Bob, So sorry to hear about Woody. Even tho he was our boss I never got to really know the guy. I'm wondering if anybody did. He was like what everybody said about Johnny Carson. Same thing for Ronald Reagan. Woody always treated me well and I liked him a lot. At the time I was not into programming except for news and later for Women's Glib. I don't remember if Woody was around for WG. As I recall Doc Fidler was behind that show. I can't see Woody the Rock n Roll programmer dealing with that even tho we played music between interviews. At any rate I know Woody was well respected and I never heard any bad stuff about him. May he rest well in R N R Heaven.

Ed Clancy (e-mail)

P.S. is Lee Baby still with us? [Brouder's note: Lee Simms died on January 28, 2015; he was 71]

Woody was a programmers programmer. Philosophical but spot on.

I know you were friends and that he taught you much.

RIP Woody!

T.J. Lambert (e-mail)

Another person who played a significant part in my life in radio has passed. His name was Robert Brackett [Brouder's note: it was actually Bracken], known on air as Woody Roberts, morning disc jockey and program director of WPOP radio.

Before telling you why he was so significant to me I have a short, funny story. Robert became "Woody" because he wanted to choose a name easily remembered by the audience. It probably would have been a good idea had he not been on the radio in San Antonio, Texas at the time. The Hispanic population of San Antonio misheard the name and all the time he was there he was known to the audience as: "Rudy" Roberts.

When "Woody" was leaving WPOP it was announced that I would be named Program Director of the station [Brouder's note: actually Dan Clayton replaced Woody as PD; Clayton was succeeded by Lou Morton who was replaced by Bob Paiva]. I was at the time Promotions and Music Director. For a week "Woody" and I left the station and took long walks. We didn't talk about the mechanics of radio or formats or any of the things you'd expect. "Woody" wanted to talk about the philosophy of radio. Why each element of the programming existed and how and why we executed it as we did.

In effect he gave me a "master class" in programming that I adhered to for the rest of my career.

Sentimentality is not my forte but I assure you that you were better for it if you had the opportunity to know Woody Roberts.

Bob Paiva (e-mail)

Dear Ed:

I was surprised, to say the least, when one of my students uncovered my long-ago past on your website. Perhaps I can give you more accurate details about my years following WPOP. I was at WLEE in Richmond, Virginia, from 1972 to 1974. In 1974, I completed my student teaching and moved to Florida to become a math teacher. I did weekends at WINZ in Miami from 1974 to the summer of 1975 when the station went to an all-news format. I then did weekends at WFTL in Ft. Lauderdale from 1975 to 1981. During the period 1978-1985, I built and managed WKPX, an FM station licensed to the Broward County School Board and operated by students at Piper High School near Ft. Lauderdale. I taught the radio classes at the school and oversaw the operation of, what was then, a 24-hour Top 40 station. In 1985, I moved to San Jose, California, to teach math again, and I am now a teacher and chairman of the math department at San Jose High School. (I do not live in southern California . . . not sure where that info came from!) Your website is fantastic! Thanks for all the memories!

"Sunny" Shores (e-mail)

came across WPOP site, neat! i well remember Woody, Miss Fox in the morning and the Lee Baby at night. wow.

i think you should list and bio Joe Amaturo, he is one of the nations unique radio operators and a legend in his own right. after all Joe hired Woody, Woody hired Lee and Danny and made Danny PD when he left to be GM at San Antonio rocker.

best to you (e-mail)

Back in the late sixties WPOP was part of my well balanced rock&roll "radio diet" I remember Woody, Danny Clayton, and my favorite,Lee Baby Sims-his surly remarks and commentary were always good for some laughs.You have done an excellent job with this website-keep up the good work!

I have a question to ask about "POP" which is technical / historical in nature. Perhaps this isn't the right forum in which to ask it and maybe there is no answer for it-but let's try anyhow. According to the third edition of the Canadian- American Night Pattern Book published by the National Radio Club (1980) nearly every Connecticut AM station operating at night with directional antenna radiates in a southeasterly direction toward the ocean. Some stations send out a figure-8 or cloverleaf pattern- one lobe goes northwest -the other southeast.WPOP however, transmits differently from everyone else. Their cloverleaf radiates northeast toward Boston and southwest toward the New Jersey coast.(used to pick them up in Norfolk Va. evenings) I understand the reasons for using directional antennas and that the FCC has the final say when it comes to a given station's technical operating parameters.

My question to you is this- what were the prevailing circumstances that allowed WPOP to operate in this manner? When you think about it, it makes sense- send your signal toward populated areas instead of to the fishes! I would guess that these practices probably go back to when predecessor WNBC first moved to 1410 maybe earlier. Does anyone out there have any ideas?

Don Chepurna (e-mail)

Ed's response: Don asks a good question that's beyond my ability to explain - can anyone help?

Just a short note to let you know that my e-mail has changed. (After all, I don't want all those thousands of e-mails not coming to me and floating out there in cyberspace).

I just left an oldies station here in Fla. where I was the O.M.. Currently, I've just started my own small production company..."Bill Blizard PRO-ductions". We do liners, sweeps, etc.

Also, one other interesting thing we do is combine voiceovers with the old Pams series re-sings, specially designed for Oldies stations.

I'm just starting to get my website up and running. Not much there now, but we're getting ready to put the audio demos on there.

Anyway, that's it for now. Hope everything is well up there in the great white north.

Bill Blizard (e-mail)

Thanks to your web site I heard from Bill Beamish today. Bill was with Warner Bros records for years but also did a lot of radio, including 10 years mornings at WAVZ. He's retired to Florida now (at age 72) and happened to find me by typing WPOP into his search engine. Thanks - I'm amazed at how much response I've received.

Bob Paiva (e-mail)

Tuesday, July 9, 2002, 3:08:48PM

Hello Ed and all the great talents that touched their wheels down at WPOP.

Ed; Where did you get all that great info? All these years I thought I left WPOP in 1970-but now I know it was actually 1971. I remember arriving there on Thanksgiving day in 1968 and going to Danny Clayton's home in Windsor Locks for dinner and cutting the electric knife cord while carving his turkey. What a great lineup of talent I had a chance to work with. Coming to work every day was like going to visit with my friends. I loved every moment. It's hard to believe that was over 30 years ago. Does anyone know what happened to Augie (the chief engineer) and his assistant Maurice? Those guys had WPOP sounding as good as possible. I've been here in the Evansville area for 26 years (except for a brief trip to Akron Ohio to work with Bill Coffee who was at WPOP for a while and a couple of years programming a country station in Chattanooga). When I tell radio beginners about our format at WPOP they have trouble believing it. We'd play Iron Butterfly and follow it with Sandy Posey. BUT it WORKED! Thanks for a great three years.

Best regards,

Bill Love (e-mail)

Friday, June 28, 2002, 2:54:18PM

Ed:

Great site! Bumped into a link today and I can't believe the amount of work you've put into tracking down all the talent and their histories. Wondered why the late Dick Springfield was not listed?

Larry White - WBBF, WAXC Rochester '65-'78 (e-mail)

Ed's response: Click here

Sunday, June 23, 2002, 6:18:44AM

Ed,

Detroit Soul's "All Of My Life" is still a great tune! I have some recollection (perhaps in error) they were from the New Britain area and hung out from time to time at "Neisner's" in the Corbin's Corner Parkade in West Hartford.

Ken Griffin, as I'm sure many know, managed a band called The Blue Beats. They, too, had a dynamite song titled "Extra Girl" in 66/67.

"Midnight Hour" - the song that supposed got Joey Reynolds fired - was by Kit and the Outlaws (possibly from Texas, released nationally on the Phillips label in 1966). I was listening when this infamous incident occurred and I still "hear" the "extended play" version every time I play the song. Another great tune! The WDRC website says the skip played for an hour. I seem to recall the time being 25 minutes.

Another incident I recall, perhaps apocryphal, was that a jock from WPOP had hired a helicopter to drop marbles on WDRC. Any truth to this?

I have the WPOP Pop Explosion album. Among other things, it's "neat" in that the album seems to stop then spin, stop then spin, etc. when played.

I also have the WPOP "Hear Here" album. It has the same cover as the one you show in your album section except that it's in color (not b/w) and it's actually titled ""WPOP, Volume 2 "Hear Here"". The vinyl is multicolored - very cool!

The album is copyrighted 1969 (Eddie Davis).

The track listing is (all with publishing and label info):

Side One:
Judy In Disguise - John Fred & His Playboy Band
Let It Be Me - Betty Everett & Jerry Butler
Wipe Out - Surfaris
Happy Together - Turtles
The Cheater - Bob Kuban and the In-Men
A Lover's Concerto - Toys
Tell It Like It Is - Aaron Neville
Expressway To Your Heart - Soul Survivors

Side Two
Hush - Deep Purple
Harper Valley P.T.A. - Jeannie C. Riley
Itchycoo Park - Small Faces
Papa's got A Brand New Bag - James Brown
Dizzy - Tommy Roe
Surfer Girl - Beach Boys
Green Tambourine - Lemon Pipers
Farmer John - Premiers

What a collection of music! They don't make radio like they used to!

I have another album too titled "Hear Here Vol. 2". Confusing? It sure is but it's a completely different album. It is the one Bob Paiva mentioned having autographed as he did the liner notes (short notes about the bands and songs on the album) - which are interesting to read.

The gatefold, double disk black vinyl, album is red with the WPOP logo similar to the one at the top of your Mailbag web page (3rd from left). There is no copyright date. The graphic is a "superman" type character with WPOP on his chest. The track listing is:

Side One
Have You Seen Her - Chi-Lites
O-O-O Child - Five Stairsteps
You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling - Righteous Brothers
Solitary Man - Neil Diamond
House Of The Rising Sun - Animals
Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye - Steam

Side Two
I'm A Man - Spencer Davis Group
Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
God, Love, Rock & Roll - Teagarden & Van Winkle
Evil Woman - Crow
Mississippi Queen - Mountain
Polk Salad Annie - Tony Joe White

Side Three
Down On Me - Janis Joplin
Reach Out Of The Darkness - Friend and Lover
Eleanor - Turtles
Timothy - Buoys
Crystal Blue Persuasion - Tommy James
D.O.A. - Bloodrock

Side Four
Goin' Up The Country - Canned Heat
Elusive Butterfly - Bob Lind
Can't Find The Time - Orpheus
Signs - Five Man Electrical Band
Brand New Key - Melanie
Green Eyed Lady - Sugarloaf

Again, modern "single format" radio can't touch the music of the 60's for variety. Whatever people wanted to hear was all heard on one station, be it Frank Sinatra, Janis Joplin, Slim Harpo (Baby Scratch My Back), Beatles, Tom Jones, Bobby Vinton, Kit and the Outlaws or Led Zeppelin. Great times, memories, music and radio stations!

Dan Hagstrom (e-mail)

Sunday, June 2, 2002, 8:17:56PM

Ed:

Incredible job with the WPOP site. Thanks for all your time and effort. I can't believe it will be 27 years this month that the music died. FYI, here's my new e-mail address.

Bill (Michael Murphy, Bobby Brooks) Vassar (e-mail)

By the way, I was 'POP's last overnight jock and worked 12m-6a that last day of the music format.

Tuesday, May 21, 2002, 10:48:08AM

My Father was Dick Stephens. He passed away in 1982 at 53 of a heart attack. His last job was the open line on WBSM in New Bedford. He loved it b/c it gave him time off to sail! Thanks for the memory.

Amanda L. Bennett (e-mail)

Monday, May 20, 2002, 1:06:08AM

Ed:

Just had a great 1 hour conversation with Ron Fraiser/;Tom Jones reminiscing the “GOOD OLD DAYS” at WPOP. He found me from your site. I’m “semi-retired” now, in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, but relish the days of the competition between WPOP AND WDRC! (I’m not sure WTIC knew we existed). The day to day, back and forth counter programming we did between DRC and POP was all-consuming. Every morning, that’s what motivated me! “How do we beat those guys”. (sorry Barbara. very chauvinistic) It made for fun radio…and an audience that was connected like never again! Things are different today!

Hey, speaking of today, here’s what I’m doing! Check out the web site: www.radiotvtravel.com. It is a travel incentive company I’ve started, having run those promotions for years for my own companies.

In the meantime, congratulations on a great site, with an amazing amount of work put into it. It looks great, and believe me, your site brings a lot of people a lot of happy memories! Thanks!

Danny Clayton/Ken Wolt (e-mail)

Thursday, May 16, 2002, 4:45:54PM

HI ED,

THANKS FOR CALLING THIS MORNING..HAVE ALREADY RE-CONNECTED WITH DAN CLAYTON AND ART VUOLO..SINCE LEAVING HARTFORD WORKED IN MILWAUKEE,MINNEAPOLIS,THEN DID MORNINGS MOBILE,INDY,NEW ORLEANS,BALTIMORE,CLEVELAND,TAMPA,TO NAME A FEW..NOW BACK IN MORNING DRIVE IN MOBILE FOR THE THIRD TIME.HAVE APPEARED IN FIVE MOVIES,INCLUDING CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND,JAWS 2,CACOON EC..ETC.. I RE-INVENT MYSELF ABOUT EVERY TEN YEARS..STILL GOING STRONG. KEEP IN TOUCH.

RON FRAISER
THE REAL TOM JONES
MCGUIRE IN THE MORNING
MARRON & MCGUIRE
RON MCGUIRE...TAKE YOUR PICK (e-mail)

Friday, March 22, 2002, 11:26:02AM

Ed:

Great job organizing WPOP Web-its accurate and professional. May I recommend one more category-The WPOP Jock Hall of Fame. I will list my recommendations based on longevity, talent, voice, ratings, etc. Here it goes-

Jack Armstrong, Joe Barbarette, Bill Bland, Georgie Brewer, Joel Cash, Dan Clayton, Chuck Crouse, Jonathan Dark, Ray Dunaway, Greasman, Mike Greene, Ken Griffin, Dick Heatherton, Frank Holler, Kilroy/Lou Morton, Bill Love, Allen King, TJ Lambert, Woody Roberts, Bob Piava (Bob Marshall), Lee Baby Simms, Scott St. James, Lou Terri, Bill Winters.

Thanks, Jim Shannon (e-mail)

Tuesday, March 12, 2002, 11:31:04PM

Ed:

Another POP memory...(you really started something)... I was fairly new at POP, on the all night show and was plugging the WPOP 14plus10 survey and said...it's the only survey available at record stores. 10 seconds later the phone rang and a female voice said.."WDRC has a survey."..and I said "who is this?..the answer...."Bertha Porter"....I knew who she was and apoligized because I honestly didn't know about their survey.

It's good that I was courteous to her because I'm sure I wouldn't have been admitted to the building a year and a half later when I talked with Charlie about a job. I met Bertha that day, she was very cordial.

Jerry Gordon (e-mail)

Monday, February 11, 2002, 11:48:24AM

I just happened upon your WDRCOBG/WPOP website last week, and wanted to tell you how great it is.

Having been a teenager in Waterbury in the 50's, I was particularly interested in your bio and pictures of Ken Griffin. I remember listening to him on WWCO in the mid 50's (when he used his real name), and listened to his show faithfully every Sat afternoon in the late 50's on WBRY, when he was "Sweet Daddy" (using the record by the same name by the Story Sisters as his theme). I even won a few records from him playing "Name it and claim it").

I also remember "Your man...My man...The Wildman" Steve Gallon on WWCO in the early 50's (possibly he was on both WWCO and WPOP during the period?). His show was intended for a black audience, but he introduced me and other white teenagers in Waterbury to R&B "race" music years before Alan Freed brought it to national attention. I came across the following picture of the Wildman from 1953 recently on a website, and thought you might want to use it in the WPOP Personalities section of WDRCOBG, since you don't have a picture of him. The quality isn't great (I think it was scanned from an old newpaper picture), but hopefully you can use it.

Thanks for bringing back many fond memories of radio in the 50's & 60's. Five stars and two thumbs up to WDRCOBG.com!

Bob Neagle (e-mail)

Sunday, January 27, 2002, 1:02:38PM

I thought that Mark Century did those jingles. I remember war, web, cuff with those too. I'm talking about the jingle you referred to on the Lou Terry air check.

Joe (e-mail)

Monday, January 14, 2002, 1:02:38PM

Hi Ed,

Thank you for letting me know [about the web site].

Some things are a bit off on what you had. I didn't go back to WPTR from WPOP. I went to afternoon drive at CKLW ...then to WOR-FM in NY, then back to CKLW as a jock. Became PD of CKLW &CFXX in 1980. Went to WNIC around 85...became PD and 1/2 of morning team at WLTI Detroit in 86. Then PD and 1/2 of morning team at WARM98 in Cincinnati in 89. 1991, PD at MIX 99.9 Toronto. Then PD of MIX96 & CJAD Montreal. VP/GM of CJAY/CKMX Calgary. Now VP/GM of CFRB/MIX 99.9 Toronto.

Hope this helps.

Pat Holiday (e-mail)

Sunday, January 6, 2002, 11:10:02PM

Ed -

Another trip down memory lane! I'm in the midst of activating my AFTRA membership. They insisted I joined the union in 1962, and I insisted I joined in 1967. They were right. I'd forgotten about being an AFTRA member at POP.

I worked with Joey Reynolds, (he used to call me "Rotten Dale" because of my churlish attitude), Morton "Doc" Downey, Johnny Argo, and there are some names I can't remember. Maybe I'll find 'em on your site. Which, by the way, is obviously a labor of love for you.

I was music director and had the crust to show up wearing--it was pretty radical then--Bermuda shorts. I did it many times. One record plugger's report got back to us. "Weird bunch. A fat, wise-cracking PM jock. The music director wears shorts to work."

Who hired me? Phil Zoppi. He was an affable sales-type with Mafia undertones. He bounced me all over the place--afternoons, mornings, finally all night. That was a serious demotion for me, and I was pissed. During the Ole Miss riots of the '60s, one night I opened fire. I collected wire stories, magazine articles, everything I could find. I opened the mic at 2:10 a.m. and didn't finish until 2:50. Zoppi fired me the next day. (Wonder why?)

Not only had shock radio not been born, but nothing uncontrolled hit the air. The station was being programmed from KC by a consultant named Irv Schwartz. He put together a dog playlist that never applied to Hartford. We violated it all the time, learning how to slide real hits into the mish-mash from the Midwest.

Does Joey know you have that photo of him on your site? I suspect he would be mortified (but maybe not). As you know, he turned into a lean, rugged, wise-cracking Italian and has stayed that way for many years, more lately reprising his well-worn "Royal Order of the Night People" act in NY at WOR. I guess I knew, but had forgotten, that he worked at DRC after leaving POP. Considering all the mean shit he slung at Bertha (what was her last name?) at DRC, I'm surprised that he survived. (And he often hasn't, as you know.) Maybe Bertha was gone by the time he went there.

There's a story about Joey. I may have the facts a little twisted, but the gist is right. He went to work at WNBC in NY to sub for Wolfman. His second night on the air (I believe), right after a promo "hear all the latest hits on WNBC," he said something like, "Yeah, tune to WABC." He was looking for work the next day.

He used to MORTIFY me with the things he said and did. He, to the ticket-taker at the drive-in theater, "We're from WPOP, and we have complimentary passes. We get in free." He was able to pull it off, leaving a confused ticket-taker scratching his head. But then he had to deal with a red-faced Phil Zoppi in the morning.

I just discovered that Doc Holiday worked at POP. I worked with him at WPTR. Sam Holman and I crossed paths in LA, when I tried to recruit him for a gig at a radio syndication outfit where I worked briefly. It was never meant to be, on any level, and I returned to Sacramento to open my first business. I wasn't ready for it and wound up accepting a job with National Dairy Council, in Chicago, as PR director. That was political quagmire that led me to open my current business.

Speaking of PTR, do you know the story of The Great Juan? I may post it on my website. It's a grand story of broadcasting deception and chicanery typical of the period, complete with physical proof.

Since you went to my website, I assume you saw some pictures. That's what else I do these days. Peering through that viewfinder on a well-composed scene, and getting the shot, is my artistic expression.

Dale (Kelly) Kemery (e-mail)

Thursday, January 3, 2002, 2:51:10AM

Good morning!

I just went through your information on WPOP. . .that was great!

My father, Joe, STILL shares with me all of those fantastic POP adventures during his days there. . . his "abbreviated" (and concert-ending) version of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" during the Rolling Stones concert in 1968/1969, trying to "award" an actual Lion to a local high school as a mascot, constant signal problems, creating POP "Good Guys" sweat shirts and coffee mugs, paying Chuck Berry in CASH before he'd agree to get on stage, dining with a couple of Grateful Dead and Herman's Hermits members, and more.

Even though I was so young (aged 2 to 8 years), during those days, I still remember asking him about the "hippies" who were always sitting on the concrete steps at the entrance to the radio station, their AM radios pressed against there ears. "Why are they sitting around there, dad?", I'd ask. "It's the best way to dial in the station signal", he'd always reply.

Thanks for making my day. Too bad radio isn't quite so colorful these days, right?

Lawrence Amaturo (e-mail)

Sunday, December 30, 2001, 8:07:14PM

Ed,

Marvelous job on the site...I was a twelve year old pain in the ass back in 1972 when I met the crew along with PD Dick Springfield at a promo out at Stafford Springs speedway. I was hooked when I heard they were starting an Explorer Post at the station (a division of Boy Scouts) and Dick convinced me to join by fudging my age to the required 13 y.o.!

The next couple of years were spent helping and harassing folks like T.J., Charlie Steiner, Ric O'Connor and Jack Carney. Answered phones and even wrote a stupid sendup of the Animals House of the Rising Sun that was a tribute to Captain Afternoon. Somewhere I have an aging picture of me wearing the Greaseman's headphones. How about Ron the rock and roll pig Lake....

On a sad note, I recently tried to locate Dick Springfield but learned that he had passed away in 1998. Dick Springfield's real name was Richard Ehrbar. Here is a link to a site on the Panama Canal Radio division of the Army...he was there prior to his professional Radio career. The info doesn't note his service at POP or his nomenclature, but I assure you from both the picture and the history noted on that site, that Dick was Richard Ehrbar.

As you know, Steiner is successful at being an ESPN guy and Carney lives on at WDRC. I have a news article from the seventies about a infamous softball game me and my friends managed to play against the POP crew...should provide some memories.

Would love to hear from some of those Explorers....I owe my start to PD Springfield and the rest of the clowns...for now I am an Asst. Professor of Communications at Quinnipiac after many years of success in the corporate audio, video and internet worlds.

Scott B. Barnett (e-mail)

Ed's response: Dick Springfield died June 19, 1998 following open-heart surgery in Palo Alto, CA; he was 53.

Sunday, December 9, 2001, 10:29:54PM

Is it possible to list the tracks from the great compilations albums from WPOP? I remember that there were two albums. They had great psychedelic covers and there was a contest to color a poster that would be selected to be the cover art. I also remember the first disc was clear gold vinyl. I remember that the jingles were mixed in and the songs were edited. I remember for sure that Judy In Disguise With Glasses was one of the tracks. I loved to listen to them as a pre-teen. I lived in Wallingford, Ct. and WPOP was my favorite station.

Kevin (e-mail)

Ed's response: I don't have the contents from Hear Here but visit our new Albums page!

Sunday, December 9, 2001, 12:20:26AM

Hi,

I just found an LP called 'WPOP's Pop Explosion'. It's pressed in clear yellow vinyl and the songs are:

1. Land of 1000 Dancers- Cannibal & The Headhunters,
2. Town without Pity- Gene Pitney,
3. I'm so Lonesome I could Cry- BJ Thomas
4. Do it again a Little bit Slower- Jan & Robin
5. Along comes Mary- The Association...

do you have a guess when this was released?

cfrank3306@mediaone.net (e-mail)

Ed's response: WPOP's Pop Explosion was issued in September, 1968; see our new Albums page!

Saturday, December 1, 2001, 9:27:14PM

I would love to get/hear Joey's theme song from WPOP which put words to "Wild Weekend". Any chance it's out there somewhere?

Paul H. Glotzer (e-mail)

PS-Jack Brooks has retired from the Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Wednesday, November 21, 2001, 8:37:40PM

Ed,

Love talking about the old days with someone who actually gives a.........!

I actually worked at WPOP as a weekend newsman in the spring of 1970 while I was still had a regular air shift at WCNX. The guy who hired me was a news director named Paul Lockwood. You might remember the 20/20 news format. I worked alongside Robert Michael Walker and I believe one of the jocks was Big Bill Love, but I can't be completely certain.

I had a long relationship with WPOP thru Program Director Bob Paiva who had an interest in "Detroit Soul", the band I played bass guitar in. We had a regional hit record, produced by Ken Griffin on Music Town records, called "All Of My Life" in the summer of 1967. We recorded it at Wallingford's Syncron (sp) Studio. The "Detroit Soul" was a staple at the Good Guys All Family Outings at Riverside Park and won all the Battle Of The Bands, including one over Al Anderson's Wild Weeds (No Good To Cry). By the way, I also played in a band that appeared "Live" at one of Ron Landry's record hop gigs. We were called "The High Tones" and I was a guitar player in junior high school.

Around the same time there was another band from the area, I think they were called The Wanderers from Bristol with a drummer by the name of Michael Boyer (SP) who announced songs during transitions. He sounded just like he was on the radio. Later, I heard him on WDRC as Mike Holland. We have known each other a lot of years and I lost track of him after CHUM in Toronto. If anyone knows his whereabouts I'd like to know.

Thanks Ed,.

Bart Mazzarella (aka Bob Marx) (e-mail)

Wednesday, October 24, 2001, 9:55:24AM

Just heard from Chuck Bennett... which alerted me to the new site. Once again, nice stuff! Just to bring you up to date... yes, I'm a partner in a small law firm which specializes in international collections... we just opened new offices in Carmel, CA. We'll maintain our presence in South Florida, but this is a dream come true for me... always wanted to end up here! Left radio for good last November (2000)... haven't missed it at all. However, I must admit... I have a standing invitation to do utility for one of the stations here. We'll see.

Bill (Colman) Neil (e-mail)

Monday, October 15, 2001, 2:14:46PM

Ed:

Wow....it's gotten even better....what a hoot to listen to some of my old pals from POP......looking at the POP and DRC sites reminds me how many great talent ran through that market....

Even funnier....I still have a hand in WPOP....affectionately known as ESPN Radio 1410.....small world.

Thanks for the great listening and reading trip.

T.J. Lambert (e-mail)

Monday, October 1, 2001, 9:15:10PM

Howdy from Texas. Tom Allen here; now with sister station KVET Austin (sister to KASE). Doing afternoon drive and the Saturday morning Country Classic Show. Jon Fricke, a friend of mine, emailed me your web page; just thought you'd want to know I'm still alive and kickin'!!!

"Tiger" Tom Allen (e-mail)

My monthly column | My web page | My radio station

Friday, August 10, 2001, 12:05:58PM

Ed:

You are correct...I was Bob Marshall. I adopted the name because Paiva is hard to pronounce and because Jerry Marshall, of WNEW, was my favorite disc jockey when I was growing up on Long Island. I did sub for Sam Holman when he got blown out. I used the name when I did news. Sometimes doing news I would make up different names. One day I was Paul Drew and another time I was Bill Drake (both famous programmers of the time). One time I was even Wilfred D'Arcee as a play on WDRC.

At a flea market last week I picked up a copy of HEAR HERE VOL.2, one of the albums we put together for WPOP. I wrote the liner notes and somewhere along the way autographed this copy to somebody. It was interesting to be able to buy back a piece of your own history.

Bob Paiva (e-mail)

Monday, July 16, 2001, 12:07:52PM

Wow...what a cool web site...I was surfing the net today (oops instead of working),...and I came across this sight, in my search for Ken Griffin. I was a big fan in 1964...Ken was working at WPOP at the time...we were like 13 or 14 years old...On John Lennons birthday Oct 9th 1964 we walked all the way down to WPOP in Newington to bring a cake to Ken, saying happy Birthday John...think I still have that picture...and every Saturday we would bring him toll house cookies..and brownies..cuz he once mentioned on the air he liked them..the poor guy..probably hates brownies and cookies today... Your interview with him was interesting...at one time in 1982, when ken was working in Farmington Ct, I went to see him..with my 3 1/2 inch tape recordings of his show....like the groupie that I was, I use to sit in my room and tape his show....my friends and i would talk about him cuz we all had this mad crush on him...I met Joey Reynolds also, when he left WPOP ..then sometime later went to WDRC...was it there he played IN THE MIDNIGHT, IN THE MIDNIGHT, IN THE MIDNIGHT...and got fired???? Art Wander also, a few years after he left WPOP, I think it was 1969, and I went to Boston to meet him, and have lunch, and that year he sent me a postcard of his children and himself...but then I lost track of him.....is he still around? Well I could go on and on...today I still LOVE music, even have an oldies album Color me Blue or something, recorded at WDRC...and refuse to give up my turntable.. ....I guess I have never grown up ...ha...cuz today I listen to Gary Craig, and some of his skits, remind me of the Ken Griffn days, with the Phats, and Rocky voices etc....oh well..I did E Mail Ken today, will have to see if he sends back a reply....well thanks for letting me walk down Memory Lane..

Pam Civiello (e-mail)

Wednesday, July 11, 2001, via snail mail

Well you did it. Hooked me with the letter, now I'm writing your e-mail.

It's been a great life. WPOP was definitely a part of that. Only a year, but what a year. You mentioned Nashville and WSM, it also included a co-hosting role on TNN with Jim Ed Brown and "You Can be A Star," plus a couple of years as co-host of TNN's "Road Test Magazine" with Big Daddy Don Garlits.

You mentioned the movie "A Thing Called Love," but it started with "Ernest Goes to Camp," several "Heat of the Night" episodes and the last of 46 TV/Movies is with Cuba Gooding and Skeet Ulrich in "Chill Factor." Last five minutes, in the tunnel, you'll love the credit - Larry Black, Fat Man in the Tunnel.

Thirty six years of marriage, 3 sons, 3 daughters-in-law, 5 grand kids, we split our time between Nashville and Red Lodge, Montana.

In '97 I stumbled into starting a company that produces Country's Family Reunion. That in turn led to several Reunion style shows including Stock Car Legends, Bluegrass and 50's and 60's Rock and Roll.

PBS has currently been airing Rock and Roll Graffiti as a membership program.

In August we will produce an 8 volume video series on the Opry.

Larry Black (e-mail)

Sunday, July 1, 2001, 7:45:04PM

I didn't see any mention of Joey's theme song to the tune of "Wild Weekend".

"Joey Reynold's show On pop radio Top tunes, the news and weather Where Connecticut gets together Right here On pop radio"

Would love to get a copy of it or at least hear it on your site.

"Tarantula" was the song he used for the Royal Order of The Night People ceremony. Any chance that might make it to the site? I may have a copy of it somewhere in my house.

Paul H. Glotzer (e-mail)

Friday, June 8, 2001, 8:44:24AM

Hi Ed --

Bob Paiva e-mailed me to hip me to your delightful site. Damn, if you haven't made a career of old radio shows, eh? And you're quite a webmaster as well.

I'm semi-retired in Pt. Charlotte, FL, however doing a weekly 2-hour Auction Radio show at WKII, Punta Gorda, #1 in the whole state. Surprise.

Come on down sometime. Be my guest. Keep in touch. Best regards,

Ken Griffin (e-mail)

Tuesday, June 5, 2001, 11:10:28AM

A friend of mine, Mike Kavanaugh, of Atlanta gave me the address of your site and it was great fun to read the list of WPOP names. I started hanging around WPOP in 1961 but finally started work there in 1963, first as Assistant Promotion Director to Walter Stewart, then as Music Director to Program Directors like Danny Clayton and Woody Roberts, and eventually as P.D. when Woody left the station. We all worked for Joe Amaturo and I stayed with the station until it was sold to Merv Griffin in 1974. Reading over the list of personnel was fascinating as I can remember when and how most of them came to the station, funny stories about their time there, and some of the success that came to some afterward. Ray Dunaway, as you know, was our weekend guy when Clayton was P.D. and he's in the market doing mornings on WTIC. Brewer and Winters are dead, Reynolds is doing some overnight network talk and I still communicate almost weekly with Ken Griffin who is in Florida doing some stuff on an AM station in the Port Charlotte area. WPOP relied on inventiveness and creativity to make up for the power and coverage we didn't have. Some of that made it's way into my book (The Program Director's Handbook - TAB Books). Several years ago one of the local radio stations utilized a promotion we created at WPOP as a way of introducing their new morning team to the market. 25 years later and it still worked. The WPOP smiley face logo on your site was created and drawn by Ken Griffin and I recently sent him one of the WPOP "Grouch" cups we used to give away...utilizing the smiley face with a downturned mouth..and celebrating spouses and friends who were a "grouch" in the morning. I used that promotion in two other markets and it did well both times. Thanks for remembering. It was great while it lasted and harkens back to a time that will never be duplicated.

Bob Paiva (e-mail)

Monday, June 4, 2001, 3:52:44PM

Ed:

I can't believe this. There is some guy who is trying to put together a reunion of WFTL, Fort Lauderdale personnel and he found the WPOP website and sent it to me. I have spent the last hour going through each person in the data base trying to remember if I knew them or had just heard stories about them. I found the site entertaining and informative.

I have kept in minimal touch with Dick Heatherton and I ran into Dirty Dan Clayton (who refused to be recognized by that name) at the NAB in Las Vegas three years back. I still see Joe Amaturo on a regular basis as we are both in Fort Lauderdale.

Some other connections you might find interesting. The first on-air personality I met when I went to work in a radio station was "Wee" Willie Winters. He was the morning man at WHAP Hopewell, Virginia and my first duty was to bring him 4 hot coffees from Libby's Donut Shop.

Also, Larry Black and I were in Charlotte at Big WAYS together. He came up to WPOP first and then recommended to Woody Roberts to hire me (which he did and left two days before I arrived).

I am now the President of Chrysalid, Inc. a television commercial production company in Fort Lauderdale. I am the Vice-Chairman of the Broward County Film and Television Commission, Board Member of The South Florida Manufacturers Association, and Board Member of Junior Acheivement. I am also a partner in VidKid Distribution, Inc. a public company that owns and operates an 18,000 square foot television facility in Fort Lauderdale. That is where my office is. I have spent the last five years as a management consultant specializing in strategic planning.

Besides creating television commercials, I also am executive producer of "Get Fit", a nationally syndicated fitness insert program for newscasts.

Thanks again for the great WPOP website.

Mike Greene (e-mail)

Wednesday, May 30, 2001, 10:34:20PM

Just came across your WPOP collection on the web via wdrcobg.com. What a compilation! I came across many names I know from my years in radio. I worked for Bob Paiva at WLEE - he is now selling cars for a big dealer in Hartford and heads up the dealer internet marketing according to a net search I did a few weeks back. Allen King - went by the name Gentleman Jim King in Richmond at WLEE and was an enormous talent. Jim was a king size drinking man and unfortunately, it did him in. Jim died sometime in the 1980's from kidney failure in Oklahoma. Those of us who worked with him mourn his passing.

Mike Kavanagh, WSB Atlanta (e-mail)

Saturday, May 26, 2001, 11:08:56PM

Hi Ed!

I was really surprised, to say the least, when I got your e-mail telling me about the WPOP site. It is absolutely great! Especially for those of us that worked there.

The in depth info you compiled is amazing. I don't know how you were able to get it all. I learned where some of the other jocks I worked with are now. In some cases it was surprising. Thanks for a great site!

After PRO I got out of radio for a number of years. I moved to Fla. and got back in when I became the PD of a talk station in Ocala, FL...WOCA. After this I ran my own production company for a few years (Audio Production Enterprises...The "APE"). Currently I am the OM of an Oldies station in the Ocala-Gainesvile market...WRGO, FUN oldies 102.7. You were correct that I live in Silver Springs.

Again, thanks for all the great memories and info.

Chuck Bennett / Bill Blizard (e-mail)

Friday, May 25, 2001, 12:30:50PM

Ed,

Congrats on another great website. As with my sites for KQV and WLS, it is amazing how many incredible talents and legends walked through the doors of POP. I'll add a link to your site to mine this weekend. Continued success.

Jeff Roteman (e-mail)

Saturday, May 19, 2001, 8:04:10PM

Hi, from New Orleans,

Thanks for getting in touch with me about the new Website. I took a look and it's wonderful. Most of the info about yours truly is good, except that my haitus was not to go on active Duty with the New York National guard. Randy Brock threw me a huge going away party and a few days later they CANCELLED my call up..and I was back to work on Monday morning. I did, however, leave WPOP to go to work with Joe Barbarette for Senator Thomas J. Dodd. He was defeated for re-election, and I went back to WPOP until then end of 1972. After a few months of free-lance, I took a job at WGSO in New Orleans, and I have been in New Orleans ever since (April 1973). After four years at WWL AM I ran my own production company for ten years..and am back in radio at WWL'S sister station, WSMB 1350AM, doing the morning show, 6-9.

I had always thought that Joe Barbarette and Lou Morton had died. I certainly hope I am wrong..but you might check it out. I do know that Dick Heatherton owes me dinner.

Thanks... Ed Clancy (e-mail)

Friday, May 18, 2001, 1:28:38PM

My tenure at WPOP began the same week as the survey for April 8th, 1966. I remember it because we did the Easter Egg Hunt the first Saturday I was in town.

Incidentally, Dan Clayton was always "Danny" Clayton, affectionately, "Dirty Dan."

While I knew most of the PD's you mentioned, the only ones I can testify to are Sam Holman, who brought me in from the North West, Woody who followed him, and Danny, who replaced Woody when he returned to KTSA. I knew Ev Wren because he did some consulting for Cecil Heftel when I was president of Heftel Broadcasting. As you're undoubtedly aware, Joe Amaturo switched program directors like folks do dirty shirts. He was an excellent business person, however. I was personally very fond of Joe.

A little story to illustrate the turnover at WPOP. In my archives, I have a proclamation from the Mayor of the city of Hartford, CN, gold seal and all, proclaiming March 31, 1967 as "William Bland, Jr. Day." The occasion? I was the longest tenured DJ at WPOP! I hadn't been there a year. I worked for many of the top rockers of that era. WPOP, where I spent four years, remains a highlight of my career.

Bill Bland (e-mail)

Thursday, May 17, 2001, 1:28:38PM

Dear Ed,

I certainly got a kick out of receiving your note on WPOP. I checked the website, and some of the people you include were newsmen, such as I was, as Mike Heid. I was, also a DJ known as Terry McKay. I don't know how you ever came up with that list. Kilroy and Lou Morton were one and the same. He didn't use his real name, Morton, until he went to WINF, where he worked with me. I do remember Linc Holmes and Doug Wardwell, both from WINF. Never knew they worked for WPOP.

Here's an interesting tale. Almost thirty-five years after leaving Hartford, I have reunited with Dick Robinson, in a sense. He worked at the time for WDRC, but he, of course, owns the successful broadcast school chain, and although I was asked to work at his Philly location thirty years ago and could not, I am teaching several courses at his new Arlington VA location.

Mike Heid (e-mail)

Thursday, May 17, 2001, 3:37:58PM

Good to see the POP page and all the associated memories. I'll pass it on to Dick Heatherton, who's back out in the LA area, and Dan Clayton, too.

Best wishes,

Steve O'Brien (e-mail)

Wednesday, May 16, 2001, 5:01:18PM

Ed,

Yes, I do remember some years back when we were communicating about something or other and talking about WPOP is never a problem. Lots of fun and what's not to love about "groupies"....bless 'em.

Looked into your mail bag and was not too surprised to find that most entries were from guys who followed us.......by us I mean Del Raycee who was our boss....Mike Lawless, Howie Burlingame, Ray Somers, Lou Terry, Bob (Goldberg) Scott and myself. Later on came the morning guys...Jack Murphy and Morton (Doc) Downey Jr. who died recently. Lou Terry, I believe, died in a car crash in the WPOP area while he was working at WRCH. Del Raycee still has a home in Connecticut...down on the shore and a home down here in Florida about an hour south of our place in Venice. We see each other once or twice a year now. He never misses a broadcast convention in Vegas to this day.

Our time stretched from 1959 to 1962 with all the others coming and going around the same time. Nothing we did will ever top the scam involving Bobby Scott.....supposedly distraught over not being able to get a "full-time" slot....locking himself in the old studios on Asylum Street and playing the Children's Marching Song over and over and over all weekend. Friends smuggled in food.....don't ask me how he took care of more personal needs during that time. The Courant bit on it big time...snapping his picture through the studio window....Bob looking down...cigarette dangling...one angry dude. Total hoax created by Ken Cooper who was brought in by our owners to goose our ratings and it made us the talk of the town for weeks. That must have been in 1959...not later than 1960. A classic gimmick. I don't think the Courant ever forgave us or ever will.

Later our studios moved further down Asylum in a bank building...near the old Hotel Bond where WCCC had it's studios in the hotel basement and where, for a short time, I worked some weekends with the above-mentioned Bob Scott and longtime WDRC jock Jerry Blume, Blair, Bishop....he used all three at one time or another. Last heard doing Dick Clark announcing out in LA. I'll pipe in more as the remembrances crop up now and then. Oh yes.....Doug Wardwell preceded me at POP....called himself Doug Ward...Doug the Bug and later went on to teach, I believe, at Central Connecticut State. No one seems to know the fate of Mike Lawless who loved jazz and only played rock under protest when POP went big into top forty. He had a jazz voice if you know what I mean. Howie Burlingame and wife exited the apartment building where POP was housed for several years and left in the middle of the night and were last seen heading way out west. He used to put "R's" on everything....like Yumer, Arizoner and Havaner, Cuber....he thought it was hilarious. All for now from sunny, rain-starved Florida.

Wednesday, May 16, 2001, 8:13:26AM

Was Finally able to get to the sites...

My first radio gig was at WKAT Miami Beach...Worked with Larry King there in 1957 or 58. From there I went to WIRK, then to Boston for WMEX, etc....

Joel Cash (e-mail)

Tuesday, May 15, 2001, 5:01:18PM

Hi Ed-I find it hard to believe we've never met-your memory and mine are in lock step on so many things Hartford! I was absolutely amazed at the breadth and depth of info on the website. It's inspired me to go find all the WPOP things I can from my radio archives.

As far as my listing- I can tell you I left Hartford on August 9, 1974 ( I remember, because Nixon was resigning that day!)-so I must have quit (I remember telling TJ Lambert to tell PD Dick Springfield, who was on vacation) a few weeks before that.

I also know the whereabouts of Larry Hall-he, like me, is a freelance voiceover guy in the Baltimore area.

I'd be glad to supply you with a lot more info as soon as I dig it up. I was truly surprised to see that Bill Vassar (who I never met) had a similar story to mine, complete with the hanging out in the lobby! If you'd like to hear all my details, I'll put on a pot of coffee and pound away at the compter. Let me know. Thanks again for some priceless memories! -- Later,

Dude Walker (e-mail)

Tuesday, May 15, 2001, 4:40:04PM

Thanks for the heads-up. I hope that those with whom I have lost touch over the years will be able to contact me and let me know how they are doing.

I must say I was overwhelmed by the number and quality of people who went through both WDRC and WPOP during the halcyon days. I was in Hartford the first time, at WPOP, but for three months before moving on to WFIL in Philly. But what a three months they were! With Danny Clayton at the helm (Ken Wolt) and an excellent lineup of talent, we managed to beat WDRC --at least in the Summer Pulse (remember them) book of '68. If you were a rock and roll station that made you #1. Yeah, 'cause *nobody* could beat WTIC & Bob Steele. I think that at that time Steele had a 50+ share! (I used to kid Bob that he never really was in radio. Who ever heard of having *one* gig for 50+ yrs!)

After my 8 1/2 yr. stint at WFIL I came back to Hartford and WTIC. I came in as Production Director and within three months was given afternoon drive. Did that from early '78 to '86 when I retired from broadcasting to devote time to New England Personnel, LLC, a venture in which I remain a partner with my wife Kathryn. (Ah, yet another story. She was hired to do the first helicopter traffic reports in Hartford on WTIC. Made the cover of Northeast Magazine, covered the Windsor Locks Tornado of '79 for AP and now is a syndicated columnist in 700+ newspapers neationwide. "Kathryn Clark's Employment Today". )

Yes! There is, as a jock from one of the FM rockers in NYC agreed in a conversation on a flight back from Barbados in '87 or '88, a life after radio.

Tom Tyler (e-mail)

Monday, May 14, 2001, 10:39:18PM

Hi Ed...love the site! Possible additional info: I believe the station actually sold the wnbc call letters to the national broadcasting company for a price. Take care.

Jack Carney (e-mail)

Ed's response: Jack may be correct. According to The Airwaves of New York by Bill Jaker, Frank Sulek and Peter Kanze (1998, McFarland & Company, Inc.), the New York station at 660kc "came to an agreement with a small station in New Britain, Conn., to relinquish that city's initials from its call letters. On 2 November 1946 at 5:30P.M., WEAF presented its last broadcast...and at 6:00 turned into WNBC." That varies by two years from the info I have about when WNBC (New Britain) changed its calls to WHTD.

It should be noted that Channel 30 in West Hartford was known originally as WNBC TV and remained that way until at least 1958 before the calls were changed to WHNB TV; at that point WNBC TV went to Channel 4 in New York.

Certainly it is conceivable that financial considerations prompted the Connecticut station to sell its name to the bigger station in New York.

Monday, May 14, 2001, 12:06:22PM

You have done an absolutely thorough job. Congratulations!!! I've been going through the site and looking through the bios. I had forgotten about the Monticello the Magnificent. You are good. I'm currently Broadcast Consultant for the New KRLA in Los Angeles and glad to be home in the Southland. I've been doing lots of producing/hosting of infomercials as well as doing ABC-TV's General Hospital (which I've been on as a semi-regular for the last 12 years) usually as the Newsman, Reporter, Background Radio Voice etc. Keep up the great work. I had more fun at POP. Working for Woody Roberts and Danny Clayton was the best. AND, you couldn't find a better boss than Joe Amaturo. In those days, it was "WAR" between POP and DRC. It was fabulous. Keep up the great work.

Sincerely,

Dick Heatherton, CRMC (e-mail)

Monday, May 14, 2001, 11:12:16AM

Dear Ed:

Went to the site...all the info on me seems fine. Nice site. Lots of old friends listed there.

Thanks.

Jim McLaughlin
McLaughlin, DelVecchio & Casey, Inc.

Hey Ed...great stuff on that WPOP page.. Joey Reynolds told me about it. I noticed you have the same problem I do. Type so fast that letters get reversed. Under Joey's bio it has him at WYXT and it should be WXYZ and WLPG-TV in Miami should be WPLG-TV (Channel 10). Also under Tom Shovan is says Tom died on New York..should be in New York April 9, 1999. Easy to fix.

Just trying to help out. I do it ALL the time too. Have you seen my website about my video airchecks?

Art Vuolo (e-mail)

Monday, May 14, 2001, 8:51:10AM

Ed...that's an incredible piece of work!!! Where the hell did you come up with all that information?

It really is fun looking back on a part of my life that sometimes I find hard to believe really existed. WPOP and Connecticut radio in general was like a beacon for me while I was growing up on LI.

I'd wanted to be a radio announcer for as long as I can remember. Living in Uniondale on LI, the NY stations WINS, WABC, WMGM, WMCA, and WADO were my focus.

Murray The K, Cousin Brucie, Jocko Henderson, Dan Ingram, Herb Oscar Anderson...all these guys were like gods to me!!

I knew I wanted to be a part of this business but I also knew that NY radio was the ultimate challenge and that I couldn't start there. But I used to spend my summers in the 1950's on the north shore of LI out by Port Jefferson and the Connecticut stations came in like locals. In the summer, when the only NY station I could hear out there was WABC, the Connecticut stations became my focus and I knew this was a market I had a chance to crack. WAVZ, WDEE, WPOP and WDRC became my goal stations. And I got there eventually!!!

I'm very proud to be a part of a legacy like WPOP and your website. Thanks for including me.

A few corrections... I actually started doing PM drive in the summer of '71 when St. James went to AM drive. From the time I started at WPOP in Oct '70 until then, I was doing weekends on the air and during the week I was doing production. Bill Winters was at WFBS in Spring Lake, NC in the fall of '68 while he was doing his National Guard commitment. He came there from WPOP when he was called up and went back to WPOP when his 6 months was up. I know this because we worked together at WFBS...actually doing the same show together. It was a Saturday afternoon call-in college football show. We'd give continuous coverage all afternoon of ongoing college football games and take calls for scores and comments. (Wasn't there some sort of war going on then too?)

In addition, "Tracy" was Tracy Garneau. I don't remember his real first name but we worked together at WAVZ when I first came to CT. I don't know for sure but I think he died a few years ago.

Lastly, I'm still in programming..but it's computers now and not radio. I'm now at Travelers in Hartford having left Aetna in 1996.

Hal Whitney/Judge Harrigan (e-mail)

Ed, you've done it again! Pulling together all of the loose ends of the WPOP saga (the station was a forest of loose ends) is amazing. I'm sure that in time, you'll come across a few more names. When I was there, the story was that in Joe Amaturo's first two years of ownership, the turnover was even higher than it was later. Allegedly, he came from ownership of MOR WIRE, Indpls, and didn't know what to do with a top 40 station. He turned to Max Richmond, owner of WMEX, Boston, for advice, and was basically told that Top 40 jocks were animals and should be treated that way. Even so, he was somewhat easier to work for than WDRC's Dick Korsen, because Joe was ummmmm....more stable. A couple of small items: my recollection is that Scott Kilgore was the president of Tele-Broadcasters. Joe bought WPOP from him, not with him. Rusty Potz used the name Ron Jackson when he did newscasts, sometimes in the same shift, with no change of voice.

The arrival of Tracy Cole was in fits and starts: When Ed Clancy's National Guard unit called him up in Summer 1968, I hired Tracy. Then the National Guard decided it didn't need Ed after all. So I had to fire Tracy before he ever worked a shift. Then a few weeks later, Mike Heid left for WFIL, and I re-hired Tracy. That December Joe Amaturo gave me three weeks notice, but moved the title of News Director to Ed immediately. Ed decided after a few days that being News Director was a lot less fun than being a staff newsperson, and resigned to seek work in New York. At that point, late December, Tracy moved up to ND. Ed returned a short time later.

Linc(oln) Holmes worked for WRCH before WPOP, certainly during 1969. Woody Roberts returned briefly in mid-1972 as a consultant, but not on the air. In their on-air bits, Woody called Marcia "Miss Fox". He didn't use her first name. Barbara Bodnar should get on-air credit, since she frequently voiced feature stories for newscasts. (I'm ashamed to recall that we referred to her as "WPOP's Newsgirl." At the time, we thought we were hip, putting a female voice on the air.) Pete Myers worked for WJW, Cleveland before going to WHK. At both stations, he did both normally-paced non-top 40 shows under his own name, and his supercharged rhyming Top-40 shows as Mad Daddy. Buy one, get two. And, completing my nit-picking for the moment, Lou Morton worked at WCBS (AM) for a short period after WPOP.

Chuck Crouse (e-mail)

Sunday, May 13, 2001, 3:14:20PM

My Sunday morning just turned into an orgy or reminiscences -- thanks!

When I spent 1967's summer of love at Hartford's "5000-watt flower pot" doing fill-in I was in heaven. I'd been listening to WPOP through the static from New Haven, and it was the most progressive top 40 station, with the strongest personalities, I had ever heard. The previous winter I often found myself freezing in my car because I'd reached my destination and turned off the heater but was unwilling to turn off the radio... Lee "Baby" Simms was in the middle of one of those bits about motorcycles and grandmothers.

I don't have any vintage WPOP photos to share, but current photos are on my website at www.mckeown.net.

Thanks again!

Kevin McKeown (e-mail)

Sunday, May 13, 2001, 1:57:10PM

Good god!!!! All those people!!! And I remember working with most of them...and listening to the rest! Thanks, Ed.

John Scott

Sunday, May 13, 2001, 12:53:56PM

Ed:

I heard from Lee "G" that you are preparing a WPOP tribute site. Thank you.

My name is Bill Vassar. I was a freshman at Newington High School in 1967 when I first rode my bike down Cedar Street to visit "Boss Radio" WPOP. I was one of those kids with radio in the blood. I spent many hours hanging out in the lobby and looking into the studio through the parking lot window. Eventually the jocks let me hang around inside the station and encouraged my dream of being a "Boss Jock." Many nights and weekends were spent talking up the hits in the overnight/backup studio. In '69, I became the station errand boy and got to do a few weekend shifts (Billy Boss Jock). In the summer of '70, management fired my radio godfather Danny Clayton. Lou Morton replaced Danny as the PD and sent me packin'. He told me I had "the stuff" but no one under 18 belonged on the radio. I was back doing weekends and fills in '72-'73 as Mike Murphy and returned in '74-'75 to do weekends and fills as Bobby Brooks. The last month the station played music I was doing overnights right up to the last day WPOP was "The Music Station." I loved that radio station and for a long while I was angry about the format change. The only time I went back to the studio was to pick up my final check. I passed by the old and new studio buildings on Cedar Street many times while visiting my parents in Newington. Like Billy Joel says "you can never go back there again." Eventually the anger faded into my wonderful Camelot of WPOP memories.

For a kid starting out in "the biz" WPOP was a great experience that kick-started what is now a 32-year media career. The memories are more than the air checks and tee-shirts in my attic. Thanks for the web site and keeping the good old feelings alive.

Bill Vassar/Michael Murphy/Bobby Brooks (e-mail)

Friday, May 11, 2001, 5:52:20PM

Ed ...

Wow! I wasn't expecting such a comprehensive site considering it is just out of the box. I will send you a more current photo of myself so that you can do the cool roll-over thing in my space too.

I believe that newsman Mike Burke is deceased but I'm not 100% certain of that. Perhaps Charley Steiner will know. There's probably a current shot of Jack Carney at his website. I'll go through my stuff to see what I can supply.

I can't wait to see how this great site progresses.

Lee Gordon (e-mail)