Ads of summers past

["David W. Harris" <dwh@totalnetnh.net>]

>From the obits:  Bob Morrell (78) died at his home in Kearsarge NH last
Friday (6/19) and Red Dunn (72) died at the veterans' home in Tilton NH
last Thursday (6/18).

To my knowledge neither of these people ever worked in radio.  Wait,
don't touch that dial!  Morrell built the family attraction Story Land
in 1954 and anyone tuning into NH radio during at least the 1960s and
early '70s cannot have escaped hearing this jingle:  "Let's all go to
Stor-y Land, New Hamp-shire's wonderful Stor-y Land, on Route Six-teen
in Glen, New Hamp-shire!"  Those ubiquitous ads never enticed me to
actually visit the place, but the jingle is an indelible summer memory
that will undoubtedly still be lodged in my brain as I gasp my last
breath on Earth.

Red Dunn was a local character in Laconia, the sort of person described
by those wishing to be charitable as "colorful."  When not rolling
around the city in his car with American flags flapping in the wind, he
could be found speaking out at municipal hearings or calling up local
talk shows.  He unsuccessfully ran for the mayor's and governor's
offices.  My memory of this man, however, is connected with what I
considered at the time to be the dumbest radio spot I had ever heard.  I
still think it's dumb, and yet...25 or so years later I still remember
the darned ad from WLNH.  The spot mostly consisted of vaguely patriotic
march music, with an announcer blurting out Red Dunn's name every 7
seconds at the end of a musical phrase:  "Da-da-dah-da, da-da-dah-da,
da-da-dah-dah-da-dah-dah-dah, RED DUNN!"  Repeat this several times,
then conclude with the information that if you need your driveway paved,
you should call Red Dunn.  "When it's done by Dunn, it's well done!"
Oh, the memories.

Now a different kind of blast from the past--SS from EBRadio wrote on
5/12/98:
"This weekend I visited what I think is the new WLNH/WBHG FM transmitter

site. It was on Parade Road (Route 106) in Laconia. In front of the site

was a white house which has had many additions to it apparently."

Yes, and from the the early 1960s to the early 1980s that white house
(but not the attached barn part) was home to the studios of WLNH, which
simulcast on AM & FM during those years.  Announcements like "It's 72
degrees on Parade Road" used to be heard throughout the day.  WKXL
Concord, by the way, still announces the temperature "on Redington Road"
in addition to the Weather Service reading from Concord Airport.

Getting back to 'LNH, of all their air personalities in the 1960s, the
one I remember is public affairs person Esther Peters.  Last time I
checked she could still be heard chatting up a storm Sunday mornings at
9 on WEMJ...some 44 years after she started in Laconia radio.

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