WBAX info and references for Elizabeth S.boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?action=printpage;topic=142322.0Title: Re: WEEX
Post by: djgirl on June 22, 2009, 01:02:14 PM
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i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss291/MomOfFiveKids/SHERYL/Daddy/wbaxgold-diggersprogram.jpg (http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss291/MomOfFiveKids/SHERYL/Daddy/wbaxgold-diggersprogram.jpg)
This was the line-up @ WBAX in 1972-1973. Their names are noted in the file above. My father is Sam Liguori, who worked with Jim Ward for years before Jim died. First @ WPTS (Pittston), then WBAX (WB, then Edwardsville) and then WARD when Jim bought WPTS. My father has been semi retired and was working weekends @ WARM the past few years doing a Country-Western show by the moniker "Maverick" and doing a Sunday Polka show. Recently, he decided to fully retire at age 71. Citidel can't get their act together where WARM is concerned.
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Title: Re: WEEX
(Sam Ligouri's daughter)Post by: djgirl on July 06, 2009, 08:52:46 AM
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THANK YOU!!!!
Gentlemen, I would like to say you have my respect and adoration for the hard work and many jobs you've held in your broadcast years. I saw my Dad work strange hours, split shifts, weekends, missing school events and family dinners and dedicated his life to the dying art of LIVE radio. If I wanted to spend time with my father, I tagged along to his remotes at businesses and events. I also think it's a thankless job, not by your families or by your listeners, but by the owners of the stations. I realized this when I got bigger bonuses at my job than my father got after 30-40 years of service at his.
For my dad, his listeners were like family. They've followed him for years and loved his shows and I believe their loyalty and friendship was HIS biggest reward. Like my father, you must stick with it because of your love of radio and you love what you do. As I've mentioned somewhere before on this forum, I grew up with radio the way it used to be...and I miss it.
No matter who we are, and what we do, we hear plenty of negative feedback about what we arent' doing, or how we could have done it better, but we rarely hear "good job" or "you're making a difference" or a simple "thank you". So, I just wanted to thank you for your dedication to radio. It does matter.
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The Lu Lac Political Letter
SPECIAL EDITION/MEDIA WATCH........THE INFLUENCE OF TALK RADIO ON THE POLITICAL PROCESS.
lulacpoliticaletter.blogspot.com/2006/06/lulac-edition-29-june-13-2006.htmlRADIO AND DONNIE SKIFF (Dave Yonki)lulacpoliticaletter.blogspot.com/2009/06/lulac-edition-840-june-7th-2009.htmlWhen I was about 11 in mid December 1965, I was trying to fall asleep on a school night. It was tough because Christmas was bearing down on me like a freight train and I was excited wondering what goodies were going to be bestowed on me. Tossing and turning I tuned into the radio and came upon the old WBAX Radio show called “Speak Up” with host Jones Evans. This was the night time edition that ran from 10pm to 1am Monday through Friday out of the old broadcast building on Union Street in Wilkes Barre. Evans was waxing philosophic about something or the other until he received a phone call from a man who talked about a family in Ashley having a tough time during the Christmas season. The man went on to relate the family’s considerable troubles and within that hour, “Speak Up” became a fundraising and social network to get this family help. By the next day, station General Manager Jim Ward was on the air imploring listeners to help out. Long story short: radio station WBAX utilized its airwaves to save a family’s Christmas. And it started with only one phone call.
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ratings #2 tie with WNAK (730) with Bob Neilson in later years
WILK finally went to rock in 1970s or very late 60s. Played "middle of the road" music/big band 'til then
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Jocks who made it to major markets boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?action=printpage;topic=32100.0Circa 1973, WBAX billed itself as The Big X. I don't think that(outside of me bringing it up)anyone here has ever mentioned the Big X days. My memory gets a little fuzzy here, but I recall Big X News, Big X jingles and sweepers, etc. I also recall them airing The Stoned Ranger, which was sort of a drug culture Chickenman. It was a hard-driving format fashioned after, IMO, the Boss push of that era. Was it any good? As I remember it, yeah, it was pretty darned good. So much so, in fact, that a bunch of us working in a factory in Scranton at the time kept Big X locked on our nifty AM radio all the time. And I have said before that WARM looked at WBAX as at least a potential threat for a time in the mid 70s, because they lured away two WBAX jocks. WARM wasn't big on romancing other stations talent, so if they came looking to talk to you, you could figure you must be doing them at least some damage. Some names from those days at WBAX ring a bell, others do not.
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Circa 1973, WBAX billed itself as The Big X. I don't think that(outside of me bringing it up)anyone here has ever mentioned the Big X days.
The Big X started shortly after the flood in 1972. Oldies type format with heavy top 40 thrown in as I remember, , Big X news, and they had these BIG X survey sheets that looked like the old WFIL FAmous 56 sheetrs.
Here are some of the jocks I remember:
Johnny Margas mornings until he got killed in an auto accident in 1973,
Sam Laqouri mid days,
Scotty Young in the afternoons,
Bill Stewart, from, WSCR and WARM I believe either did drive time or mornings,
Ron Berry who started out in the day but then wound up doing overnights. He had a signature call with a seaman's whistle, "Call for Ron Beeeerrrryyyyyeee"!
Now this was late 72, 73 and possibly early 74. Lost track of them until I arrived there in Jan. of 76 on an internship. By that time, all of those jocks were gone (Sam went to WARD in 1975 with Jim Ward) and Scotty and Stewart moved back north I think. Dick Booth was the GM and a whole new crew was there. The only surviving member as I recall was a bookkeeper named Mabel.
That's all I got on WBAX.
Yonkstur
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(Sam Ligouri) polkas on the talker boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=168716.0i heard bill flynns polka show on 94.3 the talker.. sunday afternoon. bill always does a great job. i was skeptical about putting any kind of music on an all talk station, but i remember we did it back in the 60s and 70s on wbax when jim ward was running things . i know radio is much different today, but back in the 60s gibbons beer sponsored the entire weekend on bax, and the station made money, and had listners during the week with speak up (an all talk show) and back then there were live jocks for the entire weekend with alot of local imput. did alot of live remotes from san souci park to all the churches, fire companies, to rocky glenn pk. i hope it works for the talker, and for bill. know matter what you may think about polka music, its a happy sound, and maybe with all the bad stuff we are hearing on the air today ..it might be a good thing for the weekend. best of luck to bill and the talker.. s.l.
followed by:
as i mentioned in my first post, we did remotes every friday, sat. and sunday for years at wbax. churches, fire companys, little league, if they could sell it, we were at it. it was the is good gibbons polka weekend, and we had hundreds of people at each remote. back then, when we had real live jocks, and alot of them, we would piggy back each remote. johnny margis, dick whitaker, ron barry, pete rinker,dave garrett, and the list goes on.we would start at 6pm friday nights, and go til 9pm sunday night. it was an exciting time for me, and i met alot of interesting people during those years.
(responses)
Sam , OMG Dave Garrett. Is that the guy from WICK who punched his own landlady in the face and was run out of town. True story. Ron Barry I recall did the terrible impressions. He used to pit the board on automation and leave 20 minutes BEFORE hsi shift was over at BAX to drive back to Allewntown. LOL
and
That's true about Ron Barry. I did mornings for a short time at BAX, 1972, and I'd go in the building and no one was there. he'd time it right to 6, then I'd go on.
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Remembering WARDwww.scottsanfilippo.com/2010/01/polkas-bartels-and-some-dusty-lps-or-remembering-ward-am/
