A Probe Into The New Cordic Program

By Vince Leonard - Press TV-Radio Editor [Feb 18, 1969]

Rege Cordic returned to Pittsburgh radio Sunday but whether triumphantly remains to be seen.

It took Cordic about 10 years to attain star status in this city; certainly one couldn't expect him to regain that pinnacle alter 10 minutes on the air.

Cordic had been away from the turntables for 18 months - since CBS folded his show on KNX, Los Angeles - and oftentimes Sunday the layoff showed.

That is not to say Cordic was without his share of humorous moments; it's jest that his timing was off at his new weekly home away from home - WTAE Radio, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sundays.

Comparing Cordic's days on KDKA with his work today is unavoidable. The listener awaited the familiar of old and anticipated the topical newness, the hip modern twist to things taken for granted by lesser radio personalities.

And the format smacked of just that. There were foppish announcer Roquefort Q. LaFarge, mean Mr. Murchison, garbage man Louie and the voices of Ed Feigenbaum and the one who sounds like Harriet Nelson describing the whole thing as "a big, fat love affair wrapped up with music and laughs."

That was the old.

The new consisted of telegrams with a twist and Bob McCully's topicality.

Island Unto Himself

Mayor Bar opened with the first of the wacky wires: "Your return's the most important step in the Pittsburgh renaissance since the beautification of Herr's Island."

Only thing wrong with that fine piece business Is that it wasn't funny the fourth time around. But not everybody tuned in for the entire four hours. And radio is a catch-as-you-can thing.

McCully hewed to the headlines and came among other things, the following for Rege: a job building comfort stations for dogs in Mt. Lebanon or a job smuggling Democrats into Fox Chapel.

McCully's lines, as usua1, were on target but why he chattered in the background in the early hours of the show only to emerge as an actual participant later on remains a mystery here.

But such a complaint is minor.

The chief chink in the whole morning was the discrepancy in styles of the old and new Cordic.

Whereas on KDKA he was insouciant, devil-may-care, yawning into the mike and getting away with it, Sunday on WTAE he copped pleas - one after another. He made little excuses for not mastering the turntable, or for blowing his timing, or for not being on radio in a while.

And-he never did things like this within memory before-he thanked his new bosses for making his return possible, or appealed patronizingly to the listeners.

This is not Cordic: at least not the Cordic of old.

He May Feel Groovy Soon

As the weeks go by, he's certain to find the groove. But reviews concentrate on first shows and it would be remiss if the first show's shortcomings were not listed here.

Certainly WTAE is glad to have him aboard. They paid him big money, but, the show surely was not undersold. And they used the vehicle to cross promote virtually everything else on their air from Myron Cope to helicopter reports.

They may have stuck in cash calls too, only they don't do that on Sunday.

Cordic. though, to be quite fair about it, put lots of good things into the show. He played fine tunes, George Shearing's "Out of My Head" and Frankie Derone's "Bluesette" and songs by The Vogues and Dionne Warwick. He also held back some goodies - a pothole festival, for instance - until later in the program.

And he ribbed KDKA. Once the call letters came out KDTAE. This is Cordic on cue. This is what's needed to make the new show go.

Cordic goes back to the West Coast soon and will endeavor to host the program by remote control.

WTAE has a somewhat unusual situation facing it. The first show was done. live with Cordic there and it wasn't perfect. Who knows what will happen when only Cordic on tape is around?