- Don't forget about the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, which friend of JUTP Izzy Klein told us about last week. It's tomorrow, so I don't know if you can still register.- DCmud talks about the "Wheaton Town Square," a proposal to redevelop land around the Wheaton Metro station (owned by WMATA) with a mixed-use project akin to Downtown Silver Spring. Nothing much has happened yet, though last year Park and Planning brought in a panel of urban planners to talk with residents and make recommendations about how the Wheaton CBD should grow.
- Jerry McCoy from the Historical Society points us to this obituary for Don Dillard, a former Woodside Park resident who introduced the region to Rock & Roll in the 1950's and 60's on his tiny AM station, WDON. Post reporter Carl Bernstein (you know, from Watergate), who graduated from Blair during the station's heyday, explains it better:
"[Dillard] just had a great feel for the music as well as wonderful voice. But he's also related to a defining cultural moment in local terms, which includes going to the Hot Shoppes and parading around in cars after football games at Blair, drag racing on the Beltway that was being built at the time, and dances at the Silver Spring Armory."For those who grew up listening to him, Dillard was symbolic of an era in East County when it was just suburbanizing, a fresh, new place that inspired one resident enough to base a sitcom on it. Makes me wonder what the symbols of my generation growing up in this area will be.
- Speaking of history: the Post talks about a proposal going before the County Council to give owners more say in whether their properties are considered historic. It's an issue that hits East County, where we've got both 18th-century farmhouses and 20th-century landmarks like the AFI Silver (above). It also raises questions of "adaptive re-use," or: how much can you change a building before it's no longer historic?
(Did you know that Wheaton Plaza - ahem, Westfield Wheaton - will be turning fifty this year and next, making it eligible for historic preservation? Even if it's been renovated so many times to remain trendy that the original mall is no longer recognizable, what does that say about its significance to our local culture?)
4 comments:
You mentioned that Don Dillard was a former Woodside Park resident. I'm working on the second edition of the Woodside Park history book and was not aware that he had been a resident of Woodside Park. Could you give me his former address or a source for his residence in Woodside Park.
Thanks!
Robert, is that Robert as in REO from MISC?
If yes, nice to see you again!
Dan Reed posted:
> - Jerry McCoy from
> the Historical Society points
> us to this obituary for
> Don Dillard, a former
> Woodside Park resident
> who introduced the region
> to Rock & Roll in the 1950's
> and 60's on his tiny AM
> station, WDON.
I recall visiting WDON when
its studio (also small) was in
the 2600 block of
University Boulevard West,
in Wheaton. WDON is long gone,
but the tower that it used
remains.
But the format of WDON back
when I visited (1967? or
1968?) was not rock
and roll (we had WINX
(Rockville), WPGC (Bladensburg)
and the late and lamented
WHMC (Gaithersburg) for that),
but Country and Western.
> For those who grew up
> listening to him, Dillard
> was symbolic of an era in
> East County when it was
> just suburbanizing, a fresh,
> new place that inspired
> one resident enough to base
> a sitcom on it. Makes me
> wonder what the symbols of
> my generation growing up in
> this area will be.
More on old radio stations in
the East County:
Did you know that there was once
a radio station on Arcola
Avenue, near Lamberton Drive?
There was - WQMR (AM 1050)
and WGAY (FM 99.5). It later
moved to the World Bulding
on U.S. 29 (Georgia Avenue)
in Silver Spring. The AM station
broadcast from the radio tower
on the Sligo Creek Golf Course.
Much more, including
some great images, on the WGAY
tribute site here (broadband
recommended).
Yes, C. P. Zilliacus, it is me! It is a small world.
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