WHEL 1240

It's March 1980 and Stoner Broadcasting; the new owner of WBIR AM/FM changes the call letters to WIMZ 103.5 and WHEL 1240.

Here's the on air line up at WHEL-

6  Ken McGavin

9  Bob Ogles

12 Win Maxwell

2  Bill Page

6  Mike Johnson

12 Larry King 

Can you believe the reunion was 39 quick years ago? 

Back in '86 the year kicked off with Vols football finishing #4 in the final AP poll.

WIMZ featured Phil Williams as morning DJ.

Eddie Beacon and Bill Beason were both working at WNOX 990.

Sam Brown and Diane May were the news faces on WATE Live 6 TV.

Tony White was UT's was named to the All-SEC basketball team.

Bobby Cox was GM for the Braves, Chuck Tanner was manager, and Dale Murphy was superstar. 

...and Grady's Goodtimes was great and growing with three restaurants open- Papermill at Kingston Pike in Knoxville, Charlotte, and Atlanta. A couple of other popular casual dining restaurants in West Knoxville were The Quarterback and Kotsi's!

Where were you in '86?

Knoxville Radio History (101) is filled with rich memories of great stations and incredible personalities and many behind the scene types too.

Bobby Denton gave me a shot when I was age 18 and a frosh at UT. WIVK was my fraternity thru college, and decades later those memories remain prominent as an incredible chapter in my book of life. 

As we close out 2024, the 101 Audio Vault features "Booby"...

 

 

The 101 Audio Vault travels back to WKGN in the 1970s and Bob Thomas! 

PS- Bob can still be heard on the radio these days, catch him on NewsTalk 98.7 WOKI-FM.

 

Merry 101 Christmas

It's the 101 MailBox...

In the “old days” I inspected diaries multiple times. My two scariest findings:

**A diary filled out in crayon!

**A diary with “no listening” dutifully checked every day and in the comments section, “I am deaf!”

(Alan Sneed)

George, the fourteen years I spent at U-102 were fantastic! I had the chance to be part of a team of real pros. I’ll forever be grateful. 

(Mike Clark)

The FM 102.1 dial position in Knoxville came to prominence when Mooney Broadcasting bought WSEV AM-FM Sevierville in late 1980.

The new U-102, now WMYU, went on the air with a dynamic air staff,,,

6-10 Dave Dunaway with Colvin Idol

10-2 Bill Burkett (PD)

2-7 Tom Van Hart

7-12 Steve Harrison

12-6 Rick Hudson

News: Colvin Idol, Mike Clark

...and in June 1981 Phil Williams joined as the afternoon DJ!

Fast forward to today, the station is WWST Star 102.1 and features Marc & Kim 5-10a, Christine 10-3, and DJ Eric B afternoons.

Oh, and somewhere in between, CP and Walker hosted the morning show!

What's in a number...

 101 took a peek at the latest radio ratings-

Nielsen Oct '24 12+ Mon-Sun 6a-12mid

WIVK 13.4

WIMZ 8.8

WJXB 8.3

WWST 5.4

WUOT 4.7

WCYQ 4.1

WNML 4.1

WOKI 3.3

WNFZ 2.8

...and over at WCYQ 100.3 The Wolf-

6-10 Bobby Bones

10-3 Hanah and Matt

3-7 Dingo

7-12 B-Dub

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I asked my childhood friend and radio and TV star Scott Sams where is on air name (Jamie Rivers) came from when he was a DJ at 15Q...Ron Baptist the PD dubbed him Jamie. He was also Michael O'Shea one day when he and I filled in for Earl Lauderdale on the morning show on WBLC 1360 Lenoir City. 

Two members of Knoxville radio royalty...Mike Beach and Phil Williams, cohosted the morning show for a while back in the 80s on (WIMZ) Rock 104!

It's the 101 Audio Vault~

 

 

Happy Radio December!

 It's the fall of 1969 at WKGN 1340...

6  Sonny Knight

9  Possum Riley

12 Don Smith

3 Skip Broussard (PD)

6  Eddie Beacon

12 Steve Remmel

He's got 'GAS

Dan Bell started at WIVK one week after I did, it was long ago and far away, 48 lightning quick years ago in the year of the Lord, 1976. Where were you?

Dan had moved from the greater Charlotte area aka nearby Gastonia NC. 101 obtained this insegrevious newspaper ad with Dan starring on WGAS (incredible call letters). 

Dan, like the Energizer bunny, is still on the airwaves in East TN, heard weekdays from noon to 6p on Praise 96.3 WJBZ. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING...who needs a turkey when we've got a Possum!

George,

I read Bill Beason’s posting and totally agree - AM was the king of the airwaves in the early 60s.

A side note - I grew up near Terre Haute, Indiana, and drove a Chevy convertible with a Delco radio in it. That receiver, and my location from their transmitters, allowed me to get a clean signal from WSM (650) in Nashville, WNBC (660) in New York City, and WMAQ (670) in Chicago.

All three were NBC affiliates (WNBC and WMAQ were o-and-os). When they took network at the top of the hour, it was like the whole left end of my car radio dial was an NBC news on the hour newscast.

Of course, WLS (and later WCFL) were the bomb, but I could also get 5000-watt KXOK in St. Louis during daytime hours. WLS, WCFL, WMAQ, WBBM, and WGN all put good signals into ‘Haute from nearly 200 miles away in Chicago, day and night.

Thanks for hangin’ with the Possum 

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The Randy Miller link has been updated (click here)