People who weren’t around or who were too young to remember Cleveland in the ’70s and ’80s might wonder why anyone would make a fuss over a mundane “guyzone” station like WMMS, with its bland commercial hard rock and its focus on sports and hot babes — appealing to a specific group of males under 30.
Today, five people who were pivotal in creating the WMMS legend spoke at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum about what made the station so dominant in Cleveland and so influential nationwide — and speculated on whether that influence and dominance could be replicated in today’s very different music and media climate.
Rock Hall vice president Jim Henke moderated the panel which included Billy Bass, the station’s first on-air star and music director who laid the groundwork for what the station would become; Denny Sanders, its evening air personality and behind-the-scenes guide; John Gorman, the hyper-competitive program director who took the station to the top of the ratings; Gaye Ramstrom, longtime station sales rep; and Walt Tiburski, whose 45 years in radio management included lengthy stints at both WMMS and WNCX.
This article appears in Aug 22-28, 2012.
WMMS was the best radio station for years. and someone who knows something should proofread. It’s Daffy Dan. If it doesn’t have a double D on the sleeve, it’s just underwear.
ERROR: T-Shirt mogul Daddy Dan Gray – IT”S DaFFy Dan not daddy…
WNCR was there before with AOL format but they didn’t say anything about them, did they?
I was under the assumption that we would trace the station’s history which began with WHK-FM and follow the format as it grew. I thought I would be able to speak about WNCR, an extremely important station to the history of WMMS, but the conversation never got back to me.
So, i will say it here, WNCR’s format was by far the most innovative creative radio station this market has ever seen. It was doing “fake news” long before Saturday Night Live, Jon Stewart, Cobert or the Onion were even an idea. It had “People’s Radio”, the first Male Female DJ team with Jeff and Shauna and it filled the gap between the original WMMS and the new WMMS with me, Perlich, Spiro, Shauna, and Sanders.
There, I’ve said it. Thanks to this forum, I finally got it in.
Billy Bass
Thanks for bringing up WNCR billy, I remember a great DJ on that station by the name of ginger, could you give us some info on him?
71 & 72 in Cleveland was amazing. I remember several times when I would say out loud to friends as we were riding in the car what song I like to hear and WMMS next song would be my requested song. Miss those daze!
Growing up in Barberton Ohio.. gave us the Best of All Worlds.. not living in the Cleveland City, with Bombings of the late 70’s… close enough to Akron and Kent for the Punk grind as well as the Akron Civic Theatre… which brought Todd and many others to the show.. to include Pink Floyd… but small enough of a town to know everyone who wanted to party…. lol
‘MMS had a good run but by ’78 it was playing disco and catering to the pseudo studio 54 crowd…
@Billy Bass…Well put!
@Ziggy… AOR– Album Oriented Rock…
Wow, nice little blast for the past there….love the old poster
I realize now, many years later how LUCKY I truly was to have worked at WMMS which was my goal since the SPRING of 1973. 24 years later and 23 radio stations later, I made it. It truly was like a DREAM my first day there….. TRULY, the way I got the gig, and the first year or so was everything I always hope it could be and more. YES WMMS was a DREAM COME TRUE for me. ALSO, in retrospect, I cannot believe how lucky I was to get that year of goodness, for who says I was truly worthy of any more Broadcast Heaven than that. After that the station was sold TWICE while I was on the air there before 99 was over. Unfortunately the TIME of BROADCASTING was seeing the BEGINNING of the END for good radio for the late 90’s was the beginning of the TAKE OVER by corporate radio due to deregulation of the FCC, As my career hit three decades with some kick ass call letters, on my resume, the Radio Wars were truly over and I was going home, but, unfortunately, in a BOX, a career killed fighting for ROCK N ROLL at the ALAMO of HERITAGE ROCK RADIO … WMMS the BUZZARD!