Arnie Ginsburg
Encyclopedia
Arnie Ginsburg was a well-known American
disc jockey
in the Boston
radio market from the mid-1950s to the 1970s. Following this period, he became involved in the business side of radio as a business manager, president and owner of WVJV-TV ("New Competitor," 1986, G9), and later as an executive with Pyramid Broadcasting and program manager of their Boston station WXKS/1430 (Hull, 1982, 1).
1600 AM in 1956 to be a night-time disc jockey
. It was at WBOS, a station that programmed foreign language shows during the daytime, that he developed his own on-air Top 40 show; this prepared him for his move to a full-time Boston Top 40 radio station, WMEX
/1510, in 1958 ("Disk Jockey Says," 1960, 1).
During the Payola
scandal, Ginsburg was among a number of high-profile Boston disc jockeys (including Norm Prescott
, Bob Clayton
, and Joe Smith) called upon to testify before a congressional hearing in Washington DC in early 1960. Several of the announcers, Ginsburg among them, acknowledged receiving monetary "gifts" from record promoters over the past several years. But Ginsburg was never implicated in any wrong-doing, nor was it proved that he played certain records because he had been paid to do so (Blair, 1960, 1). Reporters covering the hearings were divided in their opinions of whether payola had occurred, or whether the hearings were much ado about nothing ("He Who Throws Stones, 1960, 166). As for Ginsburg's role, some journalists seemed willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, referring to him as "scholarly" and "soft-spoken" ("Disk Jockey Says," 1960, 1), and quoting his assertion that he was never influenced to play songs he did not personally believe in. But others were more skeptical, accused him of being evasive and giving "excuses" for why record promoters had given him gifts ("WMEX Pay-for-Play, 1960, 2, 18).
Throughout his top-40 career, Ginsburg was regarded as a credible voice for reaching the teen audience. It was said of him that airplay on his show could make a record a hit (McLaughlin, 1980, n.p.). Record companies which asked him to do commercials often saw increased sales (Grevatt, 1962, 5). This was the case for such records as "Roses are Red" by Bobby Vinton
and "The Monster Mash" by Bobby (Boris) Pickett ("Monsters Mash," 1962, 50). Ginsburg also reported his weekly "picks" (songs he believed would become hits) to trade publications such as Billboard
magazine (for example, "Programming Newsletter," 1963, 84). As was the custom in top-40 radio, record companies would bring up-and-coming singers to do guest appearances, which further helped sales. Among the local stars Ginsburg promoted were the Rockin' Ramrods (http://www.rockinramrods.com/press.htm) and Freddie Cannon (http://www.history-of-rock.com/freddy_cannon.htm); Cannon subsequently recorded a promotional song for Ginsburg, "Arnie Ginsburg, the guy with the swinging show." Ginsburg was also known for his record hops, dances that were held at local venues; he often hosted them at the Surf Ballroom in Nantasket Beach ("Record Hops," 1962, 8).
It was common practice in the top-40 era for disc jockeys to do their show six days (or nights) a week. Ginsburg, however, was heard all seven nights. This was accomplished through audiotape: He recorded one of his weekly night shows for playback on Saturday night, and also recorded a new show for Sunday playback during the week. This practice was highly unusual at the time and only became more prevalent in the radio business in the 1980s, when radio networks began to do the same.
changed format to top-40, the station's new management wanted to build the new radio station around a well-known local radio figure, and Ginsburg was their first choice. However, the plans were interrupted. Ginsburg was on the air for less than a month when his former boss, WMEX owner Maxwell (Mac) Richmond, served the station with a court injunction, enforcing a non-compete clause which stated that if Ginsburg left WMEX, he could not work on air at any other station for 18 months ("Woo Woo," 1967, n.p.). The case made its way through the courts and finally, Ginsburg was ordered off the air ("Woo Woo Barred," 1967, 30). But although he could not be heard on the airwaves for a while, he was able to stay in the business with WRKO, which moved him into sales. Ginsburg also sold all the time slots for WRKO-FM. Later, in 1970, he went on to become the general manager of WBCN. This proved a very controversial move, as the staff was opposed to the idea of a former top-40 personality serving as the manager of an album rock station—at that time, FM
album rock prided itself on being the antithesis of AM top 40 (Goodman, 1997, 206). By 1972, Ginsburg was working on the AM side again, as the General Manager of WWEL. In 1975, he was hired by WMEX to do a Saturday night oldies show for four hours (McCabe, 1975, 33). By 1979 he advanced to become partner of WXKS-FM
"Kiss 108," and managed WXKS-AM when it changed format to "Music of Your Life" (Hull, 1982, 1). He also became co-owner, along with Boston radio personality John Garabedian
, of V-66, Boston's video music channel, WVJV-TV
, in 1985. (See also, "Ginsburg Gets into Video," 1984, 16) The venture proved very costly, however, and the station was put up for sale in 1986 (Siegel, 1986, 35).
In recent years, Arnie Ginsburg has been an occasional guest on Boston radio, such as on WBZ 1030 AM's "Steve Leveille Program", which airs weeknights from midnight to 5:00 AM. In 2008, he was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
(about 75 miles north of Boston). He had spent summers there in his younger years, and had developed a hometown affinity for this artists' colony and resort on the coast of southern Maine. Ogunquit residents came to recognize Ginsburg when he rode his moped
into town during the warmer months, and in time he became a fixture in the community. He now lives in a small house near Perkins Cove, a picturesque area visited by many tourists throughout the year.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
in the Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
radio market from the mid-1950s to the 1970s. Following this period, he became involved in the business side of radio as a business manager, president and owner of WVJV-TV ("New Competitor," 1986, G9), and later as an executive with Pyramid Broadcasting and program manager of their Boston station WXKS/1430 (Hull, 1982, 1).
Early years
Arnold W. Ginsburg was born on August 5, 1926. He was raised in Brookline, Massachusetts, the son of Paul Ginsburg, who ran a millinary company and Sophia (Charak) Ginsburg, who had been a singer prior to marriage. Arnie graduated from Brookline High School. His first radio job was at the old WORL/950, where he was an engineer for announcer Alan Dary (McLaughlin, 1980, n.p.). He did not intend to be on the air, but at one point, he sat in with Dary and got a good response. Despite not having the traditional deep radio voice, Ginsburg developed an audience that wanted to hear more of him, and he moved to WBOSWBOS
WBOS is a commercial radio station located in Brookline, Massachusetts, broadcasting to the Greater Boston area on 92.9 FM. The station airs a mainstream rock format branded as "Radio 92.9"...
1600 AM in 1956 to be a night-time disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
. It was at WBOS, a station that programmed foreign language shows during the daytime, that he developed his own on-air Top 40 show; this prepared him for his move to a full-time Boston Top 40 radio station, WMEX
WWZN
WWZN is an AM radio station licensed to serve the Boston media market. Its programming is a time-brokered mix between progressive talk radio during the daytime , sports talk and religious programming in the overnight hours...
/1510, in 1958 ("Disk Jockey Says," 1960, 1).
Top-40 Career
It was at WMEX that Ginsburg became a popular disc jockey. He was unusual, and not just because of his voice (he jokingly referred to himself as "Old Leather Lungs" or "Old Aching Adenoids"). In an era where top-40 DJs were given non-descript and non-ethnic radio names, Ginsburg kept his birth name and did not change it (Halper, 1981, 26). He also refused a salary from station owner Max Richmond, instead making a deal for a 25% cut of all the commercial revenue Ginsburg would generate for his show. This, he claimed, made him "the highest-paid jock on the station." According to Billboard magazine, by 1959, he was making an annual salary of $10,000 ("WMEX Pay-for-Play," 1960, 18), an amount higher than the median American income at that time. Ginsburg frequently did on-air testimonials for his advertisers, and perhaps the best-known was his work for Adventure Car Hop, a drive-in fast-food restaurant on Route 1 in Saugus, which promoted the "Ginsburger" http://www.rezoom.com/city/boston/read/5159/ According to the car-hop's owners, Ginsburg's radio commercials brought as many as two thousand teenagers to his restaurant on a typical summer night (Chamberlain, 1980, n.p.) Ginsburg was also known for his ability to create hits by giving them radio exposure on his show. One good example was a novelty song by British vocalist Lonnie Donegan, "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight." It had been a hit in England, but when released in the United States for the first time in 1959, it was not successful. Then, in 1961, Ginsburg received a copy from a listener and began to play it, and after several days of heavy airplay, the song took off and became a hit in America. ("Lonnie Donegan," 1961, 15)During the Payola
Payola
Payola, in the American music industry, is the illegal practice of payment or other inducement by record companies for the broadcast of recordings on music radio, in which the song is presented as being part of the normal day's broadcast. Under U.S...
scandal, Ginsburg was among a number of high-profile Boston disc jockeys (including Norm Prescott
Norm Prescott
Norman "Norm" Prescott was co-founder and executive producer at Filmation Studios. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he began his radio career in the Hub, becoming program director at station WORL in the late 1940s. He went to work for Joseph E. Levine's Embassy Pictures Corp. in 1959, serving as...
, Bob Clayton
Bob Clayton
Bob Clayton was an American television game show announcer and host of several shows...
, and Joe Smith) called upon to testify before a congressional hearing in Washington DC in early 1960. Several of the announcers, Ginsburg among them, acknowledged receiving monetary "gifts" from record promoters over the past several years. But Ginsburg was never implicated in any wrong-doing, nor was it proved that he played certain records because he had been paid to do so (Blair, 1960, 1). Reporters covering the hearings were divided in their opinions of whether payola had occurred, or whether the hearings were much ado about nothing ("He Who Throws Stones, 1960, 166). As for Ginsburg's role, some journalists seemed willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, referring to him as "scholarly" and "soft-spoken" ("Disk Jockey Says," 1960, 1), and quoting his assertion that he was never influenced to play songs he did not personally believe in. But others were more skeptical, accused him of being evasive and giving "excuses" for why record promoters had given him gifts ("WMEX Pay-for-Play, 1960, 2, 18).
Throughout his top-40 career, Ginsburg was regarded as a credible voice for reaching the teen audience. It was said of him that airplay on his show could make a record a hit (McLaughlin, 1980, n.p.). Record companies which asked him to do commercials often saw increased sales (Grevatt, 1962, 5). This was the case for such records as "Roses are Red" by Bobby Vinton
Bobby Vinton
Bobby Vinton is an American pop music singer of Polish origin. In pop music circles, he became known as "The Polish Prince".-Early life:...
and "The Monster Mash" by Bobby (Boris) Pickett ("Monsters Mash," 1962, 50). Ginsburg also reported his weekly "picks" (songs he believed would become hits) to trade publications such as Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
magazine (for example, "Programming Newsletter," 1963, 84). As was the custom in top-40 radio, record companies would bring up-and-coming singers to do guest appearances, which further helped sales. Among the local stars Ginsburg promoted were the Rockin' Ramrods (http://www.rockinramrods.com/press.htm) and Freddie Cannon (http://www.history-of-rock.com/freddy_cannon.htm); Cannon subsequently recorded a promotional song for Ginsburg, "Arnie Ginsburg, the guy with the swinging show." Ginsburg was also known for his record hops, dances that were held at local venues; he often hosted them at the Surf Ballroom in Nantasket Beach ("Record Hops," 1962, 8).
It was common practice in the top-40 era for disc jockeys to do their show six days (or nights) a week. Ginsburg, however, was heard all seven nights. This was accomplished through audiotape: He recorded one of his weekly night shows for playback on Saturday night, and also recorded a new show for Sunday playback during the week. This practice was highly unusual at the time and only became more prevalent in the radio business in the 1980s, when radio networks began to do the same.
Trademark persona
Ginsburg became known as "Woo-Woo" because of the train whistle he used on the air as part of his collection of sound effects. This particular sound went back to his early days as a disc jockey—beginning at WBOS, he named his program the "Night Train" Show, and his theme song contained the lyrics "Gather 'round, everybody; 'cause you're about to hear/the show that's gonna make you/smile from ear to ear/It's Arnie Ginsburg, on the Night Train show, at 16-hundred...on your radio." It was recorded by a local group called the 3Ds. (http://www.epinions.com/review/musc_mu-94122/content_360678592132) He continued to use the theme song and call his show the Night Train when he went to WMEX ("Disc Jockey Says," 1960, 1); he simply removed the portion of the chorus that said "1600 on your radio." The Night Train radio theme song and a re-creation of his top-40 style could later be heard as part of the "Cruisin'" series. This was a series of albums (later issued as compact discs) that showcased major top-40 personalities from a number of cities. The "Cruisin' 1961" disc featured Arnie Ginsburg. (Popson, 1970, E3),Later career
While Arnie Ginsburg is best known from his days at WMEX, he also spent some time at other stations in Boston. In early 1967, when WRKOWRKO
WRKO is a radio station based in Boston, Massachusetts, currently owned by Entercom. Its transmitter is located in Burlington, Massachusetts, next to the Burlington Mall.-1920-1940:...
changed format to top-40, the station's new management wanted to build the new radio station around a well-known local radio figure, and Ginsburg was their first choice. However, the plans were interrupted. Ginsburg was on the air for less than a month when his former boss, WMEX owner Maxwell (Mac) Richmond, served the station with a court injunction, enforcing a non-compete clause which stated that if Ginsburg left WMEX, he could not work on air at any other station for 18 months ("Woo Woo," 1967, n.p.). The case made its way through the courts and finally, Ginsburg was ordered off the air ("Woo Woo Barred," 1967, 30). But although he could not be heard on the airwaves for a while, he was able to stay in the business with WRKO, which moved him into sales. Ginsburg also sold all the time slots for WRKO-FM. Later, in 1970, he went on to become the general manager of WBCN. This proved a very controversial move, as the staff was opposed to the idea of a former top-40 personality serving as the manager of an album rock station—at that time, FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
album rock prided itself on being the antithesis of AM top 40 (Goodman, 1997, 206). By 1972, Ginsburg was working on the AM side again, as the General Manager of WWEL. In 1975, he was hired by WMEX to do a Saturday night oldies show for four hours (McCabe, 1975, 33). By 1979 he advanced to become partner of WXKS-FM
WXKS-FM
WXKS-FM, better known as Kiss 108, is a radio station in Boston, Massachusetts, licensed to nearby Medford broadcasting a Top 40 format...
"Kiss 108," and managed WXKS-AM when it changed format to "Music of Your Life" (Hull, 1982, 1). He also became co-owner, along with Boston radio personality John Garabedian
John Garabedian
John H. Garabedian is an American radio personality and disc jockey, known as the host of Open House Party. He has been involved in Massachusetts radio and television stations for around fifty years. John lives in Southborough, Massachusetts....
, of V-66, Boston's video music channel, WVJV-TV
WUTF-TV
WUTF-DT is a television station in the Boston market. Owned by the Univision Broadcast Group and managed locally by Entravision, the station is an affiliate of the Telefutura network...
, in 1985. (See also, "Ginsburg Gets into Video," 1984, 16) The venture proved very costly, however, and the station was put up for sale in 1986 (Siegel, 1986, 35).
In recent years, Arnie Ginsburg has been an occasional guest on Boston radio, such as on WBZ 1030 AM's "Steve Leveille Program", which airs weeknights from midnight to 5:00 AM. In 2008, he was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
Retirement
As Ginsburg reached retirement age, he migrated north to Ogunquit, MaineOgunquit, Maine
Ogunquit is a town in York County, Maine, United States. As of the 2000 census its population was 1,226. The popularity of the town as a summer resort is epitomized by its motto, "Beautiful Place by the Sea."...
(about 75 miles north of Boston). He had spent summers there in his younger years, and had developed a hometown affinity for this artists' colony and resort on the coast of southern Maine. Ogunquit residents came to recognize Ginsburg when he rode his moped
Moped
Mopeds are a type of low-powered motorcycle designed to provide economical and relatively safe transport with minimal licensing requirements.Mopeds were once all equipped with bicycle-like pedals , but moped has been increasingly applied by governments to vehicles without pedals, based on their...
into town during the warmer months, and in time he became a fixture in the community. He now lives in a small house near Perkins Cove, a picturesque area visited by many tourists throughout the year.