Fort Wayne, Ind. (WOWO) Nationally syndicated radio show host Glenn Beck visited Fort Wayne last Friday as part of the WOWO 100 Celebration.
He started the day on Fort Wayne’s Morning News with Kayla Blakeslee, and recalled the times he met Charly Butcher. Kayla interviewed Beck across current topics including the assassination of Charlie Kirk and how that is reshaping the conservative media space amid increased violent rhetoric from the left.
He spoke to a crowd of more than 150 WOWO listeners at The Mic, Federated Media’s new broadcasting center located in the Village of Coventry. Beck spoke on the current state of affairs in the United States and also to the direction of the future of the country.
Beck also noted that WOWO was one of his first nationwide affiliates and recalled several trips to Fort Wayne early in his career. One particular trip, which was part of a book tour, saw fans turn out and offer up legendary Hoosier Hospitality in the way of homemade baked goods. In the spirit of his first trip, Kayla Blakeslee brought in a Wick’s Sugar Cream pie which Glenn sampled on-air.
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He then did a question and answer session with members of the audience who were able to text him questions. Most of the questions were about concerns with the country and politics, however, some of the questions included how he beat alcohol in his past, and also about how he met his wife.
Beck also shared a couple of historic artifacts from his collection. The first was Rush Limbaugh’s “Golden EIB Microphone” which was given to Beck by Kathryn Limbaugh personally. He also showed an original “War of The Worlds” script which aired on WOWO originally.
One of the other historic facts that Beck noted was that WOWO was one of the original stations on the CBS Radio Network and that the station actually helped build the infrastructure that formed the network we have today.
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Beck was joined on stage for a panel discussion that included WOWO’s Kayla Blakeslee and Casey Hendrickson as well as Tony Katz from WIBC, now heard on WOWO on weekends
A Bingo game capped the day and all proceeds from funds raised went to this year’s Penny Pitch Recipient – Breastie Boxes. Beck as well as one of the WOWO listeners matched the $1100 dollars raised to bring in a total of $3300 for Breastie Boxes. A Byrna Non-Lethal Launcher was the grand prize for Bingo.
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2 comments
Memories:
Born and Raised in Van Wert county, i mainly knew WERT & WOWO. On the farm it was tough to find a radio that wasn’t tuned to either, and Heaven forbid you disrupt that on some of the touchy’er dials!
I always bounced between 1190 and 1220, but at the top or bottom of the hour.. we had to be quite so GrandPa could hear the news briefs. Similarly in 1989, in the Driver’s Ed car, we had to remain quite during those points of the hour, while our instructor could also get his WOWO news fix.
… and, only marginally louder when Rush Limbaugh resumed his programming.
🙂
A few times the channel was changed, but once he realised it, back we went to the AM flip switch. “Music is too distracting..”, he’d turn and say with grin. We knew. We’d seen those WOWO ears perk up before..
Working 3rd shift, thru much of the 90’s, i think my AM dial was glued to 1190. Mainly for Art Bell and the news.
The end of the 90’s, saw the end of my late nights with Art, as i sadly moved to Day Shift.
But with that was my discovery of Macy in the Morning!
Nothing could topple his sternness, his stubbornness, his ideals, …his sense of humour! He would literally set my tone for the day.
Whether gagging to Ovaltine commercials, or completely laying out why our Economy/Family structure is soOOOOooo mess up …still to this day! Proves to me that… not enough people listened.
And, the hours of enjoyment from the Dave and Pat tiffs! 🤣 Never forget the Anne Robinson remark! …and the aftermath!
I think, for many of us, When September 11th occurred WOWO went from something in the background, to something we were tune and listening to. I think that this time period caused many stations to take pause and begin to make changes.
In fact, the next year… I think, it was Dave that introduced Glenn Beck’s coming to WOWO, to rescue us from Dr. Laura Schlessinger. Or, i meant “replace”.
…i miss Dave and all his mischievous tendencies. ..never so devastated when he was let go.
But it allowed for WOWO to take new approaches with new and familiar voices.
Charly stepped up to the plate to replace Dave. At first, i didn’t know if he was going to fill Dave’s shoe’s.. but it was nice to see he brought his own. I was actually again devastated, when we, as an audience, had to let him go.
The WOWO changes with the Glenn Beck show brought about the “Best of”, which is where i was first audibly introduced to Pat Miller! I knew, listening to Pat those first few broadcasts.. that he had a new fan!
My timeline, of memories, may be at fault. I am not the sharpest of knife in the drawer, so feel free to correct me!
🙂
However, my TOP memory will always be; Waking up in the wee hours of a Saturday morning, making a brisk little trek to the Kruse Auction Park, and patiently waiting for everyone to arrive. March 2003, That was the day i shook hands with, and finally met some of the most influential people, that i have ever heard on WOWO!
..oh, and Sandy. But i had seen her in concert, years previous.
heheh
Sad i missed hearing this most recent event! Sounds like my TOP.
🙂
Least …now i have photo’s!
i have to admit, my dial tends to rotate back and forth between the aforementioned kilocycles, but only after Casey Hendrickson off the air, or there’s not an upcoming Komets game.
I think things are heading in a great direction.
Continue to inspire us, WOWO!
When I was 14, 1964, my parents gave me a 2″ x 3″ x 1″ AM transistor radio for Christmas. Used one battery and the speaker was what we call today, a wired earbud. I lived in a farming area in MICHIGAN, 160+ miles North of Ft Wayne.. Every night, I would listen to WOWO Fort Wayne! With its clear signal, I could not wait for the sun to go down so I could listen to the station. God bless you for serving the public so many years and may God bless you with many more.