WHERE ARE YOU JOHNNY???
The Johnny Lupton matter of WCAU Phila
AM radio 50s Steel Pier remote broadcasts atMidnight, outstanding voice, good music andbanter with the stars at the Steel Pier. It was
all good summer time listening on those lazy
hot summer nights in Trenton. Johnny had abroadcast booth near the front of the steel pierentry way offices. His show “The ALL
NIGHT WATCH”
It appears as if he may have had a Kansas City
connection with the Dave Stephens Orchestra
group. Dave and Ginny Stephens. Phila
Broadcast Pioneers
couldn’t’ help anyfurther. There is a
picture on thepioneers web page ofthe style of audio
equipment Lupton
would have used.
Sad that WCAU
didn’t reserve a spotin Lupton’s memory.
Johnny is still
admired by a loyal
following of a.m.
listeners in the region. Then WCAU doesn’t
exist anymore either. So it left us, nostalgia
from the mid 50's
A long standing record at the Steel Pier inA.C. was the 39,000 people drawn by the live
appearance of Amos n’ Andy one day in 1934
- That record stood until 1958 when teen idol
Ricky Nelson drew more than 44,200 fans in
one day. Lupton interviewed em all on the All
Night Watch!
W8SU 2008
Pay dirt 2011 Ft Lauderdale Fla SunSentinelon the Internet; Long time South Florida
personality Loveable John Lupton Jr., expired
Jan 1992 in Ft Lauderdale of cancer age 69.
His big band shows on WFTL-AM 1400 wereamong the most popular programs of theSouthern Fla scene for 30 years Delores King,
WFTL’s general manager said; “In businesswhere every one moves constantly or getsrelieved of duty and houses get cleaned, Johnwas so talented that he was just adaptable foreverything we did. His longevity here has tobe some sort of a record. When WFTL
changed its format in 1991 to “Talk” - Mr.
Lupton was retained while most of the otherpersonalities were let go. Because of hispopularity, his big band show remained..
Johnny was born in Syracuse NY, but grew up
in the Main Line section of Philadelphia, hiswife Kazzy said. Being deeply interested in
the radio game while working in promotions,taking broadcasting classes in Philadelphia at
the Bessie V. Hicks School of Drama. His firstbroadcast assignment in1947 was WLAN-AM
Lancaster Pa. From there
to powerhouse WCAU inPhiladelphia where heemceed shows from
Atlantic City in thesummers.
Then toWGAR AM in Cleveland.
Then in 1961 moving toFt Lauderdale to takeadvantage of the weather
and be with family,
working for WTFL 1440
to the end.
From Jazz to contemporary pop, Mr. Lupton
moved smoothly through the years, aided by
his wit, community involvement an endlesscollection of stories and of course his deep
baritone voice!
In addition to Lupton’s wife Kazzy, issurvived by a son, John Lupton III ofMillville, NJ and a grandson, John IV. John
was an active member of the Holy Cross
Hospital Auxiliary and presided over several
promotions for the hospital, Kazzy said.
So to those “All Night Watches” From SteelPier, we salute a fine broadcaster that has beenremembered by his faithful fans still on that
“All Night Watch!” W8SU 2011
With thanks to the SunSentinel and WFTL
Continuation remarks, page two..

Page two of the Lupton matter. A few extra
facts and figures. Per the 20 Census; (Jan1920) John Lupton Senior age 35 (Sales mgr,cocoa and chocolate) and Bessie age 25 John
Jr born 1919 of Syracuse, NY. Making John Jrborn 1 Dec 1919 deceased 19 January 1992,
Ft. Lauderdale Fla.
Editor, we haven’t
a clue why the age
discrepancy on Mr.
Lupton, but as it is,
we present theCensus figures
above.
We have noticed in
the past several
years inquiries
about Mr. Lupton
have surfaced on
the World Wide
Web. I am glad that I wasn’t the only one
influenced by that big baritone voice Johnnydeveloped thru the years and his interview
skill to get the most out of a broadcast.
Adjacent picture (Remler Remote of the typeand style that was used for the remotebroadcasts at Steel Pier by WCAU). From
Philadelphia Memories.

I was able to alert Woody in NJ who had
several disposition inquiries on Lupton thru
the Atlantic City memories. Woody worked
with Lupton on the Pier as head usher,bringing the notables down to the broadcast
booth to be interviewed. He had the highest
respect for Mr. Lupton in the 50s.
We were very pleased
to learn Lupton
entertained the soulsin Cleveland for ashort time. Then on inthe Florida broadcast
scene for a long timeand endured all of thechanges and survived
it all.
Long live the memory“All Night Watch”
and the engineering
staff that relayed those remote broadcasts fromAtlantic City back to WCAU Philadelphia. If
you listened closely they had the pump andthump dialed up for good compression levels!
W8SU Warren, Ohio 2011

WCAU Verification Card(QSL) dated 1929. Our
gift to you, Johnny would
want it that way to his fans.