E-MAIL MEMORIES, PAGE 15



TERRY O'MALLEY:
I was just looking through your web site at your memories. When Al Hirt got hit in the mouth by a rock, I was there the night it happened, on duty with NOPD, and saw when he got hit. He was riding in Bacchus. It was a rock thrown by a second liner. We never caught the guy! It was on St Charles at or just before Washington. They took him off the float and the parade was stopped for a while.

Also, more trivia...the Jim's Fried Chicken sign is still in use today. A feed & seed store on Hwy 41, Pearl River has the sign in front of their building. You can't miss it as you approach. My wife Bev and I couldn't believe it when we first saw it!!!!

BOB:
Two names still make folks from Carrollton hungry...Jim's Fried Chicken and the Camellia Grill. Hopefully the feed store is still cooking that great fried chicken in the back room.


SUNRISE1221:
When Russ Boney was in his right mind he could do a very good oldies show. Another person who knows the oldies very well is Bobalu Bobby Reno, along with Cherie. I remember when Russ Boney worked for WYAT and he was broadcasting from inside a van which he was locked into atop Casey Ford at Canal and Clairborne. There was a rumor that he had a gun...don't ask me how he was allowed to have this but he was allegedly shooting at cars on the bridge one day. I wonder today where he is or if he is even still alive.

BOB:
Yeah, Russ was a rare breed. Remnants of the ham sandwich he threw against the wall in the WRNO studio were there for quite a while!


RENE MOULEDOUX:
I found your New Orleans Memories web page while searching for something else on the Net. What a great surprise! I was pleased to see my brother Andre and I were listed with WEZB, "Easy Radio". We were part of the first group of announcers when WEZB went on the air in January 1972.

We also worked at a number of different stations during our radio careers. You may want to add these to the radio rosters on your web page.

We both started in radio in 1968 at WLDC, the campus radio station at Loyola University.

We both started a WWOM AM & FM in 1970 when it was a beautiful music station. Sam Ford was the Program Director who hired us. Pierre DeGruy also worked at the station.

Andre left to go work as a newsman for WDSU AM in early 1971.

In 1971, WWOM FM changed format and turned into "Mother Radio" (a progressive rock format). At the same time WWOM AM became WVOG (the "Voice of God") and began broadcasting religious music and programs. Sam Ford and I shifted to WVOG as when Mother Radio came to WWOM FM.

In the summer of 1971, the Mother Radio crew went on strike because the station would not pay their way to the New Orleans Pop Festival. I was asked to take over the FM operation. I continued the Mother Radio format and took on the name "Barrabas". I brought in my brother Andre (who used the name "Gunn"), Pat Helmstetter ("Matthew") and Paul McGuff ("Paul). After a few months, most of the regular Mother Radio crew ended its strike and returned. Those returning included "Judas" (John Laroquette - who letter became famous on network TV) and "Norbert" Wabnig. I was asked to stay on as part of the Mother Radio crew.

Andre left when the regular Mother Radio crew returned and he ended up at WNPS - the classical music station run by WYES. After a few months, I joined Andre at WNPS. Mike Herrera and Hal Jeansonne were still there.

In January 1972, we both joined WEZB.

Andre left WEZB in late 1972 or early 1973 to go to WWL radio where he stayed until 1976 or so.

In 1973, I joined WGSO / WQUE (the former WDSU AM & FM). I worked with Stan Major and later Wayne Mack on their call-in shows as well as doing a WGSO music program at night and WQUE news on the weekends. Dan Milham (now the TV weatherman) and Rod Wagoner also worked at WGSO at that time. I left WGSO / WQUE in 1977 .

Interestingly, Andre and I independently decided to leave radio to go to law school. We continued to work in radio while we attended law classes. We both graduated from Loyola in 1977. Andre is now a maritime lawyer in New Orleans. I am now a corporate litigation lawyer in Houston.

Thanks again for bringing back some great memories. Congratulations on a job very well done.

BOB:
Nice to hear from you, Rene. I bet every time you pick up your attorney fees you miss being behind a microphone for next to minimum wage! The Mouledoux twins and John Laroquette graduated from radio and did well for sure.


DOC DONALDSON:
Captain Sam (Sam Page) had his own Sunday morning cartoon show. He was first assisted by and then replaced by Bayou Bill when he left town. Becky Donaldson was on the At Holmes show with Terry Flettrich and also was Miss Becky on the Captain Sam Show.

Dick Van Dyke was on WDSU for a while before he went out to the coast. He used to slide down the handrail of the stairs going to the control room at the end of his show.

In the early fifties, all the shows on WDSU were on kinescope and were about a week behind. When they ran the "COAXIAL CABLE" (it was a big deal) they had a live remote from the Industrial Canal when they made the final splice and could then get everything live from the network.

BOB:
I still wonder if the rumor was true that Captain Sam got fired because he had his fill with a smartass kid on his show and smacked him on the air.


PENGUIN:
Bob - Memories, wonderful memories of cheesburgers at College Inn and Lenfant's, and waaaay before that, ice cream at the Best Ice Cream chain of i.c. parlors, and dancing at Southern Tavern on Airline Hwy., the Dukes of Dixieland, and, of course, later, WTIX, the best! I remember when the Beatles came, and I couldn't afford it either! But, I remember going to Canal St. to see beautiful Christmas windows, D.H.H., and Mr. Bingle. I remember doing amateur plays on WNOE in high school, modelling for D.H.H. "Between Us Teens" in the Item, proms at the Jung Hotel, dancing at the Fountain Lounge, and sandwiches so rich they made you sick at the Roosevelt. The Blue Room was reserved for very special occasions. Thanks for all the great flashbacks...please keep your website going!

You are quite right about today's radio (or xczvsstg%@%0). I don't listen to it because there isn't one good station left!!! Years ago there were wonderful radio stations. I'm so glad someone could put it as honestly and correctly as you did.

By the way, as a correspondent of Paul Yacich', I was kindly reminded of a Christmas program done in 1939 using Lelia Haller's ballet school dancers. I was in that program--a tin soldier (and Paul had to teach us how to turn, military style.

Thanks for the excellent summary of today's ____________ on the airwaves.

BOB:
Glad I'm not the only one who realizes that corporate radio today is crap.


CLAUDE EVANS:
Gosh! I don't know where to start. My first job in radio was in Joplin, Missouri in 1946. Used to listen to Bob Poole on WWL. "Poole's Paradise" with Ted Weems "Heartaches" for the theme song. I had picked up the signal in Hawaii the year before when I was over there playing trumpet in a dance band. (394th AAF Band) As you probably know, many of us in the business did considerable migrating. After Joplin it was Tulsa, then Nashville, finally broke into television at WLW-A in Atlanta in 1953.

Guess who was on the announcing staff with me. Dick Van Dyke. I lost my wife in a car accident that year and moved in with my mother in a little town on Mobile Bay called Fairhope. Shortly after, Dick signed on with WDSU and told me they were looking for an announcer. I drove to New Orleans the next weeked and auditioned for Gay Batson. I got the job and Gay and I were good friends for the next five years. Edgar Stern bought WALA-TV in Mobile and I served there as Program Director for the next 20 years. Retired now and spending my "twilight" years very comforably in a little town called Silverhill, AL.

Incidentally; Van Dyke and I had the sign-on shift on WDSU radio. He called me one night and said, "Claude, I have a chance for a job in New York but I don't want to say anything about it right now. Would you please cover my shift for me in the morning so I can take an early flight?" I said, "Sure, but you gotta pay me back." Well, that was 47 years ago and I haven't seen him since. He still owes me 8 hours.

Congratulations to you, Bob, for all you've accomplished in the business. I love to see talented people succeed.

BOB:
Thanks for the memories, Claude. Hope you never lent Dick Van Dyke any money!


SANTO BROCATO:
The Coast Guard Station at Bayou St. John and swimming in the lake.
The Poplar Show on Willow Street.
Juke Boxes full of New Orleans R & B music.

BOB:
And the Poplar's unique manager, Mrs. Hirsch, going up and down the aisles with a flashlight!


KEN HALL:
Hi, Bob! My name is Ken, and I live in Houston, now, but I grew up in New Orleans. Went to Ferncrest in Gentilly, then Kennedy, then UNO. I have a lot of fond memories of New Orleans radio in the 1960\s.

Remember John Gimma Chevrolet and their repetitive jingle? or Trader Joe Paretti, the dealer who is ready?

How 'bout Dixie 45 beer = The beer that makes you feel alive?

Or - Dumas Milner Chevrolet.

Or Mike Persia's drummer?

Or Cajun Pete?

Remember the Hawaiian theme for Pass Christian Iles?

For value in tires, DUNLOP tires, be sure to see Bill Nero!

Look at almost ANY corner, and what do you see> A big purple sign that says FRIENDLY K&B...

Rosenberg's, Rosenbergs, .... 1825 Tulane!

When you're in a hurry, think of TIME SAVER...

I really enjoyed the 1962 commercial for Pontchartrain Beach. Had lots of fun there. Remember swimming in the lake, before it was polluted, then in the pool. Kiddieland's lighthouse is still there - it's a protected historical landmark built during the time of the Civil War.

Do you remember when WBOK (800) and WSHO (1230) swapped positions on the radio dial?

If you have any other old radio jingles from New Orleans radio, especially from the 1960's, I LOVE to hear them.

I am really sorry that I didn't record stuff like that when I was a kid.

Turn that dial, and turn it round round round to the happy sound that is found... WSMB 1350 on your radio!

Thanks for the memories!

BOB:
Wow! The Oldie King meets the Commercials King! Now you've got them all playing in my head again!

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