WLOF-AM
950
Orlando
Original Call Letters:
WLOF
Originally Licensed: Oct 26, 1940
Original City of License: Orlando
Original Frequency: 950
Origin of Call Letters: Slogan;
We Love
Orlando Florida
Original Power: 250 watts
Original Location: Angebilt Hotel
Original Format: Pop
Network
Affiliation(s): 1947-ABC Network
1997-Associated Press
Owner(s): 1940-Hazelwood Broadcasting
1953-Joseph
L. Brechner
1964-Clarke
Broadcasting, Corp.
($525,000)
1971-Home Security Life Insurance ($2.5 Million)
1977(?)-Rounsaville Radio, Atlanta
1982-Nationwide Communications (Purchase price for WLOF and WBJW-FM
105.1 $6.5 million)
1983-New City Communications
1997-Cox Broadcasting
1998-Thomas Harvey Moffit, Sr.
1998-TM2, Inc (Thomas H. Moffit,
II)
2006-Salem Communications
History Of Call Letters and Formats: WLOF-1940-Pop
On 1230 kHz
WCOT-1982-Adult
Standards 1
WBJW-1984-simulcast
of WBJW FM 105.1
(WBJW would change to WOMX)
WOMX-1989-simulcast
of WOMX
FM 105.1
WZKD-1994-Children
"Radio AAHS" 3
WTLN-1998--Religion
Station sold (simulcast of WTLN-FM)
Moved from 1520 AM
History of WLOF
Orlando's second radio station, WLOF-AM,
began broadcasting at 6:30AM Oct. 26, 1940 with 250 watts of power and radius of
50 miles. The station was on the mezzanine floor of the Angebilt Hotel. The
station was an affiliate of the National Broadcasting Co. (NBC)
Rounsaville logos courtesy of Dave Edwards
A
"QSL" card (Acknowledge Receipt Ham radio)
The WLOF hearse
WLOF license tags over the years
Courtesy of Dennis Snyder
The WLOF
main control room in 1967.
Here
is an early 1969 photo of WLOF, new turntables,
additional cart machines as top five or so songs were
now on tape, remote start switches
all rewired, and
some other changes to the studio.
From
Steve Kennedy;
"...When I was a teenager I used to go to the Pine Hills Music Center in
the Pine Hills shopping center and pick all the different ones up, (WLOF
Music surveys) and I have had these for almost 35 years!" 
WLOF studios 1972
courtesy Sean King
WLOF Personalities
Tom
Doyle
Bob Whitney
Tom Sawyer
Clyde Sanders-"Clyde on a Cloud"-10 p.m. to midnight,
weeknights playing rhythm and blues. In her book on the history of Orlando's
black community, Geraldine Thompson says Sanders was the "first
African American in the city to work as a radio announcer." Sanders also
wrote a weekly column called "As Clyde Sees It" in the
section dubbed "the Negro Edition" that the Orlando Sentinel produced
for a time in the '50s and early '60s.
Bocky
Smith-1957-"Sunshine
Special"-6AM-Noon
Ernie
Legge-1957-"WLOF
Hot Parade"-Noon-3PM
Mr. Legge died Thursday, Dec. 8, 2005, at William Childs Hospice
House, Palm Bay, Fla. He was born May 28, 1927, in Chicago and moved with
his family to Melbourne, Fla. in 1936. He was a 1945 graduate of Melbourne High
School. He served briefly with the Navy before attending the University of
Florida from 1946-47. He was a graduate from broadcasting school in California
before returning to Melbourne and working at WMMB. In the early 1950s, he
was a radio and television broadcaster in Orlando, Fla., and the first
newscaster for WLOF-TV (now WFTV) in 1958. Following his return to
Melbourne, Fla., he worked with WMEL-AM
920 as the space
program reporter for many years, retiring in 1999 as the national regional sales
manager.
Bob
Keith-1957-3-6PM
Orlando Speedway Spot
courtesy of Dick Camnitz
Top 40 Hits of the Week June
8,1957
courtesy of Dick Camnitz
Bob
Brown-1957-"Top
40 Show"-6-10:30PM
Johnny
Gee-Biography
Johnny
Gee on WLOF
1966
courtesy of Dick Camnitz
Peter
Jay(#1)-(Pete Forgione)
Biography
Bill Dennis
Bob
Andrews Biography
Dick
Shane-(Dick
Camnitz)1966-1970, 1973
Dick is the moderator and creator of
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cflhistory/
Johnny Gee (WLOF),
Rock Robinson (WHOO)
and
Bill Vermillion (WLOF)
photo
courtesy of Dick Camnitz
"Weird
Beard” Bill Vermillion-Music
Director In
Memory
For
more on "The Weird Beard"
see
http://www.bilver.com/
Photo
courtesy of Dick Camnitz
From
Dennis Snyder:
"This is 18
year old me while visiting WLOF
around January,1969 (the) photo
was taken by
Bill Vermillion"
Pat
O'Day-mornings
courtesy of
Dennis Snyder
courtesy of
Dennis Snyder
Bill
Barber-1971-Biography
Sean King-1972-Biograpy In
Memory
courtesy of Tom Haley
Tom
Siegfried-Program
Director/Newscaster. Tom would call himself the "Masked Marvel"
In
Memory
Darrel
Douglas-1976
Dave Edwards-1981-1982 Biography
Peter
Jay
Allen Shades
Don Colee
Charley
the WLOF Girl
Gabe Burton-Gabe
was kind enough to send us personal photos (via Dave
Edwards)
Here's
"Peter Jay" (Gabe Burton) behind
the console at "WLOF Channel 95" in 1969
Photo courtesy of Gabe Burton
More on the name Peter Jay
Dick
Camnitz tells us. "There
were around 13 DJs in Orlando that went by the name of Peter Jay. All but
one were on WLOF Channel 95. It will be a surprise to most that the
first, who's real name was Peter J., was on WHOO-AM
990. When he went over to WLOF he used the same name. I last saw him
when I worked with him at WFTV Channel 9 (formerly WLOF-TV just as a historical
note). He hosted dialing for dollars for several years. His full name....Peter
J. Forgione"
Dennis Winslow in the
studio in 1965
Fun 40 Hits January 1970
Dennis was Peter Jay #5
Steve Kane 1981-1982 Steve brought his show over to
WLOF
after being fired from WKIS-AM 740. On his
firing Kane said; "When you run a controversial show and say what you
think, you always upset some people and it's hard. Steve said he had few guests
because he had to act as his own producer" Steve is now on the air in south
Florida.
Steve Kane TALK Club card
courtesy Dave Edwards
Sean King cover 1972
Courtesy of Sean King "Fun
40" for the week of June 6, 1972
Sean King tells about his
day as a "male model"
"In 1972 I was working for Pat O'Day (he was
Jerry Thompson off the air) at WLOF,
Orlando, East Central Florida's top rocker at the time. Burt Reynolds had
just appeared as a partially nude centerfold for Cosmopolitan Magazine
and Pat wanted to do a "take-off" on the idea. So, he asked me if I
would be a model for the photo which was to be a double page in a local
newspaper known as "The Watcher". He said we'd cover the
private parts with 45s or an LP or two. I agreed and the one-month on-air
promotion began. The picture was to appear in April. However, two weeks into the
promotion, the sale of the station was finalized and the new owners heard the
promotion. They ordered it cancelled immediately as they felt it was in bad
taste and might affect business (at least one major sponsor had threatened to
cancel). Pat called an emergency staff meeting to pick our brains for a
solution. After about a half an hour he came up with the answer himself. He
asked me if I had any of those nude baby pictures that parents often take of
their infants and I remembered that I did.
We cleared the idea with the new management, informed the wary sponsors, kept
the on-air promotion going unchanged and arranged with the newspaper publisher
to have the newspaper on the stands April 1st, "April Fool's Day". So,
after a month of all the air personalities telling their audiences that I would
appear nude in an upcoming edition of "The Watcher", that's exactly
what I did. Only the picture was one of me when I was less than a year old. It
was a great "April Fool's" joke. The newspaper sold out in hours, the
promotion was a tremendous success and the new owners were pleased. Pat
O'Day saved the day.
The caption reads;
"Cosmopolitan's Helen Brown may be culturally refined, but
WLOF
is on the "ahead" and never on the "behind".
APRIL FOOL - WLOF
Sean King 12 to 3pm-WLOF 950 KC On your dial
Sean
King talks about his "nude"
centerfold
on the air in 1974.
Rudy
Pylant
Lee "Baby" Simms-1964-1965-Lee
retired from radio in 2005
Johnny G (Johnny Gilbert)
Steve
Rutledge Biography
1974 Newscast
Don
Smith-(Bobby Church) (Glen Meadows)
Biography
"The
Janitor" (Warren Miller)-The
Janitor would also work at WKBW, Buffalo, NY (1973) and KNOX, Grand Forks, ND
Brandy Alexander-"Dateless and Desperate"-Brandy,
(not her real name) is now married, has two children, lives in the West Palm
Beach area and has a PH.D. in psychology. Thanks to Dave Edwards for this info.
"Hostile Harve" (Bob
Jenkins)-took over for Steve Kane who was fired in 1982
Barbara Barri-Sean
King tells us about Barbara "...she was the first female
jock at WLOF, I think it was 1976. She was my one
and only "discovery". I found her working as a waitress in a night
club and, thought she had a good voice & introduced her into radio at WCKS-AM
860, Cocoa Beach. She went on to be a top country jock in Los
Angeles for 15 years and is currently doing voice work in New York" For
more on Barbara see www.barbarabarri.com
Bob Bacon-From Ray Slaton; "..."The Morning
Mayor" ..., in real life Stan
Barrett. I want to say 1963 or 64. He left WLOF
and went to WMFJ-AM
1450 to do mornings there." And this from
Dennis Snyder;
"...one of the things he used to say was "Breakfast with
Bacon" - he worked mornings right about that time, before Pat O'Day.
Debbie Aubrey
Bob Barnes Biography
William Barry
David
Bartholomew
Luther C. Beasley
Reggie
Blackwell
Burt Brown
Peggy Camnitz
WLOF Sales Piece circa 1970
Jim Casey photo
courtesy of Dick Camnitz
Blue
Christie
Phil Conrad
Gary Collins-1975-1977-Afternoons
Steve Craig
George Crossley-Sales
Rick Davis
Gerald Douglas
Mimi Doyle
Al Dunaway
Chris
Garrett
David Gerard
Jim Gantner
Tom Gaut
Greg Gentleman
Jan Giles
Chris
Glendon
Carl Glicken-1971-President
and general manager of Capital Broadcasting (died at age 60 in 1991)
Ron
Fisher
Arnold Kaufman-General Manager
Johnny Gilbert-From Ray Slaton on the
name Johnny G; "...The first one called himself Johnny Gilbert around
1963-64...
"Tom Clark "The Body Beautiful"
(Wayne Trout) In
Memory
Biography
Tom Haley at the console
Johnny Sutton (front) & Tom Haley
photos courtesy of Tom Haley
Tom Haley Biography
Howard Kester
Herb Craft
Robert Hall
Harmony
Sheila Hill
Sam Idas
photo courtesy of Dick Camnitz
T
Michael Jordan
Ken
Katt
Mike Mazur
Paul Knepper-sales
Sir
Arthur Knight (Cal Hendricks)-1965-1968-Mid-days
John
Lander
Ed Lazear
Ron
Louis
Bill MacCormick
Greg
Masters
Marsh Muke
Gary
Mitchell-1982
May Mulligan
Bob
Nadeau
"Cowboy" O'Neil
Buddy Pittman-1971-Weekends Biography
Courtesy of Larry Flegle
Pete
Porter
Jay Preston
photo courtesy of Dick Camnitz
Tom
Roberts
John
Scott
Teri Deck-copy
writer
Mark
Sebastian-From Mark-"...I
(worked at) WLOF in
'73 and '74. I left and worked at such stations as Q102 (WKRQ) in
Cincinnati, Z100 (WHTZ) in New York City, WLS FM & AM
and B-96 in Chicago. I now work for Clear Channel-Tampa doing
production and I voice track an Oldies show for Cool 105.7 WLCL-FM in
Atlanta.
Bobby Sharpe-1979-1982 photo courtesy of Dick Camnitz
Tom Sherwood
JT Almon
Roger
Stallard-final Program Director
John Lander
click photos for full sized view
Johnny Sutton
Brother
T
Bill Taylor
Tim Tindle
Aldo
Vivono-host
of "Teen Tempo" (Weekends mid 60s)
Scott
Walker
Bruce
Wayne
Tom West
JoNell Patterson
The "old" Gates
board at WLOF
Alex Stone
courtesy of Pete Simonson
Banana Joe Montione-Program
Director/Afternoons
Chris Kampmeier aka T.C. Dooley
Forrest
Clark-1950-1954-News
Director-began at WLOF when the studios were located in the Angebilt
Hotel
Paul Marlowe
Louise Grant-talk show host, bookkeeper and
secretary (died May 13, 2000 at the age of 99)
Nickie Sarner
James
Sandridge-1968
Larry Blucher
Columbus ''Lobby Charlie"
Williams-doorman
at the old Angebilt Hotel would occasionally go on the air, reading poems he had
written. In 1922, Williams was working on a construction crew at
the hotel when he fell off a sixth-floor beam. A sand pile cushioned his
landing, but he lost an eye. The hotel offered him a job for life. Charlie took
them at their word. After the Angebilt opened in 1923, Charlie signed on as
doorman and remained there until 1972, when he began losing sight in his other
eye.
Charlie died at age 92 in 1991.
Deborah
(Shreve) Moore-1975-1978-Sales
Steve
Wein aka
Steve Taylor-1975-1976-overnights and Saturday
afternoons 
Jonathan
Hart aka
Todd Demers
Barry Michaels
John
and Juan
T. Michael Jordan
(Tom Nefeldt)
Bobby Church
(Don Smith) Biography
Glenn Meadows (Don Smith) Biography
Terry Wood-6PM-Midnight
Alan Rock
Herb Kraft
Dick Sollom
In
Memory
Terry
Lee-News
Greg
"the Disaster" Masters
Allan Shades
Other Names In WLOF History
George
Hazelwood-1940-President-Hazelwood Broadcasting
Joseph L. Brechner-1953-he acquired part
ownership (died in 1990 at the age of 75) In
Memory
Allen Brown-1950-Manager
John Rutledge-1964-Partner/President-Clarke
Broadcasting, Corp. Biography
In
Memory
Robert Clarke-1964-Partner-Clarke
Broadcasting, Corp.
Don Welch-1964-General Manager-Clarke
Broadcasting, Corp.
Niki Sarner-1964-Commercial
Manager-Clarke Broadcasting, Corp.
Jerry
Thompson-1964-Program Director/Promotions Director-Clarke Broadcasting,
Corp.
Terrence
Ledbetter-1964-News Director-Clarke Broadcasting, Corp.
Timothy
Sawyer-1964-Chief Engineer-Clarke Broadcasting, Corp.
Warren F. Miller-Music
Director
Jerry Ferricks-Sales Manager
George Crossley-Sales
M.F. Kershner-General Manager
Joe Brechner-Manager
...And
in the newsroom during the 70s:
Terry Lee-1972-In an email from Steve
Rutledge;"...Terry (Lee) really was the guy who got the dedicated news operation
off the ground at WLOF and set the tone for the
rest of us. He was a real digger and showman too."
Alan Moore
Dave Elliott
Dan Tressler
Bill Bauman
Biography
Greg Gentlemen
Peggy Curry
David Waterman
courtesy of Ric Collins
Tom Thacker (One of the many Peter Jays)
Carl
"Buzz" Hallberg
Other Programs On WLOF
Wolfman
Jack-syndicated. But there is a Central
Florida Connection. In 1991 Wolfman Jack would open a club in the Old Towne section of Kissimmee. It was
originally called "Little Darlin's
Rock and Roll Palace" becoming "Wolfman Jack's Rock
and Roll Palace"
Its Bernie's Turn (Weekends, Barnard of London mid 60s)
Casey Kasem-"American Top 40"
syndicated
Studio entrance 1973
Courtesy of Dave
Edwards
Bill Bauman
in the news room
Johnny Sutton in the production room
Johnny Sutton thanks to Elliot Mitchell
In 2004 we had a
chance to visit the old WLOF studios. See
photos here
What's
New Biographies
In Memory Sounds
Misc. Links
Chronology What's News?
