Monday, October 31, 2016

Here's ace 101 reporter Steve Howard~

This morning, I randomly remembered a bit of WRJZ trivia which Curtis Parham and Walker Johnson might remember. I would give anything if Ernie Baker were here to chat about this ...
I joined 'RJZ in July of 1980. PD Fred Story hired me on a Tuesday for weekends, but before I could go on the air, overnights opened up. John Isley had left for Charlotte and Jeff Jarnigan had moved up to 7-midnight. Carrington Thompson, who was doing overnights on an interim basis, decided to leave for Charlotte as well (both to work for the late Bob Kaghan at WBCY), so, by my first scheduled weekend, I wound up on Z overnights, full-time.
I was there till August 1981, until I returned to WKIN in Kingsport, where I had been weekends, this time as PD/mornings.
I include all this here because my time at Z was my total time in Knoxville radio, and many on here don't remember me. 21 of my 22 years in radio were in Kingsport, up in the Tri-Cities.
CP and Walker had a listener named Diane who periodically brought them jokes she would collect, and would bake them muffins or bring them doughnuts. These jokes were a large part of the show, especially (although not exclusively) the "Clyde Clod" and "Coach Billy Joe Tom Bob Parker" bits.
Diane would pull up to the 1515 E. Magnolia studio building a little after 6 am, and drop off the goodies and jokes. It was the overnight jock's job to go down and get the stash, and bring it up. My first time doing it, I chatted with Diane when she pulled up in her car. She was a pleasant lady who worked in management for K-Mart, and I was astounded to learn that she had never been in, and had never met Curtis or Walker. I asked why, and she replied that she had never been invited.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, I was raised to correct oversights like that. I carried the stash and escorted Diane to Suite 401 where she met everybody involved with the morning show. Everybody seemed to really hit it off. I left that morning for my 7:50 class at UT feeling great.
About five years later (as I remember it), I had moved across Kingsport to WKPT Radio, which was an affiliate of the ABC Entertainment Network and the Tennessee Radio Network (TRN). Imagine my surprise when, at the end of a TRN bottom-of-hour newscast, I heard it end "Ernie Baker, Tennessee Radio Network news."
I immediately called TRN and chatted with Ernie. He and Diane had apparently been instantly attracted and were now Mr. and Mrs. Ernie Baker! Diane had been given a sizable promotion by K-Mart, so they had moved to Nashville and Ernie had gotten a job at TRN.
Working at WRJZ was a kick in the ass, but my favorite memory of all is that I unwittingly played Cupid for the guy who spent years helping listeners solve their problems and find THEIR loves-of-a-lifetime ... good old beloved Ernie The Bartender.
Rest in peace, Mister Baker.
True story. Honest.

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Classic Rock!

In a radio world of uncertainty WIMZ 103.5 has been a steady rock for several decades beginning in the late 70's...big names like Phil Williams, Mike Beach, Colvin Idol, and Kerry Lambert manned the mic in the early years.

These days John Boy and Billy, Big R, Billy Kidd, Jay Mac, and Octavius compose the air force! Here's the website~ WIMZ

The 101 Audio Vault features Daddy George from the 80's...


Saturday, October 15, 2016

Go Vols...beat 'bama!

The latest Ktown radio ratings are in...

WIVK is still #1 but has dropped to an 11.0 share, WWST keeps upping their game and sits at a 9.6. WIMZ is third with a 8.7, WJXB is next at 8.3, and WKHT rounds out the top five with a 6.0 Share!

I wonder if anyone is reconsidering returning to all live, all local, all the time?

WOKI is in sixth place with a 3.8, WNOX 3.7, WCYQ 3.1, WDKW is spiking and up to a 3.1, WNML-FM is in at a 2.5 and their AM is at .8. WMYL has had their best showing in a while and scores a 2.0 share.

Do you ever contemplate what our media world would have looked like if the 7-7-7 rule had never been excommunicated...you could own 7 AM, 7 FM, and 7 TV.



Thursday, October 13, 2016

In 1969, WKGN was still in its old "Cumberland strip" location; an old grocery store. The overnight jock told listeners he had bought a new UT orange jersey and he was going to wear it for each show through football season - without washing it. He apparently considered the lack of hygiene something of a talisman for the team.

By the third game of the season, the morning jock was spraying his way into the control room, a can of Lysol in hand. The greater problem was that there was nowhere for jocks to store personal things, so the increasingly pungent jersey was hung on the jock's clip in the copywriter's room, where each jock picked up his commercials to record each day.

When the copywriter complained that the smell could "gag a maggot," Sonny Knight and I felt the need to rescue her. Using a wire clothes hangar to lift the jersey off of the clip (we couldn't bear to touch it directly), we carried it into the bathroom. We plugged the sink, filled it with hot water and soap and lowered the reeking jersey into it; then used the bathroom plunger to batter the dirt and sweat and stink out of it. The water turned a very dark gray. We subjected the jersey to two more such washings before we could touch it, then wrung out the water and hung it up to drip dry.

The overnight guy came in later and was aghast at what we had done.

Some promotions are better than others.

thanks for hangin' with the Possum,

Paul Randall (Possum Riley) Dickerson

Friday, October 07, 2016

...from the WIVK website~

Today is a tough one for me, because for over 28 years I’ve been a part of this family. For the last little while though, I’ve felt the leading to take a different path, which will actually just take me to my house for awhile. I believe that God has a dream for each of us, and many of you are living it. You are where you’re supposed to be, same as me once upon a time. The Bible talks about seasons, and there is a time for everything, and my time to leave has come. I’m excited about spending a lot more time with my heavenly Father, and will be more than happy to offer up a word to Him for you if you need it. Several of you are already on my list, but there’s always room for more. Thank you for your friendship, and thank you for giving me a chance to walk this part of my destiny out with you. I’m looking forward to seeing what God has dreamed for me next. I truly love each of you, because the love of Jesus is within me, and like Him, I only want the very best for your future, so I will be asking Him to bless you, and my Cumulus family in the days and years to come.


My last day will be this Friday, Oct 7th. I will miss you.


Forever your friend,


Colleen

Monday, October 03, 2016

It's the summer of '86 and WOKI-FM 100 is branding itself as "Hits 100".


Their air patrol featured Ron Harper, Gary Beach and JJ Randle!




Page 3...


Vin Scully broadcast his last Dodgers baseball game on Sunday, one of the greatest!

Sunday, October 02, 2016

Happy October...and it's great to be a Tennessee Vol!

The 101 Audio Vault dusts off the year 1985 and WMYU morning DJ Mark Herzog~






Page 3...

Birthday wishes this week to 101 Wall of Famer Jean Ash!