| "Sorry
to hear of the passing of al Julius. He was quite a character."
... Johnny Williams (6/30/02) "Al Julius was, indeed, one of a kind! By the time I arrived at KQV, he had departed ... and I believe ... it was for a news directors' job in Philadelphia. He did visit occasionally and always had great things to talk about. Frankly ... I always thought he was "network material" and capable of doing his own thing ... but, in the manner that Paul Harvey had become a stylized-personalized commentator." ... Mike McCormick (6/29/02) "I hadn't stopped by your site in awhile, and just found the story on Larry Aiken. He was a favorite of mine. I'm a big oldies fan, and he had one of the first oldies albums " Larry Aiken's Gold Dust". I've always been sorry that I didn't buy it." ... Ed Salamon (6/6/02) 
When I was a kid, simply watching and somehow putting it all together in my head. This is when I was in grade school. It was quite a thrill to end up working on the other side of those windows, and programming an ABC owned and operated station when I was in my mid 20's. Some guys are just lucky! :-) I worked at WDVE from August of 1971 to January of 1975. I was hired by then PD, and my best college buddy Dwight Douglas, to be the Production Director and morning drive jock. I used the name Ken Spector on the air. When Dwight left for WYDD I became the PD, gave up my production and air shifts, and used my legal name, Ken Karpinski." Ken Karpinski ... (6/5/02) "Just a note to let you know what a blessing it was for me to find your web site. I stumbled on your site while scanning the AM radio stations in the Burgh (I manage a religious station WKDI-AM 840 in Denton, MD and spend a good deal of time surfing the internet looking for leads for programs on my station). It was an unexpected bonus to find your site and reminince about KQV from the 60's & 70's. I was first introduced to Groovy QV in 1966 while visiting my cousins in Swissvale. While attending Point Park College from 1968-1971, KQV was the station to which I listened. I find the air checks on your site more entertaining than listening to music radio today. I believe that era was the golden age of Top 40 radio. Your page on KQV and Pittsburgh radio personalities who have died was interesting also. I did not realize that Jay Davis and Clark Race had passed. In looking at a news story on your site I believe it mentioned that Rege Cordic received an award posthumosly. I had not know Regis was dead. By the way, he barely gets a mention on KDKA's web site (frankly I found it inferior to yours). If you ever come up with some bio material on Cordic, it would be a good addition to your Pittsburgh Radio page. As a grade schooler living in Beaver Falls, we used to start our day with "Cordic & Company." I believe his talent was far superior to what is purported to be "humorous morning shows" today. One last thought - I caught Jim Quinn in the "War Room" on the internet a while back. It is amazing how he has stood the test of time and made the move over to a talk format. He and Rose have quite a product for Pittsburghers in the morning. I didn't fully appreciate Jim on his first tour with KQV, but enjoyed him the years that followed. Thank you again for the memories. If I come across anything in my surfing that may be useful to you, I will let you know. Keep up the excellent work at preserving a classic radio station." ... Mike McCoy (5/6/02) "I was looking for Construction photos of the Civic Arena and stumbled across your site. It took me back in time. I recently lost my sister and I can still remember her with KQV. I can remember us going to the window to watch the on air guys and her always looking for the weekly hit lists that she collected. Thank You for reminding me of a time that I forgot..." ... Gerry (4/13/02) "Hi Jeff, As a former Pittsburgh area resident, I am just grooving hearing and reading about all this KQV stuff. I have a pretty good collection of "Finest Forty" sheets. My parents had a music store in downtown McKeesport for a number of years, so I got these survey sheets every week for years. I have a bunch of crude reel to reel tapes of KQV from the late 60s, but time has reduced the sound to muddled inaudible. Do you have any airchecks with The Love Generation's 1967 minor hit "Groovy Summertime" ? There is a pause early in the song, and a voice whispers a sexy "groovy QV" in that gap. Also, in the summer of 1972, the station had a couple of jingles that were incredible. They would be played just prior to a song. I believe one was compatible with a slow song;i.e. America's "I Need You." The other introductory jingle would be used to proceed a louder or rocking song. Have you got either of those ? Do you have any airchecks from that summer where the DJ is promoting some station-sponsored event with the words "the summer of '72, the greatest summer of your life?" ... I'm happy to know that I'm not the only person to be turned on by great radio. Your radio passion is shared by mine. GREAT JOB, and I thank you." ... Dan Mendlovitz (2/4/02) "You kept me up all night! :-) It's interesting that someone did this... before I left Pgh in '89 I rang Jim Quinn to see if any KQV files existed even with the yearly Top 40. He said they didn't. BTW, I have one of the year end lists, 1968. I've also got a couple tapes of the year end hits for 1968 and '69. I used to sit by the radio and tape them on reel to reel. I xfred them to cassette in the 80's." ... Dale Ammon (2/2/02) |
