Fan Mail

Our good friend Jonnie King recently shared an old e-mail with me, in several parts, of some kind words he receieved from a listener.  I'm sure there's a lot of fan mail that got dumped into File 13 and the Round File over the years, but this one was sent over a media that wasn't even ivented yet, years after Jonnie had been on the air.  Jonnie gave his permission to share with you all, so here's the unedited text of the e-mail:

"Bud,

You know, I RARELY throw anything away, SO I was going through some of my old eMails and uncovered this from a KAAY listener...wanted to share it with you. It came almost exactly 6 years ago...luckily, I'm still alive to read it.

At the time I got it, I was here at 106.5 Smooth Jazz Radio. (in St. Louis, no doubt? bs) I didn't have any WebSites up, but corresponded with this nice lady a few times.
 
All the best to you,
 
Jonnie
 
I saw your post on Songfacts. I remember you!!! We used to listen to you all the time. We would run around with our little transister radios with an ear piece. I still have some of the handouts from the music store downtown that would list the top 20 hits of that week. You brought back some happy memories of "the good old days" when I saw KAAY. Hope you are doing well.
 
Sandy"

(The "handouts" she was talking about were the Weekly Surveys. I was music director and made those out everyweek...it was QUITE a job to say the least. Jonnie)

"So YOU were the one with the transistor plugged into your ear, eh? I remember you...you were the cute one ! Hope things are good for you, Sandy and that you and yours are healthy and happy. Do you live in LR or NLR? That whole area has grown SO much...I might not recognize it.  Jonnie"

"It has changed....OMG. I actually live in Benton now. I had to get my children out of Little Rock schools. Too much violence/drugs/gang activity for junior high kids. When I remarried in 1996, we bought a house in Benton. Of course in the last 7 years, the area from Little Rock through Bryant to Benton has tripled. Pretty soon, Benton will be just a suburb. I guess by then, I will be in the nursing home, so it won't matter. Silly me.

Not long ago, I saw Sonny Martin on a commercial....of course I don't remember know what he was advertising. Yours and his name are really the only ones I remember. ok...well maybe later when Craig O'Neil started. He is a sports person on TV now.

Glad to hear you are doing well....I do get to St Louis a few times a year. Will have to scope out the radio station.

Thanks for the response and update.

Sandy"

Johnnie was going to alert this nice lady of our blog, but her e-mail is no longer valid...maybe she'll stumble upon us soon, eh?

In the meantime, I'll take this as an example of the many pieces of fan mail The Greats all over got- and probably still get!  The Internet has certainly shortened up delivery times and made things a lot less personal, in my opinion.  Thanks Jonnie!

And, who is Craig O'Neil?  Can someone shed some light on him, please?  Did we list him in the employee list at all?

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)