….and most assuredly, there will never be another! The reference is to WNEW 11-3-0 in New York which was the radio home to some supremely talented air personalities, aided and abetted by a stellar news operation!
Those voices that appeared between the records belonged to a fraternity of personalities who had one tradition: To offer amusing chatter and incisive comments about the records they played.
At the same time, those news broadcasters (some of whom still write for this website), did their level-best through sharp editing and impeccable writing to keep the New York metropolitan area informed up to the minute!
Sadly, that all came to an abrupt end thirty-two years ago on December 11, 1992 and was only amplified by the Nor’easter walloping New York, New Jersey and Connecticut at the time.
As I have said before and meant sincerely, the heavens were weeping for what we will always recall as the Big W!
Article contributed by Bob Gibson
WNEW-AM on-air roster (partial) originally posted 12/10/2012
–MCP–
December 11, 1992 – A sad day in the NY tri-state area, as WNEW last crossed the airwaves. WNEW was an extraordinary station and the memory resonates deeply with its listeners. For this reason, we are able to flip the sad to glad as I share with you a listener memory, sent in by Mr. Kevin Haynes.
My Mom had the kitchen radio tuned to WNEW morning, noon and night for my entire childhood, from toddlerhood in Brooklyn to getting ready for school on Long Island in the mid-1960s and beyond.
I fondly remember Klavin & Finch, William B. Williams, Ted Brown (my favorite!) and sportscaster Chip Cipolla, who once told a hilarious story about getting a piece of fan mail addressed to Gypsy Polo.
To this day, I still recall a couple of the station promos as well as the jingles for Chicken Delight and Robert Hall (“School bells ringing/children singing/It’s back to Robert Hall again…”)
I recorded WNEW’s final two hours to preserve the memories, bid adieu to a New York institution and share the fond farewell with Mom.
–End–
Mr. Haynes, Kevin, donated a digitized version of his long held cassette of the last two-hours of programming, saying,
“…I’m delighted to give it a new, loving home.”
Thank you Mr. Haynes, for your contribution.
This website cannot accommodate the size of those files, so, here are a few cuts from each of the 1 hour recordings.
If you are interested in hearing them in their entirety send your request to editor@wnew1130.com.
Cassette 1. Dec 12, 1992 Mark Simone and guests 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Lena Horne
Jim Lowe
Sinatra
Cassette 2. Dec 12, 1992 Mark Simone and guests 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Ted Brown
Tony Monte & John Pizzarelli, Jr sign off / Jingles
Jim Harlan
Final on-air words and song, including some jingles
Marty became interested in broadcasting at a very young age. His parents surprised with him with tickets to be in the Peanut Gallery on the “Howdy Doody Show.” He spent more time looking at the cameras, mike booms, and production staff than he did at Buffalo Bob and the puppets!
A few years later he took the tour of NBC Radio and was hooked. In junior high school he became a member of the Cousin Brucie Fan Club and would visit the WABC studios on West 66th Street. He then worked for Bruce backstage at Palisades Amusement Park.
After enrolling at City College he majored in cutting class to work at the college radio station where he became Assistant Station Manager and hosted a number of shifts.
Symphony Sid (early 1970’s)
In 1968 he got a job at WEVD as a summer and part time engineer. In addition to learning how to understand commercials in 16 languages, he met Symphony Sid. One night at a remote from the St. George Hotel in Brooklyn, Sid became a little “under the weather.” He turned to Marty and said, “You finish the show, I’m going home.” Marty then moved to the other side of the glass. He became a staff announcer, and when Sid retired, Sid gave him his record collection and later Marty hosted his own show, “Jazz Through The Night,” at times broadcasting from his Upper East Side apartment in a studio he built.
After leaving WEVD, he worked briefly at WHLI with the “Music Of Your Life” format.
During the “Jazz Through The Night” years he met Bob Jones, who was on the air at WNEW. Bob convinced PD Jim Lowe to give him an audition. The audition consisted of, “Here’s a reel of tape, there’s the studio, there’s the record library, do an hour.”
He was hired as the weekend host of the ”Milkman’s Matinee” and shortly thereafter became the full time Milkman following in the footsteps of a number of great hosts. He introduced a number of features during that time including an audience participation novelty called “It Could Be Verse” where listeners would try to guess what song was playing just by listening to the verse. Ted Brown enjoyed his style and insisted that Marty be his vacation substitute.
In 1987 Marty also conceived the idea for a syndicated program, “A Moment Of Musical History”, a daily feature, that was heard nationally and is still on the air as of this writing in 2012!
After leaving WNEW, he and a college buddy of his bought a station in New Haven, Connecticut, which he ran for nine years. After selling the station he joined the staff of “Jukebox Radio,” doing afternoons and then middays.
Now he concentrates on doing voice-overs and producing commercials for a variety of clients and agencies from his own studio in sunny South Florida.
Bill Diehl (a WNEW alum) writes:
A couple of months ago I interviewed Mimi Hines for a feature I was doing for ABC News Radio. She had recently turned 80 and on July 19 did a special 80th birthday show at “54 Below,” the Broadway nightclub. Mimi, who used to perform with Phil Ford, who’s gone now,(they made their debut in 1958 on the Tonight Show with Jack Paar) had fond memories of WNEW and those wonderful station breaks. So with a little help from her pianist Russ Kassoff, she performed one of the jingles for me.
from PLAYBILL — Hines made her Broadway debut when she replaced Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl, performing the lead role for 18 months. Since that time she has starred in several national tours, recorded numerous albums, and returned to Broadway as Miss Lynch in the Tommy Tune production of Grease!. Hines was also seen in the York Theatre Company’s production of 70, Girls, 70, part of its “Musicals in Mufti” series, as well as the City Center Encores! production of Follies.
mimihines.com
playbill.com
