Happy Memorial Day...classic photo of Walker Johnson!

Today we clean out the 101 InBox~

"I've kept track of just about everyone I worked with at 'KGN, except a couple of folks. Whatever happened to Jim Goodman & Chris Hampton?" (Jack Diamond)

"I just noticed a minor error in the post. Ray Wilck's name is Raymond STECKER Wilck, not Stacker! He is currently a Methodist Missionary in Prague." (Buster Sutton)

From the 101 InBox~

"Hey George....Just wanted to set a part of the record straight. My first job at WIVK was news director. I replaced the great Norman Majors. Jim Dick hired me at the ripe old age of 19 years old. I found myself sitting across the hall from one of the men/legends I had listened to throughout my youth...Claude The Cat! It was great working with and learning from one of the best...not to mention seeing him switch between 3 characters (live) without missing a conversational beat! As ND at WIVK, I hired a young weekend anchor who was going to UT at the time...his name...Mike Hammond. One of my worst career moves was leaving WIVK to do afternoons on W-149! Of course at that time I was a young hippie destined to play on one of the few real rock and roll stations in the U.S. As they say...you can't cure stupid!!  LOL. My best to all for the holiday." (Mike Beach)

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The 101 Birthday Club salutes Martin Baker...HBD!

Happy holiday weekend...it's beach time!

Mike Beach is a Ktown legend having worked at many dial positions including WIVK, mornings at WIMZ, and in '75 he was drive time at WKGN. The 101 Audio Vault features Mike...

It's time for another "101 Reload"~


101 goes way back today...1972 and WKGN "The Famous 1340". As the new year began the DJ line up featured-

6 Bobby Rivers
9 Bob Baron
12 Sonny Knight
3 Wayne Bernard
7 Brother John
12 Frank Erwin

In mid January Allen Dennis joined the station as the new morning DJ!

In late March Chris Hampton left his WKGN news position and became a fulltime DJ.

On May 15 Allen Dennis exited for sister station WMAK Nashville and Eddie Beacon returned to 'KGN...(Brother John also left as he joined W-149)~

6 Bobby Rivers
9 Bob Baron
11 Chris Hampton
3 Wayne Bernard
7 Eddie Beacon
12 Frank Erwin

Shortly...Eddie Beacon exited again and Frank Erwin went to 7p-12 and was replaced on the overnight show by Monte Morgan.

The WKGN news team in 1972 featured Jim Goodman, Walker Johnson, and Joe Anderson...

The door continued to swing open that year, on July 3 Gary Drake and Jerry Steele joined WKGN...

6 Bob Baron
9 Gary Drake
12 Chris Hampton
3 Wayne Bernard
7 Frank Erwin
12 Jerry Steele

...And that DJ line up stayed in tact for the remainder of 1972.

HAPPY RAPTURE DAY!!!

After our first "101 Reload"...we heard from the legendary Your Dave Young...

"Hello George, I remember that stunt very well. Pete Dryer the GM had us sign our names on a sheet of paper and he would not tell us what it was for. In the sunday paper the ad appeared that we were going on strike. Monday we put up our picket line on Gay street, (of all places) to protest J. Worthington Smith. About lunch time we returneed to the station on Whittle Springs road to find officials of the Communication Workers of America who wanted to organize us in their union. Needless to say Dryer called the thing off an the big 99 returned to normal programming. Eddy did not settle the so called strike, it was the CWA."

101 airchecked the event and will feature it later, and also kept the newspaper strike notice...

101 introduces a new feature called the "101 Reload", today we return to September 7, 2007, our first installment...

Welcome to 101...

Let's stroll down memory lane together and enjoy Knoxville radio, it's filled with a rich history from Claude Tomlinson to CP and Walker, from Johnny Pirkle to Brother John St. John.

Today we'll remember 1972...Melanie's hit "Brand New Key" was #1 when the year began, Neal Ridley was the President of the local minor league baseball team, and in late January the WNOX announcers went on strike! That's right, upset over their current morning DJ named J Worthington Smith, the rest of the team refused to go on the air leaving J Worthington to spin records for 29 1/2 hours. The strike was resolved by PD Eddy Roy and a new line up was created...

WNOX-

6 King in the Morning

10 Eddy Roy

12 Ken Mynatt

3 Dave Young

7 J Worthington Smith

12 Pat Thompson

News- Raymond Stacker Wilck, Ron Ashburn, Tom Richmond

A few years later King in the Morning joined a brand new station, WOKI, it was automated, and King was the morning jock. More on WOKI FM 100 later.

Dan Bell took Sunday afternoons at WIVK and made them special by creating and hosting "The Sunday Survey"...and Dan didn't just play records, he interviewed the stars, got the inside scoop, and made memories!

This photo is of Dan back in the 70's in the AM studio!

Happy Monday...the 101 Audio Vault travels to WKGN 1340 and midday DJ Frank Erwin~

Many of you shared the morning mic with the legendary Joe Anderson...from the 101 Audio Vault and TSHC here's Joe on WKGN~

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You can find Ray at www.RayEdwards.com

101 was chatting with Bob Anderson about the good old radio days...Bob aka Bob Parker on WKGN, he worked at WIVK, and was Bandit on WOKI...and I said Bob you gotta share all these stories, that's what our blog is all about...so Bob is at his editing desk, rewriting history, ha...and 101 wants (needs) to hear from you. Our email is KtownRadio@gmail.com.

From the 101 InBox~

"I was wondering if you remembered a DJ named Ray Edwards who worked in Knoxville back in the 80's and 90's? The reason I am asking is because I won a contest back then which allowed me to sing on stage with the Beach Boys when they came to town. The only picture I have of this is one my brother took with a 110 camera from the back of the Thompson Boling Arena so you can imagine the quality. Ray and I both got to sing with them that night and I remember him saying that his wife had taken some pictures. Anyway, I am trying to track him down to see if he still has any pictures from that concert. Any help would be appreciated." (Wes Cassady)

The 101 Audio Vault features a WKGN commerical...did you remember that WKGN use to host the Knoxville Christmas parade? Here's the good doctor...

Happy Mom's Day from 101

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The new Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame now has a web address~ click here

The feedback is flowing in regarding the initial class of the 101 Wall of Fame~

"I couldn't agree more with the top 5 choices. They are all GREAT." (Allen Dennis)

"Certainly can't argue with that class." (Jeff Jarnigan) 

"I think you got it right on!" (Paul Lyle)

"What about me?" (Lester Longmire)

Remember...The results were tallied from voters, not 101. One loyal contributor did email saying it was a wall of shame because it was so frog biased.

During the voting Dave Young took us back to the early days...

"Hello George. Picking 5 all time radio guys is tough. My thought is...have several areas to select. Early radio people would include Stewart Adcock who is given credit for the 1st radio station in Tennessee. You have to include Dick Westerguard, Fred Sheperd, Lowell Blanchard, Arthur Prichard and many more in that group. Moving into the 40s-50s, George Mooney, Sam Thrower, Harry Morgan, and the list goes on and on. The 60s arrive with Johnny Pirkle, 70s include you and several more."

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!

Survey says...

Thanks to everyone who voted for the all time most important/influential people in Knoxville radio history. It's impossible to say who truly made the biggest impact, particularly since memories have faded from the golden oldies days of the 40's - 60's. It was fun to see names from the past such as Lowell Blanchard and Doc Johnston mentioned.

In our unscientific pole...the TOP 5 of ALL TIME are (in alphabetical order) ~

Bobby Denton

Claude Tomlinson

George Mooney

Jim Dick
Johnny Pirkle

These 5 make up the Class of '11 101 Wall of Fame

PS...John Ward, former "Voice of the Vols" received kudos by many as the most famous voice in Knoxville!

We continue with The Steve Howard Collection...from the fall of 1975 here's Dr. Al Adams on WKGN 1340~



The DJ line up at that time was 6-10 Dr. Al, 10-3 Frank Erwin, 3-7 Mike Beach, 7-12 Coyote Smith, and 12-6 David Todd.