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590 MIGHTY MEMORY #414

January 4, 2014, 10:52 am
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590 FOREVER REWIND!!!!!

NOT  THE ORIGINAL SENSATIONAL 7!!!!  BUT CLOSE. THIS WAS A POSTER FROM 1959.


THIS IS WHAT FOLLOWED IN THE MID '60s. 
 
When I posted 590 Mighty Memory # 416, I had said that the only living members of the original WARM Sensational 7 alive were Harry West, Tom Woods and Joey Shaver. That was incorrect. Harry came from the Lehigh Valley in the late 50s as a newsman and Woods and Shaver came from stations in the Wilkes Barre Area. What I should have said was that in my day of listening to WARM as a child in the 60s, those three gentlemen were part of my daily listening habit. But they weren’t the original Sensational Seven. 
When Don Stevens left in the mid 60s, WARM reduced it’s roster to 6. Harry West took on an additional hour and worked until 10am. George Gilbert moved from noon to 3 to 10am to 1, Ron Allen moved up from 3 to 6 to 1  to 4pm and Tommy Woods took over the 3 to 7PM slot. Joey Shaver and Bill Stuart alternated the 7 to midnight and midnight to 6am shift. By my logic, I should have included Bill Stuart in my Christmas thoughts too. (The red photo was on book covers in the mid 60s and were distributed at Carroll's Restaurants. Don Stevens was still there but this was before Joey Shaver joined the staff.)
A reader pointed out who the Original Sensational 7 were and here is his rundown. 
Harry West, Joey Shaver and Tommy Woods were not “original”.
When WARM went on the air as a rock and roll station the “original seven” were: 6 – 9 AM Harry Newman 9 – Noon 
Don Stevens Noon – 3 
Jack Murphy noon to 3pm, 
Bart Maldon  3-4 and then 7 to 9
Vince Kearney 4pm to 7pm 
Jack Gower 9 to midnight. 
Len Woloson was added, Midnight to 6 AM on January 1, 1957. In addition; Here are some of the other jocks who were on WARM: Kerby (Confer) Scott Paul Roberts Jim O’Leary Art Knight.   
Blog reader Dal Giuliani provided that information and says that all of these listed, plus the guys you always refer to made WARM the memory that it is today. We thank Dal Giuliani for his input and I'm just so curious as to why Burt Waldon would have a split shift. In my research no one seems to know. Someone told me that it had to do with mine updates but no one else could confirm that. So if anyone out there has an idea why, let me know. And if anyone has anything to contribute to this blog in memory of the Mighty 590, send it along. 
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590 MIGHTY MEMORY #413

January 24, 2014, 7:51 pm
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WARM’S LANDMARK CHURCH 

One of the little known stories of the Mighty 590 WARM is the association it had with a Roman Catholic Church in Avoca. When WARM moved from Scranton to that storied building in Avoca, Route 81 was not yet completed. The tannish brown Church on Main Street, Sts. Peter and Paul became a directional landmark for prospective employees, vendors and prize winners who had to make their way to the WARM Studios. If you were coming from Wilkes Barre through Avoca, you made a right at the church. If you were coming from Moosic through Avoca, you made a left and went up the hill. When you couldn’t go any further you made a right. 
This week that venerable Catholic Church like many in the Diocese went the way of the wrecking ball. It was a beautiful church. When I was working for WKQV FM and AM in the late 90s, I had NASCAR duty and Bob Cordaro put the station’s studios in the old WARM building. My wife and I stopped off at Mass on a Saturday in a teeming rainstorm. As the WARM building ceased to exist, so too did the landmark that made it easier to find the Mighty 590. 
When I was a young boy pedaling up that hill (making a right at the church of course) I never imagined that WARM would be gone from that place. Even more inconceivable was the fact that the proud, historic sacred church would fall to ruins. Devotees of WARM and the parishioners of that church will be quick to tell you that there is nothing sacred about change. 
 Sts. Peter and Paul Church a few weeks ago. (Times Leader) 


Sts. Peter and Paul Church in ruins. (Photo: Pa Homepage)
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590 MIGHTY MEMORY #412

February 1, 2014, 8:29 pm
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WARM IMAGES 

Every day I try to listen to the Mighty 590 and every day I have to give it up. The signal in Wilkes Barre is pretty bad but the memories of WARM still stay stronger than ever. Images abound from loyal fans who have kept pictures and keep sakes through the years. In December I got this communication from a WARM fan who works at the facility the current reincarnation of WARM is housed in. Due to three or four ownership changes there isn’t much left of WARM. But this reader found two photos of WARM Red and Blue News signs. Here’s his communication to me and the photos. 
Hi David: I have been a fan of your 590 Forever WARM Radio blog for the past year or so. I'm not directly connected to WARM, but I work in the same building for 97.9X and 97BHT. I am also a radio archivist with an interest in the history of "The Mighty 590". Sadly, there nothing of WARM's past at the radio station, except for a couple of signs from "The News Leader" era. I thought I'd share these images with you. The Best, Scott Lowe 


Thanks Scott and if anyone has any photos or images they would like to share, we’ll put them on on the 590 Forever site.
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590 MIGHTY MEMORY #411

February 7, 2014, 2:38 pm
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THE BEATLES AND WARM 

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the Beatles to America. And WARM was one of the first radio stations to get in on the excitement. WARM first educated listeners about the Beatles through its First News First Live at 55 broadcasts. If it was a cultural phenomenon, WARM was going to cover it. Then when the record started to get released, WARM played them. It was not uncommon in the spring of 1964 to hear more than four Beatles records an hour on WARM. Plus the Beatles were releasing records one after another from various labels and it was pretty hard to keep up with it. 
WARM had a few contests where you could win a Beatles 45 but there wasn’t anything big because of the intense popularity of the group. But WARM had no trouble at all charting those two sided hits from Capitol and they always made the number 1 slot in less than five weeks. When the Beatles played Shea WARM scored a few tickets and did a co promotion with Martz Trailways for the 1965 World’s Fair and the chance to see the Beatles at Shea.  But through the years, WARM had little chance to do anything other than giving away those items. But as the dominant top 40 music station in the market (there was WSCR, WICK and WPTS playing elements of rock) WARM was the “go to” place on the dial for anything Beatles related. Plus WARM was not adverse to programming Beatles music in various time slots. During mid days you heard “Yesterday” and softer versions of the Fab Four. Later on in the night, you heard the rollicking remakes of “Roll Over Beethoven” and “Please Mr. Postman”. 
Like WARM, the Beatles transcended age groups that made them popular even to this day. As George Gilbert told filmmakers for the documentary “WARMland Remembered”, “You could never go wrong with the Beatles”. Indeed. During this first week of February fifty years ago, the number one song in WARMland was the iconic “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. 
 WARM survey sheet from February 1, 1964. (Click to enlarge, LuLac archives).
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590 MIGHTY MEMORY #410

February 15, 2014, 3:17 pm
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RON ALLEN AND JIM FREGOSI 


The late Ron Allen on Opening Night in 1989 at Lackawanna County Stadium. (Photo: Andy Palumbo.net) 


The late Jim Fregosi. (Photo: Philadelphia Phillies).

 THE TOP OF THEIR GAME 


There are certain times in one’s career where you seem to reach the zenith. When I heard about the death of Jim Fregosi last night I also thought about WARM’s Ron Allen. You might ask why. The Phillies in the early 90s were woeful franchise. They were a bunch of misfits that couldn’t get out of their own. At the same time WARM Radio was heavily into an Informational/Entertainment format. One of the most popular programs on the Mighty 590 was the Ron Allen Sportsline. Allen was at the top of his game. After years of hybrid formats where Ron’s show was on Sunday nights, Allen was given the afternoon drive time show piece of local broadcasting. 
Allen would broadcast his program starting at 5pm everyday sometimes with live broadcasts from Lackawanna County Stadium. His show was right before the Phillies games. As one might know, there is huge contingent of Phillies fans in WARMland. During the 1993 season, Allen had access to major talent on the Phils. It would not be unusual to hear guys like John Kruk or Mitch Williams being interviewed by Allen or his sports sidekick Kelly Reed. Allen at least once a month scored an interview with then Phils manager Jim Fregosi. The skipper was blunt and to the point but the loquacious Ron Allen always seemed to stretch the time he was given by the Phillies PR Department with Fregosi. 
Allen was a broadcast lifer like Fregosi was a baseball lifer. And Allen talked baseball with the Manager. During that magic season of 1993 Ron Allen and WARM’s coverage of the Phillies was the place to be for fans of the Fightin’s. During the 1993 Series Allen had unprecedented access to the team by phone, in person or through Kelly Reed, a WARM News and Sports staffer. It was heady stuff. 
The Phils lost that series in a memorable home run that Joe Carter hit off Mitch Williams. The next year they did not reach the pennant and a few years later Fregosi was fired. Ron Allen in just a short time would be let go by the group owing WARM but it is said he was given a lifetime contract before he left. Fregosi moved on and The Sportsline on WARM was gone. But for that one great year, 1993, the Phillies and Ron Allen were at the zenith of what baseball and sports talk radio was supposed to be. And that’s why to me the late great Ron Allen, WARM Radio and Jim Fregosi will always be part of something special.
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590 MIGHTY MEMORY #409

February 18, 2014, 5:07 pm
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LETTER FROM HARRY 

WARM's Harry West. (Photo: 590 Forever archives).

WARM’s Harry West took a little detour in the late 60s and early 70s. Harry went to KQV Radio in Pittsburgh but by his own admission was not happy there. Harry wound up at WSBA in York and when I was writing a column for the Pittston Sunday Dispatch, I gave him a little shout out. Harry responded with a very gracious letter. I have it up on the 590 Forever site but in case you can’t read it, here are the key points. 
WARM thanks for your nice Christmas card and sentiments. I really appreciate hearing from the old camping grounds of WARMland. Since leaving WARM, I spent two horrendous years in Pittsburgh trying to “fit in” playing way out rock and after two years I finally figured out that my format and that music did not mix. I did not renew my contract in Pittsburgh and was offered a job with Susquehanna and here I am! I will certainly be looking for your column in the mail and if you like you can tell my former listeners ( if any of them remember me!) that I o miss them but am firmly entrenched in the morning show on WSBA from 6 to 9AM Again thanks for your correspondence and if you are ever in WSBAland, we’re at 910 on the dial…and I’d love to have you stop by for a chat.
Sincerely, Harry West WSBA Radio 


Amazing. If any of my listeners remember me? Wow. That was vintage Harry. Even though Harry was content when he sent me this letter, he did return to the Mighty 590 on July 16th 1973 and remained at WARM until the early 90s. Harry's response was a thrill for me because as a Senior in high school he was the reason for my interest in radio. Through the years I had the opportunity to interact with him and was grateful for his kind words. Harry is and will always remain one of the legends of WARM.
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590 MIGHTY MEMORY #408

February 27, 2014, 4:44 pm
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THE WOODSMAN ON THE RADIO 

Tom Woods then. 

Tom Woods now. 
WARM's Tommy Woods will be back on the radio this Friday night as a guest on the Beatledd Radio hour on WRKC FM, 88.5 on your dial. The Beatledd Hour has turned into one of the most popular programs on the Fab Four and Woods will recount the days and months of 1964 when he Beatles topped the charts on the Mighty 590. It will be great listening. 

http://wrkc.kings.edu
 And your host..................................................Beatledd!
 Woods on the radio with Moon Dog and Beatledd. (Photo: Beatledd Facebook page). 
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590 MIGHTY MEMORY #407

March 8, 2014, 1:41 pm
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LETTER FROM LENNY 


When I was writing my Rock and Roll column for the Sunday Dispatch, and doing some promotion work for a record company, I kept in touch with Len Woloson for help in getting records played in the West. The company was small and went nowhere. But things happen for a reason and now 43 years I found this letter. 
In a letter from the fall of 1971 Woloson was quite candid about his departure from WARM. Len was “The Morning Mayor” at the Mighty 590 and left after a few years in that position. Woloson confided that he felt the General Manager (Jack Herr) at the time felt that anyone could do the morning show at WARM and said that he felt he was underpaid. More poignantly, Lenny wrote: “I must confess that I AM HEARTSICK ABOUT NOT BEING IN THAT AREA because it is my home. And above all the nicest people live in the Scranton, Wilkes Barre area. I mean that Dave. I can’t tell you how much I miss everybody." Referring to Las Vegas where he moved to Woloson wrote: "This is a GREAT town. I do all the production for KENO and for the fun of it…work the weekend." 
Woloson also mentioned that he won an amateur talent contest. "A few weeks ago I entered an amateur contest at the Holiday Inn and won! Which in turn got me to appear as a comic at the Casbar Room of the Aladdin Hotel ..on the strip."
In the rest of his letter Woloson confided that WARM was at its ebb and the halcyon days were over. But in closing he reiterated this message, "PLEASE give my REGARDS to everyone".
Len also sent an article that was in the Vegas newspapers too. I scanned it and hope you could access the contents.  There were a few things in Lenny's letter I did not repeat because he was quite unhappy with a few managers at the Mighty 590 and even though his is deceased, I have chosen to respect his thoughts. I also kept the capitalization in my reposting of Lenny's letter to emphasize how much he missed WARMland.
The interesting thing  about this letter as well as some others from the personalities at WARM are eye opening. Len was very candid, seemed homesick and banged it out on an old manual type writer. Having used one and how laborious they could be in comparison to what we have today, I am more grateful than ever for these letters. 
Above is an article that featured Len in a Las Vegas newspaper. 
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590 MIGHTY MEMORY #406

March 16, 2014, 11:55 am
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ANOTHER WARMLAND MAYOR??? 

Former WARMland personality Tommy Woods in the back seat in Wilkes Barre's 34th Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade. Woods was Honorary Mayor for the day, Mayor Carl Kuren is in the front seat. Wilkes Barre Township always participates in the City of Wilkes Barre's St. Patrick's Day Parade.


It appears that former WARM personality Tommy Woods now can add one more title to his illustrious career. Mayor. Tom was the honorary Mayor of Wilkes Barre Township today, the day before St. Patrick’s Day in the 34th annual Wilkes Barre St. Patrick’s Day parade. Woods rode in the spiffy red Cadillac with his wife Fran as well as Wilkes Barre Township Mayor Carl Kuren. Woods spent many a St. Patrick’s Day at WARM playing the likes of the Irish Rovers and Carmel Quinn. Good to see a WARM personality getting this honor on the day of the wearing of the Green!
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590 MIGHTY MEMORY #405

March 21, 2014, 7:50 pm
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PEARLY WHITES AND WARM 

Okay, how does a radio station in Wilkes Barrie Scranton get involved in tooth whitening? One word: advertising. Since WARM was the dominant station in the Wilkes Bare/Scranton market, it got first crack (and sometimes the only chance) at national Radio buys. As an added extra, WARM threw in advertising on the back of its popular survey sheets. 


WARM ran Macleans ads in teen day parts, mostly from 3 to 11 at night as well as a ads in the popular morning program. Macleans was a tooth paste that promised you a white set of teeth, a fresh minty breath and a winning smile. All the things a teen needed to make an impression on the WARMland dating scene. To my knowledge, Maclean’s is no longer distributed in the U.S,. but people can get it in Canada and the UK. And then of course Amazon sells it as well as EBay. But back in the heyday of WARM, Maclean’s had a major presence as one of WARM’s top national advertisers.
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590 MIGHTY MEMORY #404

April 18, 2014, 2:40 pm
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TOM AND FRAN AT 50 

Our congratulations to Tom Woods and his lovely wife Fran on the occasion of their 50th anniversary. These two crazy kids were married when Tom was a personality on the Mighty 590 and Fran was at WNEP TV. Their love has endured and that is a great thing. 


Here is a photo of Tom and Fran today. 


Friends made a special cake featuring their Wedding photo. 
And when Tom and Fran tied the knot, On the Billboard Hot 100 dated 50 years ago this - April 4, 1964 - the Beatles made history as the only act ever to monopolize the chart's top five positions. The Billboard Hot 100, April 4, 1964 was:
1, "Can't Buy Me Love" No. 2, "Twist and Shout" No. 3, "She Loves You" No. 4, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" No. 5, "Please Please Me" .
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590 MIGHTY MEMORY #403

April 18, 2014, 2:50 pm
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GOOD FRIDAY AND WARM 


It is but a distant memory. Years ago on Good Friday stores would close. TV's were turned off. Radios too. But WARM Radio promoted a 3 hour devotional solemn program in the mid 60s to mark the day. This ended around 1968 but prior to that, WARM shut down the rock and pop and devoted the noon to 3 pm time slot to the day that Christians consider it be one of the most important in their liturgy.
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590 MIGHTY MEMORY #402

April 26, 2014, 2:59 pm
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WARM AND THE RED BARONS 

Tonight marks the 25th anniversary of the first game at Lackawanna County Stadium featuring the Red Barons vs. the Tidewater Tides. With baseball and now two stadiums being here this long, the temptation is to think that baseball was here forever. But it wasn’t. It took a lot of hard work to get this effort accomplished. Attorney John McGee founded Northeast baseball, then shepherded the effort to bring triple A baseball to Northeastern Pennsylvania. There was political opposition but with the cooperation of funding from both counties, the new Stadium became a reality. 
However as opening day approached, the powers that be knew they had to deliver seats in the stands. The Red Barons Management asked the local media to do them a favor. Lead every sportscast with what the Red Barons were doing that day or night if there wasn’t a huge national or international sports story. And for that first year the media acquiesced. 
WARM Radio was one of the leaders in being a big cheerleader for the new home team. Even though other radio outlets had the rights to the broadcast of the games, WARM Radio did a live broadcast for every home game for that first season. The Mighty 590 in 1989 had become a hybrid format with music in the morning and then sports in the afternoon and talk or Phillies baseball later on in the evening. WARM staffers Ron Allen, Kelly Reed and Joe Thomas before he went to WILK covered Red Barons games dissecting each move and inning. Kent Westling the first play by play man on Red Barons baseball did 20/20 on the Mighty 590 too adding an extra punch of local flavor. 


Ron Allen at the Opening Night at Lackawanna County Stadium. (Photo Andy Palumbo.) 


 Here's a photo of WARM's Joe Thomas, now of WILK interviewing the Red Baron's first manager John Dancy. (Photo: Joe Thomas Facebook page).


The first Barons play by play announcer, Kent Westling. (Photo: Scranton Times).


Kelly Reed and long time Red Baron favorite Floyd Rayford. (Photo: LuLac archives).   
Twenty five years later the success of baseball in Northeastern Pennsylvania seems like a no brainer today. But during that first year, WARM Radio and its dedicated, knowledgeable sports staff beat the drums for baseball in Northeastern Pennsylvania, aka WARMland. 
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590 MIGHTY MEMORY #401

May 3, 2014, 2:46 pm
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RESIDUALS OF WARM FAME 

Being a member of the lineup of the Mighty 590 WARM Radio in the 60s was a lot of fun but also a great deal of work. Disc jockeys worked a six day week but one perk was the extra employment they got from their WARM fame. In past 590 Mighty Memories we spoke of record hops as a way to earn extra money. Tom Woods who was the music director at WARM had the opportunity to host the Komotion Program on WNEP TV Channel 16. 
The show featured local teenagers from area high schools who danced like those teeners from Philly on American Bandstand hosted by Dick Clark. The show originated as TV Bandstand sponsored by the Coca Cola Bottling plant with host Sid Freedman. When Freedom left, Woods took over and did the job introducing local bands and playing the hits. 
Subsequent hosts of the Komotion program were Jay Kristopher, Doug Lane, and Bob Woody. Here are a few promotion advertisements from WNEP and his archives that Tom provided to us from Face book. 
Check that ad out above, that was when College Football was king on Saturday afternoons with one game, in color no less and then the old folks got to dance watching Lawrence Welk after Komotion!
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590 MIGHTY MEMORY #400

May 9, 2014, 4:44 pm
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VOICES IN THE NIGHT 


Keystone College Observatory. (Photo: Keystone College EDU) 
One of the most popular overnight disc jockeys and radio hosts on WARM was a fellow named Scott Arthur. Arthur had an extremely popular night time program where he asked trivia questions and in between records speculated about aliens and outer space. A few weeks ago an e mail came to my attention from a gentlemen who had interacted with an overnight radio host on UFOs a few times. I knew instantly it had to be Scott Arthur. Here’s the genesis of that question and how the group of young men interacted with the radio host. 
Jim W.Filipski C.P.P. is a Senior Commercial Photographer with Guy Cali Associates Inc. - Images for Business. The Cali group is one of the finest group of photographers in the state, dare I say the country. Anyway, it was Jim who related his past experience with the Mighty 590. 
Way back in the early 1970's ( over 41 years ago) My buddies and I did the pioneering set up work on Keystone College's Alvin Clark Refracting telescope at their Observatory in La Plume, PA. If you are familiar with the modern TV show "Big Bang" well that is almost a direct spin off of my buddies and I ( and we like to refer to ourselves now as the original Big Bang group) We virtually lived there from Friday after work until the wee hours of Monday morning when we got home with just enough time to grab a shower head out to our real jobs! We did this every weekend for many years and one of the guys, John Sabia still works for the Observatory to this day. Well as you can imagine in northeastern PA the weather is not always the best So many observing session would get rained out. And a bunch of young active minds must find better things to do then just sit around and wait. The hand held Hewlett Packard scientific calculator recently came out back then and it didn't take us long to find out that if we wrapped a coil of wire around it and attached that wire to our "constantly on", Short Wave Radio's antenna port ( this was set to "wwv" Government time signals for observing purposes We always knew what time it was by hearing the audio time signals) We were then able to generate what at that time was not very common ....digital tones! We decide to call WARM Radio during one of the late night talk shows at 3AM one Saturday morning and played the tones for the DJ on the line and then announced "This is the Interstellar Operator calling Will you accept the call from ( One of us would be named)" and we would hold a conversation with Scott Arthur. It was pretty wild for that time to hear those tones on a radio or in a phone for that matter. Well now our group is scattered about but we still get back together every few years to celebrate (April 13 2014 was our 42nd year anniversary) A few in the group went on to bigger things. One builds optics for special applications for the US projects, one is an project engineer for NASA, a number are computer programmers and yours truly is a Commercial Photographer as you know. There were 7 of us total for the core group and yes we are still all active in Astronomy. 
EDITOR'S NOTE: As for Scott Arthur, I have tried to research where he went after WARM. Arthur did move to day times for a bit in the 70s but I lost track of him since then. Anyone who knows anything about him, please e mail me. 
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590 MIGHTY MEMORY #399

May 31, 2014, 9:02 am
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SCOTT ARTHUR 
 Former WARM broadcaster Scott Arthur. (Photo: LinkedIn). 
Scott Arthur started out on the Mighty 590 as an overnight disc jockey. Arthur turned the overnight show into a mecca for people who enjoyed Trivia as well as those who were into subjects like space aliens, extra sensory perception and other topic off the beaten path. Arthur later moved to the afternoons before moving on. Thanks to our friend Jim Filipinski, we found a profile on Arthur on LinkedIn. Here's what he is up to today: 
Scott is a multi-talented veteran of radio and television. Born in Baltimore and raised in New Jersey, he began his career during college in Philadelphia. He has since hosted talk shows, music shows and anchored news. Scott has also directed, produced and hosted television shows in Miami, Austin and Houston. His on-camera TV work includes local PBS presentations, infomercials, all night movie shows and a cable sports show. 
Scott was the Public Relations Manager for the Houston Hard Rock Café for ten years and the Media Relations Consultant for Houston’s Star of Hope Homeless Mission for thirteen years. He is currently the Director of Public Relations with that organization. In addition, Scott was owner of Arthur and Associates; a Houston based Public Relations and Marketing firm. Highlights included writing and producing public service and commercial projects for radio and television featuring among others, George Bush, Clint Eastwood, James Michener and Danny DeVito. 
His community service includes a weekly radio show for the blind and visually impaired originating from Houston’s Sight Into Sound studios. The 60 minute broadcast is heard in Dallas, San Antonio and Austin. He has served on the Publicity Committee of the HLSR World Championship BBQ Cook Off since 2006. 
Asked to name some of the highlights of his life, Scott includes his marriage, his daughter Nicole, mentoring experiences, a flight with the Navy’s Blue Angels, His birthday skydive, his meetings with 4 Presidents of the United States and his 2009 induction into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. 

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590 MIGHTY MEMORY #398

June 15, 2014, 7:47 am
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MY DAD AND WARM RADIO 


My father, Stephen "Jake" Yonki, circa 1940. 

Today is Father’s Day and my dad was a regular listener to WARM.  One of his biggest thrills was when he actually got to go to the WARM Studios in Avoca. I was a Senior in High School and was interested in going to Career Academy of Broadcasting in Washington. Joey Shaver who at the time was the local recruiter wanted me to stop by the station for “an audition” Joey made it seem like CAB was harder to get into than Harvard and I was nervous even though I did some news on the weekends at WPTS. 
When we got to WARM, Bill Kelly who was then doing the news showed us into the lobby and got Joey. Looking over his shoulder, Kelly said to me, “You’ll be fine”. Joey got us into a production room and asked me to read sixty seconds of copy. My father stood there watching me. There was a big old clock and I was instructed to hit the sixty second mark. As I read, out of the corner of my eye I saw my father watching that clock. I hit the clock right at sixty seconds. Joey said I was in, gave my parents the paper work and we went home. 
On the ride home all my father talked about was how clean and professional those WARM Studios looked. A railroader all his life my dad wanted to see me achieve in a field I was interested in. Although I never made it to WARM as an announcer, I did have a wonderful association with the Mighty 590 through the years. I did make it into that big main studio with the picture window but that was when WKQV was on the air and in that building. As a WARM purist, that doesn't count. 
My dad has been gone since 1980, WARM is certainly not what it used to be, and I have no idea what is now in that building in Avoca. But one of the fondest memories I have is my dad watching the clock in that Production Room as his kid “auditioned” at the Radio Station he had listened to since 1940.
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590 MIGHTY MEMORY #397

June 23, 2014, 5:16 pm
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WARM’S NEW SOUND 

If you are tuning in to the Mighty 590, you will notice that the True Oldies Channel is no longer on the station. The TOC was really good but the drawback was that the only announcer you heard was Scott Shannon. And at times if you listened in the morning, you might hear the same voice track (albeit with a different song) at night. But the contract with True Oldies was set to expire and Cumulus Broadcasting went another way. 
Last Monday the station started to air Good Time Oldies. There are various announcers who engage the audience in topical events of the day. Plus you hear WARM jingles interspersed every few songs. 
The new format gives WARM a new and in my opinion a better identity. Tune in to WARM 590 with their Good Time Oldies. Like the old days, let the good times roll on the Mighty 590.
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590 MIGHTY MEMORY #396

August 9, 2014, 6:15 pm
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2014 POCONO DRAG LODGE REUNION 

Another Pocono Drag Lodge Reunion has come ad gone and once more the Reunion was a good time had by all. Pocono Drag Lodge was an entity in the 60s that was a huge part of The Mighty 590. Race results were on WARM and big events were thunderously promoted on the Mighty 590. This year a decent crowd turned out and people heard the music of 590 AM WARM on the 2014 Drag Lodge Reunion. 

Former WARM personality Tom Woods took center stage this afternoon at the Drag Lodge Reunion. (Photo: Tom Woods Facebook page). 

The welcoming logo. 

Cars, cars, cars today at the Drag Lodge Reunion. 

Awards and announcements were the order of the day today at the Annual Drag Lodge Reunion. Photos: Charlie Hulsizer Facebook page.
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590 MIGHTY MEMORY #395

August 30, 2014, 9:09 pm
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END OF ANOTHER WARM SUMMER
The stage at Rocky Glen Park and the prices for rides.

Radio was part of many great summers for teenagers of a certain age. As the summer of 2014 ends, we look back on the past summers of the Mighty 590. One of the big highlights of the good old Summertime was WARM DAY. To this day various men and women in their sixties remember Rocky Glen Park and the WARM Day experience. 
Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons were guests at WARM Day. A little known secret is that Valli would rehearse in private at the WARM building because he had relatives in Dunmore. Fifty years ago this summer Valli and The Four Seasons had one of their biggest hits, “Rag Doll” which was constantly played on The Mighty 590 that year.


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