memories of 'RKO

[Donna Halper <dlh@donnahalper.com>]

Rick wrote:
>Yes, 'TIC was one of the few to talk about the antenna switch... they'd even
>"billboard" it... "We've got the antenna switch coming up in about a
>minute..."

When I was working my way through college as a "hitline operator" at WRKO,
when it was time for the pattern change, the on-air jock, his tech, and
anyone else who happened to be around would all shout out "PATTERN CHANGE"--
it was kind of a ritual.  Once, and only once, it went into an open mike--
my recollection is that Mel was not amused (Mel Phillips, alias "Mel
Monitor" because he was constantly listening, and he would always manage to
catch the slightest mistake you made...).  To avoid the appearance of
'having fun'-- I mean doing a Drake top-40 format was serious business--  we
had to be extra careful that only those of us in the studios heard our
little jokes.  Some of the stuff we did was actually kind of cool-- once,
one of the techs, I think it was Chet Kelly, changed the WRKO #1 song
jingle-- it was supposed to go "Number one then... and number one now"--
first you played an oldie, of course, and then followed it with the number
one song from today.  He edited it to play as "Number one then... and number
one then."  And in spite of Mel, somehow the cart got switched so an
unsuspecting jock ended up playing it...  Anybody else have memories of
on-air goofs, intentional or otherwise???  

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