RandyOnTheRadio

Well, the mystery of who this was is now solved. It is Jessie Scott. Thanks to Bob, who owns WIXZ 950 in Steubenville, Ohio, who helped me to solve the mystery. This was recorded, (are you ready)? On an old 8 track tape, so the quality is so-so. This takes you back to the earliest days of WDVE in Pittsburgh.

For some reason, I was up early on April 18, 2001, and I popped a tape in and recorded Pete at WJPA. Some of his stuff still makes me laugh. I worked at WJPA for about 3 weeks, only doing a Saturday afternoon air-shift. The drive was a bit much, and my pick-up truck seemed to die every time I had to drive there, (or drive home afterwards). So, I parted ways with WJPA, but it was all good. They were gracious, and understanding. Pete is a great guy with a great sense of humor. Most of the air-staff stays at WJPA for very long periods, so management must be doing something right. I hope y'all enjoy this trip down memory lane, back to April 18, 2001. Sorry that the audio quality isn't better, but the signal, to where I was living at that time, was kind of sketchy. One must work with, what one has at the time.

I recorded this in the studio, while I was on the air, the day before Labor Day, 1999. (September 5 to be exact, and if memory serves me correctly, I was working 7 - midnight at that time). The station was doing their Super Summer Weekend, which was kind of fun to do. Hope y'all enjoy this trip down Pittsburgh Radio's memory lane.

Dennis and I were friends for a good bit of years, which is why I have more photos of him, than others. All the pics posted here, were taken by me in the early 80's. This air-check was Dennis' last day on the air at WEDO. For non-radio folks, you have no idea, how one day you're here, and tomorrow, you're gone. It happened to Dennis, and it's happened to me also. It's the nature of radio. This was recorded from the original master tape, so the audio quality is pretty darned good. WEDO, once upon a time, was a force, in the Pittsburgh market. It is a daylight only, AM station, which means, at sundown, they go off the air. But in the mid 70's, they were kicking butt in the ratings. I interned there in 1974, which is how I met Dennis. I hope you enjoy this latest air-check from my collection.

HOPEFULLY, I can edit the title later, once I find out who the jock is in this air-check. It was recorded, (are you ready)? On an old 8 track tape, so the quality is so-so. Any help on this one would be welcomed.

WWKS-FM, 106.7 was in Beaver Falls, PA. I interviewed there once. The studios were on the second floor of some old dress shop, and I just remember the place was kind of ratty. LOL. Well, Cindy used to be a friend of mine, so I ran a cassette tape on December 15, 1991 and recorded her shift. It was a good sounding station, and I've always thought Cindy sounded great on the air. She worked in several different Pittsburgh stations during her radio years. I haven't talked to Cindy since the 90's, and I couldn't find a pic of her in my personal photos, (and I know I have some, just can't find them), so this pic is from her Feces Book page. I have no idea who currently owns 106.7 or what the call letters are. Anyway, I hope this brings back some radio history memories for y'all.

This was recorded, by me, in the studio, (on cassette of course), on November 18, 1998. I had turned in my two-week notice, and was working out my last week on the air at this point. The photo was taken at one of the MANY Oldies 106 remote broadcasts that I had to appear at. The person in the pic with me, was a listener, who was a teenager by the name of Michael. Michael was a great kid, and called the request line a lot. On this day, Michael and his dad came out to meet me. (Michael's dad actually took the photo of us, with the Oldies 106 van in the background). I loved working at this station, but I didn't like working 105 hours per week, hence, my departure. Of all of the radio stations that I've worked at, Oldies 106 was the one that I wore like a badge of honor. During this time frame, WAVH was one of the highest rated stations in Mobile, (I believe we were #3 at the time), and I had the highest rating in the station. It's because, I loved working there, and I tried to make it a party atmosphere on the air, and everybody was invited to the party. By the way, our liner guy, who did our promos, was none other than Jim Merkel, who worked at Pittsburgh's 3WS for years. When I got hired at Oldies 106, I thought we were owned by the same folks who owned 3WS, because of Jim Merkel doing our liners. Jim Merkel is really a great air-talent.

I recorded this off of the air, back in October 2001. I've never met R.D. Summers, (real name: Tom Renkenberger), but I thought he was very entertaining doing his Oldies Diner on 3-W-S Radio. He passed away some time back, and to be honest, too young. I wish I had a better photo of R.D, but I don't. (I looked online like crazy, and couldn't find anything). Anyway, I hope you enjoy this latest installment from my air-check collection.

Okay, it's a play on words. It was the station's automation playing. It's me that you'll hear on the station's sweepers, station I.D.'s, etc. The WIXZ jingles are from the Westchester days, from when Westchester, (now defunct), owned WIXZ in Pittsburgh. Bob, the owner of the station, is attempting to make WIXZ 950 sound as much like the one in Pittsburgh, as he can, with doing music updates, etc. He even went as far, (at my nudging him), to obtain the WIXZ call letters, right after he bought the station in Steubenville, Ohio.

This was recorded in my apartment, on a cassette, when I was desperately trying to get a job on the air in Mobile. I'd moved there for another type of job, which I hated. So, trying to make ends meet, I did almost anything for employment. I even delivered milk to schools for a short spell. I was home on this day, I really wanted a job at Oldies 106, but hadn't even been interviewed at this point. I popped the tape in, and recorded this short little tidbit of audio history. Charlie Ocean was a "name" in Mobile radio. I wasn't from Mobile, so I had no idea who he was. I was warned by my program director, when I finally got hired, stay out of Charlie's way, BLAH BLAH BLAH. Well, I followed Charlie on the air, 5 nights a week, and to make a long story short, Charlie was actually a pretty cool guy to work with. My program director, Tim Rose? Not so much. Charlie passed away, maybe about 10 years ago now. I had no idea until a year or two ago. Charlie's real name was Robert Murphy, which I never understood why he didn't use Bob Murphy on the air, but who knows? So, I dedicate this air-check to Charlie Ocean. Hope y'all enjoy.

I interned at WEDO Radio in McKeesport in the summer of 1974, so I got to know all the jocks that worked there, plus a few office folks, such as Dave Leiner, who was a salesman at the time. Also, Richard "Dick" Ruby, who was our chief engineer. On air jocks at this time were Dennis Reed, Joe Palka, Tom Edwards. The format was Oldies, with newer songs being labeled, "FUTURE GOLD". The request line was called the "Gold Diggers Request Line", and the phone number was 412-462-0316. (Amazing that I can remember that phone number all these years later). Anyway, I recorded this air-check of Tom Edwards during Tom's afternoon drive shift, on October 21, 1975. It was recorded on one of those carry around radios, with a built in cassette recorder. I think it was a Panasonic. I cleaned up the audio as best I could. Hope it brings back some memories for some folks. Many of the businesses that were sponsors are long gone... if not, all of them.

I recorded this short little air-check, back on May 27, 1986. If memory serves me correctly, it was recorded to my old open reel tape deck, then dubbed onto my hard drive years later. I was never a fan of DVE myself. I think I recorded this when I was recording Jimmy & Steve's final moments at DVE. I applied to a lot of stations in the Burgh. DVE was never, ever, one of them.

I was up early on this morning, back on May 27, 1986. This was just a short spell before Jimmy & Steve were "dismissed" by WDVE. Give a close listen to the first song, (edited, of course), and you can clearly hear, it was from a scratched, vinyl LP. In all of my years of working in radio, I never played vinyl on the air. The music first, was on carts, which then went to CD's, which then went to digital mp3 stuff. I was always happy, that I didn't have to screw with vinyl records. Hope you enjoy this flashback.

Recorded by me, back in March 2023, this is an edited air-check of G-Whiz George, and his Cruisin' Sunday Night program that airs on WJPA. If you're a fan of Doo-Wop and a lot of different Oldies, this is your guy.

Charlie Apple was one of those Pittsburgh "institution" DJ's. Everybody knew about him. This is the only air-check that I have on him, that I recorded myself, May 28, 2011. Charlie passed away in 2019 after a brief illness. The photo of the trailer is where the studios operated from, at that time. The owner of the station was Stan Wall, who has also passed away.

I worked at 95 KSJ, only for a month or so. The job was okay, and Bill Black, the program director was AWESOME. But it was part-time, and I needed more hours, so I jumped over to WAVH, Oldies 106, in the same market. I actually did both stations for about 2 weeks, because I didn't want to leave Bill Black, high and dry for my air-shift. This was the only air-check that I had of myself from there. The audio quality isn't that great, due to the fact that it was recorded to a cassette with a boom box. Only way I could figure out how to do it. Anyway, I hope it brings back a memory or two, if you're from the Mobile, Alabama area. The pics of me, were from Oldies 106. I didn't have any of me, from 95 KSJ.

This one, I don't know the EXACT date on. All that I know is, I was stuffed into my program director's office, and told to record Ted Frost that day. This tape was the result. I worked at WKHJ off and on, from 1991 thru 2000, weekends and when they needed me for fill-ins. The photo in the video, was the actual studio location, before the 1996 expansion. It was a lot nicer inside the building, than it looked outside. If you have any questions and such, just leave them in the comments. And no, I do not have a photo of Ted Frost.

This was Pat Bridges on the air at Variety 96, back on March 22, 1997. Yes, I recorded it myself. (Not bad, for coming from a cassette tape and recorded from my receiver at home). I worked with Pat many times over the years. The first was at WIXZ in 1979 where we met as co-workers. The last was when we worked for Steel City Media. I worked at WLTJ, she worked at WRRK, next door. I know I have more pics of Pat, but I can't find them. These were the only two that I could locate. Both pics of are her, and myself. The first one was a day we met for lunch at Bob Evans. The second was in the studio at WLTJ, when the station was still in Parkway Center. I hope you enjoy the air-check. Lots more to come.

Back in the days when I was recording all kinds of air-checks. This was recorded to a cassette, back on October 3, 1986. I've never met, or worked with Sean, but always thought he sounded best when he was at 97, before he crossed over to the "Promised Land", WDVE. I got it. More money, etc., for him. Three stations I never wanted to work at in the Pittsburgh Market. Those were, KDKA, WAMO, and WDVE. All the others were okay in my book. KDKA... to stuffy. WAMO... wrong ethnicity. WDVE... too full of themselves. Anyway, I have no pics of Sean, so all the photos in this video were taken from the cover of the Y-97 record album. I've got some more Sean air-checks on the way. None of those, are from the Promised Land, WDVE.

I recorded this directly off-air, back on July 18, 2001. Amazing what one can find, when one is digging through an old box of MINI DISCS. (That's what it was recorded on). I loved the Mini Disc format. Too bad, it never took off.

Yep, this was me, back on January 21, 2001. Little did I know, that all of us "weekenders" would be let go within a couple of weeks of this air-date. In the words of country singer, Bill Anderson... BOO ON RADIO. (Those words are in his song, Country DJ).

I just found another old Candy & Mike show on a Mini-Disc. It was taped off of the air, AM Radio, so quality isn't the greatest, but it's posted for historical value. WZUM 1590 is gone, and sadly, so is Mike. I hope you enjoy this radio flashback, from over 20 years ago.

I believe this was a syndicated radio show, although I noticed a very thick Pittsburgh accent on Little Boss Man. Another air-check that I ran across on my Mini-Discs.

I've been friends with Candy and Mike for many years. Mike passed away January 2023, and I ran across this old air-check I'd recorded, when they were at WZUM 1590 AM. This is when the studios were in the building on Buttermilk Hollow Road in West Mifflin. The solo photos of Candy and Mike were actually taken at the WZUM studio. The photos of Candy & Mike together, were taken at the White Oak American Legion. I hope you enjoy this old air-check. Even I appear, in this one.

I recorded this directly off-air, back on July 18, 2001. Amazing what one can find, when one is digging through an old box of MINI DISCS. (That's what it was recorded on). I loved the Mini Disc format. Too bad, it never took off.