Remembering Arnie “Woo Woo” Ginsburg
• We received word late Friday evening that legendary Boston broadcaster Arnie “Woo Woo” Ginsburg, best known for his run at WMEX 1510/Boston had died after a long illness. He would have turned 94 years old on August 5. Ginsburg had been living in the small picturesque village of Perkins Cove, near Ogunquit, Maine, where he had spent his summers since 1928, but had been under hospice care at the Framingham, MA home of his life partner Carlos Alberto Vega.
Ginsburg fell in love with radio at a very early age, but surprisingly, had no intention of being on the air; indeed, his first obsession was in engineering, which he pursued at both WBOS and WBCN. However, his move to 1510 WMEX as host of “The Night Train,” — his arsenal of noisemakers, including a train whistle that created that signature “woo woo” sound, catapulted him to stardom in Boston radio. Ginsburg cut a unique employment deal where, in lieu of a regular salary he would get 25% of the advertising revenue — a move that made him a lot of money, like his self-produced spots for Adventure Car Hop on Rt. 1 in Saugus, MA, “Home of the “Ginsburger.” Legions of his listeners were instructed to show up, say “Arnie Ginsburg,” and they would receive two “Ginsburgers” — served on a 45 record. Adventure Car Hop not only went on to make a lot of money off the promotion, but the associated jingle became part of New England lore (and was immortalized on the famous Cruisin’ 1961 LP)
In 1967 Ginsburg joined the fledgling 68 WRKO as of one of five members of the original WRKO “Now Crowd,” along with Al Gates, Joel Cash, JJ Jeffrey, Chuck “The Knapper” Knapp. In 1979 Ginsburg moved into management, working with Richie Balsbaugh and Sunny Joe White as EVP of Pyramid Broadcasting, part of the team that flipped WWEL to WXKS (Kiss 108) at the beginning of the disco era. In 1984, Ginsburg went into the television business with his longtime friend and colleague John Garabedian to launch a local MTV-style UHF station, dubbed V66. Ginsburg was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2008.
• Below, that’s Arnie on the air during the WRKO 50th anniversary reunion in June 2017, a historic event that featured all five members of the WRKO “Now Crowd,” and was captured, naturally, by “Radio’s Best Friend,” Art Vuolo. Art also produced a lovely 6 1/2 minute video tribute to “Woo Woo” which is posted to YouTube. [The upper photo of Ginsburg — his favorite — was taken by John Garabedian in 1969]
