Two more Buzzard blasts from the past

This print ad by David Helton appeared in Exit, Cleveland’s alternative weekly magazine, on August 13, 1975.  The Buzzard still appeared a bit scruffy and gradually evolving from its original “Wrath of the Buzzard” character.

This ad supported our linkage to concerts – both on-the-air and in the clubs and halls.  Our live shows ranged from the mammoth 80,000+ World Series of Rock at Cleveland Stadium to the WMMS Small Hall series, which is what we initially called the shows we co-sponsored with Belkin Productions at the Allen Theater and Music Hall – and our two weekly club nights at the Agora on East 24^th Street and the Smiling Dog on West 25^th.

During this period, we recorded the WMMS Monday Nights Out at the Agora concerts for a Wednesday night at 10 broadcast.  The weekly Smiling Dog Saloon concert was also recorded during the week for a Saturday night at midnight broadcast.

We were doing our weekly Coffee Break Concert, which was broadcast live from our tiny production studio at 5000 Euclid Avenue and our syndicated weekly shows, King Biscuit and the BBC Rock Hour. Since we didn’t have much space in the studio, the shows featured acoustic performances, which we learned was an inspiration for the MTV Unplugged series.

But what are those Disco Nights? Studio B on Euclid, just east of Cleveland State. It was a rock-dance club with nights hosted by various WMMS personalities.  On-air, we were playing a number of R&B artists that appealed to our listeners including the Isley Brothers, Labelle and Latimore and artists like the Rolling Stones (“Miss You”) and the then-still-considered-an-album-rock-group Bee Gees (“Jive Talkin’”) released dance-oriented titles at that time, which were among our most-requested tracks.

The same building also housed a club on its penthouse floor, which was occasionally used for small concert events.  The New York Dolls brought in the New Year – 1976 – at that site.

This news item appeared in the national trade paper weekly, Radio & Records on December 1, 1978. It announced our new Buzzard chocolate bar, which we did in a partnership with Malley’s Candies. As was the custom with most of our merchandise, profits from the sale of the Buzzard bars went to a charity –  the Cleveland Society for Crippled Children.

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