It's 1969 in Ktown...and the radio wars are alive and kickin', or is it rockin'!

This newspaper ad was placed by WKGN 1340. 

As you can see, several stations could claim fame and victory depending on the daypart. 

Were you behind a mic in '69?

I recently visited the refurbished Farragut Hotel in downtown Knoxville. I wanted to see if the old spot where WGYW/WJBE radio station was located still existed. I was disappointed to see that the plaque on the wall said James Brown bought in 1969 which is incorrect. On the blog post it says the station was purchased in 1967 which is also incorrect. 

I was a student at the Fulton High School broadcasting class from 1962-1966 with Joanna Huffman as instructor. My junior year (1965) I was an intern for Bob Baron at night at WKGN when I first met owner George Mooney who was the "Voice of the Vols" at that time. That started my lifelong pursuit of of being a play by play sportscaster (more on that later). I also had the opportunity to do some work with Dr. Al Adams (Johnson). 

My senior year in high school was 1966 and if you had enough credits and you had a job working in your chosen field, you could get out of school half a day to work. I was fortunate enough to get the afternoon drive show on WGYW "Countrypolitan Radio" in May of 1966. I replaced Big Jim Hess who was leaving radio to go to the new WTVK television station. Dr. Al also did a show on the new TV station called "Discoteen" which was a takeoff of American Bandstand. Toni Cline who was a classmate of mine at Fulton also got a job at WGYW as the secretary/receptionist at the same time I worked there.

I thought it was a great job because it was in the basement of a fancy hotel and right across Gay Street was Nan Denton's Orange Julius which is where we ate everyday before going on the air at 3pm. All of the other DJs including Cousin George Goins were looking for other jobs. I had only been there for about a month when I found out why everyone was leaving. James Brown was buying the station and changing it to a soul format. James Brown did come to the station with his new General Manager, Don Law, who was from New York. They replaced all of the time slots with black DJs except for my time slot. They told me that the DJ who was replacing me (Daddy O'Lark) was in jail in New Orleans for non payment of child support and alimony and asked me if I could stay and work for 2 weeks.

At the end of the 2 weeks, the new guy was still not there so they asked me to stay for 2 more weeks, which I did. In the meantime I applied for a job with Arthur Wilkerson at WLIL radio in Lenoir City. After working for WJBE for 4 weeks they asked if I could stay for 2 more weeks, which I did. Sure enough at the end of the last 2 weeks (6 weeks in all) I was hired by Wilkerson at WLIL. Meanwhile the WJBE people asked me to stay another 2 weeks but I told them I had another job and could not do it. By the way, since I was leaving WJBE anyway, they asked me if I wanted all of the country music albums at the station because they had no need for them. I took several hundred albums and kept them until 2019 when I started downsizing and sold them to a local record dealer.

When I started at WLIL (July 1966) I figured I would be there about a year. The year turned in to a 54 year career where I went from DJ to Vice President and General Manager  of the Wilkerson Broadcast group which owned 5 stations in Tennessee. Counting my 4 years on the Fulton radio station I was involved in the radio business for 58 years. I retired in August of 2019 'cause radio ain't what it used to be. As part of my job I did play by play football/basketball/baseball games for 54 seasons. Here's a twist to the story. In 2012 I had the great privilege of being inducted into the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame as a broadcaster. One of the perks of the induction was that you appear as a guest on The Sports Animal afternoon show with john Wilkerson and Jimmy Hyams. On that show they let people call in and ask questions. The very first call was a gentleman who asked me if I remembered working on WGYW in 1966. In 1966 I was dating a girl who was a senior at Bearden High School and this gentleman was her next door neighbor who also went to Bearden. He said each day she rode with him to and from school and when they were coming home in the afternoon she always made him turn the radio to WGYW so she could listen to me. The gentleman made the comment that he hated country music at the time, but after having to to listen to it every afternoon for a year he had become a lifelong fan of country. 

I think where the confusion comes in about the date that James Brown bought the station is that people are confusing the date that he bought the station with the date that he moved it out of the Farragut Hotel to Magnolia Avenue which I think was sometime in 1967. The purchase date was definitely the May-July period of 1966 because I WAS THERE!! I didn't mean to ramble on so long but after all I did work in radio.

Thanks!

Glenn McNish

glennmcnish@aol.com

Eddie Beacon 2020 Living Legend...

Introducing the 2020 Living Legend Award...Eddie Beacon "The Swingin' Deacon"!!!

I'm not sure what dial position that Eddie has not occupied during his wall of fame career in East Tennessee.

I was honored to team up with Eddie and Jimmy Vineyard starting back in 2010 to host a weekly racing show called Bumper2Bumper on the then WNOX-FM 100.3, owned and operated by our first Living Legend Award recipient Johnny Pirkle.

Eddie's career goes back to his working at the transmitter days for WNOX 990 to WKGN to W149 to 15Q to...well the list goes on!

I got to work with Eddie at Q94 in Oak Ridge in '81, he cohosted mornings with Linda Scott. Then the next year he and I joined 62 WRJZ when the station played country music.

Did you work with Eddie? 101 would love to hear from you at ktownradio@gmail.com.

Here are (some) of the stations where Eddie shared his insegrevious talent...WLIL, WNOX, WCPH, WPXI, WAAY, WGYW, WJBE, WKGN, WORD, WIMO, W149, 15Q, WROL, WRJZ, WTNQ, WATO, KGAL, WMFJ, NewsTalk 100.3, WSEV, WDLY, WBMK.

PS...for those of you holding your breath for all these decades wondering, Eddie was born Clay Huskisson!

It's August 1982 in Knoxville and The World's Fair is still buzzing...everyone's dancing "The Chicken" at the Strohaus!

WOKI-FM featured Jeff Jarnigan, Kris Copeland, Bandit, and Jeff Freeman.

Over at U-102 Dr Dave Dunaway was AM drive with Bill Miller handling afternoons.

WIVK-FM was #1 in the market followed by WEZK, WIMZ, WOKI, and then WMYU (U-102).

WJBE was WBMK and James "Slick" Maurice handled afternoons at AM 1430. 

That month WNOX named Jerry Howell as new PD...Your Dave was back at AM 990 as morning DJ. (they played country).

Oh, and TV news anchors in town were Lance Sanstead at Channel 6, Bill Williams Channel 10, and Art Powell at WTVK. Knoxville also enjoyed Scott Sams, Margie Ison, Bob Kesling and Adele on the telly!

Where were you in '82?

The 101 Audio Vault travels to WEZK-FM 97.5 and Dr Dave Dunaway~

Page 3...

WVLZ was recently sold prompting exits from Tony Basilio and Jayson Swain...Basilio is back at WJBE and Swain, as always, is available via his Swain Event app!

WKGN Jingles!

If my (101 years old) memory serves me...WKGN 1340 is the only remaining station in Knoxville from the 70's that still sports the same call letters at the same dial position (licensed to Ktown). 

WETE 620

WIVK 850

WNOX 990

WBIR 1240

WKGN 1340

WJBE 1430

WROL 1490

PS...if I missed a station, send 101 a legendary story at KtownRadio@gmail.com

Via modern day technology I am now able to dial twist from Orlando to Knoxville and enjoy all the East Tennessee radio stations including the new WKGN format~ "FOX Sports Radio Knoxville".

WKGN currently features local sports programming in both drive times~ Nate Hodges in the am, and Russell Smith afternoons.

A 101er posted an old jingle package of WKGN from the 60's on the 101 Facebook page...

Memories from Brian Stevens..."Rock of Knox"~

You might remember that I grew up in Greenfield, IN -- home of early 70's Vols basketball great Mike Edwards. Somewhere in elementary school or junior high, my Dad coached Mike. So when Ray Mears recruited "the Greenfield Gunner" to Knoxville, the several times a season road trips from Greenfield to Knoxville were inevitable. 

Now I loved radio. Ate, slept, dreamed radio. I always had a transistor AM radio with me. Even on those early 1970s road trips. I soon learned that WNOX was the first Knoxville station I could pick up heading south on I-75. We'd top that ridge between Jellico and Caryville and through the ever lessening static I'd hear American Top 40 Saturday afternoons on WNOX. 

Once in town, I'd tune by WKGN or WETE or WJBE, but WNOX was my station. Obviously. WNOX was home to John Ward and the Vol Basketball Network. Who else would I listen to? My Dad loved Opera. My Mom loves Big Band. They hated the top 40 that WNOX played in those days. So I'd listen through one of those awful plastic ear pieces. The sound was painful, but I didn't care. It was WNOX.

From that first road trip of Mike's 1970-1971 Sophomore season (remember that Frosh couldn't play varsity in those days), WNOX was always the first thing I'd listen to approaching Caryville. The tradition lasted long after Mike had graduated. Through the 70s and most of the 1980s, the radio always landed on 990 first. 

As the 80s passed, adulthood and work meant I almost never dialed into WNOX from Indiana. I was working at an FM AC in Indianapolis and spent less and less time tracking what was happening at 'NOX or with country music radio. I listened when they changed to country when Mack Sanders bought them. I knew that they'd struggled through different owners since then. 

But what I didn't know was that 990 had gone off the air when I made a vacation trip to the Smokeys in July 1988. Approaching Caryville, it was nothing but static. Lake City, static. Norris, still static. I stopped at what I think was an old Smokey Mountain Market on Emory Road and called from the pay phone. Someone from the FM picked up. That's when I'd discovered that 990 had been off the air for several months. The call letters now on an FM in Jefferson City. 

There are those moments in life that are passage points. Transitions where you know things will never be the same. Reluctantly, I got back in the car and clicked over to Brother Clay on WOKI. For me, at 29 years old, WNOX not being there as I approached Knoxville was one of the last of those discovery moments when something else of your childhood is gone.

I'd been in Gatlinburg for a couple of days. But I kept thinking about what had happened to WNOX. Now in September 1981, I'd dropped off a tape and resume for John E. Douglas. But I never went beyond the lobby that day. I knew the FM was still on from Whittle Springs. I wondered if I might get someone to give me a tour of the old place. 

I called. The PD said yes. I've since forgotten his name. I hopped in the car and drove back to Knoxville. Got there to find the front door wide open. No one in the lobby. The building was dark. But the sound of Whitney Houston's "Love Will Save the Day" was coming from the FM studio down the hall. I headed that direction. 

It was 90 degrees that day. There was no AC on in the building It was like a sauna. I could hear the sound of an oscillating fan as I approached the one room with lights on. The FM air studio. The jock was startled as I knocked on the door to make myself known. I remember that FM studio looking very temporary, like they were planning to move soon. 

The jock called the PD. He met me. We walked around the building. He used a Coleman camping lantern to light the way through parts of the building. I seem to remember that the walls of the darkened auditorium appeared a pale blue in the harsh lantern light. Even then it smelled of mold and dust. I doubt if it had been used in years. 

Eventually we worked our way back to the studios and news room. I wish I'd had a camera. You could tell that Scripps spared no expense. Carpet on the walls to help acoustics were common then. But WNOX had taken it one step further. The old 70s WNOX logo was cut into the carpet. Impressive.

The gear in production was still functional. I'm thinking it was an Auditronics board, circa 1978 or so. ITC Triple Play and a recorder. A pair of old Scully reel to reels...work horses built like a wood sided tank or battleship. Great gear. And I was wondering what the air studio would look like. 

Disappointment. Who ever the last owner was had sold the gear from the air studio. All that remained was the dust covered studio furniture. Holes where the board and turntables once sat. A couple of booms with cable but no mics. You could tell where the cart machines once were. Just the wall mounted cart racks remained. 

The faint scent of stale cigarette smoke and burned coffee remained. I stood where the jocks would have. Thought of guys like Eddy Roy and Dick Winstead who'd once stood there. I could imagine the sound of that hot nighttime skywave signal playing from where those monitors once were. Those Pams' "Rock of Knox" jingles and that legal ID voiced by Ron Ashburn..."WNOX Knoxville. This will be our finest hour." 

I succeeded in not showing my true emotion. But it was heartbreaking. For me, WNOX would have been a dream job. I loved that station that much. And here I was. Standing where it once was. Now just a shell. I looked at the cart rack. Just one cart remained. The closer cart from the 1988 season of UT basketball broadcasts. Looking back, I should have pocketed it. But I left it where it was. Something of a last memorial to the WNOX I'd loved and what first introduced me to it, John Ward and the Vol Basketball Network. 

I probably didn't stand there for a minute. But it seemed like hours. All the memories that were rushing back. I looked toward the window between the studio and the news room. I thought of the old news guys like Ashburn and Colvin Idol. Even the younger guys like Jim Fairchild and H. J. Booker. 

But I kept going back to the days of Eddy Roy. Thinking about Roy in the Morning. And thinking about Paul Oscar Anderson railing on the politicians, questioning ideas like a World's Fair, and doing all those endorsement spots in the newscast. And I realized that as long as we held onto those memories, that empty and dusty old studio in a small way lives on. And will live on, long after the Whittle Springs building is gone. 

All that to lead to this. Your website is part of how we hold onto those memories. It's a resource. It's a treasure. And George, allow me to end this far too long e-mail with a simple "thank you."

Time to open up the 101 InBox~

"Hey George, just saw the WNOX history book. (forgot the real name) Tom Jester and I were chatting about some of the great photos and people who have been in radio in Knoxville. Being with Jester this weekend brought up a ton of good ole radio stories from back in the fun days. Came across a picture of Bill Hayes--the man with the cheshire grin--anyone remember when he took over a small AM, WJBE? James Brown Enterprises. Think it only lasted a couple of years. If I remember correctly, when Bill could not get paid, he wised up and got back in the real radio game. Heard he is in Pigeon Forge peddling videos out of his own stores. Thanks for keeping the blog alive." (Chip Emerson)

Go Vols!

101 wants to hear from you~ "What Ktown radio stations did you work at?"

First up 101 heard from the insegrevious one, Eddie Beacon the swingin' deacon~

"Ok daddy here are a few I worked at sum I worked at more than once, if I think of more I'll send to you this is fun...WROL, WNOX 4 times, WKGN 2 times, WJBE, WBMK, WATO 2 times, WRJZ, WQBB, WKTI, WKNF, 15Q, W149, WDLY, WSEV,....tha yeeee go!" (Swang)

The 101 Audio Vault features Rusty Black...



Page 3~

The new WNOX 100.3 news talk is now streaming online! click here