Strolling Down On Memory Lane (WVVX 103.1)

gbt216 said:

Yes, I stand corrected on Marvelous Marv's; it was Glenview not Highland Park....boy, I filled in a lot of my 50s and 60s vinyl from there....even a "Sing Along With The Chipmunks" album (I remember liking "Alvin's Orchestra" (one of the cuts on this album) on The Alvin Show when I was a child in the 60s).

Hey, I've been to Firkin's before....been several years, however; just down Milwaukee Avenue a few miles from us (though the intersection at Buckley Road on the way down there is a mess!). Black Vinyl Mondays, eh? Too bad it's not Saturdays since we're meeting friends down the block at Mickey Finn's...might have been able to persuade everyone over to Firkin's for a change!

I can't place the name Herb Hallberg, radioman, though I may recognize his voice.....

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Herb Hallberg was on in the late 70s then left for awhile and came back. He used to mention Wayne W Bryman a lot.

i got my start in "professional" radio at good ol' wvvx fm 103.1 when i was just a sophomore at glenbrook north high school back in 1982. the studios were at 210 skokie valley blvd (just north of lake-cook rd) in highland park. my initial position was to put "kill dates" on PSA scripts and to sort through the voluminous amounts of vinyl platters they received from the record companies each day and throw away anything that wasn't "oldies" - which at the time was considered rock and roll from the 1950's and early 1960's.

i was seriously into music back then, and it greatly saddened me and broke my heart to see so much fine music discarded. i ended up taking many excellent records home instead of throwing them in the dumpster. one of the favorites i got from there was patrice rushen's "forget me nots" album! i pretty much played the grooves off of that disc!

i really don't recall any of the names of the people i worked with at wvvx, except for the two lovely ladies i worked closet with during my tenure there: allison (her last name escapes me), who was a manager of some sort, and ms ruthann weckstein who performed a great many various functions around the station's studios and pretty much served as my first mentor in all-things broadcasting.

i have absolutely no idea what ever became of allison. but a great many years after leaving wvvx, as i was travelling down I-90 coming back to the north shore from the rockford area, i was was listening to one of the two big chicago news radio stations hoping to catch a traffic report. as the traffic was being announced, i kept thinking to myself how i recognized the female announcer's beautiful voice... when she announced who she was at the end of the traffic report, i was completely blown away. it was ruthann weckstein! i was so proud of her that she had made it so far!!!

i was completely devastated to hear of ruthann weckstein's (married name: goldsmith) passing in 2007... she was only 46 when she died. her life was cut far too short....

Wow. Ran across this thread while digging for some info about WVVX, which was somewhat of a hangout of mine around 1979-80. I used to sit in with three of the "graveyard" DJs during that period while they spun 50s and 60s oldies all night. The first was Mark "Tex" Miller, who later went to WYEN in DesPlaines and then WEFA Waukegan. Then came Bill Dahl, who writes about blues and R & B for the Ill. Entertainer and a few other publications. After that, Gary Hawkins came along.
Loads of fun to sit in and answer phone requests, and talk about old music. They used to leave the back door of that office building open all night, and one night around 1:30 AM, the door opened. Scared the heck out of me and Gary - turned out to be Ronnie Rice, who was good friends with Gary.

One night I went across Skokie Boulevard after midnight and got Deon Jackson to come in and be interviewed by Bill Dahl for his columns... Bill did a great job, and that interview became the one that is seen everywhere you look - on line, in Goldmine, Ill. Entertainer, everywhere. I was good friends with De since he was playing piano bar at Myron & Phil's in Lincolnwood, around spring of 1976. Sadly, Deon passed away recently.

Marvelous Marv's... wow, does that bring back memories. That was a cool place to hang out. One afternoon they had a live "sock hop" on the sidewalk in front of the store. It was emceed by Wayne W. Bryman. The Glenview newspaper did an picture article on it.

Mikey