What ever happened to Howard Watson?

(Pictures from the KAAY record album "Silver Dollar Specials)
Howard Watson a/k/a Ken Knight was the first Ken Knight. Howard is one of the greatest wits I have even been around. Howard can find humor in any situation. His show was full of humor and inside jokes that only employees of KAAY would understand. His music tastes really went more to the jazz and "good music" side, but he played top 40 in his own style. I suggest at this point you read previous posts by going to the top left hand corner and enter "Howard Watson" in the search box and search this blog. In those posts you will find a very brief comment by Pat Walsh.

When I became program director, during a staff meeting one day, I brought up a television program "That Was The Week That Was". It was a satirical review of the weeks national news. I ask why we couldn't do the same thing on KAAY only focus on local news. Howard took the ball and ran with it. The name "Ear On Arkansas" was a satire on channel 11's "Eye On Arkansas". The theme music was "baby Elephant Walk" (the music KAAY played over and over when it first went on the air). Howard developed most of the characters and did the bulk of the writing. A weekly 30 minute all talk radio program takes a lot of script. If you had a slow news week, it really became a challenge. Some clips of "Ear" are on this blog. Do the search. Sadly all of the Ear masters were given to University of Arkansas at Little Rock by Pat Walsh with the hope they would be properly archived. Pat told me several years ago, the tapes had been erased by the campus radio station and reused. If anyone has any of the old Ear tapes let me know. The are two 33 1/3 records that KAAY pressed that are still around. Satire is such a great form of humor. Today Fox News has a program called "Half Hour News Hour". Don't miss this program if you appreciate good satire. The writing seems to be getting better each week. Over the years Ear on Arkansas had several writers. After a while each person seemed to burn out from the heavy job of writing and producing the show. Often times at 2 A.M., a frantic telephone call would be placed to Tommy Riggs a/k/a Rock Robbins, to help fill 5 or 10 minutes. Tommy always came through with a song or bit that saved the day. Sometimes we would be forced to use a lot of the theme music opening and closing to pad out the time.

I digress from "the weird beard" as he was also known. When I became program director, Howard had a difficult time dealing with being passed over for program director. I was 19 he was older. Finally Howard left KAAY for KMYO. He tried to take the name Ken Knight with him. Pat Walsh got an injunction to prohibit the use of a name that KAAY had service marked with the state. Howard changed his name to Lynn Day. Much press ensued and I regretted Howard's leaving. The inspiration and as Paul Harvey would say "the rest of the story" needs to be credited to Richard Robinson for the research that netted this article in the Hot Springs Village Voice newspaper:

A setback for the 'Voice of the Village'
By VERLEE WALTER


Gerry and Howard Watson Twelve years ago, when Howard Watson became Len Day as KVRE's morning man, he quickly became the Voice of the Village. His distinctive baritone was a welcome addition to our breakfast tables.
The man knows his music, and knew we knew it, so his selections were geared to our past, awakening nostalgia for high school and proms and special dates with special girls or boys, turning our todays into yesterdays and our yesterdays to todays.
Planning retirement, he changed his mind when he heard of a vacancy at our local station and began a new career.
Watson came to us from Little Rock where he'd been night radio man Ken Knight. To the delight of his new audience, he had a speaking engagement with us between 6 and 10 a.m., presenting "Adult Standards," an expanded version of "The Music of Your Life."
His notoriety as Len Day overwhelms his persona as Howard Watson, man-about-town in its best sense - involved in Masonry and the Shrine Club, charities and foundations, the Hot Springs Jazz Society, and Village United Methodist Church.
Still he found time to stay in close touch with his and Gerry's three sons, and their seven grandchildren and one great grandson.,
For nearly 11 years he sat in his cluttered broadcast room amid the tens of thousands of records and cassettes and CDs he had collected, choosing the music we loved, interspersed with commercials made pleasant through his mellifluous voice.
He commuted from Little Rock to the Village for five years before he found a home here to hold his treasure trove of books and music without disrupting the life of his wife, with whom he celebrated 50 years of marriage in late May.
The mention of which, is the reason for this item.
This was to have been an inspiration piece for those who have survived and taken on new life following a stroke such as Watson had in 2006 after 53 years in broadcasting.
He did a few commercials for the station a month or so ago.
However, a few hours after the joy-filled anniversary party given by the Watsons' three sons, he was stricken again - this time it was much harder on him.
As Len said of his life, "Work is my vocation, my avocation and my pastime."
Sadly, at least for the present, he is deprived of this pleasure.
It is particularly sad when bad things happen to good people, but he and Gerry have much courage and faith, and are set to fight again.
Weeks of therapy will follow his hospitalization, so let him know you're thinking of him by sending mail to 40 Herencia Circle in the Village.

Several recordings of Howard are on this blog, however, I do not have an aircheck of one of his shows on KAAY. If have one please contact me at : ajlinds@yahoo.com.

All you can eat at the KAAY buffet!

I encourage you to save all the audio available on this blog that you are interested in. Soon I will be transferring everything to one website. Currently the audio files are on 4 different sites. PodOMatic costs me as much as a website, so I will be transferring those files first. I urge you to save what you might want now in case something gets lost in the shuffle. Please contact me any time a link doesn't work or if you have any problems copying audio files or photographs. For new readers, please checkout the archives all the way back to the start of this blog. This blog is in no particular order. I post items that are sent to me or that I uncover in my search for old KAAY material, or what happens to be on my mind for the day. After a fun afternoon visiting with Richard Robinson, I got to wondering if he was preparing my obituary, which wouldn't be a bad idea. I will always remember Pat Walsh, before his death, sending me an obituary that he had written about himself. He ask me for comments, editing, or additions. I'm sorry to say, that I never was able to respond to that request. Mainly because the obituary didn't measure up to my regard and respect for Pat. Larger than life is a trite expression that is aways used in connection with Pat. Oddly very little of the biography dealt with KAAY. That's what he wanted. he told me, there was much more to Pat Walsh than KAAY. I was never able to add or change in any way what was written. I didn't look it up, but what was in the papers was very close to what Pat had written. From the first day I met Pat, until our last telephone conversation, Pat was always a friend, mentor, father-figure and critic. He drove his family for Little Rock, AR to Blue Mound, Illinois, to be in my wedding. Amy, his youngest daughter was the flower girl. At the end of her walk down the isle, she still had a basket full of rose petals. She would drop only one every few steps.

The first day I met Pat, I'm sure his first words were something like "heard your show last night, you need a lota help". Pat became more mellow in our last few conversations. If you're new to this blog, put Pat Walsh in the search box in the upper left and search this blog. Those of you who have only heard KAAY on the radio, need to get to know someone who was there from the beginning, and became GM. Those of you who worked at KAAY, it's great to revisit those memories.

For those of you who may be thinking, "old Doc Holiday" is just living in the past and wanting to return to those glory days, I do have a life now, thank you very much. It is hard though, after you have been "The Emperor" it's mostly downhill from there. This blog was created with the purpose of gathering enough material for a book, or putting down a history of the best time in my life and sharing it with anyone interested.

As far as my obituary, all I want is "he is a Christian".

Help!!!!!!!!!!!

In my on going quest to gather and perserve a bit of our history, I am running into a brick wall in two areas. Over the years KAAY printed and distributed music surveys of the top songs every week. I think we printed several thousand each week. Some were exotic. I remember searching for a printer who would print the survey on "silver" coated paper. The silver dollar survey was really silver for several months. I don't have one copy. In fact, I only have three KAAY surveys that were supplied by readers of this blog. I need many more. I will be happy to copy and return it to you if you don't want to part with it. Or even purchase it. If you have a KAAY music survey, please email me at ajlinds@yahoo.com. To see he surveys I do have, go to the upper left hand search window and enter "music survey" and then click search.

Once there you can double click on the survey to see them larger.

More Cuban Missile Crisis

Double click on the articles to read.

From the Arkansas Gazette (purchased by the Democrat) and the Arkansas Democrat, are two press accounts of KAAY's envolvement.

Now more of the the paper from Richard Robinson (see below):

That Monday night nine stations, including two commercial shortwave stations, WRUL in New York, New York, and KEGI in San Carlos, California participated in the broadcast efforts for the government (Sorensen, 1968. New York Times, 1962).

Seven commercial medium wave stations carried the president's speech that evening. They included stations WGBS, WMIE, and WCKR in Miami, Florida; WSB in Atlanta, Georgia; WCKY in Cincinnati, Ohio; WKWF in Key West, Florida; and WWL in New Orleans, Louisiana. An eighth station -- KAAY in Little Rock, Arkansas -- joined the network on Wednesday (October 25, 1962), and began broadcasting the Voice of America programs from 11 p.m. until dawn, the period when their signal reaches into Cuba. KAAY asked to join the network ("U.S. Blanket of Words...", Kansas City Star, October 26, 1962).

This was the first time in history that private radio stations in the United States had cooperated with the government to broadcast programs from its own propaganda agency to a foreign country (USIA, 1983).

KAAY and the Cuban Crisis

There have been references in this blog to the Cuban Missile Crisis and the use of KAAY to reach Cuba with VOA broadcasts.

Richard Robinson has written two papers on the subject and I have ask his permission to use excerpts in this blog. Richard and I have been in touch over the years as he worked on the papers. I found his research and conclusions to be right on target as related to KAAY. I started at KAAY soon after the crisis was over. Tom Bishop the first manager was gone, Len Carl became General Manager. Jim Hankins a/k/a Mike McCormick was program director and probably the main player in this interesting story. I will have more details and excerpts in later posts. To get started , below is a promo that ran on KAAY during the crisis. It was voiced by Wayne Moss. a/k/a Sonny Martin. The writing is very obviously Hankins. This recording is a dub from the actual cart that was used on the air.

http://kaay.podOmatic.com/entry/eg/2007-07-19T06_56_47-07_00

And here is the opening of one of Richard's papers:

"THE UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY USE OF COMMERCIAL RADIO STATIONS DURING THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS"

By Richard C. Robinson

Arkadelphia, Arkansas

This study focuses on a little-known event that happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. The United States Government, through its United States Information Agency, asked ten commercial radio stations throughout the country to broadcast Voice of America programs to Cuba in Spanish. Broadcasting began with the speech by President John F. Kennedy on October 22, and continued from late-night until dawn each evening for a period of more than three weeks. Examination of previous literature revealed little on this subject.

The study was conducted utilizing a number of sources. They included the "Internet," newspaper accounts, government publications, oral history transcriptions, books and interviews. Research revealed that this was the first time in the history of the United States that the government utilized commercial broadcast media for propaganda purposes. Government used a number of methods to provide the official point of view of the United States to the people of Cuba, both prior to and during the period of crisis. Even though some publicity was generated about the effort, apparently most of the people in the United States were not aware of persuasive techniques employed by their own officials.

The findings raise a number of questions for the news media. President Kennedy was criticized for his "manipulation of the media" during this period. While Kennedy and U.S. officials praised the radio stations for their help and "patriotism," there should be concerns over how a democratic government can issue official propaganda messages through "free market" media outlets. This study could serve as a historical reference for future research about government control and media manipulation.

More on Eddie Graham

This is a comment left by Richard Robinson on Eddie Graham. I am putting it here as a post because I know some of you out there never read the comments:


First, let me explain my relationship to Eddie Graham. He is my father in-law, as I am married to his daughter, Frances Anne. Pat Walsh once told me that Eddie had an uncanny spell on broadcast equipment. According to Walsh, "equipment would simply refuse to malfunction in his presence." That's true, although sometimes as soon as he left the room, it would fall apart. Carolyn (Eddie's wife) retired from teaching elementary school in the Bryant School District in 2000 and Eddie sold his stations (KVRC AM 1240 and KDEL FM 100.9) and retired in August 2002. They bought another home just outside Arkadelphia, and added on additional space. These days, Eddie and Carolyn are active in First United Methodist Church, the Clark County Fair Board and other organizations. Eddie is a long-time member of the Arkadelphia Rotary Club. He hunts and fishes every chance he gets, which is often. In their spare time, they visit their children and grandchildren. The eldest son, Doug, is married to Margaret, and they have three children - Maddie, age 4, and twins William and Aaron, age 2. They live in Evergreen, Colorado. Fran and I live in Martin, Tennessee. Fran teaches dance classes and I am on the communications faculty at the University of Tennessee at Martin. We have no children together, although I have a daughter from a previous marriage. Larry and wife Gayle live in Franklin, Tennessee (outside Nashville) and have two children, Landon, age 16 and Bailey, age 12. Eddie and Carolyn are quite busy, and have been described as "salt of the earth" people. I know of no one who would disagree.

What ever happened to Eddie Graham?

Eddie Graham has no a/k/a at KAAY. He was Eddie Graham when it was KTHS and he was studio engineer. He was Eddie Graham when it became KAAY and he became production manager. Eddie was everyone's friend regardless of their ego size. (and we had some big ones) Eddie could fix anything and built a great home out of old Ampex parts. That was just the beginning. Eddie played on the KAAY Komando basketball team and was always a team player. He made the move from the Channel 11 building to the location on 7th street work. From this you might have pigeonholed Eddie as a techie. Not so, he didn't want anything to do with on air work, but Pat Walsh urged him into sales were he displayed the same talents for great work, it the money side of the business. Someone can help me with the total number of years he was with KAAY. He saved his money and bought his own radio station in Arkedelphia, AR. Eddie and his family are the living example of a TV sitcom like Father Knows Best, except Eddie and his family are real. I wish that Pat Walsh could have written this blog. He was probably Eddie's biggest fan.

Even more visitors

So many visitors, so few comments.

Welcome to KAAY

These are just a few of our recent visitors. We'd like to hear from you. Especially where you were and what you were doing when you listened to KAAY. Email me at ajlinds@yahoo.com. I'd like to publish you comments. If you don't want is published please indicate that in your email.

More KAAY Skywave Airchecks

Several months ago I received this from Greg Barman and failed to process it. Sorry Greg. If any of you send me something and don't see it posted in a few weeks please remind me.

From Greg:

Here’s an aircheck from the early morning of June 2, 1974, received on the skywave at my home in Evanston, IL, north of Chicago. There’s some fading, but the signal is usually good and sometimes downright awesome, strong as a local station. The jock is Don Marcus and he’s cranking out the jingles and the hits including some “hard core rock’n’roll at the 50,000 watt Mother of Arkansas”. Since the jocks usually assumed the names of the LIN board members, who this really was is anybody’s guess.

The aircheck starts with the opening for “Beaker Theater” at 2:00am, followed by the overnight rock format from 3:30-4:30am. Note the nighttime Voice of Arkansas promos – “greetings to the Great South” and later to “Cuba, Jamaica, the Bahamas and the Caribbean.” KAAY loved to use big voices on its imagers, you’ll hear Gary Gears on several of them and also that of WLS/Chicago morning newsguy Lyle Dean on the News IQ contest promo. Answer the news IQ questions and you could win $10.90! I figure that’s about $45 in today’s dollars.

As always, I’m eager to trade KAAY airchecks, especially Beaker Street. Contact me at

gbarman02(at)msn.com

Greg Barman

Denver, CO.

Here is the aircheck:

http://www.podomatic.com/podcast/tell/kaay?p=1

KAAY Prizes, Prizes, Prizes

We liked to give things away at KAAY. There were always a couple of major contests running and lots and lots of record giveaways. "Name It and Claim It" "Spin It and Win it" "Nap it and Grab It" and I am sure there were others. Once we produced contest intros for every record giveaway phrase we could come up with.

We also liked to give away radios. Pictured above is an actual tiny 8 transistor radio. It measures slightly over 2 inches square. Very small for its day, mid 1960s. Most transistor radios were only six transistors and about 4 times larger. Pat Walsh made several trades for them. Not an easy item to trade out because of the consumer demand.

If we were on the air today, we would be giving away iPhones. (Hmmmmmmm Rush Limbaugh is doing that).

Oh yea, it was AM only.

More KAAY Skywave

I need a little help identifying the first jock on this skywave aircheck from Ron (see posts below)
If you can identify him please email me at: ajlinds@yahoo.com. There is a brief pause and then you hear a brief segment from Clyde Clifford that is not Beaker Street, just regular programming.

http://kaay.podOmatic.com/entry/eg/2007-07-10T07_14_40-07_00

KAAY Record offer

Another skywave recorded clip from Ron Henselman. Thanks for the restoration work

and equalizing this clip. It was recorded

in 1962 by Gary Wegner in the Chicago area.

I think this offer was before I started to work at KAAY in 63 so that would make it
1962. This is a very early (per inquiry) spot. It doesn't mention who the record is from and the money goes directly to KAAY. Later, when I joined KAAY we were running Custom Records spots. Custom, out of Nashville, did "cover" or "sound alike" versions of the hits. The PIs generally ran at night. There was 40 combs for $1 and on and on. Len Carl, the manager when I started became known as the PI king, in that he did most of the voice work pitching the junk.
The jocks mostly looked down on the PIs but they brought in money as KAAY was getting started and established. In those days, selling top 40 radio was still a difficult task. Many advertisers looked on top 40 radio as a medium for kids.
http://kaay.podOmatic.com/entry/eg/2007-07-09T08_00_56-07_00

Kool KAAY

Michael writes:

I Grew up listening to KAAY in the late '70s in North Little Rock and loved it. I had a tiny hand-held radio that I dragged along for everything I was doing. It was one of several things that later pushed me to get into radio. Today I work in Miami and occasionally, when co-workers and I are talking about radio stations we heard growing up as kids, I try to explain the many things that made KAAY so cool.

Thanks Michael for the comments. I found that listeners were very loyal. We had competiton, HiFi KAJI, they advertised "HI-FI" and WE were always yelling more music. Both were lies. The listener loyalty had little to do with the music. It was what was between the music that made the difference. It was getting out all over the state. It was constant fun. The Djs were having fun and transmitted that to the listener.

When FM came along, it was all about the music. How much can you play without interuption. What do they have to show for this? The Ipod. Non-stop music, no DJ, no news, no contests, no fun. The difference with Ipods and today's radio, is that anyone can be a DJ. With a small investment in equipment, anyone talented or not, can have a podcast and be heard world wide. But the market is too fragmented. Do any of you know a good podcast? Let me know. I use a podcast service, but I use it just to have a way of linking audio to this blog.

By the nature of it, podcasts are not live. And here is another key ingredent. KAAY was always live. We had a play list. We simply rotated 45s (records for you young folks)from the front to the back. The DJ had the liberty of going down three or four records in the stack to find the record that fit the moment. Same way with the oldies. He could pull his own selections.
I always had a certain feeling for what to play next. That feeling continued through the disco era. I seemed to know what to play next to keep them on the dance floor. I did a class reunion a few years ago and played all the music off computer....what a terrible feeling. I did have a snow machine that blew snow on the dance floor. That was kool.

Rare KAAY Sign Off

Thanks to Ron Henselman for a lot of work cleaning up, and equalizing this clip. It was recorded off the skywave in 1962 by Gary Wegner in the Chicago area. The voice you hear is the first Buddy Karr a/k/a Tom Bigby. Here's the clip: http://kaay.podOmatic.com/entry/eg/2007-07-07T06_14_47-07_00

KAAY & 19 Foreign Countries

We used to claim 18 foreign countries in our night time coverage. It was mindblowing, knowing that when you clicked that mike switch, you better make it good. I found it best to forget all those watts, and speak to one person.

The internet has the capacity to reach far more than any radio station or satelite service. It's a shame music licensing on the internet have made it difficult to make it a viable service. Radio simply paid Ascap, BMI and Sesac fees and could make a buck. Additionally, record companies needed radio stations for exposure.

Today, Apple has shown its marketing ability with iPhone. They have created a whole new media with iPod and iTunes. They have demonstrated people will pay a premium for quality and status.

Radio is quickly losing its ace. LIVE! Many stations are tracked. Management has always loved automation. Satelite radio is what I would call semi-live. They could be live but still have that automated feel.

Has radio done anything to try and tie in to the Apple bandwagon. Even Rush Limbaugh is giving away 10 iPhones. Look on the store shelves graced by dozens of iPod accessories.

I started this to write about international reach. How did I get off the subject. Simple...."i" is on everyone's mind. I was writing this blog to welcome some foreign visitors:

Leiden Zuid-Holland

Abidjam Cote D'Lvoire Africa

Those are the ones I could see, could be many more that show up as unidentified.

To tie this together, remember iPod, iPhone, and iTunes are all USA concepts, even if the components are made offshore.

WKRP Update

Those of you who read this blog know of my great enjoyment of the TV series WKRP. Anyone who has ever worked in radio can relate to this series. If was in syndication for years and you could catch it often. Then it dissapeared. Now an obscure cable network "American Life" is running it on Monday nights, several episodes. If you can't catch it there, Fox has released it on DVD. However, there is a lot of discussion about the editing of the original records that were part or many shows. The syndicated version had a lot of these cuts but apparently the DVD is worse. It's just a matter of time, til some enterprising video geek goes back and edits in the correct songs from the original. Read this blog and you will find a detailed explaination of all the cuts. http://zvbxrpl.blogspot.com/2007/03/wkrp-dvd-not-ok.html

The is also a You Tube clip of the imfamous "Turkey Drop" and many other video clips. Do a Google search for WKRP and be sure and click on the "Video" tab.

A WKRP trivia quiz for you: What was Venus Flytrap's name? Not the actors name but his a/k/a on the show.

Jim Pitcock a/k/a Ron Owens 1963

Jim sent this great 4th of July link:

http://mybeautifulamerica.com/mybeautifulamerica.htm

Happy 4th of July from KAAY

On this patroitic occasion, listen again to "Day For Decision" :

http://www.freewebs.com/ajlinds/Day%20For%20Decision.wma

Read the awards and info about Day For Decision by going to the upper left hand box and type in Day For Decision and then search.

Another "What ever happened to?" Tom Bigby a/k/a Buddy Karr #1

Many thanks to Tom Bigby for an email to set the blog straight on a glaring error. Tom was the first Buddy Karr and the bio that I posted was for Buddy Karr #2 Bob Mullins. If I had checked the date at the bottom, I might have figured it out. Tom fills us in on where he is now and what he is doing. Read his email, while I go look for the correct bio.

Tom Bigby has left a new comment on your post "The First Buddy Karr a/k/a Tom Bigby":

You never know what one might find on the internet. My son found this and passed along the URL

The Bio for me is wrong, not sure but it might have been the Bio for the second Buddy Karr...the Picture is right, the aircheck is right..(damn was I bad)..

Still working for CBS Radio as a Corp. Programming Consultant...almost to the end of a great 25 years with the company..

Living in Dallas working in New York and Philadelphia..

Regards to any of you that were part of one of Americas great radio stations

Tom

Pray for Nancy Jennings, George's Wife

Those of you who follow this blog, know of the passing of George Jennings. What you may not know is a couple of years ago, Nancy, his wife, had breast cancer that had spread. George took care of her through all the chemo. She got a great report after the chemo that she was in complete remission. Then George's health deteriorated and Nancy again, had to take care of him. Today, July 1, I received this email from a neighbor on Nancy's:

Hello Everyone, I am Nancy's neighbor I am emailing you with some sad news. Nancy went into the hospital on Tuesday June 26th to have her lung drained of the fluid from the pneumonia she has been fighting since March. Nancy called my husband and told him she has 4 to 6 months to live. She has cancer everywhere in her body. He sister is coming today July 1st to pick her up to take her home to Bay City to die. My husband (Grady) and I (Cynthia) went to see her Friday. She does not have about 4 to 6 months. She has gone done hill very quickly. She cannot focus or remember anything. Our hearts are broken and I am having a very hard time dealing with this news. I Love her very much and I have known her for only 9 years and she has been a joy in our lives. She was so helpful in our times of need and was a grandmother to my son. She was literally my second mom. Please pray for Nancy. Please pray she does not suffer. I do not know who all she used to email as we cannot get her to remember. Please pass this on to her friends.

Please pray for Nancy and her son Dean and all those who love her.

More KAAY Ear on Arkansas

Someday I will learn the latest post turns up on top. So if you are doing a 2 parter you better work backward.

Here is Part 2 of the Ear On Arkansas 1967 album. Many thanks to Issac Wingfield who did the encoding of the album.

http://kaay.podOmatic.com/entry/eg/2007-06-29T11_41_21-07_00

What ever happened to Joe Dickey?

Joe Dickey was in Sales at KAAY for many, many years. Joe is also a great character voice and we called on Joe many times for various characters. Joe is also a great addlibber. Sometimes Joe would call in on the night show and do a great bit on the air. He had a long running bit about Harry McFetridge who was driving a low boy truck with a giant sparrow on the way to Nashville to appear on the Grand Ole Opry. I wish we had a recording. There is a recording of Joe playing the part of a slot machine on Ear On Arkansas. On this cut you will also hear George Jennings and Walt Sadler a/k/a Ron Owens. This is from an album of the best of Ear On Arkansas for the year 1967. This is part 1.

http://kaay.podOmatic.com/entry/eg/2007-06-28T14_39_23-07_00

Wayne Moss A/K/A Sonny Martin

(Double click on the bio to read)
Wayne Moss was the first Sonny Martin and worked at KAAY twice. I need some help here guys on dates and details. I know Pat Walsh stayed in touch with Wayne over the years. Unfortunately, I can't pick up the phone and get all the info I need.
The above photo and bio are from his first round, 1962.

Now we play the "where are they now" game. I think Pat told me he owned stations in Alabama. Please email me or leave a comment if you can help.

My Grandson Davis Jim

A little personal business. My grandson, Davis Jim Lindsey is 18 months old. His mom has had a blog since he was born. She gets more hits than my blog. She has a link to this blog and I get lots of referrals from her blog, so I must return the favor. Scroll down to links and visit their blog.

Hot Scott Fisher heard from!

I got a recent email from Greg Fadick, a/k/a Hot Scott Fisher. I had the pleasure of working with Greg. Great voice and great passion for the business. As one of his emails traced his path from Arkansas, I couldn't help singing part of the WKRP theme song, "town to town up and down the isle" and the entire song "W-O-L-D". I think it would be great on this blog to play what ever happened to_______________? Or where are they now?

We'll start with Greg:

Now that I think of it, I haven’t been back to Arkansas for about 17 years. I left Little Rock in ‘87 for Y108 in Denver, left there for WAAF in Boston, then down here to South Florida for WIOD, then Brown Bag Productions, and now Download HD, where I think I’ll be until they plant me. Even though the hair is thinning, I’m carrying around a lot of excess tonnage in the middle and the over-50 body doesn’t work like it used to, I’m having a ball down here.

And what is Download HD?

Download HD (which we’ve been developing for the last 2 years) is radio’s first total content service. We provide everything from original production music beds and sounds to movie and TV drops, stand up comedy bits, news and historical audio, plus all the written content a jock could possibly stand, including funny factoids, trivia, household tip, money saving tips to whatever. We also include a massive daily prep sheet with everything a morning jock, or anyone else, could want. We like to call it a radio station in a box. Just add water and you’re done. And it’s all completely categorized and easily accessed through a massive search engine. We even include automatic online tracking that shows you what you’ve downloaded and when, then allows you to enter your own data, such as who used the piece and what for. It’s a friggin’ monster, but it’s also a lot of fun. Plus having a 48 track digital studio in the house and working from here is too sweet.

Thanks Greg.

Someone I've been trying to find out what ever happen to.........Bob Mullins. He was Buddy Karr number 2, I think. He (like many of us) worked at KAAY twice. The last I heard he was headed for California.

Anyone who can contribute a "where they are now" would be appreciated.

Thanks for KAAY Comments

The thing I enjoy about my blogging is the kind, positive comments. I mentioned yesterday I would share a media blog spot that has the most vicious comments causing me to wonder if media people have become this petty. Go to this link,scroll down to the "LR Reporter goes to Pentigon" story and click on the comments:

http://arkansastvnewswatch.blogspot.com/

KAAY Comments

Thanks to those who take the time to send a comment or to those who take the trouble to send me stuff. I am putting a comment I received here on the front page in case some of you don't take the time to read the comments. The comments I receive here are always so positive. There is a TV insiders blog that has some of the most vicious comments I've seen. I don't ever remember being vicious toward our competitors. In fact one newsman, Herbie Byrd. (Yes, that's his real name.)comes to mind. He always worked at a competitor. We didn't have much contact, but I have always had the up most respect for him and his work. He was at KVLC and later KLRA. I'll look up the TV blog address and post it later as an example of what the media has become. All of this to introduce someone that worked in the same market I did and we never worked together but we should. Russell, has always had an interest in archiving radio. A trait I wish I had developed. Speaking of archives, the airchecks that are scattered throughout this blog are on various free websites that I have and most recently on podomatic. I may in the future, move this audio to one website. In that process some files will probably be lost. Therefore I recommend if you are interesting in saving any of these files I recommend you do so before I start messing with it. Go back in the archives to the first post and move forward, saving what you want.

Now today's comment from Russell Wells,
Hi, Doc/A.J.--

I've been reading this blog for a number of months (I'm surprised Savannah, Georgia wasn't listed like a rash on your hits list!), and enjoying the aircheck clips you've included.

I haven't posted any comments mainly because I wasn't really "part of" KAAY back in the day, except just as a nighttime listener when I was little (1970s).

Also, I felt like I didn't really have much to say. So, I've been your basic "lurker."

My connection to Arkansas began when I was 17 and my family was transferred to the state, first to Hot Springs. I received my first radio job at 17, doing 6PM-sign off at KBHS 590 ... a station said to have had a bigger daytime footprint than KAAY. I made my foolish mistakes on a 5 kW blowtorch during critical-hours ... egad!

Went to college at ASU in Jonesboro, worked for KASU (and KEZQ during the Summer), and then graduated in 1987 ... landing my first fulltime gig in Pine Bluff. Young, stupid and green as a 7-UP bottle.

And that's where our paths barely crossed -- I started at KCLA/KZYP, becoming news director, and - if I recall - you were at KOTN. We both left our stations and were co-workers for about 20 minutes at the ill-fated KPBA (someone should write a book about that place). And from there we reversed paths; I was hired to do middays at KOTN and you became ND at KCLA.

I left Pine Bluff and Arkansas in 1990 for Alabama, and eventually coastal Georgia, where I am now.

But while I was in Arkansas, I heard much about KAAY ... it seemed like every radio person I worked with had a sober reverence for the station. And being the radio history geek I am, I was very curious how 1090 sounded back in the day. In the early '90s, I struck a correspondence with the late Pat Walsh, and he loaned me dozens upon dozens of airchecks.

And years later I learned that what he offered me was just a part (!) of his archive. I got hold of some more over the years, and much of what you've offered on your blog is new to me.

KAAY just might be the most archived station outside WABC, WLS and KHJ. Count your blessings!!

As for competition -- I truly believe that radio should never have been allowed to get to the state it's in today (clusters, unattended operation). I doubt there's any way to return to the way it used to be, and slowly I've come to accept this.

You nailed a lot of what I've been thinking in your competition post. Where's the EXCITEMENT? We hear endlessly how radio is a profit-driven business .... ummm, yeah, was it not back in KAAY's glory days??? I doubt LIN was operating that property as a charity! They wanted to make MONEY for their shareholders. Then, as now.

A business can make a profit and still make life fun for its employees AND its customers. I was professionally brought up to believe that music and entertainment was not merely "content" (I hate that word), or - quoting one GM - "the junk between commercials." Spots = $$ to feed the big machine with feeds the real customer (listener). No customer = no ears for commercials.

You know that, but it seems to have been forgotten by many in commercial radio today.

I have a 15-year-old, and few of his peers even consider radio. To them it's as quaint as a typewriter. If I think about that long enough, it can keep me up at night.

Thank God for the old time radio recordings. And for those like Mr. Walsh who rolled lots of tape on what amounted to world-class radio.

This is long enough - I write more and I'll get depressed! Thanks for this blog ... KAAY finally has the good, loving and living tribute she deserves.

Sincerely,
Russell Wells
(Operations Manager,
WSVH 91.1/Savannah, Ga.)

KAAY Beer Rate Card

First, you will note the Lin Broadcasting logo. To my knowledge it never changed. What is interesting is the L I N in Lin Broadcasting stood for Louisville, Nashville, and Indianapolis. That's is where they intended to own radio stations. The "N" Nashville was first. Fred Greg lived in Nashville and raised the money to buy WMAK. Louisville came next with WAKY. I believe Little Rock came next or possibly KEEL in Shreveport. Fred liked buying old McClendon stations but Indianapolis never came about.

The memo above was scanned for the Lin logo but it brought back memories of the many rate cards that developed over the years. This became necessary to compete and give KAAY some wiggle room or perhaps a bit more revenue. Beer advertising was a big category for radio. Some of the best jingles were created for beer companies. The soft drink industry also had some super jingles. Coke even went through an era when top recording talent did the Coke jingle. Today beer sales are down and all of their creative juices seem to go to television what do they have to show for it. Lagging sales! I really don't know what the soft drink industry advertising is doing. The last Coke commercial I saw on TV left me wondering what they were selling. What do you think? Leave a comment.

KAAY competition, XM Radio, Apple, Microsoft and other thoughts

In the local market, Little Rock, AR, KAAY had a lot of competition for listeners and advertising dollars. Rating wise, the most competition came from Brother Hal, folksy caracter, that outlived top 40 KAAY. He was on the air when we signed on and on the air when KAAY changed format. The Top 40 competition came from KAJI. Nationally,I was always inpressed that in major markets, Chicago, New Orleans, St. Louis, there were great top 40 stations but somehow, we had great listeners in those metro markets and in the rural areas.

Radio has changed. Many will say, not for the best, either. If radio is to survive and prosper it must keep up with today's market. The advent of television forced radio into a major change from basicly network old time radio programming, to music-personality radio. Now radio and TV faces the Ipod revolution. The audience now wants to be in charge of their own programming. The Ipod in a way is like the early transistor radio. The big change, (quality aside) is where the programming is going to come from. Radio stations are being left out of the loop. In the early days of top 40, record companies were dependent of radio stations to introduce new music and get it out for people to want to buy records. Now record companies are so big and powerful, they are too worried about the public downloading their music for free.
Where or will radio stations fit into the Ipod revolution. A few will offer their programs streaming online. Thanks to congress that is becoming too expensive for radio stations to want to do it. It's time for stations to step up and create new divisions with seperate talent with exclusive product only for Ipods and online.
Look at the newspapers. Circulation is down and the best they can do is offer their print material online. Many television stations have seen the opportunity and at least are trying to offer unique online services. I see television moving rapidly to an on demand situation. Already we have seen a market for old TV episodes at $2 a pop for what once was free. What will happen to local TV as cable,internet, and satellite move into an "on demand" era? Local news you say. TV has always had a lock on local news. What if local "Drudge Reports" start showing up and achieve the success of Drudge? How does KAAY fit into all this. What I learned from the KAAY experience; it wasn't the music, or the news. or the contests, or the promotions. or the DJs, or the jingles, or the personal appearances, or the production, or the 50,000 watts, it was all those things. The "package" gave listeners a cause. a personal friend, someone who would come to Havana, Arkansas and play basketball on a plank-type gym floor. In my opinion XM Radio comes close. They are missing some key elements though. No contests, no personal appearances, no reason to tell your friends this is MY station. XM seems to me to be a whole lot stations with no unifying loveable corperate image. Somehow Apple gets loyal fans who pay a premium for a status symbol product. Microsoft, on the other hand is hated and suceeds by brute force. Now XM & Sirius want to merge after promising the F.C.C. that they would not. I have had XM for a long time. Ever since I read about it on a DJ online forum. I don't mind paying for it, even though I am known to be frugal. XM to me is a bargain. I fear the bargain and the programming my suffer with the merger. Satellite radio needs to see the handrighting on the wall. The Iphone may be successful in bringing together Ipods, cell phones and TV. Apple may wind up with the last laugh and the last buck (at $500 a pop).

So what does all this have to do with KAAY? Microsoft learn the lessons. Build a company that people like and want and can call their own. What is the future of old top 40 KAAY? Well there are still recordings of old time radio programs from the 1930s. My mission is to to pass along some of the recordings from that era. Keep in mind when I started this I had zero.

I started this blog with the purpose of forcing me to asymble material for a possible book. That may be better left to you. My I suggest that you go back to the earliest archives and save the airchecks. Since these are hosted on several free websites and lately Pod-O-Matic, you should save the files while they are available and let me know if a link doesn't work. Those old time radio shows live on not because of the radio industry, but collectors across the world that keep moving them forward into the current technology.

George J. Jennings on WDGY

Perviously you may have read of the passing of my good friend and co-worker at KAAY, George J. Jennings. If you are not up to date just go to the upper left and type George Jennings in the search box for this blog. You will have read about George being at KAAY twice. He left KAAY for WDGY. I have heard some clips of his news and sports on XM Radio. (XM Radio runs a program on the 60s at 6 channel,that features each Friday a different 60s station) I have heard this show twice. I was lucky enough to be recording it and catch this George sportscast:



http://kaay.podOmatic.com/entry/eg/2007-06-15T17_32_01-07_00

KAAY Logos Continue

As we continue our look at KAAY logos, this was part of a sales kit for our national reps. Double click on the picture to enlarge and read it. Remember the market figures are 1961. You'll notice the use of the elephant with the call letters relating back to the use of "The Baby ELephant Walk" to sign on the station while the original jocks and newsmen read the telephone directory. The elephant never became a part of the logo, which is a shame. As you will see over the next few posts the logo just became boring.

I encourage you to share with me any old examples of KAAY logos. Email me at ajlinds@yahoo.com.

A special welcome to visitors to this blog. You are encouraged to leave a comment. Just click on "comments" below an post entry. I will have an opportunity to read your comments before they go on the blog. This eliminates the offers for making millions on the internet.

I can see the statistics for where you are reading this blog on about half of the visitors. The coverage almost reads like a KAAY response map.

Here are some of the most recent visitors cities:

Chilliwack, British Columbia
Wellesley Hills, MA
Plano, TX
Spring, TX
Denver,CO
Washington, DC
Arvada, CO
New Blockton, AL
Mt. Home AR
Little Rock, AR
Omaha,HE
Hot Springs, AR
West Fork, AR
Church Point, LA
Salem, OR
San Ramon, CA
San Antonio,TX
Fort Smith, AR
Huntsville, AL
St. Louis, MO.
Conway,AR
Ferndale,MI
Ft. Lauderdale,FA
Denver,CO

KAAY Logos and stuff

Over the years of top 40 KAAY there were several logos. I never thought we had a really great one. Maybe we were looking for that special logo. Today we are looking at the earliest logo for both KAAY and Lin Broadcasting. You will see them on the back cover of this brochure.

This brochure was produced as a sales piece. Show me a radio station that gets 14,437 pieces of MAIL. One item that is omitted in this sales piece, is that these were more than just letters. They were orders with $4 (I think that was the amount)for a Beatles four color booklet. That fact was omitted, so that Madison Ave. wouldn't get the impression that we were a kid's station.

As usual double click on the pictures to read them.

KAAY & EBS

Len Carl, who we have written about previously on this blog (go to the top right and search this blog for Len Carl)sent me some KAAY items which I really appreciate. One of the items was this article which he wrote in 1965. Double click on the pictures to enlarge them to read.

More Jim Pitcock

I have often written about Jim Pitcock on this blog. If you are a newcomer I suggest going to the top left and search "Jim Pitcock" on this blog. I was cleaning out my yahoo mailbox which had over 9000 undeleted emails. It went back to the year 2000, long before this blog was started. I found an article on Pitcock, which does a fine job except there is no mention of why he moved to Little Rock in the first place. It was KAAY. With that said, enjoy a bit of history:

Friday, May 04, 2001

The online home of the Northwest Arkansas Times

Veteran TV newsman Jim Pitcock wins Ernie Deane Award

Column by Maylon T. Rice

I can still see the tall, gangly guy with the crew cut and
his signature
black glasses setting up a television interview in the
mid-1960s. His
signature voice rapidly delivering a breaking news story in
a no-nonsense
style was riveting.

It was Jim Pitcock interviewing politicians on a hot, June
morning -- his
signature white short-sleeved shirt and Navy blue string
tie already wilting
under the Southeast Arkansas humidity. Often, he shot his
own film with a
bulky hand-held, wind-up camera.

In interviews, he was patient, kind and thoughtful, and he
always got the
story -- the full, balanced story.

But while Pitcock could be smooth and sweet, he was also
tough, fair and
always evenhanded in his coverage.

Today, generations of Arkansans can simply close their eyes
and hear
Pitcock's voice and immediately recall news story after
news story he has
covered in his more than three decades on television.

Pitcock is a methodical perfectionist. His professionalism
and willingness
to mentor those just breaking into the ever changing news
business are
legendary. Pitcock has helped more young news hounds
fulfill their
aspirations with a kind, firm hand.

All these things and more were said Friday night at the
University of
Arkansas' annual Walter J. Lempke Journalism Days ceremony,
but what may
have been glossed over at "J Days" was that Pitcock has
always been a ground
breaker.

He was rightfully the state's first television newsperson
to be awarded the
Ernie Deane Award for his life's work. In a news release
announcing the
award, Pitcock was ever the astute, shy gentleman, praising
the former
recipients of the Deane award -- all print journalists --
and solemnly
remembering the late Ernie Deane.

The originator of the popular Arkansas Traveler column in
the Arkansas
Gazette in 1956, Deane is best remembered locally as a
journalism professor
at the UA and a fervent supporter for preserving Old Main
when the landmark
was in peril of being torn down.

To generations of Arkansans who saw television become a
dominant news
source, Pitcock defined professionalism. A native of Fort
Smith, he signed
on in 1964 with the news department of KATV Channel 7 in
Little Rock-Pine
Bluff. Less than two years later, he was, as they say,
running the place --
named the ABC affiliate's news director.

Still, on occasions over the next two decades, Pitcock
could still be seen
covering assignments or taking his place behind the news
desk anchoring the
6 or 10 p.m. newscasts. Few people could outwork him. His
work ethic is
legendary.

Pitcock has an endless index of sources, friends,
politicians and everyday
folks at his disposal. Another hallmark of his career has
been that he knows
every nook and cranny, every hill and valley and wide spot
in the middle of
the road in this state. He instinctively knows how long it
takes to get to
the scene, and he knows a good days work when one is turned
in. He's often
called those of us in the print media with kudos about
hard-hitting pieces.

As a chronicler of Arkansas events, Pitcock helped create
the vast KATV
video archives, which now house almost 16,000 hours of
tape, all
computerized for rapid access.

Now in semi-retirement, Pitcock helped coordinate the major
network's
coverage of the Paula Jones trial in Little Rock and has
also dabbled in
some political races.

Begun in 1993, the Deane Award has honored Bob McCord,
Swampy Graves and Ray
Kimball, Richard Allin, Bob Douglas, George Fisher, Betty
and Cone Magie,
Ernie Dumas and J.E. Dunlap. Pitcock fits well within that
company of
journalistic legends.

But most of all, he has fought back against a serious
illness to remain
among us. A few years ago, a brain tumor sidelined Pitcock,
but today he's
in good health.

The Ernie Deane Award for valor in journalism recognizes
Arkansas
journalists or writers whose work best exemplifies the
spirit, style and
courage of its namesake.

Pitcock fits that mold. Congratulations Jim.

Maylon T. Rice is a features writer for the Times and has
known Pitcock for
decades. He can be reached at maylonr@nwarktimes.com.

The Day The Pulse Book Arrived at KAAY

Well rather than relate a story just look at a clip from WKRP. Obviously the writers have been there, done that. Anyone who has been in radio has lived this moment:

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

Also watch some of the other WKRP videos from thw person who posted them on You Tube. Watch quick. I have previously used You Tube links to WKRP cuts and they have been removed.

Black Oak Arkansas - KAAY Concert

Today I am happy to be able to post a brochure done for sales purposes of a Black Oak Arkansas concert at Barton Coliseum on June 23rd. Unfortunately I don't have the year. I am depending on a reader to email me the year so I can make this post complete. The brochure is about 7 inches square and done in black and white. I don't know who selected the font. I guess they were trying to be arty. The excellent photographs are by David Conrad.

Be sure and double click on the photographs to see them large and print it out so you can have a copy too. If you have the date or comments to add to this post, email me at ajlinds@yahoo.com.

KAAY Remembered in a Comment

Hello A.J.:

I just saw your post regarding replies to your blogs.

First of all, let me say that your page is one of the pages I check on a daily basis. KAAY was one of the most influential radio in my life. It was one of the few reliable stations from Arkansas I could receive in St. Louis (KLCN in Blytheville and KLRA were two others). I have relatives in NW Arkansas and have a soft spot in my heart for the state. Besides that, KAAY was one of those stations that had a magic all to itself--a 50 thousand watt station that made a personal connection to its listener (WLAC and WWL's "Road Gang" show had that kind of quality too).

I know I'm not the only one who felt this way.

If you have a direction for this site, here are some suggestions. All over the web are tributes to the past history of great radio stations--WLS, CKLW, WABC, KHJ, reelradio.com, and NBC Monitor come to mind. KAAY definitely deserves a page to itself, with a history, airchecks, and photos. I'm sure this is a labor of love, and I'm grateful you have put this site together. If you want to take a site like this further, you may want to contact the individuals who have put these other tribute sites together. They may offer some insights for you. Also, Clyde Clifford and Barry McCorkindale (sp?) (who hosted KAAY's "Radio Yesterday" show)might be able to help you as well.

For several years, WABC has hosted a Memorial Day "Rewound" show featuring hours of old airchecks, and since December 2005, the station hosts a Saturday Night Oldies show. This year, WLS hosted their rewound show, featuring live talent (most notably Larry Lujack and John "Records" Landecker). These shows came about, without a doubt, because of those who cared about these radio stations, during their Top-40 heyday.

Best Wishes/73

Paul Harner

Still Waiting

I am still waiting for comments from you the reader on any subject relating to KAAY. This gives me a direction to take this blog. I am getting hits from all over the world about 24 per day, but I get very few comments. So let me hear from you: ajlinds@yahoo.com.

When I first started at KAAY, the memos, the hot clocks, the contest formats, news formats, all were printed on an old Ditto machine. Those of you old enough will remember those purple print copies that (if they were freshly run) could almost give you a high from sniffing. I guess kids today are still looking for a high to sniff.

Shortly after I came to KAAY, we got a NEW, MODERN, Thermofax copy machine. You ran an original in and got out a toasty, brown copy that deteriorated rapidly if exposed to heat or even time.

See how badly I need you to give me a change of subject and direction.

Technical Difficulties

Yesterday (Monday) and even this morning Pod-O-Matic, the service I use for audio and video clips has been experiencing problems with congestion and the feeds have not been downloading. I hope they correct this problem. If you are not able to view or listen to a clip please try again later.

Now to the main issue of this post. I am getting great hits on this blog from all over the world. Thank you for your visits and for posting my blog address on websites and other blogs. What I really need to continue this blog is your comments. I get very few comments lately. I like to post your comments and how you remember KAAY.
Please email me you reaction to posts on this blog. My email address is: ajlinds@yahoo.com .

More Memorial Day

Radio stations used to sign off so much more than they do today. KAAY was 24 hours but it did sign off Sunday at midnight for transmitter maintance. It was the custom of most stations to play the National Anthem. At movie theaters, the program started with the National Anthem. I wonder if there is any movie theater today that does this. On this Memorial Day here is a look back to a movie screen in 1942 (the year I was born).
I really enjoyed seeing the WW2 military.

Click on:

http://kaay.podomatic.com/entry/et/2007-05-27T16_29_43-07_00

On This Memorial Day Weekend...

(double click on the picture to see it larger)

Please go to the search box at the upper left and type in "Day For Decision" and listen again.

Have a safe Memorial Day weekend!

Alltel Corp. & KAAY

With Alltel Corp. in the news recently going private, it was significant that in a package of KAAY material Len Carl recently sent me was a 45 record that Allied Telephone Co. had pressed and gave away freely. It was an excerpt of an Ear On Arkansas
piece. How does that relate to Alltel?

First a bit of history:
The Allied Telephone Company of Little Rock, Arkansas, had been founded by Hugh Wilbourn and Charles Miller, who had worked as contractors in the telephone business in the early 1940s. In 1943, they purchased the Grant County Telephone Company, which operated a toll line that ran from Sheridan to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, connecting 275 magneto telephones. After World War II, Wilbourn and Miller put together a network of four small telephone operating companies in Arkansas. During the next 30 years a steady stream of acquisitions helped Allied expand to serve customers in six states.

Both Allied and Mid-Continent had entered unregulated areas of the telecommunications industry, and their activities fit well together. Given these factors, the companies decided to join forces. Mid-Continent and Allied merged on October 25, 1983, and the new enterprise was named the ALLTEL Corporation. ALLTEL began with assets of $1.35 billion, making it the fifth-largest American telephone company.

On this record you will hear Len Carl a/k/a Len Voth introducing the bit. Howard Watson a/k/a the first Ken Knight does the Rufus Stevens singing. When you listen to Ear on Arkansas most things have a secret double meaning that only KAAY employees get. Or some of them get it. "Rufus" was the real first name for Steve Stevens of Channel 11's Steve's Show.

Here it is:
http://kaay.podomatic.com/entry/et/2007-05-26T12_19_38-07_00

KAAY #1

We almost never talked about ratings on the air. With all the heavy production, we always felt it was better to not yell about the ratings, just in case we slipped. Hooper (telephone) Ratings were on their way out and Pulse was becoming the big rating service. One of the main strategies for keeping the same names for disc jockeys was to help build ratings. We stopped saying K Double A Y because we thought that might create confusion in the listener's mind. The night jock sometimes got embarrassed when the religious block from 6 PM til 8 would pull higher ratings than his show. Pat Walsh was a ratings nut. He had a huge file of ratings going back to the late 50s.Before he passed away I helped him find a home for his ratings collection. We felt it was a part of history that needed to be saved. After the bad experience of giving Little Rock University all the Ear on Arkansas masters and having them record over the tape, we felt they needed to go to someone who would copy and pass them on to the next generation.

Today's clip is very short. It is one jingle that few of you who worked for KAAY have ever heard. It was rarely used, for the reasons I mentioned above. Enjoy:
http://kaay.podOmatic.com/entry/eg/2007-05-25T05_57_29-07_00

KAAY Skunk Festival

Loudon Wainwright, III is best known for the 1972 novelty song hit "Dead Skunk (in the Middle of the Road)", with pianist Teddy Wender and for playing Captain Spalding (the "singing surgeon") on three episodes of the American television show M*A*S*H in its third season (1974-1975), but his musical reputation is much deeper. Using a witty, self-mocking style, Wainwright has recorded over twenty albums on eleven different labels. Two of his albums have been nominated for Grammy awards.

Well the Columbia record song inspired George J. Jennings and Sonny Martin to hold a Skunk Festival at War Memorial Stadium. Loudon was there (even though he was very late). Mark Lindsey of Paul Revere and the Raiders was a judge and appears on this cllp. There is a newscast on the clip with newsman Michael O'Sullivan there are some items about the Viet Nam peace talks and cease fire. There is a commercial for Dixie/Yellow Cabs which may sound strange, however, this was a trade to give KAAY sign advertising space on the back of the cabs. Jim Ray Toyota sponsored the festival. At the end of the clip you will hear the inspiration for all of this. It is included for educational purposes and was recorded off the air.

Here's the clip:

http://kaay.podomatic.com/entry/et/2007-05-23T14_12_34-07_00

Another City Song

A few days ago I posted the city song by Pams for Little Rock. It was from KVLC. If you haven't heard it and you're from Little Rock, you are missing a treat.

Jim Pitcock, sent me some time ago the WNOE city song. I'll always remember comments that in New Orleans at night you could hear KAAY playing on radios at drive-ins. I never could understand why. with stations like WNOE and WTIX would push buttons on car radios be set to KAAY. I heard the same thing in Chicago. With WLS and WCFL why did KAAY have such an audience at night?

Enjoy the New Orleans city song:

http://kaay.podOmatic.com/entry/eg/2007-05-23T05_43_21-07_00

KAAY Cow Chip Documentary

I have posted some previous entries about the KAAY Cow Chip Throwing Contest. Please go to the top and type "cow chip" in the box and click on "search this blog". All of this is to set up today's short clip (2 1/2 min) The Cow Chip Documentary. Here it is:

http://kaay.podOmatic.com/entry/eg/2007-05-21T14_02_52-07_00

KAAY Editorial Comment on the Channel 7 for 2 trade

A recent comment said:

This was a few years before my time. They were wanting to trade channel 2 for 7? What was that about and why? Did KATV want to transmit on channel 2?


Yes, KATV wanted channel 2 because it could cover so much more area than channel 7.
I think there offer would give the channel 7 transmitter site and transmitter to the state. It was a short stick at the time. The legislature was about to make the deal.
KAAY editorialized against it. Claiming that channel 2 was a valuable state asset that shouldn't be bargained away. Len Carl, General Manager at the time did the editorial. I believe he reads this blog and can give us more detail.

Did we play Waylon Holyfield on KAAY?

First Waylon Holifield is mostly known as a songwriter. I knew Waylon in Little Rock in the 60s and I thought it was from the campus at Little Rock University, however, the bios I read on Waylon don't mention L.R.U. I'm a big fan of Waylon's writings and even though he skews country, KAAY still played many of his songs. The real reason for writing this is to see if any of you have "Arkansas You Run Deep in Me" in digital form. If so please email me. I just figured out a few days ago, Waylon wrote it. For those of you who don't know who the heck I'm talking about, here's his bio:

Wayland Holyfield is a native of Little Rock, Ark., where he attended public schools and completed his formal education with a marketing degree from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He moved to Nashville in 1972 and had his first # 1 song, "Rednecks, White Socks And Blue Ribbon Beer" in 1973. Since then Wayland has been honored with 37 ASCAP and BMI awards and has written more than 40 Top 10 hits, including 14 # 1 songs. "Could I Have This Dance," "Some Broken Hearts Never Mend," "Till the Rivers All Run Dry," "Only Here For A Little While" and "Meanwhile" are but a few of his almost-four decades of hits. He also wrote "Arkansas You Run Deep In Me," adopted in 1987 as the official state song of Arkansas. Long active as an advocate for songwriters' rights, Wayland was the first Nashville-based writer to be elected to the ASCAP Board of Directors. Wayland has also served as President of the NSAI and as Chairman of the NSF. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992.

Razorbacks and KAAY

The Razorbacks were always a promotional vehicle for KAAY. The station did everything to promote the Razorbacks, i.e. bumper stickers, store signs, records, contests, pep rallies. I've written about early Razorback records on this blog. (check the archives).
One reason KAAY backed the Razorbacks was that General Manager Pat Walsh was a big supporter. Some of my fondest memories are going to Razorback games in Fayetteville with Pat and friends. He always took anyone who wanted to go from the staff. In those days you could take anything you wanted into the stadium. Pat would have a portable TV (rare in those days), a bar, radios, a drop cloth big enough to cover several rows of fans in case of rain, and any thing else he could think of for fan comfort. Going to a game with Pat was an experience regardless of who won.

Today's audio treat is a personal tape put together for Pat probably by the production department. He used this tape for parties and any occasion for inspiring the hogs.

I'm sure Pat would want to share this with you, even though it relates mostly to the Southwest Conference.

Enjoy: http://kaay.podOmatic.com/entry/eg/2007-05-19T14_19_43-07_00

Long before KAAY there was KVLC

As top 40 goes KAAY was a late comer to the Little Rock market. When KAAY went on the air Sept. 1962, there was three other top 40 stations: KXLR, KAJI, and KVLC. KVLC was the first to bring top 40 to Little Rock, but it had a major problem. It was a daytimer. It ran down at sundown. None the less, it was highly successful when it was on the air. The original owner was Lenord Coe. That's where the call letters came from: "The Voice of Lenord Coe". Mr. Coe sold KVLC and bought KLRA, where Brother Hal was always a rating thorn in KAAY's side. I found a 45 record in my collection on the KVLC label called "Little Rock My Home Town". One of my rules for this blog, is to limit it to KAAY material but I can not resist sharing this record which is actually a Pams jingle. You will recognize it immediately. No telling how many cities Pams sung this for. In fact, one of the problems we had at KAAY, is that many of the good jingles had been taken by other stations.
Those of you from Little Rock will really appreciate this jingle. Listen closely they did a poor job of making the call letters stand out and they are only mentioned once:


http://kaay.podOmatic.com/entry/eg/2007-05-17T14_41_47-07_00

WAKY call letters return!

What am I doing talking about WAKY on a KAAY blog? Well, first WAKY was owned by LIN Broadcasting as was KAAY. Many of the original employees came from WAKY, like Mike Hankins, George Jennings, and Jack Grady. The big news WAKY call letters return. Here's the item:


79WAKY.com would like to welcome WAKY back to the Derby City! On May 11, 2007, WASE-FM in Elizabethtown changed their call letters to WAKY, while maintaining their popular oldies format. Now much of the Louisville market can enjoy the music and jingles that made WAKY famous on the all new WAKY 103-5.

On the www.79WAKY.com website you can check out Mike McCormick a/k/a Mike Hankins that I write about often, under "DJs".

On the site Mike writes about George:

George J. Jennings WAKY News Director in the '60s (right before Bob Watson). He also worked at KAAY in Little Rock, Arkansas and WOIA in San Antonio, Texas. Died March 15, 2007 at the age of 67 due to renal failure. Mike McCormick wrote in 2005:
"George Jennings was my second news director at KAAY/Little Rock. He was later transferred to WAKY/Louisville, another LIN Broadcasting station. He also served as our News Director at Storz's WDGY/Minneapolis, but later returned to KAAY."After a couple of changes in Little Rock he accepted a position at WOIA/San Antonio and retired around a year or so ago. [JQ notes: He retired in 1999 after more than 20 years at WOIA.]
"We plan to get together soon and drain Austin of its beer supply...and tell radio lies all evening long.
"George is a great broadcaster and super gentleman. I'd hire him again...probably!"

I guess Mike forgot George doesn't drink. The one night he did.......well thats another story.

Kennedy Editorial on KAAY

KAAY frequently editorialized. The editorials were usually written by the General Manager. Len Carl started that tradition. He editorialized on everything from urging the state legislature not to trade educational channel 2 for channel 7. They didn't and that's a story all it's own. Len even editorialized when rumors were going around about the dirty lyrics of Louie, Louie. Len read the bland lyrics is a very formal style. It was great. This editorial is about the Robert Kennedy shooting. George J. Jennings reads the editorial but it is unsigned. Since both Pat Walsh (the General Manager at that time) and George J. are gone, I cannot verify who wrote it. But the style is very definitely George's style and I suspect he wrote it. There are a lot of commercials in this aircheck from 6-5-68. This was before the days of the stop set. Records were never played back to back. You will notice a lot of talk between records. Ratings with all this talk were at an all time high. Everything from Prep. H (openingly talking about health issues) to Channel 11 promoting and hour of black and white programs. Lots of history in them there spots.

Enjoy: http://kaay.podOmatic.com/entry/eg/2007-05-15T09_02_10-07_00

Robert Kennedy Shot 6-5-68 Geo. J. Reports

It's 6:30 AM, Marvin Vines wraps up his Farm Report, and George J. Jennings does KAAY Comex News with complete details of the 4:30 AM, Little Rock time, Robert Kennedy shooting. Clyde Clifford, of Beaker Street does a police report. We all did "phoners" or newscasts. Notice the farm commercial that runs in the newscast. More information than we want to know about flies.

Here's the link:

http://kaay.podOmatic.com/entry/eg/2007-05-15T08_24_43-07_00

Broadway Drive-In and more great commercials on KAAY

This aircheck of Ron Owens a/k/a Walt Sadler has a great spot for "Big Daddy" showing at the Razorback Drive-In Theater. Also "The Wild Bunch" is showing at the Arkansas Theater. Southwestern Bell's spot plays off the "only phone company in town" joke and Frank Woods does Comex News. Walt passed away several years ago. We worked together at KAAY and when I was Manager at KOKY Walt was sales manager. A great guy and good friend.

Enjoy about 24 minutes:
http://kaay.podOmatic.com/entry/eg/2007-05-14T12_15_05-07_00

Dale Bumpers was governor of Arkansas and.........

The newscasts in these air checks also bring back some memories. This aircheck is from 6-11-72.

http://kaay.podomatic.com/entry/et/2007-05-12T07_41_04-07_00

Missed One

I think I missed one in the Last Day of KAAY series. So here it is:

http://kaay.podomatic.com/entry/et/2007-04-20T07_10_16-07_00

Marvin Vines & Sonny Martin on KAAY

From 11/2/71 this aircheck has a longer segment of Marvin Vines. We often forget KAAY had a 30 minute farm program from 5:30-6:00 AM. Also a 15 minute segment at noon. Religious programs 5-5:30 AM AND 6:00-8:00 PM in the evening. There was also a hour 11:00 -Midnight for Stan's Record shop. This was unheard of for a top 40 station. These paid programs paid the overhead, so that the rest of spot sales were profit.

Enjoy the aircheck:

http://www.podomatic.com/podcast/tell/kaay?p=1

KAAY Commercials

No airchecks just commercials. Not presented here as examples of great commercials but a look back in history. Can you imagine the ticket price for a James Brown show? Jerry Sims hawks the virtues of channel 11's color and local line up. Don't miss the movie spots. Remember the Broadway Drive-In Theater.

http://kaay.podOmatic.com/entry/eg/2007-05-09T12_28_26-07_00

The First Mike McCormick on KAAY

We've been listening to the 2nd Mike McCormick but who was the first. I've written extensively about Jim Hankins the first McCormick and the first program director who put together the staff and sound of KAAY. Please go up to the "search" box for this blog and enter "Hankins" scroll down and read the earlier posts. Here is a short aircheck. Listen to the enormous reverb. George Jennings and I do produced record intros.

http://kaay.podOmatic.com/entry/eg/2007-05-09T11_12_21-07_00

Phil North aircheck from KAAY

Does anyone know the date for this aircheck

http://kaay.podOmatic.com/entry/eg/2007-05-08T14_09_41-07_00

Part 2 of KAAY Aircheck

The way blogs are posted causes airchecks that are broken into parts to be backward. This is part 2. You might want to scroll down and start with part 1 then come back to:


http://kaay.podomatic.com/entry/et/2007-05-05T09_56_19-07_00

KAAY aircheck 4-1-67

Posts below have been featuring some of the last day of KAAY broadcast. This clip is from that show but it is an actual aircheck from 4-1-67 with Barry Wood a/k/a Mike McCormick. You'll notice his voice is much younger:

http://kaay.podomatic.com/entry/et/2007-05-05T09_44_58-07_00

More last day Harper Valley PTA

How fast did KAAY start playing Harper Valley PTA?

Listen and find out:
http://kaay.podomatic.com/entry/et/2007-05-05T09_36_28-07_00
More facts about the record:
Jeannie C. Riley (born Jeanne Carolyn Stephenson on October 19, 1945) is a Country Music singer. She is best known for her 1968 Country and Pop hit "Harper Valley PTA". She became the first woman to have a single become a Country and Pop #1 hit at the same time. Following the success of the song, she had more success on the Country charts.

KAAY News Item

Hear what former GOVERNOR of AR, Bill Clinton had to say about FORMER coach Eddie Sutton going to Kentucky:

http://http://kaay.podOmatic.com/entry/2007-05-05T09_23_56-07_00

Last Day of KAAY as Sonny tells where the name Beaker St. Came from

Sorry it's been so long since my last post, but I lost my transfer cable. To continue with the Last Day of KAAY broadcast Sonny Martin a/k/a Matt White is talking with Mike McCormick a/k/a/ Barry "woody" Wood and tells how the name for "Beaker Street" originated.

http://kaay.podOmatic.com/entry/eg/2007-05-04T13_11_45-07_00