WRAN, Dover 1510 AM

Me and Bert and Johnny

I started as the night DJ at WRAN in October, 1978. By January, 1980, I had rocketed to radio success and the morning drive shift. As part of my daily routine I would check the wire (an old Model 15 teletype machine) for stories I could use on the air. On this particular morning was the news of Bert Parks being fired after 25 years hosting the Miss America pageant, a New Jersey tradition. PERFECT! A local story I could use to rally listeners to a cause: BRING BACK BERT! So I spent many of the breaks in between songs exhorting my listeners to get behind the campaign. The phones did not stop ringing off the hook. I am only 23 at the time, with little over a year's experience on the air but I knew I had hit gold. To promote the station (and, admittedly, myself) I asked the newsman to call the Associated Press and tell them about our campaign, which he did. An AP reporter called me back and before I knew it, the story had "hit the wires."

But not before Johnny Carson got into the act. That evening he took to his bully pulpit and started his own campaign to "Bring Back Bert" which, thanks to our call to the AP earlier the same day, resulted in my name being mentioned in the same article as the King of Late Night - albeit as a tag line ("...David Kruh, a disc jockey at WRAN in Randolph, New Jersey, also urged a letter writing campaign to have Parks rehired.")

People from all over the U.S. would send me clippings from their local papers.

Here's a typical article, drawn almost exclusively from the AP wire story...

While putting together this new (as of September, 2020) page I googled the story and, to my amazement, found a Washington Post article from January, 1980 on line. One would expect the venerable Washington Post - the nation's paper of record - to have spelled my name correctly. That the article was written by Tony Kornheiser, a writer and ESPN host whose work I have enjoyed for years, was a pleasant surprise. But, come on, Tony, even the reporter for our small local newspaper in Dover got it right...

Now, the following will not surprise anyone who knows me: when I saw from the next morning's newspaper that Carson had taken a public stand, I contacted the Tonight Show. I know this sounds crazy but I imagined them inviting me to Burbank to appear on the Tonight Show to talk with Carson about our campaign. (Hey, it's like I used to say to my daughter as I put her to bed when she was younger: "always dream, and dream big.") Again, remember I'm just 23 years old and I'm seeing my name alongside Carson's in articles like this:

This is how I imagined it would happen: The Tonight Show would fly me out to the Coast. I would appear on the couch and Johnny and I would bond over our common cause. Afterwards, offers from major market stations would pour in! Yep... just waiting for the call... Should be any minute now...

The call never came.

Disappointed, but undaunted, I still saw the campaign had life. I boldly announced on the air I would deliver the "hundreds of letters of support" (okay, so maybe it was only dozens) Bert had received and bring them to the pageant committee in Atlantic City.

Now... the Punchline (as could only happen at WRAN)

A few days after I began my "Save Bert Parks" campaign, the station owner's sister, Rose (who did some bookkeeping among other duties) asked to speak with me.

"Dick wants you to stop talking about Bert Parks," she said.

"But why?" I protested. "We're getting so much great publicity!"

"Dick has friends on the pageant committee."

Of course he did. Probably explains why a few years earlier when New Jersey was holding a referendum on casino gambling in AC he wouldn't sell airtime to a group opposed to gambling in the state.

And so ended my great crusade for Bert Parks. I gathered the hundreds (okay, okay... dozens) of letters and sent them to him, along with a letter describing my attempt to get his job back (something that eventually happened in 1990.) In response, I got this note which, I have to say, put a nice Coda on the whole affair.


	Home Lion Broadcasting 1964-1969 Media/Jersey Horizons 1969 - 1974 Dick Bailey era I 1974 - 1979 Dick Baily era II - the Jackie Rose collection "Cousin" Bruce Morrow 1980 - 1986 WMHQ 1986 - 1988 The death of WRAN WRAN reborn (sort of...) LINKS EMAIL US	Me and Bert and Johnny I started as the night DJ at WRAN in October, 1978. By January, 1980, I had rocketed to radio success and the morning drive shift. As part of my daily routine I would check the wire (an old Model 15 teletype machine) for stories I could use on the air. On this particular morning was the news of Bert Parks being fired after 25 years hosting the Miss America pageant, a New Jersey tradition. PERFECT! A local story I could use to rally listeners to a cause: BRING BACK BERT! So I spent many of the breaks in between songs exhorting my listeners to get behind the campaign. The phones did not stop ringing off the hook. I am only 23 at the time, with little over a year's experience on the air but I knew I had hit gold. To promote the station (and, admittedly, myself) I asked the newsman to call the Associated Press and tell them about our campaign, which he did. An AP reporter called me back and before I knew it, the story had "hit the wires." But not before Johnny Carson got into the act. That evening he took to his bully pulpit and started his own campaign to "Bring Back Bert" which, thanks to our call to the AP earlier the same day, resulted in my name being mentioned in the same article as the King of Late Night - albeit as a tag line ("...David Kruh, a disc jockey at WRAN in Randolph, New Jersey, also urged a letter writing campaign to have Parks rehired.") People from all over the U.S. would send me clippings from their local papers. Here's a typical article, drawn almost exclusively from the AP wire story... While putting together this new (as of September, 2020) page I googled the story and, to my amazement, found a Washington Post article from January, 1980 on line. One would expect the venerable Washington Post - the nation's paper of record - to have spelled my name correctly. That the article was written by Tony Kornheiser, a writer and ESPN host whose work I have enjoyed for years, was a pleasant surprise. But, come on, Tony, even the reporter for our small local newspaper in Dover got it right... Now, the following will not surprise anyone who knows me: when I saw from the next morning's newspaper that Carson had taken a public stand, I contacted the Tonight Show. I know this sounds crazy but I imagined them inviting me to Burbank to appear on the Tonight Show to talk with Carson about *our* campaign. (Hey, it's like I used to say to my daughter as I put her to bed when she was younger: "always dream, and dream big.") Again, remember I'm just 23 years old and I'm seeing my name alongside Carson's in articles like this: This is how I imagined it would happen: The Tonight Show would fly me out to the Coast. I would appear on the couch and Johnny and I would bond over our common cause. Afterwards, offers from major market stations would pour in! Yep... just waiting for the call... Should be any minute now... The call never came. Disappointed, but undaunted, I still saw the campaign had life. I boldly announced on the air I would deliver the "hundreds of letters of support" (okay, so maybe it was only dozens) Bert had received and bring them to the pageant committee in Atlantic City. Now... the Punchline (as could only happen at WRAN) A few days after I began my "Save Bert Parks" campaign, the station owner's sister, Rose (who did some bookkeeping among other duties) asked to speak with me. "Dick wants you to stop talking about Bert Parks," she said. "But why?" I protested. "We're getting so much great publicity!" "Dick has friends on the pageant committee." Of course he did. Probably explains why a few years earlier when New Jersey was holding a referendum on casino gambling in AC he wouldn't sell airtime to a group opposed to gambling in the state. And so ended my great crusade for Bert Parks. I gathered the hundreds (okay, okay... dozens) of letters and sent them to him, along with a letter describing my attempt to get his job back (something that eventually happened in 1990.) In response, I got this note which, I have to say, put a nice Coda on the whole affair.