A great story from Baltimore’s golden era of rock and roll radio. The mischievous WITH DJ’s Jack Gale and Roz Ford went on a campaign to hype a great new record release toward Buddy Deane’s popular dance show. Numerous requests began to bombard Deane for the new record, and he was forced to seek a copy to play on his show. Back then, promotional agents used to come around to radio stations to distribute the latest records, and it was not unusual for a station (or sometimes a DJ) to have an exclusive record. Unknown to Deane at the time there was no record – it was a hoax.
Gale assembled his studio musicians, including bassist Al Knight, and cut a record that became “Sneakin’ Away” b/w “The Snake” (Snake 69). The record eventually did quite well locally and still turns up occasionally at record meets. The story of the hoax was officially revealed many years later at a radio reunion sponsored by WYST.
A follow-up to “Sneakin’ Away” was recorded on Jerry Schwing’s Jay Wing label as the “B” side of the single by Al Knight & the Y-Dells “The Limp” b/w “Sneakin’ Back” (Jay Wing 5801). Knight also had his own successful group called the Untouchables that recorded on many of Jack Gale’s productions.
195* Snake 69 Sneakin’ Away / The Snake
19** Jay Wing 5801 The Limp / Sneakin’ Back
