Sandy Kasten Bass
My earliest roots in music influences were formed with the sounds of Dixieland jazz and the big bands of the 30’s and 40’s – all thanks to my father, a one-time drummer. Together we would lie on the living room rug and listen to dad’s record collection of artists such as Louis (a.k.a. Satchmo) Armstrong, Jack Teagarden, Benny Goodman, Sidney Bichet, Kid Ory, Bix Beiderbecke….the list of names goes on and on. His influences on my appreciation of music led me to start my life’s adventure into music as he wanted me to play the horn like his idol, Satchmo.
In 1952, at the age of 10, I was given the opportunity to learn how to play an instrument. I chose the trumpet (I think that was what he wanted me to play anyway). I had private lessons every Saturday at 1PM from a very good trumpet player and teacher, Hal Leonard. Every day I would practice 30-45 minutes in my bedroom with the door closed while my dad listened in the other room correcting any and all mistakes that I made, and there were many.
At night while in bed, I would listen to all the NY DJ’s as they played or spun their records from such famous NYC radio stations such as WINS-NY and the names of these disc jockeys, who according to me, were famous superstar radio hero’s like Alan Freed, Dan Ingram, cousin Brucie (Bruce Morrow who I had the pleasure of meeting with and talking about Rock and Roll while I had my own top 40 rock show on radio station WICC in Connecticut). From Brooklyn came “The mighty 1090” with Robert Weston Smith later on followed by Wolfman Jack, Casey Kasem and eventually Dick Clark.
I got into broadcasting with my music background and started on the air where I paid my dues…two years of AM music from mid-night to 6AM (the graveyard shift) on WNAB in Bridgeport Conn. I listened to Jocko’s Rocket Ship blasting off weekends rock and roll at 7PM.
Across town was WICC where funny man Bob Crane (of Hogans Hero’s fame) was playing music in the morning; entertaining us as we were getting dressed for school. Some 30 years later, in the late 60’s until 1979, I was in front of that same mike doing my thing – spinning 33’s, 45’s and playing the top 40 Rock and Roll sounds in the 50's through the 70’s Saturdays and Sundays from 6-10 AM.
After a company promotion in 1980 and a move to Atlanta, I continued with my weekend radio gig on station WGKA, 1190AM, The voice of the Arts under the name Russ Philips as my full-time job had me occupied on some weekends so I had to use a fictitious name. I was always told that I had a face for radio. My 10 or so years in radio ended when WGKA was purchased by a gospel station out of Texas and closed its door in 2006.
