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My work at WPIX was studio/office work so I can't add anything to the live show stories. Although I remember Jane Hamburger was really pissed off at the Buzzcocks for what she described as bad and rude behavior.
My favorite recollection of WPIX is when I was recruited as board op for Frank Zappa's stint as Guest DJ. As I recall, it was on or around Thanksgiving. The year was probably 1979. He'd pulled a stack of records he wanted to play. (The only cut I remember playing is "Jerry and the Holograms." And maybe "Money" by the Flying Lizards. )
I sat at the board in the main studio and he sat next to me at the mike. He didn't just intro a song and cue me to play it. Instead, he'd hand me a record and after it played for 30 seconds, he'd hand me another that I'd have to cue up as fast as I could so that he could create his amazing musical montage. The pace was unreal. It went on like that for hours, with breaks here and there. Frank did PSA's and everything. At the end of the show, he gave me a huge bear hug, lifiting me off the floor! I recall that Program Director Joe "from Chicago" Piasek took some heat from WPIX management for putting on such bizarre programming on a "sacred" day.
My impression of Frank Zappa was that he was a brilliant guy who did not demand of others anything more than what he demanded of himself. It was definitely the hardest but most fun and rewarding thing I ever did in radio. I'd love to get an aircheck, if it exists.
Another fond memory is when the B-52's came up to the studio and I was charged with "babysitting" them until it was time for an on-air interview. It amazed me how naive and small-town they seemed. They spent the whole time in the music library, scouring the stacks for Motown records.
I haven't spoke to Megless since shortly before I moved to Seattle in 1989.
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