The year...1985!

'85 began with former Ktown and Vols announcer Lindsey Nelson calling the Cotton Bowl for CBS TV on January 1.

The basketball Vols line up that season featured Anthony Richardson, Fred Jenkins, Rob Jones, Michael Brooks and Tony White.

Over at 103.5 FM- WIMZ's morning DJ was Phil Williams, PD Keith Lambert did middays, and Scott Paulsen was afternoon drive.

In Ktown's TV world, Channel 6 WATE (Team 6) was anchored by Sam Brown and Mike Thurman. Scott Sams was now a weatherman, and Alan Williams handled the sports desk. Also on the 6 roster was Bob Gray, Kim Simmons, Diane May, and Greg Peterson.

Over at The Frog Station, Claude the Cat was still handling mornings, Bob Thomas followed from 10-3, Ed Brantley was driving Ktown home, Laura Paul 7-12, and Terry Womack was all night.

On Super Bowl Sunday Ktown was hit with a snow blizzard, over 9" and the city practically shut down....and the temp went down to -24!

WTVK TV was known as Newscenter 26. Their team was Allen Denton, Brenda Burch, Topper Shutt, and Rusty Ensor.

WOKI jocks were The Animal, Jeff Jarnigan, Charlie Wheeler, and at night...Shotgun Stevens.

Arbitron's summer release-
WIVK-FM 23.3
WIMZ 17.5
WEZK 14.5
WOKI 8.2
WMYU 6.7

As fall arrived, the morning landscape was led by Claude and CP on WIVK, Phil Williams WIMZ, Steve Harrison on WNOX, Mark Herzog WMYU, and "The Morning Zoo" on WOKI.

On September 14 the Vols opened their '85 football season at Neyland Stadium and battled UCLA to a 26-26 tie.

'85 saw many line up moves at WOKI, in October Ron Harper was now doing mornings, Gary Beach middays, Jeff Jarnigan 3-7p, and Shotgun at night.

Over at WNOX that fall Bill Beason and Eddie Beacon were back together again.

But wait...Jeff Jarnigan was on the move! Enter CP to mornings and Jeff to afternoons at WMYU. Larry Trotter, Jeff Freeman, and Kay Manley were also on the U-102 card.

So there you have it, a brief but fun look back at a year in Ktown! Where were you in '85? 101 would love to hear from you and welcomes your photographs and memories!

What's in a name?

In the mid 70's Mike Beck and Kerry Lambert made their on air debuts at WKGN. Beck had the on air name Barry "Mutha" Tucker and Lambert was Chris Lee, or Kris Lee- Kris with a K! Soon both had their on air names changed, Robin Beck and Keith Lambert emerged.

Also at 'KGN around that time Rusty Brown was calling himself Tollie Michaels, soon he was Russ Brown and he moved over to WNOX.

One of Ktown's all time greats is Clay Huskisson, but you never heard that name on the air waves, instead the persona "Eddie Beacon the Swingin' Deacon" was alive and roaring.

Others, like Dave Young kept their names but added a twist, everyone remembers "Your Dave".

Steve Bridgewater did a couple of stints in Ktown at 15Q and WRJZ, he was Steve West the first go around, and then Dr. Don West.

Robin Huff, who? How about The Aardvark and then Scott Majors!

One of the reasons we DJ's never grow up is because we get to keep creating play names...send 101 your what's in a name story!

Remember Radio before FM?

Remember Doc Johnston's piano?

Remember "Big Red"?

Remember WKGN's pool parties?

Remember Booby's stogies?

Remember the 15Q button?

Remember WRJZ being on two floors?

Remember WKGN on Cumberland Avenue?

Remember Lester and Mr. Schultz?

Remember Brother John's "Boogie Check"?

Remember Jack Diamond and Gorilla?

Remember POA?

Remember "The Jolly Green Giant"?

Remember Harry Robert Shaw?

...What are your memories of Ktown radio?

Claude the CAT (Claude A. Tomlinson) was quite a fellow to work with! I have sat across from him on mornings...CAT was a very good man, and a very shy man.

When I quit WIVK to go to U-102, I was working out notice. On my last day, CAT said on the air that I was leaving and asked me to tell the audience where I was going. I said that I didn't think that would be a good idea. CAT said that if I didn't tell, he would! So, on WIVK's airtime, we gave a plug for U-102. What a guy!

Anytime I'm around people from the old days, CAT's name always comes up and we reminisce about him. You just can't talk about Knoxville radio, without thinking about Claude. He is missed!

-Curtis Parham

Eddie Beacon "The Swingin' Deacon"!!!

Mike Clark...

I loved that story about WEZK from Dave Foulk. I too worked there (in the mid seventies) and he's right: it was perfect for a college student. It could get kind of spooky up there at night, and sometimes you shared the studio with all kinds of creepy crawlies. I remember one night I was doing some production. After sitting down, taking a sip of coffee, and reading over the copy, I reached over--without looking--to grab my headphones. Curled up on top of them was a baby snake. I'm not sure what kind it was; I didn't hang around long enough to see! I finally went back in with a big tape-reel box, and scooped him up and took him outside. One other kinda funny story: as you know, the station was "high atop Sharp's Ridge" with a very steep driveway. One snowy Saturday afternoon, I came into work (walking up the hill) and the woman who I was relieving was really worried about having to walk down the hill. I told her I didn't have any problems getting up the hill, but she wasn't quite so lucky. I watched out the window as she took several tentative steps past the flat area of the parking lot. When her foot hit the incline, she fell...and slid all the way down. Fortunately, she was not hurt. And, I remember seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger up there once. It was on Saturday afternoon, and I could hear sounds coming from the TV studio upstairs. Normally no one was there on Saturday, so I walked up to see what was going on. I saw the studio all lit up, with several people...including the largest human I've ever seen...standing around a weight bench and some weights. The large man turned around...and it was Arnold! This would have been when he was still competing, and he was huge. I asked one of the TV folks what he was doing in Knoxville, and they said he was taping a commercial. For what, I never found out, nor did I find out why he was doing it in Knoxville, but there he was.

Happy Birthday wishes to long time WIVK midday host Bob Thomas!

Bob got his start behind the mic at WBLC Lenoir City in the early 70's and now calls Hollywood his home. Have you got a great Bob story? Let the roasting begin!

PS- Thanks to the Greek for sending his WIVK photos collection to 101...