Jack Gale, WAYS Charlotte N.C., Halloween 1967 (0:29:18)

… there’ll be some scattered showers around the area, the rest of the folks will take baths …

[Description by Uncle Ricky]

This 1967 Halloween aircheck of Jack Gale on WAYS in Charlotte, N.C. offers more evidence as to why WAYS was truly BIG.
In The Public Interest was a lot more than a PAMS jingle lyric and something that sounded good at license renewal. “The Big WAYS Good Guys Walk For Those Who Can’t”, a Halloween promotion for kids in area hospitals, is an excellent example. And note the lengthy high-school football segment! The station covered a huge area which included dozens of high schools. Mr. Gale took great pleasure in his pigskin prognostications, but feigned modesty dwelling on those accomplishments. After all, people would think he was just soliciting “accolades and orchids”.
A truly dizzying collection of contests and promotions is packed into this (scoped) 7AM hour, including The BIG WAYS Challenge Cup Playoff, The Money Matchbook Game, The BIG WAYS Turkey Shoot, BIG WAYS Tenna Toppers, and the BIG WAYS Halloween Trick or Treat Game.
Of course, the 7:30 weather from Lowell Pressure is delightfully unintelligible, as is the traffic report a few minutes later from Helicopter Harry. (It’s a scrawny thing! Is it a chicken? No! No!)

Welcome to the new ReelRadio!

This site is now operated by the North Carolina Broadcast History Museum. 

We want to thank the board of ReelRadio, Inc. for their stewardship since the passing of the founder Richard Irwin in 2018.  It has not been easy and they have maintained the exhibits for future generations to enjoy.

I met Richard Irwin, aka Uncle Ricky, when we were freshmen at East Carolina University.  We both had worked at local stations in our hometowns.  No one was more passionate about radio, especially Top 40 radio, than my friend Richard. 

Our goals with this site are to preserve the exhibits and make them available free of charge for people to enjoy.  Over time, we hope to add some airchecks to the site.  This will not happen immediately.  Time and resources will determine the future of new exhibits. 

Many thanks to the web folks at the Beasley Media Group for countless hours of work.  Again thanks to the board members of ReelRadio, Inc. for their faith in us. 

Richard Irwin’s hope was that his site would live on long after his passing. He said, “I hope REELRADIO will survive as my contribution to the ‘radio business’. The business is allowed to forget me, but the business should never forget the great era of radio that we celebrate here”.

We remember Richard and we thank him. If you enjoy this new site, we would appreciate a contribution. We hope you enjoy the new ReelRadio!

Carl Davis
Trustee
North Carolina Broadcast History Museum