Barney Pip

Bernard G. Pippenger II was born in Indiana on May 26, 1936.

Barney suffered from bipolar disorder which was not called that in 1967. It was called maniac depression. At one point, when he was working at WCFL, that Barney put himself in the hospital.

June 1966 Pip and Ron Britain

When he came out of the hospital the first time, he went back to work on WCFL. A few years later, Barney put himself in the hospital again but, when he came out, Lou Witz, the then current gm of WCFL would not put him back on-the-air.

Barney's career, at that point, started spiraling downward. That was in 1970. He went from there to doing afternoon drive at WHHY, Montgomery, Alabama. He got fired from WHHY because they decided that they didn't want to pay him as much as they were paying him versus the other djs at the station for the size of the market.

His next job was a country station in Miami. He was fired from there also. His next job was at Top 40 KXOL, Fort Worth, where he was hired by Program Director John Rook, formerly of WLS. This was in 1971. He did well at KXOL. Early in 1972, Ken Draper, the PD who hired him at WCFL, was consulting WPIX-FM in New York. Draper immediately called Barney and offered him a job doing evenings and the music director position.

Barney's favorite New York eateries

There were many nights in 1972 after work in New York City where Barney could be seen eating at one of his three favorite places - the Carnegie Deli, Nathans in Time Square and the Howard Johnson's by Grand Central Station.

Along with many of the other jocks, Barney used to go out to eat with the New York City record company promotion men. The one promo man who Barney was friendliest with was Juggy Gayles of Atlantic Records. Those nights were a lot of fun. The New York Daily News, who when it came to running a radio station, were so tight, they squeaked, got rid of Draper's consultant contract and fired anybody who was not making minimum AFTRA wages. Barney got fired along with Draper. This was some time in early 1973.

WCFL
September 1, 1967

WCFL
December 31, 1968

The penetration of FM stations in New York City in 1972 was minimal. FM was still in its infancy as a medium for top forty radio. WABC, in the spring 1972 book pulled about a 23 share. Barney pulled about a 4 share on his evening show. WPIX-FM pulled about a 2.9 24 hours a day. WOR-FM pulled about a 2 24 hours a day.

WWDJ pulled about a 1.3. This all means that other than WABC, Barney was the highest rated dj playing music in New York in the spring '72 book. The amazing part of the book was that Dave Herman, doing mornings on WNEW-FM pulled a zero. Who knew that a zero was even possible, especially for a major market radio station.

Fellow jock Ron Brittain and Barney on WCFL in October, 1967. [ LISTEN ] (31:49)

Starting off with a promo for the upcoming ‘New’ Dick Biondi ’68 show, here’s Ron Brittain and Barney, not together, but mixed inside this 30 minute partial scope of what sounds like a couple of different day recordings. Listen to the assortment of jingles that WCFL was using.

In the summer of 1967, Barney, and a local Chicago group, The Rovin' Kind, recorded his version of the 1965 hit song by Ian Whitcomb, "You Turn Me On". The single was released on Smash Records. This is the "B" side of that single, "Can't Sit Down".

From 1973 to 1979 Barney was in and out of the hospital and not on the radio.

In 1980, Barney briefly returned to radio for a period of months but, he went back in the hospital, then came back to the station and went on-the-air again.

Sometime in 1981 he went off the radio and just lived in a condo in Indianapolis. WJMK, Chicago, did a 60s DJ reunion in 1985 that Barney was a part of. Asked what had happened to him over the years - he gave little details. He did go back on the radio for a while in 1986.

He took a trip from Indianapolis to Long Island to see Bob Dayton whom he had worked with at WPIX-FM. Dayton was doing afternoon drive at WGLI, Babylon, at the time.

JUKEBOX SATURDAY NIGHT
WGLI 1987

Dayton convinced Barney to do morning drive on WGLI for about 9 months.

This was the last time that Barney was ever on the radio. When someone who has bipolar disorder reaches the age of 50, the effects will usually subside. This happened to Barney. He was in better shape after the age of 50 in regard to bipolar disorder than he ever was. He was living in his condo in Indianapolis and was relatively peaceful and happy.

During the early 90s Barney seemed to be in pretty good shape. But on February 17, 1994 he was the victim of a tragic accident.

He was backing his car out of his condo driveway, and the car ran into a fence causing carbon monoxide to seep up through the floor boards. The fumes quickly made Barney pass out at the wheel. He was smoking a cigarette at the time. The lit cigarette caught the car's upholstery on fire and he was burned to death. Barney Pip was 57 years old. He was laid to rest at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, IN.

WHERE DID BARNEY WORK? Here is the list: WHOT, WOKY, WCFL, WHHY, KXOL, and WGLI.

Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Airchexx