The Stephen Weber Collection
Stephen Weber at KAGO, Klamath Falls, Oregon, 1965
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Stephen Weber remembers hearing "strange sounds" out of his crystal set, back in the Nifty Fifties. He headed for the basement of his grandmother's house, opened up the coal-burning furnace-unit for a transmitter and piped his "show" via "multiplex sound" using a RCA-Victor wind-up Victrola.
As a child, KISN in Portland, Oregon captivated young Weber, who graduated to a 50-watt neighborhood pirate station on 840 AM, then to KWAY (1570) near Portland. He moved to the central part of the state before volunteering for Armed Forces Radio & TV, AFRS in Adak, Alaska.
Following the service, Stephen worked at numerous stations in Oregon and far-Northern California, including KATA (as Web Camel), KUJ (Walla Walla Washington, as Jockey John) and KISN in Portland (as Chuck Weber). Stephen is presently a field-service engineer, and in his spare time, he turns the tables on chair-lifts at the Willamette Pass Ski Resort in Oregon. He dreams of someday being one of those soft-spoken outer-space satellite jocks, playing music from the 40's, 50's and 60's. |
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| The Repository thanks Stephen for sharing! | ||
Stand by for the Old Prospector! It’s “Gold Rush Time” with Ray Gilmore, about whom we know more now than we did before, and a short-lived clone of Boss Radio on The Big 99, WIBG, Summer, 1968. This attempt to better rival WFIL was not successful, Drake (actually Paul Drew, see comments) was dumped and “the old” Wibbage returned, hanging on until its last gasp in September of 1977.
Although some musical selections are appropriate as Top 40 “variety”, there’s no mistaking a preference for “The Philly Sound” in this partially scoped aircheck.
WABC was operating like a finely-tuned machine by 1968, and while the classic 77 formatic elements are delightfully predictable, Ingram was never predictable, and he always made it sound so easy.
Ex-record promoter George Michael (The Sports Machine) overcame a slight speech impediment to become one of the best remembered “Boss Jocks” at Famous 56, WFIL.
The pacing, music selection and production elements on this ‘check support the reverence with which Philadelphians remember this remarkable radio station. Highlights include outstanding PAMS jingles, some great WFIL format bits, and Paul Henderson with a powerful WFIL news presentation.
George Michael died from complications of chronic lymphocytic leukemia on December 24, 2009. He was 70.
Unscoped