He now runs his own music consulting business, LJT Entertainment, and is program director and an on-air host of "Underground Garage" on Sirius XM Radio. [112] WMMS scheduled a second Green Day performance just two months later this time at Blossom Music Center and at a near-record-low cost of $5 per ticket, the station gave fans a "second chance" to see the band live. The new logo depicted the sex, drugs and rock and roll image that the owner was looking for. He was best known as the voice for the station's hourly IDs, music segues, sweepers, and commercials, and was also a member of The Buzzard Morning Zoo in the mid-80s. His iconic rants have been preserved for posterity on the CD "Murray Saul: The Get Downs, Vol. The short-lived music magazine featured a diverse mix of interviews, opinion pieces, album reviews, Buzzard playlists, concert listings and photos from station events. One listener was selected to marry the love of his life or at least at the time during a live broadcast on 100.7 WMMS. 'MMS listener favorites like Green Day, Letters to Cleo, Everclear, Better Than Ezra, Alice in Chains, Garbage and Silverchair were just a few of the bands featured in Buzzard Bone. February 11, 2020 Sean Collier, Photos by Becky Thurner Braddock Sean McDowell With time and freedom, longtime DJ Sean McDowell can't get off the road. The ritual lasted through his entire career at the Buzzard. [160], WMMS's program lineup currently features Rover's Mornings Glory in morning drive, Dan Stansbury middays, The Alan Cox Show in afternoon drive and Corey Rotic evenings. Some of those artists were Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Pat Benatar, Roxy Music, Cyndi Lauper, The Pretenders, New York Dolls, and Southside Johnny. [53] YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. On March 30, 1946,[50] radio station WHK owned at that time by United Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of Forest City Publishing, itself the parent company of The Plain Dealer launched an experimental FM station under the callsign W8XUB at 107.1 megahertz (MHz). of WIXY 1260. During his long tenure doing evenings at the station Denny interviewed hundreds of rock stars including the late John Lennon. No Doubt shared the 2 stage show at Blossom with Candlebox, Patti Rothberg, The Tragically Hip, 311, and the Holy Barbarians. (Halper is at center in the photo above, with members of Rush and WMMS staffers. The Alan Cox Show Corey Rotic 100.7 WMMS Podcasts See All The Alan Cox Show Rover's Morning Glory The Week in Cox The Bill Squire Show Latest Stories Local News VIDEO: Cleveland Police Give Details of What Lead to Fatal Crash Mar 03, 2023 Music News Why March 5th Matters In Rock History Mar 03, 2023 Music News Gun rights advocates on the other hand, have warned this could bring unwarranted scrutiny on the overwhelming majority of law-abiding gun owners. Sanders also booked the acts for WMMS' fame "Coffeebreak Concerts." He gave many new up and coming artists exposure and put them on the map to their road to stardom. Buzzard-Palooza was the first of these: held in July 1994 at the Nautica Stage, the all-day concert included sets from Collective Soul, Junkhouse and Fury in the Slaughterhouse,[111] but was cut short after turning into a "rock-and-bottle-throwing melee." The second logo, first one in print, used by WMMS was the Tongue Logo. WMMS will celebrate its birthday Sunday at Blossom Music Center with a special anniversary concert featuring Ozzy Osbourne. Sanders was instrumental in WMMS' rise. The station was known as "The Home of the Buzzard" at first. He now works as a stand-up comedian, actor and writer. [151] In addition to the live broadcast, the show is available on demand through iHeartRadio; and can be downloaded as a podcast through iTunes. GLAAD Calling for Suspension After Horrific Anti-Gay Remark on He left in the late '80s to become program director for WRQK-FM/106.9 in Canton. GLAAD is calling on Clear Channel and Cleveland radio station WMMS to suspend radio personality Dominic Dieter for telling a father to essentially arrange for his daughter to be raped if he suspects she's gay. [127] A new airstaff was assembled after the stunt: Tim "Slats" Guinane was hired for afternoon drive replacing Brian & Joe, who were transferred to WMVX, and music director Mark Pennington replaced Bill "BLF Bash" Freeman in overnights. The flick which takes place in the 70s tells the story of a teenage boy who writes for Rolling Stone with the main focus being the rock band Stillwater. what are the non legislative powers of congress. His father, Herman, created Cleveland's legendary "Upbeat," an "American Bandstand"-style TV musical variety show which aired from 1964-71 and featured live performances of many of the great rock and pop acts of the era, from Simon and Garfunkel to Otis Redding. [139], Bo Matthews (Alex Gutierrez), who became the station's program director in early 2004, hired Ohio native Benjamin "Maxwell" Bornstein that April for a more "personality-driven" afternoon show following the departure of Tim "Slats" Guinane for WXTM. Jeff & Flash were also credited as being major contributors in bringing the Rock Hall to Cleveland, by heavily promoting on-air a USA Today reader poll to decide which city should get it.[82]. Tony Tilford, WMMS program director (19992003), WMMS shifted format to active rock on February 17, 1997, under the direction of Bob Neumann, who had previously programmed WNCX and WENZ. Other shows, like The Buzzard Morning Show with Rick and Megalis (Rick Eberhart, Tom Megalis) and WMMS Mornings with Sean, Cristi, and Hunter (Sean Kelly, Cristi Cantle, Hunter Scott), came and went in quick succession. Kid Leo interviews David Lee Roth, Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony before their show at the Richfield Colesium. Cox also frequently takes calls from listeners, and often interviews guests in studio and over the phone. Radio Home of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Mark Madden, and The Woody Show. In addition to Boom's deep pipes being used every hour in the Top of the hour ID's, station sweepers and commercials, he held two on-air shifts on the weekends which he coined the Boom 'till noon. The other DJs in the photo are, from left: Doc Nemo, Vic Boc, Martin Perlich and Pat Mack. Interview With Radio Legend And former Lakewood - Lakewood Observer For the station's tenth anniversary in 1978, WMMS hosted and broadcast a live Springsteen concert at the Agora Ballroom independent of his concert tour. Ross Brittain temporarily filled in prior to the arrival of The Brian and Joe Radio Show on the Buzzard Morning Zoo, hosted by Brian Fowler and Joe Cronauer. Rumor has it that WMMS had ballots printed so the public could fill them out at various events. One of the first black DJs in Cleveland radio, he worked at WIXY-AM/1260, and became one of the WIXY Supermen. On May 4, 1970 four students were killed by gunfire from the Ohio National Guard at Kent State University. She has written several books, including "Boston Radio: 1920-2010." Thats how big MMS was. wmms radio personalities. The announcement came less than two weeks before the show. (Scott is far right in the photo above, in the WMMS studio with Ed Kinzbach, Ed "Flash" Ferenc and Kenny Clean.) Lawrence James Travagliante - aka Kid Leo. Heavily bootlegged, the concert further cemented the relationship between the two in fans' minds, and well into the 2000s Cleveland remains one of Springsteen's strongest bases. [47][93] Stern continued on with the program over a phone line as engineers worked to quickly patch together the severed broadcast wire. Discover Financial to reportedly track gun store purchases starting in [113] The Ramones headlined BuzzardFest '95 the following spring (May 1995) at Blossom;[114] other acts included Our Lady Peace, The Rugburns and Face to Face. Following the prank announcement, station management placed Maxwell on probation for 90 days. [60] Sounds described the station programming at this time as "totally off-the-wall in its choice of records, playing anything it liked. And indeed, it remains a special show in the memories of Springsteen, Weinberg and the members of the E Street Band too. Hes heard introducing Bruce Springsteens fabled WMMS tenth anniversary show at the Cleveland Agora which is thought to have been the most bootlegged radio concert ever before its official release. Rover is pictured in the middle in the 2009 WMMS promo photo above with partners Dieter and Duji. It was the first time Stone Temple Pilots performed in Cleveland in six years. Hughes returned briefly to WMMS in the 1990s for short stints on a new "Morning Zoo" and as an overnight DJ. The station also started to devote weekend programming to the classic rock format. He made his debut on WMMS in 1984. Signing on in 1946 as the FM adjunct to WHK, the WMMS call letters were affixed in 1968 under Metromedia ownership, having stood for "MetroMedia Stereo" and meant as a compliment to the newly established progressive rock format, but have since taken on a variety of other meanings. [85] Four different program directors, including Rich Piombino and Michael Luczak, came and went with varying levels of success. Two of her audiobook projects were nominated for Grammy awards in the Best Spoken Word category. It was supposed to be a colorful logo including all the rainbow colors - but at the time, the station didn't have the budget to do multiple colors so they kept it one color. A comedic mainstay of the morning show at WMMS-FM/100.7 for years, the character is the creation of comedian John Carillo, a California native who uses John Rio as his stage name. The top 40 deejays were retained, but it was soon obvious that they were inadequate hosts for a progressive rock format. A major contributor to the ratings success was an airstaff that remained fundamentally unchanged for many years: personalities like Kid Leo, Jeff & Flash, Matt the Cat, Dia Stein, Denny Sanders, Murray Saul, Debbie Ullman, Betty "Crash" Korvan, Ruby Cheeks (Debra Luray), BLF Bash (Bill Freeman), TR (Tom Renzy) and the late Len "Boom" Goldberg were invaluable to the station's popularity. He also did a nightly oldies show there from 1988-2001. [34], Loveline, Westwood One's nationally syndicated call-in show hosted by Dr. Drew, aired weeknights from August 2008 through June 2010. There's proof! He would go on and on about what is wrong with the world, horrible co-workers and bosses and the daily grind of the work day. [104] John Gorman was named Program Director of the Year (Rock) in 1995. She was among the first DJs to put the group's seven-minute opus, "Working Man," into regular rotation. By 1984, the WMMS format moved to an CHR/AOR hybrid, playing a great deal of Top 40 rock singles in hot rotation mixed with album cuts; this new blended rock/Top 40 format was soon known by those at the station as Rock Forty. Pittsburgh Radio Personalities Recently retired from WDVE, longtime DJ Sean McDowell isn't sitting still. [135] Former Lex and Terry producer Jason Carr was named the new WMMS assistant program director on February 1, 2018. In 1988 The Plain Dealer printed a story which said the employees of WMMS had stuffed the ballot box to reign as 10 year champions. Brian and Joe were moved to afternoons in February 1997 after a change in ownership, with shock jock Liz Wilde (Anne Whittemore) from WPLL/Miami taking their place; her firing less than a year later sparked a successful lawsuit against both the station and then-owner Nationwide Communications. Kid Leo Interviews Van Halen April 20, 1980. ". Right up until his departure in 1988, Kid Leo played "Born to Run" as his signature sign-off song every Friday night at 5:55 to kick off the weekend for area listeners. WMMS, WTAM and the other iHeart stations in Cleveland will get a new home this year. In the early '90s, she started her own DJ and karaoke company, Amalon Entertainment, with husband Frank Amato, the lead singer for Beau Coup. [142], On April 3, 2009, The Maxwell Show went on the air claiming that Metallicain Cleveland for the 2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony the very next daywas playing a free show in the WMMS parking lot later that evening. The eight-year radio host . [147], Described by The Plain Dealer as "testosterone-fueled", the show dominates younger demographics, particularly male listeners ages 1834. Throughout the 1970s and '80s, the station played home to some of Cleveland's most recognizable personalities: Matt the Cat, Denny Sanders, Murray Saul, Betty "Crash" Korvan, Ruby Cheeks, BLF. Students were protesting the bombing of Cambodia by the United States Armed Forces. [31] In 1981, Radio & Records identified "the malevolent feathered figure" as "the best-known station symbol in the country. Other stations carried their birthday show. [131][132], In September 2007, WMMS management chose to "de-emphasize" both The Buzzard and WMMS call letters, referring to the station as simply "100.7", save for the FCC-mandated legal ID at the top of every hour. [51] Seeing a small but significant groundswell of support for the medium in the market, WHK-FM adopted a new progressive rock format on August 15, 1968. [120] Geared as a format change to contemporary hit radio (CHR) using the "KISS FM" brand,[30][126] the decision was reversed at the last minute by management. Past show members at WMMS include, Ryan Hoppe, Scott Taylor (now a reporter at WJLA in Washington, DC, Kaitlin Geosano, and Rob Garguilo. Kinzbach left the station in 1994. Subscribe Now To Listen Your Favorite Songs On Demand! [141] Maxwell was known for having feuds with other radio personalities during the show's time at WMMS, including Rover of Rover's Morning Glory and fellow WTAM afternoon host Mike Trivisonno; by 2009, Maxwell had become the number one afternoon program in several key demographics. The show is now syndicated to WKGB-FM/Binghamton, WRKK/Williamsport, and WZNE/Rochester; replays continuously on a dedicated iHeartRadio channel; is available on demand through iHeartRadio; and broadcasts over the Livestream video platform. 50 Of The Longest-Lasting Celebrity Relationships Jun 09, 2022. We all have such respect for what this station did back in the day. Featuring Kevin DuBrow on vocals, Frankie Banali on drums, Rudy Sarzo on bass and Carlos Cavazo on guitar. That will never be done again. (Plain Dealer file photo). (Plain Dealer file photo), A DJ at WMMS-FM/100.7 in the 1980s, Stein went on to work in programming at Westwood One and Launch Radio Networks. Moms to be participated in the bikini contest for a chance to win $1,000. He would read some commercial copy and then "throw them in the bash bucket where they belong" and openly criticize music he didn't care for. She later worked in radio promotion and sales in Chicago and New York. 100.7 WMMS Podcasts See All Playlists from 100.7 WMMS Latest News Denny left WMMS to start another local station, but returned for a long stay at WMJI. In 1986, Gorman and 12 other staff members left WMMS to start classic-rock station WNCX-FM/98.5. (Plain Dealer file photo), Maria Farina landed at WMMS in 1986 fresh out of Ohio University and quickly gained popularity. Stern's ratings exploded and this along with a growing urgency from management not to compete with or mention Stern on the air led to a sudden and steep ratings decline for The Buzzard Morning Zoo. [33] Regarding the change, WMMS program director Bo Matthews (Alex Gutierrez) said, " nobody's killing anything Chief Wahoo is not on every piece of Indians promotional material Ronald McDonald is not in every McDonald's commercial We're not losing the letters. She introduced Rush when they got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in June 2010. [90][92], During the now infamous broadcast, WMMS engineer William Alford snipped a broadcast wire used for the Stern show's satellite feed. The Cleveland Free Clinic staffed aid stations in the stadium with physicians, nurses and other volunteers, and through 1977, made its treatment statistics public. Since retiring from WDVE last year, he's been roaming the country by car. In studio, WTAM sports director Mike Snyder hosts The Tip-Off Show, The Halftime Report, and The Nightcap Recap the network pregame, halftime, and postgame shows, respectively. It was the same logo used by all of the FM radio stations owned by Metromedia at the time. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. ), Bass built one of the most versatile careers in the history of Cleveland radio. But after a few years, he wanted to concentrate on being a DJ, so he reached out to an old friend, John Gorman, to come Cleveland as the station's music director. This second show sold out immediately, and was held at the city's largest venue: Cleveland Public Hall.[63]. He was on WMMS for more than twenty years, and would end his show with, "Blue skies and green lights to ya. We joked about the Buzzard becoming Cleveland's Mickey Mouse a "Buzzard Land" amusement park filled with sex, drugs and rock and roll A study conducted by MBA students at Case Western Reserve University in 1975 found that the new WMMS logo was more recognizable to those living in Greater Cleveland than both Chief Wahoo of the Cleveland Indians and even Coca-Cola. Belkin Productions staged these events, attracting popular hard rock bands and as many as 88,000 fans. [95], Already program director at OmniAmerica station WMJI, station veteran John Gorman returned to WMMS as vice-president and director of operations in early 1994. Widely regarded as one of the most influential rock stations in America throughout its history,[a][b][26][27] the station has also drawn controversy for unusually aggressive tactics both on and off the air. 26 memorable DJs and radio personalities from WMMS-FM's past: The Buzzard turns 50 This year, WMMS turns 50. Win tickets to The Sonic Temple Art and Music Festival, 'People Magazine' Hits Newsstands On This Date in 1974, We're Celebrating Women Who Make Music & Culture. The contest titled the White Trash Wedding prize included everything needed to make a wedding day special limo, wedding dress, tuxedo rental, flowers, cake and the ceremony which took place at Mickeys Diamond Mens Club in the Flats. [102], While the change in programming alienated many longtime listeners, many of whom switched to WNCX and their full-time classic rock format, WMMS boosted its ratings for the first time in years with a new, younger audience. All rights reserved (About Us). A comedic mainstay of the morning show at WMMS-FM/100.7 for years, the character is the creation of comedian John Carillo, a California native who uses John Rio as his stage name. Seth's Big Fat Barbarian Wedding - August 19th, 2005 at Shooters on the Water. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. [62] The WMMS-sponsored concert was a "phenomenal success"[58][63] and prompted the station to sponsor a second show that year. He now works for Progressive Insurance. Rio created the. Warren Zevon, John Mellencamp, Lou Reed, Tim Buckley, Peter Frampton, and a host of others performed on the program over the years, recordings of which are still widely available as bootlegs. Springsteen Concert Poster - Agora - August 9th, 1978, Springsteen - Agora - Scene Magazine - August, 1978. "The station, like any radio station, it really reflects the people who are running it and the ownership of the station. For STP vocalist Scott Weiland, who spent time as a kid living in Bainbridge Township and attending grade school in Chagrin Falls, the concert was a homecoming experience and he referenced his time growing up in Northeast Ohio during his conversations with the crowd that evening. Photo: Courtesy of John Gorman), One of the young DJs legendary WMMS program director John Gorman brought to the Buzzard when he took over again as WMMS chief in the early 1990s. 20 Country Women We Are Celebrating During International Women's Day Mar 01, 2021. April 16, 1974 the Buzzard was born. Since 1998, he's hosted "America's Workforce" a one-hour program sponsored by labor unions on WERE-AM/1490. ", WMMS-FM---FREEMAN,-Bill-'BLF-Bash'--(Date-Unknown). (Plain Dealer file photo), Dillon got her start in Cleveland radio in 1988 on WMMS-FM/100.7, working on the morning show with Jeff and Flash. "[83] Negative reaction was swift and widespread;[44][45] some called the scheme a mere "lack of judgement,"[44] while a reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal compared the station's response to that of discredited former Vice-president Spiro Agnew.[84]. [125] As part of the stunt, Denny Sanders returned to host an airshift, programming the music at his discretion. [26] Station employees went on to take director and executive-level positions in the recording industry, namely with labels RCA, Mercury, and Columbia. [120] Meanwhile, ownership would change yet again as Nationwide Communications was bought out by Jacor in November 1997. "[110] Studios were moved again to a combined facility in the suburb of Independence, Ohio. [56], MetroMedia found major success with progressive rock at KMET Los Angeles, KSAN San Francisco, WMMR Philadelphia and WNEW-FM New York, but a lack of commitment from MetroMedia led the company to drop the format at WMMS by May 1969. He had that gig for seven years and parlayed it into a regular show on WCLV-FM-95.5 called the "Perlich Project," featuring everything from classical music to jazz to progressive rock. Sanders eventually turned over the program director job to Gorman, too, and they were close partners in building the station into a powerhouse. I met great radio personalities like Chuck Knapp, Lou King Kirby, Chuck Dunaway, Big John Roberts and Billy Bass. The debut issue of Buzzard Bone, arrived in September of 1995 and featured the brand new Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the cover story, with an article tracing the history of the museum, which had its grand opening that same month. They worked together on four different stations in the Cleveland/Akron area over the years: WONE-FM/97.5, WENZ-FM/107.9, WMMS-FM/100.7 and WMVX-FM/106.5. Each daily call-in would include an excuse that was crazier than the last. Denny Sanders came to WMMS in 1971 from Boston where hed been working as a DJ from the time he was just 16 years old. 1," released in 1999. In July 1973, John Gorman joined WMMS as music director and was promoted to program director and operations manager two months later where he remained for thirteen years. "They did a number of formats, and I was at the right place at the right time with a lot of other people. wmms radio personalities - vccsrbija.rs Murray Saul joined the WMMS staff as a salesman. Alford was subsequently caught, arrested and later sentenced to ten days in jail and a $1,000 fine. Monday, October 01, 2018. 16 Times Riley Green Was The Hottest Bachelor On Instagram Nov 05, 2020. Most station imaging is produced out-of-market by national voice talents "David Lee" Olejniczak, Malcolm Ryker,[166] Rena-Marie Villano, and former WMMS creative services director Miles Hlivko; additional voice-over audio is produced on-site by WMMS imaging director Billy Black. In 2015, he founded oWOW, a thriving Cleveland-based internet radio. She now lives in Santa Monica, Calif. (Stile is pictured here, sitting next to Bruce Springsteen during his 1976 visit to the WMMS studios. Here's what some of your favorite personalities from the past are up to now. WMMS does not air additional network programming, and the station only airs select games during spring training. Album deejay Denny Sanders was brought in from Boston and key WNCR personnel (including former WHK-FM/WMMS personalities Martin Perlich and Billy Bass, and station newcomer David Spero) were soon hired by WMMS, taking most of their audience with them. Rolling Stone named WMMS "Radio Station of the Year" nine straight years (197987) as part of its annual Readers' Poll, but a February 1988 front-page story in The Plain Dealer revealed station employees had stuffed the annual survey's ballot box for the 1987 poll to allow for the possibility of a tenth straight win the following year. Springsteen's music had become an important cornerstone of the Buzzard playlist and his profile had risen nationally, thanks to the release of the Born to Run album, with the title track quickly becoming an 'MMS staple that would endure for decades. Thousands of entries were received, but only 375 lucky listeners received two tickets to the concert. [38][39] Considered "a true radio legend," WMMS DJ Kid Leo was chosen for Rolling Stone's "Heavy Hundred: The High and Mighty of the Music Industry" (1980) and named "The Best Disc Jockey in the Country" in a special 1987 issue of Playboy. [51] Like most early FM stations, WHK-FM mostly simulcast the Top 40 programming of its AM sister station. Over the next twenty years Matt did mostly middays and hosted the weekly Coffee Break Concerts, likely introducing more concerts than anyone in Cleveland history. In time, the station adopted new slogans reflecting the callsign: "We're your Modern Music Station" and "your Music Marathon Station. 26 memorable DJs and radio personalities from WMMS-FM's - cleveland Regular segments include "The Shizzy", a daily news update; "Tech Tuesday", where listeners pose consumer electronics questions to an industry expert; and "The Thursday Hook-Up", a call-in dating game. WHK-FM became one of a handful of commercial stations in the country to try that format, many of which were owned by MetroMedia. Denny was also instrumental in convincing former WMMS owner Milton Maltz to continue the stations rock format in the mid-1970s.
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