Neal Payne's, "In a Mist", first appearaned on Sunday May 13, 1979. In over
thirty years, In A Mist was on every Sunday night except two. In the late 80s, a transmitter
malfunction and in the mid 90s a big blizzard caused the show to not air.
In 1992 WXDR changed it's Call Letters to WVUD.
Neal Payne was a retired firefighter and brick layer, who loved big band music. "In a Mist" is a
title of a song by Bunny Berigan. Neal used it as his theme song. In late 1982 Neal was
listening to a Saturday Night Big Band show on a New Jersey FM Radio station. He called and
talked to the host, which was me, Brian Lee, and found out that I lived in Newark. He invited me
out for breakfast. Neal & I became very close friends and after being qualified to operate the board at
then WXDR, I would sit in as a guest host when Neal had to work, which was often.
Bill Chambless joined WXDR with "Scratchy Grooves" in May 1984 and became a Sunday
evening staple. The three of us became instant friends which I still treasure to this day. We
were like three peas in a pod, that is a good thing. I wound up filling in for Bill when he was
under the weather. By the way, Bill was the first inductee into the WVUD, "Hall of Fame",
May 2009 of which, I am very proud to have been part of the ceremony.
Neal Payne was killed in a tragic auto accident on Sunday morning, September 26, 1993. The
program continued with Brian Lee and some other WVUD personalities. In 1994, Roger Holmes
joined WVUD's Sunday night line-up. Roger took the helm till his retirement in 2009.
Roger Holmes was a commercial radio personality at WAMS, WIP, WDEL and others. I'd
been close friends with him since 1956. It was Roger and Mel Burnham who were both at WAMS,
that got me started with a spot on the air, on Feb 23, 1957. The rest is history.
On June 9, 2002, I took over Scratchy Grooves due to Bill's retirement and failing health. Bill died on
Memorial Day 2003, almost a year after he retired. Six years later on March 15, 2009, I took
over "In A Mist" when Roger Holmes retired. Roger was 86 years of age and with over 60 years
broadcasting on radio. He leaves quite a legacy and probably was the oldest working Dee-Jay
in Delaware, and maybe even the US. Who knows?
Replacing the knowledge of Roger Holmes will be difficult. To help me perform this task, I had
to get somebody with the knowledge of the music of this era. Pat Goodhope and Michael Foster,
joined the Sunday night, "Scratchy / Mist" team. The Fabulous Three, are on the air.
The three of us strive to "Keep the flame burning" with the music memories of this bygone, but
not forgotten era. Big Bands, Vaudeville, soundtracks, 1890s-1960. Spotlighting of musical years,
the artists & bands, Broadway & Hollywood, Blues, Tin-pan alley, All of it... A Great Mix...
Pat Goodhope: A Commercial Radio Dee-Jay at WJBR with the 'Sounds of Sinatra', and with
WVUD, Wednesday evenings on 'Avenue C' jazz.
Michael Foster: also joined the Sunday night team, He is also a host of WVUD's
Monday night 'Avenue C' and Monday's & Thursday's "Fine Tuning".
Brian Lee Hart: Commercial Radio host since 1957, lives in Newark with his wife of 48
years, Karen. Brian , age 70, retired, active, with all of our veterans groups, our police, BPOE
and Past Master of Jackson Lodge #19 AF&AM. Brian is also an avid U S coin Collector. He has been
with WVUD since 1983 as a regular Sunday host and still fills in on other shows when needed.
His extensive music library contains over 30,000 CDs. Music from the 1880s to about 1960.
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