B. Mitchel Reed

Mitch was born Burton Mitchel Goldberg in Brooklyn on June 10, 1926. Reed earned a B.S. degree in journalism and an M.A. in political science at the University of Illinois.

After serving as a navigator on a B-17 bomber in Europe during the last year of World War II, and while teaching political science at his alma mater, he entered the world of radio "for the boogie and the glamour of broadcasting."

Reed hosted the all-night "Birdland Jazz Show" at WOV-AM in New York in 1956. For this razzmatazz, fast jive-talking persona he became famous. But he also was a figure in the burgeoning free-format world of FM radio.

A year later, he landed a job at KFWB in Los Angeles, playing jazz and calling himself "The Boy on the Couch."

On January 2, 1958, KFWB became a pioneering Top 40 station known as "Color Radio/Channel 98," and the DJ's were known as "The Seven Swinging Gentlemen."

The lineup included Bruce Hayes, Al Jarvis, Joe Yocam, Elliot Field, Bill Ballance, Ted Quillin, and Gene Weed. Reed hosted the 6PM-9PM high energy show using horns, bells and buzzers. Under Program Director Chuck Blore, KFWB became the #1 radio station in Los Angeles.

Here's Reed at WMCA as heard on Cruisin' 1963. [ LISTEN ] (38:34)

Featuring the following: Opening Theme (Hand Clappin'), Easier Said Than Done sung by The Essex, Sally Go 'Round The Roses by the Jaynettes, WMCA "Good Guys" jingle, He's So Fine - Chiffons, 1963 Dodge commercial, Twist And Shout - Isley Brothers, Green Acres Promo, Baby It's You - Shirelles, "Name It And Claim It" Winner, It's My Party - Lesley Gore, WMCA Station I.D. then Walk Right In - Rooftop Singers, Litter Basket Public Service Song, B.M.R. Correspondent's Report, Denise - Randy & The Rainbows, WMCA "That's The Way To Spend Your Day" Song, Mama Didn't Lie - Jan Bradley, 1963 Rambler commercial, Hey Paula - Paul & Paula, 'Musical Love Letters' Contest Winners and Louie, Louie - The Kingsmen.

REED'S FINAL WMCA SHOW

Saturday, March 20, 1965
[ LISTEN ] (34:45)

There's a short newscast in this aircheck and the impending march in Selma, Alabama is mentioned. It was also only 26 degrees that night in NYC, pretty cold for March 20th. It's hard to tell whether he was kidding but Reed mentions several times that his pay was only $43.50 a week.

Then, on February 7, 1963 Reed was wooed back to his hometown as one of "The Good Guys" at WMCA New York...one year to the day before the Beatles invaded the U.S. He is also given credit for pursuing the Beatles in England before they came to America. This led to a lot of promos by the Beatles in support of WMCA.

Again rated #1, "Your Leader" spent time in London developing contacts with Brian Epstein, Derek Taylor and The Beatles which led to exclusive interviews and advance record pressings that helped usher in "Beatlemania" in early 1964. After his final WMCA show on March 20, 1965 he was cheered by thousands at the airport, a scene that was repeated when he landed in L.A. for his return to KFWB with "The Wide Wide Weird World of BMR" where he became a voice for the counterculture.

BMR c.1967

It's the wonderful musical year of 1967, and Mitch is working the turntable at KFWB on October 2nd. [ LISTEN ] (41:05)

Just four days later, the date is October 6, 1967, and BMR is on-the-air again at KFWB. [ LISTEN ] (12:40)

With no such similar music station in L.A., Reed left KFWB and, with Donahue, founded the new "underground" format at KPPC-FM in Pasadena. Both KMPX and KPPC achieved more success than anticipated with the new AOR programming.

KMET: September 20, 1970

But both stations ran into a conflict with their respective owners, thus resulting in a strike. After the strike ended in June 1968, Donahue persuaded station owner Metromedia to take on the AOR format at KMET (FM)-Los Angeles.

Reed programmed what would become one of the first 24-hour automated music stations. It would go live in the summer of 1969. He left KMET for one year in 1971 to work at KRLA.

He returned to KMET in 1972 where he stayed the next six years. KMET (the "Mighty Met") had a nearly 20-year run as one of L.A.'s top album rock outlets before switching to KTWV ("The Wave") in the late 1980s.

Reed was inducted into the Rock Radio Hall of Fame in the "Legends of Rock Radio-Programming" category in 2014, for his work at KPPC and KMET.

In 1978, Reed underwent coronary bypass surgery. He would leave KMET for KLOS (FM) in 1979. His lingering heart condition caught up with him on March 16, 1983. He passed away in his West Los Angeles home at the age of 56.

He was an Air Force veteran who held a B.S. degree in Journalism and an M.A. degree in Political Science from the University of Illinois. B. Mitchel Reed will forever be regarded as one of the founders of the FM Rock and Roll format and movement that began in the late 1960s.

WHERE DID BMR WORK? Here is the list: WOR, KFWB, WMCA, KFWB, KPPC, KMET, KRLA, KMET, and KLOS.

Some materials used on this page were originally published on the following: Music Radio 77, Past Daily, Rock Radio Scrapbook, Reel Radio.

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Dale Dorman

Dale Dorman knew he wanted to be in radio since he was very young. He literally walked by a radio and heard a man's voice come out of it and said to his mother, "who's that guy, how does that work?" She said that he was miles away talking into a microphone and that it was through the air to the radio. Dale thought that was the coolest thing.

From then on that is what he wanted to do. So he banged on a million radio station doors during high school and finally he knocked on the right door in Syracuse, NY at WOLF/1490 AM. The morning guy had quit and they also had another position to fill. Just the day before they had told him that they didn't have any openings but to fill out an application just in case you never know! Well the General Manager called Dale where he was working as a bookkeeper in a bank and asked for a tape. He didn't have a tape because he had no experience.

So the GM gave him some records and a tape and sent him into a studio. The GM told him to make believe he was on the radio. This happened at 5 PM and at 6 PM he was on the air on the 6-Midnight shift and has been working in radio ever since. Originally, Dale thought radio was a great way to get all the new music. The other thing was that the business really does fascinate him, even to this day. "You talk into this piece of metal and people can hear you it's crazy!!!"

Al Gates told me he'd quit WRKO Big 68 because he didn't like Bill Drake's format (others claim Drake simply couldn't get Gates to follow his format properly).

WRKO's NOW 30 from July 24, 1967.

So, enter Dale Dorman. Dale worked for a KFRC in San Francisco for two years before moving to Boston to work for WRKO. (The first song Dale played on WRKO was Midnight Confessions by the Grass Roots) He stayed at WRKO for almost 10 years (1968-1978) during which he also was the voice over on Boston's TV Channel 56 for the Kids Block Cartoons, morning and afternoon.

He was known there as Uncle Dale from 1969-1991. KISS 108 had just come on the air less than a year before Dale came on board. He loved the energy KISS was a disco station at the time. The station was wild and nuts! Dale hung out in the building after his shift at another station (WRKO) until they hired him. Dale's calling card or personal trademarks would be that he always signs on his show with "Hi Ma", and being called "Uncle Dale."

In mid-1975, Johnny Dark ― for reasons unclear ― temporarily replaced Dorman doing mornings, In September of 1978, Dorman was replaced by the team of Charlie & Harrigan who quit the station shortly thereafter. Charlie & Harrigan didn't do well at all in Boston. And Dorman moved on to WVBF, after ten long, loyal (and popular) years at WRKO.

On Bill Drake: "I met an up-and-coming programmer named Bill Drake, who turned out being pretty darned successful, Dorman fondly recalls. I sent him a tape and he hired me to work at KYNO. He taught me his style and formula and I absolutely loved it.

The central-New York State native candidly confesses he has absolutely no idea why he's been so successful in Boston. I keep going to work every day and they're kind enough to keep me there. Its just turned into a career; I've been very lucky. I had no idea it would last this long.[Boston] just feels like home and being on the ocean made me happy. As long as the public accepts me and I'm healthy, Id love to continue doing this [in Boston] for as long as they'll have me.

One day at a meeting at WRKO, Dorman suggested that management flip WRKO-AM to WRKO-FM and let WRKO-AM do Talk. The music sounded great in stereo on FM, he says. People scoffed and laughed at me, but look what happened."

In addition to working under Drake, Dorman was also fortunate to have one-on-one contact with Paul Drew. When Drake finally gave up the hands-on, he allowed Paul to deal with me, Dorman recalls.

I've been very lucky to work with guys who've been absolute giants in the business.

Bill Drake [is] a wonderful man and smart as anything. He's very savvy, yet leaves the personality alone. There's a little guidance and a little nudge in a certain direction." (Under Drake) " The secret wasn't 'shut up and play the music.' The secret was the fewer things you say, the more important those things become.

One day at KYNO, Dorman was walking up the long intro of Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels Devil With A Blue Dress. Recounting the story, he notes, "I did a weather forecast over it and something else. [Bill Drake] came into the studio and told me that he was in Los Angeles the previous day and The Real Don Steele played that same song. Over that intro, Steele said, Hey little girl, want to go for a ride? By doing that, Steele said more in fewer words than I could have done if I did five weather forecasts. Drake was a great teacher and a great trainer. Man, did I learn from that."

Tim Braddock, a Radio station Engineer who once knew with Dale while at WCHN sent this tidbit in to wrko.org:

"Dale really got his radio start with me in Norwich, NY at WCHN AM/FM. He did an afternoon rock show that was amazing for its time. The station owner hated rock and rock, so Dale was not on his Friend list."

"Dale lasted quite a while; I think we did a remote on the street in front of the radio station and at the county fair. He didn’t last long and after a 'real job,' he landed at WOLF. I went to visit during his shift. hilarious Top 40 screamin' AM."

"As I think more about how crazy Dale was, we ran mic cables from the front studio out the front window and down to the street where he did the show. I had this big ugly battery radio that was the air monitor. No (tape) delay in those days. Vivid epic memory. I did the show open: 'It's 4:05 and time to go go go with The Dale Dorman Show.' "

WHERE DID DALE WORK? Dorman broadcast in Boston for close to 40 years, starting on WCHN AM/FM (Norwich, NY) doing an afternoon rock show, then going to WOLF (Syracuse, New York1965), KYNO (Fresno, CA) 65-66, KFRC (San Francisco) 66-68, WRKO (1968–78), and later on WXKS-FM (1978-2003). He joined WODS during the summer of 2003.

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Tom Clay

Thomas Melvin Clague arrived in the Fall of 1929 in New York. He had two older brothers, a very hard working father, and a warm hearted mother.

In the 1950s he was popular in the Detroit area on WJBK-AM both as a DJ, and for his on-air comic characterizations; he became a local celebrity. In the early 1950s Clay, using the pseudonym "Guy King," worked for WWOL-AM/FM in Buffalo, New York; on July 3, 1955, he conducted a stunt in which he played "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets repeatedly from atop a billboard in Buffalo's Shelton Square.

The incident led to his firing and arrest (Danny Neaverth would later repeat Clay's stunt but would not suffer the same consequences).In the mid-1950s he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio and was equally popular.

This classic aircheck features hour number one of the very first Tom Clay program at CKLW on September 2, 1963. [ LISTEN ] (1:07:35)

At CKLW in 1964. [ LISTEN ] (16:26)

He was caught up in the payola scandal of the late 1950s, and admitted to having accepted thousands of dollars for playing certain records.

After being fired from WJBK, Clay worked at the short-lived Detroit Top 40 station WQTE, only to be fired again when the station changed format to easy listening music in 1961. After moving to Los Angeles to work at KDAY, Clay returned to the Detroit area and found work at CKLW in neighboring Windsor, Ontario, at the time one of the foremost Top 40 AM stations in N. America.

According to the book Rockin' Down the Dial, a history of Detroit Top 40 radio of the 1950s and 1960s by David Carson, Clay became friendly with Marilyn Monroe during his time in Los Angeles in the early 1960s. Clay's daughter, Kimberly, told Carson that her father never revealed much about his friendship with Monroe, but would only say that she seemed very lonely.

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In 1964, the widely-popular Clay used to recite his composition, “What Ever Happened To,” occasionally, during his radio shows on CKLW radio. Adapted from the 1962 motion picture soundtrack album, Mondo Cane, this was the background instrumental music, track entitled, “More,” which Tom selected to play while he read his self-authored piece to his large radio following in Detroit.

TOM CLAY’S LAST CKLW SHOW

While this 1964 CKLW Tom Clay aircheck is less than stellar in its audio presentation, this aircheck is historic in content as it was recorded June 18 and June 19, 1964, the 19th having been Tom Clay’s last show heard on CKLW radio in Detroit.

In this aircheck, Tom Clay talks about the Beatles, reads letters from CKLW listeners, mentions Terry Knight (formerly of WJBK and his eventual replacement at CKLW) and talks about his tribute to JFK, commenting on his recording of “Six White Horses.”

Also in this feature today Tom Clay is heard firing off a few words towards a Detroit newspaper daily as well.

(As the daily implied in print) he was accused having played a role during the payola scandal earlier in his Detroit radio career, while a DJ at WJBK in the late-1950s.

Clay’s last day on CKLW was June 19, 1964. [ LISTEN ] (44:58)

Riding the wave of early Beatlemania he again rose in popularity, met and interviewed The Beatles. He was fired over a scheme in which he invited listeners to send in one dollar for membership in a "Beatles Booster Club", an essentially non-existent organization which had no benefits beyond a promised membership card or decal.

According to fellow CKLW DJ Dave Shafer (also now deceased), Clay also promised each listener who sent in a dollar a personal item used by one of the Beatles; these "personal items" turned out to be items such as cigarette butts and used tissues, and other listeners claimed to have received nothing.

Since over 80,000 fans responded, Clay was able to live comfortably for a time on the cash that appeared in his personal P.O. Box.

Tom was at WWWW on Thursday, December 24, 1970. [ LISTEN ] (54:13)

The W4 Christmas programming continues into Tom's 5-hour shift. The show kicks off with an appeal from Tom to single men listeners to help the station deliver holiday packages to area needy families.

Tom is at WHFI, aircheck date (unknown): 1969 or 1970. [ LISTEN ] (32:17)

Clay’s Detroit radio resume lists the legendary jock having been on WJBK, WQTE, CKLW and WWWW. But we cannot find any indication he was ever on WHFI.

So, was he? We can only speculate, as this WHFI aircheck bears supporting, possibly he was there for a very brief period of time (days or weeks?). Either sometime late-1969 or earlier-1970. By late summer, 1970, Tom was on WWWW-FM.

"What the World Needs Now Is Love, Abraham, Martin and John."

c.1971

Dave Shafer told David Carson in Rockin' Down the Dial that Clay skipped town in the wake of the Beatles Booster fiasco, leading to Shafer's being briefly jailed on charges of international fraud. Clay eventually returned to work at other Detroit area radio stations, including WWWW-FM, and also worked at WCBS-FM in New York. In 1984, he played pop standards at KPRZ, Los Angeles.

Clay is possibly best remembered for his single on Motown's MoWest label "What the World Needs Now Is Love"/"Abraham, Martin and John", a compilation of two popular records. Featured throughout are interviews and speeches of Jack and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King emphasizing tolerance and civil rights. The record rose to No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1971, sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.

A follow-up album with the single, "Whatever Happened To Love" flopped, and Clay found himself unemployed. Both songs were featured on the MoWest album What The World Needs Now (1971).

Tom's WNIC (audition tape) August 14, 1976. When Clay submitted this recording to WNIC, he was still at KRLA in Los Angeles. He was 45 years old. [ LISTEN ] (26:43)

Clay finished his career doing voiceover work. He died of stomach and lung cancer, in Los Angeles, California in 1995. He was 66.

Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Motor City Radio Flashbacks

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Bill Holley

KOIT went on the air in January 1959 as KYA-FM, duplicating the Top 40 music programming of its sister AM. In September 1966, the stations were acquired by Avco Broadcasting of California, and KYA-FM was rechristened as KOIT. Howard Kester was named general manager of KYA and KOIT in February 1967, at which time KOIT was programming a Progressive Rock format. In mid-1970, KOIT's format was changed to a mainstream Country & Western music format.

Bill Holley, a cousin of rock'n'roll icon Buddy Holly (born Charles Hardin Holley), broke into radio at KSST (1230 AM) in Sulphur Springs, Texas, in 1958, while in his sophomore year at East Texas State College in Commerce.

1970

Holley on KYA in San Francisco August 25, 1968
[ LISTEN ]. (57:42)

In the early 1960s, Holley rose to popularity as "The Night Creature" on KBOX (1480 AM) in Dallas, then, in 1962, became one of the "Good Guys" at Miami's WFUN (790 AM), where he worked alongside future KYA program director Dick Starr. He moved on to Denver's KIMN in 1965 and 1966, then returned to KBOX in Dallas in June 1966, where he was the last disc jockey heard prior to the station's switch from Top 40 to Country in 1967.

KYA's Tom Campbell and Bill Holley interviw John Lennon on May 29, 1969. [ LISTEN ]. (9:37)

The short interview heard here was released in the Bay Area by the radio station as “The KYA 1969 Peace Talk” on a 45-r.p.m. two-sided record.

Following his time at KYA and KOIT, Holley returned to WFUN/Miami, then came back to the Bay Area as afternoon personality on Oldies KIQI (1010 AM) in San Francisco.

Bill Holley passed away from a heart attack in March 1995.

Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Bay Area Radio Museum, Internet Archive

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Tom Campbell

Tom Campbell, nicknamed Tall Tom Campbell, is an American disc jockey, radio announcer and commercial voiceover talent.

After serving in the United States Air Force, Campbell was hired for his first radio job, at KEEL in Shreveport, La., by Al Hart, who would later become a newscaster and radio personality in San Francisco. Campbell subsequently worked in Minneapolis, Minnesota and at WONE in Dayton, Ohio before his move to KYA San Francisco in 1967.

He was known to loan his personal phonograph, record collection and even his car to individual listeners under the caveat that they simply return them, which they apparently did. His home and car phone numbers were publicly listed in the white and yellow pages of most Bay Area phone books, and he would receive calls from listeners at home.

Some of his devoted listeners and regular callers included "The Queen of Darkness" and "The Queen of Lightness" of Oakland, "The Mad Bomber" of Berkeley, and "The Wizard" of San Francisco.

KYA BEATLES SPECTACULAR
Tom Campbell
August 29, 1969
[ Part 1 ] (53:38) [ Part 2 ] (53:29)

On September 9, 1968, Campbell pulled a notable publicity stunt on KYA, claiming that a listener to another program, the Sunday-night phone-in program known as "The Action Line," had disparaged Campbell's accessibility to his fans. Campbell opened his program that evening with a phone call, during which he booked a one-way ticket to New York.

Later in the program, he noted that he had been offered jobs in both New York and Chicago, and that if his listeners felt the same way about him, he would simply leave San Francisco and take a job elsewhere.

Phone calls, telegrams and petitions reportedly flooded into the station, and Campbell kept himself off the air until all of the "votes" for or against him were counted. In the end, it was announced that sufficient pro-Campbell votes had been received, and he triumphantly returned to the broadcast booth the next night.

Here's Tom at KYA San Francisco on April 18, 1969. [ LISTEN ] (1:01:27)

The music opens with "Proud Mary" by Solomon Burke, "Chain of Fools" Aretha Franklin, "Born on The Bayou," Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Morning Girl," The Neon Philharmonic, and "Sweet Cherry Wine," Tommy James & The Shondells. Later a cool Jimi Hendrix Experience commercial, and more music from The Guess Who, Spencer David Group, The Flirtations, The Ventures, Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, and The Beatles.

Flying Bear Medicine Show Tower Records, $200,000 per week in Contest Cash, Tom makes a "triple-play", K-Y-A 20/20 Triple Play, and the Millon-Dollar Weekend.

More music from Blood, Sweat & Tears, 1910 Fruitgum Company, Crazy Elephant, The Animals and The Who.

Campbell remained at KYA until 1970, then moved to KLOK in San Jose and KNEW in Oakland. Among his best-known advertising clients were Mathew's TV & Stereo ("6400 Mission Street, Top of the hill, Daly City"), Motor Music, Goodies Speed Shops and The Comfort Zone waterbed stores.

Peppers?

He would also make public appearances to promote local Pizza Hut restaurants before relocating to Southern California in the mid-1970s, becoming a ubiquitous commercial voiceover artist.

Campbell also did weekly broadcasts through the Armed Forces Radio Network and visited troops stationed overseas and emceed concerts at Bay Area venues such as the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos, California (Tom Jones/Engelbert Humperdinck), Sandcastle nightclub in Los Altos (Zola Taylor and the Platters, The Coasters and Clyde McPhatter), and several Oldies Rock and Roll concerts. He also briefly hosted a game show in 1980, Camouflage, which was produced by Chuck Barris and taped in Hollywood.

Some materials contained on the page were originally published by the following: Internet Archive, AFRTS Archive.

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Sam Riddle

Sam Riddle was a popular radio music announcer at Station KHJ-AM, a Top 40 station in Los Angeles, California from 1965 to 1980. Not much of his career is known. He worked in eight separate radio studios through the Sixties and Early Seventies, later dabbling in acting with starring roles in the movies "Clam Bake" in 1967 and "Tunnel Vision" in 1976. He was also a producer of music specials, such as "World Of Odds" in 1978, later becoming a success with the televised talent show, "Star Search."

Sam might have very well been the most popular personality in the Los Angeles radio and television market in the mid -60's. Besides doing daily DJ radio shows on KHJ, he also taped a daily (Monday - Friday) television show, 9TH Street West, the weekly Hollywood A GO-GO show, plus music specials such as Aloha A GO-GO and Cheerio A GO-GO. Sam also released a single on Tower Records in 1966. The A side was "Lollipops & Teardrops", with "Angela Jones" on the B side.

(Left) Boss Jock Sam Riddle from the “Black Box” photo shoot. A different shot from the same session was utilized on Boss 30 Issue No. 134.

(Left) An aircheck of Sam at KHJ in 1969.

(Left/Bottom) The first Boss 30 survey available to the general public and featured Boss Jock Sam Riddle on the cover. Issued for the week of July 9, 1965, roughly two months after the start of the Boss Radio format.

WHERE DID SAM WORK? Here is the list: KRBC, KDEO, KRLA, KFWB, and KHJ.

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Terry Steele

He had a big voice and a heart to match. One of the smoothest-sounding of all the CHUM jocks, Terry Steele was born James Stromberg on July 19, 1947 in Chester, Pennsylvania. His first radio job was in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, at $60 a week. Steele jocked at WINX Rockville, Maryland, and WNOR Norfolk, Virginia, before arriving at CHUM in 1972. He spent 15 years at CHUM, establishing himself as one of Toronto's top jocks while voicing many of the station's specials.

Terry broadcasting from the CHUM studio on September 16, 1975.
[ LISTEN ] (59:06)

Steele was part of one of CHUM's most memorable promotions when he wrestled Sweet Daddy Siki in 1974. He had the honor of signing off CHUM's Top 40 era on June 6, 1986 and continued at the station during the short-lived "Favourites of Yesterday ant Todau" format. After leaving CHUM in 1987, Steele jocked at CKEY, CKFM and CJEZ in Toronto.

Terry at CHUM on July 27, 1976. [ LISTEN ] (17:45)

The promotion was “The CHUM Superstar Summer”, and featured concert tickets. This particular hour they are promoting the Bay City Rollers and Elton John.

On the air, Terry may not have been as funny as Jay Nelson, as creative as Tom Rivers, or as flashy as Scott Carpenter. In the studio on tape, he wasn't as smooth as Walter Soles and Ron Morey, or as versatile as John Rode. But Terry Steele was consistent and solid. He was the quarterback when everyday was the Super Bowl. He was "Terrible Terry, the Bear in the Airchair from the Big House on Yonge Street."


He was a big guy, with a bushy beard, everyone called him "The Bear" because he was as hairy as one. He had a great sense of humor, and would break out in uncontrolled laughter at almost any ribald comment. When Scott Carpenter met Terry, he shook his hand so hard it damn near came off (according to Scott). He had a high energy, no-nonsense approach on the air and impeccable timing.

He passed away on August 13, 1993 after a fall in his bathtub. He was 46.

Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: The CHUM Tribute, Rock Radio Scrapbook.

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