Musicradio WABC Returns in 1998!

On Monday May 25, 1998 (Memorial Day) News Talk Radio WABC did a special retrospective Beatles Day. It ran from 6 AM to 6 PM and brought the music back to WABC! It was a tie in with a Volkswagen Beetle contest that the station had been running for the previous month.

The Musicradio 77 WABC web site was a contributor for the day. We provided WABC's Production Director (and former air personality) Johnny Donovan with many of the sound files used on the air. Jon Wolfert, president of JAM Creative Productions, provided the classic WABC PAMS jingles that were used. In addition, a number of our regular checkins and contributors to this web site got through on the telephone with stories and memories from the great music era on WABC.

As all fans of Musicradio WABC well know, it was a unique radio station which influenced an entire generation. And, yes, while times are now different and the format changed over sixteen years ago, it is gratifying to see the WABC of 1998 salute its glorious past.

The highlights:

The best part of the day? The GREAT jingles!

The best air personality? A tie between Scott Shannon and Brian Wilson. Both had a sense of history for both The Beatles and WABC.

The best aircheck of the day? All the kids singing the WABC jingles outside the Hotel in 1965.

The biggest mistake of the day? They used the wrong Chime Time Jingle for the first six hours!

The best segment of the day? Jon Wolfert of JAM followed by a terrific PAMS jingle montage.

And... The BIGGEST surprise? A telephone call from "Not Chuck Dunaway".

Here are some quick highlights:

"Not Chuck Dunaway" (Dan Ingram):

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You may wonder why Dan used that name. He was not supposed to be on WABC because he is under contract to WCBS-FM. As a joke, he called anyway and used "Not Chuck Dunaway" because his first shift on WABC before he "officially" started on July 3, 1961 was on the Chuck Dunaway Show. He filled in on two nights (6/30 and 7/1/61). Just like today, Dan was not supposed to use his real name. So, he referred to himself as "Not Chuck Dunaway" on those two nights. Knowing that will help make some of the his references to himself make sense. Brian Wilson played along perfectly. It was a fun inside joke for hard core fans of WABC!

Jon Wolfert of JAM Creative Productions followed by the PAMS Jingle Montage:

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Jon speaks about how WABC inspired him to go into the jingle business and how his company JAM later took over the production of WABC's jingles. Jon also owns the copyrights to the PAMS jingles some of which are featured right after Jon's interview. Johnny Donovan put the jingle montage together for this special.

Web Site Creator Allan Sniffen gets a few words in:

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