Oh, yes. He also did commercials for Philly's WDVR(101.1 FM) in the late 70's and its successor, Eazy 101(WEAZ) in the early 80's. It would become an AC station in the late 80's(as the new EZ-101) and their ads featured the late Robert Urich. It became WBEB, B-101, in 1993 and then, two decades later, became today's 101.1 More FM.
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The lips that changed radio advertising on TV forever...
- Thread starter Memories_Radio
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Oh, yes. He also did commercials for Philly's WDVR(101.1 FM) in the late 70's and its successor, Eazy 101(WEAZ) in the early 80's. It would become an AC station in the late 80's(as the new EZ-101) and their ads featured the late Robert Urich. It became WBEB, B-101, in 1993 and then, two decades later, became today's 101.1 More FM.
I think 96KX ran the spot after it switched from disco to a Top 40 rock station. I know for sure that CFTR-AM in Toronto ran the spot in 1979, but I don't know for sure if CILQ-FM did as well. If they did, it probably had to have been a number of years afterwards to prevent confusion between the two stations in the same market. Again, hopefully someone here can confirm.
I remember Robert Urich starring in commercials for WASH-FM around the same time. Probably was a syndicated format like "The Remarkable Mouth"...
Robert Urich did spots for DC's WGAY-FM once the now late Bob Chandler ( the WGAY GM ) "retired" from doing such ads. Urich also did ads for Denver's KOSI 101.1 in the late 80s when they were a Westinghouse station as well.
Back on topic, I've found out that the RM spot was used for WQRK (Q104) in the Hampton Roads market in Virginia around 1980 back when it was an AC station, then redone with Symba for rocker WNOR FM99 closer to 2000. WFIL-AM in Philly had its own version in 1979, which was showcased as part of that year's U.S. Television Commercials Festival.
Hope it's not a problem to bump the thread again, but I found some more ads that were done for a Russian radio station (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), and it made me think about how the spot had been adapted for countries outside North America -- maybe someone on here may be able to bring more to the conversation. Australia had been one of the first countries to air the ads in the 70s; 2SM in Sydney, 3XY in Melbourne, 2NX in Newcastle and 4IP in Brisbane (which I believe all belonged to the same owner) were among them. The spots were revived and reaired with Symba Smith in the 90s for (PMFM in Perth, again in Perth for Austereo, twice for Fox FM in Melbourne, B104.9 in Brisbane, 2WS in Sydney and Triple M in Adelaide. 3GV in Traralgon, Victoria also had its own version in the 2000s (anybody know this actresses name?). M-1 in Lithuania aired a popular spot for its 10th anniversary, as well as 89 A Rádio Rock in Brazil, two times for Radio Comercial in Portugal and Radio Hauraki in New Zealand -- again, all with the talents of Symba.
Anyway, as before, I hope someone may be able to shed some light based on his/her own memories of the concept, either here or abroad. Thanks again to all who have shared their two cents!
Anyway, as before, I hope someone may be able to shed some light based on his/her own memories of the concept, either here or abroad. Thanks again to all who have shared their two cents!
Someone in the Memphis radio biz uploaded a spot for WZXR Rock 103 that looks like it aired sometime in the early 80s (as earlier alluded to by anotherguy in this thread). According to the comments, the main actress seems to be a local talent named Dina Myers who won a contest to star in the commercial with the "established" mouth for that station -- in this case, Kelly Harmon. Note that you may have to be logged in to Facebook to watch the video.
Hope it's alright to bump this months later, but I found a long series of segments dedicated to DC radio that aired on WDIV in 1982. A portion of what I believe to be Christine's audition tape is on there (timestamp approx. 15:41) as well as a snippet of the WPGC spot you referred to (at 17:48):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=firkgGi7lGk
It's not a general but rather a fictitious candidate for president. Of course, we may be talking about two different commercials.
Yes, that would have to be early '80s. They changed their calls to WEGR around 1986, when they returned to being Rock 103 ("The Eagle" at the time) after being Z-103 for about a year.
Kelly Harmon is, of course, Mark's sister, and Tom's daughter.
Yep, Kelly was quite popular in bigger markets for starring in the same spot -- most famously WRIF in Detroit and KBPI in Denver. I wonder if she also filmed ads for other relatively small markets like Memphis. Do you happen to know?
I believe she was the first choice talent for the syndicator of the campaign, which, IIRC, was Celestial Mechanix.
Thanks for getting back to me. I had no idea there was any such priority with the syndicator (which I believe was Blore/Richman Productions at the time; CMI picked it up sometime in the late 90s I think). Do you happen to know of other models who were on that "list"? The ones that immediately come to mind are Deborah Shelton and Lorelei Shark. Christine De Lisle, who starred in the short Q107 piece I posted yesterday, also had done some for two or three markets including WABC in New York.
Anyone been able to find some more of these online?
Both Kelly Harmon & Deborah Shelton worked commercials in the Jackson, Miss. market for a huge country music station Q103 or 106. It's been a long time since I saw them.
Woah, that was quite a bump that I wasn't expecting. There are a few more commercials that I found and added to my YouTube favorites playlist. One was another spot starring Symba Smith done for Triple M in Australia around 2002. The second was a followup spot for Detroit's WRIF circa 1982 with Kelly Harmon, and the most recent I one found was for Denver classic rocker KKHK ("The Hawk", now KQMT "The Mountain") in 1999, again with Symba.
That is a great addition to my little compendium – thanks! Is the station you're referring to possibly Miss 103, which reverted to a country format around 1981? From my own searches, I haven't been able to identify either a Q103 or Q106 in that market at that time.
I've also since found out that Kelly Harmon filmed a spot for C-101 in Corpus Christi sometime in the early 80s. WNAV in Annapolis advertised itself as a "remarkable radio station" in newspapers in 1980, though there is no footage available for me to know if that market ran its own variation of the spot. WIBA in Madison, WI had its own RM in 1991, but I have no information as to which actress starred in the commercial. Teresa Blake, the All My Children actress who filmed a remake spot for WRIF in 1992, starred in an ad for country station WFGY ("Froggy 98") in Altoona, PA around the same time. Symba Smith was also featured in ads for Milwaukee's Lazer 103 (WLZR) in 1999 and 2000.
That is a great addition to my little compendium – thanks! Is the station you're referring to possibly Miss 103, which reverted to a country format around 1981? From my own searches, I haven't been able to identify either a Q103 or Q106 in that market at that time.
I've also since found out that Kelly Harmon filmed a spot for C-101 in Corpus Christi sometime in the early 80s. WNAV in Annapolis advertised itself as a "remarkable radio station" in newspapers in 1980, though there is no footage available for me to know if that market ran its own variation of the spot. WIBA in Madison, WI had its own RM in 1991, but I have no information as to which actress starred in the commercial. Teresa Blake, the All My Children actress who filmed a remake spot for WRIF in 1992, starred in an ad for country station WFGY ("Froggy 98") in Altoona, PA around the same time. Symba Smith was also featured in ads for Milwaukee's Lazer 103 (WLZR) in 1999 and 2000.
You are right it is Miss 103. As I said it seems like a long, long time since I saw those two lovely smiles of Kelly and Deborah.
No worries, I just wanted to make sure I had it right for my own notes. It might be a shot in the dark, but do you remember the years they aired? I'm thinking sometime between 1980 and 1983. If I can find either of the spots, I'll link one or both here in the thread. Thanks again.
Bit of a bump here, but I wanted to share a rare find. The WRIF commercial with Karen Newman is now on YouTube! She's been singing the National Anthem for the Red Wings as long as I can remember, and she was the first "Rock Girl" for the station since the Kelly Harmon days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdaqOABj59c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdaqOABj59c
Sad to hear that Chuck Blore, the radio titan and originator of this ad series, passed away last week. One of the best in the radio promotions business no doubt.
I remember, sometime around 1998, when KYYS was revived on 99.7FM after the original FM station on 102.1FM switched to a AAA &, later in 1998, Soft AC, that they did another "Remarkable Mouth" ad.
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