Bob Thomas remembering Tony...

Sad to hear of the passing of my friend Tony Igar. Working at WKGN in the 70s the station was bought by Lamar which brought a host of Alabama boys to Knoxville. One of those was former announcer and now sales executive, Tony Igar. Self-titled “World Famous” eventually came true. After a successful career in sales at WIVK, Tony and His wonderful wife, Maria moved to San Diego. Tony decided to be a boat Captain, no small task. He did and he captained ships across the Pacific. We visited them once in San Diego and he took Kim, Jake and me on a sunset sail out of the San Diego marina. Then Tony decided he would learn to play the harmonica and he played in several bands. They moved to Huntington Beach and we visited them there going out for a fun dinner then a visit at the condo. Rest In Peace my friend, you sir lived a life to the fullest. Prayers for his lifelong love, Maria.

Scott Sams had his plan in place from the get go...oh what a great career- Knoxville radio, Knoxville TV, Dallas TV, and Dallas radio. He even ventured to WKIN Kingsport at one point. In Ktown radio Scott worked at WBLC, WETE, WKGN, 15Q, WNOX, WOKI and...in the summer of '76 Scott worked at 15Q as Jamie Rivers. Here's Jamie signing off 15Q for the last time via the 101 Audio Vault~

 

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One morning in the summer of '76 Scott and I hosted the morning show on WBLC- he was Michael O'Shea and I was George Michael, so far the air check has not been found, but we did record it...

Hello George!

 

I hope All is well with you.

 

I wanted to update you on the latest accolade for WNOX's Larry Steele on August 7 in Atlanta at Backstage Atlanta he received a 2022 Radio & Records Lifetime Achievement Award and Proclamation from the City of Atlanta for his Outstanding Broadcast Career and he invited me James "Slick" Maurice Turk to be his guest.

 

I also included a pic of Larry Steele, Pete Dreyer (Station Manager) and James Slick Maurice Turk courtesy of a Book entitled Images of America Knoxville's WNOX.

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James Slick Maurice Turk

It's early 1980 at WNOX 990...the #3 rated station in Ktown after WIVK-FM and WEZK-FM. 

Dave Dunaway had recently exited morning drive, with Eddie Rogers joining in that spot. Suzanne Dalton was anchoring the morning news desk.

530-10 Eddie Rogers, 10-2 Phil Williams, 2-6 Randy Miller, 6-10 Scott Majors, 10-2 Tom Michaels, and 2-530 James Maurice.

The 101 Audio Vault features Randy Miller...

 

 

Here's what Mike Hammond found going thru some old photos from WIVK days. Our first Traffic Tracker. A small Subaru with a row of antennas down the middle of the roof. (Dan Bell)

Back in 1980, wow, 42 Jackie Robinson years ago, a very young and talented Mike Clark was a DJ at WATO 1290 in Oak Ridge. That's a time when live and local thrived in the radio world. Fast forward to today and Mike is still on the radio as Mike in the Morning on Praise 96.3 on the Ktown dial. The 101 Audio Vault features Mike...

 

It's January 1974, remember the good old days when pay phones and paper maps were prominent!

WATO 1290 was a powerhouse AM serving the Oak Ridge community, my Dad was a lifer at Y-12.

Here's the DJ line up-

530-10 Allen Crockett

10-2 Gary Stone (PD)

2-7 Tony Taylor

7-1 Bob Gaylord

News-

Hugh Newsom

Buddy Martin 

Jim Wescott

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Happy Birthday wishes to Mike Beach!!!

Mick and AD

If memory serves, these two were originals at 15Q (WKVQ Knoxville) back in 1976. Alan was a holdover from the legendary W149 and Mick was imported as one of the new super jocks when 15Q debuted. Mick Rizzo is on the left, thanks for the photo, and Alan is on the right. AD aka Alan Douglas aka Alan Sneed. Hashtag Two Ageless DJs! PS- both also worked at WKGN in Ktown!

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Check out Kerry Lambert's LinkedIn page, newly added in the 101 links to the right!
 

Dan Bell says...

You never know where God is leading you. 

 

It was 9 years ago now, years ago, I thought I'd never go back on radio. I had been driving a charter bus, tour bus for nine years. 

 

I met Phil Jarnagin known as Uncle Phil on Merle FM. He said he had been a fan of The Sunday Survey Show I did for over ten years, 663 shows on WIVK. He suggested to his boss, Ron Meredith that I restart the show on Merle. My boss at the time couldn't understand why I wanted to be off from driving to be on the radio just 4 hours a week. 

 

It was on July 21, 2013 I did my first Sunday Survey on Merle FM. Eventually we moved it to Saturday so Merle could carry NASCAR on Sundays...so it became The Sunday Survey on Saturday. 

 

Then in 2016 Ron asked if I wanted to go back to work full time, as Music Director and afternoon deejay Praise 96.3.

 

It took less than one second for me to say "Yes". I think it was God's Plan to put Phil in my path... and I hope to follow His Plan every day. The Merle duties have ended, for now, but I'm glad to continue with Praise 96.3.

WIVK has a new morning voice as Joey Tack returns to East Tennessee where he worked for 15 years at WKHT as DJ and PD until July 2019.

Joey Spent the last 2 years in California at KNCI Sacremento as PD and midday jock. 

With the desire to return to East TN, his wife is a native, Joey packed up and left the almost Beverly Hills behind for the hills (and mountains) of East TN.

Heather Harrington is along for the ride in AM drive too.

As decades now pass from the Great Day Show of Claude Tomlinson, I always thought Phil Williams and Bob Thomas would make a great morning tandem spinning country tunes and talking up Big Orange Country.

101 welcomes Joey Tack back to the Smokey Mountain airwaves!