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Posted By: Jim Liddane on: 05/20/2011 20:15:54 EDT
Subject: RE: DJs = I just don't get it!

Message Detail:
Did you like what you heard of Dick Biondi?

I thought he was (and still is) really something else - his timing is impeccable.

You are dead right about the date also. He was fired from WKBW in early 1960, and went right away to (if I recall rightly) WLS in Chicago.

In Ireland, depending on weather conditions, I could pick up WKBW late at night in winter-time.

Hard to imagine that a local station in Buffalo, New York could be received 3,000 miles away in Ireland, but of course, it was putting out 50,000 watts (or shall we say, it was licensed for 50,000 - God knows how much they pumped out when the got the chance!), and I have been told that it could even be heard by US Servicemen in France around 1959.

I did not hear the show that caused all the problems for him - but WKBW management really over-reacted, and it cost them, although I think he said once that he was fired (and sometimes re-hired) 20 or 30 times in his career!

However, the WKBW decision also cost me as I could not hear him anymore!

WLS never quite made it across the Atlantic (at least not for me).

They did say it could be picked up clearly in Boston, and even in Iceland, and by ships travelling from Southampton to New York once they were half way across, but I could never get it in Ireland.

And that January 1960 Aircheck from Bob Mathers is a lovely piece of work.

I often think that if you wanted to teach somebody about rock and roll, and how it evolved, all you would have to do is get Bob's shows, from 1956 to 1966 - and let them rip, one after another.

Like you, I have those shows on my own MP3 player, mainly to compensate for the absence of Bob from the breakfast show in Dothan, Alabama, which I listened to every morning over here in Ireland via the internet.

As Ireland is five hours behind Alabama, I could tune in at 11am to hear Bob starting off at 6am!

Hopefully, his current gig will get internet access shortly, as he is one great talent and has a real feel for the oldies.

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