WIXY (Wick-sie) was born in 1965, when Norman Wain, Bob Weiss, and Joe Zingale got together and bought the station (WDOK)on the 1260 frequency in Cleveland. Their vision was to create a modern Top 40 rock station to rule the airwaves in Cleveland.
Zingale, Wain, Weiss, and the mayor of Lakewood originally owned just a small piece of the station, while the majority of the station was owned by Harry & Lucille Stone of American Greetings. Once WIXY got rolling, Zingale, Wain and Weiss bought out the Stones.
July 18, 1966
The station went on the air in December 1965. Though tightly programmed, it had a fresh, new sound. The story almost parallels that of Los Angeles, another stagnant market, in which a new format went on the air in early 1965 and made history. But that would be a different story.
The original lineup: Al Gates, mornings, followed by Howie Lund and Johnny Michaels in middays, Johnny Canton in late afternoon/early evening, "Mark Allen" (Bob Dearborn) in the evening, and Bobby Magic all night. The first program director was Gerry Spinn.
WIXY bowed with the famous PAMS Series 29 jingles, "Go Go," which were still almost new. It was the first PAMS series to run in Cleveland since 1961, when KYW ran Series 17, and WABQ used the "Clyde" package.
WIXY was originally a "chicken rock" outlet: hipper than MOR, but not quite a real rocker. That would be the equivalent of today's Adult Contemporary format. Later, WIXY really got rockin'. Bob Dearborn remembers: "The thinking was that we couldn't beat two well-established stations like WHK and WKYC at their own game. However, we tried going a little harder (more traditional Top 40) on my show in the evening, and it seemed to catch on. By February of 1966, we were "Chicken" no more."
DJs in the 60s and 70s.One of the great stories from the early days of WIXY was the hiring of Larry Morrow. Larry was well known in Cleveland as "Duke Windsor" on CKLW. Norman Wain considered the hiring of Larry a major coup.
About the time that Larry started on WIXY, Norm went out of town on vacation. Larry and Program Director Johnny Canton felt that using the name "Duke Windsor" on WIXY would be misleading, since Larry was no longer working in Windsor. They felt that Larry was well known enough in town that the audience would recognize him no matter what name he used. The decision was made to use Larry's real name, and nickname him "the Duker."
Several days later, Norm was driving back into town, and heard his new DJ calling himself "Larry Morrow, the Duker." He went ballistic, called Larry on the phone, and fired him, yelling, "I hired Duke Windsor, not Larry Morrow!" Later Norm calmed down, rehired Larry, and he has been a fixture in Cleveland radio ever since.
Later, Norm hired another DJ, an unknown from North Carolina, and began a process that led John Larsh to Cleveland, a springboard he would use to gain national fame and a reputation as one of the best DJs ever. John was a young talent who was working the graveyard shift at WAYS in Charlotte. At age 20, he had already worked at 6 different radio stations. Working in Greensboro at WCOG, he had inspired a young man named Rigdon Dees to become a disk jockey. When Rigdon grew up, he shortened his first name to Rick.
John went to Cleveland and became WIXY's evening jock. The jock for that time slot had a copyrighted name, no matter what his real name might be. It was a name from a 1940s radio serial, subtitled "the All American Boy." But, when John Larsh became "Jack Armstrong," a process began that would mark Top 40 radio from that point on. Today, Jack Armstrong is a name in the industry that ranks with Dan Ingram, Cousin Brucie, The Real Don Steele, Gary Owens, and Robert W. Morgan, and it all started at WIXY-1260 in Cleveland, Ohio.
John started on WIXY in summer of 1966. He instantly became very popular. He sounded young, hip, friendly. His two imaginary sidekicks, the Gorilla and the Old Timer, gave him a dimension that most DJs lacked.
Your radio is tuned to WIXY in October 1966, and talking (very fast) into the microphone is John Larsh aka Jack Armstrong. [ LISTEN ] (22:39)
The competition (WKYC and WHK) had Jerry G and Russ "the Weird Beard" Knight. Both were popular, but Jack made massive inroads on their popularity. By October 1966, Billboard listed "Jack Armstrong, WIXY" as the fourth biggest record buying influence in the city.
Jim LaBarbara
June 2, 1968The marriage between John Larsh and WIXY-1260 lasted about 6 months. Jerry G was going to Chicago. WKYC offered John the evening show, a TV show, a 50 kilowatt night time voice, and a big contract. With fingers crossed, John crossed the street to go to work for the competition. Unable to call himself "Jack Armstrong" because of WIXY's copyright, he renamed himself "Big Jack," and history began to be made.
September 3, 1972 Mike Kelly spends 21 days, 3-hours and 58-minutes on a Ferris wheel at Cedar Point Amusement park.Jack's replacement on WIXY was Dick Kemp, the "Wild Child." Dick had come North from somewhere down South to work in Chicago at WGES, which became WYNR (Winner) even as he spoke. WYNR was one of Gordon McLendon's failed strokes of genius. I don't know where Dick went between then (1962) and WIXY, but along the way, he had acquired quite a bag of tricks....
"You know me, baby... I'm the Wild Child, and I live in the woods... right there with the bear and the big oak tree...." Meanwhile, Jack was knocking himself out on WKYC, locked into NBC formatics, news every half hour..... and losing. "KY turned me loose, then they strangled my a** with news... 'oh, my, someone at the UN has passed wind.... we must get down there to cover it....'" "I went up against the Wild Child on WIXY and basically got my a** kicked for about a year. Later, we began to catch up, but it was too late. The powers that be had already decided that heads must roll...."
Ironically, while WKYC was only third in Cleveland behind WIXY and WHK, it was a major night time voice over the Eastern half of the nation, and Big Jack was making quite a name for himself on the national scene.
On February 1, 1968, WKYC bowed a format called "Power Radio." Several DJs were let go, including Armstrong, and Jim LaBarbara, who went to work at WIXY.
WIXY never batted an eyelash. They were winning, and played to stay on top. Their promotions were humongous. 10,000 people showed up to watch WIXY DJs milk a cow.
They gave away 150,000 beach bags one summer. They ran a contest to find the girl with the biggest chest in Cleveland, which nearly caused a riot, and almost got Jim LaBarbara put in jail. Norm Wain was planning to get Jim arrested, so WIXY could do remotes from his jail cell.
Jim ran down Norm's car as it was leaving the scene, and convinced Norm to let him inside. Years later, Jim astounded everybody by remembering the names of the two co-winners - Sheila Moore (Chesty) and Suzanne Zilkowsky (Super Bod.) Jim did the measuring, because he was the only bachelor.
Jim ran down Norm's car as it was leaving the scene, and convinced Norm to let him inside. Years later, Jim astounded everybody by remembering the names of the two co-winners - Sheila Moore (Chesty) and Suzanne Zilkowsky (Super Bod.) Jim did the measuring, because he was the only bachelor.
Miss Hot Pants Contest.As time went on, WIXY changed. Billy Bass became the only black DJ working at a Top 40 station in Cleveland. Mike Reneiri became one of the first morning shock jocks, mirroring the likes of DJs Larry Lujack and Fred Winston. Apparently, Mike took it to new levels.
"Mike Reneiri eats nails for breakfast," proclaimed billboards all over the city. "Mike Reneiri made a career out of having a hangover," remembered another observer.
WGAR thought it needed a morning shock jock, too, and hired a young man from Palmdale, California named Don Imus. If you ever wonder where Don got his start, it was right there in Cleveland, "that sump pump of a mistake on a lake," as Don so fondly remembers it.
Joe Finan was another name who worked at WIXY. Joe went on to program stations in other parts of the country, like KTLK in Denver.
Walt Tiburski, fresh out of broadcasting school in 1969, got a job at WIXY as a go-fer. "Go fer coffee, go fer the paper, basically anything that Joe Finan and Larry Morrow want," Norm Wain told him. "I'll give you $65 a week and all the records you can steal."
19 odd years later, when Larry Morrow interviewed Walt Tiburski over the phone on one of the WIXY reunions, the tables had turned. Walt owned several radio stations by then, one of which was WQAL, where Larry worked. Larry's one time go-fer was now his employer!
During the early 70s, WIXY continued to rule the roost in Cleveland. WKYC was sold and became all news WWWE. WHK went country. WGAR made some waves for a few years. Many FM stations rose up, but none were able to dethrone WIXY.
But all good things must end. WIXY's demise came in 1976, when it was sold, and became WMJC, one of the first of the "Majic" stations.
It's rule was only a little over ten years, but today, WIXY is the most remembered of the old Top 40 stations in Cleveland. And, it has acquired a lasting reputation among radio fans as one of the great stations of the Top 40 era.
In September, 2011 WIXY1260Online is born, paying tribute to WIXY AM and briging back the music and sounds of the station and paving the way for a new generation of radio, on the internet. WIXY 1260 Online [ LISTEN ] or [ VISIT ] the station.
WHO WORKED AT WIXY? Here is the list: Mark Allen, Jack Armstrong, Victor Boc, Gary Drake, Chuck Dunaway, Craig Edwards, Ted Ferguson, Joe Finan, Truckin Tom Cookin Kent, Chuck Knapp, Jim LaBarbara, Jeff McKee, Tom Murphy, Chris 'The Mighty' Quinn, Mike Reineri, Joey Reynolds, Mark Roberts, Bill Rock, Dave Scott, and Bob Shannon.
Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: WIXY1260, Rock Radio Scrapbook.
