Elegantly Appointed Blue Goose & More

From the Timeless Tracks broadcast here is a discussion of The Blue Goose and more:
Click Here

WKRP

I try to keep this blog strickly KAAY material, however, I can't resist passing on some of my favorite stuff. Anyone who has ever worked in radio, has to love the old TV series WKRP. We have all worked with these characters. Here are some links to some great clips from the TV show. Especially look at the last clip. It is a great satire on the long over produced news opening:
(you'll have to cut & paste these addresses)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7bnOpXm5Z0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke1UaTNScrQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eF9Vy73xjI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8ekqxPur8U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5ri3lx2JZM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfBJhyFxEck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVK4UOxIn8o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQPGYUxJOrI

If you are really interested in WKRP there are dvds of the entire series available on Ebay. These are not commercial products, since it hasn't been released by the company that holds the rights. The series I bought was great quality.

Frank Broyles & NWA Airport

The following aircheck from Nov 1969 has some historical significance. It is Ron Owens A/K/A Walt Sadler (now passed away). In this aircheck Bill Edwards does the newscast. (a much lower key, simpler produced newscast than what we have featured earlier) One news story is about Frank Broyles, Razorback Football Coach pushing for a tax to build a Northwest Arkansas regional airport. Forty years later the airport has finally been built, and Frank Broyles is the AD at U of A. This aircheck was recorded off the air from the Timeless Tracks broadcast of the 40th annaversery of KAAY, and is for educational purposes only:

Click Here

Back to the 60s

Usually I try and keep this blog as KAAY all the time. However, this site has a great retro look at the 60s. It's lengthy so be prepared to spend some time:

CLICK HERE

Razorbacks Roll On

Continuing the history of Razorbackmania as promoted by KAAY. I need you help guys on the year this song was played. It's "The Pig" by the Pacers. J. Paul Scott wrote it and Bobby Crawford and the Pacers recorded it. Please email me the year and any other stories you may have connected with this record. Bobby and The Pacers still play dates today. As with all of the airchecks featured on this blog, it was recorded off the air and is presented here for educational purposes.
Click Here

More Air Checks 11/1/71

Here is an aircheck that starts with a short segment of Marvin Vines, Then Sonny Martin a/k/a Matt White, and George J. Jennings, a/k/a George W. Jennings.

http://www.freewebs.com/ajlinds/KAAY.wma

Doc Holiday 1976

In response to Pat's question:

Greetings, Emperor, may you live a thousand years!

This is in response to Pat's email posted on 10/17,
enquiring as to which Doc Holiday was on at night in
1976. That would've been me, David B. Treadway, on my
second tour of duty at KAAY. At least I think it was
the second; things have always been a bit blurry in
the radio business. You can be here today and gone
today.

Like Pat, KAAY was a big part of my youth. It was the
only thing happening for a teenager in the "suburbs"
of the VERY small town of Friendship, Arkansas (south
of Malvern, north of Arkadelphia, exit 83 on I-30) in
the early 1960s. From the first minute that I heard
Rock And Roll on KAAY, my consuming ambition was to
work at the Big Station in Little Rock. I saw it as my
way out of the boondocks. I would have been 25 when
Pat heard me on the air, and from what he says about
28 years in the business, that would put me eight or
nine years older than him. Give or take.

1976 was a watershed year for KAAY. In my opinion, it
marked the beginning of the long, sad decline of that
great station. Early that summer, Multimedia (who had
bought the station from Lin Broadcasting) decided to
dismiss Pat Walsh as General Manager. Operations
Manager and Program Director Wayne Moss was also
sacked at the time.

At that moment, KAAY began to lose its heritage and
its sense of connection to Little Rock and Arkansas.
We "old-timers" talked of it as the Invasion Of The
Brilliant Yankees--outsiders who had come to Podunk to
show us stupid, slow Southerners how it was done in
the Big Leagues. The latter half of 1976 was when
radio in Little Rock began to lose its soul, and I
suspect that KAAY was never again the money machine
that Pat Walsh had made it.

On November 1, 1976, we moved to the new studios at
2400 Cottondale Lane. The Riverdale section of town is
now thriving and crowded, home to Alltel world
headquarters among other notable businesses. In 1976,
it was regarded as swamp land and Pat Walsh caught a
great deal of grief from his peers about his decision
to move the station there. As usual, Walsh had the
last laugh.

There was a certain "magic" about KAAY; it was a
living, breathing entity--apart and complete unto
itself *without* the human beings who made it run. For
the past thirty years, I have been convinced that the
magic did NOT make the move with us from 1425 West 7th
Street to 2400 Cottondale.

It would take the clueless Multimedia almost the next
ten years to run KAAY completely into the ground, but
the Final Approach began on November 1, 1976.

40 States and 19 Foreign countries

That was the claim in the early days of KAAY. Over the years we have seen that was probably understated.

Here is email from Pat about his early memories of KAAY:

I just found out about your blog featuring KAAY.
Saw it on radio-info.com

One of your pages listed you as "Doc Holiday". I've been searching for the guy who used that name in 1976 on KAAY. Was that you or another guy?

Back in the early 70's, I lived near Gainesville, Missouri, way back in the Ozark Mountains. The AM radio was my way of hearing about things outside those tree covered mountains -- at night the Big stations would come to us over the airwaves.

I listened to KAAY, WLAC, WLS, WOAI and others that popped up on my little radio.
The music was great for a teenager -- it rocked! I loved it.

So -- now as a radio professional of 28 years, I search for some of those things I remember from my youth. Doc Holliday was one of my favorites on the night-time and I'd like to know more about him.

Any info you could share would be appreciated.
Thanks,

More Razorback Records on KAAY

In 1975 Tommy Riggs a/k/a Rock Robbins had left KAAY for Pine Bluff. He was Program Director and later Manager of KCLA. Pat Walsh needed a Razorback Record for the Cotton Bowl so he called Tommy to come up with a song. At the time "Convoy" by C.W. McCall had been a big hit and served as the inspiration for this song. Tommy picked a new name for himself, "T. Tommy & The Gray Ghost Crew". Greg Fadick a/k/a Hot Scott Fisher of KLAZ fame did the engineering. Recorded off the air, and for educational purposes, here is "Cotton Bowl Ambush":Click Here

KAAY control Room 1964

Jim Pitcock a/k/a Ron Owens sent this picture taken in the KAAY control room in 1964. The control room was in the Channel 11 building and had a big picture window that overlooked the Channel 11 studios. In fact, there was a small wire that came through the wall, that when pulled would rattle the lighting grid and greatly spook anyone on the air on TV. But, I digress. Right to left is Jim Pitcock, Liberty recording artist Bobby Vee (who still tours and is often in Branson) and record promoter Stan Lewis. Not to be confused with Stan Lewis of Stan's Record Shop. Liberty was a hot label at the time, as was Bobby Vee.

What KAAY meant to me

Thanks for the email from Jim relating what KAAY meant to him:

Let me first say that I listened to you as a child growing up in Rison, AR (IÂ’m not making that up) even we later worked together. As a teenager in the 60Â’s, KAAY was my link to the outside world while I grew up in rural Southeast Arkansas. It truly was as if all the popular artists of the day were performing just for me at the behest of KAAY, which seemed larger than life itself. I can remember going to the State Fair when KAAY had he booth/trailer above the Main Gate and trying to get a look at jocks as they came outside.



I can remember vividly when KAAY got the Funmobile because Sonny Martin would broadcast live from the front lawn on sunny days. He even mentioned on one of the first broadcasts that someone from the Secretary of StateÂ’s Office called to find out why the guy was out on the lawn.



From various Doc Hollidays, Buddy Karr, and George J. Jennings during the mornings, Sonny Martin in the middle of the day, Mitch McCormick in the afternoon, Tom Robbins, Johnny King, and Phil North at night, and of course Beaker Street with Clyde Clifford, my friends and I escaped our small town and traveled the world thanks to KAAY. I love the blog. Thanks for it and for great memories.



Jim

Thanks Jim for expressing what KAAY meant to you. "Larger than life" is often used in relation to KAAY. For those of us who were there, we also had that feeling. We knew what was going on was significant. It served as a creative pressure to create more than a juke box. As I have often said in this blog, it was not about the music. Sure we played rock and roll, but so did our competitors. The guys who started KAAY with something different, set a standard which all those who followed tried to live up to and surpass. Most of original guys were not there long enough to see the rating success. The comments I read from folks whose lives were changed or inspired by KAAY mean more than money or ratings. My challenge to radio stations today, are you making a difference in people's lives, or are you a juke box?

Tommy Riggs a/k/a Rock Robbins

I thouight I had written about Tommy in a previous post. I went back through the archives but I didn't see it. Something is missing in the archives, like the month of May. If anyone has saved anything from May let me know.

I will write a story of Tommy at KAAY later, but I am writing this to share a link to a website that has lots of mp3 files of Tommy's songs. Click on the album covers for more songs. Also, I will be encoding the Razorback song Tommy did on the KAAY label, "Cotton Bowl Ambush", since I was thinking about all the Razorback songs.

Here is the link to the Tommy site: Click Here

50,000 Watt Hog Caller

If KAAY were a music station today, it would probably be playing a song about Mitch Mustain.

KAAY was always involved in Arkansas Razorback promotion. Many records, (45s with the big holes) had their beginnings at KAAY. In the era of payola, Pat Walsh wisely decided the station didn't need to be directly involved with the records. Also, if a Razorback song came from KAAY, other stations wouldn't play it. Enter J. Paul Scott. He wrote and produced may of the Razorback records on his labels and with his talent. Today's feature is a song about Light Hoss Harry Jones. As best I can date it. 1965. The group is The Rivermen, sounding a lot like the Kingston Trio. The flip side is "Quarterbackin' Man" which also got a lot of play. For legal purposed this was recorded off the air and is used here strickly for educational purposes.

Where are the radio stations today doing anything like this?

Here's the aircheck: http://www.freewebs.com/ajlinds/Light Hoss Harry.wma

Thanks 2000 Visitors

Over 2000 folks have visited this blog. I thought that was great, but my daughter-in-law has over 2500 visitors to my grandson's blog.

I would especially like to get email messages that I could post on this blog, telling where you were, and what listening to KAAY meant to you at that time.

I received this email from a reader who asked for more audio of Razorback support on KAAY. That's a very good idea. KAAY was one of the best Hog cheerleaders. Bumper stickers, store signs, pep rallies, and all those Razorback records added to the Razorbackmania. I remember one Texas game where even the telephone information operators answered their calls, "Beat Texas", Information how may I help you".

Here's the letter from GH:

i came across your blogsite and very much enjoy the old days of KAAY

ray lincoln was my favorite and would enjoy hearing more of him. nostalgia is a great thing, and radio will never play the role in teens lives the way it did back those days.

i fondly remember ray lincoln (circa 1979) on the radio , with one comment i will always remember. he said " we have high inflation, rising crime rate in the US, corruption in our political leaders, hostages in Iran, and shortages at the gas stations - but in 20 yrs from now, they will call these the 'good ole' days'

do you have any airchex from the razorback promos?? always the debates with jennings . i remember lots of "beat texas" promos, etc and "calling the hogs". if you have any of these, it would be great to have this added to your site.

THANKS MUCH - THIS IS A GREAT SITE, AND I APPRECIATE YOUR EFFORT FOR ALL OF US OLD -TIME KAAY FANS.

GH

More Ray Lincoln

KTHV television in Little Rock has a video clip of an interview with Ray Lincoln by Craig O'Neill in 2005. You'll notice the humor is still there even though the voice has changed.

Many thanks to Craig for this interview and all he has done to save radio history, including a feature on KAAY, sometime ago. Craig, to my knowledge, never worked at KAAY which is a shame. He is truly one of the radio personality giants in Arkansas. Maybe he will start his own blog and we can link to it.

Here is the link to the Channel 11 page:

click here

Ray Lincoln remembered

I would like to receive more comments on Ray Lincoln to post on this blog. If you have a memory of Ray Lincoln, please email me at ajlinds@yahoo.com.

Paul writes:

Living in St. Louis, KAAY still reached north just before sunrise, and I remember hearing Ray in the morning in the fall of 1979, as I got ready for school, along with the ag reports. I am sorry to hear of his recent passing.