WGVL FM 105 Tribute Page

02/09/2023

Remembering the many concerts Jimmy played in Gainesville. RIP Jimmy Buffett.

21/08/2023

Astrophysicist Brian May explaining how an ample female gluteus Maximus effects the rotation of the earth!

06/08/2023

This happened the same day WGVL FM became WYKS Kiss 105.

27/07/2023

Rest in Peace, Randy Meisner of the Eagles.

Randy was one of the nicest, sweetest, most talented, and funniest guys I’ve ever known. It breaks my heart to hear of his passing. His voice stirred millions of souls every time he sang Take It To The Limit. The crowd would EXPLODE with cheers and applause. We had some wild and wicked fun memories together, brother. God bless you Randy for bringing so many people joy and happiness. RIP, my friend.

30/11/2022

https://variety.com/2022/music/news/christine-mcvie-dead-fleetwood-mac-singer-songwriter-1235445846/

Singer-songwriter-keyboardist Christine McVie, who enjoyed a long tenure in the London-bred band Fleetwood Mac before becoming a key contributor to the group’s multi-platinum success of the late ‘7…

14/09/2022

When this album came out, WGVL had the band visit the station and we held a hatchet throwing contest on the front lawn.

SEPTEMBER 1979 (43 YEARS AGO
Molly Hatchet: Flirtin' with Disaster is released.
# ALL THINGS MUSIC PLUS+ 4/5
# Allmusic 4/5 stars

Flirtin' with Disaster is the second studio album by Molly Hatchet, released in October 1979. It peaked at #19 on the Billboard 200 Top LP's chart. The single of the titles track hit #42 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The cover is a painting by Frank Frazetta entitled "Dark Kingdom."

With Tom Werman once again handling the production, the big boys from Molly Hatchet rolled out their second studio LP, Flirtin' With Disaster, in 1979. Aptly opening with "Whiskey Man", vocalist Danny Joe Brown and company pick-up where they left off on their rebel rockin' self-titled debut album. Proudly wavin' the rebel stars and bars, Hatchet, like their Southern rock brethren, were far removed from the new wave movement of the late seventies. There were no skinny ties sold in gator country. Molly Hatchet kicked-out brawny rollers for the workin' man. Axe slingers Dave Hlubek, Steve Holland and Duane Roland pushed Molly Hatchet throughout the thirty-eight minute Flirtin' With Disaster, which features the hard charged title track, plus the lengthy "Boogie No More", "Gunsmoke", "Long Time", and the party-on closer "Let the Good Times Roll".

__________

While the rest of the world was glorifying The Beatles and surviving the soul explosion, there were numerous hopeful young musicians hanging out and jamming at the Forest Inn on the west side, Greenfield Stables, or downtown at the now defunct Comic Book Club.

While most lay people tend to categorize Southern musicians with the Macon, Muscle Shoals, or Miami empires, the spawning ground for at least five top Southern bands was actually Jacksonville. It’s a well-known fact the very first Allman Brothers Band jam took place there in the park in 1969 and, of course, the rest is history. Such locals as King James Version, Magi, 1%, and Sweet Rooster contributed their formidable array of local talent to form such bands as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Grinderswitch, and .38 Special. These bands went on to carve their niche in the world of rock ‘n roll.

Meanwhile back in Jacksonville, an obscure band called Molly Hatchet was dipping in that talent pool once more, coming up with what some would call the best of the rest, but this unprejudiced observer calls THE BEST. These six guys sat back, observed what their fellow bands were doing and what they weren’t, then hit the road for the obligatory Southern roadhouse/club/bar circuit.

Okay, Molly Hatchet does sound like a strange name for six street-tough, extremely macho Southern boys. The explanation for the name comes from 17th Century Salem where one legendary lady (if one could call her that) named Molly Hatchet would behead her lovers with that hand tool Lizzy Borden made famous. Now the mystery still is what that has to do with these six guys but once you listen to the opening bars of “Bounty Hunter” or such cuts as “Gator Country,” “Big Apple,” etc. you won’t even worry about it anymore.

To get on with our story, the guys paid their dues and were referred to manager Pat Armstrong by .38 Special, whose career, along with Lynyrd Skynyrd, he had helped guide in their formative stages. Armstrong drilled Molly Hatchet until they were ready for the national recording scene. At the end of ‘77, Epic Records quickly snatched up this group, knowing a great band when they hear one.

Molly Hatchet, a band who lives fast, works hard and plays tough…well put it on and decide for yourself!
~ Gail Giddens
__________

REVIEW
Rob Theakston, allmusic
‘
By the time Flirtin' with Disaster reached stores, the Hatchet were already bona fide forces to be reckoned with on the Southern rock circuit, with a fan base nearly on par with contemporaries like Skynyrd and the Allmans (who they covered on their eponymous debut LP). With a Frank Frazetta album cover that clearly sent a message that the band means business -- the business of hard partying and equally as hard rocking -- Flirtin' with Disaster is a 40-minute tour de force spearheaded by a triple guitar attack and the raspy thrillbilly growl of Danny Joe Brown. The album slowly builds from "Whiskey Man" into the classic soul rocker "It's All over All Now" and peaks with the brilliant title track -- largely considered by many to be Hatchet's finest moment committed to analog tape. It's a hard driving rock record, plain and simple with no frills or lofty concepts. Just ten songs designed to keep rocking until the sun comes up over the Florida swamplands. And it does the job better than most of its contemporaries.

TRACKS:
Side one
"Whiskey Man" (Danny Joe Brown, Crump, Hlubek, Holland) – 3:38
"It's All Over Now" (Bobby Womack, Shirley Jean Womack) – 3:40
"One Man's Pleasure" (D. J. Brown, Hlubek, Duane Roland) – 3:24
"Jukin' City" (D. J. Brown, D. Hlubek, S. Holland) – 3:46
"Boogie No More" – 6:08

Side two
"Flirtin' with Disaster" (D. J. Brown, D. Hlubek, B. Thomas) – 5:00
"Good Rockin'" – 3:17
"Gunsmoke" (B. Crump, D. Roland) – 3:11
"Long Time" (D. J. Brown, D. Hlubek, S. Holland) – 3:19
"Let the Good Times Roll" (Brown, D. Hlubek, S. Holland) – 2:56

23/02/2022

Bon Scott on Bagpipes, gotta love it!

AC DC - e mais um classico

17/02/2022

and tv will never catch on either... lol

02/02/2022

Great article about Mike Lowe, a Brevard county radio legend.

Billed as\u00a0Central Florida’s longest-tenured DJ, Lowe is regarded as the only person in Brevard history to take three stations to the top of the ratings.

06/12/2021

https://www.inquirer.com/obituaries/kal-rudman-obituary-radio-quarterback-20211203.html

Uncanny at predicting hits, he was visited by Bruce Springsteen and other stars who wanted to know why their songs were popular or not. "I became extremely famous overnight," Mr. Rudman said in 1994.

30/10/2021

Who would pay to see the “Stoned Beatles”?

17/09/2021

https://www.jacksonville.com/article/20151009/sports/801254905?fbclid=IwAR3nz0lLjlzmEOG5MknbUJ4aeyqIt6Uuepuj-CoCpSCtsed9RlTDOuNPs4I

Half a century after John Lennon gave a rowdy fraternity band its name and Paul Simon helped pen the lyrics that would keep the group on the airwaves for

21/01/2021

WGVL’s biggest competitor in the 70’s was the underground pipeline. It was a progressive rock radio station that was received by plugging your cable TV into a receiver. This station was started in 1975 by former WGVL employees who left in a wage dispute with the owner.

10/01/2021

Alligator article on the sale of WGVL. Of course Irv jumped in his new Porsche and drove to Hawaii on the day of the sale with the $950,000 in his pocket. The station changed to top 40 WYKS- Kiss 105 on August 1, 1981 the same day MTV debuted on cable TV.

13/12/2020

Program log, midnight to 2am, no commercials.

08/12/2020

40 years ago today.

On 8 December 1980 John Lennon was shot five times by 25-year-old Mark David Chapman outside The Dakota, the apartment building in New York City.

30/11/2020

1976 article on the “Quadship” states that true quadraphonic sound won’t be available until 10 years in the future.

30/11/2020

Ad in the Alligator from 1974. A “joint” presentation with WGVL and Couches Electronics Store.

21/11/2020

11/07/2020

Newspaper ad from 1981

06/07/2020

Rest In Peace, Charlie Daniels. Here’s an autographed LP from backstage at the O’Connell Center in 1981. 38 Special opened the show.

19/06/2020

I created this page in 2011 to pay tribute to this radio station that was a big part of our lives in the 1970’s. In 2015 former owner and GM Irv found it. He loved it at first then saw some negative, albeit true, comments about him and threatened to sue. I removed all references to Irv from the page and abandoned it for a while. I have now confirmed that Irv has passed away. You are all now invited back to post your pictures and stories of this great radio station. Lee Arnold, David P. Reaves III, William Jackson Whitehurst, John Brownlee, Chad Dominicis, Will Thacker and anyone else!

19/06/2020

Newly acquired photos of WGVL courtesy of Montana!

21/05/2020

For those who aren’t aware this is Irv Uram former owner and GM of WGVL. He changed his name to Aaron Koppel after returning from Hawaii.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.legacy.com/obituaries/tampabaytimes/obituary.aspx%3fn=aaron-koppel&pid=191687659&fhid=16788

KOPPEL, Aaron 74, of St. Petersburg, died February 24, 2019 at Palms of Pasadena Hospital. No family has come forward. ALife Tribute Gulfport 727-347-5521

20/05/2020

Rest In Peace, Nancy. Nancy started her career working overnights at WGVL as “The dutchess of darkness”. From there she went to 98 Rock in Tampa, WAPE Jacksonville then town to town and up and down the dial. She worked in Philadelphia, Hartford, St. Louis, New Orleans, and Raleigh before ending up at XM radio 80’s on 8. She will be missed.

https://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/196696/radio-personality-and-all-access-veteran-kandy-klu

Everyone at ALL ACCESS sends our deepest condolences to the many friends and family members of KANDY KLUTCH (aka NANCY FROELICH) on her recent passing, as noted on her FACEBOOK page (5/15). She'd had a run of serious health issues over the last year or so. KANDY had worked for some great radio stati...

08/04/2020

Rest In Peace John Prine.
https://youtu.be/HdzdEQOHL_I

2004 Philadelphia Folk Festival

23/03/2020

Updated lyrics from this great tune written by Paul Simon.

08/12/2019

WNEW and WPLJ in New York on 12/8/1980 the night John Lennon died. DJ is Mark Goodman before he joined MTV. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WkI3zW2Unro&t=1605s

Around 5:30 pm that evening, I was on my way to an evening college Physics class when I decided to stop off at a Smoke Shop. I looked at the new issue of Pla...

29/11/2019

WGVL DJ Corky Thomas reviews the album library.

27/11/2019

WGVL DJ’s Corky Thomas and Karl Kaufman

11/04/2019

So sad to hear of former WGVL FM PD and midday jock Andy Preston’s passing. Rest In Peace my friend.

my https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news//local-radio-personality-dies-in-crash-at-lake-park-restaurant%3ftemplate=ampart

Andy Preston, a longtime 98.7 The Gater personality, died Wednesday night.

18/08/2015

Partial listiing of WGVL staff.

Program Directors:

Jackson Whitehurst (1971-1973)

Montana(1975)

Lee Arnold (1976-1977)

David Reeves (1978)

Dave Hand (1978)

John Brownlee (1978-1979)

Andy Preston (1980)

Karl Kaufmann (1980-1981)

DJ's (in addition to PD's above)

Gary Sherman (Part time 1978 - Morning drive and music director 1979-1981)

Bill Harman (evenings 1979-1981)

Nancy (Kandy Klutch) ( overnights 1980-1981)

Richard Scott (afternoon drive 1981)

Steve Russell (news and sports 1980-1981)

Lex Staley

Jim Coniglio (1979-1980)

John Schuster (1981)

John Parks

Lois Allen

Joe St. Peter

Jackson Whitehurst

Cynthia Smith, AM drive, 1976,1977, 7-mid, MD 1978

Leslie Alessandrelli 1976-1977

John Duncan

John Reno

Glenn Morris

Mark Weinkrantz

Jackie Willig (1978)

Julie Zentner (1980-1981)

DJ Dan

Larry Bessler

Carl Turner

Greg Strickland

Frank Thomas (Corky)

Jay Stone

Bob (Storm Roberts) Whalen

Joel Whalen

Chad Dominicis

Dean Goodman

Bishop Cheen

Karen Woolfstead

Sales:

Ken Rehfield

Jack Nason

Julie Van Fossen

Gayle Rollins '78 -'83 - Production director

10/07/2015

Nice article on the career of Legendary AOR radio programmer Lee Arnold, who took the helm of WGVL for a short while and made it the great radio station that it was.
http://www.playlistresearch.com/interviews/leearnold.htm

30/06/2015

Former MD Andy Preston with a memory about the 1980 Eagles/Jimmy Buffet concert. http://m.gaterrocks.com/onair/andy-preston-4515/eagles-jimmy-buffett-flashback-to-jan-13724987/

08/05/2015

In 1980 several WGVL DJ's moved to Jacksonville to start a new album rock station WFYV Rock 105. Here is a pic of the Rock 105 control room.

06/04/2015

One of the many Rock Superbowls in the late 70's and early 80's.

06/07/2014

WGVL board 1979. Photo courtesy of Jim Coniglio.

14/06/2014

Bumper sticker from 1981.

03/04/2014

Lipham Music is closing. They used to sponsor the Lipham Music Hour, an hour of new music on WGVL every Friday 7-9 PM http://www.gainesville.com/article/20140402/ARTICLES/140409896/1183?Title=Iconic-Lipham-Music-closing-April-15

T.H. “Buster” Lipham is retiring and closing the music store his father bought in 1954.