Caught this Dallas-Fort Worth bluesman jamming with "Group Therapy" at Fort Worth's KEY LOUNGE (with Bobby Counts on bass, Danny Ross on keyboards, Gonzy Trevino on drums, Mace Maben on guitar and the Mabenettes on vocals).
Hash Brown has been playing the blues since 1973. He moved from Connecticut to Dallas, TX in 1983. Since moving to Dallas, Hash Brown has played with many of Texas's finest bluesmen, including ZuZu Bollin, Sam Myers, Henry Quails, Ray Sharpe, Big Al Dupree, Robert Ealey, and U.P. Wilson just to name a few.
Hash Brown has toured Europe many times, and appears on no less than 25 different recordings as a sideman and under his own name.
Hash Brown has been written about in many national and international blues publications including: Living Blues magazine, Blues Review, and Block (the Netherlands).
Currently, Hash Brown runs no less than 3 blues jams a week, and plays in a multitude of different arrangements of musicians, everything from solo Texas and Mississippi style blues, to a trio playing a wide range of modern sounds, 4,5 and 6 piece bands playing Chicago style blues or jump style big band. Hash Brown is a multi-instrumentalist, and besides being a great talent on guitar, he is a superb harmonica player and vocalist.
What Happened!?!? The years have gone by and the building is gone and replaced by, well, you can see for yourself. But THE ODYSSEY lives on in the hearts and minds of all who survived it (and, I can only imagine, by those who didn't...) ROCK ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In June 2011 my good friend Yvette Beausoleil sent me some old ODYSSEY photos which I forwarded to Kim "Retro Kimmer" Maki.: Retro Kimmer's ODYSSEY link
!
ODYSSEY ALUMNI (The Bands):
MICHAEL ERLEWINE
CARNAL KITCHEN
Steve Mackay (Sax) The Stooges, The Mojo Boogie
Band, The Moonlighters
*Steve Mackay (Sax) Billy C. & The Sunshine
*Robert Sheff (K) The Prime Movers
FLOATING OPERA Gary Munce (Bass), Artie Campbell (Drums)... \
WOLFGANG
Larry Mandeville (guitar, vox)
BLACK ENSEMBLE
I-94
Loughlan (Louck) Campbell Drums, Bob Webb bass, Pete Stanger guitar, and Bill Schostak keys. This was essentially the same touring band that backed up "Chairmen of the Board"--NOTE: Louck did not play drums in the touring band of Chairmen of the Board, that was KC Black (Thanks Dennis Allen for background info)
GEYDA
A fine rock+roll unit (my first rock band gig) Lead by FRANK LOWENBERG drums,ROBIN MILLER guitar, JOEL SHANKAR guitar, THAD JONES bass or JOHN something bass, MARCUS lead vocal, MARTIN SIMMONS on keys (Thanks to Martin Simmons for the background info and R.I.P. Brother)
MANCHILD
John "Ozzie" Nelson on keys,
THE RABBITS Martin Simmons and Company
SRC
Top Row: Glenn Quackenbush (Organ) & Scott Richardson (Vox)
Bottom Row: Richard Michael (bass),
E.G. Clawson (drums) and Gary Quackenbush (lead guitar)
Jim Tate on vox/guitar/harp, Bill Lynn on rhythm/lead guitar, Steve MacKay sax, Dough Stoughton on bass, Donnie Backus on keyboards, Jerry Myers, drums (J.C. Crawford was also a drummer with Mojo)
NEW HEAVENLY BLUE
Dave Mason, Steve Dudash, Peter Bonnisteel
Madcat Ruth, Chris Brubeck, Chris Brown
In the early 70's Peter Madcat Ruth moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan where he was a key presence in two of Ann Arbor's finest progressive rock bands: New Heavenly Blue and Sky King (http://www.madcatmusic.net/about.html)
Chris Brubeck, bass, trombone, piano, guitar and sings, composer; b. Los Angeles, CA, 19 March 1952. Chris attended High School at the Interlochen Arts Academy where he was in orchestra 2 hours a day,
Big Band Jazz rehearsals three times a week, Concert Band, Small Brass Ensembles and led various student rock-n-roll groups. During his days as a bass trombone performance major at The University of Michigan, Chris led, toured and recorded with his innovative "rock" bands, New Heavenly Blue (with releases on R.C.A. and Atlantic Records) and in 1975 Sky King on Columbia. (Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians)
SKY KING Madcat Ruth (vox/HARP!), Rick Jacobi, Chris Brubeck
TNT
Flood's, Free Concerts and the ODYSSEY showcased a lot of the same bands...
WALRUS
Bill Etten (singer), Mike Mckelvey (guitar), and Jim Bowers (keys guy with the beard), Randy Tessier (bass) and Donnie Kuhli on drums...
LIGHTNIN' I
Mark Gougeon - bass, lead vocals, Jeff Jones - lead guitar,
Tim McCoy - keyboards, vocals, Dave Morgan - drums
Lightnin', as well as playing at THE ODYSSEY, toured extensively in the south and opened for Wet Willie, Guess Who, Black Oak Arkansas and so many others. BTW: Their 4 song EP sold for $60 recently! (Thanks for this info goesto Al Jaquez)
GUARDIAN ANGEL
Jeff Jones- lead guitar
AL Jacquez - lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Dave Morgan - drums
Scott Morgan - lead vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica
Terry Trabandt - bass, vocalls
BOB ROSENTHAL BLUES BAND
Bob Rosenthal (harp & vox), George Bedard (lead)
BAD LUCK & TROUBLE
LUTHER ALLISON
WILLIE DIXON
CHIP STEVENS GROUP
The final lineup for THE Chip Stevens Group was Frank Leto vocals & percussion, Dave Leonhard guitars, Tom Berd piano, Clark Pardee drums and either Andy Brucker or Peter Persechino on bass.(Thanks Clark Pardee for info)
STONEFRONT
This was THE Detroit jam band of the 1970s. Heavily influenced by the California scene, they were fairly unique in the Motor City. Their home was the GAR WOOD MANSION (a whole story in itself!). With their nutty "road manager Stanley," they brought a lot of great music and musicians to play at THE ODYSSEY...
Stonefront at home at the GAR WOOD MANSION
(Early Stonefront 1970)
Vocals : Rick Stockwell, Larry Merryman (and an extraordinary "cast of characters")
(1974-75)
Guitar: Larry Merryman
Guitar: Harry Bourlier
Drums & Conga Drums: Eddie Saenz
Bass Guitar: Mark Swanberg
Vocals: Larry Merryman, Natalie Morgan,
Guitar : Harry Bourlier
Guitar : Larry Merryman
Guitar : Gary Markley
Saxophone : Robin Welch
Conga Drums : Darryl Bradley
Drums : John Bredeau
Bass Guitar : Mark Swanberg
Vocals : Gary Markley, Mark Swanberg, Larry Merryman.
Guitar : Chuck Mahoian
Guitar : Larry Merryman
Bass Guitar : Mark Swanberg
Drums : Eddie Saenz
Vocals : Larry Merryman, Mark Swanberg
Gary Rasmussen on bass, Bob Rasmussen on lead guitar, Scott Bailey on drums and Frank Bach on vox--Hiawatha Bailey on equipment! NOTE: Although originally managed by David Sinclair (R.I.P.), by the time these shows were happening Sister Anne LaVasseur, one time MC for the UP, was actually managing the band--The FIRST female manager in R'n;R history (or so I've been told). Anne still ROCKS as a gemologist in Hawaii!!!
UPRISING
(Poster by Gary Grimshaw)
Uprising 1972-1973
"Little" Leon Mills (V) Brat
*Bob Rasmussen (G) The Up
*Don Benson (G) Brat
*Gary Rasmussen (B) The Up
*Wilson Owens (D) Brat
…we (The UP) had been playing gigs with this band Brat from Mount Clemens. Really, we called up Leon [Mills], he was the singer, and we told him, “This is what we want to do. We want to have a band. We’ve got me and my brother, and what we need is you and your drummer and your guitar player. Let’s do it.” We moved ‘em up to Ann Arbor and put ‘em in the carriage house between the two houses and started the band from there. It turned right from Up to Uprising, and that band was managed by John Sinclair and Peter Andrews. John was out of jail by then and he was managing Mitch Ryder and the Rockets--Gary Rasmussen
Uprising 1973
*"Little" Leon Mills (V)
*Bob Rasmussen (G)
*Don Benson (G)
*Nate Peterson (V, B)
*Wilson Owens (D)
...a lot of stuff pissed off Leon (Mills) and what they decided they'd do is get Nate Peterson, who's a good singer and bass player. So basically, they fired me and got Nate Peterson--Gary Rasmussen
NOTE: Leon passed away in 2013. R.I.P. Little Leon. You never really got your props, but those who know REALLY know...
MARCUS Marcus on vocals (just Marcus, one name), Jeff? on guitar and K.C. Black on drums (K.C. also was the drummer for Chairman of the Board) (Thanks to Wayne Dabney for jogging my memory on this one!)
DETROIT (WITH RUSTY DAY)
Rusty Day on vox, Wilson Owens on drums. Nate Petersen on bass
RADIO KING & HIS COURT OF RHYTHM
Richard Dishman on drums, Lowell? on congas, Crispin Cioe on Sax, BuzzThrelkeld on trumpet, Richard Lehfeldt on keys, ?? Guitar, Steve Chall on Bass, Rita, Pat & Jodie on vocals and others. ALSO Wayne Dabney and David G on equipment.
(Thanks Wayne Dabney for some input)
Left to Right: Buzz Threlkeld, Richard Lehfeldt, Crispin Cio, Richard Dishman
The four members of Radio King shown above were more or less the "core group" but this act was a true R&B Revue. As many as a dozen performers would be on that ODYSSEY stage putting on a real SHOW!!! (I need some help on this one y'all--There were a LOT of performers in this revue! I apologize to those whose names I can't pull up right now, but I KNOW we'll get all of this act on this page sooner or later--Jon Campbell, ODYSSEY)
The Rockets as they appeared at THE ODYSSEY, Red Carpet, Rainbow Room, etc...
The Rockets a few years later...
THE THE ROCKETS came to THE ODYSSEY when they were associated with Peter Andrews and The Rainbow People (Rainbow Productions). The ODYSSEY was the hottest venue and THE ROCKETS--with Bee, McCarty, Marc Marcano and Fraga the only four in the line-up--were the hottest act in town at the time They split their time between THE ODYSSEY, Red Carpet and the Rock & Roll Farm, but they were Ann Arbor cats for awhile. Fraga (R.I.P.) spent a lot of time at our (ODYSSEY staff) houses on Miner Street and Brooks Street on the westside of A2. Later on, Donnie Backus of THE MOJO BOOGIE BAND (pretty much the house band at the ODYSSEY for awhile) replaced Marc while they were still playing the ODYSSEY on a regular basis. One of the COOLEST shows the ROCKETS did at THE ODYSSEY was the night that Jerry LeCroix sat in with the band--But EVERY night (usually weekly) that THE ROCKETS played this club was INCREDIBLE!!! Unfortunately Dave Gilbert (R.I.P.) never played the ODYSSEY with the ROCKETS, he came on after the ODYSSEY's demise... THE LEOPARDS
BROOKLYN BLUES BUSTERS
Johnny Ace on bass and vox, John (Nuzzo) Leslie harp & vox, Howard Levine, guitar and Frannie Kristina on drums--Tino Gross (Howling Diablos) was also off and on with the band)
One of my first Odyssey memories - Cheryl Kaiser & me standing at the bar in front of a freshly made Tequila Sunrise; Cheryl - "Grab a straw!" and we'd race to the bottom ...Joanne Shumeyko Johnson 6-15-11
That's where I met Mike Gould one night in 1973 leading to the formation of the Martian Entropy Band .--Hugh Hitchcock 6-19-11 (Check 'em out by following the link below, JC/ODYSSEY) http://martianentropyband.com/YouTubeMovie.aspx?movieurl=http://youtube.com/v/WQ_pq7WlZyc&title=Pandemonium%20Ballet%20Pt.%201
We called it 208 Odyssey because of the neon # in the window. I remember seeing the Rockets there before they hired Dave Gilbert. Johnny B was doing the lead singing. -- T. Kinks Heiss 1-12-11
THE ODYSSEY!!!!!...YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! --Johnny Ace 1-12-11 (Check out 2011 Johnny Ace in San Francisco JC/ODYSSEY) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBJ8woBVKq4)
I remember dancing my ass off during and in between sets.Then everynight i would order 3 double vodka collins sour. No wonder i'm a recovering alcoholic! Alot of good and crazy memeories there! --Robin Scott 1-18-11
Actually, during that period I was so busy & broke trying to cobble together my own bands, I didn't make it to the Odyssey as much as I wanted
--Jeff Alder 6-18-11
It's so complicated to put together in writing, how one thing led to another, landing me on Bowie's Ziggy Stardust Tour and back to the Odyssey - and all because of the Odyssey... --Billy Goodson 6-18-11 (NOTE: Check out more about Billy Goodson) --Jon Campbell/ODYSSEY
THE ODYSSEY!!! OH GOD....I'M HAVIN' A FLASHBACK!!!..... ......we came,we played,we left.....--Martin Simmons 6-19-11
Hi Jon, Thank you so much for the picture from 1972. That was the year I graduated from high school and moved to A2. I turned 18 at The Odyssey and Angie Bowie was there. What a trip. Those were definitely the days!!!!! Good to see you are healthy and happy. Take care and thanks again!! Cordi. --Cordi Cole Frei 6-19-11
Hi Jon--I was the drummer in the last incarnation of the Chip Stevens Group and we played a few times at the Odyssey back in the day... I write this as I'm getting ready for a gig this evening @ The Grove in Anaheim with one of the two bands I'm currently in - still at it after all these years .--Clark Pardee 6-25-11
I was pretty young. Between the Fourth Ave people in the day to the fabulous bookings at night, I took it all for granted. Now they are all some of my best memories. --Patty O'Rorke 8-31-11 (Patty was on the staff at THE ODYSSEY pretty much at the beginning. She remembers those "Fourth Avenue People"--Cool...)
I gave a bit of Porky's background, posted several tunes, and mentioned a few of the other Pittsburgh DJs . Porky was and always will be THE BOSSMAN of Doo-Wop, R&B, R&R and Soul Music, but his "Disciples" also spread his music, which became OUR music in teen dance clubs and other venues throught The Burgh and beyond,
I was eleven years old when I sneaked into my first teen dance at the Tarentum, PA YMCA. Don't know who the DJ was, but it may as well have been Pork the Tork himself when I heard that Porkysound blasting at concert volume, saw the "party lights" and checked out tthe girls (man, the girls!)--in their teased to the max and glittered hair-- and the guys--in their waterfall hair and pegged pants--slow dancin' and rockin'. Right off the jump I knew that these places were the kind of venues that would be a major part of my life forever--I was experiencing "THE THING" up front and personal, The music and the scene was THE THING!!!
That was in 1960 and all the tunes weren't all that old and I knew many of them already because of Porky, Bob Livorio and my older brother and cousins, and to a small degree (at the time) my own record collection. The first tune I heard (and later became the first slow tune I ever danced to) was a new one, Rosie Hamlin's ANGEL BABY,
and the lyrics never left me to this day! The whole scene became my Angel Baby (check out the lyrics and you'll know what I mean)--If you couldn't tell already, I love this music and the whole scene that it is!
was the next tune to come out of those giant speakers and I was flipped! It was another new tune with the sound that Porky had made into OUR sound and was even better than a lot of the old stuff--OUR music had taken over the world and I KNEW that I was part of THE THING (and thereby very cool)--and only eleven years old!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6OztcWULRIAnd, what a way to end a set of new tunes--Kathy Young & The Innocents' 1000 STARS IN THE SKY.. So all the great new music wasn't by Black (Negro, at the tine) performers. but it all had that sound to which Porky had hipped us. We were all getting it together and that was because of the music--OUR music!!!
There ya go; my very first set, at my very first dance was a slow set of new music--Go figure, all three of the tunes in that set were released that year, and that year was 1960 and the place was Tarentum, PA, just up the valley from The Burgh...
The intro to Hank Ballard's LET'S GO, LET'S GO, LET'S GO triggered a very cool transition and the dancers rolled into the fast set --everyone of them cool as could be falling into the groove and I felt the energy teaching me, right on the spot, how to roll with the music along with the rest of the rockers. Of course I was kind of hidden behind the door--I'd had to sneak into the joint!
Right on the tail of the Hank Ballard tune came Chuck Berry's SCHOOL DAYS blasting out of the speakers and the place went wild!!! And I realized that I was in trouble 'cause it was already after 9:00 pm and I was WAY late in getting home (eleven year old sixth grader, remember!?!). I made it home before Mom & Dad and my brother wasn't there either, I'd made it! But ya know what--no punishment would have been too severe for me to endure (had there been any) 'cause it was official now--I was one of the cool kids!!!
"Any entertainer of my era who say they don't know who Porky Chedwick is--They damn lyinI That's the cat that played the records. I know" -- Bo Diddley
Terry Lee
Porky Chedwick (WAMO, Homestead, PA), Terry Lee & (“Mad”) Mike Metrovich (WMCK, McKeesport, PA) and Bob Livorio (WKPA, New Kensington, PA) all had one thing in common, they played what had once been known as “race music” on the radio and at the big teenage dances in the Pittsburgh area. Better plug in Bill Powell (who had a pretty cool mainstream show on WEEP) since he had a tad of influence too! Porky started out in 1948 and the others in the early 1960s. Bob Mack, who never had a radio show, should be counted among the “big fellas” too, since he and his crew held dances at the big “dance clubs” (Tarena in Tarentum, White Elephant in White Oak Twp., etc) in the area. Another thing they all had is common is the fact that they are all Caucasions (Yeah, Porky’s white too!) playing music by Black artists at a time that the old folks and squares couldn’t fathom such a thing! Of course it was Porky who pioneered the thing (and it was “The Thing”—The WHOLE THING for those of us growing up in the Pittsburgh area in the 50s and 60s.
Bob Livorio was also a “must catch” DJ. So ardent was his support that, in 1961, students from three high schools petitioned Kennywood Park to pipe his Saturday morning request show into the park for their school picnic so they would not miss it. On Friday nights kids from all over the valley crammed into “Henry’s,” a smalldance club in Tarentum, to dance to the music of Bob Livorio’s collection; then catch his show Saturday morning, Bob Mack’s dance clubs that night, private parties and small venues during Saturday and Sunday afternoons, then catch Livorio one more time at the (Natrona) Heights Fire Hall (yes, the fire hall!) Sunday night--and that was during the school year! Summer vacation meant more nights of dances at those same venues.
Livorio’s (Saturday mornings only!) show received 600 to 700 song requests a week from local teenagers (and very hip pre-teens, too) and everybody tuned into that one Saturday morning show to hear their requests for Doo-Wop, R&B and other tunes rarely heard out of Pittsburgh/McKeesport/ New Kensington radio range. I'M SO YOUNG by The Students http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=487O5_rkrnU
The music being played by the Pittsburgh area DJs was way more important to the kids in The 'Burgh' than anything Dick Clark had to offer--The Burgh and Philly were totally different worlds, sharing only a bit of the music of the day; for instance, in The Burgh we knew that Hank Ballard invented "The Twist"-- Not some cat from Philly named Chubby Checker! Hank recorded it in 1959 as th B-Side of this ballad:
Clark’s Philadelphia-based American Bandstand featured groups the Pittsburgh kids had been hip to for months (at least) and/or groups about whom we really didn’t care for the most part. Hey, WAMO was a dawn to dusk station, going off the air at sunset, so we couldn’t waste our time watching anything as inane as American Bandstand while Pork The Tork was broadcasting; and, parents weren’t about to put up with BOTH the radio and TV blasting out that racket (as they put it), not even with the TV volume turned all the way down. So rather than watch a show “Wrapped in green and made for a teen” (as the AB Beechnut gum commercials stated), we listened to Porky, The Boss Hoss with the Hot Sauce, wrapped in Black and on the attack!
So all the cool Pittsburgh DJs (the big fellas and the little guys) were searching out the coolest tunes to play on their shows and at the hops.There was not a lot of recording going on in Pittsburgh at the time (some, but not enough to satiate the doo-wop/R&B/R&R addicts in Pittsburgh!), but there was a lot whole happening in NYC, Chicago, Detroit Top 40 format radio and a whole lot coming out of the South (New Orleans, Memphis, etc.) and AM radio waves, when things were just right, could be picked up on hilltop radios all around ‘The Burgh.’ And cool kids and DJs scrambled to get the best of the best from wherever it came (during hours when none of the cool Pittsburgh DJs were on the air). We all wanted to be the ones to promote these records these other cities were playing on their shows—like cherry picking the best of the rest of the country. Porky took care of getting the tunes we couldn't pick off the air because the record companies were constantly shipping him a barrage of new records!
Early in 1958 THE FIRES BURN NO MORE, the first Apollo recording for Anthony Gourdine’s NYC group THE CHESTERS, got local (NYC) airplay and began selling moderately in New York. "Fires" was featured by disc jockey Bill Powell at (mainstream) WEEP in Pittsburgh, after being picked up by Porky Chedwick at WAMO.
It had all the makings of a substantial hit but as the record suddenly trailed off in New York, the Chesters felt that Apollo Records had dropped the ball and did not do enough to promote the record. They began to look elsewhere for a new label and perhaps a better shot at success. Remember, the Pittsburgh DJs were into promoting the music, as opposed to the music business. The CHESTERS were then signed by NYC End Records with a name change to Little Anthony & the Imperials with TEARS ON MY PILLOW b/w TWO PEOPLE IN THE WORLD their first of many classic hits to follow. If the original label (Apollo) would have promoted the CHESTERS as hard as the Pittsburgh DJ’s had. we might remember the group as THE CHESTERS. Kinda dig the IMPERIALS name anyway. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTE9d6VosgQ
Jimmy Beaumont of The Skyliners (which is a Pittsburgh group) credits Bob Livorio with helping keep the sound of his and other groups alive during the so-called British Invasion.
Tommy James has also talked about Livorio's role in popularizing his signature hit, "Hanky Panky," which went to No. 1 in 1966 after Bob rescued it from obscurity. Of all the lost-and-found singles rescued from obscurity in the Sixties, "Hanky Panky" must be the greatest, rocketing this Michigan band to stardom after three years of indifference. Singer James had formed the band as a mere hobby, and only cut the song in question -- written by Brill Building vets Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich and recorded by them as the Raindrops -- as a favor to Niles, MI disc jockey Jack Douglas (of WNIL) in 1964. Only after (Bob Livorio) another enterprising on-air personality in Pittsburgh found it in a box of rejects and started touting it as an "exclusive" did it start to make waves there." --Robert Fontenot, About.com Guide
Bob was also instrumental in breaking such groups as the Four Seasons and Pittsburgh’s Lou Christi, groups which would never be played on Porky’s All Black All The Time format. Volumes could be, and should be, and in some cases have been written (check out the links at the end of this article) about these guys. The “big fellas” who played our music on the radio, turned Pittsburgh, PA into the Oldies/Doo-Wop Capitol of the World and turned a generation of mainly white kids from the valley (both the Allegheny River valley and Monongahela River valley, (as well as Pittsburgh proper) into the coolest kids on the planet when it came to knowing real music. Many of the “disciples” of those DJs became their apostles; kids like me, who scoured the record shops, “cut out bins” and juke box distributors’ record sales, The Salvation Army, etc. collecting those 45s and DJ’ing the smaller venues (parties, school dances, small dance halls, the YMCA, church halls, etc.), and even discovering a few “exclusives” of our own in the process.
BUT, Porky Chedwick, The Daddio of the Raddio, started it all: Chedwick was the first white DJ to present a racially diverse Pittsburgh audience a steady diet of what were, in the summer of 1948, called "race records. Chedwick's original playlist was composed of old R&B and gospel records that he had collected over the years, making him the world's first bona fide oldies DJ. He called the records his "dusty discs," since he would literally have to blow the dust off the 78s before he could preview them at the records stores. Record stores had no demand for the records and would often just give them to Chedwick, or he'd rescue them from bargain bins with what little money he could scrape together. Years later, radio stations, record companies and concert promoters would take notice and copy Porky's Chedwick's formula, creating the billion-dollar "oldies" rock and roll nostalgia industry which thrives still today. Porky Chedwick has been recognized on the floor of the United States Senate for his pioneering contributions to radio and rock and roll (and countless times around Pittsburgh, including a day-long 50th anniversary oldies concert called "Porkstock," in 1998 at Three Rivers Stadium) and was among a group of radio disc jockeys honored in the "Dedicated to the One I Love" exhibit at Cleveland, Ohio's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, in 1996. He's the only Pittsburgh DJ to be recognized in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At age 88, Chedwick celebrated his 58th anniversary on the air at Hall of Fame's Alan Freed Radio Studio on August 12, 2006. He began his career at WHOD in Homestead (which took the call letters, WAMO--an acronym for the rivers Allegheny, Monongehela and Ohio--in 1956), when the low-power (dawn to dusk) AM signed on, August 1, 1948. No Specks Howard graduate here, (he’s a Munhall High grad!), Porky replied to a want ad for a sports announcer! Success with original gig won him a ten minute radio spot of his own. His mainly youthful, white listeners dug his rhymes and patter; as well as the music, of course!--Most had no idea he was a white guy! In spite of WHOD's low wattage (1,000 watts) Porky became Pittsburgh's "Pied Piper of Platter." It didn’t take long for the predominately Black music labels to hear about Porky and sending him records by the hundreds. According to the response of Porky’s audience, he played the new stuff or not—Payola (a norm at most stations of the time) was never a consideration; if the Pittsburgh kids, Porky’s “Movers & Groovers” dug it, The Bossman kept it in the rotation along with the oldies. The “dusty discs” still were the majority of tunes on his show, though. The aforementioned Jimmy Beaumont and Bo Diddley aren’t the only R&B/R&R legends to credit Porky for early (and usually first) airplay, Smokey Robinson and many, many more give similar thanks and praise. The listeners are pretty much unanimous in crediting The Platter Pushin’ Poppa for hipping them to “The Thing” that made Pittsburgh the Oldies Capitol of the World and his listeners the hippest ever, by making Pittsburgh, PA a testing ground for our music. His accomplishments are boundless contributions to our culture.
