Jim was doing the midnight to 5am shift when I came in to take over (possibly on a Saturday morning). Jim's interest in news was showing then. He asked me to listen to an air check he had made overnight. It was not his "All Night Satellite" program....It was of a newscast! I plead guilty of trying to simply "get through" my news efforts when I worked overnight. Most of us would "rip and read" and get back to the fun part ASAP.
Jim's news efforts paid off well for him, and the rest of central Arkansas too. He went on to become News Director of KATV 7. There he lead his station to many years on top of the local television news ratings.
I sent email to A.J. about four years ago which described Jim's intro into the news. It was impressive sounding. He used the Morse code character "F" about three times followed by his voice. It came across like this: "di di dah dit, di di dah dit, di di dah dit, this is Ronnie Owens at your service." This is one of those KAAY memories which is still sharp in my mind. When I was drafted in 1966, the army gave me a Morse code test to see if I would be a competent radio operator. "F" was the only letter I could copy reliably at high speeds. I credit Jim for that.
ReplyDeleteRon Henselman