Before he died, Pat Walsh long time manager of KAAY made a recap of some of the early KAAY employees:
Marvin Vines, Farm Director died in the late 70's his funeral was huge. Attended by 2 sitting U S Senators, 1 sitting Congressman, a sitting Governor and 1 past Governor as well as the Secretary of Agriculture.
Jack Grady, ( John K. Anderson), went on to be successful as a record promoter. I think he lives in Nashville.
George J. Jennings, went to Milwaukee, came back to KAAY to work for me. Went into business for himself selling old radio programs. After that he worked for Clear Channel and my friend John Barger, now semi-retired ( Disability ) and living in San Antonio with Nancy. email georgeotr@sbcglobal.net ( He rarely answers email but Nancy does,)
Dub Murray ( Doc Holiday ) went on to Texas to never be heard from again, I kept the Doc Holiday name on the air for 10 years after he left.
Wayne Moss ( Sonny Martin ) went to Dayton then to manage a station in GA, I brought him back to KAAY to be my operations mgr. and he was great. After I left the new guy ran him off to bring in a friend ( who did not last ) Wayne went to Roanoke Va. as a salesperson, became sales mgr. and when the station was sold he owned 25 % of it. ( sold for 10 Mil. ) He is now retired there and he and Linda are restoring an old home, his son is a VMI grad and now an FBI agent. I also kept the Sonny Martin name on the air ( Until I left in 76. When Wayne came back I already had a Sonny Martin on the air so I let him use his own name , something I never let occur otherwise.
Howard Watson, ( Ken Knight ) went to work at KMYO in LR tried to take his on air name with him, lost in court so adopted Len Day and as that worked at KMYO KEZQ and now at a station in Hot Springs Village where he and wife Jerry moved about 6 years ago. I also kept the Ken Knight name on the air for about 8 or 9 years.
Jim Hankins ( Mike McCormick ) As you know went to KMYO in Little Rock, then to WLS in Chicago and multiple points after that. Now residing in Texas retired and I think is still married to Patti. I also kept the Mike McCormick name on the air for at least 10 years. "Mike Hankins" <mccradio@swbell.net>
Tom Campbell, ( Rob Robbins ) I think he went to California but don't know for sure. I also kept the Robbins name in some fashion on the air until I left in 76.
Eddie Graham studio and production engineer. Became a salesman ( Top one in the market ) worked at KAAY until the early 80's got fed up joined me at KLRA, worked there a couple of years after I left to join Fred Gregg he then bought the only 2 stations in his home town of Arkadelphia, sold them last year and he and Carolyn are visiting grandkids and he is constantly going hunting or fishing. eddie@ezclick.net
Felix McDonald , xmtr engineer , became Chief engineer , still takes care of KAAY transmitter ( now owned by Citadel ) bought a daytime religious AM in 78 still owns 25 % of it. Put a 25000 watt FM with a tower on land he owned down next to the KAAY
xmtr, sold it about 3 years ago to Citadel for 1.8 million. KLAL calls )
Sue Baber, secretary, deceased.
Celeste Dozier, traffic. Worked for me for years as my secretary stay when I left. Went to various markets later with Gary Friez. Managed a station in Mississippi then rejoined Gary, left Phoenix when he did went to Colorado Springs to work for Jones network, now at TM Century in Dallas running collections (see web site )
Joe Dickey , sales. Worked for me for several years, left to sign on KLAZ FM , station sold went to manage KXLR,left to move to Dallas, worked for Mutual network, came back to Little Rock now works for State of Arkansas.
Tom Bishop, mgr. Went to Texas, made a good career in producing Spanish language covers of American hit records, sold them to convenience stores in high population Mexican areas of the State. Sold out of that and became a real estate investor in Austin in the late 70's. Guess he is now retired, have not heard from him in about 5 years.
Len Carl ( Lind Voth ) Left KAAY as manager transferred to WAND TV as manger, transferred from there to New York City to run the LIN direct mail order division . Resigned as Vice President and Member of the Board of Directors in 69. Opened a direct mail company, sold it and started buying radio stations. At one time he and his partner owned 6 of them.Sold his last station in 2002. He and Margie have lived in the Tampa.St Petersburg are for over 20 years.
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As a kid growing up, I started using "Ken Knight" instead of my name, Kendall Knight, because I wanted to be a DJ someday. I listened to "Ken Knight" on KAAY and wanted to meet him to talk about what it was like working at a large station as a DJ.
While on vacation with my grandparents, I was allowed to stop by KAAY one night and meet my radio hero, Ken Knight. But my visit ended with disappointment when he wouldn't allow me to use a phone to call my grandparents to pick me up and I had to try finding a pay phone on the dark street.
Since my voice wasn't really good for radio, I became a professional photographer in Franklinton, LA after working part-time DJ'ing during high school and college.
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