Dear A.J.,
Once you asked me why I listened to KAAY and not WLS. I told you I liked Dick Biondi, but KAAY played some different music. KAAY seemed more personal to me; I liked the sound of the announcers better than the stuff on WLS. Dick Biondi is still here,and each year he collects toys and money for Christmas gifts for poor kids. If you look at the attached photo, you will see what Dick Biondi looks like now. Dick is on the left. Ronnie Rice, who is the lead singer of the New Colony Six, is in the middle and my friend Mike (Waldo) is on the right. I like going to Dick Biondi live broadcasts because I win all of his trivia contests. Dick Biondi was nice enough to write to me when I was in Vietnam. KAAY was just plain fun and that's how I'll always remember it.
When Clark Weber was doing the Emperor Weber routine, his friend Ron Riley had his own group on WLS. Ron's counter-part to the commandos was called Rebel Ron's Raiders. I don't think he ever offered membership cards. Clark Weber, Ron Riley and Art Roberts were all ham operators working at WLS as announcers during the emperor era.
3 comments:
Was that photo taken at a mall in Chicago recently? Your friend Mike looks somewhat like Bob Stroud.
The photo was taken at Stratford Mall in Bloomingdale. Illinois. The fellow in the picture is Mike Wolstein, and he is a big Dick Biondi Fan. Mike is my ham radio/record collector friend. His call sign is WB9QHL. Mike was a radio DX'er like me. When he sent me the photo, I just had to send to A.J. along with my comments. Sincerely, Ron Henselman, W9FT Melrose Park, Illinois
Lots of common interest here! I'm a major fan of Ronnie Rice / New Colony Six / Ray Graffia -- plus as a Ham myself I grew up DXing every free hour of every day, and also love the rare music of the sixties. 73, Dave WA4FXT
Post a Comment