WODE Oldies 99.9 Air Check Legends Weekend - Pt 8 B of 10 Sunday Night Hall Of Fame Reunion

WODE Oldies 99.9 Air Check “Legends Weekend” Part # 8-B of 10 featuring Lehigh Valley, PA regional hit records. February 28, 1999 - WODE Sunday Night Hall Of Fame Reunion - Part # 8-B of 10 parts: Lehigh Valley Hits - broadcast between 10 and 11 PM.
This portion of my Sunday Night Hall Of Fame Reunion featured some of the artists who had recorded records that were regional hits in the Lehigh Valley, Pa area. Artists that were included between 10 and 11PM that night were: The King’s Ransom with “Shame”, The Scott Bedford Four with “Last Exit To Brooklyn”, The Devils with “The Devil Dance”, Ognir and the Nite People with “I Found A New Love”, and this final segment Ricky Dee and The Embers with “Work Out”.
Ricky Dee and The Embers was a huge hit in the Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia region of the Northeast USA. Members of the group came from the Easton-Martins Creek, PA area. Personally I used the song Work Out on my oldies shows for decades and in Philadelphia, the one and only Jerry Blavat also used the song throughout his radio and TV career.
After all these decades, I was reminded when hearing Rick Wise again, that the very first two releases on the Newtown label were involved in legal action. The first was “I Sold My Heart To The Junkman” by the Blue Belles. The story behind that recording and the vocals are well documented in rock music history. The second release on Newtown was Ricky Dee and The Embers with “Work Out”, and also had legal issues when RCA and/or Sam Cooke’s publishing company went after Newtown because the song sounded so much like “Twistin The Night Away”. Rick Wise, who was Ricky Dee, talked about the issues with Cooke’s song and about playing on the “Junkman” recording session.
The backstory to my special Hall Of Fame show featured regional hits is this: July 24, 1983, a number of artists who had recorded Allentown, Pa “regional” hits during the 1950s and 1960s, were special guests on my Hall of Fame Show. Artists that night included: Lou Resch who was Scott Bedford, Bob Dougherty who was the lead singer of The King’s Ransom, Bob Weidner who was the lead of The Devils, Richie Molinaro who was Ognir of Ognir and the Nite People, Rick Wise who was Ricky Dee and the Embers, Barry Wright a member of The Morticians, Andy Zachar who was Andy Starr and the Casinos, Dale Schneck of the Allentown Morning Call newspaper with Hub Wilson; Hub had been a member of The Schillings, while Dale was the group’s manager, Jay Proctor the lead singer of Jay and the Techniques, and local musician Wayne Smith who helped me contact the musicians appearing on the show. One guest that night was a huge regional act, Kit Stewart, lead and namesake of Philadelphia’s legendary “The Kit Kats” group.
The weekend of February 26 through 28, 1999, WODE - “Oldies 99.9” was a special treat for the Allentown - Bethlehem - Easton, Pa area listeners. WODE was able to bring back many of the Lehigh Valley’s favorite rock era radio Disc Jockeys. The DJ lineup included: Gene Kaye, Jay Edwards, Johnny Michaels, “Frantic” Freddy Frederick (aka Freddy Milander), Mickey Haggerty, Super Lou, Jim Lloyd, Barry George, Jim Reed, Bob Pharo, Guy Randall Ackley, Neil Stevens, Guy Harpo, Bill Sheridan and Jeff Frank. I was both honored and proud to participate in the special programming. Many of the commercials, station promos and jingles of the other top radio stations back then were aired by Oldies 99.9.
The “Legends Weekend” was an incredible success for everyone involved. Afterwards, I was contacted by Jeff Frank, Joey Mitchell and Program Director Bill Sheridan, and they asked if I would consider producing the Sunday Night Hall Of Fame Show again on a weekly basis. If took a while to work out the logistics, but my show did return and was on the air again every Sunday Night through Labor Day weekend 2001, when WODE changed their music format.
This one-shot Legends Weekend show was recorded on (5) ten-inch reel to reel tapes and mailed to WODE. A short time after, all original reel to reel tapes were erased and re-recorded on by WODE production personnel. For a decade or so, I thought the Reunion show was lost forever. Then I was contacted by a listener that recorded most of the Hall Of Fame Reunion Show on cassette tapes. I received a copy of the cassettes and digitally restored them for my CZcams videos.
I hope you enjoy listening to my Sunday Night Hall Of Fame Reunion show on the fantastic “Legends Weekend” at WODE - Oldies 99.9 !!
(Music in this video, which I produced, features my original radio broadcast from February 28, 1999 on WODE 99.9 FM, Easton, Pa. I was a contract employee of WODE: writing, producing and hosting The Sunday Night Hall of Fame Show. All shows were pre-recorded and mailed to WODE.)