Neaverth, perhaps with his boyish good looks and demeanor, evaded arrest for his stunt. Joey Reynolds was in the category of disc jockey, playing music on music intensive radio stations from the very late 1950s until the mid-1980s during his time on Z100 and WFIL. If you watched Elvis shake his hips on Ed Sullivan for the first time, and you then listened to Elvis on the radio It wasnt likely KB, even though your memory might tell you otherwise. He maintains a second home in Florida and spends most weekends with two daughters from a previous marriage. This mix of talk, entertainment, and game show was an instant hit and led to the creation of "AM Buffalo" in 1978 to continue that tradition. Now, more than 50 years later, WKBW-TV has broadcast tens of thousands of movies, local programs, and newscasts. Dorothy Ireland was on the air daily as Kay B. Cooke with interviews and homemaking tips. She has told her social network followers that she is considering her next step while being paid through June 1. Click image to learn more. Lawrence meant the 4th of July; Allen showed up the 4th of May. Yes, the dial was indeed properly clicked in on 1520. Program director Dick Lawrence asked Allen to show up to KB prior to the 4th. Neaverth recalled that his first radio work was as a young teenager, when he, his longtime friend and collaborator Joey Reynolds, WEBR jockey Danny McBride, and others set up a closed-circuit radio station at a Boys Club in Buffalo, under a sponsorship deal with a local pizzeria that "paid" the jockeys in free pizza. The answer laid in an even newer, more modern, up-to-date formula, which according to Lawrence responded to the wide-spread, major appeal necessary in the highly competitive broadcasting industry of 1958. The person: Rick Azar. By 1964, American fuddy-duddies had withstood the waves of bobbysoxers and Elvis wagging hips but the arrival of a moppy-headed quartet of singers from England took the genre up another notch. Some personalities are so renowned and celebrated just one name will do. Beyonce. Buffalo Radio - Buffalo Broadcasters Association 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. Left: Fred Klestine, Dan Neaverth, Jay Nelson, Jack Kelly, Doug James, Bob Diamond, Tom Shannon. If theres a start date for Beatlemania, you might choose Feb. 9, 1964 the date of the bands first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. About 60 percent of American televisions were tuned to the performance of the nations No. That is a very odd position for a news station to take and makes you wonder what the station was worried about. #KgopoloReports . Azar also hosted Buffalo Bandstand, a local franchising of American Bandstand, and on at least one occasion substitute hosted the national show in place of Dick Clark. (Buffalo Stories archives). The 25-year veteran of Buffalo radio and television has written five books and curates The Buffalo Stories Archives-- hundreds of thousands of books, images, and audio/visual media which tell the stories of who we are in Western New York. Never before, and never since, has a radio station been so dominant in Buffalo. The new format included a large amount of public interest information and services. Tom Clay, one of many disc jockeys to use the name Guy King on WWOL, was arrested after his playing Rock Around the Clock over and over again, while perched atop a billboard in Shelton Square. Sanders, who was hired by Channel 7s legendary Irv Weinstein as newsroom secretary and eventually became the stations assistant news director, was inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2013. Half of the audience was listening to KB. The rock nroll era had arrived on a respectable, long established Buffalo radio station. The proof is in a quick search of WKBW on your favorite search engine. Steve's Buffalo roots run deep: all eight of his great-grandparents called Buffalo home, with his first ancestors arriving here in 1827. In 1964, "Dialing For Dollars" hit the air with Liz Dribben and Nolan Johannes. Before Top 40 came to KB, Stan Barron hosted the Morning Clockwatcher show, live each morning outside the Main Street studios. A month after the groups first appearance on Ed Sullivan, a couple of doors down from Sheas Buffalo, the Paramount Theatre sold out a weekends worth of closed-circuit showings of a Beatles concert. . Id been offered a gig, at the same time, from KLIF in Dallas. At WBNY, Neaverth would pull a rooftop like event similar to Guy Kings, throwing candy out to passersby. Before Top 40 came to KB, Stan Barron hosted the Morning Clockwatcher show, live each morning outside the Main Street studios. It almost happened! {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}, As supporters pray, Kim Pegula's father shares her words: 'I will continue to fight', Prayer and healing vigil for Bills and Sabres co-owner Kim Pegula scheduled for Saturday, WGRZ meteorologist Elyse Smith exiting station after three years, Bills GM Brandon Beane on potential DeAndre Hopkins trade: 'I don't think that's going to happen', Many Bills fans stumped by identity of social media influencer who announced third-round pick, Ex-Sabres defenseman Christian Ehrhoff, on the payroll through 2027-28, comes out of retirement to play in Germany, Nicholas D'Angelo pleads guilty to 8 felonies in rape case, Departure of 5 UB women's basketball commits raises eyebrows among coaches, analysts, Erik Brady: 20 years later, Drew Rosenhaus recounts how he fooled the Bills into drafting Willis McGahee, Mark Gaughan: Buffalo Bills' winners and losers after 2023 NFL draft, Seneca Nation plans to bid for McKinley Mall, Alan Pergament: JP starts on WECK Monday after all; Jennifer Stanonis rejoins WGRZ-TV, Bills trade up in first round, select Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid at No. (Buffalo Stories archives.). The place: 1420 Main Street in Buffalo, New York - the original home of WKBW-TV. Three different versions of the war of the Worlds appear. [3], Rick Azar began his career at WHLD radio in Niagara Falls in the early 1950s. 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. Fred Klestine and Jeff Kaye, WKBW, late 1960s. Click image to learn more. All rights reserved. He was a concert promoter and recording artist (who could forget Rats in My Room, even if they tried?). In the three years the band toured North America, they never performed a show in Buffalo.[2]. Runaways Co-Founder Sues Former KROQ Radio Personality, Record Producer The late newsman Ed Little wouldremember being in the room as packages containing female lingerie were opened; sent from Maryland by an obviously big fan. Lorenz wanted nothing to do with a Top 40 style format. Nearly 43,000 people died in U.S. traffic . It was . Keep reading with unlimited digital access. 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. The place: 1420 Main Street in Buffalo, New York - the original home of WKBW-TV. By Steve Cichon 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. The half hour program was recorded on these transcription records, sometime before Christmas Day 1954, for playback on that date. In 1958, plans were underway for a huge, all-encompassing youth group, which was to be headquartered at the station. Today’s top 694 Summer Internships jobs in Paris, le-de-France, France. Eighteen uniformed Buffalo Police officers were hired to help keep the peace among the more than 2,500 teens who showed up to watch the show at the Paramount, which was hosted by WKBW disc jockey Joey Reynolds. Sandy says he was prepared for the first day fifty years ago, but Stan Roberts advised him to rent furniture, adding "he didn't exactly say I know you're going to make it big here. Sandy Beach started in 1968 at WKBW Radio. His first radio job was WWOL in Buffalo with Dick Purtan, then WKWK, in Wheeling, WV. The changes at the station went far deeper than programming and promotion. Reynolds' last show, which was segregated into the "Final Gay Hour," the "Final Jewish Hour" and "The Final Hour," aired the morning of April 3, 2010. WKBW had a long 6 hour evening shift in it's glory days as Top 40. Who do you think is the biggest star or stars to do that stint? WKBW Radio - Buffalo Stories Archives & Blog If you ever read this Mike Im sorry I missed I could have improved your looks. I say that affectionately Mike is a genius in radio programming., Dick lasted on the staff for two years before getting fired. At the end of one month of this promotion, six winners were chosen for originality and clarity of the design created. Was it the haircuts, asked the Courier-Express Enquiring Reporter of Western New York high school students? 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]. KB was a hit from day one.. Listeners were told to ask everyone they saw if they had the missing key for a Thunderbird that was sitting in a downtown dealerships window, and all you needed to do was find the key and start the motor. Narrated by then-KB Radio newsman Irv Weinstein, this piece reflects the KB staff from its first year as a Top 40 station. He found superb vehicles not only for his own talent, but also put the stars of KB in situations where they could shine brightest. KLIF was a marvelously successful station but, I couldnt have made a better choice. Reynolds and Neaverth, on behalf of WKBW, were offered the chance to bring The Beatles to Buffalo Memorial Auditorium on February 10, 1964, the day after the band had appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. Beatlemania continued at a fever pitch through all of 1964 and 1965. Unwilling to risk the $3500 appearance fee for a Monday night concert, in the poor February weather, for an unproven band he did not expect to sell out the auditorium, the two declined the offer. Youll hear snippets of disc jockeys Stan Roberts, Fred Klestine, Jay Nelson, Dan Neaverth, and Joey Reynolds at work, followed by a Henry Brach newscast, and a quick excerpt from Irv Weinsteins documentary Buffalo and La Cosa Nostra. Many KB commercialsand contests follow. Russ Syracuse, who came to WKBW from WNDR in Syracuse, was next in the line-up with the 9 to 11 AM and 12 to 2 PM time segments under his care. Its a part of Buffalos past of which we should all be proud. She was loyal to her stations until her last day. [1] With his wife, he had four children. According to Al Anscombe, GM at the time, advertisers who associated with the traditional format were given to option of continuing their schedules free of charge through the Future Sonic change with many renewing at greater levels a month into the new sound. Dan Bongino, one of the most right-leaning hosts in the Fox News stable, is leaving the network after the Fox Corp.-backed outlet and he could not come to terms on a new contract. In 1950, he replaced Baker as KBs general manager. Dan Neaverth was inducted in the Buffalo Broadcasting Hall of Fame and the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame in 2000. 50 kW NBC sounded better to my sadly warped values. Among the others on KBs deejay staff in the mid-50s were Herb Knight, George Hound Dog Lorenz, and Larry Brownell. [2] After the July, 1964 release of The Beatles first film A Hard Days Night, the summer of 1965 saw the release of the Beatles secondmovie, Help!, which opened at Sheas before moving onto the smaller theaters and the drive-ins. Dick was a genius, said Dick Biondi, He walked around with two shoulder holsters. Some of his regular voices included "Jack Armstrong" - All American boy; "Maude Frickette" - the 104 year old teenager; and "General Shelby Singleton Silvers Junior Esquire Y'all" - an older southern gentleman. You hear the voice, writing and production of Jeff Kaye; the engineering and production of Al Lafler, Dan Kreigler, and many others; the voices and writing of Dan Neaverth, Jim McLaughlin, Don Berns, Stan Roberts, Sandy Beach, Jack Armstrong, Shane Gibson, Joe Downey, Ron Baskin, Henry Brach, Jim Fagan, Don Lancer, Irv Weinstein, and others. He signed the station on with the words, "Ladies and Gentlemen, WKBW-TV Channel 7 is on-the-air!" 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. Read more . He rose to fame as a Top 40 radio personality . Gospel musician and evangelist Elder Charles Beck ran his network of 30 stations from WKBW. . New York State Radio Broadcasters Award Winners | Hall of Fame My great grandfather lived in an apartment in the yellow house on the right. Fueled by the notion of carving out a demographic niche among Buffalo teens and very young adults, the little 250-watt station went rock and roll in a bold move that would soon change the . Gotta be careful what you say on a 50,000 WATT radio station., In the latter part of the50sJohn Barrett and Perry Allen evolved a call letter-napping. Someone, as established in the promo spots, had stolen one of our Ws, recalls Allen. The first day was awesome, remembers Art Roberts. While Program Director Jeff Kaye might be best remembered for that deep resonant voice which he used like Horowitz on a Steinway, he was also perhaps the greatest producer and writer that is to say, the greatest radio mind of the generation. Jack Armstrong - Buffalo Broadcasters Association The next day I was fired.. He also started an on air club for his listeners called The Royal Order Of The Night People. WKBW-AM History. Scripps Company, which has been a guiding light in journalism since being founded by Edward Willis Scripps in 1878. Tommy Shannon first made girls swoon at WXRA Radio, from a location way out in the boonies. He spent much of his retirement in Whispering Pines, North Carolina before returning to Buffalo in 2014.[2]. The gauntlet was tossed to the audience, Find the individual concerned and win a swimming pool. Clues lead to the ultimate uncovering of the culprit who had in his possession a letter W.. Buffalo Web Design by. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. This blurb appeared in a Geneseo newspaper during the week leading up to Halloween in 1968. [2] Such was Azar's popularity that one of the sports anchors hired to replace him (the unrelated Jerry Azar) was chosen specifically because his last name was also Azar.[2]. Faron Young, Capitol Records star, flew in to Buffalo from Nashville; The Pony Tails drove up from Cleveland; The Four Dates and Fabian of Chancellor Records flew in from Philadelphia; and the local recording group, The Tune Rockers, performed on the roof of one of the stores in the plaza. "Because I love numbers" he says. Jeff Kaye narrates with the KB Players in The Darkness. Didnt know a think about KB prior to getting off the plane in Buffalo, said Perry Allen. Whether you loved the Beatles or hated them, they were clearly a growing economic force to be reckoned with. http://www.staffannouncer.com/kbhalloween/mccartney.mp3, Jeff Kaye, Dan Neaverth, Stan Roberts and the K-Big DJs added gasoline to the Paul is dead fire with Paul McCartney is alive and Well Maybe?, http://www.staffannouncer.com/kbhalloween/dontturnaround.mp3. Danny Neaverth - Wikipedia 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. With hope and dreams, I turned on the ever present transistor receiver. Stay tuned for an eventual interview, most likely to run next week. McDonald's has closed its U.S. offices through Wednesday and told its corporate staff to work remotely as it prepares to announce a round of layoffs. April 24, 2023. With the blessing of the police commissioner and the traffic safety director of the city, KB announcers, during peak driving hours, made public the location of police radar unit and urged motorists to slow down and drive safely. "Folks, reg I also ripped a phone off the wall and threw it at Mike Joseph in Buffalo missing him by a hair. http://blog.buffalostories.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/KB61sm.mp3. The series ended on April 25, 2011. Don Weeks. Despite a pioneering spirit and great imaginative programming, each of those true rock nroll pioneer stations had unique problems. Perry Allen, from KTLN in Denver was hired to fill the early morning 6 to 9 AM slot. He would join WGR in 1972 where he . Two crack time salesmen and a commercial manger where hired to insure that FutureSonic was profitable, Don Bannister and Warren Potash filled the sales office and Tony Rocco, well know in Buffalo advertising circles at the time became the sales manger. Buffalo's 1520 WKBW Radio: WNY's great contribution to 20th century pop Remembering former Buffalo radio personality Don Berns who passed away on Sunday March 1, 2015. Station management gave each of the new disc jockeys a membership in the Junior Chamber of Commerce and several other civic organizations in-order increase their visibility not only to listeners but to business and civic leaders who would supply KB with needed advertising dollars. Reynolds is often regarded as an early progenitor of "shock talk radio", whose sometimes outlandish on and off-air stunts garnered widespread publicity. Even though the present building is 30 years old, it still stands as a modern fixture in the city landscape with silver reflective panels. By the mid 50s, Lorenzs hip daddy style, and the fact that he was spinning records from black artists, made him an institution. 0. Mongiovi is now a reporter at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, the No. Wendt stayed in the market as a meteorologist on Spectrum News. This photo shows two well-known figures in 1970s Buffalo getting together to talk about jazz in in the WADV-FM studios. Former KROQ-FM radio personality Rodney "Rodney on the ROQ" Bingenheimer and the estate of the late record producer Kim Fowley were identified in new . His family owned Lucki-Urban Furniture, sponsors of Jasinskis broadcasts from the 50s-90s. Listeners were urged to apply adhesive tape to their backs in the form of the station call letters and asked to allow themselves to tan in the sun. WKBW-TV was also one of the first stations to travel with the Buffalo Sabres hockey team in the 1970s, broadcasting select games, and is a supporter of the triple A Buffalo Bisons baseball team. 47 Registered Nurse Jobs in Paris, le-de-France, France - LinkedIn Local bands like the Buffalo Beetles, later renamed the Mods, enjoyed popularity and even their own records on the radio. In 1986, J. Bruce Llewellyn acquired the station and operated it under Queen City Broadcasting until 1995, when Granite Broadcasting, Inc. took control. AM Buffalo is one of the longest running and most successful locally produced programs in the country. But 370 miles away in Baltimore, the show showed up in the ratings as number 4. WKBW-TV signed on and continues as one of the top ABC affiliates in the country. The mastermind of the new format was program director Dick Lawrence who with a collection of fast talking jocks, quick colorful jingles and the latest wax, put the management at WKBW on notice. Chief Engineer Leroy Fiedler, left, was at WKBW from the very beginning in 1926, and was still with the station through the 60s. Local radio legend Sandy Beach retires after 60 years - WKBW (Buffalo Stories archives). While Reynolds' present persona can be considered mellower by comparison, he still retains a loyal audience. But eventually, a base of homegrown talent sprinkled with some of the most talented people from around the country, KB built an unprecedented following in Buffalo and around the country. WKBW-TV began as an extension of the popular WKBW radio 1520AM, now WWKB. The day: November 30, 1958. It is unclear why these five players asked for releases from their national letters of intent. You have permission to edit this article. Marissa Bailey: The former Channel 2 anchor-reporter is on the beach, the phrase that people in the media use after losing their job and not having another lined up yet. No one should begrudge him for leaving for that deal. He remembers playing the two transcription records from which these audio clips came in his grandmas basement as a little guy. Western New Yorks embedded in his DNA. In fact, the original building used to be a tabernacle, which is key to what WKBW stands for: "Well Known Bible Witness." Liz Lewin: The former WKBW-TV anchor-reporter, who left the station last summer to become the weekend morning anchor and reporter at WILX-TV in Lansing, Mich., is back in Buffalo. What helped him decide his career path was he says he wanted to entertain people and didn't want to wear a tie. At WBNY, Neaverth would pull a rooftop like event similar to Guy Kings, throwing candy out to passersby. 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.