dore anyone from the southeast remember WAPE radio station?

Back to the original question

I listened to WAPE a good bit when I was in Charleston.
The AM radio in my car was not very good ( a old VW )
so I could not listen to WAPE very well, BUT my best friends 68 GT Torino had a much better radio.

The station manager of WTMA was John Trenton. He lived two doors down from us. My younger brother ... was a DJ on WTMA.

John Trenton was a car guy. He had a lot of neat old cars over the years. When he died ( recently ) he still had his 1932 Ford all steel 3W coupe. I understand his son is driving it a little.

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And another word about Wolf Man Jack!
When we first heard him in the mid 1960's it was some years before his 1973 American Grafitti role. Before his mug became well known we always wondered "Who the hell was this guy?'. What could he possibly look like? Was he a black guy, maybe a white guy? Maybe none of the above??
One thing for sure, Wolf Man and his music CAPTURED my imagination....

 

Wolfman Jack was a pretty nice guy. How do I know?

Because I had the pleasure of driving him from a personal appearance at a car show to go to a restaurant for dinner in my car! I had dinner with him as well, then drove him to his hotel.

My first exposure to the Wolfman was in American Graffiti and The Midnight Special.

 

Wow,that brings back some memories, having been born and raised in Jax 46-65
Their ad with the big ape yelling was nuts.

And Thunderbolt Raceway.....lots of high school era memories of match races between Garlits and Karamesines, the first altered wheelbase hemi Mopars, the Phil Bonner A/FX Falcon arriving on a real two deck car hauler. That strip was an old Navy emergency field used by the Cecil Field training group. They used two big WW2 searchlights behind the starting line to light the strip, and would turn the power up when the cars staged. Had a traffic light that hung over the stripto start the cars.

Your link showed the tickets to the Beatle's concert; I was there. I had never seen so many screaming hysterical women of all ages in my life. A hurricane had come close a week or so before and a lot of the city was without power, but the city managed to have the Gator Bowl and the surrounding area lit up. The wind was still blowing so hard, Ringo's cymbals nearly left the stage.

Thanks for rekindling some great memories of the early 60's and my youth!!

 

now thats cool !!!!

 

Growing up here in nw Florida during the 50's and 60's, I remember a good many of the old stations that have been mentioned. At night I listened to KAAY and WLS. Daytime, it was the big BAM in Montgomery. Anyone remember "Dans Dusty Discs" ? I also grew up on country. Does anyone remember Wayne Rainey on WCKY in Cincinatti?

 

Here is a pic of Bobby Dee, early morning DJ for WAPE. Along with a few other old photos of WAPE.

 

KAAY and WLS reached all the way to Waterloo Ia. in the 60s, for sure. Dick Beyonde was the DJ for WLS after midenite, and used the sing "ON TOP OF A PIZZA'' all the time. All of the usual JDs like us had them on as we were tearing around, after leaving the Drive Inn Theater.

 

Thanks for the WLS clarification - us southern kids thought his name was Dick Diondi !
Some nights the signal was great and other nights could hardly pick it up in N ALA.
Best memory of the the time was sneaking into the side door of the BAM Bham band shows with my roommate and seeing Jerrry Lee Lewis, Beach Boys, Dave Clark Five for free!
Missed the Stones and Beatles concerts they had due to my high paying grocery bagging job though but did see the Allman Bros in the JAX city park Sunday Pm concerts before they hit it big.
Ran my first organized drag race at Thunderbolt in 67 and used closed down back entrance road to Cecil for 1 mile straight line plug reading runs thru the early 70s before
subdivisions began to creep close.
Hated that damm Ape screaming after a while though.

 

what part of north al? not to hijack the thread,but for the b'ham al guys? what were the Rumore(?) brothers name.not sure about the spelling..also what station were they on? great thread,great memories!

 

Well, living in coastal Georgia we listened alot, but that's telling you that
we are old!! Do you remember the "TAN TONE" ??? was that not from
WAPE ??

 

Joe and his brother Duke Rumore were the bham DJs according to this info:
http://joerumore.net/wvokbeginning.html
The concerts the radio station organized were a pretty big deal back then.

 

thats it !! thanks for the link. i don't know why but i always thought it was "vic" rumore. but i was very young then,and the mind does play tricks. thanks again very much.
my wife just told me his concert series was called "shower of stars concerts" named off a bunch of artist. bubble gum music to me lol

 

I made my hubby contact you as my Brother abd Sisters are all from Jacksonville. My Brother played guitar to so mant hits played on WAPE He now lives in Rogersville married to Sharon Ann Carpenter . Will send P.M.

 

http://www.xerbradio.com/

 

I grew up in Myrtle Beach, so I remember WAPE very well. Late 60's, early 70's.....

 

I remember when WOWO used Don Gardner and DeeDee Ford's song, "I need your lovin all night long" as a station promo, WO, WO, WO, WO, WO, ...WO!

Posted using the full custom, V8, 4-speed app, rolling down highway 41.

 

I was wondering when someone would mention Loud Mouth Joe Rumore and the "Mighty 6.90, WVOK, 100,000 watt, clear channel in B'ham, Alabama, (late 50s- early 60s, I think) anyways I was just a kid.

 

Back in the late 1940s my Dad ran a Treshing crew from Nebraska to the Canadian border. Most of the time him and his crew would sleep in the farmers hay loft. Dad said at night he could pickup a station out of Del Rio, Texas clear up in North Dakota on his Admiral radio. It must have been the XERF station refered to on the XERB website!

When I was a kid in the early 70s I would listen to KOMA and KAAY at night on that same Admiral radio. Sadly, Dad is gone but I still have the radio and alot of great memories! Thanks Dad!

 

There's a "Kripke" joke in here somewhere !