WNDR

In 1957 WNDR was the second radio station in Syracuse to feature rock music.

Top 50 Tunedex October, 1959.

Strangely, the one that had set the stage for the others, WOLF did not become a full time rocker until 1959. WNDR became the most popular with the teens in the late 50's, and was in many ways the prototype Top 40 in the market.

The sound of WNDR was typical of the emerging rock radio genre, faced paced, energetic disc jockeys with "picks to click" & "wax to watch" selections, frequent singing jingles idetifing the station and its slogan, a weekly list of Top 50 hits. Also typical were the large number of commercials geared to the lucrative teen market, as well as "newscast" featuring electronic sound effects.

It was at WNDR that "Dandy Dan" Leonard became a household name, thanks to his unique announcing style. Leonard was also instrumental in booking many national touring rock acts that came to Central New York. His involvement with local bands made him an entrepreneur of the 1950's rock & roll scene.

TERRY WAS THE MANN!

Terry Mann on April 14, 1961.

Mann would later work at CHUM, CKFH and WKBW - the only jock to work at all three.
[ LISTEN ]. (20:25)

Terry in the studio c.early 1970s.

Following their purchase by Ivy Broadcasting in 1959, WOLF Radio AM 1490 also entered the rock field. Their disc jockey lineup consisted of Bob Kennedy, Bill Towre, Ed Morgan, Ted Hackett and Eastwood High alumnus Emerson "Dusty" Rhodes (one of the famed greatWOLF "Sandmen") They readied for their battle with WNDR. PS- "Dusty" Rhodes would be the first in a long impressive line of great WOLF broadcasters that I would listen to as a youth on my parents old tube style Zenith radio (made in early 40's) and still plays to this day.

Rock was spreading in Syracuse and local movie theaters also played a large part. Top rock feature films. Rock Around The Clock, Don't Knock The Rock, Rock, Rock, Rock, Jailhouse Rock, Mr. Rock and Roll and Go Johnny Go graced the marquees of RKO Keiths, Loew's State and Loew's Strand Theaters downtown plus drive-in movies all around the Central New York area.

The WNDR building 1969.

In the mid 1960’s WNDR became Central New York’s number one pop music station until WOLF changed format from country music to top 40 in 1969 as they both competed for a 18-34 year old audience.

In the 80s WNDR Musicradio was a solid gold oldies format. In 1989, the calls were changed to WNSS and the changed to an all news format “W-News”. In 1995, the WNDR call letters were assigned to FM 103.9 MHz in Mexico,N.Y., then changed to WVOQ in 1998.

Howie Castle and his rapid fire delivery on August 29, 1968. [ LISTEN ] (7:50), and this aircheck has Bobby Ryan also spinning records in August of 1968.
[ LISTEN ] (29:46)

Bobby is doing his thing playing groovy records in between classic commercials and his normal DJ chatter.

Bud Ballou with The Beatles Hour [ LISTEN ] (3:09), Dan Leonard to Jack MacNamee, November 21, 1969 [ LISTEN ] (17:23), Don Bombard’s Saturday Night Oldies Show (a.k.a. Bob Shannon WCBS-FM), 1971 [ LISTEN ] (16:11)

WHO WORKED AT WNDR? Here is the list: "Dandy Dan" Leonard, "Jolly Rolly" Fowler, "Mad Man" Morton, Russ "The Moose" Syracuse, "The Movin Man" Gary Vann, Joey Reynolds, Bud Ballou, Dusty Rhodes, Peter C. Cavanaugh, Bobby Ryan, Don Bayley, Jim O'Brien, Don Bombard (later known as Bob Shannon) and Joe Galuski.

Some materials contained in this article were originally published by the following: Rock Radio Scrapbook.