Nick Clooney's invite opens my eyes to the south

Now...George’s Dad...Nick Clooney.                                               repost

     In the summer of 1956  Nick returned home from AFN Europe and called me at my parents home in Effingham, Illinois.

       He suggested I drive down to Lexington, Kentucky to a ranch and hang with him and get up at 4AM to clean fancy race horse stables. Boy that sounded like fun (not) but it would be an interesting trip. 

      I had my first real taste of the deep south...the whites only signs at the water fountains and stuff like that.  I was somewhat startled at this which is strange as I lived in a town that allowed NO blacks...and they couldn’t sit down in any Effingham eatery. And this was southern Illinois not Mississippi.

      I had been born and lived for sometime in Paris, Illinois where blacks were treated as humans...at least...although they had to live in the southeast section of the city. Black basketball players for Paris High School were great...and I remember lanky Bob Owens leading the Tigers to the state basketball championship two years in a row...whipping the socks off the big bad Chicago teams!

      But the Paris Tigers were not welcome to play in Effingham.

No teams with a black payer could play in Effingham...and you know what...if you read my earlier blurb about the two interstate highways crossing just northwest of the city...then you could guess how that whole thing would radically change.  And it did.

     Anyway I cleaned the stables and bid Nick farewell but I got a phone number for him as he said his next stop was Beverly Hills...not necessarily at his sister’s Roxbury address but at an apartment they had on the south side (poor?) of Beverly Hills. 
 (NOTE:  For the story on Nick Clooney trying the acting bit use the "search" box on the top right of each post and put in "Nick and Stan back together again" and you'll get it.  It's VERY interesting.)

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my email:

stanmajor@aol.com

Here's the whole list!

109 NATIONS.............93,000 Views(Google numbers)

stan                                         neil                  

The Stan Major list... 

               

Best 15 radio personalities in history.

1. Gary Dee... Cleveland

   

2. Wally Phillips... Chicago

    

3. Neil Rogers... Miami

      

4. Long John Neble... NYC

       

5. Bill Ballance... LA

        

6. Joe Pyne... LA

         

7. Rush...national

          

8. Howard...national

           

9. Dr. Ruth...national

            

10. Bob Collins... Chicago

             

11. Tom Lykis... LA

              

12. Henry Morgan... NYC

               

13. Allan Prell... Baltimore

                

14. Art Bell...national

                 

15 Richard Hayes & Susan Bray... Philly(tie)

Comments:

stanmajor@aol.com

Rest of the best...(pretty good!)

the rest of the BEST

Final picks.......top personalities in radio

 Bob Collins, Chicago...Tom Lykis, LA....Henry Morgan, NYC...Alan Prell, Baltimore...Art Bell...Richard Hayes and Susan Bray...Philly.

    For Bob Collins please see earlier post on Wally Phillips and Bob Collins WGN Chicago.

   Tom Lykis currently has a web streaming show...Google it.

   Tom was Program Director and PM drive guy at KFYI in Phoenix in 1985 and hired me out of Philadelphia for a midday slot.

   He went on to Los Angeles to make his mark.  Tom was witty and fun on and off the air.  Who else could do three hours bashing the Moms who drove around with “baby on board” signs on their back window. 

    Tom was one of the good people in our business.

                                          --------------------------

    Henry Morgan NYC....known mainly from the TV shows “I’ve Got a Secret” and “What’s My Line” was really radio’s first trailblazing unbridled talker taking on his bosses by name on the air (ala Neil Rogers)...bitching about his sponsers etc...but with a wonderful tongue in cheek humor that made him famous. And like most of us in the radio business...he was fired a lot!

     Here’s an excellent obit on Morgan in the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/20/obituaries/henry-morgan-acerbic-wit-of-radio-and-tv-dies-at-79.html

                                                     --------------------------

    Allan Prell...longtime morning talk guy with WBAL Baltimore fits into the Gary Dee, Tom Lykis and Neil Rogers mold.  Crazy on the air... defiant with bosses....great for audiences over the years.

    I worked fill-in for a week with Prell...at a small D.C. suburban station where music was still supreme and he hooked me forever by starting his three hour show one day with Abba’s “Dancing Queen”....and then playing it over and over and over for three hours!   I loved it.

                                                 -------------------------

      Art Bell.....national.

   Art killed my national all night show...took my stations away in droves but he hit upon a subject..UFO’s...that caught fire in an all- night radio atmosphere.

   I have regrets but no animosity with what happened...my show still lasted nearly ten years and I had some great affiliates that even Bell couldn’t pry away until late in the game.

  Art deserves a mention despite what happened. 

                                                -----------------------------

Richard Hayes and Susan Bray WWDB-FM (talk) Philadelphia

 Let's wrap this long list of top radio players up with a couple of friends from my old stomping grounds in Philly.

   As Opts Manager at WWDB I hired Hayes to do a soft talk (ala Collins and Phillips) all night show and it worked.  Richard drove in from Long Island every night, five nights a week and then drove back...hitting morning drive in New York City(ugh!) 

   He was excellent and just what you need to soothe the souls of his all night audience...and (important) he was live taking calls every night which helped our morning ratings.

                                        --------------------------

    Susan Bray middays for all....not just the ladies.

    Susan was well informed on the issues...a  gal who could challenge the best politicians or listeners on any issue.  I remember Susan and I were selected to appear on the local tv talk show at the CBS station...and you don’t get those kind of invites unless you’re making an impact in the market.

    Susan and her husband are back in Aussieland now (see my earlier post on her) and she deserves “honorable mention” in this list.

 That’s it for my list of top radio personalities in the years I’ve been in the business.

 Just my opinions...you’ve got yours, I’m sure.

stanmajor@aol.com

Dr Ruth goes right ahead!

Dr. Ruth shakes things up....

It doesn’t get any better than this.   Dr. Ruth Westheimer was on hundreds of stations talking about sex...going as far as the  FCC. would allow...doing the same on syndicated TV...and appearing on Saturday Night Live!

My 9th pick is this dear lady who speaks of sex in funny but informative ways.

Dr. Ruth is 84 and still talking sex on her various webpages.

She was interviewed this year by NPR and was as “playful” as ever....about herself, her subject etc.

There were several other women who followed suit and had long running syndicated shows on the subject of relationships and sex....but there was only one Dr. Ruth!

contact:

stanmajor@aol.com

and some other big talkers

Joe Pyne...Los Angeles and others....

“Go gargle with razor blades”

Just as Bill Ballance brought sex to radio in Los Angeles...

    Joe Pyne brought “fury”.

He was unique as the original controversial host on not only radio (KLAC/KABC) but television and ended up riding that bombastic technique to fame across the nation.

Talk radio host Ray Briem wrote in 1985, "Joe Pyne was the only radio personality who had higher ratings than Dodger baseball.”

Joe Pyne fills the number 6 slot on my list of top radio personalities of all time.

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In the 7th and 8th slots are Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern.

Rush is the most successful radio talk host in history both in stations and money.

Stern in his own way pioneered sex talk for breakfast...in the early morning hours.

I don’t listen to either of these guys so you be the judge.

Connect:

stantalks@gmail.com

Bill Ballnce HAD to be muzzled, then listen to John & Marsha

        But Ballance was sooooo good...of course

he had to be muzzled!

Just as Wally Phillips had all the woman in Chicago listening every morning...for pleasant conversation...calling for gifts etc...

our next personality had every woman in Southern California listening....for far different reasons.

Bill Ballance (KGBS Los Angeles) is number 5 on my list of the greatest radio personalities...for his daily not to be missed “feminine forum” discussion of the sex life of the better half. 

In the 70’s this show was the opening for others who would come along years later. The few times I had the opportunity to listen I  marveled that Bill could talk about stuff with women that you might save for parties or for your wife or mistress...or both.

But it was actually okay for radio....and it was a must listen... even for the guys...until it got too hot even for L.A...as open minded as that place was.

Ballance ruled the airwaves for a couple of years before management decided it was a just too much.  Today...it would just be an interesting sex talk program and not the extremely popular “side show” it was in 1973.  But there were problems...feminine groups...pressure on advertisers (which  only happens now to the likes of Savage and Limbaugh).

Bill Ballance was indeed unique and discussed subjects that needed to be banded about on the air...both funny and serious and for this he deserves to be named along with: 

Gary Dee in Cleveland, Wally Phillips in Chicago, Neil Rogers in Miami and Long John Nebel in NYC as number five on my list.

        And then L.A. had Joe Pyne too. 

             He’s next.

Here's JOHN & MARSHA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkfwmB8jeSU

Contact:

stantalks@gmail.com

 

They can't ALL be runaways

repost:      They cant ALL be runaways

...A lot of young white girls go missing in Florida.
If you saw the movie TAKEN you have a pretty good idea of what happens to them.
    I have had the sad experience to know two parents who have lost a daughter.
    One was right here near me...in fact the teen's car was found parked at a Dairy Queen about three blocks south of here. Her father ran one of  those mail centers and the daughter used to work there at times.
    She was also a waitress not far from here in a fairly fancy part of town and reportedly left work at the normal time...with her boyfriend (maybe) never clear on that..parked her car at the DQ...took her belongs and has NEVER been seen or heard from since.  This story was on the Walsh TV program several times.
    The other story hits very close to home and happened in St. Petersburg, Fl to a fellow radio worker who happened to be a Psychic on the air.  The daughter was much younger...probably not yet a teen and up and disappeared one day out of the blue.  My friend came by crying and we sat down and I tried comforting her.  She thought the girl might have contacted me and my girl friend  because we got along so well...but I had heard nothing. 
    She also vanished into thin air.
    Now you could put these down as a possible runaways, especially the older teen.
    But I have my doubts.  I think runaways have a record of contacting home eventually to set the parents mind at ease.  That apparently didn’t happen in either case.
    Police think the Bahamas is the first destination of a kidnapped or missing girl. It is a short boat ride away.
    There are no easy answers....for anyone.  Just trauma and sadness.

stanmajor@aol.com