Cleveland Radio Tales

Remember when Cleveland radio crackled with a nonstop audio parade of larger-than-life characters?

Let's go behind the microphone to meet dozens of intriguing and innovative local radio personalities, including ...

"Count" John Manolesco, the talk show host, astrologer, and former vampire who performed an exorcism live on-air A daytime host who raised eyebrows and gained headlines when he did his entire show in the nude Inventive Wayne Mack, whose make-believe big band concerts seemed so real that listeners drove around for hours in search of his fictional "Waltz Palace" ballroom Loudmouth Gary Dee, who scored big ratings interviewing strippers and once knocked a fellow DJ out cold Media mogul Milton Maltz, a "square" who teamed up with hippies to transform WMMS into a rock and roll giant Young Jack Paar, who nearly lost his first radio job while saving Cleveland from a Martian invasion The undaunted DJs of WABQ who broke FCC rules to stay on the air during the Glenville riots in 196 Teenage amateurs whose pirate radio stations drew loyal local listeners--and angry visits from the Feds Plus stories of live remotes gone wrong, unruly in-studio guests, management scuffles, the river of booze that fueled radio . . . and more true tales. Plus stories of live remotes gone wrong, unruly in-studio guests, management scuffles, the river of booze that fueled radio . . . and more true tales.