It's a Miracle (1975) 6/17/20

By Mid 1975, I had left WOHO in Toledo for WTUU, a new station in town that played country music. The station didn't last very long—just a year or two--but it's biggest claim to fame in its short existence was the fact that it was the station that aired Toledo Goaldiggers Hockey.

The Goaldiggers were a brand new, professional Triple-A team in the International Hockey League that played their home games at the old Toledo Sports Arena.

The city was crazy about them, and for good reason: they were a rough, tough team that came out fighting—literally and figuratively—and when the season was over, they had won the Turner Cup (the IHL version of the Stanley Cup). Remember, this was their first year in the league!

One of my jobs at WTUU was to engineer the play-by-play broadcasts from our studios at the long-gone Commodore Perry Motor Inn in Downtown Toledo.

(Trivia: Toledoans may remember that the Commodore Perry was kitty-corner from “...the bar in Toledo, across from the depot...”)

As the season progressed, and the Goaldiggers kept pounding their opponents, a “Great Song of the '70s” suddenly became their theme song. And it was the perfect choice.

I don't remember who had the original idea, or who played it first, but I DO remember that after a while, fans demanded to hear it on the air after every Goaldigger game, even though the song was way out of our format. Think disco on a country station.

In short, if the Goaldiggers were on the air, so was Barry Manilow's “It's a Miracle!” And after they won the Turner Cup, there was definitely “dancin' in the streets!”

The song was already a hit in '75.” In the US, it was #1 on the Adult Contemporary Chart, #12 on the Hot 100, and #15 on the Disco Chart. In Canada, it was #1 on the Top 40 and #2 on the Adult Contemporary Chart. But in Toledo? With Goaldigger Fans? It was #1 on EVERY chart—including WTUU's Country Chart!