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"Lee
and Ed:
Thank
you for getting my name on to the mailing list for
the WPOP reunion. It was a most satisfying, gratifying
couple of hours with some old cohorts, and meeting
some new ones. Del Raycee flattered me by saying the
reason he came was because he saw my name on the list
of attendees, Bill Hennesey has the most extraordinary
memory of things past, and several people I did not
know were amazing in their summary of my radio activities.
I have been active with the Vintage
Radio and Communications Museum of Connecticut
(in Windsor) as a volunteer PR person, and an active
participant/founder of the Radio Workshop Players,
a group of actors and amateurs who perform old radio
dramas, and have written or adapted radio plays and
meet in the studio of the Museum. The Studio and control
room are vintage 40's and 50's and are making use
of vintage (and not so vintage) equipment. The Museum
is in dire need of money, and donated equipment for
the studio. Its general collection is outstanding
and worth a visit.
I'd
like to promote the museum, get some volunteers for
the Radio Workshop Players, and interest them in supporting
the place. I think radio people might appreciate the
contact as well.
Thanks
again for putting the reunion together. It was a very
good idea and I am glad to have been included."
Jack
(Brooks) Broitman (Jack died
on August 29, 2010)
"You
should have been there....
From
memory: Glenn Yaffa was there (met him briefly); so
was Joann Nesti (shorter and cuter than I expected
her to be, also very nice) and sports guy Joe DeAmbrosio.
Sunny Shores was
there from Philadelphia; he reminded me a bit of a
cross between Clark
Smidt and a guy I know here in NJ who does VOs
– physically at least. Gary
Girard was there with his wife. I spent a lot
of time with Frank Holler
(his WDRC "equivalent" and former best friend Joe
Hager died a few years back); great guy.
Lee Gordon (another
great guy and the event organizer), Brother
Jack Carney (still youthful in a Robert Redford
way, and still bright and funny as well) and Judge
Harrigan (Hal Whitney), who I always regarded
as a super talent (he is at Travelers and was at Aetna
as a data processing guru after leaving radio). Dave
Overson (ex WDRC Prod Dir., now 28+ years at ESPN)
was there. He worked on Steve
Parker's show (Steve was also there). Dave recorded
my audition at WDRC, and remains a great guy.
I
also spent a bunch of time with John Ramsey, who has
been a contract or staff Chief Engineer fore a dozen
Hartford-area stations as well as GM of 'UH, as well
as Brandon Kampe, our station "biographer," whose
enthusiasm for Hartford radio history was infectious.
A highlight was meeting Ed
Brouder, "the
Man from Mars" who founded the WDRC
and WPOP
web sites which are "action central" for the stations
- I and others think the WDRC pages are among the
top radio "memorial" websites on the net, up there
with CHUM in Toronto and Music Radio 77 for WABC.
Ed, historian that he is, helped with names, dates,
places, people and a wider understanding (for me)
of how and where everything fit. He also produced
a 20-minute CD, incorporating airchecks, etc.
I
also met Tracy Carman, who runs the Media
Preservation Foundation that is a library/vault
of radio jingles from their advent to the present,
housed in a warehouse in Springfield, MA. Finally,
for this recounting, one of the most interesting people
attending was Al Cohen, who had been on the station
when it was WONS and also was on WTHT (owned by the
Hartford Times, whose old building is now a standing
shell waiting to front yet another stalled redevelopment
project downtown). Al must be 90, but clear and sharp,
and a walking history of Hartford radio - because
he lived it from back before most of us were born.
There were many more folks I have omitted by accident
- I wasn't taking notes.
I
was also warmly welcomed as a colleague representing
WHCN in its great years, which were warmly acknowledged
by all who I spoke with. We really did have respect
in the broadcasting community, at least from these
folks, for getting ou there and really doing what
we knew. What was really fascinating was the difference
between the personalitis of the Top 40 jock and progressive
jocks of the era; it was as though we were in different
chapters of the same fraternity, but it was inded
the same fraternity: broadcasting. As Frank
Holler said (I paraphrase), it was amazing that
so many of us, as older teens and 20-sonethings, were
able to get on the radio and into people's lives and
at the same time make (enough of a) living and live
our dreams. It was a great life."
Country
Paul Payton (e-mail)
"I
got on the reunion
website and logged on to Jack Brook's e-mail address
and we've been talking (e-mail) several times today.
I worked with him for a short time in '64. He didn't
remember me but we had a good reunion today. So your
'POP reunion lives on."
Jerry
Gordon (e-mail)
"Hi
Ed:
Hope
I can borrow this forum to thank Lee Gordon, from
the bottom of my heart, for keeping the WPOP alumni
together, and for this wonderful 2008 reunion. It
was heartwarming. I got to reconnect with old friends,
make some new ones, and share memories with the best
in the biz. There was a whole lot of talent at the
Pumphouse Gallery, and I bow to those who blazed the
trail before we all-news punks came along."
Jackie
Quinn (WPOP 1986-1990) (e-mail)
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