Jack Gale at WBOC, Salisbury Maryland (1945) Jack Gale at WAYS, Charlotte, N.C. (1968) Jack Gale with Tammy Wynette, 1980's Jack Gale's remarkable career as a radio performer, programmer, owner, voice-over talent, music publisher, manager and record producer spans more than 50 years. Born in Baltimore in 1925, Gale started in radio prior to the emergence of rock 'n' roll and the Top 40 format. He was heard on WSRS in Cleveland, WTMA in Charleston S.C., WITH in Baltimore, and WMEX in Boston before joining Stan Kaplan in 1965 at BIG WAYS in Charlotte, N.C., where the station and "Jack Gale the Morning Glory" achieved #1 ratings in 36 North and South Carolina counties. Jack Gale's book, Same Time ... Same Station is a "uniquely personal and historical narrative on the radio and record business ... it's a book about real people, real incidents, disappointments and triumphs" (Bob Mathers, WAMD, Aberdeen Maryland). Gale won The Bill Gavin award for Program Director of the year in 1969, and Billboard's first "Disc Jockey of the Year" award in 1970. He was the first PD at WAPE in Jacksonville, FL., after it was purchased by Kaplan Johnny Cymbal in 1970. Gale managed the career of teen sensation Johnny Cymbal (Mr. Bass Man) in the 60's, owned KFTW (Fredericktown, Missouri) and KGPA-FM in Pismo Beach, California in the 70's, and founded Playback Records in the 80's. He produced numerous albums in Nashville into the 1990's. Jack bought and sold two radio stations in Dothan, Alabama in 2007, and he is still producing radio commercials from his studio in Lecanto, Florida. In his book, Same Time ... Same Station, Gale writes: "I don't listen to the radio much anymore. I think what's happened to radio today is sad... Today, a DJ plays six records in a row, followed by six commercials, gives his name, the time, and calls it a show. I wonder what the term "show" means." Jack Gale passed away on January 23, 2018 at the age of 92. The Repository thanks Jack Gale for sharing!

[Descriptions as indicated]

 

TOP STREAM 32.0Kbps (12 Khz) Jack Gale, The Hound Dog Kingdom, 1958 (23:36) . . . Give me some White Tango . . . [Description by Jack Gale] An original Hound Dog Kingdom membership card from WTMA, Charleston, circa 1956 I started The Hound Dog Kingdom in 1956 at WTMA in Charleston, S.C. I remembered the success Alan Freed had in Cleveland with his Moon Dog Show. The Hound Dog was patterned after the Freed show, but it was not a copy. Nobody was playing what was called "race" music except Freed. I collected all the R&B records by Fats Domino, Laverne Baker, etc. — and that's what I played, keeping the backbeat by slapping a ruler against the console and yelling along with the singers throughout the records. I played a rhythm beat on a tape loop between records, so there was no dead air. The key was the delivery. I used a gruff, yet frantic gravel voice, and rhymed almost everything I said. The Hound Dog was a howling wolf sound effect. I opened "The Hound Dog Record Shop" and bought several thousand used records from juke box operators, all Hound Dog music, and put them on sale "5 for a dollar". We sold out in a matter of days. The show was such a success in Charleston that when I got to WITH in Baltimore in 1957, I talked Sales Manager Jake Embry into letting me put it on the air on Saturday nights. It caught on immediately and became a regular feature. At drive-ins around Baltimore, every car radio would be blaring with the squealing sounds of the dog. Leon Golnick of the Golnick agency sold it to the Madera Bonded Wine and Liquor Company, and they came up with special product exclusively Mayor D'Alesandro (L) presents Jack Gale (R) with the keys to the city of Baltimore, 1957 for the show called White Tango Wine. 49 cents for half-a-fifth, and 89 for the full fifth. After the first three months, we had over 4,000 card-carrying members. Golnick made arrangements for the tapes to run on WLEE in Richmond and WUST in Washington. I would tape every day after the morning show at WITH until we had about forty hours of tape that we just kept rotating. After each taping, I would come out of the studio exhausted, with about twelve broken rulers, but it was a ball. I loved that show and savored every minute of it. At the reunion in Baltimore in 1996, people approached me with their original Hound Dog cards from the '50's, and wanted an autograph. They had cherished those cards for forty years. - from Same Time, Same Station

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TOP STREAM 20.7Kbps (10 Khz) Jack Gale, WAYS Charlotte, July 13, 1966 (31:24) . . . Straight-shooters always win, lawbreakers always lose . . . [Description by Uncle Ricky] When this aircheck was recorded on July 13, 1966, (yes, it was his birthday again) Jack Gale did not yet own the *one percent* of BIG WAYS (610, 5KW) that he bought from Stan and Sis Kaplan for $1000 in 1967. He had not yet premiered the long-running feature Life Can Be Miserable, this aircheck doesn't include Lowell Pressure with the weather, and Ralph Smedley never gets to sing, not even with Chubby Checker and Hooka Tooka. But we do get endorsements by Gene Pitney and Jackie DeShannon, and newsman C. Michael Blackwell is featured with BIG WAYS News Headlines and a complete BIG WAYS newscast. In Same Time... Same Station, Gale writes "one of my favorite newsmen was C. Michael Blackwell... he was a real fun guy". And as proof, Jack's "Tonto" dropins are named "C. Michael". (C. Michael Blackwell left WAYS to become a Baptist preacher a couple of years later.) Several classic and not-so-classic spots are included, (note that Jack joins right in), a couple of PAMS jings too, and music doesn't dominate this half-hour of the #1 rated morning show in Charlotte, N.C. circa 1966. Gale had other things to do. And in July of 1966, his audience (and fans) included the 15-year-old curator-to-be of an online, non-profit radio aircheck museum.

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TOP STREAM 32Kbps (10 Khz) Jack Gale, WAYS Charlotte, August 10, 1966 (25:08) This Exhibit 'SCOPED (15:36) . . . and don't forget friends, GUM spelled backwards is MUG . . . [Description by Uncle Ricky] Jack Gale himself contributed this one, with a note that "someone" sent it to him. It's possible this was a pre-recorded hour for some reason, but it's more likely this was a demo recording intended to introduce Jack's show to potential advertisers. The biggest clue is that the famous, deep reverb that was always on the WAYS audio chain was missing, and everything had a bit of tape echo instead. We did add some reverb, and also restored the music, which also seems unlike the regular WAYS playlist. The good news is that this recording sounds like Jack's morning show, and it includes many of Jack's favorite gags, including Helicopter Harry, Jan Piercing (The World's Most Widely Disgusted Tenor), Cousin Floyd and The Gorilla. It's likely that the late Jack Armstrong was inspired by Gale's Gorilla when he worked at WAYS overnights as John Larsh in 1965.

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TOP STREAM 32.0Kbps (10 Khz) Jack Gale, WAYS Charlotte N.C., Halloween 1967 (29:17) . . . there'll be some scattered showers around the area, the rest of the folks will take baths . . . [Description by Uncle Ricky] This 1967 Halloween aircheck of Jack Gale on WAYS in Charlotte, N.C. offers more evidence as to why WAYS was truly BIG. In The Public Interest was a lot more than a PAMS jingle lyric and something that sounded good at license renewal. "The Big WAYS Good Guys Walk For Those Who Can't", a Halloween promotion for kids in area hospitals, is an excellent example. And note the lengthy high-school football segment! The station covered a huge area which included dozens of high schools. Mr. Gale took great pleasure in his pigskin prognostications, but feigned modesty dwelling on those accomplishments. After all, people would think he was just soliciting "accolades and orchids". A truly dizzying collection of contests and promotions is packed into this (scoped) 7AM hour, including The BIG WAYS Challenge Cup Playoff, The Money Matchbook Game, The BIG WAYS Turkey Shoot, BIG WAYS Tenna Toppers, and the BIG WAYS Halloween Trick or Treat Game. Of course, the 7:30 weather from Lowell Pressure is delightfully unintelligible, as is the traffic report a few minutes later from Helicopter Harry. (It's a scrawny thing! Is it a chicken? No! No!)

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TOP STREAM 16.2Kbps (8 Khz) Jack Gale, WAYS Charlotte, June 17, 1968 (22:37) . . . Remember the name - Marcal Paper Napkins - spelled n-a-p-k-i-n-s . . . [Description by Uncle Ricky] Jack Gale took particular delight in putting his audience on. As evidence, listen carefully to his opening live spot for Marcal paper napkins (available in soft pastel shades like yellow, buckwheat, and pink..) This priceless recording of the Award-Winning Jack Gale Radio Program on WAYS features Jan Piercing (The World's Most Widely Disgusted Tenor), Lowell Pressure, and The Mighty Gale Players with yet another episode of Life Can Be Miserable. Note Long John Silver and his pre-recorded introduction for the "Big WAYS Pick Hit of the Week." You could buy the Pick Hit of the Week for 25 cents and the "bottom of the BIG WAYS FAB 40 sheet." Record companies had to love this. Also, you'll hear several Gale/WAYS promos, including a classic "imaging" promo for Carolina's Friendly Radio Giant. And of course, R&B fans will remember that "TAMS" spelled backwards is ... "SMAT".

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TOP STREAM 32Kbps (8 Khz) Jack Gale, WHNE Norfolk, VA. 1976 (06:14) . . . I do want to thank the many many callers who called in, actually friends, both of you couldn't play . . . [Description by Uncle Ricky] Here's Jack Gale on Country-formatted Honey Radio (WHNE) in Norfolk, Virginia, where he worked for six months. He had agreed to a six-month contract, and didn't stay because the manager, who was the owner's son, was young and inexperienced. Jack had a difficult time dealing with him. First, you'll hear Mr. Amazing, radio's second greatest magician. Then, it's the Jack Gale Immense Giant Jackpot, where a nickel was added each day he didn't get a winner. Jack was assisted by Frank The Frog, who kept track of the money.

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The Jack Gale Collection has been part of REELRADIO since January 16, 2000

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