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"CHRISTMAS at WRTI"

Posted by Jerry Klein. Updated January 3, 2010.

Christmas was always a special time at WRTI, and over the years numerous special Christmas programs were produced. Here, for the first time in over 30 years, we bring you three complete Christmas productions aired on WRTI, plus several holiday greetings and photos from a WRTI Christmas party. We hope they bring you fond memories this holiday season.

(Although there were a large number of Jewish students who worked at WRTI, I am not aware of any Hanukkah productions. If you know of any - and better yet, if you have any tapes - please let us know so we can post them here on the website.)

To hear any clip, click on the icon at the start of the description.

Three complete Christmas programs:

CHRISTMAS 1961 - The Nativity. Narrated by Herb Smith. Tape provided by Harold Sacks. (11 minutes 45 seconds)

CHRISTMAS 1963 - The Littlest Angel. A Studio Schoolhouse production. Narrated by Marguerite Farley. Angel - Dale Zaris. Gatekeeper, God and Announcer - Herb Smith. Sound - Ethel Goldberg. Technical director - Joe Taritaro. Tape provided by Bill Stock. (14 minutes 13 seconds)

CHRISTMAS 1968 - A Christmas Carol. With Ed Cunningham as Ebeneezer Scrooge. Also featuring Mark Franz, Lois Farber, Anne McNulty, Florence Weiss, Howard Lipson, Mary Beth Regan, Mary Ellen Flaherty, Tom Corcoran, Norman Mark, Sue Silcox. Produced and directed by Patrick Quinn*. Technical assistance by Ken Medd. Announcer - Ed Cunningham. Tape provided by Gerry Wilkinson. (23 minutes 21 seconds)

*Patrick Quinn later transferred to Temple's Theatre department and went on an accomplished career on television and in the theater. In May, 2003, he was elected to his second three-year term as president of the 45,000 member Actor's Equity theatrical performers union. He comments about this production, "The fact that no one has a British accent is very, very strange, and the production leaves an awful lot to be desired......but, hell, I was 18 and we pulled it together in an afternoon. Talk about memories."

CHRISTMAS 1964 - The WRTI Christmas Party - Here is a group of 12 photos taken on December 16, 1964. Provided by Marlene Patrick and uploaded by Gerry Wilkinson.

CHRISTMAS SEASON 1965 - The following clips supplied by Mike Biel.

WRTI-FM Christmas Station IDs, 1965. Announcer, Bob Donze. (1 minute 6 seconds)

WRTI-FM Christmas Station IDs, 1965. Announcer, Bill Stock. (2 minutes 4 seconds)

A Christmas prank, WRTI-FM style. Bill Stock provided this clip from his Saturday morning music program, "T.H.I.S. - Thank Heaven It's Saturday," from December 1965. Bill pushed a button to play what the thought was a promo for Barry Berg's folk music program. Instead, he heard something else. This clip also contains Bill's further remarks a few minutes later, after playing a couple of records (not included here). (1 minute 51 seconds)

Happy New Year! New Year's wishes from WRTI-FM to its listeners, New Year's Eve 1965. Announcer: Steve Berger. This may have been recorded a year or two earlier and reused each New Year's. Says Mike Biel, "Steve was becoming a mythical figure around the station by this time." (3 minutes 5 seconds)

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