Harv
Moore 'The Boy Next Door' is a native of Pelham, New
York but came to WPGC from Frankfort, Kentucky in March of 1963.
Initially, he did nights till sign-off but within a few months
was moved to mornings
when Jerry G
left for KYW in Cleveland, starting just days before the tragic
JFK assassination.
Harv
was also Program
Director when Dean
Griffith (Dean Anthony) left in 1964 for WMCA
in NY until the arrival of Cousin
Warren Duffy in 1966. He also served as Music Director from
1971 when Davy
Jones left for WMAL-FM but was promoted to Program
Director again in 1972 when big
Wilson vacated the position.
Harv
continued in mornings
until early in 1975 when he accepted an offer from former WPGC
General
Manager, Bob
Howard to do mornings in Buffalo at WYSL.
32
years before 9/11 would become a date to live in infamy, Harv
is heard on this aircheck
at the top of his game. Surprisingly, none of his character voices
are present. But his sharp wit is very much in evidence. Listen
to his interplay with Robert Parker's, 'Barefootin'; 'What's
that smell over there?....('Take your shoes off').
WPGC's
daytimer status on the AM was always a struggle from a competitive
standpoint. By September the AM didn't even sign on till sunrise
at 6:45AM. The FM meanwhile had gone 24 hours in 1968. Listen
for Harv to pause a second to allow the AM to join the FM simulcast
at the beginning of this tape.
Moments
later, Harv is heard doing the news. News
Guy, Bob
Raleigh (Bill Miller) also doubled as the station's Production
Director. As such, he didn't come in till 7AM. Although his voice
is heard on this tape
on numerous commercials
and imaging elements like the Legal ID & Request-o-matic
stagers,
he isn't heard live until a sports
report in which he details the Miracle Mets of '69
moving into first place in the National League East.
Soon
after, he does a newscast
in which one of the stories is about the rejection of a proposed
subway line in the Nation's Capital. Metrorail would not
begin operation for another 7 years. An apt illustration of the
versatile Mr. Raleigh's talent is heard during one newscast
in which one of his own commercials
appears during the cast. His authoritative 'news' voice gives
way to his 'announcer' persona (and both were very good!).
It
seems odd by today's standards, but concepts such as music sweeps
and spot clustering were in
their infancy at the time of this tape.
Check out the 'Two In A Row' and 'Triple Power Play'
jingles
at various points in the hour as WPGC and Top 40 radio made its
first foray into increasing Time Spent Listening.
Incidentally,
jingles
are from a PAMS
package simply known as 'Grid', a kind of 'tack your station's
thematic logo ('Good Guys Radio....in the case of WPGC)
onto generic cuts' approach that allowed for the rapid creation
of packages for stations around the country.
As
for the spots,
'Two In A Row' or 'Triple Power Play' could have
just as easily been used to describe the commercials as the songs!
Stopsets never exceeded three minutes (considered lengthy at the
time). A mixture of both National & Local spots
are heard but clearly, the ratio was favoring National ones by
1969 (WABC's
Dan Ingram is heard on the one for Heidelburg Beer). And
don't miss Tommy James & the Shondells' treatment of
the familiar 'Things Go Better With Coke' jingle. Among
the local ones is Quantico Auto Sales with a jingle that
blatantly rips-off Richard Harris', 'MacArthur Park'.
Harv's
voice is present on several live spots
as well as on a number of pre-recorded commercials
including a two person one with former WPGC Good Guy, Marvelous
Marv Brooks for Lustine Chevrolet. By this time Marv
had launched an all Oldies format on FM at WMOD.
He would later go on to become the House Announcer at the Capital
Centre for both the Bullets & the Capitals.
Contesting
consisted of 'Name It & Claim It' in which various
prizes were up for grabs if someone at a number called at random
by the DJ knew what that hour's prize was. Darn the luck, one
potential winner missed out on his chance for a 'Deluxe Cassette
Player' because his line was busy. Bet he has call waiting
today!
Had
he been aware of that slight, he might very well have written
an irate letter to 'Mr. Sound
Off', (in reality,
General Manager, Bob
Howard) who is heard here in fine sarcastic style on one about
unattended children.