WVOK

The Beginning

Young Joe Rumore had developed a following, both in listeners and in sponsors. Joe had a unique situation with WVOK dealing with both his sponsors and his listeners, both situations intertwined into each other. In dealing with his sponsors, Joe would buy time from the station, and then sold the time directly to his sponsors. This plan worked perfectly. Making this plan work was the fact that Joe had three shows a day. Joe would start the day at 9 A.M. with an hour long show for the housewives who listened. Joe would then have a show from 12 to 12:30 P.M. for the farmers at lunchtime. Not to leave out the after-school crowd, Joe had a program from 3 to 4:15 P.M. On top of this busy schedule, Joe also had a weekly inspirational music program on Sunday mornings. All of these shows were done live. This is unheard of in today's radio market, both the workload and the live work. Within the first five years at VOK, Joe had up to 33 sponsors, which included Alabama Flour Mills, located in Decatur, Golden Eagle Syrup, located in Fayette, Sessions Peanut Oil, located in Enterprise, Bell Meade Crackers, and Philco products. Also added within the first couple of years was the second 50,000 watt radio station, WBAM in Montgomery, which was also owned by the same people that owned VOK, which gave Joe complete statewide and most of the Southeast coverage. Joe did a daily show on WBAM also, taping the Montgomery show immediately following his afternoon show. Joe would then send it to the Montgomery studio via bus, where the news and weather would be somewhat accurate. On rare occasions when bad weather or tornadoes occured, Joe would tape the show before he went on in Birmingham and send it via the bus, with no time to spare. Only people who lived between Birmingham and Montgomery, where both stations could be heard at the same time, knew the Montgomery shows were taped. Joe was possibly the only announcer in the state to have a studio audience. The studio audience was treated to products brought by the many sponsors of Joe Rumore. Only Joe and his sponsors knew how much of these products were given away. Joe also had his specific fill-in when he was on vacation; his brother Duke Rumore. Filling in for Joe got Duke a following of his own, and Duke was offered his own show on WSGN, and thus started a brother dominated radio market in Birmingham never seen before or since.

The Fifties

The fifties firmly cemented Joe Rumore into the Birmingham and Montgomery radio scene. The fifties saw the fan support swell to unprecedented proportions that is to this day rarely seen. Joe loved to travel to his listeners, always acknowledging them on the air. Sponsors and potential sponsors saw this and the potential sales to be had. Joe was still doing 17 shows a week while answering an average of 250 fan letters a DAY that came to the station. In one Neilson rating taken during the fifties, out of 500,000 Alabamians in rural areas interviewed, 361,000 listen to WVOK and Joe Rumore more than any other station. One Christmas, Joe received 42,000 cards from his listeners. Joe also sent out Christmas cards to his listeners, each one personally signed. On April 24, 1954 Joe opened Rumore's Record Rack offering "Birmingham's ONLY Exclusive Record Shop." Another Birmingham innovation for Joe. Joe's popularity was astounding and growing with each passing day. When a child lost his feet in a traffic accident and the parents had no money for treatment, Joe went to his listeners and raised $2,000 in jig time. Joe also went to his listeners to raise money for a cancer drive. In just a few weeks, the drive raised $11,000 in phone-in donations. Joe didn't accept cigarette or alcohol accounts. Joe said, "I have nothing against them, but an awful lot of children listen to me."

The Golden Years

Going into the decade of the sixties Joe Rumore had been on WVOK 12 years and sister station WBAM in Montgomery for around 10 years. By this time Joe had a solid following from both his loyal listeners and his sponsors. Joe's family has now grown to include three children and his brother Duke now had his own radio show on another station though Joe and Duke were never on at the same time. The sixties brought both change and innovation and Joe was leading the way. Joe consolidated his short programs into one long morning program that stayed on top of the ratings throughout the decade. Joe's listener base continued to swell, as did his sponsor list. With Rumore's Record Rack doing well, Joe once again was innovative. Around 1964, Joe started broadcasting his shows from his home. Joe had a complete radio studio in his basement, which is still intact today. This gave Joe a free-wheeling format, where listeners could drop by and say hello. Joe was also able water the tomato plants or talk to the mailman between songs, or go to Studio B (the bathroom). Joe ad-libbed his shows. Everyday life was Joe's script, and it worked. No two shows were the same Joe had his studio well equipped with a teletype news machine and a weather line straight to the studio. As the sixties gave way to the seventies, Joe was still going strong; taking on every line-up change the other stations threw at him. Joe had a gimmick: The contests. The WVOK contests were legendary carried out by their legendary DJ: Joe Rumore.