THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PARTIES PAST!

        MONDAY, DECEMBER 11TH., 2017
THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PARTIES PAST.

    As regular readers are aware my wife and I
spent Saturday night at the annual WYOU/WBRE
Christmas Party which featured an "Ugly Sweater
Contest."
     As I reflected on the night my mind wandered
back to days of yore and other memorable
Christmas parties I've enjoyed.
     The first, as I recently reported, was one I
didn't attend! It was 1959 and while most of
the WAZL staff went to their annual party I
got to run the control board and offer the
station identifications. My first time on the
air.
      The WDAU holiday party was always
a major occasion. Held at the old Mount
Airy Lodge it featured a day long use of all
the facilities, Hors d'oeuvres, a three-course
dinner, prizes, a show at the night club, and
available rooms for those who may have
enjoyed a few too many drinks.
      It was also held in January so as not to
interfere with everyone's busy professional
and family Christmas responsibilities.
      The party  I remember best, however,
was the WILK radio Christmas party of 1972.
       In addition to being the News Director
I wrote a daily comedy skit about a nutty
inventor I called "Mr. Chemistry."
    My buddy Bill Dennis acted the part of the
accident prone professor  while I provided the
voice of his inquisitive next door neighbor kid
Bobby.
    That same year Chuck Berry released the
popular novelty record "My Ding-A-Ling."
    The song tells of how the singer received a toy
consisting of "silver bells hanging on a string" from
his grandmother, who calls them his "ding-a-ling."
    You didn't hear it much on WILK (which
was a Top 40 music station back then.)  One of
our owners, Leon Schwartz, ordered it
pulled from the air as being "objectionable."
     That year, at the Christmas Party, Bill,
dressed as Mr. Chemistry, and I, dressed as
Bobby, unveiled the professor's newest
invention. It was an Automatic Gift Selector
Machine!
     When Mr. Schwartz's name was fed into our
apparatus it produced a gold copy of Berry's
recording! With our hearts in our throats we
presented it to our boss!
      Fortunately for us,  though he hated the song,
he loved the joke!
      Isn't Christmas Spirit wonderful!?
     Coincidentally it was our last Christmas at
the station. We both left for "greener pastures"
by 1973. No! It had nothing to do with our gift
presentation!
     But one of my favorite "Ghosts of Christmas
Past" will always feature a little gold record by
Chuck Berry, a DJ in a Lab coat, and a usually
dignified newscaster in short pants and a Beanie
hat with a propeller on top!
     Regrettably I don't have a photo of the affair.
You'll just have to use your imagination!
      Hope you've got some great Christmas
memories, and that all your NEWS is good!