Great Pat Walsh Story from Tom Perryman

Well, I suppose there are a lot of stories regarding the old radio days of the Sixties, but most of the ones I know concern Louisville and WAKY. Pat Walsh became Mgr. of KAAY, about the same time, roughly, that I became a Mgr. at WIL AM/FM, St. Louis...he probably had some time more than me as Mgr. Anyway, he was always very direct in his conversations with everybody..and he considered himself pretty much a good 'ole boy..which he was. Very southern with his views. I remember one night in New York when the President of LIN Broadcasting took us to dinner at a very nice little restaurant in Manhattan. There was 4 of us, including Don Pels, the President..I remember just behind us was Arthur Godfrey having his dinner...anyway...Pat must have insulted Don with some
statement regarding integration or some such which apparently didn't sit well with Don, as he decided to leave rather quickly. I know Pat didn't mean to come across as it sounded, but he didn't mince words and was too direct for some people. He was to me a very nice and caring person. I think it must have been him who promoted KAAY as the 50,000 watt Hog-Calling Service of LIN Broadcasting Co...Razorbacks and all...it did tie in. Pat had some way in finding out all the goings on in LIN and radio in general...if you wanted to know the latest rumors, Pat was the man to call. Pat was always nice to me and even after I left LIN to go to WFAA Dallas in1963, he had his production people ask me to keep doing some of his call letter promotion and news intro's. I was glad to do it (no payment, of course) and out of gratitude for my doing so, they sent me a battery operated shoe shine kit that didn't work! KAAY was great sounding Top 40 station and its signal covered thousands of square miles and a lot of people listened to it. Radio back then relied on the newest music and good DJ's and fast breaking news reports to survive. The promotions were fun and plentiful and listeners never knew what to expect. Well, I gotta go for now...
Regards, Tom Perryman (Tom Perry back then).