A Car an Hour

Continuing the contests memories. KAAY signed on September (Labor Day weekend as I remember.) 1962. I was Program Director at KXLR. With KAAY, a total of four stations in the market were top 40. We had heard on the street, that KAAY was going to give away a car. So, we got our crack sales department to go out and trade out a car to give away. KAAY's contest was to give away a car a day for a month and ended the promotion with a car an hour for 24 hours. Mike McCormick (PD at the time) always thought big even for 1962. The run of the mill contests, the news tip,etc. were usually small dollars. Mike D. remembers:

I love listening to old airchecks where the prize is something like a dollar
and a half. They'd give the winner's name and street address out on the air.
Sometimes their phone number. In the '60s they used to have contests where
the object was to go knock on people's doors looking for something or asking
if this was the secret house. You'd get shot today. The "Mr. Whisper"
contests were popular too, or guess the record played at a different speed.
Sometimes they'd give way the entire Top 40 of that week on 45s. That must
have set the stations back a bundle.

Never the 91 caller!

Contests and promotions were contributing factors to the success of KAAY. There were always several contests going at once. A variety of contests with different ways to enter, were key factors. In those days, many of the proof of listeners was from the mail that was received from across the country.

One contest I found a picture to support was the "Christmas in August" contest. I don't even remember the details, perhaps one of you can refresh my memory. I know it involved Jim Pitcock whose air name was Ron Owens (I think). We thought it was so funny to dress skinny Jim in a Santa suit with NO padding and drive him around in a convertible in the heat of an Arkansas August.

Tombstone

An emailer asked: Did you ever see the gravestone of little
Glaspie Dillard out under the west tower?

I've been to the transmitter site many times and have never heard this one.

Anyone out there have more details?

Ghost at the Wrightsville Transmitter

As you have seen in previous posts the transmitter for KAAY was in Wrightsville, AR (south of Little Rock) and Clyde Clifford's real name is Dale Sidenswartz. (the name Clyde Clifford came from the comptroller of Lin Broadcasting. Pat Walsh delighted in naming air personalities after Lin corporate types). With all this in mind here is a post from Bill S. shedding some light on the story:

Several years ago, I asked Dale Sidenswartz about the rumors I had heard like you of the Mighty 1090 transmitter building being haunted.

While I don’t recall the entire story, Dale did confirm that in his late nights at the transmitter as he kept the Beaker Street alive, there was on more than one occasion some unusual occurrences, if not, ghostly spirits, moving through the inside of the transmitter building. Never did he mention anything about a gravestone.

In 1969, as a teenager, having visited the Wrightsville three towers site during a tour of the grounds and building by Felix McDonald, I never noticed a grave marker.

Answer to Paul's Question

Thanks to David for the answer to Paul's question:

"House Of The Rising Sun" to
which Paul refers was done by a group called Frijid
Pink (I think that's the proper spelling). They had
maybe two albums on Parrot Records, a subsidiary of
London.

David also raises questions about the haunting of two
studio locations and the grave stone under one of the
towers. I'll have to research that one. If anyone has
any experiences with this, please email me.

Beaker Street & KAAY

Any discussion of KAAY usually comes around to "Beaker Street". Here from a newspaper article are Clyde Clifford's (a/k/a Dale Sidenswartz) own words:

But the audience was enormous back in 1966, when Clyde Clifford got the job of hosting KAAY’s “Beaker Street” because the Federal Communications Commission required an engineer to be on duty at the transmitter.
“I was out there at the transmitter anyway,” he said.
The eerie background music of “Beaker Street” was used to mask the hum of the machinery since the show didn’t broadcast from a conventional studio.
“We wanted it to sound really trippy,” Clifford said.
Despite being in the center of the country, as far away from the recording centers of the East and West Coasts as it was possible to be, KAAY was bringing groundbreaking music to the heartland.
“I knew there was a lot of stuff we were doing that no one else was doing — that we were ‘out there,’” Clifford said of KAAY. “We were rocking, but we weren’t really a rock station. Some country would slip in, some soul would slip in, even some jazz would slip in. Nothing extreme, but not a strict format. We even aired farm markets.”
The advent of FM radio saw improved sound and steady — although less far-reaching — signals. Rock-formatted stations migrated to FM, a change Clifford calls “hard to explain. There was just change in the air at that time. It was like the change from spring to summer — you didn’t really notice.”
Clifford himself moved to FM in 1974 — to Little Rock’s KLAZ, 98.5 — and “Beaker Street” was abandoned.
The legend of KAAY and the prog-rock show only increased as KAAY finally “went pure religious” in the 1980s. There was a celebratory last day of broadcasting in the original format with original staff, culminating with the return of Clifford to do a final broadcast of “Beaker Street” on KAAY.
“I thought that was the last radio I’d ever do,” Clifford said.
Improbably, in the late 1980s, “Beaker Street” was resurrected on FM and again on Sunday nights. Now, Little Rock’s classic rock stalwart Magic 105 has aired Clifford’s “Beaker Street” longer than the original lasted on KAAY.
A block of religious programming airing earlier on Sundays helped pay for the airtime of “Beaker Street” on KAAY during the hippie prog-rock show’s initial run. Meanwhile, “the Mighty 1090” itself has exclusively broadcast Christian sermons since the 1980s. KAAY still carries on in its storied call letter form — and its storied power.
“It was a great time to be in radio,” Clifford said of KAAY’s heyday. “It was a great time to be in Little Rock.”

I received this email from Paul regarding "Beaker Street"
The one thing I am curious about is the version of "House Of The Rising Sun" that was used. This opening theme was used since at least 1973, and the whole song was usually played. Unfortunately, when I recorded it, it was not, and as an 11 year old, I stopped the tape. I wonder if anyone recognizes this version of the song. The only other time I heard this version was on an episode of the old NBC "Weekend" show during a feature on competitive frisbee throwing....

Here is the opening Paul recorded:
:http://www.members.cox.net/kaay1090/Beaker.mp3

Pat Walsh & Bumper Stickers

Several times in this blog I have made reference to Pat Walsh, long time manager of KAAY, who has passed on. One of the great tributes to Pat was an editorial cartoon in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Anyone who knew Pat, knew his love for the Razorbacks. This was often translated into a promotional bumper sticker for KAAY and the Razorbacks.

This is just one of dozens of Razorback bumper stickers. (For those of you much younger, in the 60s and 70s it was almost a requirement to have a bumper sticker of some type on your car.)

Where did you hear KAAY?

Naturally I was always interested in where people were when they were listening to KAAY. One evening we were shocked with a record request from a part of the world where we knew we shouldn't be heard. After closer questioning, the caller revealed he was listening on an Air Force line that had KAAY patched into it.

Here is another email comment I received: Living on the West Coast, I wasn't able to hear KAAY due to co-channel interference from XERB in Mexico. My first impressions of the station were from bits and pieces recorded by a friend traveling along I-10 from Arizona to Florida, probably around 1971. That friend later worked at a station in Tulsa and would record stations he was hearing from that location during the night. Of course, KAAY was one of the stronger signals. He'd record a bit of KAAY before moving on to lesser signl stations he was hearing such as WING in Dayton, some of the Kansas City stations, and whatever else he was receiving. At the time, KAAY was using the PAMS Series 42 "The Igniters" jingle package.

In September of 1973, I had an opportunity to travel to Tulsa to visit relatives and took time out in the evenings to listen to KAAY which I thought had a great format at the time and was using the PAMS Series 44 "The Music's On Us" jingle package. As mentioned by another poster, I also remember quite well hearing the 8:00 pm station ID "Greetings QSLers..."

The airchecks, jingles and other audio you're posting on this site is great! Brings back a lot of memories of what radio was like back in the good old days of radio when clear channel stations actually meant a clear signal.

Hope you can keep up the fantastic job on this blog.

Kevin

Today's download is 20 minutes of KAAY jingles. I love the old style jingles that built a station image not just bridged songs together. This covers a wide span of years and includes several companies including Pams and the great sonovox cuts. The quality is not the best coming from carts and dubbed to cassette before being digitalized. I have some better quality cuts of some of these jingles but this represents many together. Enjoy:http://www.members.cox.net/kaay1090/blog.mp3

Thanks & Another Air Check Gem

If it is easier to email me than to post a comment please do so at ajlinds@yahoo.com. I received the following email comment:
For the record, I am 41, and first discovered KAAY as a seven-year old in 1972.

KAAY was a great, great radio station. It didn't have a strict "Top-40" sound, the way stations like WLS, CKLW, WCFL, or XEROK had. The station played the hits, and played mid-chart hits that other stations (at least any other 50 kW blowtorches) didn't touch. The jingles, the personalities, and songs all combined to create something that was truly magical.

Listening to airchecks of the station is like having a ice-cold 41 degree Coke on a summer afternoon (and I really enjoyed the Walt Sadler aircheck offered here). KAAY offered Southern hospitality in radio form.

When KAAY would reach into St. Louis through skywave, I usually heard religious programming (typically Garner Ted Armstrong), which I didn't care for, but now understand kept the bills paid. Then at 8 PM, heard "Greetings QSL'ers, this is KAAY Little Rock" kicking off the hour with music.

I also remember "Beakerstreet" which came on at 11 PM. By the time I started listening to the station, Clyde Clifford was gone, but the show remained on the air until 1977. It was not a show I listened to as a kid, but through airchecks and Clyde's current show, grew to really enjoy. Programs like "Beakerstreet" added a certain mystique to the station, and gave KAAY a certain degree of credibility to my friends who didn't care for Top-40 music, and were listening to Album-Rock radio instead.

Even later on, shows like "Blues Alley" had KAAY stand apart from other stations on the dial.

If Doc Brown's modified DeLorean really existed, I'd set the dials at some point in the early 1970's, drive 88 M.P.H. and put 1090 kHz on the presets and hang out there for a while. And I'd bring a tape recorder/hard drive and bring it back!

Best Wishes/73

Paul

Thanks Paul, and here is an air check of the second Buddy Karr, Bob Mullins. I also show up this aircheck reading the "Bannerline news" as Doc Holiday. News was not my favorite, but working the 6-midnight shift you did what was necessary. Notice in the background after the record as Buddy starts to talk, a KAAY jingle is playing softly behind him. This was a requirement of the program director Mike McCormick. The jingle was on a cart machine in a rack out of the way and no one was to touch it. A remote button, under the console was pushed as the jock started to talk. I saved nothing air check wise during the two different times I worked at KAAY.I am always happy to find anything from this era. The air check was made in October of 1963. Bob Mullins also worked for the Big Kay twice and did George J. Jennings.
Enjoy the air check by clicking on this link:
http://www.members.cox.net/lindse/Karr.mp3

KAAY's 1st Program Director Mike McCormick

Mike McCormick a/k/a Jim Hankins, as mentioned previously, created the original sound of KAAY. He did the 9-12 AM shift. Here is his bio from 9/27/62. Click on it and then use the enlarge button to read:



Now hear Mike and some of the early KAAY production with some of his "seasonal" promos: Here is the link:
http://www.members.cox.net/lindse/mike.mp3

The First Buddy Karr a/k/a Tom Bigby

If you click on the above and then the enlarge button, it should be ledgible.

In the original lineup of jocks that signed on KAAY, Tom Bigby was Buddy Karr. He did afternoon drive.

Now hear a short aircheck of Buddy:
http://www.members.cox.net/lindse/B Karr.mp3

Rock Robbins a/k/a Tommy Riggs 6/15/43-6/29/00

Tommy came to KAAY 8PM to midnight to do something different for the nighttime. Tommy was a DJ but more important, he played piano by ear. If you could hum it, Tommy could play it. We put a small electronic piano on top of the console, and Tommy would play and sing short bits as he was inspired to do. Additionally Tommy created many songs and material for "Ear On Arkansas" (a 30 minute saterical view of the news airing on Sunday). I remember often at 2 AM being 15 minutes short of a finished program and calling Tommy who would come to the station and fill the void with great stuff.

Tommy's passion was live entertainment. Even though he left KAAY to do more with his band, he did go to Pine Bluff, AR to be program director and eventually manager of KCLA.

Tommy was living in Nashville at the time of his death and was remembered there as well as back home in Arkansas.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, saw fit to remember him in a lengthy obit subtitled "Singer, Songwriter, ŒProm King.' " The article recalled how the North Little Rock native gained local fame as the "Prom King" for performing at high school proms throughout central Arkansas. He earned a larger following in the '60s and '70s as Rock Robbins, a rock deejay on the high-powered Little Rock station KAAY-AM, which could be heard from Canada to Cuba.

A Nashville paper had this to say: Tommy Riggs (Tom Payton) is an Arkansan singer, piano and keyboard player who had several bands while performing around the state in the 1960s and 1970s. He also was working as a radio DJ (as Tom Jones) at the time, on KCLA, during 1968 through 69 &As Tom Payton on KXLR in North Little Rock in 1964, and in 1966 at KAAY]]. During this period, he promoted himself as Tom Payton and the Kingpins, Tom Payton with The Playboys, and several other names. He recorded while he was Rock Robbins from KAAY on the Little Rock label "MY Records" in 1966. Two songs from the session were released on a 45 rpm record, "My Little Girl" and "Good Lovin'"... The other songs and all tape masters are in private hands. Promoting himself as Tommy Riggs, he performed around the country From St. Louis to Las Vegas before settling down in Nashville, Tennessee and frequently playing at the Stockyards Lounge

Emperor Record

As the Emperor Holiday promotion got into gear, promotional material begain to roll. This is a 45 record (remember those) recorded by a local band in the conference room of KTHV. The records were all given away,probably a pressing of 5000. If you want to save this or any of the audio clips just right click on the link, select "save target as" and save it on your computer where you want it.

Here is the link: http://www.members.cox.net/lindse/Emp Holiday.mp3

Emperor Holiday Sticker

I received an email from David B. Treadway, who was program director of KAAY at the end of its existence as a top 40 station. He credits KAAY as inspiring him to get into radio. From his email message: (a time when it
literally was MAGIC to thousands of teenage Arkies,
myself in the forefront. I had an Emperor Holiday
sticker on my looseleaf binder in the 7th grade.
"maneuvers" was spelled wrong.)

More on the whole "Emperor" bit later. Interestingly enough the layout for the bumper sticker went though several hands at the station and the screen printing folks at Adcraft of Ar. No one caught the error. The stickers had been out for several weeks, when a loyal commando pointed out the error of our ways. Without missing a beat, we replied that was intentional. It was all part of the comedy of Emperor Holiday. (Holiday being spelled different from the historical Doc Holiday)

Thanks to you......

Thanks to you for your interest in "The Mighty 1090". Many of you have taken the trouble to email me about this blog.

However, NO one has taken advantage of the "comments" feature. It will add so much to this blog if you will leave a comment. At the end of each post is the word "comments" click on that and follow the instructions. Others will then be able to read your comments. You can leave your comments anonymously if you like. I would especially be interested in where you were and what you were doing when you heard KAAY. You comments will also help me determine where the blog should go. For example the post and air check on Ron Owens was prompted by an email newsletter, where someone asked "whatever happened to Walt Sadler". Please comment and comment often. Be sure and also check out the "archives".

Whatever Happened To............

Before he died, Pat Walsh long time manager of KAAY made a recap of some of the early KAAY employees:

Marvin Vines, Farm Director died in the late 70's his funeral was huge. Attended by 2 sitting U S Senators, 1 sitting Congressman, a sitting Governor and 1 past Governor as well as the Secretary of Agriculture.

Jack Grady, ( John K. Anderson), went on to be successful as a record promoter. I think he lives in Nashville.

George J. Jennings, went to Milwaukee, came back to KAAY to work for me. Went into business for himself selling old radio programs. After that he worked for Clear Channel and my friend John Barger, now semi-retired ( Disability ) and living in San Antonio with Nancy. email georgeotr@sbcglobal.net ( He rarely answers email but Nancy does,)

Dub Murray ( Doc Holiday ) went on to Texas to never be heard from again, I kept the Doc Holiday name on the air for 10 years after he left.

Wayne Moss ( Sonny Martin ) went to Dayton then to manage a station in GA, I brought him back to KAAY to be my operations mgr. and he was great. After I left the new guy ran him off to bring in a friend ( who did not last ) Wayne went to Roanoke Va. as a salesperson, became sales mgr. and when the station was sold he owned 25 % of it. ( sold for 10 Mil. ) He is now retired there and he and Linda are restoring an old home, his son is a VMI grad and now an FBI agent. I also kept the Sonny Martin name on the air ( Until I left in 76. When Wayne came back I already had a Sonny Martin on the air so I let him use his own name , something I never let occur otherwise.

Howard Watson, ( Ken Knight ) went to work at KMYO in LR tried to take his on air name with him, lost in court so adopted Len Day and as that worked at KMYO KEZQ and now at a station in Hot Springs Village where he and wife Jerry moved about 6 years ago. I also kept the Ken Knight name on the air for about 8 or 9 years.

Jim Hankins ( Mike McCormick ) As you know went to KMYO in Little Rock, then to WLS in Chicago and multiple points after that. Now residing in Texas retired and I think is still married to Patti. I also kept the Mike McCormick name on the air for at least 10 years. "Mike Hankins" <mccradio@swbell.net>

Tom Campbell, ( Rob Robbins ) I think he went to California but don't know for sure. I also kept the Robbins name in some fashion on the air until I left in 76.

Eddie Graham studio and production engineer. Became a salesman ( Top one in the market ) worked at KAAY until the early 80's got fed up joined me at KLRA, worked there a couple of years after I left to join Fred Gregg he then bought the only 2 stations in his home town of Arkadelphia, sold them last year and he and Carolyn are visiting grandkids and he is constantly going hunting or fishing. eddie@ezclick.net


Felix McDonald , xmtr engineer , became Chief engineer , still takes care of KAAY transmitter ( now owned by Citadel ) bought a daytime religious AM in 78 still owns 25 % of it. Put a 25000 watt FM with a tower on land he owned down next to the KAAY
xmtr, sold it about 3 years ago to Citadel for 1.8 million. KLAL calls )

Sue Baber, secretary, deceased.

Celeste Dozier, traffic. Worked for me for years as my secretary stay when I left. Went to various markets later with Gary Friez. Managed a station in Mississippi then rejoined Gary, left Phoenix when he did went to Colorado Springs to work for Jones network, now at TM Century in Dallas running collections (see web site )

Joe Dickey , sales. Worked for me for several years, left to sign on KLAZ FM , station sold went to manage KXLR,left to move to Dallas, worked for Mutual network, came back to Little Rock now works for State of Arkansas.

Tom Bishop, mgr. Went to Texas, made a good career in producing Spanish language covers of American hit records, sold them to convenience stores in high population Mexican areas of the State. Sold out of that and became a real estate investor in Austin in the late 70's. Guess he is now retired, have not heard from him in about 5 years.

Len Carl ( Lind Voth ) Left KAAY as manager transferred to WAND TV as manger, transferred from there to New York City to run the LIN direct mail order division . Resigned as Vice President and Member of the Board of Directors in 69. Opened a direct mail company, sold it and started buying radio stations. At one time he and his partner owned 6 of them.Sold his last station in 2002. He and Margie have lived in the Tampa.St Petersburg are for over 20 years.

Ron Owens a/k/a Walt Sadler

Walt came to KAAY from Louisiana at the recomendation of Ray Brown who was then the 3rd Doc Holiday. Walt took the name "Ron Owens" and I believe he was the second. He did D.J. work, news, remotes and anything he was asked to do making friends everywhere. Walt worked as sales manager at KOKY, and news at KLRA. He was back at KAAY (religious format) when he passed away a few years ago. Here is an air check from the 11/20/69 : http://www.members.cox.net/lindse/Walt.mp3

KAAY & The KTHV Building

In the beginning KAAY, was located in the KTHV Building at 8th and Izard, Little Rock, AR. Lin Broadcasting bought the radio affiliate of KTHV and rented space in the building. This offered a great opportunity for fun with other broadcasters in the same building but not employed by the station. It was a great source of additional voices for free when needed.

As I remember, there was a bookie named Raymond who had several clients in the KTHV building. One day Raymond was arrested on the sidewalk near the Blue Goose. The ever alert news department rushed outside to film the event. Yes, in those days it was film that had to be developed and edited. Raymond was not too happy to see some of his clients capturing his demise and putting it on television.

The news department of KAAY ignored the story. After all, Raymond was a good contact.

KAAY & THE ELEGENTLY APPOINTED BLUE GOOSE

The original Blue Goose was at 8th and Izard accross the street from KTHV.KAAY, at that time was located on the 2nd floor of the Channel 11 building. Howard Watson, known as Ken Knight on KAAY started referring to the "elegently appointed Blue Goose". He built on this illusion for the listeners by describing the LR elete arriving for the floor show.Night after night to 40 states and 19 foreign countries he painted a vivid picture of a great night club with floor shows and all the trappings. Of course locals knew there were only two tables in the Blue Goose and those were usually taken by George Moore or other KTHV celebreties. The bar-b-que was great and the beer coldest in town.One evening a couple appeared at the door looking quite bewildred and lost. Come to find out they were from Wisconsin and had called trying to make reservations for the floor show. Or course the Blue Goose owner and help were completely oblivious to all that was going on. By proping open the control room door and looking out the windowed stairway, "the wierd beard" could see all that was going on and verbally fanticize even more.

Mike McCormick Originates Early KAAY

Mike McCormick A/K/A, Jim Hankins, originated the original KAAY, Big Kay, Friendly Giant, Mighty 1090, jingles and "sound" of KAAY. This Jingle is a very early KAAY jingle that mentions the Silver Dollar Survey shown in earlier posts. It also mentions the friendly giant and the logo line K A A Y, Tune Ten Ninety. In later years the word "tune" was dropped, but for several years it served the purpose of establishing a logo that listeners could and would sing any time they saw the mobile unit on the streets. Click the link and enjoy a 1963 jingle: http://www.members.cox.net/lindse/KAAYsilver.mp3