Happy Hump Day...it's time for another 101 Reload~ CP wrote this about his friend Ernie Baker-

"Ernie was one of the dearest people I ever worked with. Ernie was indeed the bartender at our WETE Christmas party. He had a degree in philosophy from UT, so bartending was a logical career move for him. At the party, Ernie "over-served" the GM and the conversation drifted to Ernie's interest in getting into radio. The unnamed GM invited Ernie to stop by and he would put him on the air; much to the GM's surprise (I don't think he even remembered the offer) Ernie showed up on Monday and began his broadcasting career. He stayed with us through the WRJZ days before moving to the Tennessee Radio Network in Nashville. While in Nashville, he attended law school and hung out his shingle in his native Memphis. I was deeply saddened over his passing a few years back after a bout with cancer. I will always remember him fondly as will everyone who knew him." (Curtis Parham)

Back in '77 drive time at WNOX 990 was anchored by "Disco" Dick Winstead and Program Director Eddy Roy.

The 101 Audio Vault~

THANKS COACH!!!

Happy Birthday wishes to Barry "Mother" Tucker...or you may have known him as Robin Beck! Our pal Mike Beck now resides in Virginia and runs a group of stations in the Virginia Beach market.

Mike and fellow West High School classmates Rusty Brown and Kerry Lambert all launched their careers at WKGN The Famous 1340 (circa- '74/'75) under the guidance of greats like Wayne Bernard, Dr Al Adams, and Alan Douglas (Sneed)!

"Hey George! Just catching up on 101 and saw your TK post from a few weeks ago regarding his new Tri-Cities job - coincidentally while cleaning out an office file cabinet this morning, I ran across this magazine ad for TK's Knoxville morning show from 2005. TK's looks as if he's ageing well, and still surrounded by working women" (Gary Loe)

101 remembers Ron Campbell, in his own words...

"Hi...ENJOY YOUR STORIES ABOUT KNOXVILLE RADIO. BRINGS BACK MANY MEMORIES OF THE YEARS THAT I WAS AT WIVK FROM 68 TO 72, WORKING THE 7 TO MIDNIGHT SHIFT, FOLLOWING BOBBY DENTON'S SHOW. ALSO WORKED THE MORNING SHOW AT WBIR IN 1975 AND 76...KNOXVILLE RADIO IS ALWAYS CLOSE TO MY HEART. WAS INDUCTED INTO THE DJ ROCKABILLY HALL OF FAME IN JACKSON LAST YEAR. NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD SEE ANY HONOR LIKE THAT FOR AN OLD COUNTRY BOY. THANKS" (RON CAMPBELL)

"Good to see my old friend, Ed Brantley doing well these days at WNOX. We worked together at WIVK in the old days from 1968 until 1972. He is still one of my friends and will remain so. Plus Ed Brantley is a great radio man. Thanks Ed." (Ron Campbell, Nashville)

THANK YOU THE WEB SITE OF KNOXVILLE RADIO. I WAS THE 7 TO MIDNIGHT GUY ON WIVK FROM 1968 UNTIL THE FIRST PART OF 1972. IT WAS AN EXPERIENCE THAT THIS OLE BOY WILL NEVER FORGET. I ALSO WORK AT WBIR-FM IN 1976...DURING THE MORNING SHOW. THOSE DAYS ARE STILL THE BEST. (RON CAMPBELL, NASHVILLE, TN.)

Line up...get your line up! Ktown has 2 news/talk radio stations, WOKI 98.7 and WNOX 100.3. Most news/talk formatted stations mix local talent with syndicated programming. Here are the 2 Ktown station line ups~

WOKI

530 Hallerin Hilton Hill

10 Glenn Beck

12 Rush Limbaugh

3 Phil Williams

6 Sean Hannity

9 Mark Levin

1 Midnight Trucking Radio

5 Jim Bohannon

WNOX

6 Ed and Bob

10 Neal Boortz

12 Dave Ramsey

3 The Drive

6 Michael Savage

9 Boortz Overload

10 Laura Ingraham

1 Coast to Coast

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"I was saddened to read of the passing of Ronnie Campbell, a good friend of mine when we worked together at WIVK in the late '60s and early '70s. Ronnie died in Nashville in May. He was 70. Most recently he served as Broadcast Information Officer for the Tennessee House of Representatives. He also hosted a syndicated gospel music TV show out of Nashville. I believe he also worked part-time at WSM for a while. Ronnie was a great guy and had a fantastic voice." (Jack Hansen)

The 101 Audio Vault travels to WRJZ and JJ Scott~

Before Marconi...the Vavalides family owned restaurants! This is "Jimmy's Candy Kitchen" in Kingsport, Tennessee!!!

In the early 70's...before 100.3 and 103.5 made big splashes, the rock battle was between WNOX 990 and WKGN 1340, W-149 presented a nice alternative....oh, and WETE 620 was a very nice sounding lite rock or MOR format.

Growing up at that time I did a lot of dial twisting...I listened to Dave Young and Mike Beach and Eddie Beacon, and as a young teenager I would have never dreamed they would become my life long friends.

In the early 70's I remember Sir Bernard and Eddy Roy as the morning DJs on WNOX...and Dave Young was on 3-7p (and what a shocker when he joined 1340)...one of my favorites during that time was King in the Morning on WNOX~ later as the first morning DJ at automated WOKI 100.3. Ron Ashburn and POA had booming news voices at The Rock of Knox!

Over at WKGN in the early 70's...Bob Baron and Wayne Bernard (Charlie Chase) were huge names...Joe Anderson had a distinct news voice. The night DJs in that era were unreal...Johnny Walker and his trumpet, Jack Diamond, Kent Newton, etc...big time radio!

I know many of you have great memories from way back until today...share them here at 101!

Lordy, Lordy look who's no longer in his 40's...

Happy Birthday to Channing Smith!

Channing joined WIVK 30 years ago (1981) and soon was anchoring the morning news on The Great Day Show with Claude Tomlinson...fast forward to today and you can still hear Channing on 107.7 FM!

Nashville, Tennessee (July 25, 2011) The newly-created Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame [TRHoF], established to honor the men and women who have made significant contributions to radio broadcasting in the state, will open nominations for its first group of inductees on August 1st. Members of the non-profit organization will have an opportunity to cast ballots for the on-air personalities, station owners and managers, engineers and support staff whom they consider to be Tennessee’s best over the 90-year history of radio broadcasting in the state.

Anyone can belong to the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame, and we encourage both broadcasters and listeners to join our organization. Full Membership is open to anyone who has worked in radio in Tennessee for at least two years, and anyone else, even just an avid radio listener, can become an Associate Member. For a membership application, or more information on how you can join, go to http://www.tennradiohalloffame.org and click on “Membership.” For information on the nomination and voting process for electing our first group of honorees, click on “Nominations and Voting.” Only TRHoF members can vote for their favorite broadcasters.

According to President and Executive Director Lee Dorman, the TRHoF was created because “…after attending the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame awards banquet in October, 2010, I realized Tennessee should have its own Hall of Fame. In 2008, while I was working on my book Nashville Broadcasting [Arcadia Publishing], people kept telling me we needed a way to honor Tennessee’s great radio people. This is the way to do it.”

Inductees will be honored each year at an awards banquet, with the inaugural event scheduled for May 5th, 2012.

The TRHoF hopes to establish a wealth of memorabilia from the early days of broadcasting: articles from newspapers and magazines, tape-recorded early radio shows and other gems of broadcasting history from stations across Tennessee.

"Tennessee radio has such a rich history. We hope to build a collection that will help keep that history alive for generations to come," said TRHoF Historian Dave Nichols.

The Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame is a 501(c)(3) educational organization and all donations are tax deductible.

The 101 Audio Vault features Jim Fairchild and Phil Williams on WNOX, circa- '77!

Happy birthday to WNOX News/Talk 100.3 FM!

Bob Thomas and Ed Brantley (photo) and all the great sounding voices are one year old today. Ed and Bob worked at WIVK for decades, even Eddie Beacon and Jimmy Vineyard~ radio legends in Ktown, can be heard on the 100,000 watts blow torch!

The spring ratings are out and the clusters look like this~ Citadel 23.4, South Central 21, and Journal 16.3...folks are asking questions-

"I am an avid reader of your blog. I also love reading about radio at sights like Radio Insight. However, I can't seem to find info concerning the battle between WOKI and WNOX. Who is winning the ratings war? Does it appear that both stations will survive using the same format?" (Steve Hancock)

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Happy Birthday to Tim Berry!

Happy Birthday wishes to Mike Beach...the Beachman will be 29 on Tuesday!