Subject: Thanks for the link.....
From: David Riddle <david@scissorsmith.com>
Date: 7/5/2008 8:17 PM

Hi Anne,

Thanks to you and Bill for giving me "credit" for the link. Bill is being over-generous; I didn't know the Rock Robinson part existed at all - but I'll gratefully take credit - thanks Bill!

Rockwell "Rock" Robinson was quite a guy. I worked with him while I was doing my DJ gig at WHOO. He amazed everybody with his "scatty daddy", "flippin' kitten" patter. I enjoyed knowing him and watching him do his "magic". Radio was a lot of fun for this 17-18 year-old.

In the late 50"s and early 60"s, the broadcast industry was just starting to use tape cartridges that would auto-cue. We could do some wild stuff that was not possible in the "old days' when we had the manually cue each tape for spots, intros, promos, etc. The carts could contain different pre-recorded parts for: news intro, spot intro, weather intro, news close, all done by different announcers, with the DJ interspersing "live" stuff like news, current weather, etc. You would just hit the play button and it would play the next "bit" and re-cue. It made our station sound like there were a whole bunch of "live" announcers, when, in fact, often only one guy was physically present at the radio station, reading the news and punching the play button.

We also had an echo and filter buttons which would make the on-air mike either echo ("dateline Washington"), or sound like a nasally telephone (generally done with the weather report). The weather was gleaned from a quick phone call to the weather bureau, and the news pulled from the teletype machine just before news time.

WHOO's format was fast-paced and intense. "Dead air" was a major no-no - even for a second. There was no chair in the control room, so you couldn't sit down. The DJ stood behind an elevated U-shaped console with 2 turntables on each side, control panel (the board) in front with the spot tape machines in racks on the side. Record rotation was pre-ordained (by Rock) and housed in a multi-compartment cabined behind the DJ. It addition, the solo DJ (often me as the "weekend wonder") would maintain two transmitter logs (FM and AM), take requests, record "Dial-A-Score" and occasionally make a bathroom run (literally).

It is interesting to note: that I used to work with Robert Giannini (Richard's brother, and husband of our wonderful JoAnn Ross) at WHOO. Robert was the "Night Creature" and worked the 12 midnight to 6AM shift. I recall he would occasionally drape moss over the mike boom and turn out the overhead lights so the only illumination was from the VU meters on the board, and the lights from the other gauges and meters in the room - eerie, but fun.

We are so grateful for all you do, Anne. Kudos also to Bill Ronay and Mary Phillips - you three make a wonderful team. Thank you all.

Warm regards,
David