Larry Ware Comments...

Harry Harrison, New York’s beloved Morning Mayor, began his radio career in the early 1950’s
in Chicago, IL as a volunteer at FM educational station WBEZ.
In 1953 he obtained a temporary eight-month position at 50,000 watt WCFL as a summer
replacement before winding his way to my hometown, Peoria, IL.   
It was in Peoria (from Jan. 1954 – Nov. 1959) at 1000 watt WPEO that Harry
cultivated his homespun, genuine, warm, and personable, on-air style that has
remained as unchanged through the years as Harry himself.  
This unique style, which he brought to New York in 1959, has made him one of the
most loved and respected on-air personalities of all time.   
Harry’s unquestionable integrity has always played a major role in both his
personal and professional life. Although Harry calls his audience his “radio friends,”
they are more like a family in which he takes a personal interest.
This affection is returned via the positive support Harry has received
from his audience over the years he has worked in radio.

In June of 2001 I initially wrote to Harry Harrison at WCBS-FM
to find out whom this popular New York DJ was who once worked here in Peoria.   
Harry sent me a very nice packet with photos and information from his
WPEO days and our relationship began.  Over the years Harry and I have
shared a multitude of airchecks, photos, videos, and printed information.  
I’ve had a rare opportunity to get to know this very gracious and generous person.  
I can personally say that Harry is truly the same person off-air as he appears to be on the air
and am very proud of the fact that he had his beginnings
right here in the Midwest and in my own hometown of Peoria, IL

Last fall, after hearing Harry’s intriguing account of his radio career
and the path that led him to the New York market, I asked if I could conduct
a telephone interview with him for Reelradio.   To my surprise he agreed. 
Over the course of three recording sessions between November and December, 2004
Harry recounted the path of his radio career along with some incites into his personal life.

With the generous help of fellow aircheck collectors, I was able to assemble the
supporting audio material that is heard throughout the interview.   
But the bulk of the roll-ins came from Harry’s own personal collection.

Over the course of 6 months this interview was produced and digitally edited in my basement “studio."
With the exception of a Gentner (used to record the phone interview) all the other
equipment used was consumer grade electronics, a 20-year old Radio Shack microphone,
and two eight-year-old PowerMac computers.  My wife, Hope Ware, who has had extensive
production experience at WPEO radio, advised me in quality issues throughout
the production and editing process.  She was a tremendous help.

One of the most interesting surprises that came out of this project was
establishing contact with one of Harry’s co-workers from WPEO, Bob Moore. 
He was their news director from 1958 to 1960.   Bob very graciously agreed to voice
the open of this interview for me (on his own personal cassette recorder).  
A WIRL engineer originally captured Bob Moore’s voice from WPEO back in Oct. 1959.  
This engineer was checking their competitor’s sign-on and sign-off times to
insure that the station was in compliance with FCC regulations.  
This now rare 16-minute recording is the only existing aircheck from WPEO’s Top-40 days.
(Portions of this recording can be heard in various places throughout the interview.) 
I was able to re-establish contact between Bob Moore and Harry Harrison,
who had not heard from each other since their Peoria days together.

For most of the roll-ins I tried to stay true to the content and
the time period with only one notable exception.  
The WPEO jingles that appear throughout are from the 1960 PAMS series 14,
incorporated just after Harry left the station.