Interviews

Earl Jerris at WHAM

On the morning of May 10, 2007, Sheron Dixon sat down with Earle Jerris in his home-recording studio. Earl filled the next hour with fascinating stories mostly about his life in radio.

Told with Earle’s impeccable wit and sense of humor, this was one stellar interview!   

Then, at the end of the interview, Sheron realized she had not pressed the “record” button.”  Oh, no, no, no!  All was lost!

Earl graciously agreed to immediately redo the interview.  However, the fire had gone out of the moment.

At 78, Earle was tired and hungry.  He didn’t remember most of what he had said and needed a lot of prompting.

Nevertheless, enough of Earle’s sparkling personality and memories were captured to make the second interview more than worthwhile.

Of most importance was Earl’s recall of WHAM’s ownership and management during the crucial years between 1956 when Stromberg Carlson divested itself of WHAM and 1962 when William F. Rust bought it.  

 This is information which is totally absent or incorrectly reported on internet sources.  

Earle died on March 3, 2022.

Fats Waller

Track 3:  More About Doug Duke

Track 4: Dominant ideas about radio when Earl
was young

Track 5: How did you get started at WHAM?  Henry Crystal was new owner and Bob McKenzie was station manager

Track 6: Who impressed you the most and why?

Track 7:  Who was at WHAM when you were hired?  More about Bob McKenzie

Track 10:  About bloopers

Jerris/Dixon duet

Track 11: Walter Dixon and Earl Jerris shared a love of music and became good friends

George Haefner with fan

Track 12: The George Haefner story.

Track 13:  Music was always “my thing”

Track 14: About WHAM’s Rochester Radio City on Humboldt Street 

Track 15: When tape replaced vinyl for recording in radio and how double and triple tracking was used before stereo

Track 18:  Earl’s years at Juliard School of Music and his love of writing music

Track 19:  Who was Earl’s target
audience?

Track 20: Who was at WHAM when you came on board?  Riggs and Green were the owners before Henry Crystal.  About Jack Ross and John Woods

Track 21: Bill Givens came when William F. Rust bought WHAM about 1962. Jazz radio historians, Will Moyle and Ed Furland 

Track 22: Moving to East Avenue and Earl built Win-Jeff plaza and started his own recording business.  

David A. Sennett 

This interview with David A. Sennett took place in the home of Sheron Dixon on April 30, 2006.

A myriad of topics were covered including how and when he got started in radio, the many radio stations at which he worked prior to coming to WHAM and what he remembers about a number of his WHAM on-air co-workers.  

David was terminally ill at the time of this interview.  He died just a few short weeks after that, in June, 2006.

These promos for David say it all. His dry, urbane wit made him one of Rochester’s most listened to late afternoon programs.

All were written by Walter Dixon and distributed to all on-air personalities to use at specified moments throughout their air time.

 

Track: Edited whole interview

Track 3. How David A. got started in radio

Track 4. Radio was very very structured

Track 5: Walter also got started in the same way

Track 6: His radio career after discharged from service following the Korean War

Track 7. More on his radio career

Track 8. Radio had changed so much

Track 9. More on the changes in AM radio in general and WHAM in particular

Track 10: Tell us about your radio program

Track 13. His famous Mind Benders

Track 14. The other side of the coin

Sennett, David A. program Promotional 1972

Track 15. Being your own producer

Track 16. What he asked station manager, Joe Farrar
(Walter used to call Joe ‘My large clicking friend, Jose’ because Joe always wore taps on his heels to reduce wear and tear.)

Track 19. Practical jokes

Track 20. How many ways can you say “Buy a car?”

Harry Abraham

Track 21. Did you have any encounters with Harry Abraham?

Track 22. I called them all “My newsman”

Maggie Brooks

Track 23. The Maggie Brooks story

Track 24. Old Timer weekends.  

Track 25. Remembering Walter Dixon

Track 26. Closing remarks

Linda Piper Sennett

As WHAM’s Traffic Manager, Linda Piper held an extraordinarily demanding position.  

She was in charge of overseeing the air-time scheduling of all commercials, promos and programs carried by WHAM.  

She also had to schedule all the studio time needed for recording everything which did not go out over the air live.  

As the coordinator between sales and production, she  worked closely with production manager, Walter Dixon

 When she first arrived at WHAM, she and David struck up a friendship which became special over time.  Eventually, they fell in love and some time later they were married.  She and David  were together until David passed away in June, 2006.  

 Linda’s winsome personality shines brilliantly throughout our conversation, giving ample evidence of how and why she was able to handle her WHAM responsibilities with such ease.

Track 0: Edited interview with Linda Piper

Track 1. Introduction

Track 2. When did you start and how long were you with WHAM?

Track 3. Our offices were next to each other

Track 4. We had a great relationship

Track 5. We did a commercial together 

Track 6. Who were some of the other people you worked with?

Track 7. Jon Ellison was sales manager

Track 8. The guys liked to pick on each other

Track 9. It was a fun time

Track 12. Lunch time in the piano room

The Wassail Tradition

Track 13. Remembering the Wassail Bowl 

Track 14. Remembering Maggie Brooks and Ed Hasbrouck

Harry Abraham

Track 15. Remembering Harry Abraham

Track 16. Didn’t know Bill Givens

Track coming soon…

Louise Wilson

Track 17. Recalled Louise Wilson

Track 18. American Women in Radio

Track 19. A story about Walter Dixon

Track 20. Walter was never late to work

Track 21. More about Walter Dixon

Track 22. Closing remarks

Maggie Brooks

On May 18, 2007, we sat down in the beautiful office of Monroe County Executive, Maggie Brooks, who, for the next hour, delivered a nostalgic  recounting of her 3 incredible years at WHAM.  Listeners will enjoy her many anecdotes about her life as a fresh-out-of-college, cub reporter for WHAM’s News Department.  Memories of  her days at WHAM, Rochester’s most prestigious radio station, poured out non-stop as she relived, what were for her, some of the best and most blessed years of her professional life.

Track 0: Full interview edited

Track 1. Introduction and early life in Rochester, NY

Track 2. The incredible story of how she came to WHAM

Track 3. It was a wonderful time to be at WHAM with the many professionals whom she names.

Track 4. Her Light Night program followed by on the morning news

Track 5. First impressions of WHAM’s location at 350 East Avenue.

Track 6: Her memories of the dominant ideas in radio at that time

Track 7: Her memories of daytime programing and the hosts

Track 8: About Bernie The Moose who did the ski reports

Track 11: The news department staff

Track 12: More on the morning news on Jack and George program

Track 13: Interesting tales about Jack and George

Walter Dixon

Track 14: Memories of Walter Dixon

Track 15: Maggie’s early morning duties

Track 16: Maggie Brooks: Crime Reporter reveals her most exciting news event

Track 17: Working with the old teletype machines

Mike Morgan

Track 18: Memories of her boss and mentor, Mike Morgan

Track 19: A fire in the news room

Track 24: Bloopers on WHAM

Track 25: The day Elvis Presley died; a powerful moment for Maggie

Track 26: It was a great 3 years

Track 27: Who impressed you the most?

Track 28: The women who preceded Maggie and undergoing transitions in AM radio

Track 31: Life after WHAM

Track 32: Life after channel 10

Ed Mitchell

At home
May 16, 2006

Ed Mitchell was Walter Dixon’s favorite engineer. They met when Walter joined WBBF (formerly WARC) in 1954. Later, they both moved to WHAM; Ed in 1958 and Walter in 1959.

During the late 1950s, Walter met jazz organist/pianist, Doug Duke, and convinced Doug to bring his talent to WHAM.

 Together, Walter, Ed and Doug formed DEW Productions (D for Doug, E for Ed and W for Walter). Under DEW’s banner, they created a number of quality radio programs including:

1. The Time Between
2. Segments of the two hour program called COMPOSITE
3.  Dozens of the award winning public service programs called JUSTICE which defined and illustrated various points of New York State law.  

When Ed left WHAM in 1968 to join Eastman Kodak Company, Walter experienced it a great personal and professional loss. 

We have divided the interview tracks according to:

1.  Ed’s WARC/WBBF days when WARC became WBBF
2. Ed’s WHAM days
3. Ed’s Eastman Kodak days.
4. Doug Duke’s days at WHAM

Track 0: Full interview edited

DEW PRODUCTIONS AND THE PROGRAMS IT PRODUCED