… Beat’um on the Tom Tom, Here Come Tall Tom …
[Description by Uncle Ricky]
This exhibit opens with the great Van Deventer at the close of a Mutual newscast. (What a memory jogger!) Then, it sounds like Tom Hatala and his late morning party on WJVA (1580 Khz) in lovely South Bend, Indiana. It’s August of 1964, and Tom has a few knee-slappers for you. He’s a funny guy and these are the Modern Sounds, up until 11:15, when the Oldies Show starts.
I’ve never been to Indiana, but on this morning, they were going to freeze some poor girl alive in a block of ice at the local drive-in theatre (or so we are told.) Hey, at least it was genuine LOCAL radio. Tom was a real local citizen, and if you didn’t like his jokes, chances are it wouldn’t be difficult to speak to him in person about it.
Note that Dick Biondi had appeared at a recent WJVA promotion. Biondi was known from his time at WLS, of course, but this was before he moved to Los Angeles for a short run at KRLA. Wait until you hear the hot up-and-comers who played at that Notre Dame dance – they are
gone and forgotten, even as our treasure chest closes on this sweet 60’s sample from South Bend.