In 1992, it became the Gagliarchives, and it aired on Wednesday afternoons from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM on 91.5 FM WDBK, in Blackwood, New Jersey. One afternoon while playing a rare Genesis concert, the name Gagliarchive was muttered in sarcasm by an engineer named Carmine Sarlo, and the rest is history...
The Gagliarchives then moved to Wednesday nights from 8:00 PM to midnight in late October of 199
1, where it would be a staple until July of 1993. Although the program was regularly featured Monday and Saturday mornings in the summer from 6:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., the heart of the show was on Wednesday nights. In the original incarnation of the program, we played many local favorites. The Age of Reason and Gardeners and Gravediggers were just a few featured offerings. On the live circuit, we hosted our first concert on August 17th, 1992 as The Age Of Reason opened for Kansas at the Pennant East in Brooklawn, New Jersey. We would later host many concerts as part of the Bonnie's Roxx showcase in Atco, New Jersey. Our top requests during our time at WDBK were some of rock and roll and progressive rock's finest. Jeff Beck, John Mayall's Blues Breakers, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Robin Trower, Procol Harum, Steve Hackett, Brand X, Marillion and Genesis. The radio program's first written review was in the Gannett newspaper, Courier Post in October of 1992, and was named the #1 New College Radio Program by Gannett News Services as part of their 'Best Of South Jersey' awards in March of 1993. The resurrection of the Gagliarchives into a more fruitful era began in 1994 with the creation of the new 88.9 WBZC FM at Burlington County College which is now known as Rowan University at Burlington which is on the edge of the Pine Barrens in Pemberton, New Jersey. The station covers southern New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, and the Jersey shore. This new, state of the art radio station became our home, and gave the Gagliarchives a permanent time slot on Saturday nights from 10:00 p.m. We've recorded over 1000 plus weekends at our home base in Pemberton set amidst wildlife, nature, old stage coach roads, and endless miles of deciduous and evergreen trees. This setting provides for an extremely welcome, yet remote atmosphere for all four seasons of the year. The Pine Barrens are definitely a canvas for each week's radio program. WBZC is situated south of McGuire Air Force Base and Fort Dix, 26 miles west of Long Beach Island, 31 miles east of Philadelphia, and 60 miles northwest of our home studios outside of Atlantic City. The campus encompasses approximately 250 acres and includes a modern campus facility surrounded by mature woodlands traversing the Rancocas Creek. At one time, part of Pemberton Township in Burlington County, was formerly known as Ong's Hat and wasBurlington County College, Pemberton, NJ and still is, very rich in tradition and local legend, as is much of the surrounding area known as the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Touching the edges of both the infamous Pine Barrens and the dark and mysterious Lebanon State Forest, the community was once known by the local Indians as "the gateway Into the other worlds", a name that local historians and folklorists don't take lightly. According to Piney legend, the village of Ong's Hat was founded sometime in the 19th century after Jacob Ong had an argument with a girl at a dance. She took his hat and threw it on the ground; he picked it up and tossed it in the air, and it landed in a tree. There it hung for months. Over the years, the community that developed around the tree where Jacob's hat hung became known as Ong's Hat. This is just one of many legends including the story of the White Stag, and the Ong's Hat Conspiracy. Yes, this all surrounds WBZC. Since the program came to Pemberton in 1994, the Gagliarchives have attended and produced radio specials on events such as the former popular now defunct North East Art Rock Festival; Towson, Maryland's Progscape; Progfest in Los Angeles, California; Montreal, Quebec's FMPM; and North Carolina's Progday. We have hosted several shows in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Pennsauken, New Jersey; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Easton, Pennsylvania; Mount Holly, New Jersey; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; New York City, New York; Long Beach Island, New Jersey; and countless other venues and locations. The Gagliarchives have also done live remotes from The Alliance For A Living Ocean, the Area 13 New Jersey Special Olympics, The New Jersey Farm Fair, The Cranberry Festival, and the Whitesbog Festival. In 1995, WBZC 88.9 FM won the National Association of College Broadcasting's Station Of The Year Award. Prior to winning the award, the station's then top programs on the weekends were the Gagliarchives, Sounds Of The Caribbean with Keith Rowe and Selector Jerry, Joe Wills & Nancy Longnecker's Burlington County Bluegrass, and Janet Watts & Roger Beckwith's Roadhouse Radio, a Delaware Valley local music and blues program which was a staple for the first 5 years of the station's existence. That Saturday in November of 1995, just prior to WBZC winning station of the year, Janet Watts and Tom Gagliardi did a 2 hour simulcast on Providence College's 91.3 FM WDOM, and 96.5 FM WBSR at Brown University. It would be the first the Gagliarchives were done live in another state. The program would later take on 7 straight years of 2 to 3, 7 hour live broadcastSpecial Olympics South Jerseys from the North East Art Rock Festival at the University Station Bar in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The Gagliarchives give back to Burlington County by paying homage to its rich history through the daily aired South Jersey History Moments heard every hour at WBZC, and the Stargazer's Handbook which gives a week long view of the night's skies for lovers of astronomy. Back on October 12th, 2001, the Gagliarchives were simulcast live on the 'Net's Progressive Rock Garden' in the 24 hour progressive rock internet station Aural Moon. Aural Moon also rebroadcasts the Saturday night programs on Tuesday mornings for our European audience. We also work many events for the Burlington County Chapter of the Special Olympics for their swim competitions at Burlington County College and their track and field competitions at Lenape, Shawnee, and Burlington High Schools. Tom Gagliardi was also the play by play announcer for the z889 Saturday afternoon football games as part of the Burlington County Sports Network. Tom became part of the first z889 broadcasted football match up in 1997 with Emmy-award winning radio legend and TV personality Joe Pelligrino. The game featured the classic Thanksgiving Day rivalry of Shawnee High School versus Lenape High School which would later became a schedule mainstay. It was at the dawn of the 2000's that z889 committed itself to broadcasting more football games and Tom continued covering various Burlington county games with the likes of many high school players and former professional players including Irving Fryar who served as guest color commentator. It was in 2006 that Tom began Philadelphia Soul Broadcastsworking with fellow sports broadcaster and former Trenton Devils play by play announcer Brian Gatti. This raised the bar on the radio stations sports coverage and brought z889 Sports to the forefront of high school football announcing in southern New Jersey. Tom worked with many sports broadcast teams including Tim Deaner, Mike Germani, Joe Costello, Ryan Farrell and ultimately, legendary high school coach Jay Liberti. Tom, along with Coach Liberti and Brian Gatti, would take on an even bigger challenge by broadcasting the home games for the Arena Football team The Philadelphia Soul in 2013. The broadcast team saw the Soul rise to the Arena Bowl Championship as well. Tom has also covered many high school championship games both at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey and The College Of New Jersey in Trenton, New Jersey. In 2010, the Gagliarchives relocated their home studios where most of the guest interviews occur along with the weekly radio show production of the program on the island of Brigantine, New Jersey also known as North 13th Studios. We also do pre-production at Asylum Studios in Pemberton, NJ near Whacky Jebster's Village Of The Sun. z889 was recently absorbed into the well known Rowan University program as of 2015.
