His old friends and former co-workers gathered in the studio at WBEN 930am to congratulate Sandy Beach on a half century of Buffalo broadcasting. Starting in the mid 50s, and running through the mid 70s, its fair to say cumulatively, that nighttime KB disc jockeys like George Hound Dog Lorenz, Dick Biondi, Tommy Shannon, Jay Nelson, Joey Reynolds, Sandy Beach, and Jack Armstrong enjoyed more listeners on a single radio station during that clear-channel time in the evening, than any other station in the country. His next programs were morning shows and at that point Joey had evolved into more of a talk intensive program. No one could ever find it until the station gave an easy clue on the air. It is hard to believe anyone would criticize him for taking a job that pays three times as much as UB could afford and that sets his family up for life. When station manager Al Anscombe first convinced the Reverend Clinton Churchill to make the switch to Top 40, initially, the station was stocked with out-of-towners at the direction of the man whod established WBNY as the citys Top 40 leader, program director Dick Lawrence. Neaverth, perhaps with his boyish good looks and demeanor, evaded arrest for his stunt. Leverage your professional network, and get hired. Art Roberts, formerly with Gordon McClendon and more recently the afternoon man at WCUE, Akron Ohio handled the 2 to 6 PM slot. http://www.staffannouncer.com/kbhalloween/wotw71.mp3. Rick Azar was the first voice heard on WKBW-TV on November 30, 1958. Much of the time he simply hid in the Old Cathedral. The place: 1420 Main Street in Buffalo, New York - the original home of WKBW-TV. SUBSCRIBE: $1 for 3 months. The young lady who won lived 100 miles from Buffalo. "Rocketship 7" kicked off the day with host Dave Thomas and "Promo The Robot!" Either they werent well financed, or had daytime-only signals so weak that they couldnt be heard throughout the city and all the nearby suburbs. K-BIG Feature #4: DJ Tommy Shannon. Please contactus at. All rights reserved. At 3 PM in the huge Central Park Plaza, several thousand persons of all ages turned out in pouring rain to greet WKBWs brand new disc jockeys who put on a free star-studded stage show. Keep reading with unlimited digital access. 53 television market. Station Management promptly suspended him which created an outcry of public support from his listeners. Azar did not become sports director at WKBW until 1965, when the station's original sports director, Stan Barron, was effectively traded to crosstown rival WBEN-TV in exchange for weatherman Tom Jolls, while Irv Weinstein moved over from AM 1520 to become news director. In 1974, Jeff Kaye became the afternoon drive host on KBs competitor WBEN, effectively ending any future reworking of the covering of the invasion half of the show which remained mostly unchanged through the different broadcasts. Buffalo Morning Radio around the dial in 1989, Buffalos 1520 WKBW Radio: WNYs great contribution to 20th century pop culture, The scary sounds of Halloween on WKBW: 5 hours worth of K-Big talent on display. Didnt know a think about KB prior to getting off the plane in Buffalo, said Perry Allen. Soon to be gone was KBs ethnic, country & western and religious programming as well as George Lorenz who would not conform to a strict top40 play list. For a period of time, Dick just disappeared from public view. Bono. BUFFALO, NY Its funny the way memories begin to haze. He would join WGR in 1972 where he . Starting in the mid 50s, and running through the mid 70s, its fair to say cumulatively, that nighttime KB disc jockeys like George Hound Dog Lorenz, Dick Biondi, Tommy Shannon, Jay Nelson, Joey Reynolds, Sandy Beach, and Jack Armstrong enjoyed more listeners on a single radio station during that clear-channel time in the evening, than any other station in the country. 47 Registered Nurse Jobs in Paris, le-de-France, France - LinkedIn This page is not available in other languages. Chief Engineer Leroy Fiedler, left, was at WKBW from the very beginning in 1926, and was still with the station through the 60s. http://blog.buffalostories.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/KB72sm.mp3, The famous Jeff Kaye produced and narrated look at KB in 1971, with jocks Danny Neaverth, Jack Sheridan, Don Berns, Sandy Beach, Jack Armstrong, Bob McCrea, and Casey Piotrowski, with Kayes thoughts and insights on each in between. Paris Ile-de-France Chamber of Commerce and Industry The un-climatic ending did not discourage Clint and he immediately ran a Find the Missing Car Key contest. http://www.staffannouncer.com/kbhalloween/peopleplacesandthings.mp3. Reynolds was the focus of a two-part series on The Oprah Winfrey Show concerning talk radio personalities, on which more than a dozen of Reynolds' media peers paid tribute to him. Narrated by Irv Weinstein, Instant KB was actually released on a single-sided album sized record for distribution sponsors on the local and national level. What helped him decide his career path was he says he wanted to entertain people and didn't want to wear a tie. [2], Azar denied rumors that he retired from WKBW in 1989 at 60 years old because of the station's change in ownership (from Capital Cities Communications to Queen City Broadcasting) nor any contract-related disputes. Girls scream for The Beatles on the big screen at the Paramount Theatre, March, 1964. Each of the new disc jockeys showcased in a nearly wrapped music package, surrounded with all the happy excitement the stations new sound was to feature. The Beatles in Buffalo? Tom could be seen every afternoon from 1965 until 1978, and weekends until 1995. When you browse the blog here at Buffalo Stories LLC, youre bound to not only relive a memory but also find some context for our pop culture past and see exciting ways how it might fit into our regions boundless future. The famous Jeff Kaye produced and narrated look at KB in 1971, with jocks Danny Neaverth, Jack Sheridan, Don Berns, Sandy Beach, Jack Armstrong, Bob McCrea, and Casey Piotrowski, with Kayes thoughts and insights on each in between. http://blog.buffalostories.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/KB61sm.mp3. He has been a talk show host since. Christoforosreturned to her New England area home and has taken a job in public relations in Watertown, Mass. The programs and talent that WKBW Radio was promoting in 1956- only a matter of months before rock 'n' roll Top 40 would change radio forever- looks much more like KB did in 1930 than it would in 1960. . Tom Shannon, a nationally known disc jockey who made his mark in local broadcasting in the late 1950s with the old WKBW-AM 1520, will retire March 31 as afternoon DJ at WHTT-FM 104.1, a rock. He's a proud Buffalonian helping the world experience the city he loves. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. Some personalities are so renowned and celebrated just one name will do. Cher. Nearly 43,000 people died in U.S. traffic . WHERE ARE THEY NOW?: FINDING THE TOUGH ONES - Buffalo News Joey Reynolds - Wikipedia On September 18, 2016, Joey returned to radio on WABC-AM in New York with a Sunday evening program, The Late Joey Reynolds Show, which ended in the summer of 2017. His stories of Buffalo's past have appeared more than 1600 times in The Buffalo News. The Beatles are different. Amstrong was born John Charles Larsh in December 1945. The primary difference in each is the news guy, disc jockey and the music at the start of the show. Clues were given each hour and the first person to dial the mystery number was to receive the cash price. Azar died March 25, 2021, at age 91 at Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital in Williamsville, New York, following years of old age-related decline.[7][2]. A strong WBEN, and impending loss of WKBWs NBC affiliation combined with WBNYs success was enough to convince Anscombe to hire Dick Lawrence away from the small station. Steve Cichon is a proud Buffalonian helping the world experience the city he loves. In 1986, he arrived at then-WNBC in New York City doing the afternoon drive, Howard Stern's previous shift. It was fifty years ago to the day that Sandy was first heard on the airwaves of WKBWradio. Known for his trade mark humor and his cutting edge comments, Sandy says his sense of humor would get him in trouble when he was in school "I had to walk home nearly everyday because I had. In the simplest of terms, after decades of economic depression and war, young people of the late 1940s had less responsibility, more economic freedom and a growing segment of pop culture being cultivated to employ and take advantage of that free time and free cash. Don Yearke, known as Don Keller the Farm Feller back in the early 60s on KB, was recognized along with his KB Litter Box by a fan in Southern Pennsylvania. 694 Summer Internships Jobs in Paris, le-de-France, France - LinkedIn Henry Ford didnt invent the automobile, he was just the first to make the same car available to everyone. In 1960, Capital Cities Communications purchased the station. (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). K-BIG Feature #1: Forgotten Buffalo Celebrated the 50th Anniversary of KB's Format Change to Top 40. The Ellicott Square Building, to the right, still stands and gives reference to the location. A specially written and produced KB Preview Party was broadcast from 12 Noon to 2 PM on Friday, July 4th. My initial handshake with the radio station came upon landing in Buffalo, recalls Perry Allan. He's been inducted into three halls of famebut admits that early on, he did consider being a CPA instead of a radio broadcaster. Radio legend celebrates 50 years in Buffalo - WKBW His old friends and former co-workers gathered in the studio at WBEN930amto congratulate Sandy Beach on a half century of Buffalo broadcasting. WKBWs ultra-modern Radio Center was actually a refaced barn which stood next door to the Churchill Tabernacle building. The studio was on rural Niagara Falls Boulevard, in a location which soon would be the home of Swiss Chalet for the next 50 years. Join Forgotten Buffalo as historical features about KB are added on a regular basis. He remembers playing the two transcription records from which these audio clips came in his grandmas basement as a little guy. All outside as well as on air references confined station identification to KBW. The person: Rick Azar. Azar was a graduate of St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute and Canisius College; he chose the surname Azar as a nod to his Hispanic ancestry, as many Spaniard names ended with "-azar." Azar also did basketball play-by-play on St. Bonaventure basketball games on Ch 7 during the Bob Lanier era. His first radio job was WWOL in Buffalo with Dick Purtan, then WKWK, in Wheeling, WV. Traffic was snarled for hours in what was considered Buffalos Times Square, and is now just considered the MetroRail tracks in front of the Main Place Mall. It was sort of weird a woman coming home from her honeymoon and on the first night shes has a pajama party? However, I was told Channel 4 management wouldnt let her do an interview until after she left the station. Neaverth has entertained his present and former fan base by featuring his quick wit and the great memories of WKBW Radio. Kgopolo on Twitter: "CASTING NEWS: Faith Mangope & Brighton Mhlongo 24 market in the country. He spent much of his retirement in Whispering Pines, North Carolina before returning to Buffalo in 2014.[2]. Bailey was recently let go as the morning news weekday co-anchor at WBBM-TV in Chicago, a role she has had since 2017. K-BIG Feature #2: Visit the history WKBW Radio Studios located at 1430 Main Street. Kelly, a local talent who joined KB in March of 1958, had a rock solid audience and had a style which could be easily modified to fit into Lawrences master plan. Copyright 2018 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Biondi lost weight skulking about. Buffalo's 1520 WKBW Radio: WNY's great contribution to 20th century pop Don Weeks. But 370 miles away in Baltimore, the show showed up in the ratings as number 4. Frank Sinatra sang with Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and his popularity exploded when he became a singing front man himself. On this day, McKenzie dropped by the Buffalo studios of beautiful music WADV-FM to promote two jazz albums that were recorded in the Hotel Statlers Downtown Room. 14 market. "Because I love numbers" he says. (Buffalo Stories archives). "My daughter Sarah is a former Countess Pulaski," said the proud father. Independence Day, July 4th, heralded the arrival in Buffalo of FutureSonic Radio, the catch-phrase given to WKBW to its brand new, fast-paced, imaginative music-news-service operation. The only slight hint of misbehavior on the part of Beatles fans came when the infamous rabble-rouser Reynolds declared on the stage, I hatethe Beatles! and he was pelted with jellybeans. The block where these buildings stood on Main Street is now a grass-covered park. (Buffalo Stories archives). https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joey_Reynolds&oldid=1089841832, This page was last edited on 25 May 2022, at 23:26. Today’s top 47 Registered Nurse jobs in Paris, le-de-France, France. Its general assembly is made up of elected business leaders and acts to represent and defend the interests of businesses with public authorities, as well as taking positions . With an eventual 50% of the marketshare, KB quickly blew all of the much smaller competitors out of the water. Danny Neaverth - BMHOF At WBNY, Neaverth would pull a rooftop like event similar to Guy Kings, throwing candy out to passersby. His brother, Carlos Carballada, briefly served as interim mayor of Rochester, New York in 2011 and currently serves as Rochester's commissioner of community and economic development. Thats especially true when you consider what Oats said in one of his priceless TV interviews, -- after signing what turned out to be a meaningless contract extension -- that he would be at UB unless some other school came in with something crazy. Alabama came through with something crazy at around $2.5 million a year. I tried to interview her a few weeks ago about her career and her plan to say goodbye to TV news. BUFFALO, NY Its funny the way memories begin to haze. everyone seemed to want to know. Carroll Hardy, who would go on to become one of WEBRs legendary jazz deejays, was one of the many men who served as WKBWs Clock Watcher, broadcasting live from the front lawn of the radio station on Main Street near Utica every morning. She, of course, represented the Polish community at . Hengerers was selling Beatles records and wigs. Rick Azar began his career at WHLD radio in Niagara Falls in the early 1950s. Best known for his time at WKBW Radio, Fred Klestine spent parts of four decades as a disc jockey on Buffalo radio stations WWOL, WBNY, WADV and WBUF. When he left I told somebody: My boss is going to the movies, and if you see him going down Main Street, hes got a gray Chevy Impala convertible throw stones at him. Through the years, he called Canisius and Niagara basketball, Buffalo Bisons baseball and Buffalo Bisons hockey. CASTING NEWS: Faith Mangope & Brighton Mhlongo join The Morning Show Television/radio personality and former professional goalkeeper, have joined the show's hosting team as it moves to be simulcast daily on Etv and eNCA from May 1st. wkbw; Scripps Local Media PHOTOS: WGR turns 100-years-old! - Audacy The station was located at 1420 Main Street in Buffalo, New York, and the call letters stood for "Well Known Bible Witness". [6], Azar was noted for his tough, blunt personality and willingness to editorialize on-air in an era when sports talk was not yet a developed medium. steve@buffalostories.com Granite, under the direction of CEO W. Don Cornwell. No one should begrudge him for leaving for that deal. For my first two months in Buffalo, I nearly lived in Dick Lawrences office. Across town at WBNY-AM, the first true Top 40 format in Buffalo was inaugurated in the summer of 1957. Clint Jr, an admirer of Top 40 pioneer Gordon McClendon, utilized many of McClendons tricks in the first years of Futuresonic Radio. Newsman Irv Weinstein, sportscaster Rick Azar, and weatherman Tom Jolls stand as the longest running anchor team in Buffalo television history. Jack Armstrong - Buffalo Broadcasters Association I once threw an ashtray at Gene Taylor. Rachele Mongiovi: The Channel 4 reporter left the station last week, a move that was reported here weeks ago. "The Commander Tom Show" anchored the afternoons with a mix of cartoons and information with Tom Jolls and puppets "Dustmop" and "Mattie The Mod!" Stations like WBNY, WWOL, WXRA, and later WYSL and a host of others were capturing the imaginations of young people in Buffalo. As host of the "Don Weeks And The WGY Morning News" for almost three decades, Weeks is one of the Capital Region's most well-known and respected radio personalities.