I was sad to hear of the recent passing of Chuck Ketron. I’d like to share a few memories that I have of my days in the 1980s working at WSEV when Chuck owned the station. First in my memory was the many nights that I returned to the station after doing play-by-play for Sevier County High School basketball.Worth mentioning that I did a lot of broadcasts with Mike Johnson, who sadly has also passed over the last few years. Chuck and I would have some great late-night discussions at the radio station. He was funny and always very complimentary of me. I was still young, in my 20s. I’ll never forget that. Chuck wrote a personal letter at Christmas one year to each of the staff and I still have mine. It obviously meant that much to me. I wish I had more keepsakes from my many years in broadcasting, but at least I held on to that one.
Now, a funny story to share. It was a thing at the station that from time to time your fellow on air people would try to make you break up, laugh while you were talking on the air. I was pretty good at not losing it. Chuck got me and may have really been the only one that did. I miss the old WSEV building, long since torn down. I worked in that building 4 different times. There was a window to the right of the WSEV studio, in the hallway between the studio and the newsroom. The FM, at one time U-102, was on the other side of the newsroom. Anyway, Chuck was at the window looking in making faces at me as I talked on the air. I was trying not to look at him, and I was good until he took out his teeth. It just hit me at that point, and he made me laugh. I’m sure the listeners were wondering what was so funny. Well, there’s this guy over here playing with his false teeth. Of course, I didn’t say that, but that’s what was happening. Strange how you remember certain things like that. I have many fond memories of my radio days, more than 20 years and 10 different stations if my count is right, but certainly some of the best times that I had were at WSEV. I’ll always remember Chuck as one of the really good guys in radio!
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