1958 ad for WDRC News

Prior to the switch from CBS network to local pop music programming in August, 1960, WDRC certainly provided local news.

But for most of the 1960s, news director Joe Barbarette and Aaron Shepard were WDRC News. While various utility announcers augmented the department on a part-time basis, they were the core of the news staff.

Later, Mike Millard, Kent Clark and Bob Walker were full time. When Barbarette left, he was replaced as news director by Walt Dibble, (right) and many others followed including Pat Sheehan, Lon Landis, Chuck Crouse and Ken Trimble (who replaced Dibble as news director). For a time in 1968 several part-timers auditioned live, which also occurred periodically in the early 1970s. Click on the icons to see how many of these formats you remember. January 1960 - Here is WDRC's earliest recorded news intro along with two alternate news closes. This was called the Jaeger format on the station master tapes, after co-owner John Jaeger (partner of Richard Buckley).

WDRC's Walt Dibble

Wayne Hickox/1963 - This intro was from the customized Roy Ross jingle package. The hard tympani stab at the very beginning was not part of the package; that was added in the WDRC production room. Only real trivia fans realize that the original Roy Ross version of this cut contains an additional five seconds of vocal but for some reason Charlie Parker edited that out of the air version. Coming out of the news there was a special jingle tag.

January 1965 - Acquisition of the new PAMS Series #27 jingle package presented an opportunity for an updated news presentation. There were three elements.

Joe Barbarette/April 4, 1966 - This was the news jingle from the famous PAMS Series #27 package. The instrumental bed was also used as a talkout bed at the end of the news as a voice intoned, "Repeating The Big D Big Story." (example is Bob Walker from Christmas Eve, 1968)

Bill Hennessey/June 11, 1967 - Here's an unusual - and rare - hybrid prompted by the arrival of the Joey Reynolds jingle package. It starts with the Big D tympani and segues into an instrumental news bed supplied with the package. The life span of this news intro was short. There are indications the Reynolds jingles began use May 14, 1967; the PAMS Series #27 intro was back on the air by July 4th.

Aaron Shepard/November, 1967 - This was an unusual format which also didn't last long. This intro started with an instrumental from the Roy Ross package, and segued into the instrumental bed from the Joey Reynolds package used in the Hennessey cut above. It was at least the third news variation in a six-month period.

December 1, 1967 - The next news format included another three elements. The Weather Eye jingle was part of the Joey Reynolds package.

Unidentified/June 30, 1968 - Neither the late Walt Dibble, Dick Robinson or Kent Clark, all of whom worked at Big D at the time, could remember this reporter's name. The music bed was later used as a bed for a Connecticut School of Broadcasting commercial.

Walt Dibble/May 23, 1969 - This was the electronic sounder that was used beginning in April, 1969 - and for almost a decade - to start each newscast.

1972 Earwitness News staff (l-r):
Chuck Crouse, Walt Dibble & Lon Landis

Fred Swanson/May 25, 1979 - For a couple of years, WDRC borrowed the five-note sequence made famous in the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."

Ken Trimble/April 23, 1984 - For a time, WDRC used no sounders, jingles or effects to open the news.

Andy Bricker/July 13, 1986 - The origins of this instrumental sounder are unknown.

August 1, 1986 - Nothing is known about this news sounder that was labeled and dated in a box within the WDRC archives.

Mike Feldman/April 17, 1987 - This news sounder was borrowed from a movie soundtrack (maybe The Electric Horseman?).

1990/Pete Lis had different news format for AM (April 16) and FM (July 9).

Kim Zachary/July 20, 1992 - This instrumental sounder comes from the TM Century 21 "Miami's WAXY" package.

Beth Bradley/April 13, 1998 - This news sounder was preceded by a station jingle.

Beth Bradley/July 26, 2001 - This was the news sounder from a JAM jingle package.

Richard Price/July 12, 2010 - The origins of this news sounder are unknown.