by Rick Belcher
At the 1986 WSGW-AM / WIOG-FM employee Christmas party, the on-air staff gave me a most unusual gift. As they presented it, I was truly puzzled. Why? There it sat on a table in a large wrapped box – not that unusual. Here’s what had me perplexed. There was a soft yellow glow around the bottom. “Go ahead, lift up the box,” Renee Andrews said. What I saw next, blew me away. A real live, neon sign of the WIOG logo. In the 1980s, neon had become very hot. I had become enamored by the style, and the staff knew it. The station logo itself had been crafted to look like neon.
Contemplating where this incredibly thoughtful gift would reside became a challenge. Inside, neon is very bright, too bright for an office wall. So, for years it remained carefully wrapped and boxed. When I left the Saginaw-Bay City-Midland-Flint market, the fragile sign traveled with me on other radio adventures to Kalamazoo, Louisville, Milwaukee, and Portland, Oregon. All the way, it stayed safely ensconced – until about a month ago. Around Clark Lake, I had noticed some friends had displayed posters and other memorabilia on the walls of their garages. That became my impetus to create my own garage art, and a place for the neon sign. Would it still work after all these years and thousand of miles? I plugged it in, and YES, it still worked. A neighbor, who is more skilled than I am in such matters, helped mount it on the wall. Thanks to Lee Wilbur, the neon glows dramatically against a black background that he painted and attached to the wall. Very cool.
I loved my career in radio, and most days it loved me. What happened at WIOG most radio programmers don’t get to experience. The station’s ratings sky-rocketed beyond anyone’s expectations. Our scorched-earth policy completely befuddled competitors, and the owner of our station loved it. On a Saturday morning, he opened the Detroit Free Press to read this article.
WIOG-FM featured Top 40 music and crazed DJs who radiated fun. The AM station, WSGW, was news-talk, much like WJR in Detroit. It also knocked rating numbers out of the park. At the same Christmas party, I received this classic microphone. One of our production directors, Lee Norling, had found this classic at a garage sale. Now it has a place of honor among other memorabilia in my home office at Clark Lake.
“Merry Christmas” reads backward for a reason. My mom printed Christmas cards from these blocks. For awhile, I was the only child. When my sister and brother came along, I suspect my mom didn’t have time for the process. But she saved them. I’m glad to have them now, and they always remind me of her loving care for our family that extended to all she came to know.
The walls of my garage continue provide a place to display other favorite items – the Fleet 58 Reunion poster, yours truly on a WIBM promotional piece, and an Elwell for Sheriff yard sign (I helped on his campaign). A few more boxes remain unopened. I’m only getting started.
