October 21 Radio History

➥In 1908...The first two-sided vinyl record was offered for sale by the Columbia label in an ad running in this week's Saturday Evening Post.

➦In 1915...First transmission of speech across the Atlantic by radiotelephone, Arlington, Va., to Paris

➦In 1948...the first Facsimile (FAX), was demonstrated through high-speed radio transmission. It was demonstrated in Washington D.C.

➦In 1969...Roby Yonge does the infamous “Paul is Dead” show at 77 WABC.

Originally hired for the 1 - 3 PM shift, Yonge was moved into the overnight shift in August 1969 when Charlie Greer left the station. He was told by program director Rick Sklar in the early fall, that his contract would not be renewed. He subsequently went on the air with the Paul McCartney "death" rumor on October 21, 1969, having heard the rumor from WKNR-FM (Detroit) radio personality Chris Randall.

Stating that he had already been fired and that at 12:39 AM, he would not be "cut" because there was nobody around, Yonge began to speculate on rumors circulating about the possible death of McCartney. He enumerated various "clues" in album cover art which he said had been catalogued by thirty Indiana University Bloomington students. Callers lit up the station switchboard. It was an hour and a half before program director Rick Sklar got Les Marshak in to relieve Yonge. Marshak continued to do Yonge's show until a replacement was hired.

Yonge was hired by WCBS-FM, where he helped introduce their "Oldies" format in the early'70s. After a few years, he returned to his nativeFlorida, where he served as general manager of Mother WMUM, an early FM rock station in Palm Beach. After the demise of Mother in 1972, Yonge became a morning personality on Y100 WHYI in Fort Lauderdale/Miami. He was fired after the first day on the air, August 3, 1973.  He moved to the competitor WMYQ-FM, where he spoke as a commentator with a morning show. In 1987, Yonge did a morning show at WKAT in Miami, then returned in 1993 to do a music/talk show on 790 WMRZ.

Roby Yonge died on July 18, 1997 of an apparent heart attack at age 54.

➦In 2000...Frankie Crocker, Personality at WMCA, WBLS died from pancreatic cancer.

Crocker began his career in Buffalo at the AM Soul powerhouse WUFO (also the home to future greats Eddie O'Jay, Herb Hamlett, Gary Byrd and Chucky T) before moving to Manhattan, where he first worked for Soul station WWRL and later top-40 WMCA in 1969.

He then worked for WBLS-FM as program director, taking that station to the top of the ratings during the late 1970s and pioneering the radio format now known as urban contemporary.

Frankie Crocker was inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2000, and the New York State Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 2005

➦In 2003...John Dennis and Gerry Callahan returned to their morning on WEEI-FM, Boston, after a 2 week suspension for allegedly racist remarks.

➦In 2014…Veteran Boston radio personaility (WODS-FM, WXKS-FM, WRKO-AM) Dale Dorman died at age 71.

Dale Dorman

With his lightening fast reflexes,  a gift for genuinely clever patter and an astounding ability to “post” a song intro, he did what few others have ever done — he remained a force and a positive influence on radio and music for 45 years. It all began in Syracuse in 1964. After establishing himself at WOLF, he sent a tape to the legendary programmer Bill Drake at KYNO/Fresno. It was Drake who then developed the famous Top 40 format aired on stations owned by RKO General. Drake liked what he heard, hired Dale to work at RKO’s KFRC/San Francisco, and under his tutelage Dale became an integral part of the Drake format and moved cross-country be on The Big 68, WRKO.

Dale was 24 when he took over morning drive at WRKO in August, 1968 and delivered top ratings for ten years. He also hosted the afternoon kid’s show on TV38 and the weekend “Creature Double-Feature” as Uncle Dale. By the late 70’s FM radio had eclipsed AM for music listening. After a brief stop at WVBF Dale landed his second long-term gig doing afternoon drive at Kiss 108 (WXKS-FM) for 23 years.  “To be able to be a top-rated jock on a Top-40 station in his 60s is really astounding,” Don Kelley, then Vice President of Programming for Magic 106.7 WMJX and now President of the Mass Broadcasters Hall of Fame, told the Boston Globe in 2003, when Dale left Kiss 108.



In 2003 Dale moved back to morning drive at Oldies 103 (WODS/Boston). “I wound up at Oldies 103 playing the same music that I played at WRKO when I was just starting out,” he told the Globe in 2008. “A bunch of people started calling. They were like, ‘Oh, wow! How are you? Where have you been?’ ” playing the same songs that he played on WRKO in the 60’s and 70’s, but by now they had become oldies.

Dale was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2015 the brand new Dale Dorman studio at Massasoit Community College was dedicated in his name.