History

It was in the spring of 1997
when a public radio station in Hunterdon County, NJ contacted the President of the Hunterdon Harmonizers, the local barbershop chapter. Lee Roth was asked to fill in as a guest of a talk show because the originally scheduled guest had backed out. Lee went to the station to talk about the chapter and our activities. He carried with him a “Demo Tape” that had been prepared by Rich Taylor, a long time barbershopper and public relations guy. Rich had put together parts of several songs sung by the Harmonizers, along with voice-overs telling about how folks could get in touch with the chapter. The host of the talk show, Denise Evans, played the Demo tape and when it was over, said to Lee, "That guy should be on radio…he has a great voice”.

The next night, Lee saw Rich Taylor at a Board of Directors meeting and asked him if he wanted to do a radio show. Rich asked Lee “How did you know I was in radio at one time of my life?” Lee said he didn’t, but that the local station thought he should be on radio.

The rest, as they say, is history. Rich put together the plans for airing a show on Barbershop Harmony and went to the station and made his presentation. The station loved the idea and, as luck would have it, they had a slot open…..Tuesday Night from 10 pm-Midnight…. The SAME NIGHT as the Harmonizer’s rehearsal. Dave Thompson, a member of the chapter, and a graduate of Stroudsburg State College (Pa.) with a degree in communications, and experience in producing radio and television shows, stepped up to the plate and offered to engineer the show. So the pieces were in place. The first show went on the air Tuesday April 8, 1997.

The show stayed in the Tuesday 10 pm slot until the fall of 1997 when we went to the Wednesday 10 pm-Midnight slot. Dave Stadtmauer, a member of the chapter and one who had been helping out on the show, became the engineer when Dave Thompson left the area. After one full year of air-time, and more importantly, of very successful fund-raising, the show was shifted to the Thursday Night, 7:00pm-10:00pm where it remained until the fall of 2001. The show went on the Internet Thursday, December 9, 1999 and, within several months, became the #1 show at the station, based on Internet hits. At the end of 1999, T.J. Barranger joined the show’s team as the Production Assistant and handled most of the email traffic along with doing the News and Weather on the air each night.

In the fall of 2001, the station management changed the way the show was to be aired. Dave had left the show and expressed a desire to management to do the show every other week as a solo show. Rich and T.J. were strong in their view that the show should stay the same way it had developed…with the three personalities doing an “ensemble show”. The “APPLAUSE” Show audience had spoken clear that they wanted the format that had become so popular over the 4 ½ years of airtime.

In January of 2002, Rich and T.J., along with Rich Pearson, the New Jersey Ambassador of CASA, met with George Louvis, the owner of WVRM, Village Radio, 1620 AM in Montclair, NJ. George was enthused about the show and the history of our audiences. His staion was also on the Internet and George offered Thursday Night from 6:30pm – 11:00pm to Rich and the team. The team was thrilled because, with this time slot, the show became the “longest single time-slot” for radio shows featuring barbershop and a cappella music IN THE WORLD!

In July of 2002, a very strong lightning bolt hit the building which houses the studios of WVRM. The hit was so powerful that it completely destroyed the AM transmitters and antennas, effectively knocking the AM signal off the airways. The Internet signal has been restored and the AM signal will be repaired in the near future.

The show goes on…..we are in the process of rebuilding our audience along with sponsors and advertisers and a new engeneer and new co-host. We appreciate you visiting this web-site, the home of the original “APPLAUSE” Show with Rich Taylor.

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