Tony Gates Pulled From WLAV

[Freqman]

After prerecorded shows have been running for weeks, Tony Gates has been pulled off the website.

Did Cumulus just fire their last cash cow? Was he too expensive for the new management?

[Jeff Cunningham]

Wouldn't be surprised. New numbers out this past Friday seem to point to the (overdue) fact that people are just plain TIRED of that station playing the same 400 tracks for the past 20+ years.

[Ben Zonia]

Wasn't Tony Gates on WLAV-FM before, with Laurie DeYoung, circa 1980?

[MrsWarmth]

WLAV has moved beyond Tony Gates, they're positioned to take over the Grand Rapids ratings book with the Classic Rock that everyone loves.

[Jeff Cunningham]

WLAV has moved beyond Tony Gates, they're positioned to take over the Grand Rapids ratings book with the Classic Rock that everyone loves.

Hilarious! We'll file this new quote right next to the one you posted last September:

"This means nothing, Thunder 107.3 is the clear choice in West Michigan and will dethrone B93 in the next 90 days."

[Honeyman]

Wasn't Tony Gates on WLAV-FM before, with Laurie DeYoung, circa 1980?

Yep, Tony was there in the late 70s thru early 80s. Think he went to LA for a number of years as a record promoter and eventually came back to GR.

Doc Donovan before he passed, Ed Buchanen, Tim Steele, Dave Logan were all there then.

[iwndry1015]

As a listener of LAV since the late 70's and early 80's, it's certainly time for a significant change there. I found the Tony and Michelle show unlistenable. They had no appreciative on-air chemistry in my book. This is no disrespect to Mr.Gates as he is a West Michigan radio legend, but his show had grown unbearably stale. It seemed that Tony and Michelle were voicing EVERY commercial. Time for a change.

[yankeesprings]

It seems like Tony Gates left for LA back then because there was a lot of heat going down with regards to a ???? bust at that residence on the Grand River out in Standale/Allandale back then. Going by memory these individuals were getting a lot if heat put on them to talk. If I recall one/some individual(s) went into the Federal Witness program. It serms like the ???? that did a lot of custom painting at a now gone business at 28th st & Ivanrest was busted also. Along with the Step Dad of one of my High Shool Classmates. Those Tony Gates Laurie DeYoung and raft race years of the 1970’s and early 1980’s were very chaotic. Alot of chaos on the radio, Lori holding the show down as some days Tone the Fun Guy would be a little late artiving to work the Morning show. Tony Gates, Lori DeYoung, Tim Steele, Doc Donavan, Aris Hampers, Ed Buchanen, Allision Harte, Ogie Dryer. And Patty Haze at 101 who was the opposite calm cool collected. I apologize if I mis-spelled any names. Grand Rapids Radio DJ’s were very talented during that era. Alot of them coming out of Grand Valley University. Grand Vally and historic now gone Dome where a lot of legenary concerts were performed. Raft race concerts first held outside at Riverside( who could forget 1975 Bib Seger-Frank Marino Mohogeny Rush) andl like 250,000 people or so it sermed. 1976 Montrose-Natural Gas at the GV Dome I belive. Then slowly everyone either left for other pastures or were let go and LAV started their first path of going down. Long live the LAV Airforce Wings members who still have their Cards from back in the Hayday.

[yankeesprings]

My old age I failed to also mention Kevin Matthews who was absolutely hilarious. His Jackie Stewart skit was a classic. My eye sight is shaky nowadays so pardon some of my missed mis-misspelled words.

[OldHippie]

Don't forget Aris Hampers.

[OldHippie]

Nevermind, someone did.

[Honeyman]

We might know each other, Yank. I worked middays at LAV-AM late 70s early 80s. Tony and I were friends and he used to bring me on air to bullshit before my shift. He and I would smoke together often, but nothing outside of a few joints.

Aris and Tony HATED each other, not sure why but the bad blood was before my time.

Laurie was always cool back then....she would do noon news during my slots as well and we had some schtick going.

Raft races were drunk fests even those days and we all knew somebody was sure to die.....amazing it took that long.

Dung started at LAV-FM too.....Logan loved him.

J.C. Corcoran was the PD on AM side. Google him for a few laughs.

[originalzzmfmjock]

I too had the pleasure? of working on WLAV-AM in the late 70's during their last hurrah as a Top 40/AC music station. I was hired in the spring of 1979 by Curt Kelly to work Sunday afternoons from Noon-6. He was replaced shortly thereafter by the aforementioned Jim Corcoran. During this time Regis McKenna was working Mornings, Joel Schecter Mid Days and Jim did the afternoon shift. I don't recall who did the evening shift and we had Larry King overnights. Myself, John Barry and yes Mike Slavko aka Dung worked on the AM/weekends at that time. Mike did the Sunday night shift using his real name. Came on the air after me on Sunday. His air work kind of rough at that time, but obviously he became a major talent. May he R.I.P. I left LAV in the fall of 1979 to go to work for WGRD.

As for the bad blood between Aris and Tony, it may stem from this story. In the fall of 1974 when WLAV-FM flipped to the full time Album Rock format it was a "free-form" station. Each jock got to play whatever they felt they needed to play to please their particular audience. Aris playing some avant garde off the wall stuff from time to time, while a guy like Doc Donovan played a more commercial format due to his background in Top 40 radio. LAV-FM was an interesting station to listen to from time to time, but not really all that successful in ratings or revenue. LAV-FM never beat GRD in the 1974-78 era and seldom beat WZZM/ZZR. I still have the old rating books to prove it. In the spring of 1979, Owner John Shepard, fearing competition from the new station in town (101.3/WFFX) hired the Burkhart/Abrams team to consult both his AM and FM stations. This did not sit well with Aris, Ed Buchanan and several others, so they bolted for The Fox, while Tony stayed behind at WLAV and helped implement the Lee Abrams format. Of course 8 months after going to The Fox, Ed, Aris and everybody else who left LAV were stunned to find out that 101.3 would become WCUZ-FM and switch to a country format. It was not a very popular move at the time, but a wise move as WCUZ-FM was one of the market leaders for about a decade. Ed stayed at WCUZ for several more years and Aris stayed and played country music on WCUZ-AM and baby sat Detroit Tiger baseball in the summer for a couple of years. Of course, Ed and Aris both eventually returned to LAV, but I think Aris still had some hard feelings for Tony for destroying his radio station. Unfortunately in the summer of 1979 after switching to the Abrams format, WLAV-FM enjoyed their first ever #1 12 plus ratings book with lots more to follow. Now we know at least some of the rest of the story.