As we proceeded through the 1980’s the older targeting music formats weren’t cutting it anymore. The baby boomers were approaching their thirties and wouldn’t tolerate “Elevator Music” at work. WRFM’s ratings had taken a tumble from Adult Contemporary stations WYNY and WLTW along with fellow Easy Listening WPAT. In order to compensate, on April 15, 1986, WRFM gave way to “New York’s Soft Rock” WNSR. Achieving a solid niche in the AC marketplace, WNSR was partly responsible for driving WPIX and WYNY out of the format. As the 80’s turned into the 90’s, WNSR continued to evolve into a more contemporary station eventually changing its name to “Mix 105”.
Larry
Is it really 20 years since this happened? It does not seem like it.
I heard the format change in 86. The next morning when I woke up, they were playing the Doors and Light My Fire with the processing of WRFM still in tact. That was strange.
Dick Bartley did mornings for a couple of weeks after the change to WNSR.
David
The Doors’ version of “Light My Fire” on WNSR? I can understand ‘NSR playing Jose Feliciano’s slower, Latin soul/pop cover, but The Doors’ original hard rock/psychedelic rock version? (And I thought AC stations playing hard rock hits (“You Give Love A Bad Name” by Bon Jovi comes to mind) was a RECENT!! phenomenon!)
Tim Whitaker
I remember the early days of WNSR, the super summer of 1986:
The first full time air staff: June 1986 ( Great station!)
Dick Bartley, Bill Neil, Bob Worthington, Steve Kamer, Paulette Bolan and Jim Douglas.
News department: Ted David, Cathy Carpin and later in 1986 -Debbie Gross.
Steve F.
Hi Tim I remember Paulette Bolan working on 102 WPIX FM and WEZN in Bridgeport , Ct. I still have my recorded tape when WRFM Switched formats then to WNSR. The music WRFM used to play was on the Bonneville format owned by the Mormons in Utah. WRFM had some of the best D.J.’s
Michael Quinn
I remember hearing about this, and dreading the changeover. WRL films staff was told not to say anything on the air or they would get no severance. I stayed awake that evening around April 15 to listen to WRFM’s final song (Bluer Than Blue); then the changeover happened. This baby boomer still does like elevator music – That’s why I have one of my presets set to “Escape” (Channel 69) on satellite radio. I especially liked Jim Aylward’s morning show at the time. The world has been changing over the years, sometimes not for the better – this is one small example.?
RJMB
One of the saddest days in New York radio.WRFM was legendary. The music was absolutely beautiful. Isn’t it amazing that Bluer than Blue from the Frank Chacksfield Orchestra played. At least it was a Beautiful Instrumental ! WNSR and how many formats since then ? We need Beautiful Music back in NY on FM radio ! How we miss WRFM !
We really miss it. God Bless WRFM and the people who made it come alive ! You made history and created a legacy that will be forever cherished,loved and respected. God Bless You All !
Steve
WRFM WAS THE BEST GROWING UP IN NY NJ WE ALLWAYS LISTENED TO BEAUTIFUL MUSIC WRFM ! JIM BRANCH, JIM ALWAYRD ,ELWOOD THOMSAN ,BEVERLY PARPELL, WES RICHARDS, BOB JONES ,AL TURK ,KEN LAMB,JOE ROBERTS ,LARRY YONT , MITCH LEBE ,DICK LONDON ,RON ALEXANDER ,CHRIS EDWARDS , BILL BUCHNER THE BEST STATION OVER WTFM WVNJ WPAT WHOM WWYD WHUD . I MISS WRFM THE DIFFERENCE IS THE MUSIC.
craig nilsen
Might you know what ever became of Dick London? (He was a neighbor of mine back in the sixties/seventies.
David
I remember Dick London from that same time frame when he was a news reader for then-R&B station WWRL.
Steve
Hello WRFM fan’s back in the Great 70’s My Father Steve listened to WRFM so much and their format of music Bonneville My Father used to know what song WRFM would be playing next . My Father and His friend Marcell would allwys go up to the studio’s of WRFM and talk with Al Turk .Al Turk at the studio would smoke Viceroy Cigs . and some times Al would take a nip of His Brandy , Al used to bring a pint of Brandy up to WRFM Studio’s when He would do His shift . As a kid we lived in beautiful Lake Mahopac ,N.Y. 60 miles north of the big city up the Taconic State Pkwy. And My Father used to turn His Channel Master Probe 9 FM Antenna with His Alliance Antenna Roder to north east and We would hear WWYZ 92.5 in Waterbury , Ct. and We would hear the same song on WWYZ then My Father would turn the Antenna to N.Y.C. and listen to WRFM and hear the same song as WWYZ maybe a 10 second delay. WWYZ 92.5 Waterbury ,Ct. was on the great Bonneville format just like WRFM in N.Y.C..In My travel’s I used to listen to other Bonneville stations that was on the WRFM format .WWEL 108 Boston , WWOM 101.1 Albany , WFPG 96.9 Atlantic City , WALL FM Newburgh and KBIG 104.3 Los Angeles . I sadly remember WRFM’s last night of Beautiful Music in 1986 Larry Yont did the news and after that point at midnight History was changed .Ken Lamb a DJ on WRFM early 70’s well I spoke to Ken Lamb in 1984 and at that time Ken was the morning DJ and program director of Easy 93 WPAT Clifton , N.J. And Ken told Me WRFM is gonna change their format and it happend in 1986. You can hear Ken on ABC TV on the Soap’s . Bonneville the music that was on WRFM You can hear that music on WKTZ 90.9 in Jacksonville , Fla. WKTZ has all of the Bonneville music online too. Peace Steve
Dan Levine
Yes I remember Jim Aylward in the morning around 1982-83. He sounded great on our Sansui component stereo system from Fort Lee NJ. It sure would be nice to have that station back on the air.
John Catalina
Dear Sir. I am writing to you to see if you can assist me. During the 70s and 80s I regularly listened to WRFM. Many times I was not aware of the artist of the songs that were playing such as a piano and strings instrumental of \”All By Myself\” and \”Paper Mache.\” Can you identify who the artists were for these 2 instrumentals? If so, I would appreciate hearing back from you. In addition, is there a phone number I can call to speak with someone. Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated. I sure do miss this \”soft\” music station and wish it would return!
Joe DiLaurenzio
When I was in high school, I listened only to WRFM and recorded about 75 reel-to-reel tapes of Marlin Taylor’s programming dating back to 1969 & 1970. Earlier this year, I started transcribing them onto CD when my Akai reel deck developed preamp problems. So far I have about 40 80-minute CDs, and hope to finish the rest by mid-09.
Please contact me at [email protected], if you are interested in this music. I’ll do what I can to share it, as it is a timeless and priceless gift. To John who inquired about “Paper Mache,” I have a Frank Chacksfield recording of that song [instrumental] which may be what you’re looking for. To Marlin, God Bless you for all the great Percy Faith, Living Strings, Chet Atkins, Bert Kaempfert and Norman Luboff Choir music you shared with us/ not to mention all the others!
TOMMY CHEN
dear Joe,
I am wrfm fans in 1981 ,
I try to write you an email but return as email postmaster failed , in related with my interest to have wrfm sounds/musics that you recorded. I suppose it could be a precious music for me as wrfm music is my forever memoir music.
as a introduction of my self
My name is Tommy Chen , 49 years old living in Jakarta , Indonesia.
my email address is [email protected]
May God Bless You always.
rgds Tommy
John
How about an aircheck from the morning man, Jim Aylward?? He used to have a pretty good am gig. And what about the commercial that Henry Mancini did while ‘Two For the Road’ played in the background. RFM’s tag was: THE DIFFERENCE IS THE MUSIC. . . WRFM.
Great stuff.
Joe DiLaurenzio
Hi John! In my 200 or so hours of reel-to-reel tapes of WRFM, I have either 3 or 4 of Jim Aylward’s “Today’s World-at-Large” commentaries. I’ve been in touch with Steve Farrell, who wrote 2 entries above. Steve is 42 I believe, whereas I’m 56, so my memories of WRFM and Jim Aylward are from a considerably earlier time frame. My tapes were recorded in 69 and 70, after which I left NYC to attend school in Washington, D.C., where I routinely listened to WGAY for beautiful music and WASH for adult contemporary sounds. Nothing could compare with WRFM’s music segments. To this day I am searching for: “Baubles, Bangles and Beads” and “Moody River” by John Barry; “Do I Hear a Waltz?” by Percy Faith; “Two Different Worlds” by Ernie Heckscher;
“Forever” by the Anita Kerr Singers; “Green Tambourine” by Les Brown, and “Diane” by Art van Damme. This is an abbreviated listing of my supreme want-list. If anyone has any of these songs, I’d ever forever grateful if I could add them to my collection and include them in my music mixes. On the other hand, if you’d like a copy of Jim Aylward’s commentaries, just drop me a line at [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you!
Joe Wright
I remember WRFM very well, my favorite radio station of all time challenged only by the original Oldies Station, WCBS-FM in New York City.
My favorite DJ was Al Turk. Anyone know what happened to him after the transition?
There were just so many wonderful instrumentals and songs not heard anywhere else. And it was not, I repeat, not elevator music. I know elevator music and WRFM was not elevator music.
One Summer, every weekend, they played the theme music from The Big Country, the famous western movie starring Gregory Peck and many other stars of the period. It took me ove 30 years to find the soundtrack album, just last year. And the way I found it is weird. I was walking along the streets in the Village and came across a pile of vinyl albums on the stoop of a building. They were for the taking. One of them was that soundtrack album. I almost fell over!
Steve Farrell
I forgot 2 more DJ’S Charles Garrett and Bob Garity .WRFM STEREO 105 485 Madison Av. New York .I spoke with Larry Yont on WRFM 1981 and Larry had told me that Al Turk passed away from cancer .Al Turk was my favorite dj on WRFM.
Stephen Farrell
I forgot 1 more great D.J. on WRFM STEREO 105 ……..Les Marshack.My area with WRFM was from 1974 to 1986 .WRFM allways had a weak signal to the north but with my Probe 9 Channel Master Antenna with a Roder I had no problem picking up WRFM in beautiful Lake Mahopac,N.Y. And me being from NY and NYC WRFM had the best D.J.’S .Other Bonneville Music Programmed Stations I use to list to WWOM 100.9 Albany,NY WWEL 107.9 Boston ,Mass. WHOM 94.9 Mt. Washington , N.H. WFPG 96.9 FM Atlantic City,N.J. and there was other stations in the area that played beautiful music WRFM WAS THE BEST ! AND SO WERE THE D.J.’s.
David
Les Marshak? The dude who voiced the Macy’s commercials from circa mid-Seventies to sometime in the early 2010s, at the latest? I don’ t remember *him* from WRFM. Maybe because I remember listening to him on WABC and later WPIX (during both stations’ Top 40 formats (and the latter’s very first Top 40 format (the first of about three on that station)).
Michael
Is it just me imagination, or does Larry Yount’s voice catch just a bit as he’s wrapping up the weather report just prior to signing off?
I miss the beautiful music format. At least there’s Marlin Taylor’s “Escape” channel on Sirius XM to remind me of what once was; just the other morning, in fact, I flipped it on and heard…you guessed it…Frank Chacksfield’s “Bluer Than Blue”. 🙂
Arnold Olijkan
Hello from the Netherlands!
Yes, I sure do remember WRFM stereo 105!
During my visits to the USA it was so nice to listen to the radio!
You named a format, and it was available.
No doubt about it, in New York I only listened to WRFM, the difference was the music.
Dring some of my visits to the USA, I brought a small fm tuner with me, plus a portable cassettedeck, with Dolby stereo, the whole stuff.
In New York I taped about 10 cassettes of WRFM, just 15 hours of music.
In other cities I listened to WHOO (Orlando), KSFI (Salt Lake City), KMYT (Merced), and many others.
But WRFM was really outstanding, and it is very unfortunate it does not exist any more!
Now I listen to whatever I can grab on from the internet.
Sometimes you can find some good stations, like KJUL (Las Vegas), streaming on internet, but I stil hope, may be some good day, a station like WRFM used to be, will emerge again, and also on the internet.
In Holland there never was anything like WRFM.
For all those music lovers, greetings from Almere, a city East of Amsterdam.
Joe DiLaurenzio
Dear Arnold, This is way more than a coincidence, my friend! My original post, written last October, was done on my father-in-law’s computer in Rotsterhaule, vlakbij Heerenveen, in Friesland.
My wife is Froukje Akkerman, and although half my age, enjoys much of the music that WRFM played. Isn’t it TRULY a small world? My jaw just about dropped when I saw your post and read that you live in the Netherlands, in Almere! When you visit America next time, let me know. Maybe we can hook up. I’ll get you a bunch more easy listening music on CD to add to your collection. My e-mail address is [email protected]. Tot ziens!
Steve Farrell
Wow very nice a fan from the Netherlands ! Yes their was nothing like WRFM in N.Y.C. WRFM was owned by the Mormons in Utah and they has one of the beautiful Listeing music formats Bonneville .And growing up in N.Y. was WRFM , Stereo 97 WFPG Atlantic City , 92.5 WWYZ Waterbury , Ct. , 100.9 WWOM Albany , N.Y. , 94.9 WHOM Mt. Washington , N.H. and WWEL 107.9 Boston , Mass. those stations I used to listen to when working in those cities and they were all on the Bonneville format as WRFM . But they didn’t have the best D.J.’s as WRFM did. Steve.
Ray Kappes
I had the opportunity to be a part time control room engineer at WRFM in the late 60’s working mostly over nights and weekends. I really enjoyed the music, but one thing a lot of people do not know is that it was automated! We had 4-15″ reels of music and the system would go from one reel to another for each song, then to the cartridges for spots. Sometimes the system would decide to hang and there was one tube we would pull out, flip it in the air a few times and put it back in and the music would continue. Great memories for sure!
Ray Kappes
I remember WRFM very well, I was a part time control room engineer during the late 60’s on nights. I loved the music, and have a lot of great memories from those days. I can remember a news man (Elwood Thompson) that would walk in a minute before going on, walk thru the news room ripping the sheets off the printers and walk into the studio sit down and edit while on air. He was amazing and so smooth while he did this.
WRFM treated their people well, and I learned a lot of things that later in life I was able to make use of. I actually keep in touch with one of the other Part time engineers from that era.
Sorry to see it go!
Steve Farrell
Elwood Thomsan I do remember him , Elwood had a nick name it was ” Woody ” . The 70’s and early 80’s the best WRFM . Steve
Paul
I am in my late 40s, yes I am relatively that young.
As a need of relaxation, I sometimes listen to BM, EM, EL from the internet.
I feel that this format should be reinstated in some form on one of the HD subchannels on the NYC FM dial.
WKLI in Albany, NY has a format that is a bit comparable to what WRFM played in that era.
Steve Farrell
When you were living in Albany did you listen to WWOM FM early 70’s , WROW FMmid 80’s or WHRL mid 80’s those were easy favorites beautiful music
Peter Beck
I was remembering WRFM, & came across this. I’m 62 & live in NJ, except for 4 college years in Ohio. While I like OTHER formats, ALSO, (Country’s hard to keep around here, too!), WRFM’s music was GREAT to RELAX to, & I MISS hearing it NOW! My FAVORITE was, around Christmas, when they’d take out a LARGE ad in the New York Times, listing ALL the music they were going to play during the Holiday!! Jim Aylward, Frank Chacksfield, etc….GREAT memories!!
Diane Gennaro
In an old box of memorabilia I found a very pretty mug. I am looking for information about it. It has what looks like a radio dial around the cup with many other stations as well as WRFM 105 on it. It goes from WBGO at 88.3 through a total of 25 stations to WLIB-FM at 108. The cup is basically white with a purple bottom shaped like a pedestal and lots of gold trim. On the bottom it says “The Difference is the Music on WRFM” I’d love to know approximately what year this was done and what it was produced for. Can anyone tell me?
Jackie Kaplan
WLIB-FM became WBLS in 1972.
Joe DiLaurenzio
Dear Friends, I’m still working on transferring over 200 hours of WRFM’s programming from reel-to-reel tape to CD. The e-mail previously listed, [email protected], has been hacked. Please contact me at my new address, [email protected]. I will continue to provide copies of any of these CDs to those who might be interested. Instrumentally Yours, Joe D.
Mike
Wow, I never thought I would find so many people with the interest of this great format. Living in Peekskill NY, WHUD was the station I grew up with. I recently found a copy of their old hourly and half hourly jingles and it really brought me back. I never liked the format as a kid growing up in the 80’s but boy I’ve come to really appreciate it. My Mom use to say “one day you will like it” She was so right. Over the past 5 years I’ve collected hundreds of songs from Paul Mauriat, Lex DeAzevedo and so many others. I think nowadays road rage is such a problem because of the void of this format. When I get stressed out all I have to do is put my Ipod or Sirius XM on and it really is relaxing in heavy traffic. I’m so glad XM brought the format back but I think commercial radio would be surprised of response they would get if they brought the format back. Especially now with this new HD radio technology. WLTW should do it. They had a real nice soft rock format on their HD2 channel but have changed to country. Whatever the case I hope someone does it.
Steve Farrell
I too remember 100.7 WHUD . They allways tried to be like WRFM. WHUD was 50KW their signal reached NYC to Mt. Pocono and western Ct. I remember all of the D.J’S ON HUD from the 70’s to the 90’s . The best was Joe O Brian . Joe also worked on WMCA NYC in the 60’s .
Steve
Back in the 70’s WWOM Albany NY was on Bonneville WHOM 92.3 in NY City moved up to N.H. 1975 . WHOM 94.9 transmitted from Mt. Washington , N.H. some 6,000 feet up with a power output of 48,000 watts I used to listen to that station when I was in school mid 80’s Albany , N.Y. Another great Bonneville music format.
Steve or Stephen Farrell
I sure miss The WRFM Jingles infact in 1976 working with My Father going to Boston and listening to WWEL 108 FM Bonneville WWEL had almost the same jingle as WRFM . Ken Lamb left WRFM to work on WPAT well WPAT never sounded right WPAT was using old equitment WPAT had no compression WPAT never had The Optimun their sound was very flat PAT was using The Gitner . WRFM allways had a ROBUST sound thanks to Joe Alasa The Engineer on WRFM.In the 90’s WPAT had their own crummy format they were not on Shulkie . Ken Mc Kensy was the Program Director and Morning D.J. His format stunk. Poor Ken Lamb WPAT fired him in 1987 as well as another station in Long Island then Ken did the Special of the week syndicated that was a bomb .Beautiful Music was fading away .I still have the recording of Ken Lamb when WRFM pulled the switch at midnight. I also have recordings of when Ken Lamb worked on 100.7 WFMZ Allentown,Pa.when Ken worked on WFMZ that was syndicated Ken’s voice sounded better on WFMZ than WPAT and PAT Ken was live . WPAT AM/FM 93 had old out dated equitment in their studio’s. WRFM had the best of everything . You can hear the Bonneville beautiful music WKTZ 90.9 FM Jacksonville ,Fla. or online WKTZ.COM . You can listen to 101.1 WAVV Naples ,Fla. that station has 20% programed from Bonneville give Norm Albert a call.100kw. Peace Steve [email protected]
Jodi Crisera
Ken Lamb went from WRFM to LA and then to San Francisco. He was hired by WPAT (which was then a Capital Cities entity) in ’78, where he remained until early 1988. He then went on to LI’s WCTO until Sugust of 1990, his syndicated radio show “Ken Lamb’s Special of the Week” ran from 1988 to 1991 and was heard on over 180 radio stations. When he left WCTO, he moved on as the full time daytime staff announcer for ABC Television (he had been working there on a part-time basis for many years. He retired from ABC TV in 2012, bring the only full time staff announcer left in any of the big three networks. He continues to do voice work for radio stations and specials throughout the US.
Ray
Sad to report that Ken Lamb passed away late 2021 in New Jersey
Steve F
Hello Joe from central Florida , thanks again for The Copies of WRFM’s Music !!! My Father , last week moved out here in Southern California it was a long 6 day drive from Palm Harbor I-75 to I-10 just 100 miles East of LA. Joe back 1986 after WRFM bit the dust I visited My Mother and Step Father in California I do rember listening to WRFM’s sister station BEAUTIFUL MUSIC KBIG 104.3 the same jingle as WRFM .Peace to all of Wrfm fan’s . Steve F.
Mike
Jim Dilaurenzio is the best!! I contacted him about getting some WRFM cd’s and he sent me so many that it will take years to hear them all. The copies are so clean it feels like I’m listening to the station live. Jim Thank you!…….I offered to pay and instead he insisted that I spread the music around by making copies to anyone who enjoys easy listening and WRFM 105. I don’t understand why this music is not back. Especially with the new HD radio technology. I wish I had the money to start a station. I know that a beautiful music format would do well. Especially if I was able to hire Jim D to program it!! He the type of good people you don’t meet enough!! Thanks again Jim!
Mike
Pleas excuse me!! JOE Dilaurenzio is my new friend who made me the WRFM cd’s. I wrote Jim by mistake because i was chatting with a friend named Jim and I subconciously wrote his name…I’m very sorry JOE and thanks again!
Tom
Mike, I wish I knew who you were, because I’d be interested in some of the music you received. I was a teenager when the switch was made, but WRFM brings me back to fond, family-related memories, and having worked at a Beautiful Music station for a short period of time about 13 years ago, I know the sound is familiar enough to take me back in time. A very good pick-up on your part.
John scardino
Please email your contact so we can discuss either me getting copies or at least a complete song list if possible [email protected]
Jack K.
How would I go about getting copies of the BM/EZ music CD’s? I had downloaded some samples of WPAT years ago (poor quality) and some old WGAY airchecks, but would love to have clean versions for my mp3 player. Looking forward to your response.
gene escandon
How much does a radio station cost? If you were interested, I would love to do it with you. I remember WRFM very well. Although I was just a teenager in its heyday, I enjoyed the station very much along with Jim Alyward and “out on a limb” with Jim Branch. I would love to buy copies of the cd’s that you have anytime as well. Please feel free to contact me. “geneoffire at aol.com” Thank you and have a great day! Gene
Rob
Any chance you can YouTube them and send the link over?
-Rob
Steve Farrell
I listen to WRFM on you tube 1. the jingles 2. more jingles , The D.J.’S FROM THE 70’S. I love it , brings back a lot of memories. My wonderful Father was good friends with some of WRFM D.J.’s . I visited their studio in N.Y.C. I was lucky to meet Larry Yont one of their top D.J.’s. Steve Farrell
Steve Farrell
Steve, Long live WRFM i WROTE A E MAIL TO WES IT WAS GREAT TO RECEIVE AN E MAIL FROM WES. WPAT AM/FM CRAP WTFM FORGET ABOUT IT , WVNJ TRASH , OH YES WHUD 100.7 SUPER TRASH… Steve
Steve Farrell
Hi Mike , I was a long time listener of WRFM and so was My Father may He rest in peace . I don’t know why the beautiful music is not back ! The radio stations today are trash even with the Smooth Jazz that is all trash too . I wish I had all of My Fathers recorded reel to reel tapes of WRFM from the early 70’s. Where I live we have a local fm station that plays beautiful music . The sound quality is junk , the D.J.’s are not professional. So that leaves Me with Music Choice from My local cable co. Time Warner .It is called Music Choice and it is a box hooked up to your TV and cable and to your stereo and it has 40 stations of commercial free music every type of music including Beautiful Music like WRFM. The quality of the sound is very good and you can see the artist and the name of the song on your TV. It is very good. Thanks ,Steve
Steve Farrell
1986 WRFM FLIPS . I WAS LIVING IN NORTH JERSEY AT THAT TIME . THEN LATER ON I WAS VISITING FAMILY IN THE L.A. AREA AND I WAS LISTENING TO WRFM’S SISTER STATION IN L.A. KBIG 104.3 100,000 WATTS AND THEY BIT THE BULLET TOO. Thank you Bonneville Music Format.
Andrew Butler
Back in the 60s I was sent a reel to reel postable tape featuring WRFM from New York from a friend who lived there. I can remember by heart much of the tape espeacilly the line: “WRFM’s easy music hour continues from 93 on the dial with music just right for you.” This was during the Egypt/ Israel war and a garbage mans strike in New York. It was the sheer word perfect delivery and the tone of the annoucers voice that was so New York. I wish that I still had the tape. I always regarded WRFM as the king of stations. Andrew. London.
Joe DiLaurenzio
Andrew—–You have special dispensation to make this little ‘mistake,’ but when you mentioned ’93 on the dial,’ you were inadvertently referring to WPAT AM 930 and FM 93.1, Paterson NJ and New York NY, respectively. I say you have a handicap simply because you’re European and perhaps not too accustomed to our call letter system of identifying radio stations. WRFM was located at 105.1 on the FM dial, licensed, of course, to New York City.
Best Wishes, Joe DiLaurenzio
David
Three-and-three-quarter years late (to the month)–this comment, that is–but while WPAT may be considered a New York City station, both WPAT-AM and -FM were–and still are–licensed to Paterson, NJ. The only difference is they not only are World Ethnic and either Spanish Hot AC or Spanish CHR, respectively, but they also are no longer even sister stations. Oh–they changed their simulcast from BM/EZ to AC in the fall of ’94 (after gradually increasing the soft rock that they had already incorporated into its beautiful music/easy listening format. Even to the point of being a hybrid adult contemporary/beautiful music format (with lush instrumentals as the only remnant of its pure BM/EZ era) during most of 1994.
David
The traditional-pop instrumentals were dropped completely from the WPAT-AM-FM simulcast by late 1994, completely evolving, as I stated in my last comment above, to adult contemporary (hence the station’s then-nickname Today’s 93.1). Both frequencies of WPAT remained so until their respective new owners flipped ‘PAT-FM and -AM to Spanish formats in January and March 1996, respectively. WPAT-AM later changed from Spanish to its current multiethnic format.
Steve Farrell
I was living in N.J. I had My stereo on listening to Larry Yont on WRFM 4/86 . Right after Larry did the news and weather the station went to trash WNSR. i do remember when WPAT flipped to the Spanish Broadcasting Network. Garbage again WPAT 93 could never ever sound as great as WRFM !! Look at WPAT’s old equipment it was so out dated. Steve Farrell and My Father Steve Farrell may my Father rest in peace. Palm Harbor , FL.
JED HACKER
I WAS MUSIC DIRECTOR FOR PARENT COMPANY BONNEVILLE IN THE 80’S AND WHAT YOU HEARD ON WRFM IS MANY SELECTIONS I WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR. YES IT IS A DIRE SHAME IT IS NO LONGER ON EVEN IN A SMALLER STATION. I SEE COMPLAINTS FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY ABOUT THIS AS I LIVE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NOW. THE BROADCASTING EQUILIBRIUM IS DAMAGED BEYOND AND TO PAY FOR SATELLITE AND FEED THE COFFERS OF THE FCC IS NOT WHAT I EVER HAD IN MIND. TRY WKTZ JACKSONVILLE FLORIDA ON THE NET NO STRINGS ATTACHED. RATINGS HAVE GOT THIS COUNTRY IN A SEVERE DOWNWARD SPIRAL.
Joe DiLaurenzio
Dear Tom, Andrew & Jed—–I’m the “Joe” to whom Mike Canzio referred above in his January 6, 2010 post. All I want to do is to get this music to people who love it. I’m 57 and pretty bad with Nero, Windows Media Player and iTunes [the latter is what my wife uses]. But I’m learning.
So far I can certainly duplicate CDs, such as those 100 or so WRFM CDs, plus CD albums of Bert Kaempfert, Billy Vaughn, the Living Strings, Percy Faith, Andre Kostelanetz, Frank Chacksfield and over 100 others, from my LP collection. What I need to learn is how to burn MP3s, so I can send 10 times the amount of material on one disc. Bear with me. My e-mail address is:
[email protected]. By this time next year, or sooner, I’ll be sending you anything you want on a MP3. Jed—thanks for writing. I can actually pick up WKTZ at 50kW here in Gainesville, FL. I wish I could program some of their music. Signing off for now—-Joe D.
Wes Richards
I had no idea this site existed and I’m amazed that 26 years after the changeover, people still are talking about us. Thank you all for that. Most of us old fuddie duddies are still around, though some have passed on, most recently Jim Branch, New Director, who departed earlier this month (4/11.)
Anyone with questions or comments, my e-mail is [email protected]
Thanks Again
Wes Richards
Sunday-Friday 12 noon-6pm, 1975 until the bitter end.
Wes Richards
correction: News Director, not new director. My eyes ain’t what they used to be.
Joe DiLaurenzio
Awesome post, Wes—–and thank you so much for your kind words. It means SO DARN MUCH to hear from someone who actually worked at the station. I tried contacting Marlin at his XM e-mail address but he never replied. I wish he could understand that although I’m a bit nerdy, I’m loyal to-a-fault and very appreciative of 20+ years of great programming. That’s all: there’s no hidden agenda. I lived vicariously through Mitch Lebe, Dick London, Joe Roberts, Al Turk & Ken Lamb, wishing I could have been a part of it. Maybe in another lifetime! Let me know if I can send you some arichecks! I can relate to your comment about typos and one’s eyesight in our advanced years. At least our minds are young and vital!
David
I remember Dick London from WWRL, when he was a news anchor during that station’s soul format in the 60s, 70s and very-early 80s. (IIRC, he was the voice of the recorded legal ID during at least the majority of that era: “WWRL, New York.” As for Ken Lamb, I remember him from WPAT. Maybe he came there from WRFM?
Janice Losgar
Hi Wes,
My name is Janice Losgar and my dad, Joe Losgar, worked at WRFM. I remember you! Sadly, just found out Larry Yount passed away last summer. My dad passed in 2003. It’s amazing to run across this kind of thing on the Internet! Best to you.
Janice
Steve Farrell
Yes Wes I remember the bitter end . It was horrible I couldn’t believe it. I was listen to WRFM and Larry Yount was doing the news and the weather … then all of a sudden WNSR New Yorks new soft rock station I was recording all of this too to the bitter end I was freaking out what is going on. My father was driving home from his friends house and when my father put on his car stereo he thought he was listening to WDHA 105.5 in Dover , N.J. . The next day we tried to call WRFM and speak to Mark Bench but no answer. A sad era ! When it was the best why did the owners of WRFM let us know what was gonna happen ? As the next morning listening to Ken Lamb on WPAT : like every half hour Ken was saying well WRFM pulled the switch and didn’t warn the audience . It is very sad still after all of these years 1986/2018. Thank you all Steve Farrell .
Ron Gerson
Hello, Wes!
The BEST (commercia-freel AND announcer-free) “Beautiful Music Hours” in the then- NYC-metro area:
7PM: WVNJ AM/FM: “An Hour of Joy;”
8PM: WTFM: “58 Minutes of Nothing But Music;”
9PM: WVNJ AM/FM: “An Hour of Joy;”
10PM: WRFM: “Total Music Hour” (Turk, except Sundays: Garret)
11PM: WTFM: “58 Minute of Nothing But Music”
MIDNIGHT-5:30 AM: WPAT AM/FM 93: “Music Thru the Night” (Mike Masters)
In other words, SEVEN NIGHTS a WEEK: Commercial-free AND announcer-free music from: 7PM – 5:30 AM ! Heavenly!
Lest I forget WPAT’s (somewhat) random “Easy Hours” // 30-hour “Spirit of Christmas;” Bonneville’s’ weekly “Music and The Spoken Word” (Sundays: 8AM – 9AM); WRFM’s Christmas Eve – Midnight Christmas Night: “20 pre-listed Holiday Songs Every Hour”…as prior- posted on the back of the Xmas Eve edition of the printed New York Times “Metro Section.”
BTW: You and I, circa 20 years ago, disagreed; regarding: Mon-Fri: Noon – 2PM, on: WRFM: 105.1: YOU stated it was: Chris Edwards…I stated, it was Wes Richards: Ever find out, definitively? Ron
David A. Smith
I am 49 years old and I miss WRFM 105.1 FM, WPAT 93.1 FM Easy Listening Music Radio Stations. I grew up listening to this Beautiful Music and I wish it would come back. The FM Radio Frequency Band is quite large so there’s still plenty of room left for music variety for everybody.
Thanks,
David A. Smith
David
I’m a year or two older than you are now (and was a couple of weeks shy of being a year older then you were at the time you posted your above comment) and I miss WRFM and WPAT, as well. (In fact, I also miss the soft rock and hybrid soft rock/beautiful music versions of WPAT.)
Drew NYC
As a teen-twenty-something I used to listen to WRFM and WPAT esp. in the car. It was a guilty pleasure (and a few of my “cooler” friends knew about it.) Listened to a wide/eclectic range of music from hard rock to beautiful music to symphonic. It’s a shame the music is off the air. XMRadio brought it back with “Sunny” then “Escape” when Marlin Taylor was programming…too bad mean ‘ole Mel K merged XM and Sirius and ruined alot of the XM formats.
I found around 2 hours of 1969 WRFM content posted on the web last year..but darn if I can find it now.
Maybe someone can post some more content on newsgroups like alt.binary.sounds.mp3.easylistening ….it would be much apprecated!
Joe DiLaurenzio
Drew—–Don’t know what prompted me to check back at this website, but I’m the guy with about 125 hours of WRFM airchecks transferred from the original reel to reel tapes to CD. From the CDs, I chose 25 hours of the best of the best, and loaded them into two circa-700mB WMA files, from which I can burn you two discs and mail them to you. My e-mail address is: [email protected]. I’m 58 years old, which is probably more than twice your age, but hey——I love your post. When I was in high school, and supposed to be grooving on the Beatles, the Byrds, Creedence, S&G, Blood Sweat & Tears, et al., I was chilling with WRFM, and oh so very occasionally defected to WPAT and WVNJ but NEVER to WTFM. You gotta make your own sunshine, a direct quote from Neil Sedaka, but so appropriate for free thinkers such as we.
Write me if you want those airchecks!
Frank Wu
Hi Joe:
I was fifteen when I came to NYC from Taiwan. Right away, everyone in my family was hooked on WRFM. We’d only listen to this station and enjoyed the “elevator music” when we were at home or in the car. I still remembered the day that I drove to FDR High School in Brooklyn and fumbling the radio on the way home trying to hear the usual sound that I was so used to listen. At that time, I couldn’t understand how a station can suddenly change format just like that in the USA!
Ever since, radio is not the same to me anymore…Now, I’m an expat working in China, and I’m still trying to find the internet radio station that offer the same format as WRFM.
Boy, do I miss that radio station. Anyone can suggest internet radio stations that come close to WRFM besides WKTZ? Sometimes, I’m having trouble connecting to that flash player. Thanks.
Joe DiLaurenzio
Frank—–I’ve found a new way to share my two circa-700mB WMA files of WRFM airchecks from 1969 and 1970. All you have to do is write me at [email protected] and I’ll send you an invitation to pick them up. Mailing two CDs to you in China might be risky, but this method will deliver them to you, despite their size [1.36 gigs], over the internet.
This invitaion is open to anyone. Just write me at [email protected].
Long live Percy, Bert, Billy, Ray, Norman, Ray, Johnny the Jingle Man, Andre K, Hugo, Henry, Frank C, Herb, Enoch, Tony, Chet, Tommy G, Al C, Carmen, Andre, Floyd, Ronnie, Roger, George & Ethel Gabriel’s Living Series on RCA Camden!!!!!! [To mention a few…………..]
John
I remember . . . WRFM, WTFM and WPAT from back in the day. It was music my parents listened to (along with some classical). But it was all solid stuff and the announcers were top notch. Yes, I read all the previous posts. I DO recall Jim Branch. I was searching for info about Jim Aylward and I happened upon this site. I still have some of the London Phase 4 vinyls of Ronnie Aldrich and Frank Chacksfield my folks bought back in the day. They sound as good as ever. I recently purchased a double cd of the Aldrich albums “Destination Love” and “Love”. Now, I can save the vinyl and play the cd in the house or the car. Yes, I mourn the loss of some music formats. This is one of them….I have a review of Ronnie Aldich’s “Two Pianos Today” on amazon; handle: Photoman D-76. (or some such thing). I regret that I did not record some of those long ago days and nights when I was listening. 🙁 The difference is the music . . . WRFM.
mike marion
Hi… I worked for WRFM from 1968 to 1971 as a station engineer and then for WTFM, a competing Beautiful Music station, first as an engineer and later as the music director.
You can find great Beautiful Music programming on Sirius/XM satellite/internet radio. I believe that the person who programs the music (oor at least the person who did it 5 yrs ago) is Marlin Taylor who was responsible for the format at WRFM.
The music never sounded better….but I wonder if anyone is still making these recordings.
Joe
Hi Mike
My name is Joe and I also worked at WRFM doing production I think before after your time there. I also worked with Ken Lamb, Larry Yount, Joe Roberts, AL Turk, Mitch Lebe etc. I was interested in knowing if you would happen to have a copy of the jingles that were used. If you do I would really enjoy a copy.
Hope all is well with you and thanks for your time.
Joe Maloney
michael thomas
i remember when i was growing up wrfm 105.1 was the station i always listened to every day i’d listen to wrfm,i also remember listening to such hosts as jim aylward larry yount and of course it was either ron alexander or randy alexander who had a program called music all night i also loved the wrfm news updates.the music was great so,i was very saddened to hear that wrfm was switched to another station.but it was my favourite station as well as wpat fm 93.i also would be interested in getting some old wrfm airchecks.oh yeah,i do remember jim branch.
Joe DiLaurenzio
Re-reading these posts almost brings me back to Queens in ’69, sitting in front of my Panasonic FM stereo receiver/ reel-to-reel recorder combo, wearing headphones and taping stereo 105 on summer vacation, wondering what they would play next. Then came Percy Faith and ‘Piccolissima Serenata,’ so I knew Maurice Larcange and ‘It Must Be Him’ would follow, and next would be ‘Little Bird, Little Bird’ by the Will Bronson Singers, to lead into ‘On a Clear Day’ by Laurindo Almeida’s guitar, only to conclude the segment with the Briarcliff Strings with their rendition of “What Is This Thing Called Love?” This is out of memory, so you can see that I was and still am a WRFM super nerd. Crazy thing is: I think I could have done it just as well as Marlin, if I had only had the chance. No bitterness, just wistfulness for a lost format that was flushed away primarily because of corporate greed.
Franklin Fletcher
I worked at WRFM in the early 80’s as Production Supervisor and Joe Losgar was my boss at the time. What a fine gentleman! I had the pleasure of working with Jim Aylward, Joe Roberts, Wes Richards and Jim Branch. I was responsible for “carting” commercials, commentaries, PSAs etc.. I obtained my 1st Class FCC license and was studying for my MBA at the NY Institute of Technology while working there. I went on to a career in Information Technology with Computer Sciences Corp, JPMorgan Chase and I am currently an IT Security Specialist at Broward County (Fl.)Government. Fond memories of WRFM even though my real music passion is jazz and R&B.
My email is [email protected]
david e. paulsen
Mr. Fletcher, I am a 1st cousin of Jim Aylward and I’ve a feeling he has passed away. I found him 2-3 years ago in New Port Richey, FL after about 35 years and we had a nice visit. I sent him a few slides of him and my brother from the 40’s & 50’s but he never responded. He had a few articles in the St. Petersburg newspaper with the last one still on the web from 2012. If you know anything, please advise, thank you Dave
Joe DiLaurenzio
Pretty freaky to see how many of these posts are mine. I keep coming back for a lot of reasons, one of which is to see when MT will finally break down and write something.
Who else would like to hear something from ‘the boss?’
BTW, Jim Aylward was fantastic! Does anyone know his whereabouts these days? The last time I tried Googling him, I got a link to the St.Petersburg (FL) Times, but it led me nowhere.
Gerard Thornton
I grew up in Coney Island in the early 1970’s and my mother played WRFM from her Lloyd phono/stereo 24 hours a day. I remember seeing the red “stereo” light on night and day (what does stereo mean, I’d wonder at 5 years). Jim Aylward would play Living Strings, Montavani, Henri Mancini, great stuff. I’d still listen if I could. My kids demand Kesha and Brittney Spears in the car! I never will forget the station, good work to the guys who staffed it.
Freddi Rodriguez
Hi Wes! Stumbled on this site. Was stunned. Was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of my old boss Jim Branch and of Joe Losgar. I remember you Franklin! Would love to know what happened to EVERYONE who worked at WRFM in the 80’s. I’m long retired from radio news and now concentrate on my artwork.
Ben
Jim Aylward… I sure do wish I had a recording of his treatise on “The Lowest Common Denominator”. I heard it on WRFM and it hit a home-run with me. I never forgot it, even after all these years. Wish someone had saved his work.
I will always have fond memories of WRFM, WPAT, and WVNJ. My God… has it really been that long?
I’d love to hear it all again.
Joe DiLaurenzio
Dear Ben, I’m in the Netherlands at the moment, but when I return to Florida next year, I will be happy to search my WRFM airchecks for the three Jim Aylward “Today’s World-at-Large” presentations which I have on reel-on-reel. I’m pretty certain, however, that I don’t have “The Lowest Common Denominator.” Feel free to remind me via e-mail at [email protected]. If you would like some Percy Faith, Living Strings, Living Voices, Frank Chacksfield and Andre Previn songs, write me as soon as possible. Today is 10/17/12; I will have enough time to send you these files through early December. Best Wishes, Joe [originally from Queens]
Christopher Bubb
I didn’t grow up anywhere near New York, but I did grow up listening to a beautiful music station in the Detroit area that featured the same Bonneville format used on WRFM – WJOI, Joy 97 (now sports WXYT-FM, “The Ticket”). In fact, I’m almost positive WJOI used a variation of the same jingle I hear on this aircheck – “It’s the nicest way to spend the evening…”
My musical tastes were also unconventional for a kid. I usually used WJOI to help myself relax at night, but I grew to really like all those instrumental covers of popular songs, not to mention the soft vocal stylings of Barry Manilow, the Carpenters, Frank Sinatra, Dionne Warwick, and so on. My radio was constantly glued to Joy 97 (as well as classical WQRS – also at 105.1 – and Alan Almond’s “Pillow Talk” on WNIC) from about 1986 to 1991. Prince? I didn’t even know who he was! Michael Jackson? Madonna? Sure I knew who they were, liked some of their songs, but I wanted Percy Faith and Barbra Streisand instead. Just wanted to share that I, too, have very fond memories of the beautiful music format and wish it were back on the air in every market.
For those who want to hear a version of a beautiful music station as it sounded in the ’80s, I highly recommend WGCY in Gibson City, Illinois. They also stream. They sound almost IDENTICAL to the way I remember WJOI sounding, except for the more modern artists they play on occasion like Celine Dion. Frank Wu, I’d suggest you give that a try; you may find it more to your liking than WKTZ, which is terrific but very nostalgia/standards-oriented, and more likely to play Jo Stafford and Perry Como than Rita Coolidge or John Denver.
Jim
Hello,
I have enjoyed reading through these comments. I know I am little late seeing the last post was posted some three years back. I never got a chance to listen to WRFM, but I have high respect for the format and station and wish there was one here in my town. I was wondering if Joe is still making those WRFM cds? I would love to hear that great music. I never got to live in that era because I am only 27. If stations would bring great music like that back these days, it would be wonderful! Take care and keep Beautiful alive!
Joe DiLaurenzio
Jim—–Please e-mail me at [email protected]. I will get some great music to you. I listened when I was 15 and 16, and to this very day. Age is irrelevant. Write me! Joe
Gary Stevens
WoW! Just WoW! While NY was trying to declare Beautiful music dead, Toronto, Ontario Canada was trying to keep it alive (two years later) with the all new CJEZ “Where the listening is Easy…”
It’s sad to see no such station around today in either market.
Joe DiLaurenzio
Amen to that!
EPF1961
When I was a kid growing up in the late ’60s and ’70s, my dad always had WRFM playing on the hi-fi (Stereo 105!).. It was always in the background– Lush music: 101 Strings, Roger Williams, Jackie Gleason Orch, Living Strings, Sinatra, Bennett, Mantovani, Anita Kerr Singers, other vocal groups, an occasional jazz cut.. it was nice music for dinner/relaxation time, and it was part of the evening ritual. For the most part, it was the American Popular Songbook (songs from the ’30s thru the ’50s). It’s too bad there’s fewer and fewer of these radio stations left- people would do well to familiarize themselves with the classic standards. This was real music, unlike what’s on the air today, which I don’t understand and which I cannot tolerate for more than a minute or two before putting on a jazz CD or LP!
Peter T
It was always played in my parents car in the 70s and 80s. I like it and miss it now that I’m older.
Mary Anne
Hi Everyone 🙂
I can’t tell you what a joy it is to find this site. I’m 50, my late Mom listened to WRFM for years; it played from morning til night @ our house. I cried when I heard the WRFM segments on YouTube. It’s like my Mom being here with me. I truly wish I had some longer playing broadcasts to listen to, you all were a daily part of my life.
Rob
Aww, This is why radio was very powerful back then, hearing the old youtube segments brought me back to before I was born. Your mom still loves you!
-Rob
juli
Mary Anne, I’m 47 and this was the radio station of my childhood, too. WPAT broadcasted from my hometown, but my mother preferred RFM, I think because of Jim Aylward’s morning show. I won’t claim I continued to be a fan of Ferrante and Teicher and the Living Strings for long- soon enough, car trips were all about begging Mom for WABC or 99X or PLJ or NEW instead of her “elevator music”- but hearing WRFM clips now brings back wonderful memories of our warm kitchen on cold mornings. I’m fortunate enough to have my mother with me still, and I need to let her know about these online reminiscences!
David
You DO mean the late ‘NEW-FM, of course. WNEW-AM (which is no longer on the air, either [and I don’t know if your mom also listened to the latter of the two, but WNEW-AM]) was Middle of the Road (traditional pop) with a little Adult Contemporary (soft rock) thrown in and switched to what is now Adult Standards (’30’s and/or ’40’s Big Bands mixed with traditional-pop vocals from said era/eras through the then-present) when you were a teenager.
Joe Di Laurenzio
I do remember hearing Les Marshak during the transition from the block-programmed WRFM, immediately after its acquisition by its new owners around 1968. Les was on WRFM at least for several months to the best of my recollection. Once the new beautiful music format was installed, he may have left by that time. It was a long time ago and I was an impressionable young high school kid…………but I think I got some of it right.
Steve Farrell
Hi all you WRFM fans I just wrote to Wes Richards one of the great D.J.’s and Wes wrote back to me. It was great to hear from one of the WRFM D.J.’s [former}. Steve Farrell
Joe DiLaurenzio
Wasn’t WHUD known as WLNA Peekskill back in the day? I also remember WVOX 93.5 New Rochelle, not that I remember them doing any kind of BM/ EZ programming. Then there was WLIR Garden City 92.7, which was beautiful music-programmed before going underground rock, the latter programming of which made it a classic FM outlet. You may remember me, Steve…….we wrote years ago and you even sent me a photo of your mom and dad! I was WRFM all the way, but listened to TFM, VNJ and PAT just to poke some fun at them, Just think of it: a steakhouse that contained the studios with an announcer who sounded French but may have been from Brooklyn or Belgium……….take your pick! Charlie DuVal would beckon the ladies to meet “me in my casbah.” I thought the whole WTFM premise was tacky at best, even though they had a legitimate claim to being the first 24-hour stereo FM in 1961. Big whoop! I play loads of beautiful music at St. Thomas Aquinas here in Saint Cloud, and a couple of ladies started spreading the word that it sounded like ‘105.’ Now I took that as the highest compliment.
Joseph McLean
I grew up in Maryland, in the 80s and 90s and even though I was a kid I enjoyed listening to WLIF fm 102 in Baltimore and WGAY from Washington DC. Both were outstanding beautiful music stations. Unfortunately LIF has been soft rock/ AC since 1992. A year later we lost GAY to the same format, and WFRE Frederick MD went country. So did WWMD Hagerstown MD. I would like to see these stations return. They had beautiful relaxing soft music as well as 24/7 news and weather every half hour. The DJ’s were great as well. My favorite was Dick Ireland on WLIF. He was on the station 26 years in the mornings. Then the new program director Gary Balaban fired him, because he wanted to change the image of the station that served as Baltimore’s beautiful music station for decades. WGAY Washington DC is now today’s pop Hot 99.5 I hate it. The only beautiful music I can find now is Escape Sirius XM 69, if I have the number correct.
Joseph McLean
Yes WLIF was known as the beautiful place in your life. Great soft and relaxing beautiful music, as well as local news, and weather every half hour. Morning and afternoon drives included traffic reports?of course. WGAY fm 99.5 was very similar, but they had a program that ran on Sunday’s 1pm-2pm called matinee at one hosted by the late great Bob Chandler. Both the Baltimore and DC bm stations had excellent programing. I wish they would return, as well as stereo 104.7 WWMD Hagerstown MD, which could generally be heard anywhere in the state of Maryland and parts of Virginia and West Virginia, as well as parts of Pennsylvania with such an amazing signal.
David
Plus, you could say that later in its AC era, “Soft Rock 105” (later “FM 105”) WNSR–by that time, “Mix 105” WMXV–was partially responsible for *driving WPAT **INTO** the format*! (WPAT itself having switched to AC in late 1994 (after a gradual change thereto within the previous year and especially the three to six months previous to completing said transition).
Cornelius
My father is the award winning Dick London.
He’s still living and enjoying life. He talks about the great days of WRFM Stereo 105 and the loyal listeners. Til this day, it hurts and confuses him why anybody decided to change the number #1 radio station in NYC. But he knows the reasons. It’s amazing to see throughout the years the appreciation n the positive affect WRFM had on many lives. Dick London was also the news director back in the day, at (R&B) WWRL. His diversity of loving all walks of life reflected when MLB commissioner Bowie Kuhn asked our father to help him integrate further the diversity of race into baseball while connecting our inner cities to the game of baseball. Kuhn also agreed & helped our father’s persistence that sports broadcasters deserved to vote on the Hall of Fame ballots (candidates) besides the baseball writers. Since then both broadcasters & writers have been voting.
During retirement, Dick London has been an author & numerous cameo opportunities on the radio.
Yes, his voice still sounds the same 🙂
Mary Anne
Hi, so glad I found this thread about WRFM, I grew up listening to it as my Mom had it playing all through the day/night. Loved it. Is Joe still on the forum? I would dearly love recordings, as my Mom passed back in 2001, brings back such special memories. Thank you. I can be emailed @ [email protected]
Joseph
For the past several years, some friends and I have been involved in a not-for-profit, “labor of love” project to restore the beautiful music forrmat across America via the internet. At the present time, we are operating fourteen internet-based beautiful music stations. Most of these are locally-based and are tribute stations of former beautiful music FMs from years gone by. This began with my own station about six years ago and since that time, I have been searching for additional people to start and operate new beautiful music stations on the internet. We would definitely be interested in finding someone to recreate WRFM for New York. If you would be interested in doing a station based on WRFM or a different station for another area, please contact me at [email protected]. Thank you!
Joseph
For those of you interested and who follow Joe (DiLaurenzio) on this thread, be sure to check out his new, internet based tribute radio station for WRFM Radio, complete with music from WRFM, circa 1970 along with some of the original WRFM “Stereo 105” liners and jingles. He put his station online several months ago. Give it a listen. I believe you’ll enjoy it! You can list via the WRFM website at //www.radionomy.com/en/radio/wrfm-db/index. You can also listen to WRFM “on the go” via mobile apps for smartphones, Iphone, and Android by downloading the Radionomy mobile app for your particular device (IOS or Android), then searching for “WRFM” within the Radionomy app to listen. The link to download the FREE Radionomy app is HERE–>//www.radionomy.com/en/apps Thanks!
Beverly Poppell
Just found this site … and … Wow! … So wonderful that so many folks remember WRFM so fondly, as I do. I’ve had a wonderful life and exciting careers bit the best days were at WRFM 1972-78 … How many times have I said, “If WRFM came back, I would drop everything and go work there!” I know it would never be the same w/o the wonderful folks back then, but the world needs this music, and I’d love to see it return. Bless all of you for your kind words for the work we did.
Beverly Poppell