WARR — Radio Free Toledo

It was 1964, or thereabouts, and WARR – Radio Free Toledo was broadcasting on the AM dial.  My friend, John Arduser, and I were running our own radio station.  I don’t think it ever had a name or call letters, but these days I refer to it as WARR – Arduser Rowland Radio.  Our broadcast frequency was on the AM band.

I should probably mention that 1964 was the year we turned nine years old, and our transmitter probably had a range of about 100 feet.  Therefore, this wasn’t an enterprise that anyone besides ourselves really knew about.  As required of all radio stations, we provided a community service.  Our service was broadcasting the results of “Let’s Go To The Races,” which was sponsored by the Food Town grocery store chain in our hometown of Toledo, Ohio.

WARR’s primary thrust was music, and it adhered to a strict Rock and Roll format (Classic Rock had not been invented yet).  The station had a limited budget, and the record collections of DJ John Arduser and DJ Ron Rowland comprised the library.  As you might expect, the budget of nine-year old DJs was also severely constrained in 1964.  As a result, the station’s entire music library, a combination of 45 rpm singles and 33-1/3 rpm albums, was limited to only three artists.  Although only three, the DJs thought they comprised the best Rock and Roll of 1964.  The featured three were:

• The Beatles
• The Beach Boys
• The Dave Clark Five

John and I would take turns being the DJ from the broadcast booth set up in his basement. The other would go upstairs and tune in the AM dial on the large console radio and listen to the broadcast.  Neither of us owned a portable transistor radio at the time, so it’s not clear how far our little transmitter could push the signal.  Given that it was a 100 milliwatt transmitter set up in his basement, with little more than a bare copper wire for the antenna, it was highly unlikely that the WARR signal could reach more than 100 feet, or about two houses away.

It was 1964, we were nine years old, broadcasting Rock and Roll, and having a blast.

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Image credits:

• WARR Radio image created by Ron Rowland
• Let’s Go to the Races newspaper ad from Vintage Toledo TV
• MW-250 “Classic” Tube Transmitter from On The Air

Linked to MindLoveMisery’s Music Challenge #183 — Because, The Dave Clark Five, hosted by newepicauthor.