The LuLac Edition #1253, Aug. 2nd, 2010

PHOTO INDEX: THE RECENT WRKC FM EREUNION, FROM LEFT EDDIE SMITH, ATTY. RON UNGVARSKY, JILL KAY USKRAIT WOLLET, PATRICK FADDEN, MRS. JOE ANDRZEJEWSKI, (SEE LULAC MAY 2010 ARCHIVES) YOUR BLOG EDITOR, AL HARVILLA, MRS. TWIG AND MR. TWIG, AKA MR. AND MRS JOHN TWARDZICK OF TAMPA FLORIDA BUT ALSO MOUNTAINTOP, PENNSYLVANIA FOR FOUR WEEKS OUT OF THE YEAR, (PAUL GOTTLIEB, SUE MILLIGAN AND SUE HENRY NOT IN THIS PHOTO) A 1961 TV GUIDE COVER FEATURING MITCH MILLER AND KEN SMITH'S EATERY.

KEN SMITH’S PLACE

Well the news came down last week that State Representative Ken Smith’s Restaurant owned and run by his family will go the way of a Sheriff’s sale. Smith has been trying to keep the place going, even trying to do take out meals but it just wasn’t working. As I mentioned earlier when I worked at Rock 107 Smith’s was a place to have lunch and an early dinner. The demise of the place is still another indication that family owned concerns have trouble staying afloat. All that said, Smith should make some type of effort to get the taxes squared away. As a public servant, it is his obligation.

HILLARY WAS RIGHT?

Got a letter via the e mail machine from GOP National Chair Michael Steele. No he wasn’t inviting me to a strip club but sent me a missive about how right Hillary Clinton was in the ’08 campaign.
This is a hard thing for us to do. We hate to say it, but... Hillary Clinton was right. She was right about Barack Obama. She was right when she said that he wasn't ready to act in a time of crisis; that he didn't have what it took to do the job; that he wasn't ready to be President. It hurts to say it, but Hillary Clinton was right, and if we're going to acknowledge that, then we also have to understand that to stop this part-time president from doing further harm to our country, we can't wait until November. We have to start now.
And the beat goes on. Does that mean Steele wants to draft Hillary?

RKC REUNION

It happened again thanks to the tireless efforts of my King’s classmate Ron Ungvarsky. The Ohio barrister and confidant of Senator Sherrod Brown organized the event with local RKC alumni Eddie Smith. WRKC FM was not only a college radio station that played rock and roll in the 70s and 80s but it had a great deal of community service going out of those radio watts. As a matter of fact an institution started in the 70s by then Brother, now Reverend Tom Carten is still on the air, The radio Home Visitor. The reunion is something I am proud to be associated with and I am very grateful to have been part of that time and place in local broadcasting. If we only knew what we had back then……

MITCH MILLER

This actually relates to WRKC FM. In the 70s I had a propensity for shall we say breaking the format a little. I was under a short leash from Station Managers Bob Manfre, Eddie Smith and later as an alumni returnee Louie Tarone. When I did the first Marathon 22 with Pat Fadden I even tried to sneak it in at 4am but Pat was playing nothing but Beatles and that was fine with me. I think Pat had instructions to distract me with the Fab Four. I don’t know., maybe it was the two days I was employed at WYZZ on Prospect Street in Wilkes Barre but I was just itching to play a Mitch Miller Tune. Never happened but now since I have the blog site and those guys are far away, and Mitch died today at 99, well here goes:

Miller was an executive for Columbia Records, (where he famously banned any type of rock and roll signing young artists like Andy Williams, Tony Bennett and the Ames Brothers) and had a top 10 show in the 60s called “Sing Along With Mitch”.