George Sontag - Musical DirectorWOC TV 6 Davenport, Iowa
George Sontag - Musical DirectorWOC TV 6 Davenport, Iowa
How I got involved with WOC is an interesting story. I was involved with WQAD and was Mr. Music on Romper Room. That was when Channel 8 first went on the air. In fact I was one of the first on the air talents. Miss Carolyn Carsell was the Romper Room hostess on the show. When we were on that show, we were the people who were standing behind the ropes when they had the open houses for WQAD during its grand opening. That was at the exact time that the station went on the air and that was one of the first shows. Bert Claster Productions out of Baltimore Maryland was the owner of Romper Room and they had syndicated the program nationwide. We were one of the few at the time who had a live Mr. Music. Most of the other shows had canned music.
Before I started at Channel 8 I was a night club performer in the Quad Cities. One of the WQAD people came over and spotted me. I was needed for Romper Room as well as the program at noon called the Farm and Home Show. It was based around agriculture and news. One time the show aired live outside. I was playing a jazz tune in which your left leg is stepping in and out on the pedal. Believe it or not a dog came by and was grabbing hold of my leg during the live performance. Live TV was awesome!
Carolyn was so nervous all of the time. We would do whatever we could to crack her up whenever she was reading a nursery rhyme or a story. I would play a song like "Alley Cat" or something similar and she would look off camera and say "Oh Mr. Music, you are being silly!"
As I said, we did Romper Room live and Vern Gielow was the program director at the time at WOC. He saw me on that show and called me during the time period I was working at WQAD and that is how I ended up there. It was a natural for me because at one time my mother had a radio show on WOC Radio. Her name was Vi Daly.
My mom had recordings and sang with a band called Orville Barron and the Missourians. Pam Wendt, the Realtor from Moline, her dad was Orville Barron and he was the director of the orchestra. Mother was their singer. She had a radio show three days a week which was broadcast live over WOC from the Palmer Mansion in Davenport. "Pennies From Heaven" and "All The Things You Are" are two of the many songs that she would perform. She had a great voice and was a wonderful singer.
I played on WOC on Pat Sundine's Show "Especially For You" while George Sontag (who was the WOC musical director) was recovering from a brain tumor. He was in Mayo so I was there for a couple of years and then when he came back, he and I played together. He played the organ and I played the piano. He was just the best, the guy was just incredible. We got to be pretty close. He would come over and have dinner at my parents' house when I was still living there. Ironically, George was the original Quad Cities Mr. Music when Romper Room appeared on WOC during the 1950's and early 1960's.
Larry Radetzki on the set of Especially For You. Special thanks to legendary WOC engineer Jon Book.
George was a genius and he could just play anything. Even after all of the problems that he had, it was so innate in him that I think that the physical problems that he had could not hide all of the talent that he had in his head. He could remember hundreds upon hundreds of songs.
George was the most unassuming person that you would ever meet. He always made you feel like he was privileged and honored to be with you. That is just the way George was. He was such a talent. He was so humble and he was so well known. George always acted that way, he was a really really sweet person. There was not anybody nicer than George. You would never hear anything boastful out of his mouth. If anything, he would always put everything down that he performed. He would say "Oh, ya, that was o.k., I played that o.k." right after he had just come off of this wonderful rendition of whatever it was such as the song "Stardust". He had his own style and it was always so good and it was always so accessible to everyone. Some people appeal to certain people, I think that he appealed to everybody. I did not meet him until he had already been sick. He was gone for a few years as he was trying to recover. Then when he came back you could see what he had been through but he just acted like himself right off the bat.
Marge Meinert was still around at that time. I did not personally know her and I was pretty much in awe of both of them. I was just so privileged that they would consider me good enough to fill in for George at all, I was just so fortunate. I felt so out of place trying to fill in for George but having done so was such an honor. Marge & George had numerous shows together and separately on live television on WOC through the years but by the time I had arrived on the scene he was pretty much down to the Especially For You program. I left in the early 1970's and that was about the same time that George Sontag and Pat Sundine were both let go from the station. Syndication was the new wave of the future and the station was going away from live programming.
Working at WOC was just terrific. I remember days that just stuck in my mind that were just stellar days working at WOC. I recall the day that the color cameras arrived at the station. The trucks drove up into the circle at the entrance of the station. We knew they were coming and I had taken the rest of the day off. I stayed around and helped unload them. It was the most magical thing, what a huge stride that was made at that time to go to color. It was so exciting. It was probably a couple of months before we switched over but that first day, it was like wow! That was the neatest studio.
B.J. Palmer arranged for myself to go to New York City for some charity work and as a result I ended up by chance getting to speak with Ed Sullivan. Ed wrote a letter regarding myself and it was something that we showed on the air when I returned to the Quad Cities. Working for WOC was absolutely the best years of my life. It was just a wonderful place to work and it was just like a family. You were never a stranger working there. You would walk the halls and everyone was your friend. It was a great place.
Someone said that if you love you work you do not have a job. I never felt like I was going to work when I was at WOC. As a matter of fact, I could not wait to get there in the morning. After the Especially For You show, we would go out to the coffee shop with the guest that was on the show that day. One time I had to pick up the Good Year blimp guy. I even met Lorne Green one time among many other stars who appeared on WOC. I picked him up at the airport and he drove my car. Fun memories like that you never forget. I feel really fortunate that I was involved with WOC. It was terrific and it is something that will never be taken away from me.
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