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RIDING A WHIRLWIND

    Now after half a year of building worry and sweat WWAC was pumping out our programming product 7 days a week from 8:AM to Midnight (I was surprised that our Chairman hadn’t asked Whadabout 24 hours a day?  All our competition runs round the clock.  Thankfully he was satisfied with actually getting us on the air - for now!)  And now it was my turn to find out if my program schedule would “sell” to sponsors and viewers too.  The following is the highlight reel of the building of the most watched station in our ADI.   (Area of Demographic Influence which was determined by the ratings companies and ours was Philadelphia to Cape May.  And our major competition was a local Wildwood stations that we really didn’t worry about because it was closed to a cable company’s local access channel when it came to programs.  However, Philly had three big independent UHF stations which were to be our market penetration benchmarks - they had been on the air for decades so their “numbers” were daunting)

Our program lineup featured:

News & More - Anchored by a well known area radio pro and raconteur who looked the part with silver gray goatee and he had great “pipes” as they say in radio.  A very hardworking former cable news reporter who went on to be a staple on air reporter for 20+ years  with the new leader in the Philadelphia market.  Weather person who had a great TV presence (A former contestant in the Miss America Pageant). Sports guy with a local history.  Directed by Ben, a young professional who was one of the best directors under pressure that I ever watched - he brought a great look to the show.  Behind the scenes our News Director was a print pro who had written award winner stories.  He was crossover from The Press - the most read newspaper in South Jersey.  After a few weeks the show would become a great hit that my the end of our first year was voted the “Best News Show on Tv” by the NJ Press Association.

Atlantic City Tonight - Hosted by yours truly and Lynn W. our weather person we did the Entertainment Tonight format long before it was network syndication show.  We were in the perfect place to produce this show - the entertainment capital of the East Coast.  It was a mix of big names and local ones too.  And we had what seemed a never ending supply.  And we got access to some great experiences during it’s run.   Guest we interviewed included:

 Frank Sinatra George Burns Gary Lewi Bill Cosby Phyllis Diller Don Rickles Burt Bacharach Connie Francis Dom Deluise Joey Heatherton Dick Heatherton J. P. Morgan Jim Bailey Martha Vandellas Tony Bennett Steve Allen Peter Marshall Stiller & Merra Bobby Rydell Willie May Robert Guillsume Jay Leno Debbie Reynolds John Zackerly (Roland) Robert Duvall Dick VanPatten Hy & Sam Lit Jim Croce Mario Andretti Gwen Vardon Edie Adams Hugh Hefner &  six  of his Centerfolds on photo shoot (a lasting memory).

This is just a partial guest list - And the reason the show was a hit and sold out its total commercial slots in just a month.

Next time:  The rest of the program story that made us #1

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