WABC
"The Swingin' Seven from Seventy-seven" were: Herb Oscar Anderson, "The Morning Mayor of New York", 6am-10am, Charlie Greer, 11am-1pm, Farrell Smith, 1pm-3pm, Jack Carney, 3pm-5:55pm, Chuck Dunaway, 7:30pm-10pm, Scott "Scottso" Muni, 10pm-Midnight and Bill Owen, 4am-6am.
Dan Ingram was working at Mars Broadcasting during this period. Dan Ingram's first show was 3pm-5:55pm, 3 July 1961, which means he was on- the-air for ABC-Paramount and successor corporations for twenty years, ten months, and seven days.
Ron Lundy's first show was Midnight-6am, 1 September 1965, which means he was continuously employed by ABC for sixteen years, eight months, and nine days.
When Bob (Bob-A-Loo) Lewis joined for a weekend air shift on 16 June 1962, they were renamed "The Seven Good Guys Plus One". Bob Lewis was doing Midnight-6am during the summer of 1962. Lewis objected to the all-night single sponsorship by a New Jersey clothier, and resigned. Charlie Greer, about to be fired from WABC, replaced him. Bob Dayton was fired for playing "Happy Happy Birthday Baby" on 6 August 1965, the anniversary of the Hiroshima atom-bombing. Roby Yonge was fired October (24?), 1969 for adding to the hysteria of the "Paul (McCartney) Is Dead" hoax, thought to be started by three DJs from WKNR, Dearborn (Detroit).
When Bob (Bob-A-Loo) Lewis joined for a weekend air shift on 16 June 1962, they were renamed "The Seven Good Guys Plus One". Bob Lewis was doing Midnight-6am during the summer of 1962. Lewis objected to the all-night single sponsorship by a New Jersey clothier, and resigned. Charlie Greer, about to be fired from WABC, replaced him. Bob Dayton was fired for playing "Happy Happy Birthday Baby" on 6 August 1965, the anniversary of the Hiroshima atom-bombing. Roby Yonge was fired October (24?), 1969 for adding to the hysteria of the "Paul (McCartney) Is Dead" hoax, thought to be started by three DJs from WKNR, Dearborn (Detroit).
"All the way with H-O-A 'til 10" was his favorite phrase. He did wake-up duty from 6-10 as an original when Rick Sklar and Michael Joseph put the format together.
Herb Oscar Anderson was 180-degrees different than the typical Top 40 jock -- charming, calm, low-keyed, very dry wit and lots of sweet talk for the housewives that they, obviously, enjoyed so much in that day. He told the ladies how pretty they looked every morning, what to dress the kids in for the rainy day ahead, told secretaries to take umbrellas to work, etc.
One interesting thing about Anderson: he hated the rock music of the day. He was steeped more in traditional music forms. As a result, he was a pretty mediocre jock, who knew little about the music, unless coached by Rick Sklar. Sklar would even have to tell him who some of the artists were, like The Beatles, for example. He was a "personality" first, a "jock" ninth...
ABC kept Anderson around because of his enormous popularity, his low-key, good morning approach and his one-on-one personality. Since WABC was the flagship of the network, it still had to carry the network programming, in addition to its own programming. That combination didn't match. "The Breakfast Club" with Don McNeill was a mainstay of the network since its inception -- and WABC Radio had to carry it. So, Anderson became the bridge -- holding on to the more "adult" mid-age morning audience that slid into "The Breakfast Club". He was perfect for the job.
HOA sang, "Hello again, here's my best to you. Are your skies all gray? I hope they're blue." He would sing it every day. Every hour.
In the studio, he was always reading a magazine (usually an agriculture mag -- he wanted to own a farm in Minnesota). In lieu of a mag -- he'd be stuck in the newspaper -- oblivious to the music and stuff around him. His producer ran the show and Herb just "filled in the blanks", I'm told.
When the Breakfast Club left the air in the late '60s, HOA was relegated to cue cards and some promos -- for a short time, until he was replaced by Harry Harrison.
Herb Oscar Anderson is the father of John James (Anderson), who starred in ABC's "Dynasty" drama in the '80s.
Joe Benson
E-mail: oaktree@fix.net
Joe Benson
E-mail: oaktree@fix.net
Sylvia Aimerito
Rodney Bingenheimer
KMET
KROQ
KLOS
/laradio
440
Posts
