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WTRN

Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 9:58 am
by Something to say
I honestly don't know what triggered this memory but I woke up this morning giggling about it. The year was 1975 and I was 15. During the day......I, as all hip youngsters did, listened to WVAM...lol, but at night....secretly ....in the privacy of my own bedroom....my heart and soul belonged to Big Gene.....lol.

I went thru a period of time when I suffered huge bouts of insomnia and would lay awake listening to Big Gene and old country. I called him about every 20 minutes requesting songs...lol. Anyone that listened will know this is true... Every night around 1:20 am... he played "Your Cheatin Heart" by Hank Williams. Well, the record skipped. Somewhere in the middle of that song you would hear......repeatedly... will tell,ell, ell, ell, ell, ell, ell........until Gene bounced it off there.

Anyway...one night I was listening and like clockwork he announced the song to be played and right on cue...tell, ell, ell, ell.......on and on and on it went. I rang the radio station. No answer. An hour later.... In the dead of winter ...I jumped out of bed in my flannel nighgown, stole my mom's car and drove from Tipton down to the station....lol. I pounded on the door....no answer. Defeated I climbed back in my mom's car and heard him say over the radio... OK MISSY...get on home now...be careful and GO TO BED!!

I don't know Gene...don't even know if there really was a Big Gene, but for a moment that night I felt like I connected with Wolfman Jack...lol.

Does anyone remember him or know whatever became of him? I probably drove him crazy with requests...lol.

Re: WTRN

Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 2:34 pm
by snyd2001
That is too funny and I do remember Big Gene. Since we lived in the country sometimes WGMR was the only station that came through clearly. I think ( if I remember right) it was at midnight every night that WGMR and WTRN ran the same program on both stations.

Re: WTRN

Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 6:00 pm
by Rick
Ahhh, yes. Working the board on the overnight shifts. If I had to guess, he nodded off a bit. I can remember one night working at WALY where I nodded off around 4am, and woke up with pot marks on my forehead (the sliders on the mixing console) after 10 minutes or so of dead air. Never had anyone drive down to check on me though... :(

Re: WTRN

Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:08 pm
by BeachBiker
Something to say wrote:...Does anyone remember him or know whatever became of him? I probably drove him crazy with requests...lol.
I believe that fellow Forum member "Robbuck" may have some input about him.

PS: Robbuck - speaking of WTRN, can you say "By'a-By'a, Bunky!"?

Re: WTRN

Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:19 pm
by BeachBiker
I do have one story of my own about "Big Gene".

One night I was out on patrol for Tyrone PD, middle of winter, real quiet night, no traffic or people out. My assigned zones were downtown and West End.

About 2:30AM, I was driving out old 220 past the radio station and the old MajikMart in front of it, listening to Big Gene broadcasting something live, and decided to razz him a bit.

I pulled in front of the studio, facing it, and went through every tone of the siren for about 10 seconds.

Needless to say, it came across crystal clear on the radio - and left Big Gene speechless for a moment.

Then Big Gene - in that slow, Hee-Haw drawl of his, stated "Well, we just done been visited by the TY-Rone PO-leese - and I can narrow it down to about one of EIGHT of the town clowns that made all that racket out there!".

Re: WTRN

Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 12:23 pm
by Something to say
haha Rick... did it ouch?

Beachbiker...are you saying Robbuck IS big Gene?? :roll:

I'm trying to figure out which town clown you are...lol. I knew a few of you as a youngster when I worked at Sheetz....third shift. 78-82 ...somewhere around there. I remember during that period there were quite a few police that weren't from Tyrone originally.....and the Snyder Twshp police.....all regulars at Sheetz. Does Snyder Twnshp even still have a police force?

Re: WTRN

Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 3:12 pm
by BeachBiker
Something to say wrote:Beachbiker...are you saying Robbuck IS big Gene?? :roll:

No, not at all. :D Robbuck had some connections there - and if I remember correctly - did some voiceovers, etc for them with his excellent broadcaster's voice.
Something to say wrote:I'm trying to figure out which town clown you are...lol. I knew a few of you as a youngster when I worked at Sheetz....third shift. 78-82 ...somewhere around there. I remember during that period there were quite a few police that weren't from Tyrone originally.....and the Snyder Twshp police.....all regulars at Sheetz. Does Snyder Twnshp even still have a police force?
You'd have certainly known me, as I'm a native-born Tyroner who worked for both Tyrone PD and Snyder Township PD during that period. The many who weren't from Tyrone were mostly part-timers, almost all were Penn State criminal justice students, who came on board as part of then-Chief Kurt Braun's and the borough's efforts to (successfully, as it was) "clean up" some problems mostly in the downtown area.

I'm trying to place which one YOU were; the main person who comes to mind had a last name that (I believe) started with an "M".

I left Tyrone to return to military service in November 1983; the Snyder Township Police Department was disbanded about a year or so later...