As a kid, I fell in love with radio. Two of my favorite DJs from WAVZ ("The New Waves ") placing a bumper sticker on the butt of a female listener. Paul Mayer at left, John E Walker at right. 152 Temple Street. New Haven Connecticut. July 1976
At age 9, I became totally fascinated by radio and everything to do with it. One of best stations in Connecticut was a HOT, high energy Top-40 out of New Haven. Only 1,000 watts but it sounded better than most major market stations I've ever heard and had a much broader playlist as well. (Where else could you hear "When I Die" by Motherlode, Donny Elwood's version of "Where Did Our Love Go" and "Funky Worm" by the Ohio Players on a regular basis?).
They made 77 WABC down in New York City sound like rank amateurs with its stodgy, slow format and reverb audio that was a throwback to the early 1960s. Not to mention a playlist of about 15 songs interrupted by endless commercial breaks.
WAVZ was consulted by Paul Drew, known in the industry as a total perfectionist who would call and berate the on-air jock for the slightest mistake or format deviation. The DJs were amazingly good and the locally produced commercials, station promos and contests were incredibly clever and had slick production values. "CashCade", "The Money Pool", "High Stakes", "Don't Say Hello", "The Summer Beach Patrol", "Goldfinger", "The Phrase That Pays", "Diving for Dollars", "The Tantalizer" and so many more contests in a never ending array.
I recorded hundreds of hours of their programming between 1972 and 1976 on cassettes. Fifteen years ago, I transferred all this material to CDs as a labor of love and enhanced them using Adobe Audition. This was the station that heavily influenced my decision to go into radio (at least as a weekend DJ). It's still SO cool to drive around in 2016 and listen to WAVZ from the early 1970s blasting out of my car radio. Who needs oldies stations? This is the REAL deal!
As a kid, I fell in love with radio. Two of my favorite DJs from WAVZ ("The New Waves ") placing a bumper sticker on the butt of a female listener. Paul Mayer at left, John E Walker at right. 152 Temple Street. New Haven Connecticut. July 1976
At age 9, I became totally fascinated by radio and everything to do with it. One of best stations in Connecticut was a HOT, high energy Top-40 out of New Haven. Only 1,000 watts but it sounded better than most major market stations I've ever heard and had a much broader playlist as well. (Where else could you hear "When I Die" by Motherlode, Donny Elwood's version of "Where Did Our Love Go" and "Funky Worm" by the Ohio Players on a regular basis?).
They made 77 WABC down in New York City sound like rank amateurs with its stodgy, slow format and reverb audio that was a throwback to the early 1960s. Not to mention a playlist of about 15 songs interrupted by endless commercial breaks.
WAVZ was consulted by Paul Drew, known in the industry as a total perfectionist who would call and berate the on-air jock for the slightest mistake or format deviation. The DJs were amazingly good and the locally produced commercials, station promos and contests were incredibly clever and had slick production values. "CashCade", "The Money Pool", "High Stakes", "Don't Say Hello", "The Summer Beach Patrol", "Goldfinger", "The Phrase That Pays", "Diving for Dollars", "The Tantalizer" and so many more contests in a never ending array.
I recorded hundreds of hours of their programming between 1972 and 1976 on cassettes. Fifteen years ago, I transferred all this material to CDs as a labor of love and enhanced them using Adobe Audition. This was the station that heavily influenced my decision to go into radio (at least as a weekend DJ). It's still SO cool to drive around in 2016 and listen to WAVZ from the early 1970s blasting out of my car radio. Who needs oldies stations? This is the REAL deal!