The earliest days of rock and roll on Tampa Bay radio

In the late 1950s, long before there was 98 Rock, Q105 or the Power Pig, there was WALT and WTAN. Specifically, there was Ed Bray whose “Platter Party” greeted teens and pre-teens on the airwaves of WALT 1110 as they left school in the afternoon. Later, when Bray’s daytime only station shut down for the night, there was Scott Dilworth and “Scotty’s Swingshift” on WTAN 1340. Two guys who were not even close to being the stereotype “rock jock” started it all on a daytime only station (WALT) and a then-250 watt (WTAN) outlet. Both men pretty much hated the music they played, both were incredibly professional old-school announcers and both bolted from the music at the first opportunity, but each was a household name to the teens of the late 50s. Both coincidentally wound up at Clearwater’s WAZE (860) although Dilworth, at last, came back home to WTAN where he was a staple through the mid-seventies. Both WALT and WTAN’s rock efforts were diminished somewhat when Bray’s boss at WALT, Roy Nilson, moved to St. Pete’s WLCY and created one of the country’s legendary Top 40 operations – a story for another day. (Thanks to Hitchcock Media’s Ron Hitchcock, himself a WAZE alumnus, for valuable input).

Around the bay:

1. Kudos to Clearwater Mayor George Cretekos, the only dissenting vote on Clearwater’s ill-advised extension of its two intersection red light camera program. The mayor nailed it when he said there had been no appreciable upgrade in accident prevention with the program. It’s all about the money, folks.

2. So the city is going to have an additional 450 parking spaces north of the roundabout at Pelican Walk. That’s nice, but a much better and needed spot would be a parking garage in the Clearwater Marina.

3. Leto and Robinson High Schools are joining other bay area high schools in dropping home room this year. Think back to your high school days – what exactly did you accomplish in home room?

4. Okay, we think we get it now. With PolicaFact, or whatever they call it, if a liberal says the sun rises in the east, it ranks “True”. The same statement from a conservative ranks “ Mostly True”. Conversely, if a liberal reports the sun rises in the west, it ranks “Mostly False”. For a conservative, it gets “Pants on Fire”.

5. You’ve really lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember when Belcher Road South of Druid served as the city’s “unsanctioned” dragstrip.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. If by the time you read this, Cris Carter and Curt Schilling are still employed by ESPN, it will be a miracle. You just cannot say incredibly stupid things like those gentlemen did and continue to have credence with a national audience.

7. In other media news - so wild man Donald Trump should apologize to Megyn Kelly? Why? Outside of her hardcore viewers on Fox News, no one had ever heard of her until her dust up with Trump.

8. Everyone’s holding out hope that the Rays will jump over nearly half a dozen teams and get a wild card spot. But teams that are 2-10 in extra-inning games (as are the Rays) don’t make it to the playoffs.

9. Our Raves and Rants focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) suggests timers in the grocery store in front of items. You have twenty seconds to ponder an item and then either put it in your cart or move on.

10. Just an idle thought: in 2015 with 30 major league teams, when you think of elite outfielders only two names come to mind - Harper and Trout then you’re hard put to come up with a third name. In the fifties, with just 16 major league clubs, there were Aaron, Clemente, Mantle, Mays, Musial and Snider just to name six elite outfielders. And that doesn’t include Hall of Famers Al Kaline and Frank Robinson, perhaps just a half a step behind the previously mentioned six.

How many game outcomes are influenced by umpires?

Specifically, one should ask how many game’s outcomes are influenced by home plate umpires? The man in blue misses on a called third strike and on the next pitch, the batter doubles in the gap bringing in the tying or winning run from second base. Conversely, you see all too often a pitch four inches off the plate called a strike and the pitcher naturally goes right back to that area and gets a swing on a ball six inches off the plate. Baseball is now a game of specialization and just as we groom starting pitchers and relievers, perhaps we need to take only the elite and put them behind the plate and let the lesser lights ump the base paths. Way too many games each season have their outcomes influenced by less than stellar work behind the plate.