The Peter George Collection

Peter and Dr. Rondileau
Peter George with Dr. Adrian Rondileau (President, Bridgewater St. College), 1982

Peter and daughter Kyle
Daddy and Daughter, a few years ago.

Tweaking the Optimod
Tweaking the Optimod

Peter Q. George has been a "radio junkie" now for over 30 years. He grew up listening to Boston giants WRKOWMEX, and WBZ, and he has a fond affection for the late, great WRKO-FM ("Arko-matic").

Peter has been involved with radio most of his life. He started his "on-air" career at WSKB-FM and Westfield State College in Westfield, Masschusetts in 1978. He transferred to WBIM-FM at Bridgewater State College in Bridgewater in 1980, where he served as News Director, Program Director, General Manager and Assistant Chief Engineer until he graduated in 1984. While working at WBIM, he became Chief Engineer of WSHL-FM at Stonehill College in North Easton, Massachusetts.

His first "professional" work experience was at WBET/WCAV-FM in Brockton. While still in college, he did the 6 to midnight weekday shift, which he described as "a blast!"

Today, Peter works fulltime in the Media Services Department at Stonehill College and is also a part-time Master Control Operator at WPBX-TV in Boston. Unable to get the "radio monkey" off his back, he always keeps a portable AM/FM radio nearby. He's a licensed radio operator with the call sign K1XRB, which he says is in honor of another of his radio favorites - Wolfman Jack on XERB.

Peter is happily married and has two children. All "radio junkies" are invited to visit Pete's "All Band" DXers webpage.

The Repository thanks Peter for sharing!

… . . . The Dog Days are over . . . …

PD Paul Canon turns on the reverb and announces the change to “Today’s Top 40 Without the Rap” as WTIC-FM re-positions their format on June 15, 1994. Included: a ‘TIC jingle and music montage representing the evolution of the new format, “54 years in the making”.

This was recorded about 100 miles away from Hartford in Stoughton, MA. At the time, I had a very specialized FM antenna system for long-distance FM radio reception. I was one of the first callers to the “New 96.5, TIC-FM” and got a free T-shirt (which I still have.)

Today, WTIC-FM is known as “96.5/TIC”. The format is still very pop-based and promoted as “Today’s best music, without the rap!”

… . . . Violate Boring Fundamentals . . . …

This was the end of the “Electronic Mama”. WVBF was switching to Country under the new call of WCLB. 22 years of WVBF is condensed into about 13 minutes.

You’ll hear some greats from the past like Charlie Kendall, Frank Kingston Smith, Ron Robin, Dale Dorman and the late, great Bud Ballou and “Sunny” Joe White. Jay Leno is also featured briefly. The ‘VBF aircheck montage is introduced by Loren Owens and Wally Brine, who still do mornings on 105.7, now WROR (formerly WVBF).

Owens and Brine conclude with an introduction of “The Country Club”, and an image jingle.

… The White Knight rides off into the sunset and is O.K …
. This aircheck is very poignant. The late “Sunny” Joe White (The White Knight) had an ear for music. In late 1979, he molded Boston’s WXKS-FM (KISS 108) from a “down in the dumps” beautiful music station (WWEL-FM) into a phenomenal Boston area radio legend that still makes the “numbers”, book-to-book. “KISS 108” dethroned Boston’s first Disco station (WBOS-FM) in just one book in 1980, and never looked back. Unfortunately, success had its down side, as well. Sunny suffered a fatal heart attack in 1996. This aircheck was recorded on the night prior to WVBF’s format change to country. This is not a very happy aircheck, but you will understand how he felt that night. In-studio guest is Harold Melvin of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes.

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