of revisited your roots here
and then you're still enjoying, you know, that part of radio.
Yeah. This has really been a trip because, like I said, there's not too many
people in the family that like to listen. And that's why I, when I talk about
my, the times in radio, because I did it because I loved it.

(01:05:45):
Yeah. I still love it. Sure.
But, you know, I'm glad I made the choices I did because. Yes.
Getting out when I did. Mm-hmm. I got to spend time with my family. Yeah, yeah.
Put my two kids through college and, you know, have dinner at home at night.
Mm-hmm. And you prioritize things. Yes, yes, yes. You know, and.
Well, that lovely lady that you met on the way in sitting out on our patio overlooking

(01:06:08):
her beautiful gardens that she does so well with.
What's that? I'm jealous. Oh, it's just a great place to be in the summertime, needless to say.
She doesn't remember saying to me, and I've mentioned this story before,
I'm sure, but when I got fired for the first time after 17 years of full-time
radio, maybe there's something else out there you can do.

(01:06:28):
If she hadn't said that and I hadn't gone looking, I don't think I'd be sitting
here with you. I would probably still be working at some radio station in a
small market trying to make ends meet, to be honest with you.
We both married up because my wife encouraged me to find something that's going
to give us more stability.
Exactly. And she was great because she had a state job, which I kept benefits

(01:06:52):
with when I was looking. Nice, yeah.
And then getting into what now is Verizon.
Sure, sure. It just made things a lot nicer. Absolutely, yeah.
Yeah. Well, John, it's a terrific story.
I'm really glad you got a chance to sit and talk with us about it.
And you've been on my want list, my hope sheet here for a couple of years is

(01:07:16):
just trying to get everybody in some semblance of order.
To be honest with you, I was trying to get some of the older folks first because
you don't know how much longer they're going to be around.
And we just had, unfortunately, the second person that I've interviewed here
pass away on us, Mike Patrick, within the last couple of weeks.
And thank God I got to sit with him a few months ago. And the one thing I really

(01:07:38):
love about our lunches, I get to meet people that I didn't know.
I met Mike, and I really like Mike. We had an instant bond because we were Cleveland Browns fans.
There you go. There aren't many people that will admit to that.
Yep. You told me, you've got Diane Donato coming up. Yeah, I hope to.
She's on the docket for next time. Yeah.

(01:08:00):
I, like most of us, I also taught at the new school for a while. Cool.
She was one of the people that I taught. All right. So we have you to blame
or to credit for that career that she had.
Or her to blame me for getting into the business. Exactly. Exactly.
Well, she's another one that has stepped aside now and is doing stuff outside of broadcasting.

(01:08:22):
But a lot of us have done that. You know, for my money, the smart ones,
and I know quite a few of them, were the ones that worked part-time because
they loved the business so much, and then full-time were able to provide for their families.
It took me a while to catch on to that, but it worked out.
So, now, John, again, thank you so much for your time and sharing that with us.

(01:08:43):
And it sounds like there are very few regrets from what I hear in your voice.
No regrets and lots of great memories.
Terrific. Thanks for joining us. It was my pleasure. Radio Split Ranch.
Thanks to John for hanging on to some of those classic air checks that helped
define the era we called Top 40 Radio.
Somewhere along the way, he must have thought these might be of interest to somebody someday.

(01:09:07):
Now they're out there on the interweb for all to enjoy for eternity.
Kind of scary, isn't it? Turns out John's radio career included the average
amount of stops when compared to the other 33 folks we've interviewed so far
on the Radio Split Ranch.
He worked for nine different sets of call letters, bringing our total to 342

(01:09:27):
since we started this podcast in the summer of 2021.
While John and I never worked together, we did share a frequency along the way,
99.5 FM in Schenectady, New York.
It was WGFM while he worked there under the GE tutelage.
And when I arrived just a few years later to work Saturday mornings,

(01:09:48):
it was owned by a different company, and it was known as WGYFM Oldies 99.5,
which transitioned to 99.5 The River, which it remains today.
Day here's some hopefully fun from august
29th 1992 when my radio
friends called me chris and i could still get up to
do a live radio broadcast at six in the morning after flying back into town

(01:10:13):
friday night from a week on the road for my full-time gig see if you can catch
where i almost say wtry the oldies station i worked for just a couple of months
before starting at this oldies station.
Hope it brings back some memories of what we all loved about radio,
live radio in its heyday, and that it won't scare you away from joining us again

(01:10:33):
next month on the Radio Split Ranch.
In the meantime, don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.
Music.
Chris Warren, we welcome you to your Saturday. Glad to have you along with some
of the greatest oldies of all time.

(01:10:55):
Here's the chairman of the board. Give me just a little more time.
I know. Listen to Oldies 99.5 for Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline coming up a
little later on this hour.
When you hear it, be caller number 9 at 346-9999 to win a free pair of concert tickets.
See Neil in person this week. Yeah, from Oldies 99.5 FM.

(01:11:17):
Winner if you want to dance with me. Cha-cha-cha. Oldies 99.5 FM.
All Oldies all the time. Good morning 621.
Saturday with Chris and the Oldies 99.5 advanced radar weather.
Calls for increasing sunshine today. It would help if it would arise.
I think it is coming up. Cooler, windy with a high of 75.
Fair and cool overnight. Low 52. Then sunny with increasing afternoon clouds tomorrow. High 82.

(01:11:41):
65 and mostly cloudy now at Oldies 99.5 FM. And we'll put a little sunshine
in your life with some surfing music.
Jen and Dean coming up along with Blood, Sweat & Tears. You've made me so very happy.
Next, we're going to daydream a bit with the Monkees at Oldies 99.5 FM.
Music.
Michael Boat. You made me so very happy.

(01:12:01):
The Capital District Radio Station for all Oldies all the time is Oldies 99.5 FM. Dick.
Jen and Dean at the Oldies Station. 99.5 FM. Oldies 99.5.
All oldies all the time. How are you? It's a Saturday morning at 637.
I'm Chris. I'll be awake in a few moments and realize what station I'm really on. Hang in there.
It is a Saturday. You knew that. We've got a mostly cloudy sky now,

(01:12:24):
65 degrees as we head towards 75 today.
A lot cooler than we've had the last few days.
Actually, it's been cool where I've been. I'm in Minneapolis,
St. Paul, where it's been nice and cool and not too bad.
Everybody complaining that they haven't been able to get in their pools.
I'm having a pool party today, by the way. You're all invited.
Actually, it's a little different from your normal pool party. We're taking mine down.
You see, it had a leak in it last year. We haven't filled it up.

(01:12:45):
It's got to come down, so we're taking it down. You're all invited over.
Just bring a screwdriver. That's all we ask. Got the four tops coming up next.
Not next, but in a few moments anyway.
Martha Reeves and the Vandellas are also on tap. But next, he said,
correcting himself, the Classics 4. Spooky at Oldies 99.5 FM.
Oldies 99.5 FM. All Oldies all the time with Martha Reeves and the Vandellas.

(01:13:09):
Join Oldies 99.5 all day for Getty Miracle Monday.
Discount gas at Reed's Country Store, Route 32 in Gansworth.
That's coming up 3.30 to 5.30 on Monday, of course, with Oldies 99.5 FM.
Oldies 99.5 FM, all Oldies, all the time. Saturday morning with Chris Warren

(01:13:31):
congratulating Pam Shelley of Schenectady.
She just won herself a pair of tickets to see Neil Diamond in concert.
8 o'clock Wednesday night, September 2nd at the Knickerbocker Arena.
Don't forget to stop by our pre-concert warm-up party at Martell's.
That's on Broadway in Albany from 5 to 7 p.m.
You can enter to win front row tickets and other great prizes.
Again, congratulations, Pam Shelley from Oldies 99.5 FM.

(01:13:53):
We've got the Oldies 99.5 FM advanced radar weather increasing sunshine today.
Cooler, windy, high around 75.
65, mostly cloudy now. Oldies 99.5 FM reminds you to take a terrific bike trip
and raise money to fight lung disease.
It's coming up September 19th and 20th when the American Lung Association Bike Trek takes place.
The trek runs from Saratoga to Lake George. For the stop at the Adirondack Balloon

(01:14:16):
Festival, that'll be fun.
For more information, call us at 346-9999.
In touch with the Capital District, we're all these.
Music.
Oldies 99.5 FM, all Oldies, all the time, Beach Boys.
Don't worry, baby, they're coming to town. Yeah, today looks like it'll be a

(01:14:36):
perfect day for it. They're up at SPAC at 2.30 this afternoon.
Yeah, with Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, going to be a great show.
What a great way to kind of end your summer up.
Beach Boys at SPAC this afternoon. Here are the Eagles now.
It's an Oldies 99.5 endless summer
party tonight on Oldies 99.5 Solid Gold Saturday night. We'll get this.

(01:14:59):
Music.
Oldies 99.5 FM.
Oldies 99.5 FM. All Oldies all the time. 719.
Saturday morning. I'm Chris Warren, and you should be happy.
The weekend's going to be great. Oldies 99.5. Advanced radar weather increasing.
Sunshine cooler. Windy today with a high of 75.

(01:15:19):
Fair and cool tonight. Low 52. Don't need the AC on tonight.
And then tomorrow, a sunny day with increasing afternoon clouds and a high of
82. All right. Now, mostly cloudy. 65.
But it's going to get better. Music is, too. Always good, of course.
House of the Rising Sun with the animals coming up.
Beatles, we're going to get back with them. Next up is Crispian St.
Peter's at Oldies 99.5 FM. What do you mean?

(01:15:44):
The Capital District radio station for all Oldies all the time is Oldies 99.5 FM. Of course.
Music.
Absolutely phenomenal. And I'm really getting the hang of it now,

(01:16:08):
too. Glad to have you along on this Saturday morning.
Happy birthday is going out to Michael Jackson, 34 today.
Yeah, Robin Leach, Lifestyles of the Rechenfimus. I don't do him very well.
He's 51, and there's no truth to the rumor, by the way, that his mom is a homeless
bag lady. No truth at all.
And Rebecca De Mornay is 30 today. You remember her from Hand That Rocks the
Cradle? She can rock my cradle anytime she wants.

(01:16:29):
Queen Cleopatra of Egypt committed suicide on this date in 30 BC.
She let a poisonous snake bite here.
Now, there's a method of suicide you don't hear much about anymore.
Letting a poisonous snake bite you. I don't know where that's coming from.
Turtles are coming up in a few moments. So are the love and spoonful.
Robert Knight with his everlasting love is next at Oldies 99.5 FM.

(01:16:52):
Oldies 99.5 FM. All Oldies all the time.
Good Saturday morning to you. 65 degrees and a mostly cloudy start,
but we'll get some sunshine as we go along today.
Music.
Just be patient. It's going to be a nice weekend.
Oldies 99.5 FM, here's Santana. Oldies 99.5 gives away Neil Diamond concert
tickets all this weekend.

(01:17:12):
That's coming up again next hour. Keep listening and win with Oldies 99.5 FM.
Music.
I said, no, no, no, it ain't me, babe. I said, no, no, no, it ain't me, babe.
Turtles at Oldies 99.5 FM, all Oldies all the time. How are you?
Good Saturday morning to you. Yeah, nice.
Increasing sunshine, cooler, windy, high 75 today. Right now 65 and mostly cloudy,

(01:17:36):
but I saw some sun sneaking out there.
All these 99.5 reminds you the Parsons Child and Family Center in Albany needs
foster parents for teenagers who are unable to stay in their own homes.
An orientation session will be held Tuesday, September 15th for people who are interested.
For more information, you can call us here at 346-9999.
In touch with the Capital District, we're all these 99.5. Introducing.

(01:17:57):
Music.
The Oldies 99.5 FM for Cracklin' Rosie by Neil Diamond.
It's coming up soon, and when you hear it, be caller number 9 at 346-9999.
You win a free pair of concert tickets to see Neil in person this Wednesday

(01:18:18):
night. Yeah, from Oldies 99.5 FM.
Oldies 99.5 FM, all Oldies all the time. It's a Saturday morning, 8.15.
You can roll over and go back to sleep, but if you do, you're going to miss
Gary Puckett and the Union Gap. Next, right here. Whoa!
Oldies 99.5 congratulates Chris Cossart of Amsterdam.

(01:18:40):
She is one excited lady. She just won herself a pair of tickets to see Neil
Diamond in concert, 8 p.m. Wednesday, September 2nd, at the Knickerbocker Arena.
Now, don't forget to stop by our pre-concert warm-up party. That's at Martel's
on Broadway in Albany from 5 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
And you can enter there to win front row tickets and other great prizes as well.
Congratulations again, Chris Cossart of Albany, I'm sorry, of Amsterdam.

(01:19:01):
And your chance to win, of course, coming up soon at Oldies 99.5.
Let's check out the Oldies 99.5 FM advanced radar weather for this Saturday
morning. Increasing sunshine, cooler, windy, high 75.
Expect a fair cool overnight with a low of 52. And then a sunny Sunday,
some increasing afternoon clouds and a high of 82.
Right now, 63 and mostly cloudy at Oldies 99.5 with Gene Chandler on deck along with Tommy James.

(01:19:27):
Dragging the line, yeah. And the Rascals are next at Oldies 99.5 FM.
Music.
All right, I'm looking for a good deal.
The Capital District Radio Station for all oldies all the time. It's Oldies 99.5 FM.
Oldies 99.5 FM, all oldies all the time.

(01:19:49):
1962 for Gene Chandler's Duke of Earl. How are you this morning?
I'm Chris Warren, and have you read here where some Lennon and McCartney original
handwritten lyrics Lyrics were bought for over $85,000 at auction Thursday.
Yeah, someone bought the lyrics to Paul McCartney's She's Leaving Home that
he'd written out from Sgt. Pepper's for over $80,000.
I think that's absolutely ridiculous.

(01:20:10):
I mean, I have a copy of those lyrics. They come with the album.
What's the big deal here?
Coming up, Beach Boys, Elton John, and the Hollies are next at Oldies 99.5 FM. Summertime.
Music.
All these 99.5 FM, all oldies, all the time.
Graham Nash with the Hollies. Remind me to tell you a story later on this morning

(01:20:33):
about meeting Graham Nash yesterday on an airplane. Yeah, that was fun.
Stevie Wonder's right here at all these 99.5 FM.
All these 99.5 is your official weekend radio station. Have some fun and sing
along with all these 99.5 FM.

(01:20:54):
Oldies 99.5 FM, all Oldies all the time. How are you a Saturday morning underway? Just 8.52.
Yeah, you still got time to eat breakfast, take your time, get outside.
Gorgeous one awaiting you. Increasing sunshine, cooler, windy, high about 75.
64 and partly sunny right now. The Sisters of St.
Joseph Homeless Fund at RPI will hold a bike walk run-a-thon Sunday,

(01:21:16):
September 13th. The event will be held at Colony Town Park, and all proceeds
go to programs to proceed, I'm sorry, to establish, programs established to create.
I'm going to rewrite this for these guys. Affordable housing for low-income
people. For more information, call us at 346-9999.
In touch with the Capital District. We're oldies, 99.5. Ready or not.

(01:21:39):
Oldies, 99.5 FM, all oldies, all the time.
907, Saturday morning. I'm Chris Warren. Glad to have you along,
actually. I'm glad just to be here It's fun, I enjoy this stuff I grew up on
this stuff, maybe you did too Here's Rod Stewart,
Listen to Oldies 99.5 all day For one great oldie after another On Oldies 99.5 FM.

(01:22:07):
Oldies 99.5 fm 920 saturday morning
with chris and i've got the oldies 99.5 advanced radar weather
and i'm going to share it with you what a nice guy i am partly cloudy
today windy and cooler high 75 fair and cool overnight
low 52 and then for sunday a sunny day increasing
afternoon clouds and a high of 82 right now 64 partly
cloudy at oldies 99.5 with the brooklyn bridge

(01:22:28):
standing by Aretha Franklin demanding some respect And Linda Ronstadt is next
Playing a different drum at Oldies 99.5 FM Jerry The Capital District Radio
Station For all Oldies all the time Is Oldies 99.5 FM.
Oldies 99.5 FM All Oldies all the time A Saturday with Chris Warren Glad to

(01:22:54):
have you along I was on a plane flying back from some business In Minneapolis, St.
Paul yesterday and who gets on the plane with us, but David Crosby and Graham
Nash headed for Atlantic City, I found out later, with their families.
And I, yours truly, Chris Warren, spoke in person, face-to-face with David Crosby.
One of my heroes of all time for music. I mean, just great.

(01:23:14):
I passed him on my way into my coach seat. He was sitting in first class and
I told him what a fan I was and I'd been for like 23 years now.
And you know what he said to me? He said to me, Chris Warren,
face-to-face right there on the plane. He said, would you get out of the way
so I can speak with a flight attendant, please?
Words I will always treasure, I want to tell you, folks.
The kinks are coming up, along with the turtles and the supremes with Diana

(01:23:34):
Ross at Oldies 99.5 FM. Ready?
Oldies 99.5 FM, all Oldies all the time. A Saturday morning and a nice one,
too. 64, partly clotties, we head toward a high of 75.
And here's Three Dog Night. We'll never.
Music.

(01:23:56):
Let Oldies 99.5 put some fun in your weekend. Listen all day to Oldies 99.5 FM.
Music.
Oldies 99.5 FM with the Kinks. On a Saturday morning with Chris.
If you get a chance, we're going to be on Channel 17 again tomorrow,
helping out with the membership drive.
Catch the Civil War tomorrow afternoon. That'll be me. I'll be the one not dressed

(01:24:18):
like a guy in the Civil War, okay?
Only 99.5 FM. We've got a partly cloudy day ahead. Windy and cooler.
High around 75. Enjoy, enjoy.
64 now and partly cloudy. And we remind you the Albany County Rape Crisis Center
depends on volunteers to staff their 24-hour emergency hotline.
Evening training classes for new volunteers begin Tuesday, September 22nd.

(01:24:39):
For more information, call us at 346-9999.
In touch with the Capital District Worldies.
Music.