Nightcap

[Sid Schweiger]

>>> Funny thing about Robie's implosion on WABC was how in a world without
> cell phones, instant messages or email it seemed like every college
> student in Boston was glued to WABC within an hour. I was in my car
> near BU with my mouth open wondering how long it wold continue.

Can you describe the sign off?<<

Roby had been hired by Rick Sklar to do a short (two-hour) midday shift, but before he got on the air even once (he had come from WQAM in Miami) he decided that snow skiing couldn't be that different from the water skiing he was used to.  He showed up for his first air shift in a body cast, and according to Sklar it was downhill from there.  When Sklar finally decided that it wasn't working out, he gave Roby two weeks' notice and had him give Charlie Greer (the overnight jock for many years, and the guy perhaps most famous for the iambic-pentameter live reads for "Dennison's, a men's clothier, Route 22, Union, New Jersey") a vacation.

This was at the time of the famous "Paul is dead" rumor, and Roby, evidently deciding he had nothing to lose, seized on the rumor and destroyed the format by turning WABC's powerhouse nighttime signal into a talk format (way ahead of its time).  Much of the US, South America and western Europe learned of the rumor that night from Roby's show, and hysterical teen-aged girls started calling the station and overloaded the ABC switchboard such that no one could get a call in or out of the company.  Roby played all the so-called "clues" to Paul's demise and discussed them at length on the air.  He took some calls from some college radio stations where some of their DJs had seized on some other clues as well.

The overnight newsman managed to get a call out to Sklar.  Rick called fill-in DJ Les Marshak, asking him to meet Rick in the ABC lobby.  They went up to the sixth floor together with a security guard, put Les in studio 8B (auxiliary air) and had him put on the air, taking Roby off.  On the air Roby's voice just disappeared into a segue of three or four songs, and suddenly Les' voice was asking people not to call about the rumors Roby had been discussing, and he started playing the format again.

The air-check is here:  http://www.musicradio77.com/images/robylast.mp3

Sid Schweiger
IT Manager, Entercom New England
20 Guest St / 3d Floor
Brighton MA  02135-2040