Long before there was CP and Walker, there was CP and Doc? Curtis Parham reminisces about Doc Johnston...

Doc Johnston was a legendary broadcaster in Knoxville and the PD (WBIR) who hired me when I was a freshman at UT in 1966. He worked in a separate studio with a baby grand piano and accompanied himself when he read spots, wished happy birthdays, or just "rambled". I was always amazed when he picked the "recorded" music for his show. He would go into the library, grab a stack of albums at random, and tell me to play side 2 cut 3 from all of them. Things weren't so "scientific" in those days, but he had a heckuva following. Doc wasn't the easiest guy to work for. I think that may have stemmed from his having been a Marine Drill Instructor in WW II. I really enjoy your blog; it brings back a lot of good memories about when radio was still fun. Keep up the good work, CP.

101 would like to welcome a new contributor, Oidarman! You may have known him by another name, keep reading! 101 has enjoyed his website for years!

Hi...Eddie Beacon tipped me about your web site and man what a truckload of memories. I was a jock at WNOX in the mid 60's and tell many stories about the experience in my ebook "Puttin On The Hits" which has been online since 99 (purely coincidence) at OIDAR. There is also an air check there. I have more stories and will try to put them together so Beacon and Pirkle can laugh along with me! I am now President of The Georgia Radio Hall of Fame and we just inducted 34 people last September. All readers are invited to join, but to be inducted, you must have worked in Georgia. That means Beacon is qualified since we served time at WIMO in Winder together back in '67.
Happy Holidays !
John Long aka Kincaid aka Oidarman

Today 101 continues the saga of WNOX morning DJ Sir Bernard J. Quayle! Here's another WNOX adventure as told to 101...

Love reading the K-Town blog and felt I had to respond to Bill Acuff's recall of my episode on the waterbed in Downtown Knoxville.
In 1970, The furniture store Fowlers were endeavouring to modernise their image and had installed a futuristic $28,000 waterbed known as Pleasure Island in their storefront window. WNOX booked me to broadcast the breakfast show there for three mornings which meant I had to be in the store before they closed for the night and dressed for bed in their window by 6.00 pm each night.
The station rigged a two-way so I could talk to the people outside the store and there was a constant stream of people all the way through the night. If I dozed off, some drunk would be hammering on the window to talk to me at 3.00 am. As you might guess, I didn't get much sleep. Another problem was that the downtown temperature was minus 12, so they heated the waterbed to about 75 degrees! It was like sleeping on a hot-water bottle.
The first night, I was wearing a tee shirt and shorts under the nightshirt, but because of the heat, I dispensed with the underwear. Most observers asked me to bounce up and down to show the effect of the waterbed and of course I obliged. A group of girls, who had just come from the cinema kept insisting on me jumping up and down. They were in hysterics laughing at my antics. When I enquired what was so funny about me jumping up and down, I was told they were laughing at the fact I wasn't wearing shorts under the nightshirt - I quit bouncing after that.

Today 101 features WALKER GONE WILD!!! 101's ace contributor Walker Johnson pens a story about Adele, reminisces about Jack Diamond (Coyote Calhoun) and more...

Adele was the second midday person (at WRJZ) and today she is the number ONE anchor at KUSA TV in Denver. She left 'RJZ and went to the old WTVK...later she worked as an anchor in Chicago and then got the deal in Denver. She has been with KUSA for many years.

Jack and I got tossed together at 'KGN by accident. I was doing news and wanted more money so Bob Baron got AP to pay me to be a stringer on the weekends. I was required (by AP) to be at the station on Friday and Saturday nights until 12 phoning in whatever happened locally to the broadcast desk in Nashville. Ten minutes into my first night Jack told me to come on the air with him and from that point on a TON of local news was missed by AP. We didn't do a team show or anything even close to it. My job was simple....Jack would read jokes, get tickled and I would flat get tickled on the air with him. Those were some of the best radio weekends of my life!

As for the story about the phone call to KY..I never heard that..but I can tell you Jack Diamond had offers from the first day he walked into the station. I have been in the control room with him when PDs would call from all over the country and hear him turn them down. He would always say something about the "fit" was not there adding that he never unpacked his Thunderbird (old one but he had one) or all his boxes of jokes. Meaning he was ready to hit the road when the right "fit" came along. As for the box of jokes, he had more than a few. He would use old AP paper boxes because they were long and carry a new one in each night under both arms. Jack Diamond communicated big time and genuinely loved to laugh..never met a jock yet who had those qualities and wasn't successful.

PS...
Clark said his fav jock was Doc? Get this, CP used to "sidekick" for that old man close to the end of his run. Small world tant it?

Keep up the good work...every time I read your blog it reminds me of the cycle of radio. In the beginning you had so much fun you would pay THEM to let you work there...in the end you made too much money to let THEM fire you. Naturally they always did though.

Today 101 opens our mail bag! We'd love to hear from you too...

Johnny Pirkle-

How Coyote Calhoun Got "Discovered" and left WKGN. Even in the early '70s, he was a real good jock, and I decided he needed to be gone from Knoxville radio. So...one evening I tuned in WKGN on my office radio at W149 and called my friend, Johnny Randolph at WAKY in Louisville. After singing Coyote's praises to Randolph, I sat the phone down by my radio, and went home. He continued to listen for a time, then called Coyote and hired him to come to WAKY. I wonder if Coyote knows the real story of who discovered him? Small world, ain't it?

Mike Clark-
I had the opportunity to work with a couple of really great ones. Eddy Roy, when he was at WEZK (now, of course B-97.5) and CP and Walker at U-102. When I was a small lad, my mother used to listen to the Date with Doc Show on WBIR-AM, and of course Claude was huge in Knoxville. So who's my favorite? Uh, good question! Probably, since he was the first person I ever really paid attention to on the radio, and who first exposed me to that peculiar "gee, it would be fun to be on the radio" virus at the tender age of 5, my vote would probably go to Doc Johnston. Was he the best and most creative? Probably not (although he did play that piano while reading live spots!), but for the reasons stated, he would be the guy.

Chris Grabenstein-
So, I was off self-googling again (have to stop, could go blind) and bumped into your blog. How fantastic that anyone even remembers that I use to do some shifts at W-149 during my Knoxville days. I've just been traveling around Tennessee promoting my new books in Chattanooga and Nashville. When I left Knoxville, I moved to New York where I did improv comedy with folks like Bruce Willis before he was Bruce Willis. In 1984, I started an advertising career, including writing a ton of radio commercials. My favorite campaign that I created? Probably TROJAN MAN...Thanks for giving me a smile this otherwise not-so-hot morning as I almost got bumped from my plane!

Today's 101 contributor is Walker Johnson of CP and Walker fame. 101 asked WJ how he and Curtis Parham first got teamed up...

Walker Johnson-
He was doing mornings on WETE and I did afternoons. He had worked in B'ham and heard a "team" on another station. When WETE sold, everyone was to be canned, so CP went to the new PD (Bob Kagan) and pitched the idea of a team.

Our last book on WETE showed CP pulling a ten in the mornings and I pulled an 8. Our first book together on WRJZ we pulled an 18 and beat everyone but WIVK. Our second book we beat WIVK and continued to beat everyone until FM started to really grow in the market. Our last book together we lost to WIVK by one point and still beat everyone in the market.

From 101...WRJZ exploded onto the Ktown airwaves in late 1976! Here's the first line up-

5- CP and Walker
9- Bob Kagan
12- JJ Scott
4- Tim Edwards
8- Lee Taylor
12- Rick Kirk

Coming soon...more from Sir Bernard! And 101 wants to hear from you!

In April 1974 WOKI FM 100 debuted! The station was licensed to and broadcast from Oak Ridge. The station's moniker was "The Only one".

And by the way...the jocks were automated. They would go in and prerecord their on air breaks! The way of the future? No not really, but an interesting trend in '74!

Here was the 1st line up-

530- King in the Morning

10- Dave Lambert

12- Jack Bean

3- Johnny Pirkle

7- Mike Beverly

12- J.L. Myers

Afternoons in Ktown at that time included Mike Beach at WETE, Bobby Denton WIVK, Rick Monday WNOX, Dave Young WKGN, and Rich Renine W149.

In Ktown sports, the UT Vols announced they had signed New York area hoops sensation Bernard King to team up with Ernie Grunfeld and the Knox Sox had a great center field prospect in their line up named Nyls Nyman.

In an earlier post 101 described the beginning of W-149. This one of a kind station came to life in 1971 and was programmed by the legendary Johnny Pirkle! If you have any great '149 stories or photos, send them to 101. Remember Chris Grabenstein?

Today's contributor is Mick Rizzo...15Q and WKGN (1976)...

Great time living in Knox....

15Q was half a block away from an 8 story Nursing Dorm-- WOW!!!!

Last I heard-- Steve (West) Bridgewater went on to an acting/producing career (he was in Forrest Gump!)...

Kid Curry was in Miami for a million years (might still be)... Because they (15Q) were "overbooked" talent wise-- I was blown-out about a month after the station went on the air-- Ron Baptist was PD and had brought me in.... they felt he needed to hone his management skills-- so-- since he'd hired me-- he had to fire me...

The Blessing for me-- Alan Sneed, Knoxville legend-- connected me with Vic Rumore, 'KGN VP/GM-- Baptist had come in on a Sat Nite @ midnite (!) to blow me out-- had breakfast with Alan and Gary (?)--got to meet with Rumore, Dr. Al, and Mike Beach that afternoon-- went on the air @ 'KGN at 7pm that nite!! Turned out that Kent Burkhart, Burkhart/Abrams, was their consult.... after 6-8 months @ 'KGN, they took me to Big WAYS/Charlotte and on to The Big APE with Greasy......

Always loved Knox-- reminded me of Ann Arbor...

Today 101 opens our mail bag...

Walker Johnson...
To go with your 'ETE thing....for some reason a sales weasel sold a remote with me both doing the announcing AND playing guitar?

Gary W Yow...
This is cool. The 70s were my teen years.

Bill Hays...
Please add to your list. Thanks!

Bill Acuff...
Thanks for the great site...especially the bit on Sir Bernard J. Quayle. I remember as a kid going downtown to Fowler's to see the first "water bed in" Knoxville, and he did a stunt where he lived in the Fowler's display window for several days. I was always listening to WNOX AM99 back then, also WJBE, I think that stood for James Brown Enterprises, got anything on them?

Mike Clark
Great blog...I enjoy reading it and going down memory lane.

Tom Jester...
You can hear WKGN alum Frank Irwin on local TV now doing the VOs for ORNL Credit Union. A while back, he did the VOs for Cracker Barrel spots. Last I heard he was still in Nashville producing jingles and doing voice over work. Still sounds a little like Henry Fonda. I used to work with him a lot but haven't for a good while. Nice guy, great voice talent.