Dick Summers

Dick Summers
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Dick Summer has one of America's most comfortable and familiar voices. He was a top radio personality on the NBC Radio Network and in New York City and Boston. Dick is now heard every day on national radio and television commercials. He is also a pilot, a poet, and a hypnotist. His five highly successful "Lovin Touch" books were published by Random House and Bantam Books.
"Good Night" puts a smile on your face, tells you a bedtime story, chucks the day's problems, gives you a verbal back rub and tucks you in for a safe, sound, good night's sleep.
There are 2 ways to hear Dick’s Good Night Podcast. Subscribe iTunes Google RSS Subscribe Use your favorite podcast reader to subscribe to the podcast, so you won't miss an eposide. If you have iTunes on your PC, use iTunes to subscribe to the podcast. You can also subscribe through Google Reader or with the RSS feed using any podcast reader.

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January 27, 2017

Dick Summer — Radio Pioneer

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No matter what your vocation is, there’s always someone in that business that you learn from and look up to as you launch your career. For me there was more than one, but the DJ who had THE MOST influence on me was Dick Summer. In my book “Confessions of a Teenage Disc Jockey” I relate how much his all night radio show on WBZ in Boston was such a major reason for me to decide to get into radio. I was convinced that radio was not only something that I wanted to do, but could do by learning from his delivery.
Unlike almost all the DJs of the 50’s and early to late 60’s, Dick Summer was not a screamer. He was rather conversational on the air even though he was on a top forty station. He just talked to his audience-especially if you sent him an interesting letter. Often Dick would have silly bits on the air-like his campaign to get the name of a sandwich to a Shewsbury. The reason (as he explained on the air several times) was because the Earl of Sandwich stole the idea for making a sandwich from the Earl of Shewsbury. This and other pressing issues of the day were discussed at length.
Much more importantly, Dick Summer was a step ahead of most in discovering and introducing new artists to his rather surprisingly large late night audience. The audience wasn’t confined to the Boston Area. His station, WBZ, was a clear channel station with 50,000 watts. That meant at night almost half the country could hear his show. In Scranton, PA I listened for hours to him and often went to school the next day in a semi coma state from lack of sleep. It was more than worth it. It was the first place I heard Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and even The Beatles. Long before a format was created that played these artists on a regular basis, Dick Summer was filling the airwaves with the music that eventually would dominate radio.
I searched the internet and found an old air check from his days at WBZ. Check it out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GPpzKacu74
While it may not be the best sample of his work, it gives you the idea that Dick wasn’t the typical screaming DJ of the period.
Another thing that Dick always did was link the songs together with his introduction or back sell (talk after the song). He would often tell a story and the punch line would be the first line of a song. OK, he could be corny, but he still made you laugh. He was never off color or critical of other people or artists.
The voice of Dick Summer is very friendly and comforting. It gives the listener the feeling that you can trust what he has to say. For that reason Dick not only got a job with NBC in New York City, but many sponsors wanted his voice on their commercials. So much so, that the voice of Dick Summer was soon heard on many national spots giving him a great source of income. Much more than he earned doing overnights in Boston. In preparing for the writing of my book, I reached out to Dick. I was very surprised to learn that Since Dick retired from radio he is living in the Philadelphia area. I wasn’t surprised that he was very friendly to me. When I was a young fan I had written him a letter and he wrote back to me along with an autographed picture (as seen). Now, Instead of doing a nightly show, he is doing a lot of writing. His books sell very well. In addition, Dick also has a weekly podcast on his website www.dicksummer.com . Since he was always a great story teller, telling stories through his podcasts is a natural. There are some great interviews where Summer talks about his latest book “Staying, Happy, Heathy and Hot” and a lot more.
Before WBZ, Dick was at two radio stations in Indianapolis. First WIBC, the local powerhouse when he was still a teenager. He was fired because the owner thought he sounded too young to do live remotes from car dealerships!
But while at WIBC, the kids absolutely loved him. He did his show every night from a local drive-in restaurant, and he played a game every night.
The game was called Make It or Break It.
Merrill's Hi-Decker was the restaurant, and Dick was in a broadcast booth up on top of the restaurant.
He'd play a new record, and the kids in cars parked in a big circle around the restaurant would blink their headlights to vote on whether to make the record, or break the record. If the "make it" votes won, the record was added to Dick's playlist. If the "break it" votes won, Dick would break the record on the air. I can still remember the sound of a 45 being broken in two.
Here's Dick himself, talking about those days:
http://danhughes.net/dicksummer.mp3
I remember listening to the Dick Summer Subway show on WBZ AM on Sunday nights from 6:30 till 8:00. As far as I know it was the first show ever on radio that featured bands like Cream etc. that weren't top 40. It was the best era in music. He was a real pioneer. Wish I taped some. What happened to his Venus fly trap Irving II? Also Theopolus Q Waterhouse?
He was a DJ at a high school dance i went to back in the 1960' s. I was a shy, nerdy kid with glasses at the time, and he was a star, but I got up the nerve to go and speak with him. He was sincere, kind and a very fine person.
In US Navy 63-66 in Maryland. Listened to WBZ and Dick Summer at night. Great fun and memories.
Thanks for this. I think most people get to a place in life when you look back and wonder if you made any difference. This article is a thumb on the "Yeah maybe I did" side of the scale.
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Today’s www.DickSummer.com/podcast is about songs. Bill K. says one of his favorites is “Blu Bayou.” The most famous version is by Linda Rondstat. I’m a pilot, and one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard from Air Traffic Control is when another aircraft is passing you, they alert you by telling you “You just had a Linda Rondstat” as in he just “Blew By You.”

14 hours ago

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Today’s www.DickSummer.com/podcast features three songs that pack a knockout emotional punch for me. I loved playing them on the air, because shared emotional experiences keep friendships fresh and lovers firmly connected to each other. I felt that playing them brought my listeners into my life.

Yesterday

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A song is a story set to music. A story needs a beginning, a middle and an end. And the end should have to do with what happens in the middle. Today’s www.DickSummer.com/podcast includes the most perfect example if that I’ve ever heard. Give a listen please.

2 days ago

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Is it the melody or the lyrics of a song that makes it important to you? Today’s www.DickSummer.com/podcast says to the musicians I asked about that, they all said the melody. But to me, it’s the words. What does it for you? There are three examples in the podcast. Give a listen please.

3 days ago

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Men & women tend to like different kinds of stories. A song lyric is a story set to music. Today’s www.DickSummer.com/podcast is about three stories set to music that you certainly know…and one you’ve probably never heard…but you’ll love it..whether you’re a man or a woman.

4 days ago

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“Frank” has been a buddy of mine for more than 30 years. It’s been lots of burgers & brewskies. And lots of Auld Lang Synes. But politics is one thing we can’t discuss, and I think the reason we can’t is that he’s afraid he won’t be able to deal with what might happen in the near future. This www.Dick/Summer.com/podcast explores the reasons behind that. If you’re experiencing that same problem, this podcast may help.

5 days ago

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My best buddy “Frank” is the kind of guy you want to see when there’s lots of burgers and brewskies to go around. But today’s www.DickSummer.com/podcast says he’s also good to have around when the skies are falling down around your head and shoulders. But we just can’t talk politics. Here’s how we do it.

6 days ago

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Today’s www.DickSummer.com/podcast is about something I can’t talk about with my best buddy…politics. We’re determined not to let it destroy a decades long friendship. So we talk about more important things…like the ladies in our lives, and sports, and the joys of a long and solid friendship.

1 week ago

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Today’s www.DickSummer.com/podcast asks, “What’s the most important thing that’s going on in your life?” It seems that many people’s honest answer to that important question would be, “Politics.” “Them” against “Us.” John Lennon disagrees. So do I. How about you?

1 week ago

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Can you be close friends with someone who’s politics are completely opposite from yours? Today’s www.Dick/Summer.com/podcast says, “Yes you can. But here’s how it works.” There are some things that are simply much more important than politics. And I think friendship is one of those things.

1 week ago

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