Back in the late 1960s, east Tennessee’s radio markets were undergoing significant shifts in listener demographics and increased competition. Top 40 rapidly was ascending. Simultaneously, Country & Western was pulling on long pants, so to speak, leaving the Appalachian backwoods for new territories. Big Bands and the Mills Brothers were beginning to take backseat to the Beatles and The Supremes and Cyrkle. FM was in its infancy, and an AM station’s marketplace power was beginning to truly be measured in Watts. After my brakeman’s job at the Tennessee Central Railway went away in mid-1968 due to the little railroad’s long-overdue bankruptcy, I landed at WBIR AM-FM. It was an 0430 to 0830 shift as morning radio news announcer and writer for the news breaks on Cas Walker’s 2-hour Farm & Home Hour (which took place live in the WBIR-TV studio). These hours allowed time for me to work AND get to classes at U-T. Had to keep that 2-S Selective Service classification! The TC job had carried with it a 2-A classification as the railroad served several essential war-time industries including Fort Campbell. There was a really hot war going on in Southeast Asia. I read the latest and sad KIA reports almost every morning. It was at WBIR that I met Bill Jenkins, aka: BJ. He was the 0500-0700 DJ and Doc Johnston’s “sidekick”/board operator from 0700 to 1000. Doc had a long-running, highly rated live program simulcast on WBIR AM-FM. BJ’s quick wit and great voice inflections were a great compliment to Johnston’s piano playing and community-related banter. I never did know a lot about Bill ‘s background. In spite of his upbeat outward countenance, he was pretty buttoned-up. But his occasional displays of wry humor AND the artwork suggested he had already done a whole lot of living courtesy of the US Air Force. In 1969 and 1970, things in East Tennessee’s Radio Land indeed were changing. And I suspect, in order to keep his sanity, BJ drew cartoons. They were good ones. I squirreled away a dozen or so samples of his artwork…figured statutes of limitations would run out sometime. I think it has. So, here we go, stopping first at 1513 Hutchison Avenue and the notorious 2nd Floor water fountain.
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John P. Hart, the WBIR AM-FM-TV VP and General Manager, was notoriously tight. He could squeeze a nickel until the buffalo burped (or did something else). Also notorious was the 2nd floor water fountain. It either did not work or often blasted out a 5’ water arc (much to the irritation of Willard, the custodian). BJ’s cartooning often had an edge to it. It did not take long for BJ to turn his artistic skills in my direction.
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I enjoyed getting into the field with a cumbersome Uher reel-to-reel tape recorder. And I liked “spot news”…”fuzz and wuzz”… crime, fire and police stories. BJ knew I missed the railroad, so he captured me on a hand-operated railroad track car in hot pursuit of a story. Doc Johnston was a true gentleman. Indeed, he is one of the legends of east Tennessee broadcasting. But he was a stickler for order and decorum. BJ was a significantly more laid back. And his takes on Doc often were quite pointed.
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Doc worked long long days…in just before 6 AM to do his radio show. Then he managed the AM-FM operations, did production – all of this before anchoring the 6:00PM TV newscast (with Carl Williams and Jim Holiday on sports). But Doc’s heart was in radio. The artwork above has a bite to it as it reflected BJ’s take on one of Johnston’s pet peeves and on WBIR radio’s place in the east Tennessee radio marketplace. BJ, if you read this, I would like for us to collaborate on a post about the bright orange disc we saw disappear over Sharp’s Ridge early one morning. And, thank you for all you did for me, AND for the other WBIR employees who you quietly mentored.
