tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694560799970441962024-03-13T06:03:14.723-04:00Studio WrestlingNostalgic memorabilia related to the people and places associated with TV Studio Wrestling (and the territory era in general) in the 1960s-80s. Focus is on the Mid-Atlantic area, but we spotlight other territories as well. (Part of the Mid-Atlantic Gateway website family.)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger176125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-48615909978804324832024-01-14T13:15:00.012-05:002024-01-14T16:57:59.507-05:00Championship Wrestling Switches Time Period (WBTV)<p>The following is a transcript of an article in the Bessemer City Record (NC) from February of 1964, provided by Charlotte wrestling historian Carroll Hall. <br /><br /></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"> *************</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></b></p><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">GRUNT AND GROAN on Saturdays </span></b><br /><i>Championship Wrestling Switches Time Period </i></p><p style="text-align: left;">Championship Wrestling, a sacred subject to many sports-minded people in the Charlotte area, is switching times on WBTV. The popular grunt and groan attraction will be seen from 6-7 p.m. each Saturday beginning in February, instead of from 5:30-6:30 as in the past. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Jim Crockett, who has many times filled the Charlotte Coliseum with his grapple games, promises that the top names in the sport will continue to grace the Channel Three Tube. And that includes such name grapplers as George Becker, Two Ton Harris, Ike Eakins, Haystack Calhoun, Buddy Rogers, Pat O'Connor, the Bolos, and many others. Midget wrestlers, lady wrestlers, tag matches, managers' matches, and maybe even a few bouts between the wrestlers and the refs, will also be staged for viewers. (It's happened before, hasn't it refs?) </p><p style="text-align: left;">WBTV Sports Director Big Bill Ward will continue to describe the holds and fast-paced action. </p><p style="text-align: left;">"Championship Wrestling" will be followed each Saturday night at 7 p.m. by "Mister Ed", the talking horse. </p></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: center;"> *************</p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEiaP91j10PlIsAcHld8hDbmda1RRkLCFHkd6kUeZyF5QeSWmJGScWQVqUjD5lP8nioEayGMuEHbPCZaFwigPDpdrcsorvn9SuUFrsPbhe3UfxKnKfS4khiu20CCSxptVgLS-crtGqzwMGyEtz0ycqalEhXvq-2JiEbckfZSxtw67Cu7H-bu7-GdPtPu6OO_OeXDHiaoy062tOUowu1rZNcWDOzvvrpomVmS=s334-d" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="203" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEiaP91j10PlIsAcHld8hDbmda1RRkLCFHkd6kUeZyF5QeSWmJGScWQVqUjD5lP8nioEayGMuEHbPCZaFwigPDpdrcsorvn9SuUFrsPbhe3UfxKnKfS4khiu20CCSxptVgLS-crtGqzwMGyEtz0ycqalEhXvq-2JiEbckfZSxtw67Cu7H-bu7-GdPtPu6OO_OeXDHiaoy062tOUowu1rZNcWDOzvvrpomVmS=w121-h200" width="121" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>Big Bill Ward</b><br />Sports Director and<br />wrestling host at WBTV<br /></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br />Promoter Jim Crockett's "Championship Wrestling" <u><a href="https://studiowrestling.blogspot.com/2023/08/worlds-collide-acc-wrestling.html" target="_blank">premiered on WBTV channel-3 in January of 1958</a></u> in its original 5:30 time slot. Hosted by WBTV Sports Director Bill Ward, the popularity of the show earned it a bump up to the early evening 7 PM slot described in this article. </p><p>For more wrestling nostalgia related to WBTV in Charlotte, visit the <u><a href="https://studiowrestling.blogspot.com/p/wbtv-3-charlotte-nc.html" target="_blank">WBTV Channel 3 page.<br /></a></u><br /></p><p></p><p><i>Special thanks to one of my best friends, <b>Carroll Hall</b>, for providing this rare newspaper clipping to the Studio Wrestling website, part of the Mid-Atlantic Gateway. - Dick Bourne<br /></i></p><p><i> </i><br /> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-79313755065506646472023-08-24T13:51:00.005-04:002023-08-25T08:21:00.320-04:00Rich Landrum Passes Away<p>Sad to report that Rich Landrum passed away quietly back on August 14. Rich is fondly remembered as the host of Jim Crockett Promotions' <i>World Wide Wrestling</i> syndicated wrestling show from October 1978 until early 1982. He was 77 years old.</p><p>Long time Richmond, Virginia fans will also remember Rich as the ring
announcer in Richmond throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, introducing
matches at the Richmond Fairgrounds at Strawberry Hill, the old Richmond
Arena, and at the Richmond Coliseum. <br /></p><p>His broadcasting career began in local radio and television in Richmond. He got his break in wrestling when
attending matches at Strawberry Hill in 1971 with family and friends and the
regular ring announcer didn't show up. Promoter Joe Murnick asked him
to fill in that night. Murnick liked him and began using him as his regular
announcer from that point forward. <br /><br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://midatlanticwrestling.net/resourcecenter/interviews/landrum/photos/Landrum4_camera_edit%20JPG.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="400" height="292" src="http://midatlanticwrestling.net/resourcecenter/interviews/landrum/photos/Landrum4_camera_edit%20JPG.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Rich Landrum interviews Ricky Steamboat on the set of <i>World Wide Wrestling</i>, circa 1978.</b></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><br />He replaced "Truckin'" Tom Miller as host of <i>Wide World Wrestling</i> in October of 1978. Jim Crockett had WRAL build a new set for the show and renamed the program <i>World Wide Wrestling </i>and Landrum debuted as its new host. <br /></p><p>After moving TV production from WRAL in Raleigh to WPCQ in Charlotte in the late summer of 1981, JCP balked at the ongoing expense of flying Landrum in from
his home base in Richmond VA every week and asked him to begin driving it. Rich
was unhappy with that arrangement which led to his eventual departure
from the company in the early months of 1982. David Crockett assumed
host duties of the show at that point, eventually joined by Tony
Schiavone in 1984. <br /><br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5vBxB0QI9s8uCC-wSN9mJ1pkVr5DfAm2wls4wGMsNNE0PU4TqmTG3agZxMTyDYSG7ALuYXAcS-0KS8-P8NeEbvfz90CJq3vSw1iuMIjZT3VeQuzfne5dXQVl9uwZr1LwUjEdG2gcl49yB/s400/weaver_landrum_blog-1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="270" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5vBxB0QI9s8uCC-wSN9mJ1pkVr5DfAm2wls4wGMsNNE0PU4TqmTG3agZxMTyDYSG7ALuYXAcS-0KS8-P8NeEbvfz90CJq3vSw1iuMIjZT3VeQuzfne5dXQVl9uwZr1LwUjEdG2gcl49yB/s320/weaver_landrum_blog-1.jpg" width="216" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Johnny Weaver and Rich Landrum</span></b><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /><br />Landrum will likely be remembered best by fans for his on screen partnership with co-host (and legendary pro wrestler in that area in the 1960s and 1970s) Johnny Weaver. Landrum dubbed Weaver "the dean of professional wrestling" and the moniker stuck, and the two had great chemistry hosting the show together for several years. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><u><a href="https://www.dignitymemorial.com/en-ca/obituaries/midlothian-va/richard-landrum-11408493" target="_blank">Obituary on DignityMemorial.com<br /></a></u></p><p><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">OTHER LINKS</span></b><u><br /><a href="https://studiowrestling.blogspot.com/"><b>More from the Studio Wrestling Website</b></a><br /><a href="https://studiowrestling.blogspot.com/p/wral-5-raleigh-nc.html" target="_blank">WRAL Studio Page</a><br /><a href="https://studiowrestling.blogspot.com/p/wpcq-36-charlotte-nc.html" target="_blank">WPCQ Studio Page</a><br /><a href="https://studiowrestling.blogspot.com/search/label/Rich%20Landrum" target="_blank">Rich Landrum related posts on the Studio Wrestling website </a></u></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-87745094031898911142023-08-10T11:45:00.044-04:002023-08-10T12:03:14.028-04:00Worlds Collide: Championship Wrestling and ACC Basketball<div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i>"Gypsy Joe, nay, not even Jim Austeri, was ever the villian that Bob Lakata was when he hit a free throw for Duke to send the game into its first overtime." - Ronald Green, Charlotte News</i><br /></b></div></div><br /><i>By Dick Bourne<br />Mid-Atlantic Gateway </i><br /><p>If you grew up watching wrestling on TV on Saturday afternoons in the 1960s through the early 1980s, you knew full well the havoc traditional sports programming could cause with the schedule when they ran long, with basketball games going to overtime and baseball games going to extra innings. <br /></p><p>On January 11 during the bleak midwinter of 1958, Jim Crockett was to debut his brand new live pro-wrestling show on <u><a href="https://studiowrestling.blogspot.com/p/wbtv-3-charlotte-nc.html" target="_blank">WBTV channel 3</a></u> in Charlotte. It was a major development for promoter Jim Crockett to be able to promote his local cards through the relatively new medium of television. Wrestling from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Texas had been a successful staple of national television in the 1950s, but this would be the local Crockett crew for Charlotte<i>. </i></p><p><i>Charlotte News</i> sports writer Ronald Green wrote about that big news in the local paper in the week before. You can read that article in our earlier post here: <u><a href="https://studiowrestling.blogspot.com/2021/07/wbtv-debut-1958.html" target="_blank">"Championship Wrestling" debuts in Charlotte (1958)</a></u> </p><p>The show, hosted by WBTV personality "Big" Bill Ward, did indeed debut on Saturday, January 11, but not at 3:45 that afternoon as originally scheduled. ACC Basketball got in the way. And then there were Spanky and those poor Little Rascals that got in the way, too. <br /></p><p>In another Ronald Jordon column recently uncovered, the <i>Charlotte News</i> told the story. Read that entire article below for all the details.</p><p>The afternoon ACC basketball game between Duke and NC State ran long
when Duke center Bob Lakata and forward Jim Newcome sent the game into
two overtimes respectively. WBTV producer Gene Burke watched as the
double-overtime contest threw his Saturday afternoon programming
schedule into chaos, delaying the debut of "Championship Wrestling" and
then, with wrestling running over, bumping the popular kids show "Little
Rascals." <br /></p><p>It may not seem like much now, but one can
imagine the stress producer Gene Burke and wrestling promoter Jim
Crockett were under that afternoon with the debut of local pro wrestling
on television. It was nice to read Ronald Green's positive nod to the
production at the conclusion of the article.</p><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">As always, thanks to Mark Eastridge.</span></i><p></p><p><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images2/studio_580111_wbtv_debut_delayed.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="509" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images2/studio_580111_wbtv_debut_delayed.jpg" /></a></p><p>* * * * * * * * * *</p><p>ACC Basketball Note: Duke went on to win the ACC league championship that year finishing 11-3, a game ahead of second place NC State. Forward Jim Newcome, mentioned in the article above, went on to play in the NBA. <br /></p><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-18325618454853323882023-08-07T09:23:00.000-04:002023-08-10T11:46:35.346-04:00Promoter Paul Winkhaus (JCP/Greenville SC)<p><b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 15pt;">PROMOTER PAUL C. WINKHAUS</span></b></p>
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</p><img border="0" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/almanac/tv_history/tv_studios/wfbc/images/winkhaus.jpg" /><br /><br /><p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt; font-weight: 700;">Winkhaus was the promoter
in Greenville SC and surrounding area </span>
</p><p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt; font-weight: 700;">for Jim Crockett Sr. in the 1950s
through the early 1970s</span><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;">.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 3px; margin-top: 0px;"> </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i>
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;">Edited E-mail to the Mid-Atlantic Gateway
from longtime </span></i></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;"><i>
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;">Greenville SC wrestling historian Don Holbrook</span></i></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: 15px;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;">Yes, I knew Mr. Winkhaus well. He was indeed
Crockett's man in Greenville. He also handled Columbia, Asheville,
Anderson back then and did a few other cities around here from time to
time like Greenwood at the ball park and others. He was already up in
years, we are talking late 1960's for a reference point here. He lived
in Matthews North Carolina, outside of Charlotte and he was originally
from Ohio I think. He told me that he was a sports writer for a
newspaper somewhere before he got into wrestling. One thing I remember
was how creative he was at writing press releases that he would send
over to the newspaper here in town to go along with the ad they ran
every week for Monday nights card.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: 15px;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;">Most of the years Billy Powell was ring
announcer, he actually worked for Winkhaus. Billy would walk in the back
door about 15 minutes before show time and he and Mr. Winkhaus would go
over the line up and any changes or announcements, etc. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: 15px;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;">I actually rode to the Anderson Recreation Center with Mr. Winkhaus a few times on
Thursdays. There was a period of time he was running a show there every
other week or so. This was before I was old enough to
drive. He used to stop by the Greenville Memorial Auditorium on Thursday
afternoons on his way to Anderson. He also would run the tape for
Saturday afternoon television by the WFBC-TV studio over on Rutherford
Road
on some of the Thursdays. I can remember running it in to the lobby desk
at channel 4 for him a time or two. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: 15px;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;">He was a nice old man to me, but he had a
gruff sounding voice and back then wrestling was so believable that many
of the folks around here would be on him the minute they saw him,
complaining about the heels, one thing or the other. He was interesting
to talk to and he would tell me wrestling stories and at a young age. I
thought it was so cool to have this inside track on wrestling.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: 15px;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;">Mr. Winkhaus died not long after he
retired. After his death, there was a short period I don't think they
had anyone acting as local promoter. I can remember Johnny Ringley,
Crockett's son-in-law coming down a few times, and once I remember Jim
Sr. was here on Monday handling things. There may have been an interim
along that time, I don't remember, but the next one I do remember was
Sandy Scott. He actually lived in an apartment out on Wade Hampton Blvd.
for a long while and ran the same towns Winkhaus did but also helped
George Harbin with Spartanburg and more spot shows in Western N.C. Then
Danny Miller came in when Sandy went back to the Charlotte office.</span></p>
<p align="right" style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: 15px;">
<i><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;">- Don Holbrook, Greenville SC</span></i></p>
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 0px;">
</p>
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 0px;">
</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="353" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/almanac/tv_history/tv_studios/wfbc/images/wfbc_winkhaus_powell.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" usemap="#FPMap0" width="522" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Despite what the caption indicates, promoter Paul Winkhaus is on the LEFT,<br />Billy Powell is on the right.</td></tr></tbody></table><map name="FPMap0">
<area coords="367, 22, 474, 294" href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/resourcecenter/potpourri/billy_powell/powell.htm" shape="rect"></area>
<area coords="102, 20, 212, 296" href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/almanac/tv_history/tv_studios/wfbc/winkhaus.htm" shape="rect"></area>
</map>
<p></p><br /><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: 15px;">
</p>
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: 15px;">
<img border="2" height="234" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/almanac/tv_history/tv_studios/wfbc/700107_Winkhaus_snow.JPG" width="182" /> <img border="2" height="234" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/almanac/tv_history/tv_studios/wfbc/images/701123_asheville_winkhaus.JPG" width="171" /><br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Snow Cancellation and Holiday Announcement </b><br /> Asheville NC 1970<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: 15px;">
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 15px;"> </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 15px;"> <br /></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 3px; margin-top: 0px;"><b>
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14pt;">The Passing of Paul Winkhaus</span></b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 15px;"> </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 8px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 15px;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Paul Winkhaus died
November 1974. He was ill for several months prior to that and could
hardly walk the last 3 or 4 times he came to Greenville, so much so that
he couldn't even make it down the steps to the dressing rooms to talk to
the guys. So they had to send the referee upstairs to get the
instructions from Winkhaus who was in a small dressing room on the main
floor level. Mr. Winkhaus "resigned", moved to his hometown in Ohio and
died shortly afterward. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 8px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 15px;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">I remember that he
took great pride in the newspaper ads and the results and write ups. He
was a former newspaper writer and had a great ability so that is why the
ads and the write ups were so good. I used to see him at Greenville
Auditorium in an outer office typing his materials for the newspapers.
Asheville was one of his towns and he worked really hard to promote it.
He was the main reason WLOS had
such a good relationship with Crockett Wrestling.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 8px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 15px;">
<i><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: x-small;">- Don Holbrook, June 2012</span></i></p>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-85009715480814307182023-08-02T00:00:00.012-04:002023-08-02T20:19:01.028-04:00The Voice of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="343" data-original-width="610" height="343" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images2/twitter_bob_caudle_birthday_2.jpg" width="610" /></div><p>
</p><p style="text-align: center;"><u><a href="https://studiowrestling.blogspot.com/2018/04/bob-caudle-tribute.html" target="_blank">Tribute to Bob Caudle</a></u><br />
</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-43461765175300358652023-08-01T10:59:00.000-04:002023-08-01T10:59:03.737-04:00Studio Wrestling Interview: Video Tech Tom Gallagher from WRAL<div></div><blockquote><div>Tom Gallagher worked in videotape at WRAL television from 1979 until 1982 and his adventures with the JCP wrestling crew that moved into the Raleigh studio "A" every Wednesday paint the most complete picture of a day at WRAL wrestling tapings that has yet been published to our knowledge. <br /><br />Tom and I were introduced via e-mail and I asked Tom to share with us his role in the wrestling tapings. Presented below is Tom's recent letter to me regarding those memorable Wednesdays. </div><div> </div><div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>- Dick Bourne, January 2009</i></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><i></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">********************************************<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><b><span style="font-size: medium;">An Email From Tom Gallagher</span></b><br /><br />Most of what I would contribute regards the technical nature of the show, from 1979 to 1982 when I worked videotape at WRAL-TV.<br /><br />To orient you, the videotape room at WRAL was in the basement, near the corner below the “WRAL-5” message sign that can be seen behind Bob Caudle in a picture on the Gateway. The studio was on the ground floor, and the production control room was on the second floor almost directly over the VTR room.<br /><br />Just about every Wednesday, wrestling would take over production at WRAL-TV after the noon news and, except for the six o’clock news, was about the only thing that would happen for the rest of the day. It’s pretty well documented elsewhere that the shows (World Wide Wrestling and Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling) were taped in the evening, so I’ll deal with the afternoon session.<br /><br />On Wednesday afternoons we produced the 2:20 commercials that followed the announcement “Let’s take time out for these commercial messages about the [World Wide / Mid-Atlantic] wrestling events coming up in your area.” This was the whole basis of the economics of these shows: stations got an hour of programming material that they didn’t have to pay money for, and the promoters got almost five minutes of commercial time to plug their local arena matches. ("Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling has been furnished to this station for broadcast at this time by Jim Crockett Promotions, in exchange for commercial consideration.") These spots ran at about twenty and forty minutes into the show. To sweeten the deal, there were commercial positions within the show that the station could sell to even make a profit, or maybe just pay the electric bill to keep the transmitter running.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/almanac/tv_history/tv_studios/wral/images/vtr_wral_01.JPG" /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The WRAL Video Tape Room<br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><br />The studio was set up with just the background flats; the ring was kept on the truck and set up during the six-o’clock news break. As you can see from the pictures, we had exactly four high-quality (“quadruplex”, or “quad”) recorders that used 2” tape. Only two of them had the modules that allowed electronic editing, the alternative being a razor blade and adhesive tape. Almost all the stations that aired wrestling did it from 2” tape (the exception was Bluefield, which used BVU ¾” tape). I don’t believe any station got the show on 1” BVH. Those were the days when VTRs weighed half a ton and cost a quarter-million apiece. WRAL was lucky to have four (FOUR!) 2” VTRs. Since only four copies of each show existed, and they had to be air-shipped on Thursday to get to the stations on Friday before the program managers went away for the weekend, there was no time to make copies of shows. <br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">What happened to the tape reels was described as a bicycle wheel, or “the bicycle.” No, we didn’t send the shows out on the back of a bicycle! If you imagine Raleigh as the hub, and the various cities on the rim, the show tapes travelled up and down the spokes. I don’t recall the specific order, of course, but the show that aired in High Point, for example, would come back, have new commercials edited in, and get sent back out to Louisville, come back, get new commercials edited in again, and then be sent back out to Buffalo. After the first week, each show would air in only four markets (Bluefield would always get the new show on ¾”, which would make five the first week.) Each show might be airing each week, somewhere, for as long as a month or more.<br /><br />Producing and editing the commercials is what happened Wednesday afternoon. We edited live-to-tape, which means that as the talent was promoting the match for a city we were recording on the tape that would go to that city. On the production side, the floor crew usually had the likes of David Gill, Leonard Peebles, Rick Armstrong, Art Howard, Tilla Fern, Kara Carite, and others. The control room had Ruth Miller or Joe Johnson on audio and, depending on the week, directors George Pemberton, Bob Gubar, Kevin Duffus, Bud Brown, Tom Lawrence, Pam Parrish (Pam Paris?), or Connie Goodman. I was all alone in VTR.<br /><br />My job started during the noon news. Carl Murnick would bring down about two-dozen tapes. I would cue each tape to the beginning of the first 2:20 (two-minute twenty-second) commercial, then dismount both the supply reel and the take-up reel from the tape machine. In the wide shot of the tape room (above) you can see the last eight tapes for the day stacked on the floor. To make an edit, I would load a tape onto the machine, find the exact beginning of the commercial to be replaced by the edit, zero the tape time counter, and then rewind the tape about thirty seconds. From thirty seconds back, I would play the tape and make several mechanical and electronic adjustments to the machine, while watching the timer and counting-down to the beginning of the commercial so that the studio could cue the talent (Mr. Landrum or Mr. Caudle). There was a 2/3-second delay between when I pressed the “edit” button and the actual edit, so I had to account for that. As soon as the recording started, I would move to the second machine and load that tape, cue it up, and get ready for that edit--- hopefully before the first 2:20 commercial was done, because I had to have my finger on the button to end the edit recording, otherwise we would be recording over the show! After ending that first edit on the first tape, I would put that tape into fast-forward to get to the second commercial, move to the second machine and make the first edit there, move back and cue-up the first machine to the second spot while the second was recording, end the second machine and edit the first, cue up the second, end the first and rewind and take off and cue up a new tape, and so on and on. <br /><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> <div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/almanac/tv_history/tv_studios/wral/images/vtr_wral_02.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tom Gallegher on the job in the WRAL video tape room.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">If it sounds complicated, it sure was. It was OK once you got used to it. <br /><br />I would record the commercials to be edited into the shows recorded that night onto the 1” tape machine, and Carter Bing or Walter Armstrong would edit those commercials into the tapes before they were shipped.<br /><br />About halfway through the afternoon, we took a break from production while the studio flipped the background flats around from the “A” show to the “B” show; yep, as folks who went to the studio tapings will attest, the only difference between the shows was which side of the background flats faced the camera! One side had “Mid-Atlantic Championship Wresting” on it, and the other side was “World-Wide Wrestling.”<br /><br />As soon as we finished taping the commercials, everyone split for dinner or some other sort of refreshment.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />As I mentioned above, the late Carl Murnick handled all the tape routing and shipping. Now, I can’t say anything about Elliot or Sonny Murnick or any of the Crocketts--- they hardly ever made it down to videotape--- but I’d give anything to work with the likes of Carl again. He always treated me well, and on the numerous occasions when I made mistakes he always took it good-naturedly, shrugged it off, and simply trusted me to do better in the future. Every week, he brought down a box of chicken and a corn-cob from the Church’s chicken down the street, and that was my dinner every Wednesday. I appreciated that more than he ever could imagine, because I wasn’t making very much working in TV and it would often be the best meal I had all week. When C&M eventually got their own remote truck I was urged to go after the tape job, but I had gone back to school and wasn’t where I could change jobs, but I was sorely tempted based on the good treatment I got from Carl.<br /><br />Also, as I mentioned above, the tape job was a bit complicated and, when I first started, I was a bit slow. So slow, in fact, that we’d finish the afternoon session after five-thirty, a bad thing since they had to move the cameras back over to another studio to do the six-o’clock news. (WRAL had three studio cameras. At $65,000 a pop, most stations only had two. Field cameras for ENG and EFP were about the same price.) A late finish was not desired by either the client or the crew, to put it mildly. After a couple of weeks of late wrap-ups on the promos, the wrestlers decided that enough was enough and deputized Gene Anderson to take care of the problem, which was me.<br /><br />Gene came down to the tape room, which you can tell from the pictures had a pretty low ceiling, and proceeded to impress on me how desirable it was for me to do a bit better in my job. I don’t remember what he said, but I can tell you that it was the most inspirational, motivational, sensational talking to I have ever heard. I was scared witless. I just knew the cane he carried was going to impact me somewhere (it never did.)</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Over the next week, I carefully laid out plans, practiced my editing, reviewed my plans again, practiced editing some more, and did a whole lot of praying that it would be enough.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">By the following Wednesday, I was one of the best VTR guys on the East Coast.<br /><br />As weeks went by, I got even better, which led to some eventual mischief. You probably noticed that the 2:20 promos started out the same way --- Rich Landrum giving the where and when for the local arena shows--- and the wrestlers would amble into the shot for a few moments to shout threats of violence at their opponent in that town (who was likely sitting on the bleachers a few feet away munching on some chicken.) All the while, Rich stood there holding the microphone. As a matter of fact, Rich had to stand there through all those 2:20 promos, and the only break he would get was between promos, while the studio and control room waited for the guy in VTR (me) to set up for the next edit. Well, I got things so fine-tuned that I all but eliminated the pause between promos; Rich would be lucky to have ten or fifteen seconds to rest his arm, and forget about stepping out from under the lights (still quite warm, back then!) We got the rhythm going, and before you knew it Rich had been out there continuously for about forty-five minutes without much of a break at all. Finally, HE had to ask the entire production to stop so he could take a break. I can’t remember what I said, but I’m sure it was some wise-butt remark. <br /><br />Anyway, sorry Mr. Landrum. You just have to know, some of those other guys were bigger than you, and they wanted me to do things as fast as could be done!<br /> <br />- Tom Gallagher, January 22, 2009</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/almanac/tv_history/tv_studios/wral/images/wral_gallagher.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: x-small;">The credits roll at the end of another edition of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. </span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Copyright © 2009 <a href="https://www.midatlanticgateway.com/">Mid-Atlantic Gateway</a> • Photos courtesy of Lee Collins. Photo (from newspaper clipping) of Carl Murnick courtesy of David Bullock.<br /><br /><i>Originally published on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway in January 2009</i></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-35302382474167822042023-07-22T12:09:00.004-04:002023-07-22T12:09:57.786-04:00Johnny Weaver and Bob Bruggers make an Impact on A Young Man at WGHP<p>FROM THE GATEWAY MAILBOX: A LETTER TO THE GATEWAY FOLLOWING THE POSTING OF OUR <u><a href="https://studiowrestling.blogspot.com/p/wghp-8-high-point-nc.html" target="_blank">WGHP STUDIO</a></u> TELEVISION FEATURE</p><p>I spent many days at the TV tapings at High Point, and I got to know a lot of the guys, at least as well as a little kid that was star struck could. Two of my earliest memories are from those tapings. <br /><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/almanac/tv_history/tv_studios/wghp/images/harville_weaver_color_250x300.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Charlie Harville and Johnny Weaver at Channel 8</b><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br />I never had a dad around, and even as a very young man I was already showing signs of going down a bad road. I was fighting and telling lies. My mom saw where this kind of thing could lead. Well one day after we went to the tapings at WGHP, she went to Johnny and talked to him for a few minutes, then she called me over. I was in awe. The studio was empty other than us. Johnny was sitting on the ring near were the seats were and I was standing there next to him looking up at my hero. My mom had let him in on my acting up, and he asked me what was going on. I really don’t remember what I said, more than likely not a lot, people that have known me for a long time would be shocked that I was ever at a loss for words, but I was then. I do remember that he asked what I wanted to do with my life, and I said with out a moments thought that I wanted to be a wrestler. He smiled and said if I acted right at home and did not give my mom problems, and did good in school, that he would one day teach me how to wrestle. <br /><br /> Well I thought of that many times in my life after that. I ended up only being 5'8", so I never did call him on it! But I have no doubt that it changed my life. I did stop telling lies, and tried to be a good person, and I to this day try my best to live a life where I help people. In just a few minutes he became my role model, and I will never forget that.</p><p>Then one day when we went to the taping, there where no seats left. I remember being upset that we would not be able to see the show, but then the coolest thing that could have happened to a kid happened. We ended up sitting with the wrestlers. </p><p>There was a small room that led into the studio. After the people were in there seats the guys would come in and sit there waiting for their matches. The guys were talking, and sitting around. I was looking at the monitor seeing the show, and then someone sat next to me. I looked over and it was Bob Bruggers. He said hello and talked to me for a bit. I asked him about himself, and then he told me that he had played football for the Dolphins. WOW! That just blew me away. </p><p>Growing up in High Point we had no teams around, and the team that I loved was the Dolphins. This was near the end of the tapings there, around 1974 I think. After a few minutes he went out and did his match. I can not even tell you how cool it was to sit there and watch him walk away and then he was on the screen in front of me. I was yelling for him to do well. I remember the guys getting a laugh watching me get so into it. </p><p>Well you know what happened in 1975 not long after that. When the plane crash happened, I was in shock. When I heard he was in that plane, I felt that my friend was gone. What a damn shame that was, but I will always remember him for the kindness he showed a little kid one day in High Point. </p><p>I have so many good memories from that point in my life, going to the shows in Greensboro, and Winston Salem, and all over really. Thank you for starting this website. It is great to have these memories, and to know I am not the only one that really misses the days when the best show in the world was in my backyard. <br /><br /> - Michael Roach<br />February 2006</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-53473097077010848872023-07-14T07:00:00.006-04:002023-07-15T16:43:39.987-04:00Jim Cornette Explains All About the TV Distribution Process for JCP in the 1980s<p><i><b>Crockett TV Production / Local Promos<br />Briarbend Driver, Charlotte, NC<br /></b></i></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.jimcornette.com/podcasts.html" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images2/cornette_drive_thru_logo.jpeg" width="189" /></a></td></tr><tr align="right"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Arcadian Vanguard</span></td><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></td><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>The following is a transcript from a brief segment of the popular <i>"Cornette Drive Thru"</i> podcast where Jim Cornette shed light on the process Jim Crockett Promotions went through to duplicate and distribute their TV shows in the 1980s, and also how they inserted the local TV promo segments each week. <p></p><p>The discussion took place on <a href="https://omny.fm/shows/jim-cornette-s-drive-thru/episode-261" target="_blank"><u>Episode #261 of the podcast</u></a>, about 55 minutes in:<br /><br /></p><p></p><blockquote><p>"The way they duplicated their television shows, now this is primitive, but remember this is 40 years ago, and it is actually the way that, you know, small budget promotions operated like this in-house up until the times that the territories went away. </p><p>Let's say we go to Gaffney, SC, on a Tuesday night and we'd do the syndicated television taping at the college gym there in Gaffney. It's 60 miles from Charlotte, so it's about an hour drive. They owned their own television truck, the NEMO truck - - National Electronics Mobile Operation. They'd drive the truck an hour down to one of these high school or college gyms around Charlotte. They'd set up the lights, they'd wire everything, they'd run the cables - - they shoot two hours of television: NWA Worldwide and NWA Pro. And that goes from 7:30 to 10:00. And each show they role live-to-tape, and, you know, they're gonna put a VTR in, they roll it in the truck. They leave black holes for the commercial spots and for the local promos.* </p><p>Then they'd drive the truck back to Charlotte and they'd park it back behind the office at Briarbend. And they'd take the two master tapes in, and - - remember ol' Leonard? The guy that did the night-work there that alerted me that they were throwing away the entire film archive of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling when Turner broadcasting took over and bought everything.** Leonard would put the dadgum tapes on, and I don't know how many they could make at the same time, and this was the old one inch video reels, right? So you can imagine, you gotta unroll those and put them on the spool, and get 'em all synced up and everything. And then he would hit the button and they would make multiple duplicates of that master tape at one time. And then he'd do nothing all night but just run 'em back and copy the tapes over and over - - however many they could make at a time times however many, because Wednesday morning about 9:00, Gene Anderson would be in there with Jackie Crockett on the camera and all the top babyfaces and heels would come in and do local promos, from 9:00 in the morning until 3:00 or 4:00 sometimes. And then you'd immediately hop in the car and drive three hours to Raleigh or go to the airport to fly somewhere, whatever the case. </p><p>But, what they would do, honest to God, is they would sync the tape up for let's say Philadelphia, we got local promos to do for Philadelphia because we got a show coming up at the Civic Center. So whatever tape was going to the TV station in Philadelphia, they would reel it up to the exact point of the babyface interview segment that needed to be inserted and we'd record those interviews right onto the tape that was actually going to the TV station. And as soon as we did that interview then they'd jump ahead to the heel segment, you know, in between segments 5 and 6 or whatever, and they'd do the two minute and twenty eight second interview for them. </p><p>The interviews were 2:28 because they left a second to get in and a second to get out, else wise they're rolling over program***, right? Once the Philly interviews were done, they'd stick it back in the case, put a label on it, and whether it was Klondike Bill or Bunk Harris, whoever that day wasn't going to get chicken at Price's Chicken Coop for lunch****, they would take the tapes to the bus station and put them on a bus to the television station in the city that was going to air it that weekend. </p><p>So it went out on Wednesday evening and it got there on Thursday. A lot of promotions did this, they would put posters and fliers for sponsors in small towns, they'd put 'em on a bus in those days, they'd put the TV tape on a bus. And they used to have a thing called Delta Dash where before these overnight services were just common in every city in America, they would take it and put it in a box, and take it the airport and they would put it on a Delta plane. You could Delta Dash something for something like $99, and it would go on a plane, and somebody had to pick it up at baggage claim at the other end. </p><p>But that's what they would do, they would roll these interviews into the actual tape to the TV station that weekend, there was no post production <i>per se</i> in terms of "OK we're going to shoot all these interviews and were gonna slate them and then were going to go back and insert them, blah, blah, blah." No, that's why the local interviews don't exist anywhere else except in tapes of the television program that aired in that specific market. </p><p>So when you see these local promos with Tony Schiavone and the orange background or sometimes the blue background, they had and the chyron, 'Tonight! Charlotte! Tonight Greenville, Chicago!' or whatever the case from Crockett Promotions, that has to be off the actual air broadcast of that television program that weekend [that was taped at home by a fan on a VCR] because they didn't exist anywhere else."</p></blockquote><p></p><p> </p><p>Footnotes:</p><p>*This was the big revelation for me: I had always assumed the local promos were sent to stations on a separate tape that would be inserted into the local brodcast by the station like any other local commercial. </p><p>**I'm assuming this actually happened when Crockett and Dusty moved the head office from Charlotte to Dallas in 1987 or 1988 and closed down Briarbend Drive, but perhaps the TV work Jim describes above continued in Charlotte at Briarbend after the move to Dallas until the sale to Turner in late 1988.</p><p>***It absolutely now makes sense why there was always this short time gap before and after local interview spots where you would see the show's logo or whatever and could hear the crowd noise in the background of the studio going back to those days. They left room for the local promo to be a second or two early or late when taped directly into the master tape. <br /></p><p>****George South was the one who <a href="http://www.midatlanticgateway.com/2021/06/chicken-coop.html" target="_blank"><u>first told us about the weekly Chicken Coop ritual</u></a> back in the day, and how he along with Bunk Harris or Klondike Bill, would sometimes make the pick-up, earning more tips from the boys than he made wrestling at the time.</p><p><i><b><br /></b></i></p><p><i><b>PODCAST INFORMATION</b></i></p><p>Visit <a href="http://JimCornette.com"><u>JimCornette</u></a><a href="https://www.jimcornette.com/podcasts.html"><u>.com</u></a> for complete information including links on both of his wildly popular podcasts on the Arcadian Vanguard Podcasting Network.</p>Unknownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08449398178701162732noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-62757099863329744422023-07-13T12:45:00.000-04:002023-07-13T12:45:05.538-04:00Timekeeper's Table, Greenville SC<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="376" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/almanac/tv_history/tv_studios/wfbc/images/greenville_table.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="517" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 2px; margin-top: 2px;"><b>
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: x-small;">Greenville Memorial Auditorium, circa 1970</span></b></p>
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Front Left to Right:
Floyd Ulmer, promoter Paul Winkhaus, ring announcer Billy Powell, and
timekeeper Wayne Hamby. Back left against wall: Don Holbrook.</span></span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span><span style="font-size: x-small;">(Photo: Gene Gordon / c. Scooter Lesley)</span></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</p> <br /><br />A neat little story about this photo. Scooter Lesley, who owns the copyrights to Gene Gordon's photo library, came across this photo and knew I was interested in the old local promoters, ring announcers, etc. I was interested in who the two other people in this photo were (besides Winkhaus and Powell) but Lesley didn't know. I hadn't paid much attention to the kid sitting at the wall in the background. <br /><br /> At Fanfest in Charlotte in 2013, I showed the photo to Don Holbrook, a good friend and Gateway contributor for many years. Don's mother worked at the Greenville Auditorium box office, and he spent many Monday nights there as kid in the 1970s. He even served as timekeeper occasionally. I thought maybe he knew who the others were in the photo. <br /><br /> "Floyd Ulmer (squatting at left) was a part time box office employee at GMA," Don told me. "He also went to Anderson and Greenwood for Mr. Winkhaus and sold tickets at those shows. Wayne Hamby (timekeeper at right) was John Hamby's son. They both did timekeeping, rotated I guess." <br /><br /> Then Don's eyes narrowed as he focused on the kid in the chair behind the table. "Oh my goodness," he said. "That's me." Don had the biggest smile on his face. Forty-three years after that photo was taken he was seeing it for the first time. That was a pretty cool moment. <br /><br /> I asked Don why the ring announcers table was in the back of the arena as opposed to ringside. <br /><br /> "The table was always in the back at in Greenville," he told me. "I can not say why for sure but one reason might have been Mr. Winkhaus walked with a limp and from time to time filled in for Billy Powell if he was on vacation or whatever. Winkhaus never got in the ring, made all announcements sitting at the table. Billy did go to the ring to intro each bout. The microphone cable had to be long enough for him to pull it to and from the ring."<br /><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; word-spacing: 1px;"> </p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="318" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/almanac/tv_history/tv_studios/wfbc/images/holbrook_photo.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="264" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Mid-Atlantic Gateway contributor Don Holbrook in 2013 with the 1970 photo seen above. Don's right hand is pointing to himself in the picture, sitting behind the timekeeper's table at Greenville Memorial Auditorium.<br /> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Photo: Dick Bourne)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; word-spacing: 1px;">
</p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0px 35px; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; word-spacing: 1px;"> </p>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-9050930948624325752023-07-10T20:02:00.002-04:002023-07-13T12:42:29.813-04:00Classic Roanoke TV Ad from 1962<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images3/studio_620210_WDBJ_Roanoke_TV_ad.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="790" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images3/studio_620210_WDBJ_Roanoke_TV_ad.jpg" width="253" /></a></div><br />A very nice newspaper ad for "Wrestling from Roanoke" airing live on WDBJ-7 from Roanoke, Virginia. The ad mentions the show's host, local Roanoke TV personality Hal Grant, and features a photo of former world champion Lou Thesz. Also featured is a stylized logo for channel 7 including the moniker "Best In Sight...Day & Night!" <div><br /></div><div>"Wrestling from Roanoke" (also known during that time as "All Star Wrestling") was a local production of WDBJ-7 in conjunction with promoter Pete Apostolou's Roanoke Sports Club. Apostolou was the man on the ground in Roanoke for Jim Crocket, Sr. out of Charlotte and ran regular cards in Roanoke and Lynchburg, as well as Salem and other spot-show towns around the area. </div><div><br /></div><div>Wrestlers would appear live on channel 7 at 6:00 PM for interviews and angles to set up the live arena show later that same night at the National Guard Armory, Roanoke Arena, or Victory Stadium, or in another one of Apostolou's towns. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /><div><b>MORE ON HANS SCHMIDT</b></div><div><b><br /></b>The TV main event on this particular Saturday evening featured national star Hans Schmidt against longtime southern star across many territories "Big" Bill Dromo. Hans Schmidt was in the middle of a long successful run for Jim Crockett Promotions. He battled on Greensboro cards against Antonio Rocca and Pat O'Connor in the spring and summer of 1962, culminating in a victory over O'Connor on July 5 in a Texas Death Match to win the NWA United States Championship. He lost the title back to O'Connor a month and a half later on August 16, 1962. </div><div><br /></div><div>It was a big deal for Schmidt to beat O'Connor, who was a former NWA World Champion who had lost that top honor to Buddy Rogers in Chicago just a year earlier. O'Conner was awarded the vacant United States Championship by the NWA board shortly after the match with Rogers, allowing him to continue to tour the NWA territories with a title, continuing as a big draw for the various alliance promoters. It was also a big night for promoter Jim Crockett, hosting a title change of such stature in his top city of Greensboro. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Hanswrestle.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="476" data-original-width="349" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Hanswrestle.jpg" width="235" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Hans Schmidt (Wikipedia)</span></b></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>Schmidt also held promoter Fred Kholer's Chicago version of the United States title in the mid-1950s and was a star on Kholer's "Wrestling from Marigold" television broadcast that was on the national Dumont Network. He was one of the first major heels on televised wrestling cards in the United States in the 1950s. Known as "the Teuton Terror", Schmidt wrestled for nearly every major regional wrestling territory in the 1950s-1970s. </div><div><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://studiowrestling.blogspot.com/p/bookstore_9.html" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSe1FWvb42MQJthYBIcXTxO-eP2TqhqMIVoRTXnC8rZOP2NhnfqCLgBplxWC8elUbDnUhBswesD9XKJoydld3rix6Cca4eAksrzFeHosys8JfBeVT6I6qmGb2PMHR-kL0hpbWkkZ7TKGjONUAbT9bm-9awe4YlUnggBsvIz2XxnGksim8KW0k9fR4H5V65/s16000/Bookstore%20Ad.jpg" /></a></div></div>Unknownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08449398178701162732noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-89842412932195807592023-07-05T17:55:00.001-04:002024-01-14T17:03:50.981-05:00WDBJ cancels Wrestling from Roanoke (1967)<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEg_sR_yusWgw69vdYQ-9tAUU3td1Zae3kJxeDEnhLj1Lu2DI0oXOMB2UL96D5EMRbZ6DXEbU6ZLJLaYIBwiZOaQeoNUsHBewzgF899yiwkhgrSMk49vVivWQknzev3Ve83YZUr9QPXSJSC_NnD3A87zAiePutgcdyQPJLOAAD525XROETRv39WPBeaiQATJEG-GhXqlVQNRVcLR7598KQ=s204-d" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="142" data-original-width="204" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEg_sR_yusWgw69vdYQ-9tAUU3td1Zae3kJxeDEnhLj1Lu2DI0oXOMB2UL96D5EMRbZ6DXEbU6ZLJLaYIBwiZOaQeoNUsHBewzgF899yiwkhgrSMk49vVivWQknzev3Ve83YZUr9QPXSJSC_NnD3A87zAiePutgcdyQPJLOAAD525XROETRv39WPBeaiQATJEG-GhXqlVQNRVcLR7598KQ=s0-d" width="204" /></a></div><p></p><p>In January of 1967, the popular "All Star Wrestling" show that aired live from WDBJ TV studios in Roanoke, VA, since 1960 was cancelled following an ugly on-air incident between wrestlers Ike Eakins and Luther Lindsey. The cancellation got a small mention by a snarky writer for the Roanoke Times. </p><p>Six months later, promoter Pete Apostolu and Jim Crockett, Sr. were able to get a tape of the Raleigh-produced "All Star Wrestling" (taped at WRAL-5) on another local Roanoke channel WSJS channel 10. </p><p>Roanoke had been without wrestling on local TV for roughly six months. Fans were delighted it was back, even if without the familiar voice of former host at WDBJ Hal Grant. </p><p>Here are a couple of newspaper clippings mentioning the changes. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images3/670107_roanoke_tv_cancelled_wdbj.PNG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="228" data-original-width="610" height="228" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images3/670107_roanoke_tv_cancelled_wdbj.PNG" width="610" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />WDBJ-7 in Roanoke cancels its long running and wildly popular "Wrestling from Roanoke" program in January 1967 that aired live on late Saturday afternoons since 1960. Some in the local media were happy to see it go. (January 7, 1967)<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images3/670729_roanoke_tv_back_wsls.PNG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="507" data-original-width="610" height="507" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images3/670729_roanoke_tv_back_wsls.PNG" width="610" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />After six long months, fans were delighted when wrestling returned to Roanoke airwaves on WSLS channel 10. "Roanoke Sports Club presents Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" (hosted by Bob Caudle out of Raleigh) aired early Saturday afternoons beginning in July of 1967. Fans missed their local announcer Hal Grant, but soon grew to love Caudle, too. (July 29, 1967)<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Thanks to Mark Eastridge and Carroll Hall.</i><br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-31500378813125375662023-07-01T17:06:00.000-04:002023-07-10T19:54:56.184-04:00Studio Wrestling Interview: Mark De Castrique (WBTV Director)<div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p align="LEFT" style="text-indent: 0px;">2012 Mid-Atlantic Gateway Interview with<br /><b><span style="font-size: medium;">MARK DE CASTRIQUE</span></b><br /><b>Early 1970s Director of Championship Wrestling at <u><a href="https://studiowrestling.blogspot.com/p/wbtv-3-charlotte-nc.html" target="_blank">WBTV-3</a></u></b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="269" data-original-width="360" height="269" src="http://www.markdecastrique.com/mark_et_al_files/mark-13th-target-less-bright.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="360" /></td></tr><tr align="right"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image: markdecastrique.com</span></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></div></div><p align="LEFT" style="text-indent: 0px;"></p><p align="LEFT" style="text-indent: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">In 2012, I had
the good fortune to have an email exchange with Mark de Castrique, an
author and Emmy winning documentary producer who many years ago directed
"Championship Wrestling" at WBTV-3 in Charlotte, NC. In this brief
interview, Mark reflects on those Wednesday nights at the television
studio with Jim Crockett and his crew, including sharing some good
memories of host "Big" Bill Ward as well. <br /></span></p><p style="text-align: right; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>- Dick Bourne, Mid-Atlantic Gateway<br /></i></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b><span>
Mid-Atlantic Gateway:</span></b><span><span>
Thanks for taking the time to share with us, Mark. While at WBTV, what
was your role there as it pertained to the Championship Wrestling show?</span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>
<span>
</span></b></span><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b><span><span>Mark de
Castrique: </span></span></b>
<span>I was one of the staff
directors who regularly directed the Wednesday night tapings from June
1970 to December 1972. It was a lot of fun. "High drama.</span><span><span>"</span></span></span><b><span><br /><br />Gateway:</span></b><span>
Do you remember in which specific studio you taped wrestling?<br /></span><b><span><br />Mark:</span></b><span>
Championship Wrestling was taped in the large studio #2. The ring was
set up by Crockett's people on Wednesday afternoon supervised by an old
retired wrestler named Wally [Dusek] and we taped in the evening.</span></p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>
</b><p align="LEFT" dir="LTR"><b>Gateway:</b> Realizing this was 40 years ago,
do the names of any of the wrestlers from those years stick out in your
mind? Any particular memories about any of the wrestlers or things that
happened during the tapings?</p>
</span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>
</b><p align="LEFT" dir="LTR"><b>Mark:</b> Some of the wrestlers on the shows I
directed were also ones I had watched on Channel 3 as a kid. Rip (The
Profile) Hawk & Swede Hanson, Johnny Weaver, The Great Bolo, Jerry
Brisco, The Kentuckians, Haystack Calhoun, Homer O'Dell and his
tag-team. Abe Jacobs and his patented Kiwi roll. You remember most
wrestlers had their signature hold that guaranteed victory if they could
just apply it.</p>
</span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>
</b><p align="LEFT" dir="LTR"><b>Gateway: </b>Did Jim Crockett attend any of
the pre-show production meetings? Do you have any particular memories of
dealing with him? </p>
</span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>
</b></span><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b><span>Mark: </span>
</b><span>Big Jim attended all pre-production
meetings. We would go over the format, I'd make sure I had I</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">.D.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span>
slides for all wrestler introductions. We played it straight. I never
knew who was going to win or what dramatic events would unfold. After
our meeting, Big Jim would meet with the wrestlers in the dressing room.
Big Jim was nice but all business when it came to the show.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>
</b><p align="LEFT" dir="LTR"><b>
<img align="left" border="0" height="200" hspace="7" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/almanac/tv_history/tv_studios/wbtv/images/bigbillward_graphicedit.jpg" width="122" />Gateway:</b>
What are your memories of "Big" Bill Ward? Did you work with him on any
other shows?</p>
</span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>
</b><p align="LEFT" dir="LTR"><b>Mark:</b> I only worked with Big Bill Ward on
wrestling. He was easy to get along with and I remember his stock
"action" phrases. "They're fighting like gladiators of old." "It's a
Pier Sixer" (whatever that meant). "He's lower than the belly of a snake
at the bottom of the Mariana Trench" (or bottom of the ocean). Usually
used in reference to the evil manager Homer O'Dell. And, of course, Big
Bill's signature sign off - "Hello to all the shut-ins" and "Be good
sports wherever you go!"</p>
</span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>
</b><p align="LEFT" dir="LTR"><b>Gateway:</b> Gene Birke, who shared some nice
memories about directing wrestling at WBTV on the website "BT Memories",
has written that some at WBTV didn't like the association with wrestling
and resented the high ratings it got. Would you consider yourself part
of that group?</p>
</span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>
</b><p align="LEFT" dir="LTR"><b>Mark:</b> I think any resentment toward the
program came from two fronts. WBTV Sports didn't report on the matches
because they didn't consider it a sport. Big Bill Ward referred to them
as Exhibition Matches to handle station concerns regarding their being
represented as a competitive sporting event. The second negative view
came from national advertisers. The program got great ratings, but ad
buyers from New York and other areas outside the region looked down on
it. This was before wrestling mania swept the country through
pay-for-view distribution. Unfortunately, Big Jim didn't live to see the
development of the huge national audience. I considered the production
entertainment and enjoyed watching the antics of the crowd as much as
what was happening in the ring.</p>
<b><span>
</span></b><p align="LEFT" dir="LTR"><b><span><span>Gateway:</span></span></b><span><span>
What other local shows did you direct besides Championship Wrestling?</span></span></p><span>
</span>
<b>
</b><p align="LEFT" dir="LTR"><b>Mark:</b><span style="color: #262626;">
</span>Newscasts, Betty Feezor, Pat Lee Show, Country Style Roundup with
future congressman Bill Hefner, Tommy Faile Show, Fred Kirby Show, and
various special projects.</p>
</span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>
</b><p align="LEFT" dir="LTR"><b>Gateway:</b> You are a successful author now.
How long after you left WBTV did you stay in the TV production business,
and at what other stations? Were you ever involved with directing or
producing wrestling at another station?</p>
</span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>
</b><p align="LEFT" dir="LTR"><b>Mark:</b> I am still in the TV production
business. I left WBTV at the end of 1972 and worked for over four years
as a director at the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C. We didn't have
wrestling. We had Congress and Watergate. I'd prefer wrestling where the
good guys and bad guys were easier to spot. I returned to WBTV as
manager of their creative department and then program director. I left
in 1984 as a partner in a production company. In addition to writing my
mystery/thriller novels, I do documentary and corporate video
production. I feel fortunate to have been a part of local television
when the stations did a variety of programs and were a reflection of all
aspects of their communities.</p><p align="LEFT" dir="LTR"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Gateway: </b>Mark, thanks so much for your time and walking down memory lane with us. This will be of great interest to folks who visit the Mid-Atlantic Gateway. </span></p><p align="LEFT" dir="LTR"><i><br />See also: <u><a href="https://studiowrestling.blogspot.com/p/wbtv-3-charlotte-nc.html">WBTV-3 Studio Wrestling History </a></u></i><br /></p></span></div><div style="text-align: center;">* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">
</span>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 25px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Mark de Castrique is the
author of several novels including his latest mystery/thriller "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-13th-Target-Mark-Castrique/dp/1590586174">The
13th Target</a>." He is a veteran of the broadcast and film production
business and has received an Emmy Award for his documentary film work.
He also has a pretty good memory when it comes to early 1970s
pro-wrestling, and I appreciate him sharing some of those memories with
us.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> </span></p>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">
<p align="LEFT" dir="LTR" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 30px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: 25px;">
</p>
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">
<span>Visit Mark's website at
</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.markdecastrique.com/">
<span lang="EN"><span>
http://www.markdecastrique.com/</span></span></a><span lang="EN"><span>.</span></span></span></p>
<hr style="text-align: left;" />
<p style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 25px;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-weight: 700;">
Updates: </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 25px;">
<img border="0" height="203" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/almanac/tv_history/tv_studios/wbtv/images/decastrique/castrique_facebook_capture.jpg" width="474" /></p><br /><br />8/26/12 - Mark posted a link to this interview on his Facebook page, and there was some discussion there with his friends, including a question about any memories of audience regulars at the wrestling tapings, which elicited this funny response: "Tickets were in high demand and no one came week to week. Mostly church groups. I always thought it odd churches came to watch guys pulverize each other." <br /><br /> 8/27/12 - Mark mentioned on Facebook that a secret of his past had been revealed with the Gateway interview. But we didn't out him; Mark had earlier mentioned his connection with pro wrestling in a 2010 interview with the Salisbury (NC) Post. From the article: Now based in Charlotte, de Castrique moved here in the 1970s and had a broadcast career with local TV stations. "This was before the days of cable. Local stations did everything. ... I once directed professional wrestling, did an entertainment show ..." From "Writer Goes from Broadcast to Book" - SalisburyPress.com.<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"> </span><br /><p style="text-align: left;"></p><hr style="text-align: left;" /><div style="text-align: center;">Originally published August 23, 2012 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.<br /></div><div><p style="text-align: left;"> </p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-28577916582611678882023-06-20T23:22:00.007-04:002023-06-21T08:59:40.972-04:00The Lost Art of Great Ring Announcing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<b><span style="font-size: medium;">Legendary Joe McHugh introduces "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers </span></b><i><br /></i>
<br />
I have a fondness for many of the old-school ring announcers. They all had a a certain flair for the dramatic, and made the introduction of any match seem special. The art of classic ring announcing went the way of the old smoke filled rooms that were the classic old venues in pro-wrestling.<br />
<br />
One of my favorites might surprise you; the great Joe McHugh of the old W.W.W.F.<br />
<br />
McHugh was a wrestling and boxing announcer going back to the 1950s, most famously with wrestling fans at the W.W.W.F. television tapings at Allentown, Pennsylvania's Agricultural Hall. When I first saw WWF "Championship Wrestling" on WOR-9 out of Secaucus, NJ in around 1981, I thought to myself, "Now THAT is a ring announcer."<br />
<br />This is an audio clip of McHugh introducing "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers at
the Philadelphia Spectrum. I loved the way McHugh included the
historical mention of Rogers being the only man (at that time) to have
held both the NWA and WWF world titles. Those details mattered, and
meant something to fans in that era. <br />
<br />
The audio of that introduction is included here:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<img border="0" data-original-height="94" data-original-width="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOscYDtvrnafzu94y0DNEDBHGODK_RN_-ueE5BOdtItLnWqdq0RRisFDRvXltiW8FlxvEYPiOKeHjGwdSqKCDgBXT9JsGPpUH0kqYDd0STULck_12Llz8iWx8t0Ysud18XNpkCYrHA-z0e/s1600/VUMeter.png" /></div><p>
<audio controls="">
<source src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/audio/wwwf_buddy_rogers_joe_mchugh.mp3"></source>
If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element
</audio>
<br />
<br />
I always thought Joe McHugh and <a href="http://studiowrestling.blogspot.com/2015/10/joe-murnick-introduces-johnny-valentine.html" target="_blank"><u>Raleigh's Joe Murnick</u></a> (my favorite ring announcer of them all) were kindred spirits, at least in their ring announcing style, and both with accents of speech that clearly demonstrated from where they hailed. They are both at the very top of my list.<br /><br /></p><p><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(Edited from a post originally published January 2018 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.)</span></i><br />
</p>Unknownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08449398178701162732noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-20637236960301009962023-04-11T12:11:00.008-04:002023-04-11T12:23:47.572-04:00Ed Capral and Paul Jones on Wide World Wrestling<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="597" height="640" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images3/studio_jones_capral.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="478" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Host Ed Capral and U.S. Champion Paul Jones<br />on the set of Wide World Wrestling in WRAL TV studio.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images/oldTV_capral_race_1977_8mmfilm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<b>Wide World Wrestling - Opening Theme (1975-1978)</b>
<br />
<audio controls=""><source src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/audio/1975_www_theme_open.mp3"></source>
<a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/audio/1975_www_theme_open.mp3">listen/download the audio file here</a></audio>
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<b>Wide World Wrestling - Closing Theme (1975-1978)</b>
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<audio controls=""><source src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/audio/1975_www_theme_close.mp3"></source><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/audio/1975_www_theme_close.mp3"></a></audio>
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<br /> <br />Thanks to Craig at Wrestling Media (<a href="http://wrestlingmedia.ws/" target="_blank">wrestlingmedia.ws</a>) for the audio.<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-65191841070871644572022-06-23T10:11:00.005-04:002022-06-23T10:11:50.657-04:00Saturday Night Wrestling<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images2/macw_channel_8_promo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="511" height="375" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images2/macw_channel_8_promo.jpg" width="511" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">I miss when wrestling was a one-hour, Saturday, late night type of thing.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-56933137193798796302022-02-20T19:11:00.011-05:002023-06-21T00:06:14.911-04:00The WESC Wrestling Radio Show in Greenville<p></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images2/780514_wesc_radio_pt1.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="604" height="408" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images2/780514_wesc_radio_pt1.PNG" width="604" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="557" data-original-width="610" height="557" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images2/780514_wesc_radio_pt2.PNG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="610" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Greenville News (Greenville SC) May 14, 1978</b><br />Article by Deb Richardson<br />Clippings from the collection of Mark Eastridge</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><p> </p><p>"The Wrestling Show" aired on WESC FM in Greenville, SC at midnight on Monday nights after the weekly matches in the Greenville Memorial Auditorium. This was in the mid to late 70's. WESC midnight-to-6:00 am DJ Fred Nabors was the host.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/images/resource%20center%20article%20photos/03-wesc_flair_valentine_nabors.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="491" data-original-width="625" height="314" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/images/resource%20center%20article%20photos/03-wesc_flair_valentine_nabors.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Fred Neighbors (center) with Ric Flair and Greg Valentine</b><br /></td></tr></tbody></table> <p></p><p>Sandy Scott, Crockett's local promoter at the time, was in studio also. They would have the results from the night's event, play taped interviews from earlier the same night that Fred Nabors would conduct before the matches and tape them for play on the show. Usually, they would get some of the guys to stay in town and go live on the air during the show.<br /><br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/images/resource%20center%20article%20photos/05-wesc_flair_valentine__sandy_scott.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="487" data-original-width="643" height="303" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/images/resource%20center%20article%20photos/05-wesc_flair_valentine__sandy_scott.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Ric Flair, Greg Valentine, Sandy Scott</b><br /></td></tr></tbody></table> <br />A fellow named Jim McNerney lived in Greenville and was trying to break into writing for the wrestling magazines. He persuaded Fred Nabors to let him come in the studios that night and take these pictures.<br /><br /><i> - Don Holbrook, Greenville SC<br />Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor<br /></i><p></p>More photos: <u><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/images/resource%20center%20article%20photos/02-wesc_flair_valentine_nabors.jpg" target="_blank">Nabors, Flair, Valentine</a></u> | <u><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/images/resource%20center%20article%20photos/01-wesc_flair_valentine_scott_nabors.jpg" target="_blank">Nabors, Scott, Flair, Valentine</a></u> | <u><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/images/resource%20center%20article%20photos/04-wesc_flair_cold_one.jpg" target="_blank">Ric Flair & a Cold One</a></u><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-66021808584037805172022-02-16T13:19:00.002-05:002023-02-16T09:00:44.886-05:00Roanoke Sports Club Audio Tag<div class="separator"><div class="separator" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="381" data-original-width="520" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEg_e45SJZinyVs9d-TFhzEbaeO19TWIQ9jP_FoAdexpf34-rmQ7eeJzg0LAdeC2-jmR3J6ILIRRccymjmv8o-sWK74ELPM0962wraVBQhClHxZsvwFL9xRRIwnpT_Ns9c6i0cXCu6B_NWb2o70pQV9bBua9mIbSJrI-jWxdCW2eZW5G50_85szFXjUtZzVMoi1VoQGu8cw=s320-d" width="320" /></div></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p>
<p>In the late 1970s, Roanoke promoter Pete Apostolou tagged a little promotional audio segment onto the end of the <i>Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling</i> program that aired on WSLS-10 in the greater Roanoke market. Apostolou was the local promoter for Jim Crockett Promotions. His own promotional company was called The Roanoke Sports Club.</p><p>After Bob Caudle would preview the matches for next week's show, you would hear the following:</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> </p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="33" data-original-width="200" height="33" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcg-4895dHpz8_cXYS0yKIWDwC_4Ej3k5fUYQMm-iiiwHBzXLeqlEChq_nHykhe7otx5La9eet-U30QLWY2zQ1jCUZXRMoZnFnWD54hR_HsfEktZ963hcNL_lVmJUud-1nlIxQf-g1E6vQ1aaA2HSgvXCpCs-p-s-LGPBbHhQtGNcvwimWyzI/w200-h33/soundbytes_logo_400w.jpg" width="200" />
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<audio controls=""> <source src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/audio/790922_roanoke_sports_club_tag.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"></source></audio>
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<blockquote><i>"Mid-Atlantic Wrestling has been a presentation of WSLS TV-10 in association with the Roanoke Sports Club. Join us next Saturday afternoon for Mid-Atlantic Wrestling!</i></blockquote><p><i></i></p><blockquote><i>For complete information about sponsorship of wrestling matches in your area, contact the Roanoke Sports Club, Post Office Box 1855, Roanoke, Virginia, 24008."</i></blockquote><p></p>
<p></p><p><br />This of course was only heard on the Roanoke version of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, but was indicative of Apotolou's additional efforts to promote his towns in the Roanoke area, that included Lynchburg and other spot show towns.</p><p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images2/sportsman_roanoke.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="373" data-original-width="468" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images2/sportsman_roanoke.jpg" /></a></div><br />Apostolou's headquarters for the Roanoke Sports Club was the Sportsman in downtown Roanoke, where advance tickets were always available for Aposolou's JCP wrestling programs at both the Civic Center and the famous Starland Arena. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-19326254595123550072021-12-25T00:00:00.003-05:002023-06-20T23:45:20.198-04:00Wide World Wrestling Theme Music<div class="separator"><i>by Dick Bourne<br /></i><i>Mid-Atlantic Gateway</i></div><p>(Includes rare, exclusive audio tracks embedded below.)<br /><br />When I first got "hooked" on Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, one of the things (other than the great wrestling) that I liked most about both Crockett shows was the great theme music.<br /><br />
I'm not talking about wrestler's theme music. This was in 1975 and almost a decade before every wrestler had their own theme music.<br /><br />
I'm talking about the opening theme music that started off each show. It was a signature element of each of the two programs that Jim Crockett Promotion produced, and is today as much of the sentimental or nostalgic aspect of those shows. That's something long ago lost as it regards pro-wrestling on TV today.<br />
</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images/oldTV_capral_race_1977_8mmfilm.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="381" data-original-width="520" height="234" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images/oldTV_capral_race_1977_8mmfilm.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #fff2cc; font-size: 11.44px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Ed Capral with NWA champion Harley Race</span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.44px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #fff2cc; font-size: 11.44px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">on the set of "Wide World Wrestling" in 1977<br /><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Over the many years, I've enjoyed collecting theme music from the various wrestling shows I watched in the 1970s and 1980s. Some used edited versions of popular commercial music, some used "production" music written especially for that use.<br /><br />My favorite wrestling TV-show theme of them all was the music for "Wide World Wrestling" in 1975-1978. "Wide World Wrestling" was Jim Crockett's "B" show. If a TV market only featured one of Crockett's TV shows, it would always be the "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" show, which was the "A" show. If a traditional Crockett TV market featured both Crockett shows, then "Wide World" would be added as the second show in that market, or the "B" show.<br /><br />
The show began in October of 1975 and was hosted by longtime Atlanta wrestling broadcaster Ed Capral. When Capral left in 1977, he was succeeded by hosts Russ Dubuc and then Tom Miller. In 1978, Crockett changed the name of the program to "World Wide Wrestling" as host Rich Landrum took over the show, and by the early 1980s, this was the show that started going into Crockett's expansion markets, as well as remaining the "B" show in Crockett's home markets.<br /><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images/oldTV_tom_miller_www_1978.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="381" data-original-width="520" height="234" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images/oldTV_tom_miller_www_1978.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #fff2cc; font-size: 11.44px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">"Truckin'" Tom Miller, host of "Wide World Wrestling"</span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.44px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #fff2cc; font-size: 11.44px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">for roughly 6 months in 1978<br /><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table>The opening theme music for this show was awesome! The opening video package that ran under the music was a quick montage of various wrestlers doing various wrestling maneuvers that flew by at quick pace that matched the upbeat tempo of the music. The music and video open had sort of a "Wide World of Sports" feel to it. ABC's "Wide World of Sports" was one of the most popular sports programs of the era and as much a part of Saturday afternoons as wrestling was in that era.<br /><br />
Recently our friend Craig at Wrestling Media (<a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">wrestlingmedia.ws</a>) was kind enough to send us the original recording of the music used for "Wide World Wrestling." I got his very nice email on Thanksgiving Day - - what a wonderful gift on Thanksgiving! I was thankful indeed for his generosity and for remembering at all that this was something I had been looking for for years. He was able to identify it solely by the low-resolution recording I had of it on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway Archive site.<br /><br />
The music, titled "Diamond Head" was written and recorded by Walter Murphy, who had a #1 pop hit back in 1976 called "A Fifth of Beethoven." Murphy has an extensive resume of production music and there are several vinyl recordings of his still floating around. The album that has "Diamond Head" was titled "Major Production Music", Vinyl 6088 on Major Records (now known as Valentino.) It is track 3 on side B of the record and was recorded and released in 1975 (the same year "Wide World Wrestling" debuted.<br /><br />
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://img.discogs.com/Etm8-uK2jaBQ_BQo5-XorVLvq6Q=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-3544026-1335781394.jpeg.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://img.discogs.com/Etm8-uK2jaBQ_BQo5-XorVLvq6Q=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-3544026-1335781394.jpeg.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p>The "Wide World Wrestling" theme was created by taking various segments of the original 1:30 recording and piecing them together to make the final 25 sec. version you heard each week to open the show. The tempo of the wrestling version was also a little faster than the original, although at the same pitch.<br /><br />I took Murphy's original recording and edited a version together that is nearly identical (in arrangement and speed) to the classic 1975 wrestling theme, and happily present it here.<br /><br />
There are no known video recordings of the 1975-1978 "Wide World Wrestling" show, which is a very sad thing. The theme hasn't been heard in this arrangement since 1978, so only fans who are roughly in their mid-40s or later would even remember it. But for those that watched "Wide World Wrestling" every single weekend without fail as I did each week, this will be a wonderful trip down memory lane and a nostalgic reminder of a great era in Mid-Atlantic Wrestling. And for those hearing it for the first time, this is what a real wrestling theme sounds like. <br /><br /><br /></p><p><img border="0" src="http://midatlanticwrestling.net/audio_files/ThemeMusic/thememusic_images/wideworld_menubutton.jpg" /> <br /><br />
<b>Wide World Wrestling - Opening Theme (1975-1978)</b>
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<audio controls=""><source src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/audio/1975_www_theme_open.mp3"></source>
<a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/audio/1975_www_theme_open.mp3">listen/download the audio file here</a></audio>
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<br />
<b>Wide World Wrestling - Closing Theme (1975-1978)</b>
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<audio controls=""><source src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/audio/1975_www_theme_close.mp3"></source><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/audio/1975_www_theme_close.mp3"></a></audio>
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More on this album of production music on the Discogs website:<br />
<a href="https://www.discogs.com/Walter-Murphy-Production-Music/release/3544026" target="_blank">https://www.discogs.com/Walter-Murphy-Production-Music/release/3544026</a>
<br /><br />
Thanks to Craig at Wrestling Media (<a href="http://wrestlingmedia.ws/" target="_blank">wrestlingmedia.ws</a>) for his forwarding this information and for providing me the original track that resulted in my favorite wrestling theme music of them all.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br />Originally published December 2016 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.</i></span></span><br /></div>Unknownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08449398178701162732noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-5137124910535233642021-07-06T11:27:00.007-04:002023-06-21T00:47:56.712-04:00"Championship Wrestling" debuts in Charlotte on WBTV Channel 3 (1958)<p></p><p style="text-align: center;"> <img border="0" data-original-height="710" data-original-width="450" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images2/studio_580111_wbtv_debut.jpeg" /> </p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>by Dick Bourne<br />Mid-Atlantic Gateway</i></p><p style="text-align: left;">There was history in the making in this January 1958 Charlotte News article. Promoter Jim Crockett had finally arranged for televised wrestling in his home base of Charlotte, NC on the heels of successful national wrestling programs during the decade of the 1950s in such places as Chicago, Los Angeles, and in Texas.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The program would air live from the studios of WBTV channel 3 on Saturday afternoons and would be hosted by the station's sportscaster Bill Ward. The announcement was made by WBTV production manager Bob Rierson.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">Crockett's first foray into televised wrestling was actually nineteen months earlier, on <a href="http://midatlanticwrestling.net/almanac/tv_history/tv_studios/wfbc/studio_wfbc.htm" target="_blank"><u>WFBC channel 4</u></a> in Greenville, SC, but for only about three short months. Perhaps this was a pilot program. Once wrestling made it's debut in Charlotte in January of 1958, it wasn't long before several other TV stations in Crockett's territory also began airing wrestling in partnership with the Charlotte promoter, including <a href="http://midatlanticwrestling.net/almanac/tv_history/tv_studios/wral/studio_wral.htm" target="_blank"><u>WRAL-5</u></a> in Raleigh, NC, a return to WFBC in Greenville and the debut on <a href="http://midatlanticwrestling.net/almanac/tv_history/tv_studios/wdbj/studio_wdbj.htm" target="_blank"><u>WDBJ-7</u></a> in Roanoke, VA, both in 1960, and <a href="http://midatlanticwrestling.net/almanac/tv_history/tv_studios/wghp/studio_wghp.htm" target="_blank"><u>WGHP-8</u></a> in High Point (Greensboro market) in 1964. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Crockett's wrestling debut on channel 3 was not without its challenges, however, having nothing to do with wrestling, but rather with ACC basketball. The results gave WBTV producer Gene Burke fits that January Saturday afternoon. We'll review that neat bit of history as well in a future post.<br /></p><p><span style="color: #999999;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Republished in October 2022 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway. </span></i></span><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-21277326277965583492021-05-05T09:56:00.003-04:002023-06-21T00:48:59.655-04:00Voice of WFBC Wrestling (and Greenville Ring Announcer) Billy Powell with Ric Flair<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images2/791029_greenville_powell_flair.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="567" height="640" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images2/791029_greenville_powell_flair.jpg" width="454" /></a></td></tr><tr align="right"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">GREENVILLE NEWS</span></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />"Nature Boy" Ric Flair puts the badmouth on U.S. Champion Jimmy Snuka (just out of frame) before Flair's challenge to regain the title at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium in Greenville, SC, October 29, 1979. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTj8IhjwXA9lyVdtC2BrGk1Tq1Xuz0PlN9MIhK7-m_g9J5xQn55CNCf5QH09FjNtF1I8Y6cTDol3-k0rzuZqMpArBWgDwf1VxwT-4yRtHS0ddHA2oNfswcNwtyxMZlHKR-BkFoBrr5Lt-q/s150/unnamed.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="134" data-original-width="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTj8IhjwXA9lyVdtC2BrGk1Tq1Xuz0PlN9MIhK7-m_g9J5xQn55CNCf5QH09FjNtF1I8Y6cTDol3-k0rzuZqMpArBWgDwf1VxwT-4yRtHS0ddHA2oNfswcNwtyxMZlHKR-BkFoBrr5Lt-q/s0/unnamed.jpg" /></a></div><br />Standing to Flair's right is the legendary voice of Greenville wrestling Billy Powell, who was the ring announcer in Greenville for decades. He was the voice of the special one-minute localized promos that aired twice during the hour-long <i>Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling</i> program that aired at 1 PM every Saturday afternoon on WFBC channel 4 (later WYFF). His voice played over the graohic you see at left. Powell was also well known on the radio for various commercials and promotions in the Greenville/Spartanburg market on WFBC radio.<br /><p></p><p>Jimmy Snuka was managed at thetime by the legendary Buddy Rogers, who donned the trunks and wrestled earlier that night with partner Big John Studd.</p><p>Behind Flair is NWA referee Tommy Young.</p><p>More photos from this night can be seen (and purchased) on the <a href="https://www.greenvilleonline.com/picture-gallery/news/2019/10/31/ric-flair-jimmy-snuka-buddy-rogers-wrestle-greenville-sc-1979/4104107002/?fbclid=IwAR2yV87wknSktjlotCtpwfGyJMPW9wF2K5iCO8Zon9o48iFGHy6OSQfeSik" target="_blank"><u>Greenville News website</u></a>. <br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-68392974038851651832021-04-12T19:35:00.015-04:002023-06-21T00:51:13.889-04:00"Greenville is My Town" - 1978 Article in The Tiger mentions WFBC's Billy Powell<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/resourcecenter/potpourri/billy_powell/winkhaus_powell_table.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="442" data-original-width="377" height="320" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/resourcecenter/potpourri/billy_powell/winkhaus_powell_table.jpg" width="273" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ring announcer Billy Powell (R) with<br />Greenville promoter Paul Winkhaus<br /></span></span></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><i>by Dick Bourne<br />Mid-Atlantic Gateway</i><br /><p></p><p>Back in November of 1978, the student newspaper at Clemson University called "The Tiger" ran an article on Mid-Atlantic Wrestling in the area. The two page spread included discussion of the current popularity of pro wrestling (including an interview with Ric Flair), the skeptics (including the Clemson collegiate wrestling coach), and the fans. </p><p>A large photo was included of Ric Flair battling Blackjack Mulligan at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium, less than an hour away from the Clemson campus in Greenville SC. With some examination of the Monday cards that took place in the weeks prior to this article's publication, I've determined that the photo is from their Texas Death Match in Greenville, the main event of the October 23, 1978 card at the Auditorium.<br /></p>Of particular interest to me, though, was a brief discussion of Greenville ring announcer Billy Powell, an institution in Greenville, and whose involvement in Greenville wrestling went all the way back to 1960 and the early television tapings of pro wrestling that took place at the WFBC TV studios in Greenville. <br /><p>Here is a transcript of the portion of the article that dealt with Billy Powell:</p><p></p><blockquote><p></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">A big part of Monday night wrestling is played by the ring announcer. In Greenville, the announcer is Billy Powell, a well known personality who has gained most of his popularity through the Monday night matches.</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">"You bet your hat I'm a wrestling fan," Powell said. He has been announcing the matches in Greenville since 1960. "We originally did the TV wrestling here, but the program was moved to Raleigh a few years back," the outgoing Powell stated. </span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Wrestling in Greenville used to be held in Textile Hall, and that is where Crockett Promotions sanctioned some of their first matches. Crockett operates from its Charlotte base under the sponsorship of the National Wrestling Association (sic). "If the matches are not sanctioned, the NWA will have nothing to do with you," Powell stated.</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Concerning the wrestlers as people, Powell said, "They're all nice guys. Did you see Gene Anderson in the ring tonight as he fixed my mic cord? In the ring he is a bad dude, but outside he is just a teddy bear," Powell finished.</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Asked if he would ever leave the area, Powell said, "No, because Greenville is my town."</span></p></blockquote></blockquote><p> </p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="134" data-original-width="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEh2Ui5NvLFUEzkeEryH-UYQK03O1h7l1ENxDF8cOYy1mk133zH5FAyAFQ9xYYCZrkDKm4GODDiUA54SuppGZ9HSS539Umh_St7OJssR7LvYC9g8rdd-2Z8QqLiSI5FjB_jRtm3dn_P33TPfuIxLUTvHgdSvik-WW4A7ugYinUK-ln8Do9gwX65vgWCYHB4fnPMaf2BvlA=s0-d" /><br /><br /></div>Greenville fans who only watched on TV and never attended a Monday night Memorial Auditorium wrestling event were still intimately familiar with Billy Powell. Twice each Saturday during the one-hour broadcast of <i>Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling</i> on local NBC affiliate WFBC-TV channel 4 (later WYFF), Powell did exclusive 1-minute narrated promos for the card upcoming that Monday. They featured only his voice and a still artistic depiction of two wrestlers in battle. They always began the same way - - <i>"Hello everybody, this is Billy Powell, inviting you to joins this Monday Night at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium..."</i> These promotional segments aired twice during each show in addition to the local promotional interviews with the wrestlers taped at WRAL in Raleigh. In that way, Billy Powell's voice was as much a part of the Greenville experience of watching wrestling every week as host Bob Caudle or any of the wrestlers. <p></p><p>Not only would Powell run down the matches for upcoming card, he would also briefly touch on what happened the previous Monday night, too, tying everything together. He was the man Greenville wrestling fans trusted and was a warm and familiar voice each and every week. </p><p>For more on Billy Powell, visit the <a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/resourcecenter/potpourri/billy_powell/powell.htm" target="_blank"><u>Billy Powell page</u></a> on the archived Mid-Atlantic Gateway site, and check <a href="https://studiowrestling.blogspot.com/search/label/Billy%20Powell" target="_blank"><u>all of his related posts on this blog</u></a>. You can also learn about the <a href="http://midatlanticwrestling.net/almanac/tv_history/tv_studios/wfbc/studio_wfbc.htm" target="_blank"><u>history of TV wrestling in Greenville on the WFBC-4 page </u></a>of our guide to the studio locations for wrestling in the Mid-Atlantic area.</p><p>And you can also read the full article on wrestling in Greenville from the Nov. 3, 1978 edition of "The Tiger", which includes an interview with a young Ric Flair, <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/268643233.pdf " target="_blank"><u>archived here</u></a>. It's on pages 12 and 13 of the paper, within the downloadable pdf.</p><p style="text-align: left;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="478" height="119" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdkGo12lOi_UxrQlet7cKtO7htgolx9wfxAnxMuhF0AxScGOpaXgg7_iRDkbXtvEQBz2yqiicYt8QfTD7mn_O3cLCYoaF6BayqW6LSNHRAZcvTEuag8zh3yRz6ggKqESPvBLtWmK5zitae/w117-h119/patch_trans_blogs.png" width="117" /><br /></div><p style="text-align: center;"></p><p style="text-align: center;">Audio: <a href="http://midatlanticwrestling.net/audio_files/general_audio/christmas/Billy%20Powell%20WFBC.mp3" target="_blank"><u>Holiday Greetings from Billy Powell</u></a> during the beginning of one of his local promos. <br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-13061543331666357032021-03-01T18:30:00.030-05:002021-03-05T13:51:48.936-05:00Got to Have Lovin': New Theme Music and Set for Mid-Atlantic Wrestling (1979)<div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="99" data-original-width="559" height="35" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/utility/graphics/theme_music_header.jpg" width="200" /></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></div>There were lots of great music themes over the years for Jim Crockett Promotions TV shows, but likely the most remembered is the 1979-1986 theme for <i>Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. </i> <br /><p style="text-align: left;">The music was an edit from a 1978 European disco hit titled "Got to Have Loving" by French writer/arranger Don Ray (real name Raymond Donnez.) It was the only single from Ray's solo album "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QldSCeuZIRo" target="_blank"><u>The Garden of Love</u></a>." </p><p style="text-align: left;">The new theme debuted on the February 10, 1979 episode of <i>Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling </i>(taped February 7 at WRAL studios in Raleigh.) It played across the same familiar "four square" opening that had debuted back in 1977. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Here is the opening as it played out each week in your living room:<br /><br /><br /></p>
<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VlRKcxOaJt0" width="560"></iframe></div>
<p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">The complete Don Ray track can be found on YouTube (along with the complete album, too.) <br /><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IA0bxRj99G0" width="560"></iframe></div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br />That February show also debuted the familiar set that would be used on the Mid-Atlantic tapings through the remaining years at WRAL and then moved and used in modified formation at the smaller WPCQ studio in Charlotte. It was discarded all together when production moved out to the arenas in July 1983.</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/resourcecenter/interviews/caudle/images/caudle_crockett_01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="195" data-original-width="284" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/resourcecenter/interviews/caudle/images/caudle_crockett_01.jpg" /></a></div><br />The set included a new standing-desk for hosts Bob Caudle and David Crockett, with a gorgeous textured background that included the new moniker "Mid-Atlantic Championship Sports" in raised block letters and a map that included two more states (West Virginia, Georgia) than the previous map and logo used on the 1974-1979 set.<p></p><p style="text-align: left;">Another big change going forward that began with this show was that introductions for matches would no longer be conducted from inside the ring, but instead by Bob Caudle as he would turn in front of a blue-screen NWA logo. That blue screen allowed a chroma key effect to be used, showing the wrestlers in the ring during their introduction. This set up would be used for the duration of the studio shows, and I've always thought it was a big mistake to make that change. The fans in the studio audience never reacted to Caudle's introductions like they had done over the years for Joe Murnick (or the Murnick boys) because Bob couldn't be easily heard by the fans. Most of the time it made for very flat reactions to the introductions. </p><p style="text-align: left;">The winds of change were blowing with new music, a new set, and a new method for ring introductions, making the taping on February 7, 1979 one for the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling television history books. <br /></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-72865154738310560182021-02-11T15:31:00.002-05:002021-02-14T12:52:37.742-05:00Ed Capral Signs Off Wide World Wrestling<p><b><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">INCLUDES RARE VINTAGE AUDIO</span></span></b><br />Legendary wrestling announcer Ed Capral hosted <i>Wide World Wrestling</i>, a brand new program for Jim Crockett Promotions, from 1975-1978.</p>
<p>Capral was the longtime host for pro wrestling in Atlanta on channel 11 until the Atlanta wrestling wars of the mid-1970s, when he jumped ship to the upstart All South Wrestling promotion run by Ann Gunkle, the widow of the late Ray Gunkle, an amateur and pro wrestler who was a major star in the southeast. All South lost the war to the stalwart NWA wrestling promotion and Capral found himself without an announcing job. <br /></p>
<p>Jim Crockett hired him to host their brand new program, and Capral brought his classic old-school announcing style to TV stations across Mid-Atlantic area. <br /><br /></p>
<p></p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images/oldTV_capral_race_1977_8mmfilm.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="381" data-original-width="520" height="293" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images/oldTV_capral_race_1977_8mmfilm.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;">Ed Capral with NWA World Champion Harley Race on the set of <br />Wide World Wrestling.</span></span></span> <br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>We present here a vintage audio clip from of Ed signing off an episode of <i>Wide World Wrestling</i> in 1977 and previewing the matches that would be seen on the show the following week. That line-up, by the way, was loaded with talent including a young Tully Blanchard going up against NWA World Champion Harley Race.</p><p>For the record, here is match list Capral announced:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Harley Race vs. Tully Blanchard</li><li>Ric Flair & Greg Valentine vs. Roberto Soto & Jimmy Garvin</li><li>Dick Murdoch vs. Danny Miller</li><li>Ricky Steamboat & Paul Jones vs. Scott Irwin & Ricky Ferrara</li><li>Wahoo McDaniel vs. Charlie Fulton<br /></li></ul><p>And of course the familiar barter announcement and the classic <i>Wide World Wrestling</i> theme music plays along, one of my favorite TV wrestling themes of all time. (More on that music <a href="http://www.midatlanticgateway.com/2016/12/wide-world-wrestling-theme-music-1975.html" target="_blank"><u>here</u></a>.)</p><p>Enjoy this little audio blast from the past!</p><p> </p><p></p>
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<figcaption><span style="color: #fce5cd;">ED CAPRAL SIGNS OFF WIDE WORLD WRESTLING</span></figcaption>
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<p><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Audio is courtesy of the collection of Gary Wray. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://bookstore.midatlanticgateway.com" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUOH-nEjgsDtS7Qhv4YU2jNX6eF2OvfmInhAs5yTgKDWbq0yzmsXNLOOQ6yFQ8VVDkZlfUWOPmSrVFVT3jwbfSy-OofDJJp5mX4ZvP-2xkFRWhtknBC1UpVpwtoBpadtywHs-rY8gwG87p/s16000/Bookstore+Ad.jpg" /></a></span></span></div><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><p></p><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-79865091032038953032021-01-15T11:43:00.005-05:002021-02-11T15:35:32.289-05:00Charlie Harville spotlight in Greensboro Newspaper (1962)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images2/studio_620218_wfmy_harville.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="796" data-original-width="610" height="640" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images2/studio_620218_wfmy_harville.jpg" width="490" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Thanks to Mark Eastridge who passed this along to us. This was a notice about time changes of WFMY channel 2 (Greensboro) news and sports reports in February of 1962. </p><p>A few years before Harville became so closely associated with professional wrestling in the area with his move to WGHP, he had some major wrestling mements, including <a href="https://studiowrestling.blogspot.com/2013/02/harvillerogers.html" target="_blank"><u>interviewing NWA World Heavyweight Champion "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers</u></a> on his WFMY "Sports Final" show, the program mentioned in the newspaper piece above. <br /></p><p>Harville would move to WGHP channel 8 in October of 1963 as sports director of the new station in High Point, NC (same Greensboro market), and would begin hosting <i>Championship Wrestling</i> in February of 1964. The program was a production of WGHP and was syndicated to a few other TV markets in the Mid-Atlantic area as well before the consolidation of Crockett TV production and distribution to WRAL in Raleigh in 1974.<br /></p><p></p><p>"Harville was as much an icon as the wrestlers for those of us growing up in the Greensboro/Winston Salem/High Point area in the sixties & seventies," Mark said in his email. </p><p>Harville's show on WGHP promoted live events in that market, including the main towns of Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and Lexington, plus other spots shows in the area. </p><p>For more on Charlie Harville's rich legacy in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, check out Wayne Brower's lengthy piece on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway: <a href="http://www.midatlanticgateway.com/2015/06/charlie-harville.html" target="_blank"><u>Charlie Harville: Remembering His Remarkable Journey.</u></a></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-569456079997044196.post-50887011419780698342021-01-11T10:54:00.010-05:002021-01-13T19:59:01.166-05:00Jay "Dude" Walker Appears on Starrcade 83<div class="separator"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="355" data-original-width="600" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images2/studio_dude_walker_starrcade83.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr><tr align="right"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">WWE Network Screen Grab</span></span><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div>We're looking for more information on this fellow appearing with Bob Caudle and Gordon Solie on the Starrcade '83 closed-circuit extravaganza from Thanksgiving night 1983.<p></p><p>His working name on FM radio was Dude Walker. He was a drive-time DJ for G105 FM (WDCG), a top-40 radio powerhouse out of the Raleigh-Durham area in 1983.<br /><br />Between early matches during the Starrcade '83 closed-circuit telecast, Bob introduced Dude to the audience and asked him what he thought about Ric Flair. Dude said he believed Flair would take the title from Harley Race that night since Flair was in his home area, and indicated that everyone at G105 was behind the Nature Boy.<br /></p><p>Dude also briefly hosted some of the local promo interviews for Jim Crockett Promotions that were taped at the makeshift garage studio on Briarbend Drive in Charlotte in the fall of 1983 and through at least mid-1984. But that short stint makes him part of the historical roster of announcers in the Crockett studio era. (Edit: In some 1984 promo segments, wrestlers referred to him as Jay. So possibly his name was Jay Walker.)</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images2/studio_jay_dude_walker_promos.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="192" data-original-width="300" src="http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/image_host/images2/studio_jay_dude_walker_promos.png" /></a></div><br />We googled Dude Walker and came across several radio personalities with that name, which apparently must have been a thing in radio. Who knew? But none of them were our guy.<p></p><p>If you have any information on Jay/Dude Walker, we'd love to know more about him. You can contact us via the <a href="http://www.midatlanticgateway.com/p/contact-us.html" target="_blank"><u>Contact Page</u></a> on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway. <br /><br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/27/G105_New_Logo.png/440px-G105_New_Logo.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="219" data-original-width="440" height="160" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/27/G105_New_Logo.png/440px-G105_New_Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Some interesting tidbits about G105 FM and why there may have been a tie-in with Jim Crockett Promotions during Starrcade '83: <br /><br />They have had several formats over the decades including country and rock, but became a top-40 station in 1981 and became a 100,000 watt powerhouse in 1982 when they began transmitting on the WRDU-TV tower in Chatham County. </p><p>They were one of the first stations in their market to operate a dual-city license with their primary market being Raleigh-Durham, but also with a special signal going into the Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem market. During this era of the first Starrcade, they were one of the most powerful and popular radio stations in central NC and the Piedmont. </p><p>This may have been why they partnered with JCP to promote the first Starrcade, given their reach and popularity across the immediate area around Greensboro. <br /></p><p>They are <a href="https://g105.iheart.com" target="_blank"><u>still around</u></a>, a top-40 iHeart radio station based out of Raleigh and licensed out of Durham, NC.</p><p>If you have any information on Jay/Dude Walker, we'd love to know more about him. You can contact us via the <a href="http://www.midatlanticgateway.com/p/contact-us.html" target="_blank"><u>Contact Page</u></a> on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway. <br /><br /></p><p><span style="color: #999999;"><i>Thanks to those who have provided additional information, including Joe DiGiacomo.</i></span><br /></p><p><span style="color: #999999;"><i>An edited version of this article was also posted on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway on January 13, 2021.</i></span><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com