RSS | 
Twitter
| 
Be a fan!
Lee's return to radio has oldies' fans taking notice
Lee's famed catchphrase actually served a dual purpose; it was the name of the ballad portion of his radio program and the title for a series of albums that were vinyl imitations of his show - favorite Pittsburgh songs that included his intros.
While original "Young Lovers" smooching to "Because of You" or "High on a Hill" may now be getting a senior discount when they purchase those albums, there's no doubt that the disc jockey has maintained his popularity, despite being off the air for more than three decades.
In April, Lee, 67, returned with a Sunday night oldies shows on WJAS that instantly created buzz with oldies fans. While he was hesitant to do the show at first, Lee said he quickly found his comfort zone. Evidently, he's planning to stick around for the long haul. He's considering moving from his Ohio home to Canonsburg, where he once worked at WARO.
Rate This Story:
1 the lowest - 5 the highest
Current rating:
"I did my first live show in ages at the Palisades in McKeesport in February," Lee explains. "I just couldn't believe the response. I walked in the room and 600 people stood up; it was a really emotional thing for me. I was overwhelmed."
That one-shot gig led to a program on WLSW, which Lee says "was my first time on radio in years. It was really the first time I felt strong enough to do it." Soon afterward, he settled into his regular slot on WJAS.
"I'm doing exactly what I did then, including playing the same records - literally. When I do live dances, people expect records, not CDs, and that's what I play. There's something about picking up those 45s with their familiar labels. So, scratches and all, that's what I use."
Although Lee was always a fan of radio, his teen dream was to be in a band, which he realized while in high school. Oddly enough, it was a band performance that morphed into his radio career.
"We were playing at the Finleyville Community Center and the disc jockey that played between our sets didn't show, so some friends got me a turntable and records, and I filled in. I liked it so much that I rented the center for the following week, not as a band, but as a disc jockey."
Always the entrepreneur, Lee was soon making music tapes for the Associated Theaters movie chain. In between the music, he promoted the concession stands, and the company let him promote his dances. His first on-air jobs, at age 16, were at WESA in Charleroi and WZUM in Carnegie. He joined WARO in Canonsburg in April 1963.
"I was out selling advertising for my Canonsburg show, while Pete Stanton was doing the same for WJPA. When he went to WMCK in McKeesport in May 1964, he took me along. He said, 'I'd rather have you working for me than against me.' I was 21 at the time, and I stayed at the station 10 years. It was the peak of my career, the best time of my life. I had more fun than anybody should be allowed to have."
It also was a lot of work.
Lee recalls being at the station seven days a week, as well as doing his TV dance party show "Come Alive," (1967-1970) and then taking the guest performers to nine dances over the weekend. "We did three Friday, three Saturday, three Sunday. It was like a caravan, and was so hectic that I never got much time with the stars." The caravan stops will no doubt evoke many memories for teens of that era - the Red Rooster, Blue Fox, White Elephant and Lebanon Lodge among them.
In between, he dreamed up several stunt appearances, including broadcasting from a Ferris wheel, the high dive at Cabana Beach and a rowboat in the middle of Canonsburg Lake. And he continued to do club disc jockey work as well, attracting more than 1,000 fans in an era when bands were becoming a big draw.
He also produced some well-known Pittsburgh acts, including the Arondies, Fenways, Swamp Rats and Fantastic Deejays. Some of the acts became so popular that WMCK's competing stations KQV and KDKA were forced to play the Fenways' "Walk" among others.
Lee also issued several albums that contained songs associated with his show, including flip sides of 45s that he notoriously flipped into hits. He didn't need to worry much about protests from the record companies.
"Back then, they were thrilled that I was playing their records," Lee said. "They were happy to have exposure on the albums. In those times, we'd get hundreds of records a week, and disc jockeys threw away 90 percent of them or gave them away at their dances. Not me. I'd play both sides of each record, and many times I'd find a "B" side worth putting on the air. I just loved music. When I wasn't on the air or doing my TV show, I was listening to records."
Like contemporizes Chedwick and Clark Race, Lee soon became identified with certain songs, among them "Because of You" by Rome & Paris, "You" by the Initials and "Here in Your Arms" by the Elgins. To Pittsburghers, they were part of a genre known as the "TL Sound."
By the mid-70s, radio had changed, and disc jockeys had little, if any say in programming the music. Lee relocated to Phoenix, Arizona, setting up the music library for a group of stations and syndicating "Music for Young Lovers." He later owned stations in Naples, Fla., and Mansfield, Ohio, and owned a trucking company as well. He admits that since the early '90s, he rarely tunes in to radio.
"What's amusing is that when I returned to WJAS, some of the feedback from callers was that they were thrilled to be listening to real radio again. I didn't know what they meant. I didn't realize how much radio had changed because I wasn't listening to it."
Terry Hazlett covers TV and radio for the Observer-Reporter. He can be reached at snowballrizzo. aol.com
Come Alive 67-70 : 2/13/2011
- Keep it civil and stay on topic.
- No profanity, vulgarity, racial slurs or personal attacks.
- Comments that harass others or joke about tragedies will be deleted.
- Keep it brief and turn off all caps.
- No URLs.
