A Letter From Ed Weigle

Hello!

Just a note to let you know how much I enjoy your show!

I'm glad to see that radio stations, such as your own, have not elected to disenfranchise the age group, to whom doo wop has meant so much (My pal, Don K. Reed's situation is still a sore subject) . Hopefully, in my lifetime, as people continue to live longer and enjoy increasing health and vitality, ad agencies and programmming consultants will recognize that they simply cannot continue to discount this age group. Honestly, if I hear another of these morons in our industry tell me again that the 55-plus demographic "has the money, but just won't spend it," I'm gonna puke. The state of the industry is only part of why I'm in radio in only 60- and 30-second increments these days (Remember "Big Jay" Sorenson, who used to host "The WNBC Time Machine?" I got an e-mail from him a couple weeks ago. Of course, after 'NBC went away, he was PD at Jersey 101.5 He then went to KLIF Dallas, where he got the boot in Sept. '01. KLIF will continue paying him through June, to honor his contract. He STILL hasn't found a radio gig, although he's doing some work on Sirius Satellite radio. He's working with Dennis Falcone, who was PD at WBZO, Long Island, when I was their station voice. Honestly, some of these 20-something-year-old radio programmers wouldn't know good air talent if it bit them in the ass!) My compliments to the powers that be at Oldies 95!

I'm 36, but doo wop has been a great part of my life, too. I was fortunate enough to grow up in Pittsburgh, where I started in radio at age 13. My radio mentor was Rock and Roll Hall of Fame DJ, Porky Chedwick, who is 85 years old and still on the station where he started in 1948. I had the pleasure of knowing and working with The Vogues, The Skyliners and Joe Rock, Johnny Jack, Donnie Iris, Lou Christie and many other artists who helped put our hometown on the musical map (Your station image voice, Jim Merkel, from WWSW, Pittsburgh, is also an old friend). I even re-united three of the original Marcels, after years of badgering the hell out of my dear friend Fred Johnson, to record in my basement studio (where I recorded voiceovers for national promos for HBO, Cinemax and other networks) and perform, for the first time in more than 20 years. This led to us doing the a capella "Starlight Serende, Vol IV," for Bob Kretschmar's Stalight Discs label in 1990, which our friend Don K. Reed (and Porky, back home) gave quite a bit of airtime in 1990. Needless to say, between doing national radio spots, my own doo wop show in the Pittsburgh market and running all over the country with The Marcels, my college days were rather unique!

By the way, several years ago, my pal, Les Levine (bassman on Ritchie Cordell/Paul Simon's "Tick Tock," BQE and currently, Clarence Quick's Del Vikings) sent some tapes of your show to my office in Lexington, KY, where I was production director for five Cumulus station. We've had a condo in Venice for nearly 30 years, but I'd never really given much thought to the proximity between our little island and Naples. I hadn't given it any thought since I listened to the tape in '97. Sure enough, when I finally moved to Venice in May of last year, I was pleasantly surprised to accidentally find your show coming in loud and clear one evening. Needless to say, I very much look forward to Sundays!

If you're interested, here's a link to my article about Porky Chedwick, which has appeared in truncated form in Goldmine and Radio World magazines:

http://www.oldradio.com/archives/stations/porky.htm

or you can try:

http://www.440.com/_pchedw.html

I enjoyed the articles about Gus Gossert and Alan Freed link on your website.

Keep up the great work! I wish my DJs would have at least SOUNDED like they were having half as much fun doing their shows as you guys do!

Sincerely,

Ed Weigle

the national radio voice of World Wrestling Entertainment

Nick Sommers Productions

Englewood, FL

ed@nicksommers.com