15Q was a short lived but legendary radio station...the year was 1976. Here are two of their superjocks, Suitcase Simpson and Bob "Shotgun" Kelly~

Happy Birthday wishes to former Ktown DJ Jeff Hawkins...Jeff used the on air names Jeff Winters, Jeff Shannon, and some referred to Jeff (lovingly) as "Studley Dudley". Jeff spent time at WIVK, WNOX, WKGN, WATO/Q94 and where else? Jeff resides in Orlando these days...

Back in 1985 CP and Channing Smith were sharing the morning mic at WIVK AM 850!

Gone too soon!

Back in 1976 when 15Q went on the air, a few of the W149 jocks were retained, and "The Brothers" were hatched! Originally Alan Sneed and Gary Adkins, Alan was soon replaced by Bill Johnson...

101 opens our inbox today~

Hello, In the past I was in a live radio broadcast in the '70s. Ken McGavin was the radio announcer. May I ask, where is Mr. McGavin? Thank you!

Debbie Serio (Reed)...Now in California

Robert "T" Edwards was an engineer with WIVK, Sports-talk or News-talk 990 back in the days of Mike Keith's reign. He also worked for Horne Radio and ESPN in downtown Knoxville. I remember a story that I thought was funny. T was working at the Vols pre-game show with John Ward on the hill facing Neyland Stadium just about every Saturday. He told me to come meet him right before the game and we would go up and watch the game in the press box. I went and the crowd was a typical swarm of people. At that time I didn't know where they set up for the show so I was just standing, lost and confused, in a sea of orange people and then suddenly I heard my name called out, more like yelled out, thundering down from, what I thought at that time, heaven. The crowd silenced for a brief moment as people stopped for a second, I suppose many of them with my name? It was my buddy T. He had commandeered a microphone when he saw me and was calling my name from the platform and waving his arms in the the air to get my attention. Very few people in Knoxville Tennessee didn't know T Edwards or at least hear his name mentioned on the Vol Network from John Ward or Bob Kesling. T passed away last year at the young age of 44. He is missed. (D McCoig)

Hi -I was POA's second wife - I was with him during his stint with the Star Stations (Portland, Oregon, and "the historic court case"; Omaha; Indianapolis; Denver; and his debacle at WMAQ). In storage I have what I believe is at least one reel-to-reel air check of his. Are you interested? I'm not sure, but the same box may have other things related to that period of time. I would have to check. Anyway, let me know....Best regards, (Susan Kay)

Happy Birthday to Frank Murphy...

"Hey George - I used to hang out with Brother Mick Rizzo when he did 7-12 on WKGN. I was doing overnights using the name Barry Tucker. I have no idea why. Anyway, one night Mick was doing his sign-off and said, This is Brother Mick. Coming up next it's Barry "The Mother" Tucker. He still calls me that." (Mike Beck)

Mick Rizzo was one of the many superstars on the original 15Q staff in 1976. Here's a sampling of Brother Mick~

Page 3...

Happy Birthday wishes to WIVK morning DJ Andy Ritchie of the "Andy and Alison" show!

What's in a name? Many in radio create on air names and for multiple reasons. Shotgun Stevens was a DJ at WOKI, and now he's known as Doc Holliday. Larry King of CNN fame is really Larry Zeiger...one guy was born with a classic on air moniker, Mike Beach! Here's Mike on WNOX in 1979~

Back in 1985 WIMZ was known as Rock 104, one of their top DJ's was Scott Paulsen...




Paulsen left Ktown the next year for Pittsburgh, where he remains today! Scott currently hosts the afternoon show on ESPN 1250.

The ARB ratings in Ktown that year, as announced in July~

WIVK-FM 23.3
WIMZ 17.5
WEZK 14.5
WOKI 8.2
WMYU 6.7
WIVK-AM 4.5
WNOX 2.6
WKGN 1.8
WRJZ 1.8

It's a 500 MegaWatt Sunday at 101...

"Normally I guess we never talk much about engineers. Never on the air and always involved in the technical. But……..I know a lot of people will remember Ernie “Buster” Sutton. He did the engineer thing at WTVK, WKGN, WOKI and no telling where else. He also taught at the Professional Academy of Broadcasting. His treatise on amplifiers, applefryers and rectumfryers was one the funniest things I have ever heard. I have no idea where Buster is today, but I feel certain many folks will have a good laugh recalling some of Busters many activities over the years."

"One night after I finished my air shift at W*** I went over to visit Terry. After a while – more like several hours Claude “The Cat” came in for his morning show. This was when he still ran his own board. Claude apparently noticed us before we saw him. While he was out in the hallway he did a voice of an old lady which scared the crap out of us both. It was a good laugh for us all but something about that voice stuck in my mind. I had heard Claude do Lester and Old Man Schultz but this female voice. It was much later that I learned (though a daughter of Claude’s), that he did the voice of Granny Loomis – of Country Sausage commercials. I often wonder if Claude’s talents were fully known by his loyal listeners."

It was great hearing from Mike Beck...

"Hi George, just found your excellent blog again today via a link about Paul Oscar Anderson. I remember so well the way he said Paul OSCAR Anderson. Thanks for the great job on the blog. I'm enjoying reading about and seeing pictures of my great friends and the radio heroes of my youth. I'm sending along a photo of the 'KGN staff from 1977 (I think). This was taken on the roof of the studios on Alcoa Hwy during the Abrams Superstars days. From left to right: Gina Logue, Alan Sneed, Dave Elrod (standing), Kerry Lambert (sitting), Mike Swaggerty, Mike Beck (check out the groovy station t-shirt), and Frank Greene. Thanks again for the blog!" (Mike Beck)

Mike Beck
Operations Manager
TCI Radio Norfolk
WNOR - WAFX - WJOI

Remembering POA~

"Sorry to hear about POA's passing. I worked with him for a while in the late 70's at WEZK. He was the News Director. I was very green, and he was patient. I did a newscast once with Moammar Khadafy's name in a story. I wrapped up the cast, basking in the glow of what I thought was a wonderful job...when the hot line rang. It was POA. He said something to the effect of "nice job...by the way, the correct pronunciation is Khada'fee" (with the emphasis on the second syllable). I had pronounced it like Khad' afye...with the emphasis on the first syllable, and totally blowing the last part of the name. He was very understanding, and explained rather in depth about the general pronunciation of various African names. I learned a lot from Paul. He was truly one of a kind." (Mike Clark)

"How great to hear those pipes again. I worked with Paul at WNOX and again when I was the PD at WKGN. I have to say it was always a pleasure to work with him, even when he was getting uppity! A memorable man that will be truly missed." (Jeff Hawkins aka Jeff Winters)

Also Frank Murphy has some great POA stuff on his blog including emails he received from Paul!

Happy Birthday to the "Swingin' Deacon" Eddie Beacon. 101 dug into the Audio Vault and found this classic aircheck of Eddie on W-149...





Somehow we missed Your Dave Young's birthday on April Fool's Day...Happy 39 YDY! A few posts ago 500 MegaWatt mentioned the station where Dave got his start in radio. Here's Dave...

"George, I am proud to say that I started in radio at WBNT on January 15th, 1966. The first record I put on the turntable was, You Didn't Have To Be So Nice by the Loving Spoonful."

Paul Oscar Anderson has passed away...known as POA, he came to Ktown in the early 70's and ignited WNOX. Here's POA and Larry Martin from 1974~



101 wants to hear from you...send your favorite POA story to KtownRadio@gmail.com

Back in 1985...Doug Dickey became Athletic Director at UT, Ricky Skaggs was the CMA Entertainer of the Year, and Steve Harrison worked morning drive at WNOX! Here's the 101 Audio Vault~

"All of us in or formerly in radio started from somewhere – Even Dave Young was rumored to have once been at WBNT in Scott County, TN. So far as I remember Kent Newton, AKA Tom Kent was the only DJ who really went to a major station – WLS. That is not to say that other DJ didn’t go to equally important stations and were equally as good. But TK was the only guy luckily enough to go to a big station where you had to had to count the zeros in your paycheck to know how much you made." (500 MegaWatt)

Happy Birthday to former WIVK star Dan Bell. Dan hosted the "Sunday Survey" for years...

Happy Birthday to former Ktown DJ Allen Free! Like many of us Allen polished his skills at WBLC 1360 Lenoir City, working for Earl Lauderdale!

One of our favorite personalities to come thru Ktown was Jack Diamond at WKGN, one of a host of great nighttime DJ's to work that time slot...remember Johnny Walker and his trumpet, Dr Al Adams at night, and Cookin' Kent Newton aka Tom Kent! For almost 30 years now, Jack (now Coyote Calhoun) has been operating and DJing at WAMZ Louisville. Here's Jack...

"This is really one of the best radio websites I've seen. Even though I only worked in Knoxville for a short while (Feb. 73 - Sept 73) it's really alot of fun to read up on some of the folks I worked with, and others who even though I never had a chance to work with, were Knoxville legends. Very entertaining!"

A couple of contributors commented about, whatever happened to Ken Mynatt?...

"Last account I had of Skinny Kenny, he was a motorcycle officer with the Roane County Sheriff's office. Snuffy Smith was hanging out in NC." (Dave Young)

"Ken Mynatt bought an AM station in Harriman and operated it for a time before deciding to pursue an interest in law enforcement. After stints with a couple of police departments in Roane County, he is now a big-shot with the Roane County Sheriff's Office, in charge of the new jail. Down that way he is known as Major Kenneth Mynatt..." (A Nony Mouse)