The Only One

WOKI AM/FM debuted in April 1974 in Oak Ridge.

530-10 King in the Morning

10-noon Dave Lambert

noon-3 Jack Bean

3-7 Johnny Pirkle

7-12 Mike Beverly

12-6 JL Myers

From their first week on the air, the 101 Audio Vault features Johnny Pirkle...

It's 1965 at Sebring...and this classic includes THE Carroll Shelby and THE Johnny Pirkle, in the pits! Vroom!

It's late October '76 at Double Super WNOX (AM 990) and The Aardvark is about to be on the loose...exiting for (I think Washington DC area). The 101 Audio Vault captures his last show... 

The following week Terry Phillips was added as midday DJ to complete the line up of-

6-10 Eddy Roy

10-3 Terry Phillips

3-7 Dick Winstead

7-12 Scott Sams aka The Night Bird

12-6 Russ Brown

Fast forward to January '79 and The Aardvark is back...as Scott Majors. He's the new Music Director and the DJ crew has changed a bit as longtime PD Eddy Roy is gone and Knoxville staple Phil Williams is holding down middays.

530-10 Dr Dave Dunaway

10-2 Phil Willliams

2-6 Mike Beach

6-10 Scott Majors

10-2 CC McCartney

2-530 James Turk

PS- Happy Birthday this past week to Mike Beach!

PSS- in case you were wondering, Aardvark aka Majors is (real name) Robin Huff!

Our Knoxville Radio History 101 podcast has dropped again...that's good! On today's podcast...we listen to great air check archives, all from my cassette recordings...Kent Newton, Wayne Bernard, and Smokey Burns!

Today we join J Worthington Smith and Eddy Roy bantering in J's 29th hour on the air during the WNOX strike!

Is this cool or what...it's 4am (his show was 4a-6a) and this is 15 year old Randy Miller in the WBIR 1240 AM studio. Yes, his Mom always drove him to the station. His show came on before "Date with Doc" each day! Randy can be found at Brainstorm Media these days!

Back in the day WIVK was jingle free and even produced their own station IDs...who wouldn't with those giant voices. Here's Claude Tomlinson followed by Dan Bell (as a newsie)…

These days he calls the greater Nashville area home, not too long ago we were almost neighbors here in Central Florida...hello to Jeff Hawkins!

Back in the day Jeff ran the circuit working at several prominent Knoxville radio stations...WIVK, WNOX, WKGN, WETQ, etc.

Most recently Jeff has been mic'd up at WHIN in Hendersonville TN.

PS- Jeff has been aka Jeff Winters and aka Jeff Shannon on the radio!

The 101 Audio Vault travels to the 70's and Jeff on WIVK...

Page 3...

The 3rd installment of our 101 podcast adventure is now available and in living color at-

www.anchor.fm/talkgeorge

This go around we look in to the WNOX DJ strike from 1972!

It's 1973...WKGN 1340 is making it's rounds to schools in Knoxville (I saw this presentation in the auditorium at Bearden Junior High).

What an all star line up-

6-9 Bob Baron

9-12 Chris Hampton

12-3 Frank Erwin

3-7 Wayne Bernard

7-12 Jack Diamond

12-6 Jerry Steele

Any memories of this DJ line up? WKGN 1340 from the early 60’s!

I discovered this on the www, don’t know the back story but thought it was groovy. If you recall Big Jim’s time at WCRK send 101 the story.

Many Ktown greats worked in Morristown, I was offered a spot at WCRK back in the early 80’s but life had me changing directions and my headphones never debuted! 

Page 3...

The 101 podcast is now available on the “Apple” platform...simply search [talkgeorge]!

Happy 4th of July

The latest (2nd) 101 podcast has dropped in to the world wide web!

Tune in at www.anchor.fm/talkgeorge

Today it's "Slick Maurice's Thanks for the Memories"

One of my most memorable and funniest moments when I was at WNOX didn't happen when I was on the air but while I was off the air. It was during the Scott "Scooter" McLeod era. His idea of programming was to be a little edgy and he came up with a station mascot the WNOX Mother Duck. I'm sure you can figure out what it really meant. I volunteered to dress as the mascot and the Duck was heavily promoted on the air and he was everywhere.

One time the circus came to town and they had the traditional elephant walk downtown to the Civic Coliseum and the Mother Duck rode on the elephant. It was fun but scary and all I was thinking was please don't fall off, please don't fall off.

Since the Duck couldn't talk we got a duck caller so when little kids would come and talk to the duck...he would go quack and I would do the WNOX Mother Duck dance. I remember being at a grand opening of a store and one of the people there was watching me do the Duck dance and I guess he thought that I couldn't hear because he said "I don't know who's in there but he sure has a lot of rhythm". I laughed so hard I almost swallowed the duck caller!

- James Slick Maurice Turk

UT Daily (Eddie) Beacon advertisement!

My Kind of Country!

Classic photos I snapped back in 1982 at WRJZ “My Kind of Country”...top is Ron Sprowell with Jim Wilson, bottom is Bill Hays!