Customer Reviews

Radio Daze: Stories from the Front in Cleveland's FM Air Wars

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"Radio Daze" is like looking back into a time portal of recent history packed with behind the scene info and details of the legendary radio station.
Olszewski paints an easy to read and interesting portrait of WMMS, its owners, management and DJ's. His non-stop tapestry of employee's mixed with stories of some of the original rockers are both interesting and entertaining.
WMMS was the dominant radio station of its time in the Cleveland, Ohio area and was co-existing in a parallel complimentary world of rock music. Riding the airwaves of some of the greatest rock bands ever to emerge out of the musical creative times of the 60's and early 70's.
Ambitious undertakings seemed to be prevalent with the youthful WMMS management, and from my observations they weren't following any recommended guidelines on building a brand name. In a parallel universe the early WMMS management team would have been likened to a band of swashbucklers under the Jolly Roger. Marconi would turn over in his grave if he new of the amount of time this troop spent irritating the other radio stations with Gestapo like tactics to bring in ratings. After reading some of the excerpts in "Radio Daze" I was a little afraid to turn the radio on fearing retaliation.
Some of the highlights: How the radio stations personal helped promote some of the new breed of rockers with radio airplay and marketing promotions. How the WMMS management were very influential in orchestrating a campaign to acquire votes to bring the "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" to Cleveland. The seemingly constant shifting of DJ personal [including nicknames] various antics, egos and a mind set where even sabotage was not out of the question.
This book is not filled with off the shelf information, but valid details from someone who was there. Olszewski does a great job of blending 1st person knowledge and then writes from the 3rd person. With his writing abilities and his descriptive style he makes you feel like he's talking to you over a hamburger, fries and a beer. The author definitely has the "worn out shoes" when it comes to his credentials and knowledge base for acquiring information for this multifaceted book.
He has the exclusive rights to exclaim "The World Premier" of books about the birth of FM radio in Cleveland Ohio.

I remember walking into the penthouse of the Statler Hilton hotel on a chilly night in October 1971. I was a young antiwar protestor delivering leaflets to fledgling prog rocker WNCR. As I walked into the control room, I was intrigued by the ambience. Loud music blared from the large Electro Voice speakers mounted above the Gates Stereo Statesman console. Behind the mic was a bearded cat by the name of Jeff Gelb. He was really cool and allowed me to hang out with him. I ended up becoming an intern and fetched coffee and answered phones for Lyn Doyle's "People's Night on the Radio" show. A week or two after I started, my first cousin, Carolyn Thomas walked in. I asked her what she was doing there and she asked me the same question! It turned out that she was working overnights!! (I also found out that Doyle was my cousin by marriage). After WNCR moved to the Stouffer Building around December 1971, interns were exiled and I moved to WMMS working with Billy Bass and David Spero for a few months. It was amazing to watch them work. I ended up back at WNCR in February of 1972 and had a chance to run the board and "ride gain" for Carolyn and Lee Andrews on occasion. Those days were magical and I ended up in radio myself for over 20 years, working at stations in LA and Cleveland. If you want to relive those times, this is the book to read...

If you ever listened to FM radio during the 70's and 80's this is a book for you. I expected a textbook but instead got a wonderful ride through the FM radio ages. It doesn't matter what city you were in, this story is for everyone. Remember when radio had a personality? This will refresh your memory. Top 40 died and a new age was created, one that has flourished, made superstars out of bar bands, legends out of local stars. All the stories are here...you will ENJOY!!

This book is an easy read and has some great stories in it. I was lucky enough to have been around radio in those days, in particular WMMS(though I never worked there, but my uncle was the PD) and this book brought back some great memories. It really shows the passion Cleveland had for it's Rock and Roll and it's radio. It is a great commentary on the greatness that TRUE competition can harbor. Nice job Mike.

Mike Olszewski blows the Buzzard myth wide open, then ties the
shrapnel back up into one tidy little package. Fun, informative, a great read!