George Hound Dog Lorenz was a fixture on Buffalo, NY radio. He was reputedly one of the 'first' deejays in America to spin rhythm & blues and rock & roll records.
The Hound conducted Make it or Break It by playing a song on his radio show and asking his listeners to decide if they liked it. They would have to call the station to let him know what to do with the record. If they didn't like it he would break the record right on the air and so close to the microphone that the breaking vinyl sounded like it was going to jump right out of the radio speaker. He did it very slowly in order to get the full effect and to drive home the point. If a song made it.. he would add it to his play list. This was the Hound's way of introducing new songs to his listeners. This is un-heard of now-a-days. Everything is programmed for the radio disk jockey. He/she has no choice in what records to play.
The year 1958 meant lots of change for Lorenz; he quit at WKBW on July 4th when it went exclusively Top 40. Lorenz was quoted in Billboard as saying the repetitiveness of Top 40: "is hurting the record industry, is lowering radio listening, and is decreasing a new artist's chance to make it."
Lorenz penned a column in the Sunday Herald newspaper in early 1958 but this excerpt may explain why it only ran for six weeks: "Welcome, Madtown cats and you out there in West and East Madtown as well. It's a pleasure to communicate with you cuddle bunnies and tomcats. Would like to hear more about what's shakin' in the box shop, so communicate!"
When one thinks about Buffalo rock 'n' roll radio, the names Tom Shannon, Dan Neaverth and Sandy Beach come to mind. But one name towers above them all, that of the legendary George "Hound Dog" Lorenz.
Lorenz was Buffalo born and raised and spent most of his career in Western New York. But what many people forget is that the Hound worked from 1953 to 1955 in Cleveland, with a 9-11:30 p.m. show on WSRS. Prior to his Cleveland stay, the Hound had started his career at WBTA in Batavia, N.Y. in 1947, later moving on to WXRL in Lancaster, N.Y. and WJJL in Niagara Falls, N.Y.
In 1955, powerful 50,000-watt WKBW lured Lorenz back to Buffalo from Cleveland and he never left. At 'KB, he became a Buffalo phenomenon, with a fan club numbering 70,000 and a huge listener following up and down the eastern U.S. and Canada. Not only did teenagers listen to his radio show, they flocked to shows he put on that included the likes of Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino and Buddy Holly.
Lorenz left 'KB in 1958 when that station went to a Top 40 format; he didn't like the idea of being told what to play or how to do his show. In the 1960s, he founded WBLK-FM in Buffalo, one of the first FM stations to regularily program African-American music.
From Dick Biondi "Nobody replaced the Hound Dog."
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