In our April 21 post, Ktown legend and Knox attorney Gary Adkins mentioned the, quote, death of Jimmy Buffett! Larry Solomon adds to that story...
I don't mean to steal Gary Adkins' thunder....but I was working at WIMZ-FM (Rock 104) in 1980 (or maybe this happened in 1979?) when one of our jocks "killed" Jimmy Buffett. (I won't mention the jock's name, because he is a good guy and really didn't mean any harm.) At the Rock 104 studio, we had a private telephone "hotline" that only station staff members were supposed to have access to. Jimmy was coming to Knoxville soon to do a concert on the UT campus. The jock was on the air, and he received a call on the hotline from someone who claimed official knowledge of Jimmy's death in a plane crash! The jock then announced this on the air (without verifying the story!) Within a short time, Irving Azoff (Jimmy's manager at that time) had heard about this and called the station! The jock was fired. Given that he wasn't dead, Jimmy's concert went on as scheduled. At the start of the Knoxville show, a spotlight revealed a hat and coat, but Jimmy was nowhere to be found! Jimmy certainly had a sense of humor about the whole thing.
I don't mean to steal Gary Adkins' thunder....but I was working at WIMZ-FM (Rock 104) in 1980 (or maybe this happened in 1979?) when one of our jocks "killed" Jimmy Buffett. (I won't mention the jock's name, because he is a good guy and really didn't mean any harm.) At the Rock 104 studio, we had a private telephone "hotline" that only station staff members were supposed to have access to. Jimmy was coming to Knoxville soon to do a concert on the UT campus. The jock was on the air, and he received a call on the hotline from someone who claimed official knowledge of Jimmy's death in a plane crash! The jock then announced this on the air (without verifying the story!) Within a short time, Irving Azoff (Jimmy's manager at that time) had heard about this and called the station! The jock was fired. Given that he wasn't dead, Jimmy's concert went on as scheduled. At the start of the Knoxville show, a spotlight revealed a hat and coat, but Jimmy was nowhere to be found! Jimmy certainly had a sense of humor about the whole thing.