In 1959, we put a "Good Guys" Top 40 format together at a little station in York, PA owned by Susquehanna Broadcasting.  For its time, it was very innovative.

    The company purchased a station in Ohio (Akron to be exact) and in 1961 they named me as their first program director at WHLO and of course, the "Good Guys" format trailed along with us.

    By 1966, the station came to the attention of Bob Howard, the GM of WPGC, whose family lived in Cleveland.  He would monitor the station when he visited his relatives, and somewhere about 1966 he and I got in touch and next thing you know, I was living in Silver Spring, MD and I was the afternoon jock and the PD of WPGC.

    I was there for about 3 years - using the name "Cousin Duffy."  Jack Alix had been one of our competitors on WEAM - so we hired him to join us.  Also, from the upper Michigan peninsula - I hired a DJ and since Peyton Place was such a big hit TV show at the time, we changed the guy's name to Bob Peyton - he did our mid-days.

    Harv Moore was the morning man when I arrived and he was still there when I left.

    One of our weekend DJ's was Bob Raleigh - who we called "Tiger Bob" when he was playing records.

    Marv Brooks had been one of the disc jockeys when I got there, but we thought his talents were better used in the newsroom and so he became one of the station's premier news talents.

    I left WPGC to take a hiatus, moving briefly to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands for a time of rest and re-focusing because - frankly, 45s were dying out and LPs were coming in and that meant a new format which I called "underground" and took that format to Boston and WMEX - also owned by the company that owned WPGC.  Then, I brought the "underground" format to Los Angeles and in 1969, put it on the air at KMET FM.

    I returned to the air briefly in 74 - with Wolfman Jack - on KDAY here in Los Angeles - a blend of albums and 45s that was semi-successful until the station was sold to black ownership and all the white guys were fired - including me.

    Washington was one of my best cities in radio, until I came to Los Angeles.

    I remember coming on the air with a big promotion: for the March of Dimes, I marched from Dulles Airport to the Washington Monument - and as long as the phones kept ringing, I kept walking.  I don't remember how much money we raised, but I do remember I walked in a blizzard from 6 in the morning to about 6:30 that night.

    We had many many successful promotions and events connected with the station including the WPGC "Hide the Picnic" where we invited listeners to come to a free picnic - but we only gave them clues to the location.  They had to find out where the big event was being held.
That was lots of fun.

    And of course, hosting the concerts with Hendrix and Joplin - with Jim Morrison - and so many others.  Brings back wonderful memories.

    The Beatles had already hit by the time I got to Washington.  I was one of the first 3 program directors in America to feature The Beatles on WHLO in Ohio -- they had recorded a single on a small label prior to their major releases on Capitol Records, and we made one of them our PICK HIT OF THE WEEK, played it every other hour and even had Brian Epstein on the air thanking us for playing their record in America.  None the less, we tool full advantage of connecting to the British invasion while I was at WPGC.

     I have no airchecks - no jingles - very few souvenirs from that era - just some wonderful memories of a time in radio history that perhaps can never happen again. 

Warren Duffy at KKLA, LA.

 

Photos
To see enlargements of any of the below, right click on any image then select 'View Image'.

With Brenda Lee in Sept. 1967

With Little Miss Dynamite in Sept. 1967.

In GO Magazine, 9/67

Publicity shot

With Jack Alix in '67

At the 'Hide the Picnic', 9/67