Washington D.C. radio used to be quite the kaleidoscope of formats, flavors and tastes, I remember when that evil thing called ‘Rock n’ Roll’ came to life at 1600 AM on WINX in Rockville Maryland, the building had a giant neon winking ‘eye’ where Rt 355 and Rt 28 intersected, you couldn’t miss it, day or night.
And friends I have in Bangor Maine tell me they can still pull in WTOP @ 1500 AM in the early morning hours, and WMAL (630 AM) used to have a signal that could be picked up all the way in Miami if atmospheric conditions were right.
And of course WRC-AM at 980 was the broadcast home for a while for noneother than Willard Scott, who resurrected the ‘Joy Boys’ theme with Ed Walker, that was good clean fun the whole family could enjoy.
Other notable personalities I recall are Johnny Holliday (WWDC) and Eddie Gallagher (WASH), I used to be able to do a fair imitation of Gallagher’s voice, and my high school friends and I used to select numbers at random out of the local phone book, and call up the unsuspecting victim and I would pretend to be Eddie Gallagher calling to see if the person knew the “exact amount in the WASH Cash Call Jackpot?”, and no matter what amount they guessed, I would tell them they “missed it by 10 cents!” - it’s a miracle we didn’t cause somebody a heart attack, lol
And of course there is the one and the only Doug Tracht aka ‘The Greaseman’ who took over at the WWDC (DC-101) morning gig after Howard Stern took off for New York, The Grease (IMHO) had 100 times the talent of Stern, but he didn’t have to be filthy or obscene to have you laughing yourself silly.
Washington-Metro has to be one of the most unique radio markets anywhere in America.
As of six month ago, Grease was back on the air in DC. I was stunned to find him. He’s on an AM station, and he’s doing exactly and precisely the same routines that I first heard him doing in 85. Kind of sad. I guess he’s still there.
Then, in their ‘silver period’, my wife and I loved John Lyons and Trumbull and Core. I still smile thinking about the taxi driver who reviews movies FROM THE TITLE ALONE; Jackie Bill; W-HAPPY announcer Dennis Clayton; the Hump every Wednesday at 5 p.m., and of course, Andy Parks and his guest flight attendants.
I haven’t been able to listen with the same sense of enjoyment since. I like Rush, but a little of him goes a very long way, and I am not driving long enough to listen anymore.
This, and Bill Buckley died. Darn.
Wow, you’re an encyclopedia of DC radio.
My humble comments then are merely that Chris Core was great, a truly “balanced” and fair man who actually seemed to enjoy talking with his callers. I hope he shows up somewhere else quickly.
A couple DC radio memories are:
WGTB (Georgetown Basement) which I must admit in my noodlebrained teen hippe-dippie days was an incredibly brazen station and played the best 60s/70s rock ‘n roll ever. They’d play an entire album side nonstop start to finish. Cutting edge stuff at the time. And they had that college “revolutionary” thing going full-steam, which I recall is why Georgetown finally shut them down.
There was another hippie-type AM (!!) rock n’ roll station I think out of Baltimore, can’t remember the call letters but it was a remarkable assault on AM radio of the time. I vaguely recall hearing Eric Burdon’s “Spill The Wine” on it for the first time, and Allman Bros. “Whipping Post”, and even Aerosmith’s first album. The station’s announcers sounded something less than completely sober after about 9PM.
About your Bangor story, here’s an opposite. When I lived in Boston I’d drive down to DC several times a year for various events. It was usually pretty easy to keep Boston’s WBZ and certainly NYC’s WABC tuned in clear as a bell all the way to Baltimore.
I bet you even drove on the circumferential highway.