The Day The Power Died

By the time many of you read this, it will be after Friday, May 31, 2019, 7:00 PM Eastern Time, the day a radio legend signed off for the last time. Seventy-one years and twenty-six days prior, it was born on 95.5 FM as WJZ-FM,and became WABC-FM in March 1953 following the merger of the American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. and United Paramount Theatres. As the FM era began, WABC-FM, as did many FM stations, simulcast its AM sibling in addition to a Best Of Broadway format, although, when progressive rock made its presence felt, it provided an outlet for the WABC All-Americans, including, most notably, Dan Ingram, to play music they couldn't on AM due to its restrictive contemporary hit format.In 1968, WABC-FM became the flagship of the American FM Radio Network, which introduced a national "prog-rock" format called "Love," and five years later, began carving its only identity with the call letters, "W-P-L-J," inspired by the Four Deuces' R&B classic "White Port and Lemon Juice," which was more notably performed by Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention. The early lineup consisted of veteran John Zacherle ("Dinner With Drac"), controversial talk show host Alex Bennett (one of the late great Stan Lee's favorite interviewers),and Vin Scelsa, better known for his work at competitor WNEW-FM. WPLJ pioneered the Album Oriented Rock format and also played pop songs from artists not normally played on WABC, shooting it up in the Arbitron radio ratings to the most-listened-to rock radio station in America. In 1973, the cornerstone for the modern 'PLJ was laid when Program Director Larry Berger and personalities Jim Kerr and Pat St.John came aboard. After WABC flipped from Musicradio 77 to Talkradio 77, WPLJ, or "Hitradio 95" as it began calling itself, adopted a Top 40 format. Its only real competition was the home of shock jock Don Imus, WNBC Radio 66, until Tampa radio veteran Scott Shannon turned sleepy elevator music station WVNJ-FM 100.3 into WHTZ, the Hot-Rockin' Flame-Throwin' Z100 and launched an all-out assault on "Wimpy Radio," as personified by WPLJ, which tried, but didn't really succeed at, a Contemporary Hit Radio format that could truly match Z100. The station began downplaying its identity as WPLJ and adopted first the air name Power 95 (and the tagline "You've Got the Power!") and later the call letters WWPR (WorldWide Power Radio) before reverting to WPLJ. Berger was succeeded by (then-music director,later to become a Bloomberg radio anchor and currently a non-practicing lawyer) Jessica Ettinger and Seattle veteran Gary Bryan who fired Jim Kerr and took over the morning show with Linda Emery (nee Energy) as his sidekick. After Gary was lured over to Z100 as a result of his successful de-Wimpification of what was beginning to be called 'PLJ (His battlecry was "SC**W THE ZOO!," referring to the Z-Morning Zoo, his competitor's signature program.),Rocky Allen took the helm with an eclectic mix of music, comedy, and weird news. When 'PLJ was hammered by competitors Z100 and HOT 97, program director Tom Cuddy and general manager Mitch Dolan reached out to Scott Shannon, who had just been relieved of his duties at Pirate Radio 100.3 FM in Los Angeles. He rebranded 'PLJ as Mojo Radio 95.5 FM, and reprogrammed the music as Top 40 with a rock edge. After trying, and failing, to get Rocky to stay on as his partner, Shannon conducted a nationwide search, which resulted in a 23-year relationship with Todd "Scam Boy" Pettengill, notorious for his phone scams (inspired by Howard Stern's "Phony Phone Calls")and song parodies. In 1992, 'PLJ  flipped to a Hot Adult Contemporary format, with this mission statement: "No rap, no hard stuff, and no sleepy elevator music." One of the highlights of the new format was "Saturday Night at the Seventies," with New York's Hometown Hero, Al Bandiero, who played many of those hits on the original Disco 92 WKTU. Rocky returned in 1993 to host "a morning show in the afternoon", one of the highlights of which was a live broadcast from the historic Ed Sullivan Theatre. (When people asked Scott and Todd how they were possibly going to top that, Todd joked, "We're going to broadcast from the Tick Tock Diner in Nutley, New Jersey." Actually, they did, and the Summer Diner Tour became a Scott & Todd Big Show tradition.) In 1999,under the leadership of the Walt Disney Company, they eliminated all 70's music from the playlist, and, in their version of the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre," sacked Danny Meyers, Anthony "Onions" Caviligia, and Kristie McIntyre before returning to the prior format and experimenting with a version of the "Jack FM" adult hits format. Rocky,and his sidekick Blaine Ensley, were re-hired (and re-fired) towards the end of the 2000's. Scott left 'PLJ in 2014, leaving the door open for Todd Pettengill's ascent to the leadership of the morning show with an ensemble cast comprised of Cooper Lawrence, Joe "Monkey Boy" Pardavilla, and Anne Marie Leamy. The following year, Cooper was replaced by Californian Jayde Donovan, and what had been The TODD Show was rebranded "Todd and Jayde In The Morning."
The station held its own until  another version of the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre," on 2/13/19 when its current owner, Cumulus Media, announced the sale of 'PLJ and five other stations to the Educational Media Foundation, the parent company of the K-LOVE Christian radio format.When May 2019, ended, so did nearly five decades of music history, stretching from progressive rock to pop and featuring personalities who not just woke up New Yorkers, entertained them at work,drove them home and sang them to sleep, but were also actually part of the fabric of this great city. They laughed with their listeners, gave them a crying shoulder, simply put, they didn't just care about making the big bucks, they CARED ABOUT THEIR AUDIENCE. (Case in point, when Diana "Lady Di" Ferrito did an in-store appearance at an uptown Verizon center, she stuck to the script until she said, "And Steven Eisenpreis has just entered the building." I had the pleasure to be one of their most loyal fans for a good part of the 90's and many years following.)

When Power 95 told its listeners, "You've got the Power!," they were telling the truth. We had the power of music, the power of friendship, the power of community, the power of radio at its best. Unfortunately, the delicate state of the radio industry affected Power 95 and its fellow stations, so the radio powerhouse that was 'PLJ is now nothing but a beautiful memory. But the music remains, and, as long as people can still sing along to the Beatles, Bon Jovi, and Taylor Swift, 'PLJ will never go away

When Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Richie Valens died in a tragic air crash, that was immortalized by Don McLean in "American Pie" as The Day The Music Died. May 31,2019, the last day of 'PLJ, will go down as The Day The Power Died.


Or did it?

As long as any one who ever worked at or listen to the station can still sing a catchy song or remember a memory that either tickled their funny bone or touched their heart or both, the legendary 'PLJ will never truly die.

'PLJ was as much a part of New York as the Empire State Building, Macy*s, and Madison Square Garden, Unfortunately, the defeat of media institutions of 'PLJ could be considered a victory for the current presidential administration. May they fail in their attempts to completely convert the country to their mindset, and May the Power live forever.

Steve out.

There's still nothing like the one and only Stan Lee..(Nuff said.)

As many of you have the sad duty to know, Stanley Martin Lieber, better known as Marvel Comics mastermind Stan "The Man" Lee, left this mortal coil after ninety-five trailblazing years. It was my pleasure to know him for a few of those years, to see him at Marvel's own comic con in New York in 1976 and other such gatherings over the years, talk with him on the phone, and even get an autographed poster of his greatest creation, The Amazing Spider-Man, after I sent him a McDonald's Gift Certificate. (This was my way of thanking Marvel for one of the reality-inspired stories which became its trademark, an episode of the liscenced Micronauts comic entitled "The Best Darn Burglar in The Whole Wide World," which, for you millenials, was a play on Burger King's tagline, which they used interchangeably with "There's nothing like the one and only Whopper.") Many of you out there in the audience may object to my mentioning a creative genius, the Walt Disney of the psychedelic generation, the man who turned simplistic super heroes into complex, realistic, human creatures who just happened to have super powers, in the same breath as mere junk food, but the very fact that Stan responded to my gift certificate (which I also sent to his famous editorial staff, the Mighty Marvel Bullpen) is a testament to the fact that although he was a very busy man, leading not only Marvel Comics, but also its many movie and TV projects, preaching the Gospel According to Marvel on talk shows and college campuses around the world, he was not above listening to his fans and taking into account every "knock" or "boost," as he would say, and even shaking hands and exchanging a friendly "Excelsior!" (The state motto of his hometown New York, which means, "Onward and upward to greater glory!")

Those who seek a bio of Stan are urged to log on to steveneisenpreis.blogspot.com and scroll over to Santa Steve's Nice List for 2015 where I give Stan the full Casey Kasem treatment. Although there are many more, mostly casual, Marvel fans who have hopped on the bandwagon since the first two decades of the Marvel Age of Comics (the 60s and 70s), I have the pleasure to belong to a rare breed of Marvelite, the kind who would not only go to see them at Comic Con, but also see them play softball in Central Park (even if it meant getting their butts handed to them by the Distinguished Competition), visit the New York headquarters for business AND pleasure, AND EVEN visit their office in suburban London not to mention their affiliate in Barcelona! Although Stan tried his hand at romance comics, novels,political satire, and even attempts to cash in on the respective success of PEOPLE and MAD magazines, the real life super heroes, fighting a never ending battle for truth,justice, and trying to pay the phone bill on time, among such important missions, were what he will always be remembered for. There may have been many imitators,but there was only one Stan, who never forgot, and made sure his characters never forgot his governing editorial philosophy:

"With great power there must also come great responsibility!"

Similarly, with great stories come the touch of true virtuosi such as Dickens, Twain, Hugo, AND Stan Lee.

As he once said to me, "Excelsior,man."

Sturdy Stevie Eisenpreis (My official Marvel Appelation which was bestowed upon me by Stan himself)

Certainly Needed Now

I may be accused of being a one-trick pony because my last two Special Blogs have been devoted to CNN, its history, and its mission.but if I am, then, may I say, so be it..

Today, October 24,2018, one week before Halloween, traditionally a day when we face our fears and embrace the monsters of legend, the horror was all too real as a pipe bomb was delivered to CNN's New York bureau at the Time Warner Center in a package addressed to anchor John Berman. Around 10 AM ET, the CNN bureau was evacuated, while anchors Kate Bolduan and Jim Sciutto were delivering their newscast live on the air. This attack was linked to a series which also involved liberal-leaning billionaire George Soros, former Presidents Clinton and Obama, and New York State Governor Cuomo.

Clearly, this is an attack on everything that exemplifies New York in particular and America in general, democratic (with a small d) government that answers the needs of all the people, and a free and unbiased press. I haven't addressed FOX News by name, but I feel compelled to, because FOX has stoked the flames of fear and abused its power as a (supposed) journalistic organ. Not too many people remember this, but when FOX positioned itself as "The Network America Trusts For Fair and Balanced News," it meant as opposed to CNN, which it felt, along with the major broadcast networks and PBS, had a liberal bias, and that its tagline, "We Report, You Decide," implied that the "left-stream media" shoved their idea of news down America's unsuspecting throat and this was the alternative it was looking for. As I've said in the past, CNN was derisively known as "Chicken Noodle News" when it was the new kid on the block. The tactics used by this terrorist or group of terrorists mirror too closely the attempts of such as Hitler, Stalin, and Castro to manipulate popular opinion and convince their unsuspecting subjects that they are the true leaders of the country and any attempt to convince them otherwise should either be ignored or eliminated. If those madmen think they could silence CNN in this manner, they are sorely mistaken. More than a network, CNN is a voice that's Certainly Needed Now, when the country is divided as never before, our allies feel abandoned, and the world cries out for an honest news voice which, unlike FOX, does not subscribe to the politics of hate. Please write the simpleton who claims to be our President and tell him to stop merely talking about Making America Safe Again and getting off his posterior and actually DOING something about it, especially when it comes to making sure ALL voices are heard.

Thank you for hearing MY voice.
Steve

Who Ya Callin' Fake News?!?!?

Today, June 12,2018, the subject of our last Steve's Special,CNN, or, more accurately, TimeWarner , which owns it, Cartoon Network/adult swim, DC Comics, Warner Bros., and other iconic entertainment brands, has been given the go-ahead by the US Department of Justice to merge with AT&T, despite the objections of President Trump who has called The World's Most Important Network "Fake News," and critics who claimed the merger would block competition.

What a way to start your fourth decade, huh?

And to think, it all started on a less-than-network-quality budget in a former country club in downtown Atlanta. No matter what the clown who just left Korea thinks, CNN is real, here to stay, and my VERY proper friend, founding New York bureau chief Mary Alice Williams, would probably kill me if I said, "It ain't going nowhere!" But, like the news on CNN, it's true.

As they say at CNN, 30!
Steve

Who Ya Callin' Chicken Noodle News?

Believe it or not, I was one of the first people in the world to hear of the Cable News Network before it covered a single story. WAAAAAAAAY back in 1979, I was researching a term paper on the history of what was originally called the Radio Corporation of America and shortened to RCA Corporation as it had become one of the major diversified companies of the late 20th Century, when I happened on a few news report that outspoken yachtsman/baseball team owner/media mini-magnate R.E. "Ted" Turner who had already shocked the world by turning tiny independent station WTCG Channel 17, Atlanta into SuperStation WTBS , was about to challenge the Big Three Networks' stranglehold on TV news with CNN, the world's first 24-hour all-news network. I wrote them for some promotional material on what made them different from RCA's crown jewel, NBC, and they happily complied. This was also the unofficial beginning of a beautiful friendship between Yours Truly and CNN's small, but mighty, New York team at a building that could hardly be called "small," One World Trade Center. When CNN officially hit the ground running on June 1, 1980, I was introduced to a veritable plethora of talented reporters not just from CNN New York and its content provider Independent Network News (a division of local powerhouse WPIX), but from networks all over the world such as the BBC (and ITN, now ITV News), Italy's RAI, and, after much arm-twisting on CNN's part, Russian state TV before it adopted a Western-style business model. From coast to coast and border to border, CNN had become a force to be reckoned with, debuting an international service by the end of the 80's and moving into radio in addition to starting CNN 2, which has since evolved into Headline News.  CNN soon outgrew the WTC and moved to 5 Penn Plaza, right across from Madison Square Garden, The World's Most Famous Arena, and Macy*s, The World's Largest Store, with the Empire State Building watching over them. The area proved a better fit for CNN, which, in addition to its already-popular financial news show MONEYLINE (anchored by Lou Dobbs, later to become one of the most popular pundits at a competing network), challenged ET with SHOWBIZ TODAY (later SHOWBIZ TONIGHT),  originally anchored by Bill Tush and Liz Wickersham, and later anchored by (at various points) Bella Shaw, Laurin Sydney, Lee Leonard, Jim Moret, and A.J. Hammer, with a team of entertainment experts including (every so-often) the man who shook up Top 40 radio the way Ted had shaken up TV news, Scott Shannon, as well as sports coverage,(with two reporters being my erstwhile friends Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick) talk shows,(including LARRY KING LIVE) and breaking news ,the most significant story happening on September 11,2001, when two planes flew into the World Trade Center and CNN became the go-to network in the days and weeks to come, as it had been during the first Gulf War. In 1995, Ted, after attempts to buy CBS and fending off advances from other networks, agreed to let Time Warner Inc. buy the percentage of CNN (and its fellow divisions of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. such as Cartoon Network and Hanna-Barbera Productions) it didn't already own, thus marrying it into a family that already included Warner Bros., HBO, DC Comics, and MAD Magazine, and five years later, America Online, the internet service pioneer, purchased TWI, lock, stock and CNN camera. Despite all attempts to portray AOL Time Warner as one, big happy family, the initials AOL were dropped from Time Warner's corporate name, and AOL was spun off a few years later.

Despite increased competition, CNN has held its own after all these years as it continues to make and cover the news from its studios in Manhattan's Columbus Circle area, just a short walk away from Lincoln Center, with next-gen reporters Frederica Whitfield, Brooke Baldwin, Carol Costello, and Anderson Cooper.What next for the network once derisively known as "Chicken Noodle News" as its parent has agreed to be acquired by AT&T who already owns Direct TV and the telephone business that put it on the map? The sky's the limit,but then, hasn't it always been?

Steve

BREAKING NEWS

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are breaking up after Angie has cited irreconciable differences, including Brad's responsibility, or apparent lack thereof, for their kids.

And THIS is breaking news why?

The world should be focusing on global security after the latest terrorist bombings in my home town of New York and at a Marine Corps run/walk in Seaside Heights, NJ, and outgoing President Barack Obama's address to the UN General Assembly on the refugee situation. What the fork is going on?

By the way, THAT was my sneaky segue into a review of THE GOOD PLACE, Thursdays at 8:30 PM Eastern and Pacific/7:30 PM Central and Mountain on NBC and anytime on http://www.nbc.com and the NBC app. The Good Place in question is,of course, Heaven,, and Kristen Bell is Eleanor Shellstrop, an ordinary woman who gets sent to aforementioned Good Place through a clerical error. (She belongs in the Bad Place.) and tries to convince the architect, Michael (Ted Danson), her soulmate Chidi, (William Jackson Harper), her neighbors Tahani (Jameela Jamil) and Jiyanu (Manny Jacinto) and information specialist Janet (D'Arcy Carden) that she can get her act together. One habit she's forced to change is cursing. She DOES have to turn THAT around, and that's no bullshirt! Part satire, part fantasy, part feel-good TV, you would be a great big ash-hole not to spend Thursday nights in THE GOOD PLACE! It may not solve all the world's problems, but, hey, it should motivate you to be a part of the solution!

Bye Buckaroos!
Steve

P.S.: If you prefer your cuss words undiluted, check out the 20th season of SOUTH PARK on Comedy Central. I'm not exactly a fan of EVERYTHING they do, but if that turns you on...

OOPS!

I forgot the phone number for Rainbow's End:09 262 2030.

SORRY!
SLE