WMAL Radio 63, July 14, 1970 8:30 AM

[@danocable]

Thank you mr Keon I am fifty five yrs old I was about seven when this was broadcast. My father had Harden and Weaver on the radio whenever we drove.Going thru old falls church I have fond memories. Thanks.👍☘️

[@RussBearie]

I fondly remember those sounds. Thank you for posting this! Even now, I am listening to the Vince Coglianse show. Some of today’s commercials are just as irritating.

[@matrox]

I wish I could turn on the radio and listen to this type of music.

[@Nannyj9007]

My daughter was born in 1970, I was 20, married and living in Sterling VA. Listened while travelling to and from Fairfax in the car, and at my parents' home in Fairfax. Loved these guys.

[@robinkeiger2208]

I grew up with these guys. Love this!!

[@sparkysparklepants]

I lived in Bethesda back in 1977. My job downtown had me out the door at 5am. I'd pick up an egg sandwich at the Bethesda Community Store & Deli. One day at 5:30am, a black Trans am with the phoenix on the hood roared into the parking lot. Out pops this little fat man. He yelled out a hearty hello as he passed me sitting on the porch and disappeared into the store. This is how I met Mr. Weaver.

[@TheMotorolaman]

I remember waking up to these guys living with my grandparents in the early 80's

[@kct1975]

So do I! My Great Grandmother loved Harden & Weaver...and of course Paul Harvey

[@cattypatti360]

I was just fixin' to turn 10 when this was broadcast. My Mom listened to WMAL in the kitchen in the mornings. I can almost taste the Cap'n Crunch...

[@danocable]

Thanks Pr Katz you get that old sentiments, it makes me shed a tear my kid’s are know grown. How short life is. ☘️🙏👍

[@kathleenblack9735]

Just ran into this. I was 14 when this played. I grew up on WMAL and to the reviewer who found this stuffy and without enough contemporary music, you have to remember that the adult audience out there at the time were of the WWII generation. This was the perfect radio station for the time. Traffic, news, weather, sports and MOR music. I remember that I had to leave the house for the school bus right after the march played at 7:25 am. Thanks for this.

[@ivanack]

OMG - Thanks for posting this. I listened to H&W with my dad as we delivered the Washington Post every morning. I really liked it when they fired up some no-kidding marching music, and they yelled, "FORWAAAAAARRRRD MARCH!!" Another tidbit was that (I believe) Mr Weaver was the no-kidding voice of Smokey the Bear in the national PSAs (Only YOU can prevent forest fires).

[@JohnKelm]

Yes, he was, indeed.

[@ciocia52]

I just discovered your clips and love them! I was a great fan of Harden and Weaver and the "old" WMAL, can't stand it anymore and haven't listened in years. I had no idea some of this stuff was preserved. Now I have my own time capsule, thank you!!!

[@armorybrunotjr.3204]

When new ownership took over WMAL in 1980, they not only stopped the music, but they fired prominent personalities, such as John Lyon, who was a staff announcer and weekend deejay from 1968-80.

[@MichiganPeatMoss]

I'm casting this from my laptop to mini-radio transmitter - sounds great on my garage radio! :)

[@JohnKelm]

Peter Voss At 630kc I hope! 😎

[@MichiganPeatMoss]

I wish... Lol. Fm band unfortunately

[@jbgroup1]

Oh, wow!!. This was broadcast on the actual day of my birth. I was born at 1:45 AM at Columbia Hospital for Women on this very day.

[@goldta70schick5]

My hubby's birthday as well!!!

[@jonathanpcampbell]

WMAL is disgusting now. I remember listening to Harden and Weaver when I was a kid. This audio brings back memories.

[@steveember8972]

Thanks for some wonderful memories of what was truly a gold standard radio station. Always enjoyed how Frank Harden's sly humor could jump out and tickle one's funny bone.

[@JohnKelm]

WMAL was universal and in many homes and cars it was on almost 24 hours a day. You’re right, it was a gold standard.

[@AlexanderCrump]

Harden and Weaver were on the kitchen radio every morning throughout the '70s, as we got ready for school. Family-friendly humor and no-nonsense news (especially the snow school closings!!!!). Many great memories!

[@daviddragona1853]

I USED TO TRAVEL FROM NORTHERN NEW JERSEY TO NORTHERN VIRGINIA ALWAYS LISTENED TO HARDEN AND WEAVER

[@USNAVDC]

Was there living in Arlington, Virginia at the time....in the Navy. So many great memories!

[@JohnKelm]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for your service!

[@michaelbartley9499]

At 6:43 of this video, is a Dick Harriman Ford commercial, if anyone is still familiar with Willard Scott's voice, he is one of the characters, you will hear it in the commercial. For those who don't know Willard, he was a long time DC area radio/TV personality. Part of the "Joy Boys" radio team, Washington area's Ronald McDonald Commercials early 60's and News 4 WRC weather man later to leave for New York and the Today Show to do the weather. Michael

[@randymillhouse791]

It doesn't matter the generation. When I was a kid in the 1970's and listening to these guys on the radio, I thought how wild it was that GROWN ADULTS were behaving this way! I loved them AND my Mother loved them so that helped bridge the generation gap. Note: Spell check asked me to consider a non-capital letter for Mother. NOTHIN' DOIN' SPELL CHECK! Show some respect.

[@sdcafunnyguru]

Frank & Jack were a DC morning institution! Also nice to hear Eddie Walker & Willard Scott doing the Dick Herriman Ford commercial in there as well. Great stuff! Please post more WMAL material from back when it was fun, listenable & actually mattered.

[@JohnKelm]

+sdcafunnyguru Thanks! WMAL was an example of a perfect MOR station back then. It seemed almost everyone had their AM radios tuned to 630 in their houses and cars and left them on all day from H&W through Mayhugh - a full 24 hours of good radio.

[@thespeez]

I beg to differ; there was a bit too much chatter in the AM and PM drives; plus the music could've been a little more contemporary. I don't remember other MORs being quite as 'stuffy' was 'MAL was.

[@armorybrunotjr.3204]

When WMAL Radio was located at 630 kilocycles,on the AM radio dial, it was often known as "Radio 63", because it played 63 varieties of music.

[@shnewsman]

Huge memories here. Frank and Jack on WMAL, Al Ross on WRC; Eddie Gallaher had just started at WASH after WTOP went all-news in 1969. Frank and Jack were absolutely unique. I was honored to know them personally. It took decades for another station to get close to them in mornings. DC was a completely different city and the area was so different, too. A pleasure to listen to.

[@rickybobby6579]

this was so much fun to hear

[@danocable]

I remember listening to Harden an weaver on Halloween day 1969 in old Leesburg va heading down Harry flood Byrd hey if anyone knows what that hey is called today. I was 14. God life is shoe. No one is left but me and my sister.😞❤️🙏

[@Peacedove2000]

Trumbull & Core? Any chance you have the old Halloween episodes with Washington Ghost Stories?

[@hirampriggott1689]

i remember this growing up in Bowie, Md.

[@bga33580]

Walter Wanderley at about 13:00. The song is called On My Mind.

[@JohnKelm]

+Brian Smith Thanks. H&W played Wanderly a lot!

[@batesy1970]

I stumbled on to this upload and was mesmerized by the Wanderley song but was not aware of it or Wanderley himself. Now I have become obsessed. It’s interesting too because he intentionally says his name wrong which threw me. Thanks for identifying both song and artist!

[@stogieguy7]

Interesting, I did not realize that WMAL and the Washington Star were co-owned. Along with WMAL-TV 7. We got the Star (an afternoon paper) back when this was recorded, but we generally listened to WPGC, WEAM or WEEL. My parents were a lot younger than the demo for WMAL at that time. I don't know what that instrumental at roughly 13:00 was, but it's really cool in a weird mid-century kind of way. Never heard it before.

[@JohnKelm]

That was “When It Was Done” by Walter Wanderley. He was a popular MOR jazz artist back then and MAL played him quite a bit.

[@robertwheeler4068]

Q. Who signed off from the all night show prior to Harden & Weaver coming on at 6AM, with the MORNING MARCH? Was that Bill Mayhue? He'd say run a mile e every day, and then would play The Onion Song!😂

[@JohnKelm]

Yup, that was Bill!

[@robertwheeler4068]

@@JohnKelm Thank you John! I know I spelled his last name wrong!?🙄

[@44skins]

Ohhhh myyyy GAWD!!!! I LOVED these guys!!

[@matrox]

Bill Mayhugh had a good mellow jazz show also.

[@rockvilleraven]

matrox Music, Memories and Mayhugh was the shows' title I think.

[@StatisticsJason]

I found it interesting that the only commercial I found truly irritating was for the Ford car dealership in Virginia. Some things never change....to this day car dealership ads are by far the most annoying. Overall this was a wonderful aircheck. It sounds like peak civilization to me.

[@altfactor]

The music in this clip was still widely being played on radio in 1970 ("middle of gthe road", or what today would be called "adult standards"), but within a few years, most MOR stations began programming softer rock numbers (i.e. no heavy metal). I suspect within a few years, Harden and Weaver were playing that kind of music.

[@stevations]

cool stuff.....uploaded almost 41 years later!

[@777Elbo]

I remember these days.

[@TheBrooklynbodine]

Was WNAL ABC-owned at this time? I know they were by some point in the early 70s.

[@JohnKelm]

I seem to remember it was owned by Post-Newsweek at the time I recorded this.

[@TheBrooklynbodine]

@@JohnKelm It was owned by Evening Star Broadcasting. It and its FM sister were bought by ABC in March 1977. The AM is now WSBN. WMAL stood for the M.A Leese Radio Corporation, who owned them in the late '30s.

[@JohnKelm]

@@TheBrooklynbodine Thanks. Yeah, Leese was an optician if I remember correctly?

[@TheBrooklynbodine]

@@JohnKelm Yes, he was. Also, the WMAL was (were?) the call letters for the Washington ABC-affiliated TV station. It's been WJLA for nearly 50 years.

[@JohnKelm]

@@TheBrooklynbodine Wow. I can’t believe it’s been that long. I think WTOP TV has changed twice in that time, to WDVM, then to WUSA (which was also the call letters of a movie about a fictional radio station with Paul Newman around 1970).

[@JohnKelm]

I have some more i need to compile and upload. Also some Tom Gauger.

[@Nannyj9007]

Thanks for the memories...

[@matrox]

I remember the Felix Grant show who played all the mellow tunes.

[@thespeez]

He played a lot of old-school jazz; not my cup of tea.

[@phdt12]

Felix Grant was on late light and played Jazz - am I remembering correctly?

[@JohnKelm]

Yes. He was a jazz encyclopedia. He was on during the evening until midnight. “...the album sound till midnight.”

[@jimward278]

also listening to harden and weaver when I live in the d.c area also loved sports call with ken Beatrice the godfather of sports call radio do u have any of ken's shows

[@JohnKelm]

No, I don’t, sorry.

[@EnergeticWaves]

I grew up listening to these guys. lots of lost dog announcements.

[@greggsheaffer2521]

EnergeticWaves I

[@JohnKelm]

@jonandrew52 Listeners got so much more as well. Must have been a fun job back then. Thanks for sharing that.

[@나나-i9q5z]

Love it

[@TheBrooklynbodine]

I meant WMAL. That supersedes my earlier post.

[@goldta70schick24]

My hubby was born on this very and year!!

[@terrychristian4628]

My exact birth day and year

[@lawrencehawkins7198]

What was the ending theme for Hardin and Weaver?

[@rjmcallister1888]

What hath Martin A. Leese wrought?

[@armorybrunotjr.3204]

Thank you for remembering what the call sign WMAL stood for. Martin A. Leese was a Washington optician who put this radio station on the air in 1925.

[@wilsonmcphert]

Where were you when the ship hit the span?

[@paulb1910]

And that's all for Big Moose at this time - Frank Harden's sports announcements.

[@miketheshanmanmangan]

Mellow Music,Full Service Radio Live & Local at 630 on The AM dial

[@thespeez]

I didn't realize MOR was so conservative back then! They sounded just about like a traditional easy-listening (beautiful music) station!

[@vangart1]

Really nicre to hear the guys again. They were D.C. Landmarks.

[@BFI156]

Cannot forget Tom Gauger either.

[@JohnKelm]

Another favorite from that era! I had recordings of his show from the early 70's but I must have lost them somewhere along the way.

[@danocable]

So Sorry Kelm I stand corrected.

[@datacreed]

Some true grocery store "Muzak-style" instrumentals mixed in. Love it! :)

[@BFI156]

I remember Bud Steele did the news (I think he passed recently).

[@armorybrunotjr.3204]

I remember Bud Steele as a news reporter at WMAL in the 1970s.

[@goldta70schick24]

15:51-15:53...that voice!!! It's so high pitched 😂😂😂

[@carolynhughes8364]

This was the day I reported for duty at the sixth precinct in Washington D.C.😛👮‍♂️

[@danocable]

Sorry HWY.😞

[@rockvilleraven]

Usually listed to their competitor Johnny Holiday on WWDC. My favorite character was Billy Biceps, the 99 pound bodybuilder who once streaked on the air. Its radio, so he could get way with it, can't do that on TV.

[@cfoster81]

+rockvilleraven I agree with the getting away with streaking on radio. Johnny Holliday would grace WMAL by 1979 cause the Terps football and basketball games were on AM 63 after being the "Voice of the Midshipmen" up until 1979, being the other sports personality on that station besides Frank Herzog, who started doing the Redskin games around that same time (IMHO the TRUE Voice of pro football in DC , even though I could care less about the Skins)

[@rockvilleraven]

***** Holiday was originally hired to replace WMAL Morning Legends Harden and Weaver who they thought were going to retire soon, when they didn't he went to the sports department full time. Also did the voice over for "This Week with David Brinkley" ABC's Sunday Public Affairs show.

[@thespeez]

Washington DC at one point had as many as four stations going after the adult audience, but only marginal operations catered to the teen audience.

[@strothermartin5368]

WMAL really took a bit when they lost the Redskins. That started the down fall. I remember when I worked at R.F.K. I saw the little transmitter. It looked like a little black box with a long antenna on the top. And to pick up the crowd noise,a Mike hanging down from the booth.

[@briankeller788]

19:30 I don't GAF (I use Kodak film)

[@JohnKelm]

Two weeks ago I was in Northern Virginia and punched up WMAL while on the Beltway. Totally un-listenable garbage now. A typical shouter and ranter station that has grown all too prevalent. Listening to this vintage broadcast reminds us of what a "uniter" WMAL once was, attracting a broad audience. Now, however it and its ilk only serve to artificially divide us - we are truly the poorer for it. We need to turn this crap off.

[@thespeez]

The thing is, who would listen to a traditional full-service/personality-Middle Of the Road station in today's day and age? Most everyone who you COULD attract would be over the age of 70!

[@ChristophCardigans]

See, I don't think that the decline of the MOR format was inevitable. It surely needed to evolve with the times, but I very much think that Generation Xers and millennials today would respond to media that is community-oriented, appeals to egalitarian values, and originates locally, if it's done right. But WMAL's management was basic, and didn't do a good job, if any job, or redefining the genre of MOR for younger, more diverse audiences. I can see a world in which MAL could have thrived as a station that diversified its on-air talent, migrated to FM, and then developed a robust and engaging online presence featuring what I think of as a neo-MOR format, that appeals to an audience that broadly and collectively values social diversity and inclusion, and critical and inquisitive thought. And I think it's possible to build and nurture that kind of audience across the political spectrum. But no, WMAL said let's keep our talent pool very white and very male, and let's ride 70s MOR into the ground; and then in the post-Fairness Doctrine era, it said let's double down by focusing on a very white and hyper-partisan conservative audience with shout-fests that insult basic human intelligence. I'm not even sure how many conservatives find that to be satisfying. So it's not a shock that such a strategy is unsustainable, but it was definitely not an inevitable market progression. It was a product of short-sighted, stubborn, and unimaginative management by Evening Star, Capital Cities, Disney, Citadel, and Cumulus.

[@epaddon]

"Now, however it and its ilk only serve to artificially divide us" Boo hoo, cry me a river. If the station has done well as a conservative talk station, then that's simply responding to the bottom-line of what saved AM Radio from dying twenty years ago, because to be perfectly blunt, nostalgic as this format of radio is, it can't attract an audience in *any* market any longer, just as AM stations couldn't do Top 40 music any longer either. And of course there's the fact that if our so-called "objective" media had done its job properly instead of being hopelessly biased toward one end of the spectrum, there wouldn't have been a need for conservative talk radio to provide some balance. Of course in the meantime, those who want a station to be a clone of what they can get on any TV network, there's always your nearest taxpayer subsidized NPR station.

[@JohnKelm]

+epaddon You certainly fit their target audience. Congrats.

[@danocable]

epaddon You’re a real party shitter.There is always a guy like you putting in a shitty comment.Then how do you even find this if your not interested.Verry strange you must be an old sad man like me, but with a shitty attitude.I hope you don’t die alone.Yeah I know give it to me this is what you live for.Talk about my spelling or anything.Just let me know how much hate you have.Your a miserable son of a bitch. Good Job

[@epaddon]

What hypocrisy. I came to this upload because I'm fascinated by radio history in general and then I had to read a silly "party sxxting* broadside about what the station is now which ruined the purpose of this being something people of ALL political persuasions might have had a reason to be interested in. This may come as a shock to you, but those who are on the right *do* have interests in these things and for something like this, it sure isn't asking too much to perhaps let this be posted without an irrelevant political broadside as if somehow conservative radio is responsible for the demise of this format, which it isn't. That's an absurd premise from start to finish. Go ahead with another foul-mouthed response if you want, but it won't change the basic facts.

[@dudeman8989]

@@epaddon Your comment is almost unreadable. Go back to school.

[@epaddon]

I'm not surprised that clear English is "unreadable" to a leftist that believes media should be censored and regulated to cater to their whims and biases only.

[@ronaldwilliamson4762]

The Internet is replacing terrestrial media. Lots of good music stations on it. Radio will eventually be mainly talk.

[@JRNipper]

+Ronald Williamson Not if IheartMedia keeps buying stations. They own hundreds of AM and FM stations and they play a great variety of music, only a small percentage of their stations is talk, thank God. I listen to oldies on WDDV/WSDV-AM in Sarasota, FL. Yak yak yak, I'm so sick of people running their mouths on those talk stations it's a real breath of fresh air to find an AM station that plays some decent oldies for a change. Also, the internet isn't everywhere like broadcast radio is.

[@CurzonRoad]

((((((((((( Thank you! )))))))))))

[@danocable]

No you don’t. You’re lying. Ha ha 👍🙏❤️👌

[@mvandeven]

This is terrible hack radio, but the nostalgia some people feel when listening in 2019 gives it far more credit than it deserves.

[@cattypatti360]

What an asshole, trolling around, looking for things to shit on due to your own internal misery, your terrible, empty lonliness, your world of ugliness. I feel sorry for you, Pity Pal 🙏🏻😔