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About The Artist
They called him "Windy" Lindy Wade. Around 1957, he was a young star and had a daily show that aired over the 1,000 watt radio station, WCMS out of Norfolk, Virginia. He was born Warren Lindle Wade in Paris, IL. His life seemed to take him from coast to coast.
Music began to be a part of his life. He was a music major at James Milliken University in Decatur, IL. He also attended Chicago Music College and University of Illinois. While in Chicago, he took noted of the "cowboys in Cadillacs" that worked at the hillbilly radio station WLS. He said, "I lost my grandiose ideas about music. After all, I had a living to make, and it appeared that I could best make it in the field of country music." While he was singing roles in operas, he produced and directed the "Down State Jamboree" for radio station WTVP in Decatur, IL. Not much else was told us about his career at the time we originally wrote the biography in 2019 other than his aspirations to become known nationally/ But they said he had the background, training, experience and constant drive needed to achieve those goals. Further research was done in July 2024. He returned to California in 1954 and joined the U. S. Navy. He then went to Norfolk, VA where he served a tour of duty with the Harbor Defense Unit as a commissioned officer and was released in Norfolk in 1956. While in the service, he was still able to make appearances on a hillbilly show over WTAR-TV. He joined the staff of WCMS in April 1956 and could be heard on the "Country Showtime" program. Research shows he recorded two sides for the Tender record label - "Brenda Lee" b/w "Johnny Sorrow"; listening to the tunes on youtube, one might think they were a bit on the rockabilly side. No other recordings were found. But he continued his career.
  He obtained a PhD in Education at UCLA. He started the first public broadcast television station in San Jose, CA - KTEH, Channel 54. It appears he did do personal appearances in the Los Angeles area based on our research. One such appearance was at the open meeting of the Ravaks, single adults of Temple Beth Hillel in October 1958. One article termed him "a recording star and TV personality and is(was) considered America's newest vocalist. In March 1964, a new channel - channel 54 - was announced that would broadcast "educational material under the auspices of the County Instructional Services." It was thought at the time instruction would be mainly in the areas of math, science and foreign languages. The station director was to be Warren L. (Lindy) Wade. Mr. Wade expressed the hope that about 75 percent of the county's 35 elementary districts would utilize the broadcasts. A news article stated the station would begin in September 1964. Santa Clara County had 49 school districts, more than 300 schools, 240,000 pupils and 8,000 teachers at the time Channel 54 went to the air. Lindy was just 32 years old at the time, a doctoral candidate at UCLA but the experience may have caused the grey hairs to start showing earlier than one might expect. When he took on the role, he commenced to ordering $130,000 worth of equipment, a TV tower, transmitter, film camera, video tape machine and more. He worked with Dr. Richard Lewis and Dr. Clarence Flick of San Jose State College who allowed the use of their studios for Channel 54. A flurry of activity continued. A new building added to the County Communications' hilltop headquarters off Almaden Road. Contracts were signed for educational films. Their target date for their first broadcast was October 19, 1964. Things seem to be on track until around the first of September when Murphy's Law and the Perils of Pauline got together to test Mr. Wade. The tower for the antenna - 50 feet high, made of galvanized aluminum and steel at a cost of $6,000 to support the 40 foot antenna. It did not come on time. The plant in Illinois making the structure said they were a 'little behind schedule.' It arrived October 11. But they found the tower did not meet County Public Works Department specifications. That led to Bob Mason, director of County Communications to call up the supplier and give them three options:
Two welders arrived the next day; Public Works setup floodlights so work could continue. In two days, the tower was up and in conformity to specifications. Then the video tape machine company called and said they were behind schedule and would probably not meet the October 15 deadline. But that did not faze Lindy. He came up with a unique approach. "Well, okay. But we'll have a slide made up to be broadcast all day long which will say, "The Programs You Are Missing Today are the Courtesy of Blank Co." " That got some action and a response similar to 'don't worry, if we have to steal one, we'll get it to you right on schedule." It happened that a loaner machine was installed the very next day. October 15 was now what the calendar said. All they needed was the FCC license that authorized Channel 54 to broadcast. In short, no license, no broadcast. It took Mr. Bleier to hand carry the five pound application that had been completed by Jack Atkinson to the main post office. The package was sent by special delivery air mail. It was to arrive at the Washington (DC) airport the following day. The FCC had promised quick processing of the application and to wire the authorization to broadcast. But the FCC called at 5:00pm Friday (EST) and asked them, where's the application? They frantically called the post office in Washington DC and waited while the postman found their package. It took several heart stopping hours, but he called back and said he would hand-deliver the application to the FCC office (which just happened to be in the same building) when it opened at 9am Monday morning (6am in San Jose). In San Jose, the broadcast team was hard at work, sleepy, but filled with coffee to get things ready. By 8:30, no authorization had yet been received. Then 8:45. Then 8:50. Still no call. Finally, the phone rang at 8:56am and the FCC said "Broadcast." At 9:00am, the TV set they had on the sixth floor conference room was on and finally the test pattern appeared. Forty people had gathered in the room and were all smiles when they saw the words "Station KTEH Channel 54" appeared on the screen. He continued to work for the station and began helping other communities with their development of their own educational television channels. Humboldt county schools commissioned Mr. Wade in 1967 to study what they needed to do for their school system. He outlined sources of funding for various aspects of a station's development for education and sources for the funding. In 1970, Terry Hansen wrote a column that Channel 54 in Santa Clara County was the only county in the country to have such a station. Program Manager Leo Bleier thought that the station would be showing programs to 50 to 75,000 students in another year or so. The broadcast programs were 90 percent sourced from television production firms or rented or leased. If the station had to do their own program, they used facilities at San Jose State or College of San Mateo. Mr. Bleier said they needed diversity in their staffing, but not what you might expect in today's environment - most if not all of the staff were handling three or four jobs apiece. Lindy was like their salesman, always contacting and trying to get other school systems to sign up with channel 54. Even Lucky's wife was involved in education. Serena Wade held a bachelor's and master's degree from UCLA and a doctorate in communications research from Stanford University. The couple and their two children lived in Los Altos at the time and she was appointed to the Los Altos School District board in March 1968. In 1970, California Governor Ronald Reagan named Dr. Warren Wade of KTEH-TV in Santa Clara County and Dr. James Loper of KCET-TV in Los Angeles to the new Educational Radio and Television Advisory Committee for California. In 1970, there was some controversy over the closing of Carmel School. Mrs. Wade proposed doing a public opinion survey on the district action but apparently it was tabled by 'two political enemies of old.' She and her husband, Warren (Lindy) Wade ran a small consultant company that had done public polling previously. She had also done sampling work while at Stanford University. Warren married Patricia June Renaldo on August 30, 1952 in Indiana. They were divorced on April 30, 1957 in Princess Anne, VA. On June 20, 1959, he married Serena Eble in Los Angeles, CA. They divorced in Santa Clara County ion 1974. He married again on August 8, 1976 in Monterey, CA to Lorna Kelley. Credits & Sources
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Recordings (78rpm/45rpm)
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| Rec. No. | Side | Song Title | ||
| 515 | A | Brenda Lee | ||
| 515 | B | Johnny Sorrow | ||
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Voting Member of:
He was a child actor in Hollywood at the age of seven.
He played "the little rich fiend with the accordion in the school
band in a couple of "Our Gang" comedies. He did a few other small parts
in movies. But after World War II ended, his mother brought him back
to his home town of Paris, IL. In fact, in April 1941, he was working on a movie
with Thomas Mitchell, riding a wagon, when the horse bolted, plunging the wagon
through two sets and coming to rest after the wagon hit a tree and turned over.
Mr. Mitchell may have suffered a broken hip. Lindy was taken to Van Nuys emergency
hospital for treatment of bruises.