E-MAIL MEMORIES, PAGE 19
After 42 years in the business , I decided to do like you and just get out of it. It stinks these days.
99% of my career has been spent down in Louisiana and in my beloved New Orleans. I started my New Orleans tenure at the old WWIW when it was in the Superdome. Man, do I have some stories about that. I commuted back on forth from Baton Rouge every morning to do the 5-9 drive. Bob Middleton was the PD.
I also did the 8-midnight shift at WNOE-FM . Commuted via the Canal Street ferry.
I pulled the 6-midnight shift and then the 10a-3p slot at WBYU-FM in the mid '80s, when they were doing the easy listening format. Al Braud was PD, Jay Richards was also on the air. Don Amez later became PD, now doing news at WWL Radio. The station consistantly was in the top 5, and my 10a-3p slot pulled a number 2 in the market 25+. My God, the station used to kick ass!!! And with an EASY format.
And then, the "out of towners" came in and went country!
I also was a booth announcer at DSU for a couple of years. This was mid to late 80s. Got some fond rememberances and great stories about Buddy D, Lynn Ganzer, Charles Zewe. I also fulfilled a life-long dream while at ch.6...When Sid Noel revised Morgus, he asked me to be on one of the episodes..."The Tree Man". Absolutely incredible!
I could go on and on about the OLD radio and tv back home in N.O. Back when it was REAL radio and tv. I'll try to clear out the cobwebs and forward some more to you. In the meantime, I'd love to hear from some of my fellow broadcasters from that era. They can e-mail me at grbonne@711online.net.
By the way, I'm now living in Huntsville, Alabama. It's a long story that I'll share later. Keep up the great work!!!
BOB:
Changing top-rated "easy listening" WBYU to country music, and
also, later, top-rated rocker WEZB-97 being changed to talk suddenly just
reinforce my stand that radio consultants are the ignorant con men who have
been allowed to ruin the wonderful business of radio by equally ignorant
and cold-blooded corporate owners, through ignorant and arrogant A-holt
program directors. Both stations immediately went from the top to the crapper.
Meanwhile out-of-town consultants, who have to do SOMETHING to justify their
paychecks, do their damage just for the sake of change, collect their paychecks,
and slither away after a couple of years to inflict their ignorance and
damage elsewhere. That's why radio stinks today, but I'm not telling you
anything you don't already know.
That said, you REALLY had to love being behind the mike, driving 60
miles from Baton Rouge every day to do your show! But it was a job well
done...it opened the secret door and got you into the Morgus show alumni
association!
Concurrently they did daily radio shows from the Royal Orleans Hotel, the Al Hirt Club and Woolco Stores. For 10-years Bob voiced and produced "World Voices" for International House. They did "Louisiana Purchase" at WNOL-TV, "Classic Generation" for Louisiana Public Broadcasting and WYES, "The Jan Carr TV Show" for WLAE-TV, "The Jan Carr Sunday Program" for 12-years, "The Bob and Jan Morning Show" for WBYU-AM and "The Bob and Jan Breakfast Show" on WGSO plus many live guest appearances on stage and screen.
BOB:
What legends and mainstays Bob and Jan Carr are in the New Orleans media
comminity, and still going strong after magnificent careers!
Although I am not from New Orleans, I have many fond memories of listening to WWL going back to the mid- and late 1950s when I was a young teenager in Southeast Missouri.
Many is the night I fell asleep to the tunes of Leon Kelner in the Blue Room or Peter Toma in the Fountain Lounge. (Let's face it: radio was a helluva lot better in those days!)
But I think my favorite program was one that came on nightly---about 10 p.m., as I remember---sponsored by the New Orleans Jazz Club. Lots of good old New Orleans-style Dixieland. I think my fondness for jazz sprang from those wonderful old WWL radio programs.
In addition to WWL, I also have fond memories of WTIX. When I was in college, I had a fraternity brother from New Orleans so I was in town a lot. And TIX was about all we listened to. Along with WLS in Chicago, I always thought it was one of the great AM rock 'n' roll stations. WLS was pretty much the undisputed king, but I always thought that if TIX had been as powerful, it might well have been the most listened to. But WLS did have one helluva signal.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, I am old enough (fifty-damn-nine) to have heard the last years of radio's "Golden Age."
Growing up in Southeast Missouri, the big dog on our block was KMOX in St. Louis. But I listened to a lot of the network radio shows on WOAI in San Antonio.
On Sunday evenings in my neighborhood (from late spring to early autumn when people actually sat on front porches), you could walk down the street and hear just about all of the "Jack Benny Show." Kids today have a hard time with that one.
And they give me strange looks when I tell them that good radio drama beats the TV stuff any day of the week.
On your list of local "characters," did you ever think about adding the late Emil Parra? I saw him a number of times playing piano at Pat O'Brien's. What a character. And what a Tulane fan. He always said that the Tulane player who scored the winning touchdown against LSU would never have to buy a drink in Pat O'Brien's. Sadly, he never lived to see it.
I also have wonderful memories of "Sweet Emma" and the rest of the original Preservation Hall gang. Talk about a group of people who were "present at the creation."
These days I call Tuscaloosa, AL, home, so every once in a while I jump on the Crescent and ride down to New Orleans. Don't know when the next time will be, but maybe we could get together for a drink at my favorite N.O. watering hole---the Napoleon House. Haven't been there in a while, but I understand it's just as good as it ever was. I sure hope so.
Thanks for letting me share those memories.
BOB:
What an enjoyable influence WWL Radio was in those earlier days...and what
a signal. Just about anywhere you went in America you could tune in 'L at
night and feel like you were "way down yonder in New Orleans"
... and at that very moment you knew Sweet Emma could be playing at Preservation
Hall at that very moment!
About 1959 he was hired by WWL-TV where he first hosted Saturday Hop before Pela arrived on the scene. He also did a program with a fellow named Jones that featured live wild animals. He was best known as "Brakeman Bill" when he hosted an afternoon kiddie show.
He left WWL in about 1961 and went to Hollywood and later to New York City where he did well in both local markets. He died at a reatively young age in 1987.
We were roommates at LSU and worked on the school newspaper together.
Also, I am sure you meant to include the cast of "Nobody Likes a Smart Ass" among your local celebrities. The group was comprised of Billy Holliday, Sonny Adams, Walter Perseveux and Butch Binet. They had their start in a rendition of the play, The Drunkard, which was staged on a riverboat at the foot of Esplanade or Elysian Fields in 1960. They later moved to an old speak easy on Louisiana avenue off St. Charles, and then to the Old Absinthe House on Bourbon where their act played for many years.
All four cast members should be included among your lists of local characters, especially Billy Holliday who enjoyed considerable notoriety and popularity, especially regarding the hundreds of parking tickets he accumulated in the French Quarter. He was also a house-comedian on the Playboy circuit, and played in several major motion pictures.
Sonny Adams also worked in local TV and was famous for his song parodies, and was also a well-known local character. I think that he might have played Bozo the Clown on local TV.
BOB:
Bill Biery has now been added to my list of local personalities. This site
is a constant "work in progress" and I appreciate additions like
yours.
Geez, I remember that little glass bus mobile studio that WDSU radio used. The week it parked on Oak Street across from Mater Dolorosa School I visited it and pestered the DJ for free records every day!
Also, it had totally slipped my mind that John Pela was not the original host of "Saturday Hop."
A salute to Bill Biery, another New Orleans radio and TV great, and the "Smart Ass" cast!
Also, a later note from WDSU-TV's Paul Yacich:
"JM of The Woodlands, TX mentions a person named Jones who did a TV program featuring wild animals. Arthur Jones was featured with his wild animals on a program called "Wild Cargo" which ran on WWL-TV and later on WDSU-TV. Arthur Jones left New Orleans to build one of the world's biggest TV production facilities in Lake Helen, Florida. The facility produced medical television presentations.
He made a small fortune importing wild animals and then made a much bigger fortune when he invented the Nautilus exercise machine and became part owner of EVERY Nautilus gym in the country. Jones was also a physical training advisor for both West Point and Annapolis.
Arthur Jones also established the world's biggest private airport at his Lake Helen holdings. He flew his own 2 or 3 giant planes (DC7s or DC9s) and used them to bring elephants from Africa to his private elephant ranch in Lake Helen. His Lake Helen office was a glass building erected within a conventional building. The space between the buildings was filled with water in which humongous crocodiles silently patrolled. You could watch the critters swimming behind him as he sat at his desk.
I flew with him to Las Vegas and the NAB convention. Everybody there
thought he was Howard Hughes 'cause he looks a lot like Hughes. He spent
millions there on TV equipment for his studios. I was also with him when
he showed examples of his infrared film presentations at a medical convention
and convinced hundreds physicians that jogging was bad for the body and
that the perfect exercise was swimming. He can be one of the world's most
interesting men..."
I loved going to the dances, Wednesday night was Germania Hall and on Saturday nights we would go to Sacred Heart. Sunday nights would be a toss up, it would either be St. Anthony's or St. Henry's in the Irish Channel. What great times!! The bands were great and the clothes were cool!! I loved being a teen in New Orleans. Of course, it was always great when Bob Walker came on every teen's favorite radio station. WTIX, and we loveeeeeeeee you!
I have a special request, if anyone out there can help me. In the sixties, there was a favorite shoe, most of us teen girls loved. They were called Piccolinos and were part of the Capezio line. You could only purchase these shoes from either Gus Mayer or Godchaux's. I would love to have a picture of these shoes or even purchase a pair if possible.
BOB:
We used to hang out at nights on the lakefront too, and I have to admit
that it was fun watching you swim and smooch, Linda! Then when I'd see you
at Sacred Heart you'd wonder who the strange guy was who was winking at
you! ;-)
Seriously, if anyone reading this has any info on Piccolinos I will
let you know! You could always try at Yvonne LaFleur's Carnaby Corner...oops...that's
gone too!