Don Geronimo got his first job in radio at age 13, at WINX in Rockville. His stellar career thereafter reads like a who's who in the annals of radio history with stops at WOKY / MIlwaukee, 13Q / Pittsburgh, 99X / New York, WCAO / Baltimore, WWDC / Washington, PRO-FM / Providence, WNDE / Indianapolis and WDRQ / Detroit before coming back to DC and WPGC on 03/17/80 where he was brought in by Program Director, Scott Shannon for the first real skirmish with Q107's Uncle Johnny. His impact was immediate and long felt; during his tenure WPGC righted itself and regained the CHR crown in DC.

The war with Q107 was well underway at the time of these airchecks. While mornings were secure with Jim Elliott & Scott Woodside, the real damage had been done at night with fickle teens with no real allegiance flocking to Uncle Johnny. To combat the attrition, Scott Shannon brought in Don Geronimo whose appeal went beyond the acne crowd to young Adults as evidenced by every single phone caller being obviously over the age of 20.

Many of those calls took the form of his 'Not Ready For Nighttime Players' who provided the comic fodder for numerous bits. It was also not uncommon for Shannon or Dave Foxx to call Don from another studio posing as a listener as a set up for further comedy. Dave also voiced the the stagers kicking off 30 Minutes of Continuous Music.

In 1981 Geronimo left for KIIS-FM in LA followed by stops at WLS & B96 / Chicago. Don made his return to the Nation's Capital in 1985 doing afternoons at WAVA then moved to mornings the following year replacing Charlie & Harrigan. By then he had teamed up with Mike O'Meara and the rest is radio history.

Don's wife Freda, a veteran of several Greater DC stations herself including WYRE, WASH and later WAVA as 'Laura Petrie' and on virtually a daily basis on the Don & Mike Show was tragically killed in a head on collision near Ocean City on Sunday, 07/10/05. Warm, witty & wonderful are words that only begin to do her justice.

Don later returned to radio at Sports 1140, KTHK / Sacramento and made his way back to DC at WJFK. Most recently, he hosted mornings on Big 100.

 

Photos

From 1980.

Sound Files

Airchecks

	03/17/80 - First Show	20:50
	03/19/80 - Scoped	28:39
	03/19/80 - UNscoped	1:02:20
	04/15/80	9:01
	June 1980	4:36
	Fall 1980	3:01
	03/03/81	7:23
	1981	2:06
	07/25/81	5:26
	August 1981	1:15

Contests

	04/15/80	World's Easiest Contest	1:56
	Fall 1980	Free Music Weekend	1:13

Spots

03/19/80

J.C. Penny's (Live)

:10

Miscellaneous Audio

	04/11/08	On Dan Mason	1:00
	04/11/08	On Scott Shannon	:42

Miscellaneous

Geronimo T-Shirt

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