Rock N' Roll Memory Time
This site is a tribute to George Lorenz and what better way to pay tribute to him than to let his listeners and his biggest fans share their stories of how The Hound influenced, entertained or brought them a measure of pleasure.
Here are the memories we've received posted in order of the most recent received...
Submitted by:
john ellis-allen
From:
sudbury, ontario, canada, canada
Memory:
I remember listening to The Hound Show about 1955 or so. I was living in a tent just beside Algonquin Park in central Ontario, called the Halburton Highlands. I had an old Phillips portable radio, and strung copper wire all around the trees and plugged it in to the radio as an extra antenna. Picked up WKBW on clear nights. The hound's around! I'm rockin on record daddy-o/ from the Zanzibar tavern in Buffalo.... Then I got to hear Elvis Presley for the first time singing Blue Suede Shoes. I'll never forget that night, it was so beautiful outside, and WKBW music floating over the quiet lake breaking the stillness with ROCK AND ROLL. Party on George.
Submitted by:
Marty Angelo
From:
Los Angeles, CA
Memory:
The Hound had such a profound effect on me as a teenager living in Buffalo New York that years later I dedicated a segment of my dance television show "Disco Step-by-Step" to him. The Hound used to have a part of his radio show that he called, "Make it or Break it" where he would play a new song and let his audience call in to say whether they liked it or not. If they did he would add it to his playlist for future on-air use. If they did not like it he broke the record on the air real close to his microphone so you could hear the actual record being smashed to pieces. That really impressed me... and never forgot it... and years later used the same concept on my tv but used my dance couples to decide if they like the record or not. The segment was called, "Make it or Break it" .... see attached YouTube video... in the video description*** I mention the Hound...see below for description....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY_MdwnBdX0&feature=player_embedded
***This segment was dedicated to the popular Buffalo New York radio disc jockey and radio station entrepreneur; George "Hound Dog" Lorenz who started this entertaining yet very important segment on his early radio shows back in the 1950s and 1960s. This allowed new entertainers to have their music aired on the radio; something almost unheard of after Top 40 radio later became so popular.
Submitted by:
Peter Steele
From:
Cincinnati, Ohio
Memory:
I spent many nights in my cellar hunched over my radio in Springfield Mass. listening to The Hound from Buffalo and later on WPOP in Hartford. My most memorable event was George's orders to boycott Mitch Miller who had called rock the "Comic Book of Music"
Submitted by:
Guy MacMillin
From:
Westmoreland, NH
Memory:
People often speculate about the connection between The Hound and, later, Wolfman Jack. When I interviewed Wolfman Jack, on March 7, 1988, for a newspaper column, I asked him about that. What follows is a partial transcript of the tape I made: Me: The first disc jockey that I ever heard that had the kind of appeal that you have was George Lorenz in Buffalo. Wolfman: The Hound. Me: The Hound, about 35 years ago. Now you must have been listening to him too, right? Wolfman: Oh, sure, I was just a little kid. Me: In Brooklyn? Wolfman: I was living in Brooklyn. Me: Could you hear him in Brooklyn? KBW? Wolfman: WKBW in Buffalo. Me: From the Zanzibar Lounge. Did you ever meet him? Wolfman: No, never got to meet him. He died before I got a chance to meet him. I went on to mention that The Hound was on WPOP in Hartford for a time, on tape, and Wolfman said he hadn't known that. The Hound may have been the first syndicater, he said. Wolfman didn't have much to say about The Hound. I sensed the subject was difficult for him, given what you might call the similarities. But he had been a listener, and an avid one, sitting with his radio on a fire-escape landing in Brooklyn, N.Y. And I have the tape to prove it.
Submitted by:
Dr. Roosevelt "Rick" Wright, Jr.
From:
Syracuse, New York
Memory:
While growing up in Elizabeth City, N.C. in the late 1950's, and "just plain crazy about
radio broadcasting," I was an avid Radio DX'er, and while sitting in my bedroom with my
S-38D Six Band Radio and scanning the AM Radio band, I can never forget the night that
I found 50,000 watt WKBW-AM - "KB" at 1520 khz and "The Hound Dog." With my musical
passion being R&B music ------- The Hound Dog was putting out the sounds of Little
Richard, James Brown, Bo Diddley, Ruth Brown, The Coasters, Little Anthony and the
Imperials, and a host of other greats -- and I was in Radio Heaven. A wonderful radio
historical fact is that WKBW-AM and its' powerful signal, was right next to another
night time R&B powerhouse, WLAC-AM, 50kw, at 1510khz. It was a "fabulous" radio
experience to hear the "Hound Dog" at 1520Khz and "Randy's Record" Mart with John R,
Hoss Allen, and Gene Nobles putting out the hits at 1510Khz. And Wow!!!!!!! both signals
were "Loud and Clear" in Eastern North Carolina. Radio was "magical' during this time!!!!!!
Memories 31 through 35 of 121