In August of 1964. WISL radio and Shamokin were catching their piece of the national spotlight, (at least on some level), in the pages of a well known teen magazine. That summer Teen Life Magazine brought their traveling record hop parade to town, just in time for Shamokin’s Centennial celebration. Teen Life Magazine had their own DJ, “cleverly” named T.J who’s job was to travel from town to town across the United States and host record hops, many times bringing a music start or two with him.
This time, it was Shamokin’s turn. Along with SMASH Records A&R man Doug Moody, T.J. met T.K, (better known as Tom Kutza) and Bernie Flynn of WISL radio. According to Tom, quite a crowd showed up for the even which included live performances from Kenny Dino, a singer who was trying to build a career for himself at the time. Dino’s only chart record was a 1961 release entitled “Your Ma Said You Cried In Your Sleep Last Night”, which peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Hot-100. Dino’s career included a list of strike-outs which included turning down a chance to duet with a young singer named Paul Simon, as well as having his record company refuse to allow him to record the song “Suspicion” which would become a huge hit for Terry Stafford.
Also in Shamokin that night was Diane Christian. Diane was in a number of vocal groups in the early 1960s including The Rosettes, Diane & The Darlings and the Chic-Lets. By early 1964 she was pushing a solo record on SMASH called “Has Anybody Seen My Boyfriend” which did not receive any national attention.
The local music attraction that night was a group called the Tremelos, not to be confused with the English group, The Tremeloes who had a string of hits in the 1960s including “Silence Is Golden” and “Here Comes My Baby”. This Tremelos group consisted of some local boys; Ron Schreffler and brothers Jake and Tom Berkheiser. Schreffler would later join the group D’Kool & The Kasuals, a band of coal region guys who were signed to and recorded for the Cameo/Parkway label in Philadelphia. The band toured all across the region promoting their biggest hit “She’s Good To Me”.
Tom Kutza remembered the “slimy” record promoter who went by the name Vinny D. (pictured along with Bernie Flynn and The Tremelos). Tom recalled that he wore a gold ring on his finger with the letters “V” and “D” embossed on it. According to Kutza, they were staying at a local hotel in Shamokin and surprise everyone in the morning by skipping town without paying their hotel bill.
Regardless of the moral deficiencies of the Teen Life Magazine entourage, Tom said that everyone had a great time at the hop. Tom and Bernie even got their pictures in the August edition of Teen Life, turning the tow young DJs into national celebrities of sorts. Tom told us that after the magazine was published he started receiving “fan” mail from the young female readers, wanting to know more about the “DJ that digs the Big Beat”. Tom was happily married by that time and wanted to stay that way, so those letters only live on in legend.
Here is the original Shamokin portion of the write-up from the August 1964 edition of Teel Life Magazine. We hope you enjoy the 1960s teen speak.
WINNERS IN SHAMOKIN: Shamokin, Pennsylvania is celebrating its 100th birthday come the end of June. Shamokin has also something extra-special to celebrate – their own prize-winning DJs, TOM KUTZA and BERNIE FLYNN, who melt the hot wax as they spin the winners over WISL. Tom and Bernie dig the Big Beat. I can testify to that. The boys had me stomping up a storm when I invaded their territory, together with DOUG MOODY, that curly-headed, blue-eyed A & R Promo Sales Chief for SMASH records. It was a SMASH NITE at the TEEN LIFE Record Hop, emceed by Tom. Bernie and Yours Truly. Doug supplied the SMASH records. For days before the TL hop, Tom and Bernie blasted away over WISL warning one and all not to miss the TL-SMASH Hop… obviously all of Shamokin heard the warning and came to our Hop. It was a wonderful kind of madness. Between dance sets we had LIVE entertainment. KENNY DINO was greeted as though her was a BEATLE, or something. Anyway, Doug and I will be back in the Shamokin-Mt. Carmel area soon. Keep tuned to WISL for dates.
EXHIBIT
This is a PDF of the original “Dialing The DJs with T.J.” Teen Life Magazine spread.