WBZY, AM 990, TORRINGTON, CONNECTICUT'S first and most powerful AM radio station went off the air for good in 1964. Joseph Clark, the writer of this book was the guy who pulled the last plug. WBZY began in 1947 as WLCR, and its powerful AM signal covered all of Litchfield County as well as most of the rest of Connecticut and western Massachusetts. A whole generation of listeners during these post WWII days grew up with Torringtons first and most powerfull radio station, even though times were rough and revenues down. Eventually the station changed its call letters and moved its studios away from the prestigious downtown address to a "rat nest" over a bank. And thats where it ended up. Suddenly, on a cold snowy day in January 1964, WBZY signed off for the last time. No one ever knew really why or what happened to the small gloomy staff who labored for a losing cause all those months. It was the end of an era , the time when AM radio and the cool deejays who played the music on the radio were locally famous. Every young guy wanted to be one of them. The girls, the fame, the girls, the prestige, the girls..... It was the beginning of a 20 year career of some 16 radio stations on the east coast of America, from Washington DC to Hartford, Ct. for 19 year old Joe Clark, who went to work in a suit with sunday school pins dangling from his lapel. (oh how naive...) Torrington, Connecticut was a manufacturing town and depressed city at the time. Rattled by strikes and embittered by the two radio stations battling it out.....Joes early radio career began with the ending of WBZY, a radio station whose cigarett smoke and clicking teletype machine would haunt him for years on end. Where were YOU in 1963? Probably not even born. Read about one of the more interesting times in Torrington History...THE LAST DAYS OF WBZY. You must have relatives who remember this radio station......the Italian Show with Ada Randazzo;, Al Maskis Polish Show....Phil Chappels old time records;the mysterious minuets of dead air: the mumbling tones of Gene Braden and the Donald Duck voice of Joe Clark whose beginning career crossed paths with WBZY's ending months.... (WARNING! do not read while driving or operating heavy equippment.) BUY THIS BOOK NOW! send $12.00 to The wicket Grounds, Inc. 1043 Burt Hill Road Tolland, Ma 01034 THE LAST DAYS OF WBZY , by Joseph Clark Copyright 2005 Aardvark/Wicket Grounds,Inc soft cover 147 pages non-fiction for all ages Paypal Joseph Clark inkoming@netzero.net ISBN 1-4276-1207 -2
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