It's trick or treat 1971 with Johnny Walker (and his trumpet). We heard from some super jocks about the Halloween antics-
"That's great. Sounds like something I would have done. Best." (Mike Beach)
and...
"Funny Story! At that time, I was living in the basement apartment at the 11th Street Grocery during my 5th football season at UT. Beer business days before radio. Long ago!" (Alan Douglas Sneed)
This clip ran in the News-Sentinel on Oct. 29, 1971. Apparently on spur of the moment in response to a caller who said he was intending to roll the radio station with toilet paper, but would be out of town on Halloween, WKGN DJ Johnny Walker invited the caller and anyone else listening to come on down and roll away. Throughout the evening Walker gleefully reported on the ongoing paper roll vandalism of the building and parking lot. I recall that the employees of the Hamilton National Bank, on the first floor of the two-story building, were not amused when they came in to work the next morning.
It's the fall of 1996 and afternoon drive in Ktown was about to change...Ed Brantley, an almost 30 years on air veteran at WIVK was hanging up the microphone and 45 rpm records to become the station's General Sales Manager.
Ed was working middays when I arrived at WIVK back in 1976, a few years later he replaced Your Dave Young in the 3-7p slot.
Ed, like many aspiring radio talents, attended Fulton High, the school that had a student's radio station...
Ed started his career at WNOX 990 as a part time announcer, and when Allen Dennis exited for WMOC in Chattanooga, Ed went with him as his first fulltime gig was underway.
After serving Uncle Sam, Ed returned to Ktown and WIVK...this was the early 70s. The DJ line up included Kenny Dearstone 6-10, Claude Tomlinson 10-noon, Ed noon-3p and Bobby Denton afternoon drive. (I can still smell Booby's cigar in the control room, ha).
Fast forward a few decades...and Ed was back on the air at News/Talk WNOX FM 100.3 hosting the morning talk show "The Ed and Bob Show" with Bob Thomas.
As Paul Harvey always said, and now you know the rest of the story.
PS- I took this iconic picture of Ed, and that was before we all carried cameras or are they phones, etc. in our pockets!
Hey George, what a nice surprise to see that photo of me and Alan Sneed at WKDA/WKDF! Thanks to AD for sending it to you and for the kind words. Alan’s impact on my career was life changing. What a great teacher, mentor, and friend. I was so lucky to be in his orbit in those years. All the best! GBO! (Mike Beck)
Back in 1978 the radio gods shouted, "head west", and several jumped-on board. After Dick broadcasting bought WKDA and WKDF in 1976 both Mike Hammond and Paul Lyle relocated from WIVK to Nashville...the invasion was not over! Vic Rumore became GM with Alan Sneed and Mike Beck from WKGN as station leaders!
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Chip Emerson passed away this week. He was a contributor to our 101 blog; I even worked for him for a while after I graduated from UT.
...from his dear friend Alan Sneed-
"We had been friends for over 50 years...He ran both Guy and Dolls (in the future Copper Cellar location) and The Place. He also worked for several Knoxville radio stations, including WKGN, 15Q, and WIVK and owned an advertising agency during the World's Fair. In the small world of Fort Sanders, he lived in the basement apartment at the 11th Street Grocery a year or so before me. We both ended up in Atlanta and remained close all these years. Chipper was truly a great one and loved by many. Rest well. pal."
Seeing your picture of The Brothers brought back a memory of working the overnight shift at WOKI around 1980. I did the newscasts as The Brothers recorded show played. Gary and Bill were riffing one night about an item in the news and crossed the line with their comments. I watched the phone expecting it to light up but only a single light blinked. I apologized to the listener and after 10 minutes ended the conversation assuring her it would not happen again. As I hang up, I hear Bill on the tape making the comment, “Bet she got a bang out of that!” The lone line started blinking again and I suggested she talk to our PD in the morning ~ Gary.
Steve Mears
We did not see this coming. We only enter in hopes someone will hear the show and maybe recommend us to a station. This marks 33 years since our first nomination at WIVK in 1992. (Darren Wilhite)
Today, September 7 2025...101 turns 18 years old. This is our 2094th post. We also added the interactive 101 Facebook page a few years later. Thanks to all for your reading, writing and arithmetic!
This 101 Reload is from our 1-year anniversary where I revealed my DNA...and thought I was Lester Longmire, some thought I was Dr. Al's "Witch Hazel", ha.
Here's the reload~
Happy Sunday and thanks for reading Knoxville Radio History 101. Today 101 turns one year old! On September 7, 2007 this site was born. The intent was and is simple, share photographs and memories that I collected thru the years and to create a network of Ktown DJ's that wanted to do the same.
Many have emailed and asked...who are you? For those who haven't figure it out, I'm The Greek. My career as a DJ was short and sweet, my love for radio remains strong today, over 30 years since I started as a weekend DJ at WIVK (1976-1981) while attending UT. After working at WRJZ for Steve Bridgewater in 1982 my career path was at a fork and I got into the restaurant business.
In radio my mentor was Your Dave Young, Bobby Denton and Steve Bridgewater both gave me opportunities to fulfill my childhood dreams, and my closest friend in the biz was Jamey Kerr (now with Dick Broadcasting for 30 years...congrats to you Jamey)!
Like many of you I fell in love with radio as a youngster. In the late 60's I started listening to and imitating John Ward on the Vols network and Milo and Ernie, who called the Atlanta Braves games.
In 1976, my senior year in high school, I took and passed the then very difficult FCC 3rd class license test. That summer I worked at WBLC in Lenoir City. In the fall as I was about to start at UT, the phone rang at my home and it was Bobby Denton. Little did I realize what a great and memorable experience lay in front of me. For the next five years I worked with great people...Bob Thomas, Bobby Denton, Claude Tomlinson, Ed Brantley, Mike Hammond, Jimmy Vineyard, Suitcase Simpson, Jean Ash, Dan Bell, Ed Rupp, Bob Kesling, Randy Miller, Jeff Winters, Jamey Kerr, Joe Grant, Tony Eubanks, Terry Womack and of course Your Dave Young.
In 1982 with a UT diploma in my hand I had to make a career decision. I was having fun at WRJZ, we were playing country and had a great staff...Bill Beason, Steve Bridgewater (Dr Don West), Eddie Beacon, Jessica James, Martin Baker, David Henley, Ernie Baker, Brad Schulz, Bob Ziegler and GM Bill Hays. WRJZ ended up being my last hurrah as a DJ.
Fast forward to today. I live in Orlando, still have over 27,000 minutes of Ktown air checked and many journals with Ktown radio history...so I thought, what the heck. Let's share it all and see what happens. Today I'm still a radio fan, I listen to today's Ktown radio via the Internet, and love it.
In our first year 101 posted 170 times and had over 16,100 visitors. I'm just that kid of the 60's who fell in love with my transistor radio and all the sounds that came over the air waves!!!
As 101 starts year two, keep the photographs and memories coming our way~KtownRadio@gmail.com