MEMORIES OF THE

TIME CAPSULE SHOW

by: Joe Marchesani

(Joe - at the mike - 1965)

 History of the Time Capsule Show (TCS)

 The Time Capsule Show began its nearly-15-year run on March 28, 1963 on WFUV, the FM station run by Fordham University in the Bronx, New York, USA.  It was started by two Fordham students, Joe Marchesani and Tom Luciani, who had been friends since childhood having grown up in the 1940s in the same Bronx neighborhood.  Although they lived a few blocks away from each other, and attended different elementary and high schools, they always remained in touch continuing to spend time together especially during summer.

 In 1954, I developed a love of rock ‘n’ roll, which was just beginning to blossom in New York City.  This came about thanks to the religious sisters of my elementary school.  Since I was a talkative young man, even then, I was often given the task of writing, “I will not speak in class” a few hundred times as a punishment.  To make this chore easier, I did it at night and on weekends while tuning in AM radio.  I soon developed a passion for rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm ‘n’ blues--especially the African-American, vocal group sound, which enchanted me.  Despite my parents’ protests about this strange, new music, I was a regular listener to Alan Freed, Jocko Henderson, Hal Jackson, Tommy (Dr. Jive) Smalls, and others.  I saved up money to purchase my first group record, a 78 RPM copy of “When You Dance” by the Turbans.  After that, I bought one group record each time my budget allowed it.  As the 1950s progressed, I became a big fan of the music and attended Alan Freed shows and movies.  The names of current vocal groups and my favorite songs decorated the covers of my elementary school notebooks.  This passion continued through high school even though the African-American groups were beginning to be pushed aside by white artists.

 ( Tom in studio 1968 )

Tom’s interest in this music came a bit later, and was not as intense as mine at first.  However, he caught up.  When I began to attend Fordham in the early 1960s, where Tom was already a student, we spent a great deal of time together fervently trying to find and enjoy the old group music on the air.  We began to scour NY radio for the vocal group sound, and discovered the WNJR deejays, Alan Fredericks’ “Night Train Show,” and Irving (Slim) Rose’s “Times Square Records Show.”  We listened to every program that Fredericks and Rose did, often making notes about the songs we liked and how much they would cost (or be worth in trade).

 When these people went off the air, we wanted to do what we could to keep the music alive.  So, in the summer of 1962, with the help of a friend who was an electronics expert, we constructed our own low-power radio station to broadcast to the immediate neighborhood on 1620 AM.  We went on the air with the “Time Capsule Show” and began presenting the vocal group oldies every Sunday night.   Unfortunately, the authorities weren’t as delighted with the group sounds as we were, and they shut us down after a short time.

 As a result of the publicity surrounding our little, homemade radio station, we became know to the people at WFUV; and we joined the station as staff announcers and hosts of various classical and light, popular music shows for which the station was then known.  After a short time, we hounded the manager of WFUV to allow us to begin airing our “Time Capsule Show”. He agreed to do it for awhile as an experiment, and to everyone's surprise, the show lasted for almost 15 years.

 In 1967, I moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA to work at Temple University.  I tape recorded the TCS and mailed it to Tom in New York, who played it on WFUV right before his live segment.  On July 19, 1969,   the show was begun to be carried by WRTI, the FM station at Temple.  The TCS was now on the air in these two major cities each week.  The response in Philadelphia was every bit as good as in New York.  In September of 1972, soon after I announced to the WRTI staff that I was moving to Iowa, they decided to drop the program despite many protests from listeners.  They had begun an all-jazz format, and the TCS was the only show that didn’t follow that programming.  It was never replaced. 

After relocating to Iowa, I continued to record the program, and mailed it to Tom for airplay until the last show on December 31, 1977, which was done live.

 The TCS’ Popularity 

Five things made the TCS stand out when it began: 

          The TCS was probably the first show of its kind to treat the artists, the records, and the music with great seriousness and respect.  At the time, there was little information known about the old groups--mostly rumors.  We wanted to present to our audience the most accurate information that we could.  So, we spent months in the New York Public Library researching group personnel, record dates, and the vocal group music of the late 40s and early and middle 50s (Little was known to collectors about this period compared to the later 50s.).  We read virtually every issue of Billboard and Cashbox Magazine from those years that we could get our hands on--mostly on microfilm.  We copied down a book’s worth of information--all in longhand--to help us get a better feel of what was happening in the R‘n’R and R‘n’B vocal group field.

           We really loved the music, and I think it showed.  This music was our passion! (Like most non-commercial deejays, we volunteered our time, and actually spent  money to put on the program.)

           The TCS was one of the few shows at the time where the deejays didn’t talk over the records (so you could record them), and do other things to share the spotlight with the artists they were playing.  We developed a straightforward style based on the smooth, easy presentation of Alan Fredericks to whom we’d often listen during the early 60s. 

          The TCS did things that, to our knowledge, had not been done in New York before.  We presented live vocal groups singing on-air, interviewed numerous lead singers, and presented group spotlights devoting entire shows to the music and history of one vocal group.  The TCS’ “Battle of the Groups,” “Mystery Record Contest,” “Backflips,” and other features, while probably not original, added to the excitement. 

          The TCS consistently played music that could rarely be heard elsewhere.  Even though Alan Fredericks (when sponsored by Times Square Records) and Irving “Slim” Rose were the first to introduce many people (including us) to the “collector’s item” concept, the TCS took that idea up a few more notches.  We played many more rare records than other shows because we truly loved those songs and because, on educational radio, we had no sponsors to please and no records that we needed to sell.

 Together with our good friend and colleague, Bill Shibilski, we went on record-hunting trips throughout the country to get many of the discs that we played on the TCS. Before that, in the earliest years, we were helped by the generosity of Richard Nelson, a New York collector, who loaned us many rare records to play on the show until we could find them ourselves on our trips. It was unbelievably exciting (even for us) for the audience to hear “good” vocal group harmony records that few people had ever heard before!  We really loved the music, and wanted to share it with all of you.

Why The TCS Ended 

After nearly 15 years, three things happened:

          It became very difficult for us to continue to allocate all the time it took to produce a show with the quality that we wanted to present.   With me moving to Philadelphia, and then to Iowa, and with Tom moving out on Long Island, our time became limited.  We wanted to be remembered for good quality shows, and we couldn’t devote the time it took to make this happen every week.

          Because we were a bit selective about what we played, we began to realize that we were starting to play a lot of the same records over and over.  We had strong feelings about what was “good” vocal group harmony (We admit it was just our personal opinion--not necessarily everyone’s.).  We didn’t want to play records that were not “the better one’s.”  We never liked to play off-key, poorly-recorded, and poorly-produced vocal group records if we could help it.  I’m sure we did spin some of these discs for “historical” reasons, and we also probably played some inferior records just because they were rare, but that was really not our style.  We understood that our musical tastes might have been more limited than other people’s, but the show was a way we could share our fondness for our favorite groups with all of you.  This paragraph is not at all intended to be critical of other deejays or shows--just to explain that we were fortunate enough to be able to play what we liked most of the time.

         The original excitement of the TCS began to dim because most of the rare records for which we’d become famous had been reissued or bootlegged.  Now the radio audience had access to them, and really didn’t need to listen to us to hear them. 

1960s Vs 1970s 

The show began as an experiment by two college students. We never believed it would last past our college years!  At first, we tried to mix rock ‘n’ roll groups, from the middle and later 50s, with rhythm ‘n’ blues groups from the late 40s and the early and middle 50s.  As the 60s progressed, and especially in the 1970s, we began to emphasize R‘n’B groups a lot more than Rock ‘n’ Roll groups.

 The 60s shows were somewhat crude.  Although Tom was terrific from the first time he stepped in front of a mike, I began to broadcast with a young, high voice and a New York accent.  Tom sounded like someone from network radio right from the start; I sounded as young as I was.  Also, our knowledge of the group information grew each year, and really was at it’s best in the 70s.   Unfortunately, there was much misinformation floating around in the early years, and, despite our library research, I’m sure we passed along some inaccurate data to the listeners until we learned the correct information.

 The 60s Shows That Exist

You may have recorded some of the 60s shows off-air yourself, and you may have more than we do!  Unfortunately, we kept very few shows from the early years (It’s hard to believe that we didn’t keep the first show!).  The shows from the 60s that we did keep are not by any means the “best” of the TCS.  They may not even be representative of a “typical” TCS.  They are only the few shows that we happened to save at random or that listeners sent to us.   

At first, we never taped the shows except if we needed to be prerecorded.  Even if we did keep one or two shows for a while, we’d erase them the following year!  Tape was expensive, and we couldn’t afford to keep the early shows (The college stations were quite underfunded, and they could not afford to give us tapes to keep for each show.)  

Technically, the 60s shows were not of the highest quality.  The reel-to-reel tapes we used were recycled ones and had splices that occasionally stuck together; and the tape recorders from those early days didn’t always run at the correct speed.  Remember, also, that we played original 78 RPM and 45 RPM records much of the time so the sound quality doesn’t compare to what’s heard today. 

Some of these early shows are circulating among collectors. If you ever get a chance to hear them, I hope the 60s shows that exist don’t harm the “memories and images” that some of you have in your minds of the TCS.   Sometimes, with nostalgia, things are better in your mind than they actually were.  I hope the TCS shows from the 60s that survived live up to your expectations.  

The 70s Shows That Exist

  More people taped the TCS in the 70s because the show had grown widely in popularity.   We too saved a lot more shows.  When we began to simulcast the TCS in both New York and in Philadelphia, we had to mail tapes back and forth, and this led us to keep more programs.  The shows we saved were not necessarily the best ones, but at least we had the sense to keep some of the many “specials” that we did.  We now had full-time jobs, and we could afford to save more tapes.

 There are many more 70s shows in existence than 60s shows.  In our opinion, they are much better than the 60s programs because Tom and I grew in our knowledge, programming, and presentation of the vocal group oldies.  However, they don’t have the “charm” and “excitement” of the 60s shows which were groundbreaking in the NY radio field.  If you ever get a chance to hear any of the 70s shows, we hope you’ll notice the improvement.

Vocal Group Information

Although we probably started the trend to give complete group histories and record backgrounds, we didn’t know as much as you do today.  Even though we spent considerable time researching group information, we had just scratched the surface. Today, almost 40 years later, you all know more about these groups than we did.  You have the benefits of magazines, books, and Internet information to draw upon. 

 There have been numerous books about the field that really do a great job of providing more detailed information about the groups than any of us in the 60s ever could.  I recall reading fine early books published in the mid-70s by Phil Groia, Lynn McCutcheon, Bill Millar, Charlie Gillette and others; and I have recently read or know about current excellent books by Bob Pruter, Jay Warner, Galen Gart, Lou Silvani, Mitch Rosalsky, Todd Baptista, Drs. Gribin and Schiff, and many others. I am amazed by the information that has been uncovered since the TCS began.  I just wish we had access to all of this data when we were on the air!

 Modern Deejays & Commercial Music Enterprises

I still try to listen to as many of the vocal group oldies shows that I can, either live, during the weeks when I’m in New York, or through tapes.  I am very impressed at how good the modern deejays are. They are mature adults compared to the two college students who started the TCS, and they sound quite professional.  They do a great job, and provide detailed information and anecdotes about the music.  They even interview group members who are still around.  I salute current oldies deejays Jim Dunn, Tony Fournier, Marv Goldberg, Nikki Gustafson, Lou Rallo,  and many others for their excellent work.

I must give special recognition to the post TCS hosts, who have been keeping the music alive in New York for almost two decades on  "The Rhythm 'n' Blues Group Harmony Review". This group includes Dan Romanello, the shows current host, and previous  hosts Bill Shibilski (who was its founder), George Tompkins, Sal Mondrone, Neil Hirsch, and others. This group has taken the TCS banner and done a fine job of carrying it in their own way on WFUV for a long period of time.

 These deejays, together with music business people like Ronnie Italiano (who has done a great deal to keep the music’s flame burning in the New York area), Eddie Gries, Wayne Stierle, Donn Fileti, George Lavatelli and others at Relic Rack, Jerry Greene and Jarred Weinstein at Lost Nite, Walter DeVenne, Bob Hyde, Val Shively, Billy Vera, Marv Goldberg and many others at Rhino and Collectibles Music, and numerous other people throughout the country, are all making it possible for this classic American music to live through another century. Any omissions of prominent people from the lists above are not intentional, but merely the result of memory loss due to old age!

 Where are They Now? 

(Joe Marchesani - circa 2001 )

I am a college professor and an audio/video media producer at a medium-sized Midwestern university.  I have two grown children, who also work for the university.  My wife and I own a small home in town and we spend as much time as we can with our three grandchildren--all boys, aged 1, 3 and 5.

( Tom Luciani - in studio 2001)

Tom works in the banking industry in New York, but, since college, he has also worked on a permanent, part-time basis in New York radio.  He is currently in his 13th year of hosting various radio shows for the Long Island audience. Tom is married, and has two children--one in high school and one in college.  

Thanks ! 

To close, we want to thank all those who have made the TCS possible. We’d like to give our sincere thanks to all the WFUV managers and engineers who supported the TCS through the years; to Bill Shibilski, for his friendship and backing; to the late Bob Galgano, who helped in the production of some of the 70s shows; to Frank Acampora, an old friend from the Bronx, for taping and keeping many TCS shows when we didn’t; to Dave Hinkley, for his columns in the New York Daily News that keep the group music in the public eye; to the many collectors, business people, and friends who assisted us in any way; to our families who sustained us through all of these times; and especially to the thousands of listeners who kept us going for almost 15 years by tuning in, writing, or calling.  We hope you all carry good memories and positive experiences from the hours you spent listening to our show.  Goodbye, and God bless you all! 

        Joe Marchesani

ADDENDUM #1- SUMMER 1969 TO SUMMER 1972

(THE NEW YORK/PHILADELPHIA YEARS)

           In June of 1967, I moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. to take a job as an audio/video producer for Temple University.  For the remainder of that year, I returned to New York each weekend to visit family, friends and my fiancée, Joan.  When the TCS was aired on Saturdays during this period, I usually did the show live at WFUV, the Fordham station in the Bronx, New York City that was the original home of the program.

            Joan and I were married in January, 1968, in Queens, New York, and we set up house in Northeast Philadelphia.  For the next year and a half, I tape-recorded the Time Capsule Show at one of my sound studios at work, and mailed it to the Bronx where it was played on WFUV right before Tom’s live segment.   Joan and I came back to New York regularly; and I made “in-person” appearances at WFUV whenever I could.

              In July of 1969, I convinced the administration of WRTI-FM, the Temple University radio station, to begin airing the TCS in Philadelphia. The TCS then was heard simultaneously in both New York and Philly.   Philadelphia had little exposure to the oldies revival at this time, and the TCS became successful immediately.  Since the Philly listeners needed some time to become accustomed to the “heavy” R ‘n’ B collector’s items, my shows from WRTI for the first two years or so featured much more rock n’ roll tunes than had most of the shows I had done previously in New York.  Tom was able to make occasional trips to Philadephia, and we did some shows together live during this time. 

On WRTI, I would be heard live for the first half-hour of the show, and then a tape would be played that was Tom’s half (usually previous week’s show from New York).  On WFUV, the TCS would start with a tape of the show I had aired live in Philadelphia )usually the previous week), and then Tom would do his half live.

              On occasion, a guest would join me at the station, and provide rarely-heard records for the audience to enjoy.  I am grateful to people like Val Shivley, Carl Tancredi, Sal Tagliarano, and others for their help and support.   In New York, Bob Galgano co-produced Tom’s segment during much of this time.  I also want to thank, once again, Frank Acampora, a former technician at WFUV, who saved most of the TCS programs he engineered!

              The shows that still exist from this period are by no means the “best of the TCS” or even necessarily very typical.  They are just the shows that happened to get saved by accident; that listeners or our engineer kept; or that were “specials” of one kind or another.

              In Philadelphia, WRTI unfortunately used “acetate-based” reel-to-reel tapes, rather than mylar, and many of the studio tapes from this time crumbled or broke apart when they were played years later.  Some of the damage was repaired, but much could not be fixed.  Because of this, there may be words, phrases, and parts of songs missing from some of the studio tapes from this era.

              Because the shows were to be aired in both Philadelphia and New York, IDs from both stations probably appear in shows from this period.  Also, opening and closing themes were often added live at the two stations so these themes may be missing from some of the existing, original studio tapes.

              These were hectic years with a large audience in two major urban areas, and the need to bicycle tapes from city to city every week.  However, this period represented the greatest influence the TCS had in its nearly-15 year run.  The Philadelphia audience was an excellent addition to the Time Capsule family, and I remember these years with great fondness.

      Best wishes,

     Joe Marchesani

ADDENDUM # 2- FALL 1972 TO  1977

(THE TCS FINAL YEARS)

When I moved to Iowa in the fall of 1972, I suspected it might be more difficult for me to keep up the same quality of my half of the Time Capsule Show. That proved to be true. Because of this, my programs during these last few years of the TCS were not consistent. Even though there were many decent shows, some were not quite up to the level that had been established in New York and Philadelphia between 1963 and 1972. My part was taped in a homemade studio at work, and mailed to Tom for replay on WFUV right before his "live" half. When the TCS was cut short because of the many Fordham football and basketball games broadcast by the station during this period, Tom did the entire program.

Technically, it was more difficult to do the show in my new location. In Philadelphia, I had a radio station in the same building that provided me with a room for on-air work, and also with professional "taping" facilities if needed. In Iowa, I had none of that because the radio station was across campus, and I could only record the TCS in a college Media Center. In fact, although I had access to the Center's homemade audio studio, I wasn't able to play 78rpm records, and even playing 45s was a chore. I needed to bring in my own record player to use 78s, and there's a distinctive "clunk" heard on many of my programs as I stopped my 1950's-vintage record changer after a 78 had been played. There's another odd, metallic sound that's also heard from time-to-time when I started or stopped an old turntable that was there to play 45s. I couldn't even "cue up" records, so there's sometimes a definite delay between my announcing a song and when it actually starts to play. If a serious problem arose, I also had no easy way to "edit" the show that I was recording. The facilities to "splice" tape were very crude. So, I just rewound the tape to right before the mistake, and then started it up again--a very imprecise method that often left a gap of silence, or part of a word that I had hoped to record over. Unfortunately, these technical challenges did take my attention somewhat away from the content of the show.

In Philadelphia, I was married with one job. In Iowa, I had 2 jobs, a new, first house, and 2 children added. This made it very difficult to find all the hours needed to present the TCS in the same way as it had been done before. Therefore, the shows from this period probably had less of the information that I was noted for--all due to my lack of time. I tried to "ad lib" some of the facts when I didn't have the chance to do all the research required, but it was hard to remember all the details of group personnel, record dates, and other data. I was usually close or on-target with most of my guesses, but I'm embarrassed when I recall some programs where I gave the wrong lead singers or dates for some of the more obscure 5 Keys records (my favorite group)!


I found it also harder to get emotionally "into" the program. It was tough to do a show on-tape after so many years of being "live." Although I did pre-record shows in Philly, I usually had listeners in the studio with me, who enjoyed the music as much I did. In Iowa, there was really no one that I could locate who appreciated this music. I also lost touch with the oldies "scene"-- the newly-discovered information, the new rumors, the East Coast Revival shows, and the oldies organizations that were just springing up.

Despite this, there were probably a few memorable shows from this time period like anniversary programs, early 50s salutes, and collector's corner specials. I also tried to add some variety to my half. Since almost all of the famous collector's items had been reissued by this time, and since there were many fine books and magazines now being published (led by "They All Sang on the Corner" and "Yesterday's Memories"), people had less reasons to tune in the TCS. They could now buy the records, and could look up the information themselves. Because of this, I occasionally played a few "instrumentals," or "single artists;" or did a few shows that included 60's and 70s groups; or started to play "B" sides-- just to do something different (Tom tried this also.). But my heart wasn't in it, and I never developed it further.

I also did a number of live shows in New York during this time--over Christmas and during summer vacations-- and these were great fun. It was wonderful to get together with Tom, Bill, and my New York family and friends. I remember that many local acapella groups came up to the station to sing on the TCS while I was in town. Since Tom did most of his shows live, it really became a bit more his show than mine. So, when I made a visit to the FUV studios, Tom did more of the talking and I keep a lower profile.

During these years, and especially in 1977 when he married, Tom began to feel some of the same pressures that I was. Fortunately, he was able to get help from Bob Galgano, the New York co-producer, and many guest collectors when he was short on the time it took to plan the show. The quality of the New York segment remained consistently higher than mine because of this.

Nevertheless, we could both see the end coming. As I recall, the shows from 1977 that both of us did seemed to lack much of the spark and excitement of earlier years. The first installment of these three essays explains in greater detail generally why the show ended. (Please review that if you can.) The specific events at the end were as follows: Because of my personal situation, I told Tom that the March 25, 1978 show (our 15th Anniversary) would be my last. However, marriage, house, and work responsibilities were also affecting Tom, and he was going to make the same announcement to me! We decided to end the show the way we began--together and "live." The December 31, 1977 show was to be my last before returning to Iowa, so we decided to announce our "retirement" right there and then. It was totally unexpected, and many listeners were in shock.

However, we did feel sure that the station would continue with the music, and there were many fine hosts waiting in the wings. Bill Shibilski, Rich Adcock, and a few others keep the music alive until the "Rhythm n' Blues Group Harmony Review" was born. Led initially by George Tompkins, with his partners Sal Mondrone, Neil Hirsch, Dan Romanello, and others, this show continued the TCS tradition in its own way with presentations of the old, group sound. The program is currently still on the air hosted by Dan, who has been active in New York Oldies Radio for over 2 decades.

In addition, many other shows devoted to this music have come and gone, or still exist either on air or on the internet. With all this excellent programming, some available worldwide, it seems pretty hard for people to miss the TCS. The current shows and hosts carry on the tradition of playing the good, old, group sounds and they provide listeners with more detailed, accurate information about the music. However, Tom and I still take pride in knowing that we probably started this "format," and we take pleasure in realizing that some people still remember us fondly after almost 40 years.

Even today, I still think of the shows, the music, and all of you. I try to listen to the music if I can especially as background when doing chores, or writing at the computer. Those were exciting and special years that still bring me many thoughts of enjoyment and accomplishment. As I've said previously, I hope you all carry good memories and positive experiences from the hours you spent listening to the TCS. May you all enjoy the music today in good health and with prosperity and happiness. Goodbye and God bless you all.


      Best wishes,

     Joe Marchesani

Joe Marchesani  - 10/12/2001

"Now that the final chapter of the Time Capsule Story has been posted, I
want to once again express my sincere appreciation and heartfelt thanks
to Jim and Nikki for making this site a reality.  They have literally
done weeks of work over the last year or so on all the complex technical
aspects of the project.  They have also spent a considerable sum of
their own funds to lease the internet space for this site. None of this
is surprising because they have been supporting the old group sounds on
the internet for a long time and at great expenditure of their time and
energy.  The Time Capsule site is just the latest in a long, string of
contributions to the music that they have made-- be it their own oldies
show, Jim's group, photos, narratives, and valuable information about
the artists we all love. Thanks again, Jim and Nikki, for making the
Time Capsule Show's history available to listeners and group-sound
aficionados all over the world."

Joe Marchesani  - 11/25/2002

Contacting Joe M.

If you would like to get in touch with Joe Marchesani, he can now be reached by e-mail. Joe M. is happy to hear from both old and new listeners of the TCS shows. To send e-mail to Joe M. , just click here.

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