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The Sound of
Fun…..the 1970s
On September 3, 1970, the FCC
approved the third owner for WKIP in less than three years. Olympian Broadcasting from New Jersey
purchased WKIP from Star. At the same
time, the FM station, now know as WSPK, was sold to Lance Communications, and
moved to Beacon to join WBNR. WKIP
was dead last in the ratings. In
fact, some said it was number four in a three-station market. But things would change in a hurry. The new owners had been practicing their
new format in New Jersey. Once FCC
approval was received, they swooped into Poughkeepsie within a few days. WKIP’s sound continued to be middle of the
road, but it may have been an early version of adult contemporary. For example, Sweet City Woman by the
Stampeders was ok, but Joy to the World by Three Dog Night wasn’t. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down by
Joan Baez was in, but no Osmonds.
Neil Diamond was welcome and Frank Sinatra certainly could stay.
The real change, though, was the
element of personality with comedy elements.
WKIP purchased several comedy packages. One was called Superfun, or Blankity Blancs, from Mel
Blanc. It consisted of drop-in
inserts, usually wrapped around a door opening, then feet stomping into the
studio, and a short bit, like “Eeek.
You stink”. The DJ would then
react to the intrusion. A hugely
popular bit was Storylady, whose fractured, demented tales would have you
driving off the road. Storylady’s
announcer was Lord Byron. This bit
got so popular that WKIP sold advertising around the story, with Lord Byron
doing the intro, a commercial break was inserted, and then the story.
It was appropriate that the
station’s logo was a connect-the-dots jester and WKIP was “jest for
fun”. For jingles, WKIP purchased
Pepper-Turner’s the Fun One package.
The top of the hour ID is one of WKIP’s most famous. “This is the Sound of Fun, W-K-I-P,
Poughkeepsie.” In 1971, WKIP also
purchased a package from HapDays, which featured the Up-With-People-like
“Have a Happy Day” song.
To tie this sound all together,
WKIP decided to use liquor names for most of their DJs. Jack Daniels anchored mornings, and
Johnnie Walker did afternoon drive.
Other alcoholic DJs during this time included Fred Schaffer, who
debutted in September 1971, Rob Roy, I.W. Harper, Jim Beam, Bill Booze, Mike
Schenly, and Tom Collins.
One person who escaped a liquor
name but nevertheless was sandwiched between two of them was Tim Haskell, who
did the midday show from the fall of 1970 to 1973.
Tim’s signature was his
handlebar moustache, and his show would be referred to as the Handlebar
Haskell Fiasco. One of the features that Tim introduced to Poughkeepsie was
Trivia. Everyday at 2:30pm, Tim would
play the trivia theme, “Do You Remember These”, by the Statler Brothers, and
then ask a question. Sample prizes
were a Tony’s Pizza, a Carroll’s Club Burger, or perhaps a hunk of cheese
from Abdoos World of Cheese in the 44 Plaza.
In 1972, Tim decided to let listeners send in their own
questions. If you stumped the other listeners,
you won the loot. Yours truly was the
first contestant, but unfortunately, my question – who played the role of
Jake Goldberg on TV’s The Goldbergs - was answered rather quickly (Philip
Loeb). I had better luck in 1975 with
name the two actors to play the role of Mike Barnett on the TV series “Man
Against Crime”.
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