Hellooooo, Maine! We’re probably talking to more moose (or is it Meeces?) than people but hey you guys had some great radio too!
Harry Nelson. A guy with more frequent flier miles than most flying back and forth…. lets see, programming WRKO, then out west to KFRC, then back east to Portland, to turn 98 JBQ into a memorable monster! Here’s Harry shortly after he took over from former PD Brian Phoenix, who left for a programming gig in Clearwater, Florida.
You’ll love the west coast style presentation and Harry Nelson’s one liners – aww he’s got a million of em… It’s tight, all the elements are there, and so’s the variety (not diversity) of hit music – JBQ plays all the hits, literally.
Our contributor, Paul Connors, says this was from a cheap cassette machine. Maybe… but mono, scoped and (lightly) processed, buttered & salted, this makes for one 5 minute beauty!
Hmm, this sounds a little bit like KFRC East to me (which isn’t such a bad thing). :>)
Robyn
Would LLLLLOVE to see more from the portland area!!! Oh, and by this time WJBQ was headed to a downward turn. At one time it had as much New England coverage as WRKO, and they were HUGE!! But as you can here from this aircheck they just wouldn’t lay off the disco, or as it’s called now “pop”. That’s when rival WBLM finally crushed them in the mid 80’s. After a couple of call sign changes and programming changes it is back to WJBQ.Unfortunately playing the same “pop” that killed it in the first place!!!!
There is a story in there with Nelson playing the Donald Fagen song, calling it “What A Wonderful World”. The proper title of the tune is “I.G.Y. (What A Beautiful World). The initials stand for International Geophysical Year, an officially noted period of world scientific study during 1957 and 1958–the song is a look back by Fagen on his formative years. But in 1982, WJBQ had a competitor licensed to the nearby towns of Bath and Brunswick…WIGY.
Harry , Harry , Harry …He was “CRACKED”…a term He used alot at JBQ in the late Spring of ’83…after he hired me for morning “drive”…and told me I’d be billed as “Bleecker in the Speaker” ! I had met Harry Nelson about 10 years before, while he did afternoon “drive” at WRKO…and subsequently, when I went to Sacramento (KXOA-under Art Schroeder) , Harry and I hooked up a few times to get “slightly LIT” in Northern Ca. !!!
Just posted This Check on my Facebook Page…Today…July 5, 2012 !
Harry was all over Boston radio! I remember him at WVBF and WZOU….
Harry sounding great as usual, sounding a bit like KFRC, good reason for that, this was Harry’s next stop after exiting KFRC’s 12noon-4pm shift working for his good friend Gerry Cagle, giving JBQ the Hot 610 sound including the on-air jock crossover and the “Best Music” slogan a few favorite sounds from 610 at the time.
Love the energy and crossover!