Welcome to the home of the Dayton, Ohio Broadcasters Hall Of Fame
This page will contain pictures, audio and video clips commemorating events
which, in the Webmaster's opinion are
significant to the history of Dayton, Ohio broadcasting. Not every broadcaster represented here is an inductee to the Dayton Area Broadcasters Hall Of Fame. But, all those represented here made notable contributions to local broadcasting, and we hope you enjoy a trip down Dayton broadcasting's memory lane!
A live broadcast of WHIO's mid-day talk program, "Conversation Piece". At far left, producer Toula Stamm. In the center, host Lou Emm. Beside him, "Fonzie"...actor Henry Winkler (Courtesy: Cox Radio/Dayton.)
You rarely see this type of co-operation in radio these days. Here (in three parts) is a broadcast of the late Jack Wymer's famed "Man On The Street" show aired on WING-AM around February, 1965. The broadcast saluted the 30th anniversary of competitor, WHIO Radio. On it, you'll hear the voices of Wymer, the late news anchor, Don Wayne, late morning show host Lou Emm, and other station notables. (Courtesy: Cox Radio/Dayton)
PART ONE - PART TWO - PART THREE
WAVI-AM was one of the early entries in a format that would become known as "News-Talk". Still a ratings contender in the early 1980's, the station still featured news and telephone talk, but branched out on weekends adding "Memory Music" with longtime former hosts, Bernie Wulkotte (B.W.) and legendary 1950's/1960's DJ Gene "By Golly" Barry. How was the station sold to advertisers? Download this PDF file, and you'll have an actual WAVI sales kit from 1981. (Courtesy: The Kurt Farmer collection.)
"High Flying 1410 WING"
From sometime in the late 1950's until the early 1990's, WING Radio was the station for an entire generation of Dayton radio listeners. With DJ's like Gene "By Golly" Barry, Steve Kirk, Bob Holliday, Lou Swanson, Jerry Kaye, Richie Allen ("The Duke Of Dayton"), Kim Faris, John King, Terry Dorsey and many others, WING ruled Dayton's airwaves for decades. Our thanks to Gary Pfeifer of Scottsdale, Arizona who contributed these clips of WING Radio. Gary is an aircheck collector. Please visit his site at www.geocities.com/garypf_2000
(Note: Some of these files may take a bit of time to load. Please be patient. The wait is worth it.)
The date was April 20, 1964. The U.S. (and the Miami Valley) was now in the grip of Beatlemania. Here, we join afternoon drive DJ Bob Holliday as he counted down the daily WING survey. (We have intentionally left some of the commercials and imaging "as is" or with just small edits, to help give you the feel of what WING was like then. You'll also hear another feature of WING in those days, "The Singing Clock". )
But, WING was not only about the top hits of the day. For many years, WING boasted an award-winning news department. That same afternoon Bob Holliday was counting down the hits:
Roy Dittman and Sid Hayman kept Dayton up-to-date with the news of the day.
WONE "Channel 98" and WTUE-FM "The One/Tue Punch In Dayton Radio"
For a number of years, WONE-AM was the direct competitor of WING. With DJ's such as Dave Dayton, Shadoe Jackson, Rick Stevens, Johnny MIdnight, Wayne Moss, Jolly Rogers, Dave Hull, Jeannie Skelly, Herb Knight, Howald Malcolm and others, it could be tough for teens to decide which station played "constantly more music".
Thanks, again to Gary Peiffer and his website
www.geocities.com/garypf_2000
we offer you a few minutes of WONE evening DJ "Tall" Tom Campbell. The aircheck begins with "Campbell's Case Of Music", which featured at least 24, but sometimes as many as 30 or so songs in a row. (Obviously an attempt to counter program WING, which, frankly, aired a lot of commercials.)
A number of WONE grads from the Top 40 days went on to greater broadcast fame. Dave Hull, for example, moved eventually to Los Angeles where he became "The Hullabalooer" on KRLA-AM. Tom Campbell, also moved to Los Angeles and became a successful DJ/voiceover talent. TV talker Morton Downey, Junior also spent time slaving over the WONE-AM turntables.
WONE finally threw in the towel in the Top 40 wars sometime after this recording was made in February of 1967. It would re-emerge around 1969 as a country music station. There, WONE gained audience dominance and continued as a country powerhouse until the early 1990's.
As WONE was beginning its' days playing country music, an "experiment" of sorts was happening on the station's FM side. Recently, former station staffer Bill McClelland gave us some insight as to how WONE's FM sister became established.
The station came on the air as WTWO-FM in the 1950's, but changed its call letters to WIFE-FM around 1960 when the stations were purchased by the Brush-Moore Newspaper chain. In later years, that decision may have been regretted by station management for reasons you'll learn in a couple of minutes. The station began simucasting WONE-AM's format around 1962 continuing for 3 years. That's when the FCC began to abolish laws permitting stations to "simulcast" AM programming on FM stations, in an attempt to force FM stations to stand on their own feet and attract audience.
At that point, WONE-FM became automated and started playing country music, with WONE-AM's Johnny Midnight also serving as FM Program Director.
In 1969, when WONE-AM switched to country, the decision was made to take the FM to automated Top 40 under the guidance of WONE-AM jock Rick Stevens. According to McClelland, station management instructed Rick to play top 40 music to cut into WING-AM's ratings, but cautioned him not to put the group into what they callked "a WAVI/WDAO situation", where the FM would become more popular than the AM.
Shortly thereafter, a man McClelland says was the cousin of WHIO Radio General Manager Stan Mouse, Bill Struck, was hired as a live 8 pm to 12 midnight DJ. Shortly thereafter, the call letters were changed. Originally, the station might have wanted to get the old WTWO call letters back. But by then, another station had grabbed them. Instead, the calls WTUE were selected, still allowing the station to call themselves "The One-Tue Punch In Dayton radio"!
Originally, under Rick Stevens' direction, WTUE was a semi-progressive Top 40 format that supplemented the Top 40 hits with LP versions of Top 40 hits and music from popular movie soundtracks. Originally, WTUE was going after a somewhat older audience, unlike WING, which focused on the pre-teens and teens.
Once Stevens left the programming reins of the station, Struck took over as PD, hiring jocks such as Greg Mason (aka Terry Dorsey), Sean McKay, Bwanna Johnny (aka Don Everhart), Jason "Baby" Roberts (aka Mark Elliott), Billy Daniels, Al Morgan, Pete Boston and others, there was definitely "a new sound" on the air in Dayton at 104.7 FM. They would re-image the station using the PAMS "Solid Rock" jingle package designed and in use as WLS-Chicago and became "Super WTUE - Most Music Radio."
Tune in here for an scoped hour of nighttime jock "loveable, huggable" Dave Michaels from February of 1972. (Jingle collectors note: this aircheck predates the station's use of the WLS/Pams "Solid Rock" Series 1 and 2 jingles.)
Thanks, Gary Pfeiffer. www.geocities.com/garypf_2000
WTUE Reborn
By 1975, WTUE's ratings had begun to flag in the face of a new, "hipper" type of rock format. What was once called "underground" radio had grown into its' own as "Album Oriented Rock" (or "AOR"). So, in August, 1975, WTUE became "T-105"playing album rock music. Some of the original Top 40 WTUE staff stayed around for the initial transition, but shortly departed to make way for a new staff under the direction of Program Director Chuck Browning. Some months after the transition to album rock, WTUE adopted a format strategy made popular by the Burkhart-Abrams consulting firm called "Superstars". Then, WTUE really took off. For over 30 years, (and still continuing today), WTUE is Dayton's "place to rock". (Though today, the station takes a more classic rock sound.)
Many DJ's graced the WTUE staff. Patty Spitler (who, for many years became a successful TV Anchorwoman in Indianapolis until she recently retired due to health reasons), Alan Sells, Chuck Browning, Dan Pugh (now known as Dan Patrick to you sportsfans), "B-Man", and, for many years, a morning show known as "Kerrigan And Christopher". Steve Kerrigan and Christopher Geisen made morning rock radio fun, unpredictable and yes, sometimes a bit risque.
But here, for your enjoyment are a couple of bits from the "Kerrigan and Christopher" archives. (Mom's and Dad's, don't worry. These are rated no worse than "PG".)
Major Dick Hale And "Sky One" destroy a cell phone
It's "Short Term Memory Loss Week" on Concentration
Christopher takes Kerrigan's car through the car wash a bit too literally
(Compliments: The Steve Kerrigan Collection)
Today, Steve Kerrigan teams with Nancy Wilson on WHKO-FM, for the "Nancy and Kerrigan Morning Show."
It was a sad day, indeed, when, days after celebrating his 25th anniversary with WHIO Radio, the station's first News Director, Winston Hoehner, passed away.
Here you see the man known as "Wins" hard at work in the days well before word processors and computers.
WHIO's Vice-President and General Manager remembered Winston Hoehner this way on the morning following his death.
(Compliments: Cox Radio/Dayton)
Another sad day in Dayton broadcasting history happened in 1982, when word came that popular WHIO-TV weathercaster Gil Whitney had passed away.
This is the way you heard the news reported by WONE-AM newscaster Teri Wesling.
(Compliments: The Jim Barrett Collection)
You've seen her picture on other pages of this website, now...just ahead of the first Dayton Broadcaster's Hall Of Fame induction ceremony in 2003, enjoy this visit with Hall Of Fame WHIO-TV personality Bette Rogge, and longtime WHIO "Conversation Piece" producer (and 2009 Hall Of Fame Inductee)Toula Stamm. The interview conducted by WHIO Radio News Director Jim Barrett.
(Compliments: Cox Radio Dayton)
What the WING's, WONE's and later, WTUE's of the world were to young Dayton, WHIO was to their parents. WHIO was what was known as a "Full Service/Middle-Of-The-Road" station, contemporary (but not really rock and roll), along with some music for those with a taste for older tunes, news and information oriented with sports and a weather department as well, both for radio and with the use of weathercasters from WHIO Television.
WHIO continued in this format until the early 90's and the retirement of Lou Emm, the station's morning show host, who had been a fixture of WHIO Radio since the early 1940's. Today, the station offers a full-time News-Talk format.
Here, though are some audio memories of 1290/WHIO:
The Date: January 6, 1987: Bob Sweeney hosts his afternoon drive program. Here's a portion of what it sounded like.
The Date: January 6, 1987: Keith Wright hosts WHIO's "Music Magazine". Again, here's a portion of the hour.
As we mentioned, WHIO radio was (and still is today) well-known for its' news and information image. Since the 1960's, WHIO has employed a local news gathering organization. Even today.
Here, Barbara Compton gives the news on January 6, 1987.
On July 8, 1986, a railroad tanker derailed near suburban Miamisburg, leaking phosphorus gas over the Miami Valley. Residents were evacuated, and WHIO found itself covering a growing local emergency. Here's some of WHIO's coverage of that event. The voices are those of: Larry Hansgen (wrapping up his sports report), news anchor Charles Van Zant, reporter Jim Barrett, afternoon host Bob Sweeney and WHIO Air Scout traffic reporter Mark Bowron.
(Courtesy: Jim Barrett and Cox Radio/Dayton)
WAVI was best known for its' 2 way telephone talk and news format, which began in the early 1970's. It was unlike News-Talkers today...the "talkmasters" ran across the entire spectrum politically...and they were all equal opportunity offenders. (If a day ever went by without a complaint call being received at the station over something that was said, staffers checked to see if the transmitter was working!)
We're still trying to locate some tapes of the WAVI Talkmasters. But, we have also found some other "notable" clips in WAVI History.
WAVI found a way to make some extra money with their weekend programming by beginning something they called "Specialty Talk". It involved programs sponsored by a local business, whose "experts" would answer calls about their lines of expertise. That led to "Auto Talk", with host Bill Kirby.
Today, nationally known talk host Kim Commando might be your computer goddess, but, sorry Kim...WAVI was there first. In the early 1980's, seeing the reaction and sales growth of personal computers, WAVI launched "Computer Talk", with host and Talkmaster, A.J. Austin. (Courtesy: The Kurt Farmer Collection)
Oh yes...and by request: Though it's taken from an old aircheck and thus, is just "AM Radio quality", Here's the infamous WAVI "People Power" jingle ID.
(Courtesy: The Kurt Farmer Collection)
Some Fun "WING Things"
Complements of WING Radio (and many thanks to "Engineer Dave"), here are some photos from the WING archives!
This photo will forever answer the question, "Was Steve Kirk's hair ever a color other than white?" Yes! It's a young "Kirkie" in the WING "Showcase" studio in the old Talbott Tower downtown. (Non-radio folks may note: the cartridge tape machines mounted into the cabinet to Steve's immediate right...they played the jingles and commercials. The dark colored "knob" to the left of Steve's left hand is the speed control for one of the turntables. Any youngsters looking at this please note: Turntables were used to play vinyl 45 rpm "records", which predated i-Pod's, MP3's, CD's, even your parents' 8-track tapes!)
Some More Early WTUE Airchecks
Here's some more "blasts" from WTUE's past:
Another Dave Michaels aircheck from 1973. (Be patient loading it, it's a fairly large file, but it includes the complete WTUE "Solid Rock Song", created by PAMS of Dallas. (The "Solid Rock" package, by the way was orginally created for legendary AM Rocker WLS/Chicago. The musical "logo" of the two stations are the same, if you're paying attention here. )
Here's Jason "Baby" Roberts from 1973. (You'd know him later as Mark Elliott on the original WDJX-FM, Xenia/Beavercreek). Again, it may take some time to load. Be patient. You'll like this aircheck, because when he goes to play the station's "signature" contest, "Record Recall", Jason suffers the slings and arrows of a record that gets stuck. Oops! Live radio strikes again!
Finally, a short clip of WTUE late night/weekend DJ Dale Bell.
(Complements: The Ray Glasser Collection)
WHIO-FM "The Wonderful World Of Music"
For decades, WHIO-FM (99.1 mhz) was Dayton's place to relax. The story is told that when the station was first put on the air in the middle to late 1940's it was run virtually commercial-free. The reason? Governor James M. Cox (owner) didn't think many advertisers would line up to buy time, given the "infancy" of the new method of transmission known as FM.
It was a decision that would have made today's bottom-line oriented managers cringe. But, in a manner of thinking, the Governor was a programming genius! Daytonians soon discovered FM, and liked it! After all, WHIO-FM was almost commercial-free all the time! And, even when it did start to air advertising, the station maintained a strict code of commercial conduct. You'd hear no "screaming" car ads, no rapid-fire pitchmen on WHIO-FM.
So, how did a company sell a station as unique as WHIO-FM way back when? Compliments of Cox Radio/Dayton (and our thanks to Chief Engineer Benny Spitler), you may download this PDF file...a WHIO-FM sales kit dating back to around 1949! (and yes, note the page outlining the station's "commercial policy" )
WHKO-FM (K-99.1) Today's New Country And Your Familiar Favorites!
About the only thing you can count on in broadcasting is...change.
By the late 1980's, the WHIO-FM "Wonderful World Of Music" was getting old. So, too...was its' audience. Though still a ratings dominator, the overall increasing age of the listeners had become a liability for selling the station to advertisers. Following an exhaustive reasearch study, station managers decided to change the format...and let the station become Dayton's first full-signaled FM country music station. At 5 pm on March 17, 1989, the station bid farewell to "beautiful music" and put on it's cowboy hat.
Ever since, K-99.1 FM has dominated Dayton's airwaves and continues to be at or near the top of Dayton's radio ratings every time. Here's how the "new" station was presented to advertisers!
"I gotta go now...got to see a man about a record..."
From his days with "Swing With WING" to his final stint in Dayton radio back at WING broadcasting live from the Radisson Hotel in the late 80's/early 90's, an entire generation of Daytonians considered Gene "By Golly" Barry, their "old platter pal".
Simply put...what Alan Freed was to the kids of Cleveland and New York, what Jerry Blavat and Jocko Henderson were to Philly, what Herb Kent was to Chicago, Gene was to the kids of the late 50's and 60's in Dayton. The nighttime DJ who would pull a 40, 50 or 60 share of the radio market at night.
Gene had many stints in Dayton radio. He left WING and would later surface at both WDAO-FM and WAVI-AM. He'd go into business for himself by opening "Gene By Golly Barry's Record Shop". And...why not? Whether he had a radio gig or not, Gene's fans could always go to see him at the record store. And he would talk the day's hits to you anytime with the knowledge and passion of an old pro. And yet, he always seemed to find his way back home to WING.
Sadly, very few tapes of Gene (despite our best efforts to find them), are apparently in existance. And your webmaster here kicks himself everyday...because we never taped Gene's last run on WING. We could have run a few tapes for posterity sake...it just didn't occur to us to do it. Speaking for myself, I will always regret that.
Gene was never a guy to hog the spotlight. I remember those broadcasts in the 80's at the Radisson. I'd stop out there every few Saturday nights to make sure everything was going OK. The minute Gene saw me in the crowd, he would get on the mike on the air and call me up to the DJ stand. He made it a point to allow me a few moments to stand in "his" spotlight. Not that I really think I deserved it, but it was certainly appreciated.
Not too long ago, there was, in Dayton, a reunion of the former WING staffers. It's too bad it didn't get more coverage than it did, because a lot of names and voices you would remember were there. For the reunion, Dayton Broadcast Hall Of Famer Bill Nance put together from some of his tapes, a "sampler" CD that remembered the days when WING ruled Dayton radio. An edit of the final cut on that CD is here. It's Gene's legendary "sign off" complete with the theme music he used each night to close his radio show.
It's OK if you get a little teary-eyed listening to this. I sure did.
Gene "By Golly" Fans Take Note:
We are very happy to announce that Gene "By Golly" Barry will be among those broadcasters inducted into the Dayton Broadcasters Hall Of Fame on September 12, 2009.
We have been "on the hunt" for recordings of Gene for quite some time, and quite often, to no avail. However, we want to thank sincerely, former WING staffer Randy Scott, who worked with Gene at the station back in the early 1960's for the following aircheck.
I've said here that those of us who worked with Gene during his final stint at WING have regretted than we never "ran tape" on his show. Fortunately for us, Randy's brother did...when Randy was in town for his 30th high school class reunion.
So, here you go...with our additional thanks to former WING Production Director Joe Demma for Gene's famous opening theme, and his program close courtesy of former WING news guy Bill Nance, let's take one more ride on the "Barry Go Round".
(Be patient, please - this aircheck is about 15 minutes in length and may take time to load.)
Camp 1410 Lives On!
Please follow this link to see an audio pictorial of WING Radio and former "Lively Guy" and past morning show host Lou Swanson.
Our thanks to Rod Williams for providing this link to a great pictorial that even aircheck fans will appreciate! It's a great trip down memory lane for those of you who remember the days of "Camp 1410".
Some college radio textbooks would have you believe that "Urban Contemporary" radio began as an outgrowth of the disco format of the 1970's. We'd like to respectully disagree.
Radio aimed at the African-American audience has been around since about the time the DJ was invented in the 1950's. Stations like WGCI in Chicago, WAOK in Atlanta and others entertained that audience, as well as a good portion of white teenagers who found they just "dug" the music.
The only issue with some of these early, legendary Urban stations was that, all too often, the stations were relegated to "high on the dial" AM frequencies which made listening a challenge in some portions of big cities.
But, in 1964, something happened that began to change that. And it began in Dayton, Ohio. When owner H.K. "Bud" Crowl got a license for a 50,000 watt FM station at 107.7 on the dial. Searching for a format that would make the station unique, Bud hired legendary WING DJ Gene "By Golly" Barry as a radio consultant and the decision was made to put on the air an FM station aimed at the African-American audience.
The call letters they came up with were "WDAO", which stood, simply for "DAyton, Ohio" (there are wags out there that would try to convince you otherwise, but they are just dead wrong).
The station began in a tool room in the back of the then-WAVI building...then moved to a trailer...and eventually, moved to the completed WAVI Broadcasting Corporation building at 1400 Cincinnati Street in Dayton.
Oddly enough, some of the first WDAO jocks were actually white. Bill "Biggie B.C." Carr and Barry, himself to mention a few. But, that did change. As the station grew, it would sport a more racially-integrated staff. And Barry moved over to Crowl's WAVI in 1970.
10-77, WDAO ("50 thousand watts - soundin' like a million!") became a powerhouse FM. At times during the 1960's and especially in the 1970's as FM music radio began to take off, WDAO would, at times, sport double-digit ratings, and often competed with WHIO AM-FM for the #1 ranking.
During a good portion of the 1970's, WDAO's programming was headed up by John C. "Turk" Logan (now "Dr. John C. Logan" at Central State University.) So big did 'DAO's influence become on the music of the day that artists like Bootsy Collins, Lakeside, Heatwave, Parliament, The Ohio Players, and others might not have been as big as they became had WDAO not spun their tunes. To get your song added on "DAO" got artists noticed. Many urban stations of the day looked to what WDAO was adding.
The WDAO legend on FM continued until WAVI and WDAO were sold in the early 1980's. The new owners, intending to change the format on 107.7, spun WAVI off to its' new owner, Jim Johnson (who spent many years selling commercials on WDAO-FM). Johnson retained WDAO's "intellectual property", and had the FCC reassign the WDAO call letters to WAVI's frequency at 1210 AM. It remains there today, and is still popular with Dayton's urban adult audience with a musical blend of Urban Adult Contemporary, Soul, Jazz, Blues and Gospel and yes, even talk programming. But, the legacy of WDAO proved that format could work on FM, and thus, more stations came on the air with full-fidelity stereo broadcasts, and continued to prove the Urban format got listeners, ratings and revenue.
The photos below come from the collection of Dr. John C. "Turk" Logan, who we thank for his contribution.
Eddie Levert and the "Mighty"
O'Jays visit outside the WAVI/WDAO studios.
"Dynomite!!!" Jimmie,
"JJ" Walker with Turk Logan in the WDAO-FM
Control Room.
"98 Country" WONE
We have, on this site, told the story of WONE's days as the Top 40 competitor to WING. However, that's just a small part of the WONE-AM history.
WONE's biggest contribution to Dayton radio came in 1969, when it changed from a Middle-Of-The-Road format to Country. But, not just to playing the country music of the day. WONE's owners took a cue from other successful stations around the nation and gave the station a far more produced, almost "Top 40" sound. There were jingles and stagers and, yes, reverb on the voices of the air talent and news anchors and reporters. Contests? Yep. "Say It And Win", "Break The Bank" and more.
Concerts? WONE brought some of country music's biggest names of the 1970's and 1980's before packed crowds at Memorial Hall downtown.
Simply put, it was a hit. And WONE suddenly was catapulted into one of the top spots in the ratings, often competing and reaching #1. In fact, WONE as an AM music station survived well into the 1980's and even the early 1990's.
Recently, the webmaster did a telephone interview with Terry Wood, an early air personality and, later longtime Program Director of WONE. You'll find it here.
One of the "Country Gentlemen" of WONE was nighttime jock Bobby Kraig. Later in his career, Bobby would move from radio DJ to music mogul (of sorts) with Arista Records. Here, compliments of former WONE engineer John Terhar is an aircheck from Bobby's show from around 1977.
How some Dayton area radio listeners got the word of an American tragedy.
It was Friday, November 22, 1963.
It can be assumed, some Dayton radio listeners had just finished listening to the Ruth Lyons 50/50 Club which was simulcast on WLW radio in Cincinnati. Less than 15 minutes after "Mother" left the air that day, came word that President John Kennedy had been cut down in Dallas, Texas.
The full WLW broadcast of this tragedy is available, we assume, for purchase on the internet. Solely for the historical value, we offer a very short clip of this coverage.
Promos from "People Power" WAVI
Thanks to the collection of former WAVI Engineer and Sunday talk host Keith Hardin.
To work at WAVI, one definitely had to have a sense of humor. And, around 1400 Cincinnati Street, most of the humor was self-deprecating and sometimes it slipped out on the air.
Click each file below to hear:
A Twister Devastates The Miami Valley
The date was April 3, 1974.
Even the folks at the Weather Channel are well versed on the events of this day, as early spring weather conditions in the midwest spawned a group of tornadoes...one of which moved through Warren County, into southern Montgomery County, then headed northeast into Greene County, with the city of Xenia in its bullseye.
32 people were killed, over 1300 wounded, 300 homes and half the buildings in the city were destroyed.
The first word on this deadly storm came from this TV break in. As Dayton Broadcast Hall Of Famer and, then WHIO-TV Chief Meteorologist Gil Whitney
alerted the Miami Valley to the oncoming danger. Here is the audio of the break in announcement.
The "Dean" Of Dayton Sportscasters
For decades, he was Mr. Sports on Dayton television. On WLWD-TV (later WDTN-TV, Channel 2), the late Omar Williams covered everything from Super Bowls to The Big Red Machine of the 70's to TV Pro Wrestling in that former roller rink that is, yet today, the Channel 2 studios on South Dixie Drive. Spend a few moments with "The Dean" on this radio interview.
America Held Hostage! And WHIO Radio Gets "The Scoop"!
On November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian students took 52 U.S. diplomats hostage inside the American Embassy in Tehran.
The crisis would ultimately last 444 days.
Shortly after the hostages were taken, WHIO Radio News Director Winston Hoehner acted on a hunch. He picked up the phone and dialed the number of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran...one of the hostage takers answered the phone and answered questions from "Wins". This was the only American radio interview with the hostage takers to take place during the ordeal. Needless to say, the interview got the attention of President Jimmy Carter's White House, as well as the nation. WHIO's Washington Correspondents Andy Cassels and Hal Cessna reported on the hostage crisis and CBS News reported on WHIO's exclusive interview this way.
For You "Radio Jingle" Fans...
Some jingles from WONE Radio's "Top 40" days.
An Early Photo Of The WHIO-TV Studio
This photo, proportedly from 1955 shows the activity going on in the main WHIO-TV studio...which, today is still the main hub of the television operation.
Certainly, 1955 was a different day and this photo shows the several program "sets" needed to produce the local TV programming that was in far greater supply then, than local stations offer today.
The "Official" WING History
Located in a box of photo albums and newspaper clippings in the station storeroom at 717 East David Road, here is the verbatim history of WING radio...which came from a press release celebrating the station's 65th anniversary.
Some WHIO Artifacts
Every radio station keeps what is known as a "program log". On it, you find the hour by hour schedule of programs, news and commercial matter aired by the station on that day and in that hour. These logs are normally signed by the "operators on duty" (the DJ's or the board operators.)
Not long ago, we found these single pages of the program logs of WHIO-AM and WHIO-FM from 1959. They are in PDF form.
WTUE Rocks Dayton!
Many thanks to former WTUE jock Steve Ford for donating this aircheck of one of his shows from 1983.
This was pretty much the "heyday" of the station when it mostly featured current album rock hits. Today, though still rocking and still a popular station, WTUE spends more of its time playing classic rock and what it calls "archive classics", than current hits.
Steve also shared with us this promo he produced for the station's softball team, the WTUE "Masterbatters"
More Memories Of The WING-WONE Top 40 Wars!
Not long ago, the Dayton Broadcasters Hall Of Fame was contacted by a gentleman named Greg Jump, who offered a 3 CD set of classic WING and WONE airchecks. It's gonna take us a while to get them all posted, but here's a few things to wet your appetite!
WONE-AM's "Rick Stevens" afternoon show.
"Your LEE-DAH! WING-AM's Jim Quinn's Saturday show
WING's Gene "By Golly" Barry pitches a New Carlisle Auto Dealer.
And we're not done yet!!!
There's still more pictures, videos and audio to come.
If you have something in a collection you would like to share with the Dayton Broadcasters Hall Of Fame, (or, if you'd like to correct or amend any of the information found on these pages...after all, we're not perfect here!) we would welcome your contribution. E-mail the webmaster:
jason.michaels@coxradio.com
