Much as I LOVE my boy Eric/Rico/Phil North, I frequently felt the need to correct his spelling (the only way I could come close to feeling equal with him!): that is FOUKE Monster, not Faulk. Fouke was (probably still is) a small town in Miller County, Arkansas, where the beastie was reported.
"The Legend Of Boggy Creek" caused a bit of buzz around the state and I seem to remember KAAY hosting the Little Rock premiere of it with numerous ticket giveaways.
Naturally, we couldn't let it go at that; we had to pump it up to outrageous, cartoonish proportions. I suspect the reward for the capture of the monster originated with General Manager Pat Walsh--may he rest in Glory forever. He was all about what I call "Stupid stunts in public" because he well knew what kind of word-of-mouth these things generated. It was the kind of promotion that could not be bought.
So Pat came up with the reward money idea, and the rest of us ran (amuck) with it. We'd just get in the production room, roll tape and let it happen. It didn't matter back then whose ideas made it to the air: the whole was always, magically, greater than the sum of its parts. It invariably would come out better than we expected, due in no small part to Eric/Phil's utter wizardry and unflagging energy.
Yes, Virginia, there WAS magic on this Earth, once upon a time, and a big ol' chunk of it radiated through that Mighty 1090 transmitter at KAAY in Little Rock.
David B. Treadway
a.k.a. Doc Holiday
1971-72
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