My great grandfather lived in an apartment in the yellow house on the right. In Buffalo, radio programs and downtown shoe sales were targeted directly to bobbysoxers just after the war. View all posts by Steve Cichon, Buffalo's Pop Culture Heritage | Buffalo's Radio & TV | Buffalo's Neighborhoods | Parkside | Family & Genealogy | &c, &c, &c:Reflections from Steve's desk, All Content Buffalo Stories LLC | Contact Steve, The Mound in the Meadow: Buffalos Tomb of the Unknowns at Delaware Park, Torn-Down Tuesday: Main & Amherst in the 1940s, Steve Cichons podcast: Wonderin How I Got Here, Buffalos Past By Steve Cichon in The Buffalo News, Talks, Seminars, & Workshops by Steve Cichon, &c, &c, &c: reflections from Steve's desk, http://blog.buffalostories.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/KB58sm.mp3, http://blog.buffalostories.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/KB61sm.mp3, http://blog.buffalostories.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/KB72sm.mp3. KB goes KABOOM with FUTURESONIC RADIO! Through the years, WKBW-TV has served a mix of local programming, and news that serves the Western New York community, with many viewers in Southern Ontario as well. Henry Ford didnt invent the automobile, he was just the first to make the same car available to everyone. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Jeff Kaye narrates with the KB Players in The Darkness. As the popularity of the station grew during 1958 and 1959, the promotion became more intense. A week into the contest, a lady slid into the car, took out her old Ford key, and fired up the T-Bird. Youll also hear from Russ Syracuse, Johnny Barrett, Art Roberts, and Dick Biondi. The Beatles are different. The rock n'roll era had arrived on a respectable, long established Buffalo radio . K-BIG Feature #1: Forgotten Buffalo Celebrated the 50th Anniversary of KB's Format Change to Top 40. K-BIG Feature #4: DJ Tommy Shannon. Beatlemania continued at a fever pitch through all of 1964 and 1965. The building to the left is Heidis Tuxedo, since burned down. Buffalo News archives. All contents of this site 2020 byForgotten Buffalo. In 1958, plans were underway for a huge, all-encompassing youth group, which was to be headquartered at the station. Either they werent well financed, or had daytime-only signals so weak that they couldnt be heard throughout the city and all the nearby suburbs. Stan Jasinskis Complete Christmas 1954 broadcast on WKBW Radio, with the Paderewski Singing Society. You hear the voice, writing and production of Jeff Kaye; the engineering and production of Al Lafler, Dan Kreigler, and many others; the voices and writing of Dan Neaverth, Jim McLaughlin, Don Berns, Stan Roberts, Sandy Beach, Jack Armstrong, Shane Gibson, Joe Downey, Ron Baskin, Henry Brach, Jim Fagan, Don Lancer, Irv Weinstein, and others. First appeared on album form from the industry periodical Programmers Digest., Steve Cichon writes about Buffalos pop culture history. As often happens, over the last 50 years, for better or for worse, people who remember Guy King or the earliest Tom Shannon or Daffy Dan Neaverth shows, will think they heard those things on KB, forgetting those early pioneering rock nroll days. She had kicked him out, and he came over (to the radio station). The 25-year veteran of Buffalo radio and television has written five books and curates The Buffalo Stories Archives-- hundreds of thousands of books, images, and audio/visual media which tell the stories of who we are in Western New York. He spent much of his retirement in Whispering Pines, North Carolina before returning to Buffalo in 2014.[2]. With its clear-channel 50,000 watt signal, KB was heard all over the eastern half of North America. During the same era, Johnny Barrett and Perry Allen as a stunt fired Dick Biondi on the air for playing an unauthorized Elvis record. After the war, Baker returned to Buffalo and read the news on WKBW Radio, but eventually moved into the general manager's office at the short-lived Buffalo UHF pioneer WBES-TV, where he also read the news. Tucker Carlson is joining a long list of nightly news hosts who once commanded huge audiences before quick departures from their networks. She joined Jenn Schanz, Marissa Perlman, Angela Christoforos and Kaylee Wendt in exiting Channel 4 after finishing their contracts at a station in the nation's No. Sixteen-year-old Jay Burch of Orchard Park High School described Beatlemania from the midst of it in 1964 this way: The Beatles singing is OK, but its the haircuts and dress that make them standouts. In the Nations Capital, he sat on the Board of Directors of AFTRA, was a staff announcer for WPIK and WWDC, and a freelance television performer. Strictly from a Buffalo point of view, in the late 50s and early 60s, KB was one of many stations cranking out the music and antics that made for great rock n roll radio. I was thinking NBCold, ultra classy posturing. Didnt know a think about KB prior to getting off the plane in Buffalo, said Perry Allen. With hope and dreams, I turned on the ever present transistor receiver. WKBW-TV has covered the Bills from the beginning, dating back to the days when the NFL team played at the old "Rockpile" in Buffalo. Rick Azar & Tom Jolls", "Legendary 7 Eyewitness News broadcaster Rick Azar has died", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rick_Azar&oldid=1098589138, This page was last edited on 16 July 2022, at 15:16. Dale Anderson Reporter Dale Anderson has been a Buffalo News staff reporter since 1968. Spot surveys taken over the first weekend of the new operation found literally hundreds of persons dotting beaches and back yards with WKBW large and white on their backs, arms and legs. At 3 PM in the huge Central Park Plaza, several thousand persons of all ages turned out in pouring rain to greet WKBWs brand new disc jockeys who put on a free star-studded stage show. Former KROQ-FM radio personality Rodney "Rodney on the ROQ" Bingenheimer and the estate of the late record producer Kim Fowley were identified in new . The Disc Jockeys of WKBW. But it wasnt just radio Neaverth was also a TV weatherman on Channel 7 and later Channel 2. The proof is in a quick search of WKBW on your favorite search engine. A strong WBEN, and impending loss of WKBWs NBC affiliation combined with WBNYs success was enough to convince Anscombe to hire Dick Lawrence away from the small station. The Even Newer WKBW was to be top40 formula radio, which meant a meticulously planned and programmed 24 hours per day of popular music, strong disc jockey personalities, up-to-the-second news and sports flashes and public service features. 1top single, I Want to Hold Your Hand.. 0. The block where these buildings stood on Main Street is now a grass-covered park. Cash prized ranged from $25 to $100. http://www.staffannouncer.com/kbhalloween/wotw73.mp3. Suivez l'actualit francilienne, le trafic en temps rel, la mto, les faits divers, les bons plans culture et loisirs avec BFM Paris le-de-France, premire chane info de Paris et d'le . The energetic Lawrence formed the National Association of Independent Program Directors while at KB. Buffalo Evening News, 1964. Many of Buffalos Beatles dreams finally came true on Oct. 22, 2015, when Paul McCartney made his first appearance in Buffalo, singing songs that many in the audience had first heard 51 years earlier for the first time on a Sunday evening with Ed Sullivan. This page is not available in other languages. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. Some images and text used throughout the site are protected by individual copyright holders. "My daughter Sarah is a former Countess Pulaski," said the proud father. New Registered Nurse jobs added daily. (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). The Joey Reynolds Show was a resounding Number 1 in Buffalo. It is unclear why these five players asked for releases from their national letters of intent. They have not publicly revealed their reasons, . Buffalo Stories archives. On July 4, 1958, Futursonic Radio was alive on WKBW. Zach's radio career began at WKBW Radio in September 1961, when he was hired by a news director who would later become a fixture on local television screens, Irv Weinstein. The stunt earned nationwide acclaim, and the group thanked Joey by producing a special radio jingle to introduce of his daily radio show, set to the tune of their hit "Big Girls Dont Cry"). Click image for more. It was not until after Beatlemania swept the nation that they acknowledged that it was a mistake to not bring them in. Steve Garrin was the producer and guest booker. Never before, and never since, has a radio station been so dominant in Buffalo. Neaverth, perhaps with his boyish good looks and demeanor, evaded arrest for his stunt. All rights reserved. BUFFALO, NY Its funny the way memories begin to haze. It starts with The Perry Allen show, with an Irv Weinstein KB Pulsebeat Newscast with some of the great writing and style Irv would become known for in Buffalo over the next 40 years. Most of the names already mentioned here made their way to KB, and many reading this might not know or remember they worked elsewhere. In fact, The Hounds lead-in show six nights a week was Stan Jasinskis Polka Beehive. Like all the departing Channel 4 reporters, she had nothing but nice things to say on social networks about her time in Western New York. On July 3rd, 12 beautiful models, all wearing toreador pants and banners proclaiming them to be Miss KB toured downtown streets and businesses distributing the stations new Top 30 tunes sheets and fliers stating, Its Hot! It almost happened! The Beatles also played a concert at Torontos Maple Leaf Gardens in August 1965. Through the years, he called Canisius and Niagara basketball, Buffalo Bisons baseball and Buffalo Bisons hockey. The program is completely on Polish, save the opening and closing voiceover by an WKBW staff announcer, perhaps Larry Brownell. If you watched Elvis shake his hips on Ed Sullivan for the first time, and you then listened to Elvis on the radio It wasnt likely KB, even though your memory might tell you otherwise. For my first two months in Buffalo, I nearly lived in Dick Lawrences office. He was the chief rock and pop writer for 20 years and helped establish the weekend entertainment magazine. Roberts was the morning personality on WKBW from 1963 to 1971 before leaving to take in Boston. In 1986, he arrived at then-WNBC in New York City doing the afternoon drive, Howard Stern's previous shift. [3], Rick Azar began his career at WHLD radio in Niagara Falls in the early 1950s. He began his radio career as a 14-year-old in 1960 at WCHL Radio in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Cichon puts his wide range of professional experiencefrom college professor, to PBS documentary producer, to radio news director, to candidate for countywide elected officeto work in producing meaningful interpretations of the two centuries worth of people, places, and events that make Buffalo the unique place that we love. 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The first broadcast on that snowy night was the Jimmy Cagney classic film, "Yankee Doodle Dandy!" Here hes on KBs lawn with Clint Churchill Jr., WKBW General Manager Al Anscombe, KB Polka Beehive host Stan Jasinski, salesman Jim McGrath and Roger Bakerwho, after returning to KB from WBES-TV, dabbled in sports but focused on sales. He instead stated that, though he was comfortable being in the public spotlight, he did not feel an overwhelming need for it and felt that he retired at the right time. Program from the night Joey Reynolds and Fred Klestine wrestled the Gallagher Brothers at Memorial Auditorium.. Newsman Irv Weinstein, sportscaster Rick Azar, and weatherman Tom Jolls stand as the longest running anchor team in Buffalo television history. Steve Cichon is a proud Buffalonian helping the world experience the city he loves. The young lady who won lived 100 miles from Buffalo. In Denver, Colorado, he hosted a radio-television simulcast on KOA-AM, and launched (and hosted) the first nationwide satellite radio programming featured on more than 35 radio stations coast-to-coast. While inspiring many of the changes that came to KB and many other stations around the country, the Hound stayed true to his style, and founded WBLK Radio; where he continued to uncover and spotlight new artists, both in Buffalo, and to a syndicated audience around the country. By Steve Cichon steve@buffalostories.com @stevebuffalo, Excerpt from 100 Years of Buffalo Broadcasting. Reynolds was basically playing a mix of oldies and adult contemporary cuts along with comedy and personality, and was most notably on the air when the station's traffic helicopter crashed on October 22, killing reporter Jane Dornacker. By 1964, American fuddy-duddies had withstood the waves of bobbysoxers and Elvis wagging hips but the arrival of a moppy-headed quartet of singers from England took the genre up another notch. My proudest promotional moment was when the audience voted me KB King, recalls Art Roberts. Lorenz wanted nothing to do with a Top 40 style format. He was also the color man on Buffalo Bills broadcasts alongside Van Miller. When he left I told somebody: My boss is going to the movies, and if you see him going down Main Street, hes got a gray Chevy Impala convertible throw stones at him. I also ripped a phone off the wall and threw it at Mike Joseph in Buffalo missing him by a hair. Don Weeks. At WBNY, Neaverth would pull a rooftop like event similar to Guy Kings, throwing candy out to passersby. In 1978, the station moved from Main Street to the current facility near Buffalo's waterfront, at 7 Broadcast Plaza (Church and South Elmwood Sts.). However, I was told Channel 4 management wouldnt let her do an interview until after she left the station. Narrated by then-KB Radio newsman Irv Weinstein, this piece reflects the KB staff from its first year as a Top 40 station. Fueled by the notion of carving out a demographic niche among Buffalo teens and very young adults, the little 250-watt station went rock and roll in a bold move that would soon change the . The new format included a large amount of public interest information and services. George Hound Dog Lorenz, the Godfather of rock n roll radio (not just in Buffalo, but PERIOD) first plied his trade in Western New York at Niagara Falls WJJL, as early as 1951. He found superb vehicles not only for his own talent, but also put the stars of KB in situations where they could shine brightest. If you tuned to WBNY in the late 50s, you were likely to hear the voice of Daffy Dan Neaverth, Joey Reynolds (right), Fred Klestine and Henry Brach. With an eventual 50% of the marketshare, KB quickly blew all of the much smaller competitors out of the water. [2] Such was Azar's popularity that one of the sports anchors hired to replace him (the unrelated Jerry Azar) was chosen specifically because his last name was also Azar.[2]. But eventually, a base of homegrown talent sprinkled with some of the most talented people from around the country, KB built an unprecedented following in Buffalo and around the country. Clint Jr, an admirer of Top 40 pioneer Gordon McClendon, utilized many of McClendons tricks in the first years of Futuresonic Radio. The studio was on rural Niagara Falls Boulevard, in a location which soon would be the home of Swiss Chalet for the next 50 years. Eighteen uniformed Buffalo Police officers were hired to help keep the peace among the more than 2,500 teens who showed up to watch the show at the Paramount, which was hosted by WKBW disc jockey Joey Reynolds. His brother, Carlos Carballada, briefly served as interim mayor of Rochester, New York in 2011 and currently serves as Rochester's commissioner of community and economic development. Find out more about our newscasts, our personalities, our mobile apps, our newsletters and more - all in one place. Tom Shannon, a nationally known disc jockey who made his mark in local broadcasting in the late 1950s with the old WKBW-AM 1520, will retire March 31 as afternoon DJ at WHTT-FM 104.1, a rock. Schanz landed a job at WXYZ-TV in Detroit, the nation's No. The late newsman Ed Little wouldremember being in the room as packages containing female lingerie were opened; sent from Maryland by an obviously big fan. What was it about the Beatles? Anyone who worked at KB in its heyday has stories. WKBW had a long 6 hour evening shift in it's glory days as Top 40. Who do you think is the biggest star or stars to do that stint? Azar wrote a memoir, "Tales From Azar's Attic". It starts with The Perry Allen show, with an Irv Weinstein KB Pulsebeat Newscast with some of the great writing and style Irv would become known for in Buffalo over the next 40 years. You have permission to edit this article. The programs and talent that WKBW Radio was promoting in 1956 only a matter of months before rock n roll Top 40 would change radio forever looks much more like KB did in 1930 than it would in 1960. Today’s top 694 Summer Internships jobs in Paris, le-de-France, France. The Kings Ball was the easy part, we had over a thousand people outside that the fire marshal would not let in. Ricardo Efrain Thomas Aquino Carballada de Babilon[1] (April24, 1929[2] March 25, 2021), known professionally as Rick Azar, was an American broadcaster who spent 31 years at WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York. K-BIG Feature #1: Forgotten Buffalo Celebrated the 50th Anniversary of KB's Format Change to Top 40. . People from all over the country, and not just Buffalo transplants, have built websites dedicated to keeping the memory of WKBW alive. He was a member of the staff that included Perry Allen, Russ "the Moose" Syracuse, Art Roberts and Dick Biondi along with Jack Kelly (all Night). Learn how and when to remove this template message. The primary difference in each is the news guy, disc jockey and the music at the start of the show. by Contributing Editor April 27, 2023. Over 600 imitation firecrackers were distributed to the audience, each one containing either movie passes, Elvis Presley dog tag jewelry, gift certificates for free records, ball point pens, cigarette lighters, pocket notebooks and checks valued at $1.52 or $15.20. Back at the studio, KB was broadcasting the details of the first of several promotional stunts designed to create immediate interest in the new format. A leader in technology, WKBW-TV was one of the first stations in the country with LIVE EYE microwave units in the 1970s and first in the market with a satellite newsgathering truck, NEWSTAR 7, in 1991. Nearly 43,000 people died in U.S. traffic . Rick Azar began his career at WHLD radio in Niagara Falls in the early 1950s. He writes about Buffalos pop culture history. Sanders, who was hired by Channel 7s legendary Irv Weinstein as newsroom secretary and eventually became the stations assistant news director, was inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2013. He returned to WWKB (formerly WKBW) in 2003 astheir morning man (6-10 daily) rejuvenating that station's ratings. http://blog.buffalostories.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/KB72sm.mp3, The famous Jeff Kaye produced and narrated look at KB in 1971, with jocks Danny Neaverth, Jack Sheridan, Don Berns, Sandy Beach, Jack Armstrong, Bob McCrea, and Casey Piotrowski, with Kayes thoughts and insights on each in between. Don Yearke, known as Don Keller the Farm Feller back in the early 60s on KB, was recognized along with his KB Litter Box by a fan in Southern Pennsylvania. His work in the community for dozens of causes and charities over the last 60 years has been unmatched. He's been inducted into three halls of famebut admits that early on, he did consider being a CPA instead of a radio broadcaster. His first radio job was WWOL in Buffalo with Dick Purtan, then WKWK, in Wheeling, WV. Now, more than 50 years later, WKBW-TV has broadcast tens of thousands of movies, local programs, and newscasts. She recently became a public relations manager at the Martin Group. The half hour program was recorded on these transcription records, sometime before Christmas Day 1954, for playback on that date. If you ever read this Mike Im sorry I missed I could have improved your looks. I say that affectionately Mike is a genius in radio programming., Dick lasted on the staff for two years before getting fired. Buffalo Stories Archives. For a period of time, Dick just disappeared from public view. Leverage your professional network, and get hired. The promotion worked. Al Anscombe was a sports announcer under Roger Baker at KB before serving in the Air Corps in World War II. Before Top 40 came to KB, Stan Barron hosted the Morning Clockwatcher show, live each morning outside the Main Street studios. Frank Sinatra sang with Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and his popularity exploded when he became a singing front man himself. KB was a hit from day one.. In 1986, J. Bruce Llewellyn acquired the station and operated it under Queen City Broadcasting until 1995, when Granite Broadcasting, Inc. took control. Azar died March 25, 2021, at age 91 at Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital in Williamsville, New York, following years of old age-related decline.[7][2]. As host of the "Don Weeks And The WGY Morning News" for almost three decades, Weeks is one of the Capital Region's most well-known and respected radio personalities. It played for over an hour, during which the station management arrived, police and paramedics showed up (in case Joey was incapacitated). They have continued their careers . Jacey Brooks will join Bulls head coach Becky Burke's staff as an associate head coach. Oats was always a terrific interview. The station began under the direction and ownership of the late Dr. Clinton H. Churchill. (Buffalo Stories archives). Strictly from a Buffalo point of view, in the late 50s and early 60s, KB was one of many stations cranking out the music and antics that made for great rock n roll radio. 14 market. 1 weather alerts 1 closings/delays. Station management gave each of the new disc jockeys a membership in the Junior Chamber of Commerce and several other civic organizations in-order increase their visibility not only to listeners but to business and civic leaders who would supply KB with needed advertising dollars. His old friends and former co-workers gathered in the studio at WBEN 930am to congratulate Sandy Beach on a half century of Buffalo broadcasting. She has told her social network followers that she is considering her next step while being paid through June 1. The day: November 30, 1958. Here's where reporters who left WIVB landed, along with other media nuggets. All rights reserved. Dick was a genius, said Dick Biondi, He walked around with two shoulder holsters. (Buffalo Stories archives). writing about the people, places, and ideas that make Buffalo unique and special. For those who remember listening to Jasinski near the end of his broadcast career as I do, his cadence and voice is amazingly consistent, sounding virtually identical, and very much recognizable, 40 years earlier. Its aim was to set a high moral standard for Buffalo youth and safe driving pledges, something that would be attractive to advertisers afraid that the new sounds would promote juvenile delinquency. At "KB" and WBNY, the rock-jock rosters were dotted with the splendid talents of DAN NEAVERTH, TOM SHANNON, JOEY REYNOLDS, DICK BIONDI, PERRY ALLEN, LUCKY PIERRE, TOM CLAY, FRED KLESTINE, and RUSS "THE MOOSE" SYRACUSE. Anyone who worked at KB in its heyday has stories. The person: Rick Azar. While Program Director Jeff Kaye might be best remembered for that deep resonant voice which he used like Horowitz on a Steinway, he was also perhaps the greatest producer and writer that is to say, the greatest radio mind of the generation. The gauntlet was tossed to the audience, Find the individual concerned and win a swimming pool. Clues lead to the ultimate uncovering of the culprit who had in his possession a letter W.. http://blog.buffalostories.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/KB58sm.mp3. It was broadcast live from the NASDAQ site in Times Square at 43rd Street and Broadway. In 1950, he replaced Baker as KBs general manager. Youll hear snippets of disc jockeys Stan Roberts, Fred Klestine, Jay Nelson, Dan Neaverth, and Joey Reynolds at work, followed by a Henry Brach newscast, and a quick excerpt from Irv Weinsteins documentary Buffalo and La Cosa Nostra. Many KB commercialsand contests follow.
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Average Salary Cambridge, Uk, Articles F