Remembering Dick Biondi on WLS

I still adore Dick Biondi and can fondly recall listening to his D.J. broadcast on WLS-Chicago. I often would lie in bed at night with my little Rocket Crystal Radio's speaker in my ear. Sometimes, at night, it could pull in faraway rock music, including WLS, with the incomparable Biondi's zany commentary and cool music. My crystal radio required no power source and had one wire for an antenna that I clipped to the steel chain of my cast iron horse's bridle and another for the earpiece. To find a radio frequency, I would move the rocket's nose cone very slowly until its carbon rod receiver flooded my brain with Biondi's music and dialogue. I often fell asleep listening to the music. Later, my electronic whiz, Uncle Gordon, visited and gave me my own transistor radio, a Heathkit he assembled that ran on six 'D' cell batteries. It offered better sound and channel tuning without needing an ear jack. I often wish Dick’s program would be available today. Those were special times.

 Three years ago, I published my first book, Distant Dreamer. It is about two teen boys who get a summer job as assistant guides, working in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) of northern Minnesota. The boys face rough portages, learn camp cooking from an incarnate French-Canadian voyageur, and are trained to be fishing guides. They work for an Ely, MN, wilderness outfitter who has set up a backcountry experience for a group of clients with disabilities. I bring my own experiences into the novel with the incredible influence of our first male teacher at the venerable Quinnesec School.  The two excerpts below are fictionalized accounts of myself and a classmate as they rested in the outfitter bunkhouse before their first BWCAW trip begins. They are based on my memories of listening to The Man, Dick Biondi.

Excerpt 1:

 Mark had noticed a radio antenna atop the bunkhouse roof.   He checked behind the radio and found a wire connected to the antenna screw then snaked up the wall into the ceiling. This just might allow him to bring in stations far away!  He moved the tuner arrow directly to his old favorite oldies station 970KC, WLS in Chicago.  All at once, he hit a clear channel and heard a very familiar and welcome voice, Dick Biondi!  Biondi was a maverick D.J. on WLS.  He was often in trouble because of his on-air comments, but his loyal fans loved him because he played the best music.

“Yahoo!" Mark shouted.  "We are in high clover, my man!"

                Mark turned up the volume and adjusted the bass level, just as the next platter began to spin on Biondi’s magic turntable.  Clear as a bell came Elvis' rich voice belting out Heartbreak Hotel. The large speakers, which filled the bottom of the console, had a sound like a Wurlitzer jukebox. As Elvis sang, the room vibrated and they both began gyrating in their version of American Bandstand.

Excerpt 2:

    After chatting awhile about their day and the coming trip, Mark got up and wandered over to the old Zenith radio. His finger turned the massive volume knob. After the initial humming faded, it was replaced by the strains of WLS, Chicago's golden oldies station.  The beginning notes of one of the greatest duos, The Righteous Brothers' Unchained Melody, pulsed wonderfully through the big bass speakers.  Both of them lay back to enjoy it with the lights out.  Except for the soft glow from the lighted radio dial, darkness prevailed. The old hit songs flowed magically, along with zany commentary from Dick Biondi. The Tokens sang The Lion Sleeps Tonight, while Bob and Mark hummed along with the strange, primitive lyrics.  It may have been their only hit song.   “One-hit wonders” were common in the ‘50s and ‘60s.  There was more opportunity for an unknown singer to break into the pop charts, unlike the present where fewer “name” artists monopolized the music. Mark had followed some of the singers’ success stories, such as how Elvis Presley cut his first record while employed as a truck driver.  His meteoric success as “The King” forever changed rock and roll.   Another unusual success was Rick Nelson.  He had his start as a young boy on a TV sitcom, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.   This was his real family!  Rick and brother Dave Nelson and their parents were a weekly series hit.  Rick would always play his guitar and sing during the episodes.   It was appropriate that the next song featured Rick Nelson’s hit, Poor Little Fool.

    With a maestro of spinning discs of rock and roll music and the influence of my innovative, creative role model teacher in Ray Mariucci as my life guides, my future was well-plotted. I write from the heart and try to infuse my characters with some of the marvelous attributes I gleaned from these extraordinary life mentors. I will always be in their debt.  

Barry D'Alberto     

No Fear of Heights

Guest blogger Connie Jeffrey wrote this poem in 2014. She says, “Dick is every bit as much appreciated and thought of today as always.”

All his life he’s known about airwaves
Reaching so far
There’s no limit to his imagination
He climbs so high

Skipping school he climbs the radio tower
Boldly signs his name at the top
He must know bending rules
Being his own self, will get him everywhere.

He loves ladders
And climbs the 105 ft fire ladder now
Incorrigible, finding the rush of air again

He stands at the edge of a high buildings roof ledge
And there’s no more natural place
He should be, seeing everything

Somehow it seems it’s more than
No fear of heights
You can’t keep a brilliant DJ
A skilled talker down

Just like music
He’s going to soar in the world
Every time.

The First Time I Heard Dick Biondi on the Radio

I was 12 years old in the spring of 1960 when I turned on the radio to listen to the Farm Report on WLS.  For almost 40 years the Prairie Farmer station had featured recipes, hog calling contests, the Saturday night National Barn Dance, and other homespun entertainment for the farm community. But on May 2,1960 the Prairie Farmer vanished, and in its place was a new 24-hour Top 40 station known as The Bright New Sound.  Loyal listeners got the shock of their lives, but for Baby Boomers like me, it was the answer to our prayers.  At last we had our own music station and cool deejays known as the Swinging Seven—and they were playing OUR music! Radio historian Scott Childers of WLSHistory.com recalls the ruckus it caused.

“They would get calls from people saying,  “What’s this Elvis Presley, and all this crazy rock ’n roll on the air?”

And who was this new voice that came blaring out of my transistor radio?

“This is the Wild I-Tralian, Dick Biondi!” 

Dick Biondi was so unique, so goofy, and so sincere, I was instantly hooked! From that night on, I was glued to my transistor radio from 9-midnight listening to the Wild I-Tralian slurp his coffee, sing off key, and crack corny knock knock jokes.  And later I started a fan club for him.  I’d never heard anyone so outrageous, and so exciting as the self proclaimed, “world’s ugliest disc jockey.” 

While we kids loved him, Biondi was our parents’ worst nightmare. This screaming wild man was keeping children awake on school nights.  Some banned him.  Others threatened to withhold batteries. But nothing could stop the waves of youthful listeners from hiding transistors under our pillows, pretending to be asleep, afraid we might miss a moment of Biondi’s crazy antics.

 “And it was not just in Chicago,” says former WLS disc jockey Bob Sirott.  “All across the country kids grew up listening to Dick Biondi.” 

Dick was so popular that in 1961 his boyhood dream came true and he became the most listened to disc jockey in America. I met Dick that year, and it was the beginning of a 50 year friendship that led to my decision to make a movie about it. 

I’ll never forget the excitement, the fun, and the joy that was and still is Dick Biondi. And it all started the moment I heard his voice on the radio. A year later I’d meet the famous Dick Biondi at a local shopping center. But I’ll save that story for another time.

Pamela Enzweiler-Pulice is Director of the independent documentary film about the legendary radio personality. “The Voice That Rocked America: The Dick Biondi Story” is streaming on Amazon Prime and major streaming platforms.  Learn more at www.DickBiondiFilm.com.

Endicott, NY "Home of the Square Deal"

Written by Chuck Parr

I grew up in the same area of upstate New York as Dick Biondi.  It was known as the Triple Cities. Endicott - Johnson City - Binghamton.  Home to Rod Serling.   Where IBM was born in 1914.  A place of many shoe factories during the first half of the last century.  

I was born around the year that Dick ventured off on his long and lustrous Radio Rock&Roll career.  I never met Dick until decades later at one of his location broadcasts in my current hometown of St Charles IL.   

The area where Dick and I grew up was a magnet for Italians and Slavic and Ukrainian immigrants at the turn of the last century.  Many came to work the shoe factories    Hard work.   Good work.  Dirty work.  Stinking work tanning animal hides.   Cutting, trimming, polishing.   A company who treated employees like family, Endicott Johnson ( EJ Shoes) was founded there.  They provided very nice leisure facilities for their employees to enjoy on their Sunday day off.  Swimming pools.   Carousels.   Band Shells.  Ball Parks.   Good housing.   Company picnics.  It was idyllic when the factories boomed through the 1950s.  

People who grew up there learned a certain ethic - treat people right.   Be fair.   Work hard.  Get  paid fairly for your work.    

Along the main thoroughfares of the towns where EJ factories were located the company erected large Arches that reminded employees each day that they lived and worked in an area that was known as the "Home of the Square Deal". 

Those were the kind of people I grew up with.    Who I went to school with.  Who I worked with on summer jobs.  Hard working fair minded and good humored.  

Rolling the calendar Back to the summer of 1969, I was working in a well known restaurant in the triple cities , The Endwell House, earning college money for my sophomore year.  

The summer weekend of Woodstock I was washing pots & pans and dishes and scrubbing kitchen floors and cleaning grease traps in a kitchen run by a strong minded woman named "Rosie".  She was a firm but fair woman.   When she told you to do something you did it and never asked why or delayed.   She was robust when she laughed.  She was silent when angry and burned a hole right through you.  She taught me all the useful Italian swear words and expressions I still use til today.  

We heard about Woodstock. Saw the TV pictures.   Heard the radio news.   We even knew some people who trekked that weekend.   They all got wet and muddy and high.   We joked ..."what fools!"  We knew the better place to be  that weekend was making people nice meals and catering to people enjoying  their evening out or during a weekend brunch.   

Rosie Biondi knew how to work hard ...how to be fair ...how to laugh ...how manage a kitchen ...how to raise a good son cut from the same cloth!   SHE WAS THE REAL DEAL!

Jim Peterik & The Wild I-Traliano

When long time fan and friend of Dick Biondi Pam Pulice first asked me if she could interview me on camera for a documentary she was planning on the life and times of Dick Biondi- I couldn't say "yes" quick enough!

Dick was an important part of my rock & roll life growing up in the south western suburb of Berwyn, Illinois.  

Even before I joined the Shondels (eventually to become The Ides of March) Dick was my rock & roll home companion.  Beside choosing all my favorite songs to play, his slightly rebellious sense of humor added a rascal's edge to his between song banter. He was "one of us."

When the Ides had our first hit in 1966 we heard it first on Dick's show coming through the dashboard of Mike Borch's Chevy station wagon as we were pulling into Larry's parents house to unload our equipment after playing a Morton West sock hop. "This is Dick Biondi, the wild Itralliano with a new one from a local band that's going all the way- The Ides of March with You Wouldn't Listen!" His clear tenor speaking voice cut through the Berwyn night air as we tooled down Cermak Road with the windows rolled down making sure that every car on the road could hear our debut single. 
We would run into Dick after that often as he'd emcee teen dances we would play all over Chicagoland.  We always had a blast and even sang On Top Of A Pizza onstage together. (but we learned never to ask him to play tambourine- he has absolute no sense of rhythm!). 
Through the years we always stayed in touch even getting together with him when he moved his show to a station in Myrtle Beach. 
Over the last ten years he has joined the Ides to celebrate the Catholic Mass at Chicago's Holy Name Cathedral on Christmas Eve by invitation from Father (now Monsignor) Dan Mayall- our dear friend and faithful Ides fan. (He and Dick would show up at countless Ides shows!)
At the 6 o'clock mass the Ides would perform 2 or 3 Christmas originals (we premiered Sharing Christmas there on our very first year). Dick would always speak from the heart about the true meaning of Christmas. "Happy holiday-ha!  I never knew a Saint named Holiday. It's Merry Christmas!!"
Afterwords the entire Ides family would go down the block to Buca Debeppo along with Dick and his wife Maribeth and father Dan. Dick and I made it a ritual to always have a private martini toast. It was our well known secret. 

One of my fondest memories is of Dick & Maribeth joining me and Karen and our son Colin at our place in Saugtuck Michigan. It was an idyllic 3 days with great food, great drink and even better conversation including a barefoot walk on the shores of Lake Michigan with Dick as we grilled each other on rock record trivia (artist, name of song, highest chart position, year of release, color of label, what label, what flip side etc etc.)  I'd hold my own but he'd always win. Then he would hold court after dinner regaling us with stories of all the celebs he had the pleasure to know, from Elvis to the Beatles to Freddie Boom Boom Canon. Such a wealth of knowledge. 
We are planning another trip with Dick and Maribeth summer of '17. 

When I saw the excellent trailer for the new Dick Biondi documentary I got even more excited because now the whole world can take a peek into the life of a radio legend. Pam Pulice and her talented team are just the folks to do it.  Best of luck!  Here's hoping that everyone opens their hearts (and wallets!) to help her make a legend come to life.  Much love. Jimbo




Rock on!!  Jimbo

Dick Biondi Believed in Us

The long-standing friendship between Dick Biondi and Carl Giammarese is one of mutual respect and regard based on love of hometown Chicago, the music and life stemming from the 1960s rise of hometown natives moving up on radio charts, propelled strongly by WLS radio as one of the major champions of hits by The Buckinghams and so many others. 

Carl said recently, “Because Dick Biondi believed in us, because he respected Carl Bonafede, and because he had a gift for making people believe in who he believed in, we owe him great thanks for making 50,000 Watts of power available to hometown Chicago guys with dreams. Our families have been great friends for decades and one of my favorite times of the year is Christmas, when Dick does his annual toy drive for children around town. Susan Rakis faithfully takes photos when I join Dick on air and in the malls each Christmas. We enjoy fans coming up to ask us when we’re going to take our act on the road. We don’t know, but we still like to be asked.”  

Clearly, there’s no better Chicago ambassador to the world than Dick Biondi—his loyalty, love, and commitment to his town is a benchmark for others to follow. He has a heart of gold and everyone should know that! 

This wonderful Dick Biondi Film project is a labor of love by Pam Pulice and her outstanding team that will correctly chronicle Chicago music history, Biondi style, and will share exactly what he did for the music of The Buckinghams, The Shadows of Knight, The Ides of March, The Cryan’ Shames, The New Colony Six, and so many more of “the neighborhood guys in garages and basements.” 

The Cornerstones of Rock Concert, first popular at Chicago’s WTTW-TV, then Ron Onesti’s Arcada Theatre, and now traveling the United States, are as popular as they are because Dick Biondi has talked about these bands 24/7 for now 50 years, throwing all of his heart and soul into it. This Film Project is most worthy of support, at any level we can afford ($5 – $1000); together, our voices of appreciation can be heard, and Dick Biondi’s living legacy will arrive by May, 2018.

Join them today; let your voice be heard. Show your support by making a pledge.

Dawn Lee Wakefield, Publicist for The Buckinghams and freelance writer

MEMOIRS OF A CRAZY KID

To quote from Charles Dickens....

It was the best of times.

Being a kid in the late 50s was special. The rock and roll phenomenon was in full swing, as were Elvis's hips.  Owners of AM radio stations around the country began to realize that there was gold in rock and roll music, and quickly changed their formats to cash in on that fact.

In the late 1950s, I remember listening to WJJD, AM 1160, to hear Gene Vincent, Little Richard, and other up and coming stars of the day. Then, WLS changed its format, and became a "rock" station. It shook up not only Chicagoland, but kids all over the states.  I remember as far back as early 1961 and all the great noise that they made.  It helped change radio forever.

Those earliest memories, at age 11 or 12, were of Bob Hale, Art Roberts, Gene Taylor, Clark Weber, Don Phillips, and many others.  But the guy that always stood out was Dick Biondi.  The Wild I-tralian. The Screamer. Paisan.  I KNEW he was good, because my dad kept yelling at me to turn the volume down.

I remember the crazy jokes. The Pizza Song. The commercials for May Sons and the teen clothing stores that stocked "in" clothing like Levi's and  "A-1 Pegger Jeans". Certain things just seem to leave their marks. The outcome of all of this craziness was that WLS and its staff of talented deejays made us feel GOOD.

I remember the evening I wandered over to the Boys' Club down the street from where I lived, and there was a sock hop going on.  I edged into the crowd, and was surprised and delighted to find that Dick Biondi was DJing the dance!  During a break, I asked for an autograph, but I had no paper. I handed Dick my handkerchief, and he graciously signed it.  The next day, I tried to find it, but my mother had thrown my pants into the washing machine without checking the pockets, and that was the end of my autograph.  I am pleased and proud to say that since that evening, I have amassed more autographs from Dick than I can keep track of, on shirts, record jackets, WLS Silver Dollar Surveys, and what-not.  I will prize every one of them forever.  I'm ashamed of myself for not staying in touch with Dick as much as I should have over the decades, but in the past few years I've gotten out to see him whenever it was possible for me.  It's always nice to see him and all of his loyal followers in person.

The "ratings war" of the mid-60s between WCFL and WLS was a wild ride.  Each was trying to outdo the other, through musical quality, quantity, and craziness of all kinds: WCFL had Chicken Man, the Tooth Fairy, Amazon Ace, Barney Pip, ad infinitum.  WLS had the war between Emperor
Weber and Ron Riley, the Batman Club, and others.  You couldn't leave your radio tuned to either station for very long; you were afraid that if you stayed on one station for too long you'd miss something really cool over on the other one, and vice-versa.  Decisions, decisions. Nothing has changed. Radio stations have always hired the craziest or most interesting people to fit various time slots, in order to capture the largest market share. That's the name of the game.

In 1963, I discovered that there was an atmospheric phenomenon that caused AM radio signals to bounce off the ionosphere and travel many thousands of miles, sometimes around the world. This occurs after local sundown. I would sit up until 4AM listening to not only monster 50-kilowatt stations like KAAY in Little Rock and the mighty CKLW in Windsor, but with some patience and luck I found that I could also pick up squeaky little 250-watt "local" stations in Texas and North Carolina. Again, those nagging decisions.... what to listen to?

In my senior year of High School, I built an FM broadcast transmitter from a project in an electronics magazine. It had very low output, with a range of about 400 feet. Half a city block.  That didn't cut it for me.  So I did what any 18-year old mad scientist would do:  I erected an antenna on my roof, which increased my range a wee bit, to about 1/4 mile.  I hope the FCC isn't reading this. I'd record a "radio show", complete with the music of the era, on a one-hour reel-to-reel tape (remember that stuff?).  Being a huge Beatles fan, the majority of my music was the content of the "White Album" ( I used to love to play that LP backward to hear the story of Paul's "death").  I thought I might become the next Dick Biondi.

Ummm, nope.  No one will ever fill his shoes.

A Gift For Biondi

by Guest blogger Beverly Boynton

The year was 1962.  My sister Pam was sitting on her bed surrounded by wrapping paper and ribbon.  She was jumping out of her skin with excitement as she put the finishing touches on the shiny package.

“Biondi is gonna love it!” she said.

More likely he’ll hate it, I thought. It’s horrible. I had thought so from the moment I saw it at our local Community Discount Store. 

Earlier that day we had been shopping when she spied it. 

“We need to buy this for Biondi,” she said.

We? I was thinking to myself.  Forget about it. He’s your idol not mine.

But Pam was adamant; she pushed me until I caved and chipped in part of my hard earned babysitting money.  Then she ran to the pay phone to call her best friend Joan, another Biondi fanatic who usually accompanied her on their many trips to Chicago to see him.  The following Saturday the two girls made a monumental trip down to the WLS radio station to deliver the gift to Biondi. 

A year later, Dick released his first record-album, Dick Biondi’s Favorites - The Teenagers - and I was shocked. To my surprise, there on the cover was Dick, sitting in his convertible, surrounded by teenagers, wearing that hideous wild, sweater that we had given him.

Pam still has that album in her collection and the other day when I picked it up and looked at the picture of Dick on the cover I chuckled to myself and thought, 

Gee, I actually like that sweater. My sister was right. It screams Dick Biondi.

Bobby Rydell

Hey Bobby Rydell fans! Tickets are still available for Rydell's show at the Arcada Theatre Box office. Visit Arcada's site to avoid being led astray to costly sites at arcadalive.com/events/bobby-rydell/. 

We'll be at the show on November 26 at 8:00 P.M. This is a rare opportunity and I am hoping to interview one of my all time favorite teen idols for The Dick Biondi documentary. Bobby rocks!

One Year Ago

One year ago today, Dick Biondi moved to weekends at 947 WLS FM!I It has been a joy hearing Dick bright and early ... and we look forward to many more years of listening to our favorite deejay! Congratulations Dick! Don't ever stop. We love you!

Thanks Ted!

Thanks Ted Gordon Smucker for sharing Eye on Michiana's piece on The Spaniels. At our very first shoot for The Dick Biondi Film we were honored to meet original founding member Billy Shelton of The Spaniels at a Dick Biondi hop in Whiting, Indiana. For many years Dick closed his show with their famous song Goodnite Sweetheart Goodnight.