"Hey folks, Steve Howard here. I was in Knoxville for a number of years (74-81) going to the College of Engineering at UTK and driving to my hometown of Kingsport, working weekends at WKIN 1320 (which spawned Dick Winstead and Wayne Bernard). However, from July '80 to August '81 I worked 12m-6am at WRJZ. I was hired by Fred Story (whom I knew from his days at WJSO in Jonesboro/Johnson City TN) and finished my tenure under Tim Edwards. Martin Baker and I were roomies for a while and he started at RJZ while I was there. I have some airchecks of me on RJZ, but more importantly, I have a pretty comprehensive 24-hour check of WKGN from the fall of 1975. The lineup was Dr. Al Adams 6-10 am, Frank Erwin 10a-3p, Mike Beach 3-7 pm, Coyote Smith 7p-12m, and David Todd 12m-6am. It's vintage stuff, especially the Beach material. Joe Anderson, Lauren Murphy and Steven Ray King do news. Incidentally, Coyote Smith, who had worked earlier at WNOX as Robert E. Lee, used that name in the 70s at WFHG 980/Bristol TN/VA. I actually worked with him for about a month in the fall of '81 in Kingsport. I left RJZ when I got the job as PD at WKIN; they bought an existing FM which became album rock "Y-105", and Larry did Sunday mornings for about a month, using his real name, and "Smitty" some as well. (Best I remember, he was laid off when Bahakel corporate ordered that a fulltime staff member be given an additional weekend shift, and Larry was out. Haven't seen him since!) I'm now living in Charlotte and out of radio, but Knoxville radio is part of my growing-up and college years! Keep up the great stuff." (Steve Howard)
