This shot was taken at a WTIT party during the summer of 1973. In the fall, they left to tour the country together. Billy returned and Johnnie stayed in Colorado for quite a while.
Bud was a DJ at WILI and Ed at WDRC (as Ed Mitchell) when this photo was taken. Ed became the "voice" of WTIT (program aids & show openers) in 1973. Rod Allen had moved to Alaska, although most of his announcing work stayed with WTIT through the eighties. Bud also asked Ed to cut openers & aids for WILI. Bud had no idea if the station would use Ed's recorded promos, but thhe management loved them. At that particular time WILI & WTIT sounded a lot alike.
Rod Ewing of WDRC introduced Bud Weiser to a guy named Al Conrad. Al also had a Tape Radio station. Al had a state-of-the-art recording studio. Two of WTIT's announcers (Rod Ewing and Ed Scarborough, both of WDRC) recorded a lot of show openers and program aids in the WNR studio in Simsbury. Bud, Gary and Billy recorded WTIT's year end Countdown show's of the years top music for several years at Al's studio. While Al never appeared on WTIT, Al asked Bud to do two versions of the year end Countdown 1973, one for WTIT and one for WNR. We haven't hear from Al since the late 80's, but he has had a professional recording studio for years in Hartford.
This was Miles' first recording at WTIT. Normally we do not "debut" a DJ at a WTIT Event. The only other time has happened was on Tape 500, Harvey Walbanger's debut. Sally was Miles' first wife and they met at a WTIT party.
In 1971 Rod Ewing became a good friend of mine. He was the first "pro" DJ to record show openers and promos for WTIT. Here Rod is at a mutual friend's (Al Conrad) recording studio cutting the bits. His recordings were used for over ten years.
Killer Joe was one of the original five DJs. While he did not "join" the DJs until 1968, he was heard on WTIT Tape Radio Shows almost from the start of WTIT. The original five DJs were:
Bud Weiser, Bouncing Billy, Galloping Gary, Killer Joe and Johnnie Walker.
Bull Durham was part of the Kingswood DJs that recorded at WTIT in the late sixties and early seventies. It was at Bull's house we recorded the WTIT Marathon in 1968.
The majority of the photos of the original DJs at WTIT were taken in black & white in 1970. Galloping Gary took most of the pictures, since it was his film and camera. Killer Joe was trying to do his job when Gary approached.
Teddy Q. is another of the Kingswood DJs. He recorded on WTIT in the late 60's & early 70's. Ted returned for both our "10th Year Party" in 1976 and WTIT's 20th Anniversary Party in 1987.
It took a lot of attempts before we got this shot the way we wanted it. Gary knew we had screwed it up already and was pointing out the mistake. This shot is more commonly used because the serious shot, as you'll see is damaged.
Bud in the Soby Drive Studio. The reel-to-reel tape deck was actually Johnnie Walker's because WTIT's was on the fritz. The mono tape deck, behind Bud, was WTIT's first recorder. By 1970, we used it for jingles. Today, everything is on one computer. We haven't recorded on an actual tape, since 2000.
This is the actual photo taken in 1970. The version in our WTIT.net "Year by Year" Photo Gallery is enhanced through air brushing. From left: Johnnie Walker, Galloping Gary, Bud Weiser, Bouncing Billy, Killer Joe
On the day we took the WTIT DJ first staff photo shoot. As previously noted, most of the shoot was photographed by Johnnie's college buddy, Chuck. We worked a lot of hours. Toward dusk on a day in the summer of 1970. Bud Weiser was taking a "smoking" break toward the end of the day's photo sessions.
During the summer of 1970, Johnnie Walker brought home a friend from the college he attended in Florida. His name was Chuck. We called him "Chuck's Gonna Sing It" because of the 3 Dog Night album "Live at the Forum". At the begining of the song "One", a member states "Here's a song and Chuck's Gonna Sing It". Chuck sat in on all the WTIT recordings that summer, but did not utter a word. Chuck's contribution (& it was major) was to be as a photographer. All the black & white photos of the orginal five members, that summer, were shot by Chuck's Gonna Sing It. Thanks Chuck!
Bud Weiser with his girlfriend Sally. Sally appeared in the WTIT film "The Soldier". In 1969, WTIT DJs girlfriends did a WTIT Tape Radio show without us present. Along with Sally, were Jill (who was dating Gary), Sue (Joe's girlfriend) and Carol (Johnnie's girlfriend).
This picture above is the only remaining picture from our first year as a WTIT DJ photo shoot.
Recently a picture of Bud dated May 3, 1967 surfaced on his way to a formal dance. The shot below of Billy is from a 1966 school photo.