I have written before about the close ties of the movie business and KAAY. It was important to us because of advertising revenue and the publicity and promotion possibilities. In the early 60s movies were threatened by television. Color was comming on strong and the movie business was afraid. Drive-in movies still existed in Little Rock but had to promote heavily to stay in business. I'll always remember the "Birth of a Baby" that ran often at the Broadway Drive In Theater in North Little Rock. They advertised a nurse in attendance in case anyone watching needed assistance. Then there was the "Birth of Twins". I never saw these epics but the drive-ins were in full exploite mode. One occasion I remember the Razorback Drive-In ran a war movie that was also playing as a late show on TV. We produced a knocked out spot that filled the drive-in when the could have stayed home and watched it on TV. Often the city manager didn't like supplied spot and would ask for something better. It was a challenge we enjoyed. We even recorded the entire sound track of a movie in order to get some good audio for a spot.
After I left KAAY and went to manage KCLA in Pine Bluff, the association with movie theaters continuted. All the theaters in town when I first arrived were owned by Commonwealth Theaters. Alice Miller was the manager of the Malco, Chuck Neff was the city manager. We did a promotion for "Jaws" that was playing at the Malco. We built a huge paper mache shark on a float for a parade and around town afterward. The float promoted JAWS, KCLA, and Lynn James a/k/a Jim Harvell. Great times!
I also liked the Commonwealth pass policy at the time. I was fortunate enough to get a permanent pass for me and my wife. (Best we could get in Little Rock were one time passes that the city manager closely guarded) The balcony of the Malco was closed to the public, but Alice would let friends use the balcony. Great times! We still had to buy popcorn and drinks.
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