Re: A Plug For The List/NERW on WCAP

["Bill O'Neill" <billo@erols.com>]

It was a great time. I must admit, that although I expected a decent
turn-out there, it was a very impressive showing at the location.  Gary
is a very good host to those who drop by. I'd recommend it as a fun
alternative radio thing to do some Saturday this summer (and, who knows,
perhaps longer?)  The EQ'd line to the station is a generous one, well
above 8k.  The stations recently new air chain brings out the music
better than it did 15 years ago (I know, I was there back then!)  

The format is one that, IMHO, could be handily supported by a local
station that was willing to risk a greater investment in talent, perhaps
dayparted with some bird feed, but a drive time presence in AM/PM and
full weekends, where oldies are always king.  As much as I love the talk
format, hanging out with Gary for an hour or so was very reminiscent of
the former "Great AM 98 Weekend" and my few gigs at the former 'HDH
Super Sixties Weekends.  There's something to the forward moving action,
quick slices of memories (2:45 is considered lengthy) and coming up to
the posts that is tough to describe.  Hadn't heard Melanie - Brand New
Key in ages.  Oh, and Mark? Your musical knowledge of that era is...
well, scary while humbling.  And Gary, next time your "Scavenger Hunt"
includes approaching the trailer while wearing a trench coat to win a
prize, you might want to include "not JUST a trench coat.  I won't make
that same mistake again.  <g>

Bill O'Neill

Mark wrote:
> 
> Last night (Sat.7/1) I paid a visit to the "Saturday Night Sock Hop" hosted
> by Gary Francis at his ice cream stand in Chelmsford.The show airs from
> 7-10PM every Saturday night thru the Summer on WCAP (980).Since it was the
> first Saturday night off for me since the show started it's run in May,and
> also due to the fact that the famous Bill O'Neill was making a special
> guest appearance, so I,just had to stop by.Bill of course supplying his
> trademark wit and humor as needed.I also had a brief appearance on the air
> w/ Gary,as he made mention of this list and how we post our
> opinions,gripes,questions,etc about this great business, and I made mention
> of the weekly NERW reports compiled and reported by Scott Fybush,noting
> that Scott once graced the WCAP airwaves from the newsdesk.
> 
> An additional treat (thanks to Gary with a little help from Bill O') was
> hearing a early 60's vintage WCAP jingle that Gary found on a reel in his
> attic.Tape was a bit "dusty" but Bill did some "cleaning up" and dubbing to
> disc.
> 
> And Gary played many oldies not heard on a regular basis on most oldies
> stations,which he says is the norm for the show. BTW, all the tunes are
> played on site from the broadcast trailer,a rare event in today's broadcast
> scene.
> 
> "The Music Sounds Great on the Golden Great 98". Has a nice ring to
> it,IMHO.
> 
> Mark Watson