Spirit of the Radio ( Part 7 ) WDVE Pittsburgh
WDVE had been rocking for awhile as they were one of the successful original ABC FM O&O’s. beginning as KQV-FM one of the ABC LOVE stations, morphing into live as WDVE “ the wonderful Dove.” Their first PD was Dwight Douglas who was later an associate in our consulting firm. WDVE did well but in 1974 they were acquired by Taft Broadcasting, another early believer in FM. My beginnings with Taft were interesting as they became our first major group client.
WQDR in Raleigh was my first client and they roared out of the box with a giant book, dominating nearly every demographic under 44. This caught the attention of Crystal, their national ad rep. They called and wondered what the hell we were doing, I did my pitch and they suggested I meet with Carl Wagner, the tough ex pro ballplayer ( rip ), head of Taft, who was very bullish on FM. Crystal brokered a late night meeting at the NAB in New Orleans. Taft had a full compliment of FM’s and Carl wanted to make some noise. He instantly got “it” and invited me to their GM meeting at the Sonesta in Key Biscayne to do the pitch.
The event was preppy heaven with a lot of golf clubs and Izod shirts. I lost my Mellotron tee shirt, and dressed the part, but my hair was highly noticeable. Two key things happened. I hit a home run at the pitch focusing heavily on revenue potential and getting on the ground floor of a movement not a fad...they smelled green. Secondly, there was one other non Taft invitee. Ed McLaughlin, head of the ABC Radio Network and later the discoverer of Rush Limbaugh. So...as outsiders, we were teamed up together to participate as doubles partners in the Taft Tennis tournament. De rigeur to play in that or the golf tourney. We were laughed at...a hippie and some old guy. We won. We kicked ass. Ok, tests passed and I was invited to meet with every Taft GM at their respective stations.
First station I visited was WDVE. Tough crowd. Bill Irwin the Taft lifer GM, Al Murdock their sales manager and a brilliant engineer with a programmers head named Ted Ruscetti. Monitored the station from my room at the Hilton and presented my results over dinner. The fish wasn’t the only thing grilled. After a few more meetings the next day, a deal was done.
Jimmy Roach was the PD, and he flew to Atlanta to spend a long weekend learning the philosophy and the systems as well as hearing his input on Pittsburgh. On Monday we flew back to Pittsburgh to get started. The staff was good and had been there for awhile. Denise Oliver who rose to a strong programming career, Tom Daniels an off air music director and a small army of other talented folks.
Music discussions were spirited, but ended in the right. I’ll never live down when an acetate of Born to Run was rushed into the station during a visit and I kinda poo-pood it, but to my defense I was multi tasking about 4 things at the time and couldn’t really focus.
Jim Roach was an interesting guy. Straight as an arrow but listeners thought he was a hard core stoner because of his laid back delivery....and his name. Which was real.
The time on my trips was heavy interaction with all departments at the station, usually ending the day with a station softball event, a Pirates game or dinner with the Program Director.
The station exploded and ratings doubled to a 5.8 12+, but then one day while on the West Coast, I got a frantic call from Ted Ruscetti. “ get on the next flight...you’re going on the air!” Uh oh....an AFTRA strike! Yep, got on the red eye, camped out at the Hyatt and went on the air along with most of the Taft PD’s. First time I actually worked the format from behind the mic. Loved working the phones except that every third call was “ die scab” from a stroke-supporting member of this union heavy community. And yes, I did cheat on the format.
The walk from the downtown station to the hotel was particularly perilous as there was a long tunnel, usually empty...and dark. Every shadow became an irate teamster with a gun. But we survived and had some fun meetings holed up in the hotel while we waited for the strike to resolve. Though walking across the picket line was painful.
After the strike, Jimmy Roach focused on his morning show, later teaming up with Steve Hansen for a very successful if not legendary run. That’s when we brought in John McGhan from Taft’s WGRQ in Buffalo who was killin ‘em with the format up there
John was an incredible promoter and one of the most creative guys in radio. He knew no boundaries. He’d do things like run a promo with his home number, stay at home for a week and talk to listeners for 14 hours straight. His great value was making things bigger than life. He let the music systems do their thing and focused on creating magic between the songs and on the streets. He’s no longer with us, but those years at WGRQ, WDVE and later the NBC Source, among other places was legendary.
When he flew to Atlanta before joining WGRQ I knew he was special. My only issue was his first question being “ we won’t have to play those boring 10 minute Yes songs will we?” Suffice to say, that was quickly resolved.
Jimmy Roach and the team got things in motion, but John, an off air , PD got things firing on all cylinders. Beating everyone except AM giant KDKA. The trend continued with PD Dave Lange and a history of strong programming talent that prevails today.
WDVE was a superb example of localizing our format. The format was the foundation, the structure that keeps it all together, but the best stations were the decorators that took a solid structure and made it beautiful. No one could call WDVE a generic “consulted” station. They were as Pittsburgh as a Primanti sandwich and the Steelers. Supporting local bands, spearheading local events and tied to the hip with the streets. All executed intelligently, selectively and to a high standard. Way too often stations tried too hard to be local and would haphazardly execute. They’d blow off basic competitive values and/or support ANYthing local....just to be local. Other stations assume they’re “local” because of the top of the hour ID says so. Engaging a community correctly is an art that balances with the format science. When in sync it’s very hard to beat and WDVE has the art/science balance in harmony.
It’s an advantage in competitive media to study radio and tv brands that evolved, misevolved or flat out blew it.
If there is a textbook case of evolving an album rock station, It’s WDVE. Hell, they’re now #1 overall. Universities should teach WDVE history. We used to preach that through proper evolution those 70’s rooted Album stations could become the next giants, just like KMOX, WCCO or WSB as listeners ( fans) could grow up with the stations while generating new listenership simultaneously. WDVE has intelligently done just that.