The Dan Haber Collection

Someone was awfully busy with a blade. Only problem is, I’m not sure who. In fact, though I’ve called this the “R&R Radio Rewind”, I’m not sure what it really is. Somebody “out there” will know its true origin.

This was given to me in the mid-70’s by Ken Wilson, who was then a year ahead of me in college. He never told me where it came from or who was behind it. But it was unquestionably someone who loved Top 40 radio.

It begins with an extensive jingle collage featuring such stations as WPIX-FM, WCBS-FM, WOR-FM, KKDJ, CKLW, WCFL, WIXY, KCBQ, WKNR, WQXI, KYA, WQAM, KTSA, KDWB, WRKO, KJR, KHJ, WKBW, WIBG, and WABC. And that’s just to name a few!

From there it segues into snippets of airchecks from the people who made the medium well done: Wolfman Jack on KDAY, Dan Ingram on WABC, Tom Shannon on CKLW, Larry Lujack (with the Clunk Letter Of The Day) on WCFL, John Landecker on WLS (where he plays all the jingles for every jock on-air there at the time), Hy Lit on WIBG, and even some classic Jackson Armstrong on WKBW. And that only covers a small part of what’s here.

And while a few checks contained here appear elsewhere on this site (most notably “The Bootleg Top 40, Vol. 1”), most of this is original. Just like the true originals who appear on it. My two favorites: Mel Blanc does Sylvester the Cat I.D’ing KDAY, Santa Monica, and a wonderfully suggestive promo for WXLW Indianapolis, giving away “a ball an hour”.

There’s too many to list individually, but here are some highlights.

[Uncle Ricky notes:] There are many wonderful surprises in this one. Listen to the whole thing. The fidelity (or lack of) is the only disappointment; it varies widely and is better in some portions than in others. I’ve heard this 6 times (3 hours), tried various processing choices, encoded twice, and have run out of time! This one really needs multi-band processing, or many hours of careful editing. More than I can give it tonight.
It’s still great fun to hear and includes some things we’ve never had online before. LISTEN!

– Uncle Ricky, 3/25/2000

KDAY Santa Monica–Mel Blanc I.D., WABC New York–Cousin Brucie I.D., Murray the K Promo, WABC New York–“Secret Word Sweepstakes” Promo, WXLW Indianapolis–“Ball An Hour” Promo, WLS Chicago–John Landecker sounds the “Horn Of Leaving”, KKDJ Los Angeles–Contest Promo, WCFL Chicago–Larry O’Brien, CKLW Detroit–“Instant Rip-Off Weekend” Promo, WABC New York–Dan Ingram, WMCA New York–“Good Guys Sweatshirt Giveaway” Promo, WAPE Jacksonville–Jay Thomas & Larry Dixon, WKBW Buffalo–Jackson Armstrong (A Classic Check), WFIL Philadelphia–Dan Donovan, WIBG Philadelphia–Joe Niagara & Hy Lit, WCAM, Camden NJ–Jerry Blavat, “The Geator with a Heater”, KDAY Santa Monica–Wolfman Jack, WRKO Boston–Tom Kennedy, KCBQ San Diego–Charlie Tuna, WCFL Chicago–Larry Lujack (With “Super Jock” Jingle & “Clunk Letter Of The Day”), WLS Chicago–Bob Sirott, WKNR Detroit–Various, CHUM Toronto–J. Michael Wilson & Rodney The Rodent, CKLW Detroit–Jingle Montage, WWWW Detroit–Chuck Richards, CKLW Detroit–Tom Shannon And Now Ladies & Gentlemen …Various Drake Top Of Hour I.D.s: Includes CKLW, KFRC, WOR-FM, CHUM, KHJ, WIBG & WRKO

This is all about the world’s most beloved jingle company, PAMS. This mini-documentary includes interviews with the company’s founder, the late Bill Meeks. Also featured: Terry Lee, the distinctive voice heard on many PAMS classics; some background on Sonovox, and samples of some of the best Top 40 radio jingles ever made.

Thanks to Jon Wolfert for the background on this bootleg.
Back in my PAMS days, I thought it would make a good promotional give-away to do an album (there were no CDs in 1972) containing the history of PAMS. See, even then I was trying to do what we finally accomplished with “The Magic of PAMS” set in 1999! Anyway, I started to research and write the thing, and put together a few of the sections in a very rough form. I didn’t use real announcers, and it wasn’t a final mix, but I was trying to get them to commit some bucks to the project by showing them what it would sound like. PAMS being the way it was, nothing ever happened.

I did do a “good” mix of the “rough draft” for my own collection (which I still have), but no copies were ever sent out. My mistake was that I didn’t take home or erase the 16-track multi-track master where I had assembled it. Years later, after the PAMS tapes were sold and auctioned off to different people, someone came across that multi-track. They thought it was cool, made their own (HORRIBLE) mix, and made copies. To make matters worse, they often attached my name to it.

Well, not only was that production not in a finished form, it wasn’t even in contiguous pieces. In other words, I had assembled a piece here and there but there were large sections missing in between. This person just edited the pieces together as if they WERE continous. Argh! Some of the information wasn’t even correct.

I think that “The Magic of PAMS” CDs and the 36-page booklet tell a much more complete and accurate history of PAMS than that earlier tape… I’d rather that it disappear completely… Could you please post some explanation and some of these disclaimers? Or at least use a better copy?

[ Curator’s Notes :]
Fidelity apology: This feature was always a “bootleg”, consequently, the fidelity is very poor.

“This is the history of a company called PAMS – the Creator of the Jingle..” Beginning in 1947 when Bill Meeks left WFAA for KLIF and The Circle 5 Ranchhands, we hear Series 1 – touted as the first radio ID series; a rare sample of Series 7 for R&B station KNOK in Dallas; comments from Terry Lee, who sang Series 8 for 400 stations; Series 14 in 1960, marking the introduction of “the variable logo”; Series 16, “The Sound of the City”, featuring “record-length” jingles; Series 18, the introduction of the Sonovox, with comments from long-time PAMS performer Dan Alexander; the 1962 move to 4141 Office Parkway; Series 23; Series 25, “The Happy Difference” (1963); Series 26, the first package created specifically for WABC in 1964; Series 27, “Jet Set”, featuring Glennie Rutherford; 1965, Series’ 29 and 30, and 1966, Series 31, “Music Explosion”.

It’s incomplete where it ends – and that’s all there is.

When this feature first went online in September of 1999, we did not know who created it. (Some of the COMMENTS on this exhibit may reflect that.) We learned in January of 2000 that the original concept, interviews, writing and production was created by Jon Wolfert of JAM Creative Productions who worked at PAMS in 1972. Jon did not, however, create this mix, never released his own, and this is a genuine “bootleg” that was passed around for many years. Jon says that what he was trying to do with this was finally achieved in 1999 with The Magic of PAMS.

Surrounded by great production, nostalgic jingles and hilarious drop-ins, (with a guest appearance by ‘Al Roker’), The “Real” Bob James spends a weekend on WNBC’s “Time Machine”. But that “Time Machine” almost took him somewhere else. In the late 1970s, after having won 5 Emmy Awards for his work in Cleveland television, Bob moved to L.A. While there, he heard about a syndicated game show that was looking for a new host, and managed to get three separate auditions. They played a phony game, with Phony contestants and a phony audience. Only the result was real–or maybe that should be “Real”, as Bob aced the tryout.

It came down to our intrepid hero and one other guy. It was close, but that ‘other guy’ won. You may have heard of him. His name is Pat Sajak. And the show is “Wheel Of Fortune”. But as this aircheck proves, Bob’s loss was our gain. Because anyone can turn a letter. But it takes something far more to turn a phrase. And as you’ll hear here, not even Vanna White can beat The “Real” at that game.

This hilarious “mockumentary” on the real story behind the origin of rock & roll was produced by The American Comedy Network, for use on Top 40 subscriber stations. Hosted by “Scott St. Scott” (aka Bob James,) it includes the “truth” behind such classic rock moments as:

• How the Beach Boys actually originated in Idaho
• Where rockers go to learn how to scream
• Where Led Zeppelin stole the legendary anthem Stairway to Heaven

But the stand-outs are truly amazing: The Four Seasons perform the original version of Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit; the endless intro for Hotel California; and U2’s Bono finally finds what he’s looking for.
Produced by Bob James, ©1990 Unistar Radio Network. All rights reserved.