Who's Norm Shor?

Back in the day when I was young and making minimum wage and all the records I could eat, I was introduced to an odd sort of fellow named Norm Shor.  Norm was an enigma.  He was introduced to me by another radio person, Steve Streitenberger.  Norm was rooming with and working with Steve at WBEX in Chillicothe, Ohio.  Apparently he had come to town on the bus after having worked in either Pomeroy or Gallipolis - leaving there for some unnamed reason.  More than likely he had become part of the 'churn' which radio stations were infamous for back in those days.  There was a reason that we were paid minimum wage and all the records we could eat... everyone wanted to be on the radio because anyone could be a star.  With so many people bunching up and wanting a shot, station owners and managers could fire people at will and not have to worry who would be available to fill the just-vacated time slot.

Norm and I grew a friendship.  Part of it had to do with our grasp of current music.  Part of it had to do with our enthusiasm for radio.  Part of it had to do with the fact that I understood Norm better than most of the people he worked with.  Norm is Jewish.  Having grown up with Jews in close proximity, I understood the mind set a little better than most.

For several years, I kept up with Norm as he moved through various jobs in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.  On occasion I would go and visit him.  He would take me on a tour of whatever station he was working at at the time and introduce me to some of his colleagues.  It seemed like every six months or so, he would be somewhere new and would be asking me to come to see him or would be down to wherever I was working so that we could spend long hours talking about the radio business and what we would do if ever we were left in charge.

It was on a trip to Uniontown, Pennsylvania that I discovered another of Norm's passions:  Pittsburgh.  I went up to visit him after stopping to see my grandparents in West Virginia.  After spending a night in his tiny apartment, we drove up to Pittsburgh to meet his father and his step-mother.  The elder Mr. Shor was in the furniture business and was attempting to get Norm involved in something other than radio.  Norm would not hear of it.  He was too much in love with being Pat O'Day (his stage name) and spinning records.

Norm showed me around Pittsburgh and shared his love for the city and its peculiarities on that and on several other occasions.  I recall going to a place called "Rhoda's" over in Squirrel Hill and eating the best corned beef sandwich I have ever had in my life.

In the summer of 1980, radio came to a temporary end for me.  I was let go of a radio station in Parkersburg, West Virginia for having the gall to insist that they allow me to take the time off I had earned.  I got a line on a job in Steubenville, Ohio and decided to follow up the interview with a trip to Erie, Pennsylvania where Norm had a job... and a girlfriend.  He told me that he was living with this woman (oh, the horror) and that his parents didn't mind - in fact, told me, "... they are relieved to know that I'm not gay!"

The girlfriend, Karen, became his wife.  They were inseparable.  She filled in where he left off and vice-versa.  She went where Norm went, following him to Iowa at one point, then back to Pennsylvania.  I was in Texas during the Iowa years.  When I came back and got married for the first time, Norm and Karen were there - still sharing radio stories and by that time, life in general.  When my kids came along, Norm and Karen were named their Jewish Godparents.  We'd visit them on vacation in Erie, in Pittsburgh and for a short time in York, Pennsylvania.  They'd come down on occasion, at least twice with "The Dog, Aderic" as my daughter called him.

We moved to Texas and kept up with the Shors by telephone, usually once every two to three months or so.  Karen had continued her education while Norm never really found an occupation which he felt he could relate to like radio.  Our calls became for both of us, highlights of our existence.

The call I didn't want to get came a few years back.  Norm had been having problems and had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's.  Karen managed to get him to Dallas before he got too bad - we spent one final afternoon in the shadow of downtown Dallas recalling old times and trying to pretend that everything was going to be just as it was.

My marriage dissolved.  I kept in contact with Karen, partly because of my friendship with Norman and partly because I had grown an affection for her as well.  We kept in touch through the internet; Karen would keep me up to date on Norm's condition as it deteriorated - I kept voicing my support while sharing parts of my life and my re-marriage.

Last summer, Carol and I met with Karen Shor at Geneva on the Lake.  I had expressed a desire to go and visit with my old friend one more time.  Karen (wisely) told me that it would be better if I didn't; that I should remember Norm as he was.

Norman Shor's body gave up the ghost this morning (April 17, 2013) shortly after 9 in the morning eastern time.  Because of the Alzheimer's, the Norm Shor I remember passed on several years ago.  "His body finally figured it out" Karen said in her e-mail earlier today.

So, who's Norm Shor?  I recall having that question posed by the manager of a radio station on the outskirts of Wheeling at some point back in the mid '70s.  I learned of a job opening at that station and had gone to apply for it.  That manager asked who referred me and I told him that I was sent there by Norm Shor.  "Who's Norm Shor?" he asked.  I told him then as I would tell him today.  "He's one of my best friends.  That's who's Norm Shor."

Be Seeing You!

bdharrell