Imus, Mike and the Mad Dog, & Doris from Rego Park: The Groundbreaking History of WFAN

When I don't listen to the radio, I like to read about radio personalities and stations.  There are very few books that discuss one particular radio station, but I found this one and downloaded it for my Amazon Kindle.

It gives a detailed history of the station as it was developed by Jeff Smuylan of Emmis Broadcasting in 1987.  It first came to 1050 AM as it succeeded country music station WHN at that frequency.  Please see this entry for a review I did about a book on WHN.  It did have a hard time when it first started, but it really took off in 1988 when it moved to 660 AM and Imus was made morning host after WNBC ended its long run at that frequency.

The book discussed many of the personalities such as Mike Francesa, Chris Russo, Chis Carlin, Russ Salzberg, Kevin Burkhardt, Mark Malusis, Howie Rose, Steve Somers, Jim Lampley and many others.  Some of  these personalities have stayed with the station for many years while others have moved on to other media outlets.

I was impressed with the chapter that discussed many of the regular callers such as Doris From Rego Park.  She had phoned in during the overnight hours, so I never had the pleasure of hearing her phone into WFAN.  There is also Bruce from Flushing who is not me.  Some years back a neighbor asked me if I was that called to WFAN.

Over the years I have listened to WFAN intermittantly.  I usually only listen for 20-30 minutes at a time as umpteen calls about yesterday's game can get boring.  I never phoned into the station as I have heard stories that one may have to wait up to 90 minutes to get on the air.  I do think that regular callers don't have to wait very long.

I commend Tim Sullivan for a fine job of documenting the history of the first sports talk radio station.  I hope that somebody writes a history of WCBS-FM.  Maybe after I retire I'll take a stab at it.

The Fest for Beatles Fans with a Surprise meeting with Art Shamsky of the 1969 New York Mets.

It was 50 years ago toady, the Beatles  came to America for the first time and appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show.  Since 1974 there has been a Fest for Beatles Fans usually held in Secaucus, NJ.  We went in 2002 shortly after the passing of George Harrison.  This year it was held at the Hyatt next to Grand Central Terminal.  It was a three day event.

Lee in Front of a Beatles Cut Out

As we came in we were overwhelmed by the number of people there. Someone said there were 8,000 attendees.  We started out at a room called the  Cavern where there was a contest of amateur musicians covering Beatles songs acoustically.  From there we went upstairs where there were artists showing their  Beatles related this works. There were also memorabilia dealers selling  rare recordings and videos.  We unexpectedly encounter 1969 New York Mets star Art Shamsky.  Who was selling his book and other baseball memorabilia.  We bought a copy of his book which he autographed.  He was kind enough to take a picture with us.

Shamsky, A., & Zeman, B. (2004). The magnificent seasons. New York: T. Dunne Books

Facebook friends Gary Fishbein and Fred Velez were at the meeting.  I ran into Gary without a New York Mets uniform, but didn’t see Fred.

We went to the Empire State Ballroom which was absolutely mobbed.  There were people of all ages, but I think the late baby boomers like myself predominated.  We saw a performance by Chad and Jeremy and an interview of Patty Boyd.  Donovan gave about a 45 minute performance singing most of his hits from the mid to late 1960s.

At 6 PM Cousin Brucie broadcasted his SiriusXM show from the fest.  He interviewed several people from the audience who described their enthusiasm for the Fab 4.  He also interviewed Donovan, Patty Boyd, and Chad and Jeremy.  We left when his show concluded at 9 PM.  There was so much to do and see there, but only so much time.  We could only be at one place at a time.

Cousin Brucie at the Beatles Fest

I couldn't get a close up

Rembembering Ralph Kiner

I found out yesterday that Hall of Fame slugger and Mets broadcaster Ralph Kiner passed away at age 91.  Ralph and I have the distinction of being with the Mets since day one.  I remember that first game in April 1962 when the Mets lost to the St. Louis Cardinals 11-4.  Back in the early days Ralph with Bob Murphy and Lindsay Nelson did both TV and radio broadcasts for the Mets.  Those three stayed together until 1979 when Lindsey left for San Francisco.

Bob Murphy stayed with the Mets until he retired at the end of the 2003 season.  While Murph moved to the radio side Kiner did TV.  One his many sidekicks over the years was Tim McCarver.  Ralph was also known for his Kiner's Korner post game show.  He stayed with the Mets on TV on a part-time basis until this past season

Over the years Ralph made some very infamous gaffes.  A few were:

• The American Cyanide Company
• Gary Cooper, the catcher for the Met
• George Strawberry
• Manufacturers Hangover Trust
• Tim McCarthy

Ralph Kiner was a Hall of Fame slugger who played most of his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates.  He led or tied for the leagues lead in home runs for 7 consecutive years.

The Mets broadcasts will never be the same.  I suggest that for this season the Mets uniforms feature a microphone with Ralph's name on the sleeve.  Perhaps they should name the left field corner at Citifield "Kiner's Korner".  Next to the retired numbers there should be a large microphone dedicated to Ralph, Lindsay, and Bob.

My condolences to his family.

Comments of the Day

It is back to work today for me as NJIT was closed for snow on Monday and Wednesday.  For the sake of the students I hope that the classes that were missed will be made up. I am working today from 11 AM - 7 PM as I am teaching a class to environmental engineering students from 6 - 7 PM.  Hopefully there will be no problems on public transit as snow and ice can wreak havoc on switches.

I am enjoying the Jeopardy Tournament with the big winners of the first decade of the show.  It is interesting to see how the contestants have changed over 25 years or so.  I must say that the questions during this tournament are extremely difficult.

I am looking forward to the Beatles Fest on Saturday.  I will certainly have a detailed account on Sunday.

Does Arthur Chu Deserve This Media Attention So Soon?

In watching Jeopardy since the Art Fleming days in 1964 I have seen many excellent players.  Until 2004 a player had to retire as undefeated champion after 5 wins.  Thus there were many players in the first 20 years of the Alex Trebek version who may have won many more games had there not been this limitation.  Right now the show is airing a tournament of big winners from the first decade.

As regular shows went on hiatus 30 year old Arthur Chu had won $102,800 in 4 appearances.  He uses an unorthodox approach of jumping from one category to another.  In the video below he is interviewed on CNN.  But there have already been segments about him on the ABC Evening News and Good Morning America.  I see him as an excellent player, but after 4 victories he has yet to proven himself as a superstar like Ken Jennings (74 victories) or Dave Madden (19 victories).

There is so much luck involved in Jeopardy as to the categories that are selected and the competition.  I admire Arthur Chu as a Jeopardy player, but let's see if he stands up to the test of time.  I do feel the media has given him too much attention too soon.

 

Bob Dylan - The Star of the Super Bowl Commercials

The game was one-sided as the Seattle Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos 43-8.  Of course the commericals created a goo side show.  Bob Dylan starred in a commercial for Chrysler.  I guess he has to keep busy while the Never Ending Tour is on hiatus.

Another Saturday College Basketball Doubleheader at Madison Square Garden

In the first game we saw St. Johns defeat Marquette 74-59 as D'Angelo Harrsion lead the Red Storm with 27 points.  The locals lead almost the entire game and pulled away in the second half.

Game Summary

In the second game Georgetown beat 7th ranked Michigan State 64-60.  We didn't stay for the entire game since we were not interested in either of the two schools.  More fans were in the stands during the second game as I must assume they were mostly alumni from the two schools living in the NYC area.

Game Summary