Larry Morrow: A legend in local radio

The voice is still the same: a warm, resonant, rich baritone. It makes you think of hot fudge.

Although born and raised in Michigan, Larry Morrow is a firm believer in the old adage “bloom where you’re planted.” When he came to Cleveland to work, he became the number one booster for our fair city. And that hasn’t changed either!

It was WIXY 1260 that brought him here. In case you’re too young to remember those halcyon days of AM radio, Larry was but one of several WIXY Supermen who quickly took the station to the number one ranking in the area – and kept it there for several years. It was a long run in radio time, which is notorious for short-term fickleness.

Overall, Larry Morrow was the voice of several Cleveland radio stations after that auspicious beginning, most notably the FM standard WQAL or Q104, which is still broadcasting, by the way.

It didn’t start that way, though, and it wasn’t all that easy, either. One of five kids, Larry’s family lived in Pontiac, Michigan, now more famous for the SilverDome entertainment complex than for being the home of General Motors Truck & Coach Division.

(Author note here: Although we never met until last month’s interview for this article, Larry and I were born less than a year apart, and our families lived twenty miles from each other. I certainly listened to him a lot during my early years in Cleveland, even though I came here three years before he did!)

His first “real” radio job was as the night guy on WKHM in Jackson, MI, in July, 1962, where his pay was a whopping $1 an hour – not bad at that time. A year later found him at WTKX in Flint, as morning drive guy for a huge raise – $100 a week! That same year, 1963, was the beginning of the ‘British rock’ invasion, in case you’re keeping score. Two years later, he moved to CKLW in Windsor, Canada, just across the river from Detroit – and the big-time! His new name – Duke Windsor – coincided with the beginning of a new musical giant still in the formative stages – Berry Gordy’s Motown.

As Windsor was just across Lake Erie, the station had as many listeners in Cleveland as it did in that part of Canada, and the Duker helped to push a Cleveland band into its first big record – Time Won’t Let Me by the Outsiders and Sonny Geraci. Forty years later, the two men are still friends, living five miles away from each other in the Chagrin Falls area.

But that time in Windsor was noticed by yet another famous Cleveland radio person – Norman Wain. It was hard not to be impressed by the fact that CKLW was #1 in Cleveland (yes!) during the 7 to midnight shift, which was Larry’s. So, when Wain’s station, WIXY, seemed about to lose their evening guy, Wain called Morrow. It didn’t work out that time, as the then-evening guy changed his mind about leaving. The next year, however, the morning guy at WIXY left, and Wain called again. This time, it all worked out, and Larry Morrow came to Cleveland. His wandering days were over. But not without second thoughts.

The summer of 1966 was a tumultuous one for the United States, and no less for Cleveland. Larry arrived in the middle of the Hough riots. He almost went back to Michigan, except there were riots there, too. Very close to Berry Gordy’s Motown complex, in fact. (Author note: And six blocks from my high school!)

Nevertheless, the next few years were big ones for Larry and the WIXY crew assembled by Norm Wain. George Brewer and a raft of great DJs, all of whom had been fired from other big-time stations around the country, set about the job of boosting WIXY past WKYC, WHK and any other pretenders. In the process, they not only changed the radio face of Cleveland, but in many ways, the rest of the country as well. They put Cleveland’s personality radio on the map!

And, they were everywhere! When Blossom Music Center opened in 1968, it was of course, the Cleveland Orchestra that opened the facility, but night two was Blood, Sweat and Tears, brought in by WIXY, and introduced by none other than Larry Morrow. And the opener? None other than the still mostly unknown John Denver! It was promotion, promotion, and more promotion! And it worked.

It was WIXY that provided Larry with the most uplifting of all his radio memories – his trip to Vietnam in 1969, when he personally interviewed and taped some 55 local servicepersons. “To this day,” he says, a broad smile on his face, “That Vietnam trip was the most rewarding experience of my broadcast life.”

Then, in 1972, the Cleveland Press sponsored a favorite disk jockey contest. 73 DJs and 23 stations garnered votes, but in the end, the winner was – the Duker. “I was a private guy in an extremely public business,” he notes, philosophically. But nothing lasts forever. Later that year, WIXY was sold, which marked the end of an era. Of WIXY’s original Supermen, Larry was the only one left. Nearly 60 other radio voices had appeared before the station’s microphones during the previous six years.

Morning shows especially appealed to women listeners, and Larry devised two contests to keep his listeners listening. “What’s Cooking?” and “Larry, Larry, What’s in the Box?” offered prizes to hold the attention of the listeners. Mornings were Larry’s niche, and when he left WIXY for 3WE, and then eventually WQAL, he stayed on the morning shift. In the meantime John Lannigan had become the morning man at WGAR. It was an ongoing ratings battle with Lannigan, back and forth. There was never exactly a landslide winner.

Larry adds, “Overall, I had more women listeners, while Lannigan had more men listening. Unfortunately, for me, there were more men than women listening, so in the long run, he won out. Now,” he adds, “John Lannigan and Trapper are the last of the local celebrity announcers that we have.”

In the meantime, Larry’s ‘Morrow’s Music Machine’ kept busy creating jingles for advertising of all kinds. To his surprise, one call came from Wyse Advertising, whose Lois Wyse had created a fabulous slogan that still lives today — “With a name like Smucker’s, it has to be good.” Larry won a Clio (advertising’s Oscars) for setting it to music. He decided to take a vacation from radio, and visited his brother in Virginia Beach.

It was there, on September 23, 1972 that he first met their friend, Rosary. “It wasn’t love at first sight, exactly, but the second time I saw her, the following February, I asked her, I begged her to marry me.” A big grin takes over his face. “She did,” he says. “In fact, we were married on Cleveland’s birthday! September 22, 1973. All the more fitting, then, that their first anniversary was Cleveland’s 177th! And guess who eventually played Moses Cleaveland? Right on, wig and all. “Not too many people get to stand in front of 450,000 people for a bicentennial celebration,” he says, eyes shining.

Rosary brought her three daughters to the marriage: Larry is one proud father, having adopted the girls at the earliest opportunity. They now also boast of having one granddaughter. Holding an equally special place in his memories is having introduced four presidents of the US at various events in Cleveland, and announcing ten years of Independence Day concerts by the Cleveland Orchestra at Public Square.

These days, he teaches communication skills at John Carroll University, as part of Dr. Scott Allen’s leadership development courses. “Several times a year we meet with MBA students and teach them how to engage in conversation to build relationships. After all, the heart is only 14 inches from the head, but we seldom use it.” In addition, he makes roughly 200 appearances a year, talking to people from all walks of life. “Every twenty minutes, we send a personal message,” he says. “We need to connect at the heart level. We need to show everyone that we care about them and about our community. I really tried to stress this. When I was on the air, the average drive time in Cleveland was 20 minutes. So every twenty minutes, I talked about something personal to the listener: their family, spouse, children or even their God.”

One other event stands high in Larry’s memory, as well. He was enjoying a Starbucks coffee early one morning when the manager called out “Is there a Larry Morrow here?” It was then-Mayor White on the phone to ask if Larry could emcee an event later that day – at 11:30 am to be exact. Larry cautiously agreed, until he discovered the nature of the event! It was the opening of the new Browns Stadium! He would be part of the ribbon-cutting ceremony that featured Al Lerner, (former) Mayor Voinovich, Mayor White, Bernie Kosar and others. Of course, he agreed. There were reporters and photographers (still and video) everywhere.

Larry was swiftly brought to earth the next day, however, when a picture on the front page of the Plain Dealer showed Mayor White shaking hands with a man identified only as a ‘well-wisher’. Guess who? If you guessed Larry Morrow, you’d be right. He chuckles as he adds: “Even though you think you’re somebody, you’re still nothing but a well-wisher.”

You can find more information about This is Larry Morrow, recently published by Gray & Company, at: http://GrayCo.com. Upcoming events where you can meet Larry Morrow are also listed here. Hint: You can hear him speak on Wed 5/18.

 

From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz, who writes: My most recently published book is Ardenwycke Unveiled (e-book and trade paper). Cerridwen has another contemporary romance from me, But Not For Love, currently available only as an e-book, but perhaps will be in print later this year. I hope to soon get around to completing some of the 30+ incomplete books in my computer!

Actually, I’ve just re-issued my very first published book (from Berkley in NY 1993) Secret Shores which is available now in print, plus print and as a Kindle.

By the way, Cerridwen has also accepted two of my short stories in their Scintillating Samples (complimentary reads) area: Song of the Swan and Unexpected Comfort. I love photography as well, as you can see here. Occasionally I teach writing workshops and sometimes do editing or ghostwriting on a free-lance basis. But over and above everything else, there’s always been the writing. I can’t imagine my life without it.

And now, after more than a few requests, I’ve started a blog about writing. You can find it here.

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