Radio Nostalgia

[Subdivisions]

Hi DU Lounge! I don't get over here much but it's not because it smells bad in here or anything, it's just because I hang in GD most of time. But I thought this post would play better here in the Lounge and I hope for the usual warm welcome and lively conversation I always get here.

I have my desktop machine and my laptop. I work on my desktop and use the laptop for watching YouTube videos or listening to the radio online. I love alternative rock if I'm in a jamming mood but sometimes it's nice to go listen to a station in Kingston, Jamaica. Or Sydney, Australia. Or Capetown. While looking today a little feeling of nostalgia crept in on me and I decided to go looking for the radio station I listened to growing up in Newport News, Virginia.

Those of you from Hampton Roads or still living there after all these years will remember listening to WGH radio. Sadly, it turns out that WGH-AM is now an ESPN sports affiliate and WGH-FM is Country music, which is ok I guess.

Back in the day though, when Mercury Boulevard could have fit like a puzzle piece anywhere along Route 66 of the day, WGH was THE radio station everybody listened to. WGH was also one of the first radio stations in the country and first went on the airwaves back in 1928. You can tell how old a radio station (or it's callsign anyway) if it has only three letters and begins with a "W"! The callsign is an abbreviation of "World's Greatest Harbor" in honor of Hampton Roads.

For those who grew up within range of the 250,000 watts of power pumped out by WGH, you'll remember all the oldies from the '60s and '70s with the likes of The Beatles, The Supremes, The Beach Boys, Neil Diamond, The Monkeys, The Temptations, and all the Top 40 hits of the times. They had Kasey Kasem's America's Top 40 and "Wolfman Jack" was born there.


According to Wikipedia (Yes, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WGH_%28AM%29">WGH has it's own Wikipedia entry!):

-snip-

Long known as the "Voice of Old Virginia", WGH usually made the required federal station identification announcements as "WGH - Newport News - Norfolk, Virginia." WGH announcers broadcast from several studio locations, including Military Circle Studios in Norfolk, at Ocean View Amusement Park at Ocean View (where the broadcast booth was located under the famous roller coaster), and at the Todd Center studios in Hampton. The multiple tower transmitter site on Todd's Lane in Hampton became a visible landmark when State Route 168, now Interstate 64, was built through the area in the late 1950s.

Many DJ's over the years included: George Crawford, Gene Loving, John Garry, Larry O'Brien, Roger Clark, Bob Calvert, Dick Lamb, Glenn "The Turtle" Lewis, Dave Cummins, J.J. Bowman, Charlie Shannon, Ron James, Bill Stephens, Tom Scott, Bill Tucker, Rob Wayne, Jim Stewart, Mike Patrick, Jim Lawrence, Dale Parsons and "The Real" Neal Steele.

The first "Miss WGH" was Mildred K. Williams, during the early 60's. She became ill after being bitten by the WGH mascot, a small monkey that wore a WGH blazer.

During it's height as a Top 40 station, Bob Calvert voiced and produced a very distinctive top of the hour ID, "WGH Newport News, Serving Norfolk, Portsmouth, Hampton, Chesapeake, and Virginia Beach, 24 hours a day!" The station also had an audible on-air beep that could be heard on the air when the official time reached the top of the hour.

-snip-

Also, some of you locals may remember Bob Calvert whose alter ego Baron Bebop was the inspiration for the Wolman Jack personna adopted by Robert Weston Smith of Newport News radio station WYOU.

And from a poster on http://forums.qrz.com/index.php">QRZ Forums in http://forums.qrz.com/archive/index.php/t-68716.html">2005:

Wolfman Jack. Who can ever forget that personna (or voice)! I understand that before the "Wolfman" had come to be, a young Robert Weston Smith was working at WYOU in Newport News, VA. At that time, WGH in Hampton/Newport News (No. 1 in the Tidewater VA market) had Bob Calvert, a DJ who did the character "Baron Be-bop" playing R&B music and affecting a black accent. Mr. Smith heard this, borrowed from the act and added to it to create "Wolfman Jack". Bob Calvert was legendary -- at least in Tidewater -- for his velvet voice, and personality. Of course, "Wolfman Jack" went on to well-deserved international fame. Interesting that Bob and my beloved WGH played a part in that.

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Click http://www.gaeagraphica.com/images/wgh-73-3.wma">HERE to listen to a WGH jingle from 1973.

More about WGH:

http://www.alohanews.com/wgh.htm">WGH Radio - Station of the Stars!

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/wgh.html">WGH - AM Fan Site



Anyways, it's great to enjoy a little nostalgia once in a while. Back in the day, whether we were swimming in the Atlantic at Virginia Beach, picnicking at Huntington Park, or riding the coaster at Buckroe Beach, you could always depend on WGH to provide the ambience of simpler, now nostalgic times.

What makes you nostalgic?