Dick Robinson

When Nicholas "Dick" Robinson arrived in Hartford in March of 1964 it was the beginning of a storybook love affair.

He transferred to WDRC from the Buckley-Jaeger station in Providence. Sliding into the night shift to replace Jim Raynor, Dick joined one of America's most exciting pop radio stations at the beginning of the most exciting time in radio -the British Invasion. Young, hip and 6'3" tall, he became a friend to his teenage listeners (in the Dickie Robinson Underground) and embarked on a career path few in his industry have equaled.

The story began April 17, 1938 in the Boston suburb of Malden where Dick was born an only child. As a kid he worked to overcome a stutter. On his 12th birthday his Dad gave him a portable radio that became his constant companion. He decided then and there to become a radio announcer even though the elder Robinson, a wholesale florist, believed only "clowns got into broadcasting."

In high school Dick was heavily involved in drama. He entered debates and public speaking contests, and spent a summer in Maine with a stock theater company, appearing with Anne Baxter and Tyrone Power in John Brown's Body. While still in high school, Dick conducted many record hops which was good training for the succession of hops he later hosted at Big D.

Behind the wheel of Little Dee in 1969.

Two pivotal life events occurred in 1956. Dick's mother died. Months later he was attacked by a gang at a school dance. His nose was fractured and Dick nearly died during the surgical procedure to repair it. As surgeons performed a tracheotomy, the scalpel nicked his vocal cords. He spent five weeks in a hospital and was told he might never regain use of his voice.

That fall it was on to Boston University and a confidence-shattering job audition at WEEI Radio. He later told the Hartford Courant, "my breathing was erratic, my voice trembling and cracking. It was a mess." Dick switched to the Leland Powers School of Radio, Television and Theater in Boston.

Dick worked for a time as a theater usher, but eventually landed an audition at WARE in the central Massachusetts town of Ware. For the princely sum of $48.50 a week, Dick did what all announcers did...he learned the radio ropes. He read newscasts, played records, was promoted to program director and even tried his hand at selling commercials. It was that experience which sewed the seeds for opening a broadcast school someday to teach would-be broadcasters what it was really like in the trenches.

Dick's radio path took him to WREB in Holyoke, WSPR in Springfield, and a midnight to dawn stint on WPRO in Providence.

1965: Dick managed to get to New York to meet the Beatles, posing for a famous photograph that the Beatles didn't even know they were in.

The Rolling Stones nearly caused a riot when they stopped by Blue Hills Avenue for an interview with Dick.

Then, in 1963, it was across town to WHIM where Dick worked as program director under station manager Richard D. Buckley. The money was certainly better - $190 a week - but the charm faded abruptly nine weeks later when Buckley-Jaeger sold the station. Fortunately Buckley offered him a job in Hartford so Dick, and his wife Sally, uprooted once again.

The 8PM-1AM shift on WDRC AM/FM (everything was simulcast in those days) became the Dick Robinson Company, or "DRC on DRC." Nighttime ratings were in double digits (average 60 shares) and Dick was embroiled in fierce competition with cross-town rival Ken Griffin at WPOP. The exciting sounds of British rock and roll were finding their way across the Atlantic Ocean. Dick recalled, "I was in the right place, on the right job, at the right time. We were in the break-out area for new record releases and we released them all, even if we had to pick them up at Kennedy International Airport when the latest Rolling Stones' and Beatles' hits arrived by overseas jet."

Dick Robin's Late Show on WDRC - 1964 Each night he cooked up a Big D Late Late Show bit that involved puns on show biz celebrities appearing in mythical movies on Channel 1360; these were punctuated by whacky sound effects from engineer Bob Coe (who also appeared from time to time as man-on-the-street reporter Humble Harvey Humble).

Among the tools of Dick's trade was a never-ending supply of Lone Ranger and Tonto jokes. Dick regularly greeted Funline request-makers with "Hey Keemosabee." In January 1965 Dick began hosting a weekly Saturday Night House Party and in April he instituted a nightly Big D Shindig every night from 8 till 9, keying on the popular ABC-TV show of the same name.

Here's Dick during a lively session at WDRC on October 21, 1965. [ LISTEN ]

Robinson spent 13 years at WDRC, first as the station's evening jock, and later as vice-president, and station manager. (9:20)

Even though he was on the air six nights a week, Dick hosted hundreds of record hops. He often started the dances then left part-time assistants to play the records as he scurried to WDRC's studios in Bloomfield. For years he did a regular Friday night gig in Windsor.

With Tom Jones, the Supremes, Cher, and radio personality Dick Clark c.1964.

Dick felt he'd found a home in Hartford (not to mention the one he moved into with Sally in Thompsonville). He decided to follow up on his desire to start a broadcast school. Dick Buckley sold him 15 commercials a week for $15 and hundreds of potential students auditioned for 44 spots. The Connecticut School of Broadcasting opened in September 1964 at the Hotel America in Hartford.

But just before the grand opening, Dick lost his voice. Doctors told him the 1956 tracheotomy had seriously damaged his vocal cords and the only cure was coming off the air. Station manager Bill Crawford gave him a leave of absence. CSB opened under watchful eyes of fellow Big D jocks Ron Landry and Long John Wade while Dick and Sally flew to Nassau for six weeks.

Beatnik DJ

Upon returning to his nightly show, Dick never lost a beat, and was marked by the release of a 45 rpm single called "Beatnik DJ."

In 1965 Dick released another single on Fun Records, called "Fraze Craze" after a popular phone-in festure on his show. All proceeds went to the Children's Museum of West Hartford.

One of his strengths was sounding like a friend to the legions of teenagers who tuned in every night. Much of his show depended on telephone interaction with the listeners.

1967 brought several changes to WDRC and Dick Robinson. Big D had successfully raided WPOP and installed its nighttime host, Ken Griffin, in Dick's old slot. The legendary Joey Reynolds began a new early-evening shift and Dick settled into afternoon drive. In May WDRC moved from its Bloomfield headquarters to brand new studios at 750 Main Street in Hartford, and the station responded to FCC dictates by seperating AM and FM programming 50% of the time. In August Dick was appointed chief announcer. He also began working part-time in sales.

By 1968 Dick was only on the air Saturday afternoons and Sunday evenings. In November 1969 he was named WDRC's sales manager and one of his CSB graduates, Joe Sherwood, took over weekends.

Dick was still regularly heard, though, on countless commercials for clients like Pat's Tire Center and Railroad Salvage. In mid 1974 Dick was appointed Vice President and Station Manager of WDRC.

All good things come to an end, so in February 1976 Dick Robinson resigned from WDRC to devote full attention to CSB. In April 1977 he became a partner in the purchase of WRCH A/F Farmington. The FM maintained its beautiful music format for a time, but the AM simulcast switched to an oldies format and was known as WRCQ, Golden 91Q.

As the Connecticut School of Broadcasting grew to twelve campuses, Dick found himself spending more and more time in Florida. His on-air and sales success made him a wealthy man and Dick launched a new endeavor in January 2000. American Standards By the Sea is a weekly, two-hour program featuring music and interviews from an era not reflected by contemporary radio stations. One of his first affiliate stations was WDRC AM.

The show originates from Robinson Media's motor yacht Airwaves and may come from a port between Maine and the Bahamas in any given week.

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

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Maxanne Sartori

Sam Kopper hired 20-year old Maxanne Sartori from Seattle’s KLOL-FM to take over WBCN’s afternoon shift on Friday the 13th of November, 1970.

Certainly no bad omen, that day marked the beginning of a fruitful and famous association that lasted nearly seven years. It was quickly evident that Maxanne, as she called herself on the air, liked to rock, as Debbie Ullman observed: “I was motivated by the counterculture – Jesse Colin Young, Incredible String Band, Jefferson Airplane, [but] she was really into rock and roll. She was much more tuned into what [would be] happening with ‘BCN by the later 70‘s.”

When WBCN disc jockeys were allowed to do their own programming pretty much as they wanted, the new music that otherwise was only being heard on the college stations got its first commercial play on WBCN from Maxanne.

Later, in 1971 other women joined the on-air staff: Debbie Ullman, Dinah Vaprin and Marsha Steinberg. (Debbie had actually had an earlier on-air stint predating Maxanne.) Each had their specialties and strengths, but none had Maxanne's authority, or her calm, warm, friendly, highly knowledgable on-air presence.

Maxanne Sartori was WBCNs first female DJ.
She was also their shining star.

Maxanne will always be remembered for her association with a young Bruce Springsteen, who dropped in on the afternoon show with a truncated version of the E Street Band for a pair of famously-bootlegged and beloved unplugged performances in January ’73 and April ’74. Indeed, the unique and hilarious performance of “Rosalita” from the latter visit is easily one of the most memorable nine-minutes in WBCN’s entire history.

Infamous for running the studio speakers at maximum volume, Maxanne would be credited with championing Boston artists like The J. Geils Band, The Cars and Billy Squier, also counting some less famous names from the area as favorites, including Reddy Teddy, Nervous Eaters, Fox Pass and Willie “Loco” Alexander.

Then there was Aerosmith: “The first person ever to play our record was Maxanne,” mentioned Steven Tyler. She persistently championed the group to program director Norm Winer, who refused to let her play the band at first: “I thought they were too derivative. But, of course, she was right.” She had become WBCN’s most powerful and distinctive personality.

Maxanne with Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris on WBCN in March, 1973.

Maxanne left on April Fool’s Day 1977. She would join Jazz outlet WRVR-New York. In 1983, Maxanne went to program WBOS-Boston and the following year joined WNEW as md and dj until 1987. Following her stint on the East Coast, Maxanne worked Seattle and Monterey radio stations.

Maxanne would trade in her headphones, pick up a job doing regional promotion for Island Records, later work in the national offices of Elektra-Asylum, and eventually become an independent promoter.

Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Music Museum of New England, Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame, Bill Spurlin's Blog.

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Alan Freed

He was born Albert James Freed on December 15, 1921 near Johnston, Pennsylvania. At age 12 he moved with his family to Salem, Ohio. In high school, he played trombone and formed a band, the Sultans of Swing. He loved bandleaders like Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman. But traveling great distances to see and hear them, he realized that he wouldn’t make it as a musician.

At Ohio State he planned on studying mechanical engineering. But after seeing the campus radio station in action, he fell in love with radio. He started in 1942 at a small station in Pennsylvania, did some sports casting in Youngstown, Ohio, and in 1945, became a DJ in Akron, playing jazz and pop recordings on WAKR. He became a local celebrity, but after a salary dispute with the station’s owner, he moved to Cleveland for a job on television.

It was there, in 1951, when he was at Record Rendezvous, Cleveland’s largest record store, he was taken aback by the large number of white teenagers who were buying R&B records, or what were then called “race records.” At the suggestion of Leo Mintz, the owner of the store, Freed began programming the music on a late-night show on WJW called the “Moondog Rock ‘n’ Roll Party.” He was the first white deejay on the North Coast to play these rhythm & blues records.

Freed soon embraced the music and its young fans. As his “Moondog Show”’s popularity increased, he decided to stage a dance with R&B stars. “The Moondog Coronation Ball” on March 21, 1952 was a smash. The 10,000-capacity Cleveland Arena was sold out, but another 20,000 people showed up, and many tried to crash the gates. The dance had to be cancelled, but it is considered to be the first ever rock and roll concert.

WINS NEW YORK
March 23, 1955 [ LISTEN ]. (58:53)

A tireless and enthusiastic advocate of the music he played, Freed kept time to his favorite records by beating his hands on a phone book. The show became extremely popular, and given its success, and the ever-increasing sales of R&B records, he and Mintz decided this music needed a new name. Freed began calling it rock and roll because “it seemed to suggest the rolling, surging beat of the music.” The term was not new—it had been used to describe sex for a while—but Freed was the first person to call this new music by that name, and he was the first radio deejay to use the term.

Freed’s popularity continued to grow, and in September of 1954, he signed a deal to join WINS in New York. Soon after arriving in New York, he lost his “Moondog” nickname after a threatened lawsuit from a street character with the same name. He then decided to call his late-night show “Rock ‘n’ Roll Party.”

Here are some various syndicated Camel Rock & Roll Dance Party programs dated March 31, 1956 [ LISTEN ] (29:57) April 14, 1956 [ LISTEN ]. (28:55), May 19, 1956 [ LISTEN ]. (28:53), June 16, 1956 [ LISTEN ]. (28:59), and August 14, 1956 [ LISTEN ]. (28:52). Early broadcasts featured Count Basie & his orchestra, and later Sam "The Man" Taylor & his bunch.

August 28, 1956. [ LISTEN ]. (28:56)

This program really rocks with special guests the Flamingos, Chuck Berry, and Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, and of course, it's sponsored by Camel.

In the July 1957 issue of Pageant, a mainstream magazine, a writer said of Freed: “He coined the phrase ‘rock and roll,’ and not only sparked the trend but fanned it into flame.” He did it by way of his show, and by concerts he staged in New York and elsewhere, events that began to draw white as well as black youth. For this, he was called a race-mixer and worse. The recording industry’s establishment feared his championing of the independent labels that dominated rhythm & blues, blues, and jazz music. Freed began making enemies.

Soon, parents groups, church leaders, and the press who deemed much of the music obscene and got much of it banned from radio. The New York Daily News called the music “an inciter of juvenile delinquency” and pointed to Freed as a chief offender.

But neither Freed nor the music could be stopped. WINS added a second show to his schedule. He began getting co-writing credits and royalties, on songs that he would play. In July, 1957 he began hosting The Big Beat, a Friday evening TV show on the ABC network featuring a mix of pop and R&B acts.

He taped a weekly 30-minute show for Radio Luxembourg, a pirate station operating off the British Isles. Freed was colorblind. He loved the beat, and the people who made the music, and the fact that they were black made no difference to him.

In 1957 Freed was given a weekly prime-time TV series, The Big Beat, which predated American Bandstand, on ABC. It was scheduled for a Summer run, with the understanding that if there were enough viewers, the show would continue into the 1957-58 television season. It was suddenly canceled after the fourth episode when Frankie Lymon, of Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers, was seen dancing with a white girl from the studio audience after performing his number. The incident reportedly offended the management of ABC’s local affiliates in the southern states, and led to the show’s immediate cancellation despite its growing popularity.

The Moondog Show, circa 1954. This aircheck is actually from about six months before Freed joined WINS. Though he's yelling a bit, without jingles and formatics, his sound is far more progressive than what came to be known as top-40. And he always credited the record label. [ LISTEN ].

Freed fanned more flames with his concerts at the Paramount theaters in Manhattan and Brooklyn, featuring rhythm and blues artists and drawing both black and white fans. Despite pressure from law enforcement he expanded his tours headlining Chuck Berry and Jerry Lewis, visiting dozens of cities. One such caravan arrived in Boston in May, 1958.

Joe Smith, a popular DJ there, promoted the concert at the Boston Arena with Freed. According to Smith there was little to-do afterwards, and Alan made a mistake putting on the event. Boston was a jumpy town, but strict, Catholic and church-managed. Freed just bringing in the show angered a lot of people.

For security extra cops were hired and at some point the cops instructed Freed to turn the lights on, because the kids were getting crazy. Then Alan took the stage and announced, ‘It looks like the police don’t want you to have a good time here. Come on, let’s have a party.’ With that the kids started coming out of their seats and surged toward the stage. It was kind of a mess.

After the concert, fights broke out in the subway, and Freed wound up being indicted on charges of “inciting to riot during a rock and roll show.”

The rest of Freed’s tour got cancelled. Back in New York, he and WINS, unhappy with each other over various issues, including Freed’s numerous outside activities, parted ways. Within a month – by June 2nd, he resurfaced on WABC, ABC’s New York station. He also agreed to do another television show called Big Beat, on WABD, a DuMont station that later would become WNEW-TV.

One of WINS management’s concerns about Freed had to do with payola. The practice of disc jockeys receiving cash and gifts from record promoters for playing their records was not illegal outside New York and Pennsylvania. While many DJ’s routinely accepted payola, Freed was a big target.

In late 1959, while a House subcommittee on legislative oversight, which had conducted hearings on TV quiz shows, turned its attention to payola, the New York District Attorney’s office announced grand jury hearings on misdemeanor commercial bribery charges against disc jockeys. Broadcasting companies, whose operating licenses might be at stake, put pressure on their on-air employees, asking them to sign an affidavit denying any involvement in payola.

Freed, now on the air on WABC, refused to sign the ABC affidavit, telling the station manager that he had received various gifts and didn’t want to perjure himself. ABC fired him on September 21st. Freed would also lose his “Big Beat” TV show on WNEW, and he did his last program on November 23rd, 1959.

Payola House committee hearings.

The Congressional subcommittee hearings began in early 1960. Before Freed took the stand, several disc jockeys confessed to taking money and gifts for promoting records. Freed appeared in late April. Although carefully prepared by his attorney, and aware that his testimony might be used against him in criminal cases being pursued by the New York District Attorney, Freed gave the congressmen a detailed accounting of his connections with record distributors, and named record companies that paid him for “consultation.”

No longer employed in New York, Freed moved to Los Angeles, where his friend and former WINS Program Director, Mel Leeds, had landed a job as Program Director of KDAY, an R&B station.

Just days after starting on KDAY, he would have to return to New York, where District Attorney Joseph Stone’s grand jury had handed down what amounted to indictments for misdemeanor commercial bribery charges that, investigators claimed, dated back at least ten years. On May 19, 1960, Freed and seven other radio figures were arrested and booked at a police station in Manhattan and charged with receiving a total of $116,850 in payola.

Kathy Young &
The Innocents

Despite his legal woes, Freed sounded as energetic as ever on the air in Los Angeles. Having signed an agreement with KDAY to steer clear of anything close to payola, he pushed records strictly out of passion, and helped break several hits, including Kathy Young’s “A Thousand Stars.” Freed, said his daughter Alana, “was really plugging along. He had a great show.” But the show closed after KDAY refused to allow Freed to promote a Hollywood Bowl concert he was staging. Fired by KDAY, Freed next had to cope with his trial on the commercial bribery charges.

Freed agreed to plead guilty to two of 99 counts, and, in spring of 1963, paid a fine of $300. Behind that number, however, were insurmountable legal bills and, just around the corner, Federal charges of income tax evasion. By the time those hit, in spring of 1964, Freed was too weak to fight. Living in Palm Springs, he entered a local hospital for gastrointestinal intestinal bleeding, resulting from cirrhosis of the liver, on New Year’s Day, 1965. Twenty days later, on January 20, he was gone as the result of kidney failure. He was just 43 years old.

He left behind a family that included three wives and four children.

On January 23, 1986, Freed was inducted into the first class of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, alongside such pioneers and greats as Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, James Brown, Ray Charles and Sam Cooke.

WHERE DID ALAN WORK? Here is the list: WKST, WKBN, WAKR, WJW, WINS, WABC, KDAY, WQAM, and KNOB.

Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: History of Rock and Roll, Showbiz 411, PDX Retro, Internet Archive.

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Charlie Murdock

Charles Murdock was born in Lakeland, Florida, and he moved with his parents, to Miami, when he was 6 months old.

Murdock started his career while at the University of Florida at the school's WRUF, then, after serving in the military and serving as PD and officer in charge for Armed Forces Radio Service stations in Korea, he worked on the air at WRVA in Richmond and WQAM in Miami, beginning in 1957, where he also served as both the program and operations manager. Charlie's skills behind the mic were rewarded when he was named America's DJ of the Year in 1961 by TV-Mirror Magazine.

Charlie is playing records at WQAM in April, 1962. [ LISTEN ]. (9:38), The date is October 22, 1964, the station is WMAQ, and Charlie is the DJ. [ LISTEN ]. (33:09), This scoped aircheck is dated January 14, 1965, and Charlie is still behind the mic at WMAQ. [ LISTEN ]. (33:37)

Charlie's last WQAM survey

June 5, 1965

In the summer of 1965, Morton "Doc" Downey Jr. was on WFUN, directly opposite Murdock on WQAM. Murdock was #1 in the ratings, and Downey was determined to dethrone him, any way he could - so he launched a dirty tricks campaign that would have made Nixon and his gang proud. Downey was fired, and Murdock left WQAM the very same week.

Shortly thereafter Charlie was named FM at WSAI in Cincinnati, and then moved to crosstown WLW as Vice President/General Manager in 1967.

Charlie and the Tiger Mustang in 1965.

In 1976, Murdock's Queen City Communications bought WLW and WSKS, selling the stations in 1983. He later produced television programming airing on ESPN, Lifetime, USA Network and local Cincinnati CBS affiliate WKRC-TV and ABC affiliate WCPO-TV.

Charlie passed away in his home state of Florida on January 16, 2011. He was 78 years old.

Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: All Access Music Group.

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Bill Diehl

William Franklin Diehl was born in February 1926 and began his career in the media as a paperboy for the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch in 1941.

A phenomenal increase in subscriptions parlayed him into the job of copy boy when he graduated from High School in 1943 at the age of 17. In 1944, while taking evening classes at Macalester College, he became a copy editor (he also took film classes at the U of M). In 1948 he became a Sunday movie columnist. In 1950 he was promoted to movie editor with his column “Look and Listen.” His radio career started in 1948 at WMIN in the Hamm Building in St. Paul.

Diehl left WMIN in January 1950, and in the summer of 1950 he did a movie gossip show on KSTP-TV called “Screen Stories” which he wrote, produced, and presented. KSTP wanted him to stay but he wanted to keep his Pioneer Press job. He went back to WMIN in the fall of 1950 and stayed until early 1956. There he had shows called “It’s Your Diehl” and “Diehl’s Caravan,” where he played pop tunes, Broadway hits, and the songs of the day. He worked mornings, and also on Sundays from 3:30 to midnight.

WDGY: Bill frequently gave away records at concerts that he promoted.

In the fall of 1956 he moved to WDGY, where he did the afternoon Top 40 show. WDGY had become the first rock ‘n’ roll station in the Twin Cities earlier that year, and Diehl was the station’s star DJ. He was also the music director from 1957 to 1961 and got consistently top ratings. He mostly brought in his own records, because the station’s were “too scratchy.” Diehl was known for his phenomenal record collection, which he and his wife Helen bought mostly from Phil Moe at Pyramid Records on 11th Street in Minneapolis.

Bill & the Underbeats.

In 1957 Diehl was asked to M.C. his first teen dance, at the Armory in St. James, Minnesota. After that he made almost nightly appearances at local dance clubs with local bands such as Mike Waggoner and the Bops, the Trashmen, the Castaways, the Accents, the Underbeats, Gregory Dee and the Avanties, the High Spirits, the Chancellors, and others.

As a promotion, in November 1958 Jim Ramsburg cooked up the Radio Wonders basketball team (below). WDGY Jocks teamed up with professionals Ed Kalafat, Bobby Cox, Jim Springer, and Corky Devlin, possibly former Minneapolis Lakers.

Jack Thayer holding the ball. Clockwise from Jack are Bill Diehl, Don Kelly, Dan Daniel, Stanley Mack, and Ramsburg.

The team could not play high school and college teams, but would go out to small towns for exhibition games. Some not so happily as others, he admits. Proceeds would go to a charity mutually agreed upon by the two teams.

Diehl also M.C.’ed national acts as they appeared in the Twin Cities. One was the Winter Dance Party, starring Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper, when they appeared at the Kato Ballroom in Mankato on January 25, 1959 and the Prom Ballroom in St. Paul on January 28. The three stars died in a plane crash six days later. On the day the musicians perished, Diehl did a three-hour show on WDGY playing nothing but songs by the three young stars.

Bill Diehl "Pepsi Tune Time" over WDGY airwaves, July 7, 1963.[ LISTEN ]

Bill takes requests from callers, plays the "Mystery Voice", and reads some dedications. Pepsi commercials. King Curtis does the Monkey. Also included is a news and sportscast. A nice slice of WDGY in '63.. (8:35)

In 1965 he played a part in bringing the Beatles to Minneapolis. On the air, he promoted the Beatles event with phone-ins with George’s sister, Louise Harrison Caldwell. He traveled to Chicago to see the concert there and took numerous home movies. Diehl M.C.’ed the Minneapolis show, and was hailed with boos when he announced that the concert would end if the audience rushed the stage.

As rock ‘n’ roll changed, so did Bill, and he jumped to WCCO Radio on September 1, 1967, starting at the State Fair broadcast center. In 1974 he did a weekly series of “Sunday Specials” for WCCO Radio, including a series of 50th anniversary specials. In 1988 he was removed from the weekday shift. He turned down Saturday or Sunday nights, and focused on doing commercials and special projects. He left WCCO in 1996.

1967 was also the year that he married his devoted wife, Helen, who was his true partner, driving him to the various emcee jobs and enabling him to make up to three events on busy nights. At one time the Diehls had over 75,000 albums, representing all kinds of music. Some had never been played. Most of them were sold at two sales in the 1980s.

They also have about 800 books on entertainment and a collection of over 400 old movies, including all of the Laurel & Hardy films. Bill and Helen founded the local chapter of the Laurel & Hardy club The Blockheads in September 1966.

Bill at WCCO in 1982.

In the fall of 1969 he began a series of commercials for Wally McCarthy’s Lindahl Olds on Highway 494 and Penn Ave. He did remote broadcasts from the dealership every Saturday morning, and the promotion became incredibly popular, making lots of money for McCarthy. Diehl would continue to be “Bill Diehl for Oldsmobile” until he left WCCO in 1996.

Diehl passed away on July 19, 2017.

Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Twin Cities Music Highlights, Twin Cities Radio Airchecks.

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