But where exactly was WQMR/WGAY on Kemp Mill Road... so much time has passed... but detective Bob Bell did this splendid research!
Celebrating a radio station that started as a personality-driven 1,000 watt daytimer, that switched to the back-to-back 'beautiful music' format, that was a HUGE success, all LOCAL talent, and provided listeners with many years of Quality Music Radio listening!
First thanks to visitors who learned of this station as well as veterans who found a few of us thought what they did on the radio was damned good. The structure was rigid, but that allowed for quarter hour segments (OK, less than 15 minutes, let's say 12 or 13 when station ID's, PSA, promotions and of course spot loads peaked).
There is no material I can add, and where history is concerned, there simply is no more to be found. My most sincere thanks to all who have contributed stories and pix... and music that went with the identity of the station. I can't expand into the "custom music" era - I don't know it and was not interested in it. This site was to celebrate the "2-turntable planned quarter segment pioneers" at the end of the 50's through the mid 70's, where in my humble opinion, the brilliant quality sound gave way to "custom music" which was never the same - to me - in inspiration as the Faith/Winterhalter/Shearing/Johnny Gregory/Henry Mancini and hundreds of other artists who got into the "popular music for orchestra" boom that made the "beautiful music" format possible. I could add a few emails but don't want to get into that. Emails are private unless agreed to be otherwise.
It's be gratifying to hear now and then from younger listeners who remark/know that radio once meant something. MUSIC. Stations knowledgeable about the MUSIC they played - what a concept. Think of Felix Grant at WMAL - will we ever have a treasure like he gave us with his knowledge of music? I don't think so. I seem to recall the strict format (musical clusters, no DJ banter) drew negative comments in the press, such as the WaPo.
The station used to run promos that they received, more than anything else, letters and postcards (this was pre-social networking, ya know) with one common theme - DON'T CHANGE. They had to change, thought they did so with great care under the direction of Bob Chandler, who was also producer of some good tracks from England as the recording of music for radio stations on a request basis was really expensive. They had to do this because the originals were dying off, and there were effectively no heirs, it was a rock music world, Chandler and friends tried to make the best of that through use of the International Beautiful Music Association where geographically non-competing station could share some of the expense; and there WERE some good tracks, a lot of them done by Johnny Gregory, and for me, some very unsatisfactory tracks as well; at least they were instrumental. An ex-Bonneville employee told me that for the last two years of their orchestral rock cover stage, ONLY custom music was broadcast. Yup, fifty flavors of Muskrat Love indeed.
Beautiful music lives on, if you get cable Phil Stout does a tremendous job and on satellite I believe there is still a beautiful music channel programmed by Mariln Taylor on XM/Sirius. By all means if you enjoy their quality music let the corporate poopies know, as no doubt, would much rather have nothing but rock. So much easier than to devote a channel that was at one time quite mainstream and enjoyed by a loyal listening public like me.
It was a great time, it's long been dropped, no one I know of has picked it up for terrestrial radio (another domino block soon to fall, I think, as over the air continues to rot, and the internet both wired and wireless, and satellite devices are happy to fill the void. Analog television is gone - perhaps analog radio is not far behind.
I've run across some internet "stations" but can't quite say they carry on any tradition that we spoke of here, lots of pop and lots of vocals and pops. Standards and showtune derivatives aren't found, or if they are, they are "updated" formats crammed full o' vocals... Everyone who knows me knows how I feel about vocals; meant to be rarely played on this format. Once an hour or less let Vic Damone or someone belt out a tune.
Or, radio as we know it "over the air" can go dark; after all that might free up spectrum for iPHONES and the like.
Thank you - everyone! From 1,100 miles away - Bill Halvorsen (lived the first 53 years entirely within MoCoMD).
Memories? Do you remember the Bernie Harrison Show? How about way back in the pre-stereo days, The Secret Sound Game? I'm not sure when the feature ran, but remember never coming close to recognizing the "secret sounds." Must have been 1963 or 1964-ish. Notice in the newspaper ad (above) (for Bernie Harrison's show) WQMR was mentioned as both AM and FM, a tad misleading, FM was WGAY. This was all a long time ago, and though I'd like more details on the WQMR "flip" when CBG bought the station, the information is not easy to find and memories conflict (especially mine). Back to Bernie Harrison for a second - though this ad is from the WaPo, wasn't his newspaper column in the long-forgotten Washington Star?
The Complete WQMR Concerto (windows media format)
click to see more SIGHTS and hear some SOUNDS of our beloved WQMR and WGAY (in fine print, but it was there for those who wanted static-free listening after SUNSET) ... and WMAL clips
Above to the right, WGAY in its Wheaton, Maryland post-war building (1947 I think, here pictured in the early 50's with the WGAY-mobile) that was largely untouched until the move to Silver Spring, which began in 1965... 11306 Kemp Mill Road, Wheaton, Maryland, phone WHitehall6-1050! In 1960 the WGAY calls in the picture became WQMR (WGAY was put back on the building on another angle, see the brochure picture in the "sights" link). This site is all about a radio station from long ago that existed in an entirely different environment. Radio used to be an exciting medium. Radio now is talk shows and shock jocks. I prefer to live in the past, so join me during your visit here!
a broadband connection is required to enjoy this site
double-click to see the real pictures, this will open up in the photo-viewing app associated with your browser! After viewing the full-sized picture, be sure to BACK ARROW in your browser, if you click the "red X" your browser will likely close!
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