WSPR In Springfield, Mass

The Reason I am continuing this blog is because of my friend Ray. I have two close friends, and I rarely see either of them. That's why we are close friends. Ray encouraged me to continue, and rather than listen to him gripe about it, Ad Infinitum, I said OK. He is a woodworker and makes things that nobody else does, so look at what he does and come back, and I'll tell you about WSPR Radio in the 60's.

Ray is here... http://www.bowlwood.com/

When I was a kid there were two radio stations in Springfield that everybody listened to. WHYN and WSPR. Neither was better, neither was worse. It all started around 1963 when the Beatles showed up. That was the start of the listening to radio explosion. There were 3 TV stations in the area and as kids, we did'nt care about TV...we had the radio. Transistor radios were the thing. We did'nt have to hear our parents screaming, "Turn That Thing Down!!" all of the time, as we could go down in the woods and rock on.
I remember a guy from the 1960's that was there every day. Jack Diamond was his name, and he was a God. In those days, every jock was local and accessable. Today, those local people don't exist, but in the 60's...we had Jack Diamond. Yeah, for those that remember, he was a jock that talked on the radio in a different way than he talked in real life. He was wired all of the time, and it was a facade that we were'nt aware of at the time, but that's how radio was in those days. For those of us that had parents that had reel to reel tape recorders, well, we could buy a 120 minute tape, abscond with the machine when they were at work, and record....FOR FREE.. all the songs they broadcast on the station, and hear them any time we wanted..as long as we put the machine back in our fathers closet before they came home. I still have a few tapes from that time. I listen to them on occasion. I can hear in my mind Jack Diamond ranting one afternoon about a brand new Beatles song....coming up soon, and I had the reel to reel going, because I was going to be the first in the state to have this new song on tape, and it was going to be for FREE!!!!. But first, we'll be right back after this commercial word from Steigers in Holyoke. Nuts. Some things never change. So, I must have sat through " Ladies, do you need a new dress to impress your husband's family?", and all of the tripe that would cause riots in the streets today, just waiting for the new Beatles song, that ONLY WSPR had, and it was coming up next, and I was sweating...had my finger on the "record" button, and prayed nobody would come home early, that the parents would'nt call, that I would'nt have the urge to go to the bathroom, that my bratty brother would'nt come in from the back yard, that the house would'nt suddenly catch fire, or nuclear war would'nt happen...at least untill after I could record this new song. OK, here we go. Jack Diamond goes into this diatribe about the Liverpool group that has taken America and the world by storm. Now I am starting to hate Jack Diamond. Please play the song, Jack...I only have about an inch or so on the reel..ok ..."Ladies and Gentlemen"...oh geeze.."Boys and Girls"..ok Jack..Now??? He goes on.."Beatles fans around the world"...cripes..it's a 2500 watt station Jack, will ya??? I slam on the recorder..the War Of The Worlds recorder indicator light goes on...I am ready..and in my back bedroom of 457 Pleasant Streeet in Holyoke, I was the first person on the planet,(yeah, sure) to hear and record and still have the following words: (music) You'll never know how much I really love you..(now Jack jumps in with the following),"The Beatles".(music) "You'll never know how much I really care".. then the rest of the song. When it was over, the inevitable happened. Jack Diamond said the four words every DJ on the planet has said when they have no idea what else to say. Those four words are," Can You Believe It?"
OK, so now I have this new Beatles song on tape, and I want my friends to hear it so they will know I am cool, and the next time a new Beatles song comes out, like this coming weekend, they will know where to go to hear it.
Let me tell you about tape recorders in the 60's. There are some cars out there today that weigh a little bit less than some of the tape recorders of the 60's. They also belonged to a parent, usually, as in my case, the father, who hated you and hated you more if you touched his stuff for any reason. In order to have anybody hear this new Beatles song, they had to come to my house, because nobody liked me enough to help me carry this monster machine to their house, so I would call everybody I knew closely, all three of them, and ask them to come over to hear this swell new Beatles song I recorded off of the radio...please?.. Hello...hello? Why was I the only one that cared about this new Beatles song. One week later, Do You Want To Know A Secret was a golden oldie.
Jack Diamond announced one day, that on a certain Sunday coming up, he would be "LIVE AND PERSON" in the JM Fields parking lot and everybody was invited to stop down. I had never met a rock and roll DJ before, so sure, I'm there. He had a radio club and , of course, I was a member. I had my official Jack O'Diamonds club card which entitled me to tons of discounts and free things, none of which I ever found, and when that Sunday came I headed down the hill to JM Fields department store to meet the king of Springfield Radio.
In those days, nothing was open on Sunday, and when I got to this empty parking lot, there had to be 75 kids there to meet Jack. He talked funny, and some of us thought he was an imposter. His voice...who is this guy? Sure he was Jack, but he spoke in his street voice, and did'nt look anything like we all thought he would. He was taller, did'nt have a beard, was a bit chunky, but there he was, the voice on WSPR. I showed him my club card, and he said, " So you're a member, hah?" Figured that one out all by yourself, Jack?
We mulled around for half an hour or so, and I can't remember a thing that was said or done, but I got to meet the real guy on the radio, and thought about it for a long while. I wondered how it would be to get on the radio every day and play music and have a ball. Never did I realize at that time that one day I would be that guy doing radio at the same station as the guy in the parking lot on that Sunday afternoon.
A couple years later, I turned on WSPR, and Jack was gone. I heard that one of a kind voice on some station, but now he was Sandy Beach. I know at some point he left there too and I never did find out what happened to him.
Isn't it strange that you meet somebody, then meet them again a few weeks later, and you can't remember their name, but a voice on the radio, the DJ, you remember the rest of your life.
I still have great memories of WSPR in the 60's, and I still have something else from that time. My official Jack O'Diamonds club card. Some day, I too< might be a winner.