Mike McCormick
on Turkeyman . . . as remembered,
thirty five years later.
"Driving home one night to Ingomar, PA, back in 1968, and monitoring the
market... I heard a promo on WWSW saying that ... CHICKENMAN was now on
his way to the Steel City!!! Welllll ... having broadcast Mr. Chickenman
at KOIL/Omaha, NB ... prior to my KQV job, I was quite well aware of this
Chicken's competitive potential.
("Quick!
Put a major plan in place." "O.K. I did.!!!")
WWSW
can have Chicken-Man ... but we (KQV) will challenge him with the most
fearless fowl of all fowldom time ... TURKEYMAN. And so it went ...
...
the idea of creating Turkeyman would conveniently serve three purposes:
(01)
KQV & Turkeyman would burn the idea of WWSW having Chickenman as a
staff fowl first! And, WWSW might not even possess the complete package
of Chickenman yet. giving us a free competitive advantage.
(02)
Since Chickenman was not an inexpensive sleuth ... I thought there might
be a very good chance that WWSW would broadcast the entire series ... due
to their out-of-pocket investment. KQV could then initiate a free-for-us
promotional WAR between our Turkeyman and their Chickenman. WRONG! Our
friends at WWSW sucked up the expense ... and hastily retired Chickenman
to the hen house ... never to be heard from again (although to mend fences
with Dick Orkin, I did buy The TOOTH FAIRY for Lujack after returning to
WLS).
(03)
Of most importance, however, was our new AM Traffic Time on-air personality
... who was Harry West, of the Harry West Show. I liked Harry because
he had a natural feel for radio comedy .... and he really enjoyed having
fun on the air. An extra and unexpected asset that came along with Harry,
was that Harry sounded like Pittsburgh; it could have been his home. Although
uncomfortable for a while, he warmed-up to the idea of Turkeyman (it originally
was broadcast exclusively on his show) and was now moving into the direction
I wanted both him and his show to go.
On
the night of the aforementioned Ingomar drive ... I spent the entire evening
outlining a month's worth of content ideas and wrote the first three scripts
for Turkeyman. Luckily I still had all of the Chickenman production effects
and had even brought them with me to Pittsburgh. We were in Turkeyman business
now!
Coincidentally,
I had advanced Bob Wilson to Creative Director for KQV while he additionally
served as General Manager for WDVE. (his highly professional skills were
now available from 8am-5pm ... and beyond). Fred Winston was now on board
from WKYC/Cleveland ... and Gary Gears would soon join us from Armed Forces
Radio in Vietnam. (Bob, Fred, Gary and I had previously worked together
when I was Program Director for KOIL/Omaha, NB.) It WAS a dream production
team ... everybody could write, announce, create special voices and special
effects, produce, direct, and chew Wrigley at the same time. Oh yes ...
each had 'natural voices' that made the old fashioned NBC Radio Network
announcers sound Like capons!
The
morning after the night before ... the guys and I got together and reviewed
the options. We all agreed that Turkeyman was a GO (thankfully I had earlier
brushed the idea past John Gibbs ... leader and General Manager,
who also had a (hidden but) great appreciation for humor. John liked the
idea but indicated that we might be a bit conservative at the onset. Of
COURSE John ...)!
It
was decided that all content should always be local or localized; some
characters could often be actual residents of the Pittsburgh metro, more
rather than less. I guess I was the Continuity Acceptance person who watched
out for libel and slander things. Then we rewrote the original three scripts
... added and detracted bits and stuff ... and when everybody started to
break up each other ... it was production SHOWTIME! The rest is history.
Ahhhh
.... I'm very sorry, just excuse me please ... there IS just one more thing
...
...
it's both the preeminent and culminating announcement of Turkeyman himself!!!!
(it's self?). NOW the one, and the very ONLY .... never-to-be-forgotten
and always- to- be- remembered ... Captain Bob Harvey, who will both write
for and act as the feathered friend of those who are right and righteous
... alone and lonely ... trodden down and beaten down ... the good people
who are always in need, of ... a "James Taylor."
Bob
was ' da MAN! But, please always keep in mind that he had both his hands
impaled with countless straight pins preventing any personal-riotous laughter,
to erupt, as he read many, many Bob Newhart -- Johnny Carson -- David Letterman
-- Bob Hope and Freeman Gosden ... (who's HE?) ... type scripts. Bob did
keep good company, but It indeed was a very tough gig for the Captain ....
as Tennille never ever helped him at all!
But
he thrived and he survived ... and he lived a fowl life, all the way ...
to retirement!
And
today he is still known ... all around the North hills and the South hills
... and the steep hills and the down hills as ... THE O L D
TURKEYMAN ... FROM THE BIG 14, K Q V!
WHOYAAAAAHhhhhhhhh
Bob! YOU made it all happen! You had the toughest part ... and you constantly
delivered the best bit(s) and that's what made OLD TURKEYMAN gobble!!!
You indeed can take great pride in your own personal performance. Because,
in your own way ... you did ... BROADWAY. Damn Good Show.
Postscript:
several members of the KQV staff continuously submitted great content ideas
... and ... new character names ... and often did voices. It kinda''' grew
into a STATION thing ... which was good and timely for morale building
... because we were just about ready to kick some BIG TIME BUTT of that
McKeesport minor league, in-your-dreams, Top 40 radio station start up
.... that certainly didn't!
Oh
... Harry West of the Harry West Show? Harry became papa to a radio
crafted version of the then ... widely popular, NBC-TV show ... LAUGH IN.
It became #1 teens and 18-34 men and women. His total 6am-10am ARB ratings
were consistently #1 in Pittsburgh ... only KDKA had larger ratings ....
65+ ... and, McKeesport WHO?
It
was the same great KQV production dream team ... and a program that was
certainly out of place for format radio (THEN) ... but like many things
that should never have worked ... it DID It DID!
P/SS:
ABC Owned Radio Stations President Harold L. Neal heard about the project
and shortly after Turkeyman's inauguration, Hal visited KQV from NYC. He
asked Mr. Gibbs for an audition of all the produced shows ... and, according
to his own words ... "you guys are good .... VERY GOOD ... but CRAZY!
They were ... and they were.
Mr.
Neal graduated from ABC Owned WXYZ/Detroit and had been a network staff
announcer and actor on early ABC Network programs such as The Lone Ranger,
Captain Midnight, and many other ABC Network radio programs produced
at WXYZ. He had an appreciation for the work done on Turkeyman, and later
asked me for a copy of the series, which was duplicated and delivered promptly.. |
