Joe Gallagher - 62WHEN Radio Midday Air Personality
Syracuse, NY

"In His Own Words"

“Those were the days my friends, those were the days.” 62 WHEN was a terrific station to work for. Great people, great signal, and great promotions. Add that up and your total is great ratings with great community service.

My first contact from WHEN came by phone from our very talented production director Bruce Siegel. After all that interview stuff, I remember starting at WHEN in April of 1980 (I was recommended to WHEN by Mike Neff, the program director at WGY radio. I eventually worked for Mike at WGY, and still work weekend mornings there). Where was I…oh yeh, I remember starting at WHEN in April of 1980. I had to call Jay Flannery on the air and tell him that I had a lot of money to give away in downtown Syracuse. The idea was that I was not to identify myself. I was a mystery man. And that I would be there on such and such a day. On the announced morning, there were a lot of people waiting for my arrival. Also, many looking out the windows from various office buildings (I specifically remember the MONY building), and I proceeded to hand out a few hundred dollars. I was accompanied by General Manager Bob Carolin (extraordinary guy to work for) and Promotion Director Cindy Thomason (Cindy was great and I remember her calling me a few days before my arrival in Syracuse to tell me that the area, on average, only received 57 days of sunshine a year. I immediately call Bob and resigned…just kidding). One of the television stations came by and soon realized it was a radio station promotion. But it was a great start to my 2 ½ years at the Syracuse Entertainer.

It was a privilege to work with the talented crew at WHEN. The weekday crew were Ray Diorio, me and my pal “Marge,” Jay Flannery (a real coo-coo) his pal “Wrinkles, Dick O’Neil, and Peter King (yes, the same Peter King who now is on CBS Radio). Plus we had a great lineup of part-timers. The news team was the best: Bill Carey, Jeff Scheidecker, Jules Coleman, Dan Cummings, Tony Rizzo, and more great people. I am going to stop there because I will leave someone out and I do not want to do that. A terrific group, all in all. (Editor's note - please understand that Joe’s mind is apparently going bye-bye.)

We had a ton of fun playing softball. I remember one time Vic Johnson, (now Will Johnson in Seattle) was playing the outfield and ran after a fly ball which took him over a slight rise in the field. He did not come back, so we all went out to search for him. I believe he fell into a swamp of some sort. He was fine. Also during warm ups for a WHEN softball game, I chased a fly ball and went over a small cliff and landed in a creek. My teammates thought I was dead (they were already discussing my on-air replacement). I wasn’t. And I still had the ball in my glove. I also received quizzical looks from the umpire and opposing team as my pants were soaked, as a result of the fall, for most of the game.

Oh, and we had a great sales team. I still hear from Ed McKee.

"Captain Scott King, WHEN Air Traffic." Who could forget those great traffic reports? He certainly added a lot of class to the station. He would take me flying with him from time to time. I now have my private pilot’s license.

I said goodbye to WHEN in October of 1982 for a job in Buffalo. The entire WHEN staff was terrific. I consider it an honor to have worked at 62. A great crew and a great city!

(I would like to commend Jay Flannery (the real coo-coo - mentioned earlier and a nice guy) for the great job he has done putting this website together.)

Note: I did not bring up the fact that I was named (by the JG Foundation) the MVP of every softball game we played in. A great honor. However, I am not one to brag. My best to all, it was a great experience – one I will never forget.

Where's Joey G. today you say? Look here!