Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Merry Christmas!

Hi all,
It's been a busy autumn, and we haven't been posting a lot lately, but I didn't want to forget to wish everyone a Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!

A few years back, Bud Stacey and Greg Barman collected and assembled audio clips of Christmas greetings from a variety of former KAAY DJs.  (The original post is here.) As we close out 2019, this seems to be a good time to listen again to the audio and remember all the good times we had thanks to KAAY.

By the way, every week we post new episodes of Barry Mac's Flashback Tracks and Tin Can Alley, which are about as close as we'll get to having AM1090 and Beaker Street back with us --- just click on the audio links in the right column of this blog.  Thanks, Barry, for the shows!



Everyone take care,
Dave S.

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Two Milestones Achieved!

HOLY SMOKES!  It just occurred to me that The Mighty 1090 Blogspot and KAAY have reached two milestones: Labor Day, 1962, was 57 years ago when KAAY came into being...and we (the blog) have recently surpassed ten years in existence! 

I would have never dreamed that we (the blog) would ever last this long.  Yes, there have been lean times, with very little material, but overall, our archiving has achieved its purpose: to get together as many memories as possible for everyone to enjoy, anytime they wished.  Yes, there is other material out there, but we have been unable to convince the "owners" to share it.  Nonetheless, maybe one day....

In the meantime, please enjoy what we have here and also the weekly offerings of Barry Mac and his programs, so lovingly put together by himself, then posted by Dave S.  Please remember Greg B. who has also retrieved so much almost-lost material and lovingly massaged it back to health and posted it here.  And I, Bud S., appreciate your kind comments and patience with me with my meanderings here on these pages.

Happy birthday to us and KAAY!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

More blog comments

Here are comments that were submitted and posted on the blog over the past few months.  Click on a comment to read it in larger type. Each comment is documented with the name of the post where it was attached, and you can jump to the post by typing its name in the search box located at the upper left corner of this web page.  Happy reading!










Friday, August 2, 2019

Program 72 Pick From Doug Virden


Another goodie from Doug Virden...thanks, Doug!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Another Sound Survey From Doug Virden

Friend of this blog Doug Virden found another KAAY Sound Survey, #138; he didn't know the date of the release, however:


Thank you, Doug!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Russell Jones' Story

Here is even more info from Facebook, posted Oct. 1, 2018...Russell tells his story and is celebrating 40 years in broadcasting!

"For my radio friends and former co-workers. Today marks my 40th year in broadcasting. I was taking a public affairs class at UALR and Terry Caldwell came up to me after a class and said, "Russell (I) want (you) to intern in the news department at KAAY!!!" Without hesitation this freshman said yes! I went to work with Marvin Vines, John Philpot, Lee Frank, Susan Rist and of course Terry Caldwell. Got to host a public affairs show. Jack Randle was doing mornings. Carl Hamilton was the GM.... Multimedia still owned station. Dave Montgomery, and Felix McDonald helped me study and get 3rd class license. Over the years I have met and interviewed local and national politicians, movie stars , sports figures, covered sporting events, major news stories like Titan 2 explosion in Damascus., murder trials, have done play by play for travs., worked with Jim Elder.  Been President of the Arkansas Associated Press Broadcasters Association for 5 years and won the Mark Twain award and Best Newscast and Sportscast while working for KWOZ. I have worked and learned from the very best radio and TV people, too many to name here over the past 40 years. I have had fun. but sometime in 2019, I will, because of technology and health, have to call it quits. Learned a lot in television working at AETN. Broadcasting has been a second family.

 Have a great day!!!"


Thank you, Russell!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Russell Jones Revisited

Folks, I just happened to run into Russell Jones on Facebook, on a KAAY page and asked his story.  This is what I got:

"Bud, my story was I did news and I probably was filling in and got on somebody's aircheck by accident because I usually did the 9- midnight shift or did overnights . My airchecks were news or over on KLPQ where Stuart (McRae) or John Ramsey would chew me out for not hitting the post just right."

And here's a link from Drew Durigan's blog, as well...pretty much tells all of our stories,!

https://radio.drewdurigan.com/airchecks/kaay-am-1090-little-rock-ar-russell-jones-oct-1982/?fbclid=IwAR3D_WNZFrSKcSPcXvdUp3Zxk83rq5omooXHaRB6PJugcpu9e-u4wTmy5_c

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Thursday, June 6, 2019

David B. Treadway: Home Resting

Some of you may or may not know that some of us talked David B. Treadway into writing a book...and little did he know, he said he'd retired and a book has been too much like work.  Hard work!

Needless to say, I got word that he was hospitalized a few days ago, but he's home resting and recuperating.  No particulars were given, due to privacy, I am sure.  Needless to say, we all want to wish David B. a speedy recovery.

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

KAAY Program 75 Picks

Thanks to Doug Virden, friend of the Mighty 1090 KAAY blog, he found this posted on a Facebook page somewhere and sent it in to share:


Per Doug, "...its a chart of the most requested songs of the week in September 1975."

Very cool!  We're always looking for memorabilia such as this!  Thank you, Doug!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Wednesday, March 27, 2019

More comments on the blog

It's been awhile, so here are more comments that were recently submitted and posted on the blog.  Click on a comment to read it in larger type. Each comment is documented with the name of the post where it was attached, and you can jump to the post by typing its name in the search box located at the upper left corner of this web page.  Happy reading!





Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Belle Starr and the Doc Holiday Dance Party, Donnellson, Iowa, February 29, 1964

One of our readers, John Doherty, of Raleigh, NC, has contacted us and helped answer a question posed on this blog almost ten years ago!

Here is some background: The Mighty1090KAAY blog was started in summer, 2009, shortly after the untimely death of KAAY's Doc Holiday II,  A. J.  Lindsey.  The blog's first postings honored A.J. and his career; one posting, titled,  "Where is Belle Starr?" (https://mighty1090kaay.blogspot.com/2009/08/where-is-belle-starr.html), began with this quote from long-time KAAY listener Ron Henselman:

I first heard A.J. as Doc around 1963 or 64 in the evening from Melrose Park, IL. Doc had a young lady on the show he called Belle Starr. She had one of the sexiest voices I have ever heard. Sometimes he called her Belly Starr to make fun of the way the name is spelled. Once in a while Doc referred to himself as The Rockin' Doctor. I'm not sure he even remembered that. All of this stuff was very important to me when I was sixteen or seventeen.
Ron contacted A.J. to learn as much as he could about Belle Starr.  Here's what A.J. replied:

Yes, I remember Belle Starr. She started doing requests when I was doing the night show. She was a very attractive girl from Little Rock University where I was going to college....   Her real name escaped me, so I asked Jim Pitcock a/k/a Ron Owens. Her real name is Sue Phelps and his last information was that she is living in Baton Rouge, LA.  All of us at KAAY, and the listeners alike, were in love with Belle Starr....  Anyone have any pictures or tape?"
And no one had any pictures or tape....  That was the "legend" of Belle Starr as we knew it  --- a name and a sexy voice but no face --- until a few weeks ago, when the following comment to the above story from 2009 popped up out of nowhere:

Anonymous January 19, 2019 at 10:53 AM 
The Doc Holiday Dance Party came to my high school in Donnellson, Iowa in 1964. Ron Owens and Belle Starr were there, I have photos of both which I will post shortly. Other DJs were there from WPGU, KOMA, WLOL. I won a twist contest and was given a first release Surfer Girl LP which the DJs autographed.

Wow! And better yet, the comment's poster, John Doherty, contacted us with the details and photos of the Doc Holiday Dance Party!

In a subsequent email, here's what John told us about the Dance Party:

I was one of those teenagers back in the 60s who laid in bed every night with my transistor radio under my pillow listening to 50000 watts from either KAAY, WLS, or KOMA, which ever was clearest at the time. We lived in a small southeastern Iowa town called Donnellson.

My high school, Central Lee, sponsored a Doc Holiday Dance party on 2/29/1964.  We invited all the schools from the conference and we had over 500 kids there.  For some reason Doc did not attend, I don't remember the reason why?  It didn't matter much because the guys were thrilled that Belle Starr came, and Ron too.  I won a twist contest and was given a Surfer Girl album which Ron and a couple of the other guest DJs signed.   But my highlight without a doubt was doing the "twist" with one "Hot" Belle Starr,  I will never forget her bright red dress with red gloves and her black hair, what a thrill for a 15 year old!
And John has the photos to prove it!  First off, here she is, Belle Starr herself:


Even though the photo is in black and white (it comes from John's high school yearbook), you can still "see" that bright red dress and the red gloves!  And here is Ron Owens, covering for the missing Doc Holiday:


After I got a look at these photos, I asked John some follow-up questions, which he graciously answered:

I don't remember all the details but it was a pretty big deal back then.  It was advertised on radio stations in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, and Missouri.  There were several DJs there,  I only recall the ones that signed my album,  Gary Connors (WPGU Champaign, IL) and Scott Perin?? (WLOL Minneapolis, MN), and Ron Owens.  I said over 500 attended, our school Central Lee had about 400 students, 9th-12th, at the time and we probably more than doubled it, more like 800-1000.  Our gym and cafeteria were packed and the school parking lot was full of buses and cars from other schools. 
The stage was on one end of the gym and it also separated the gym from the cafeteria.  If you were in the gym you could look through the stage and see into the cafeteria.  Anyway, they had all the stage curtains open because they had to put the overflow kids into the cafeteria.  It was definitely non stop dancing.

Belle was a huge hit dancing with the guys, I was one of the lucky ones.
And John supplied this photo of the Non Stop Dancing. (Is Belle in there somewhere?  How about John?)


And here is the write up that appeared in the yearbook:


But what about that Beach Boys album that John won in the twist contest?  Well, John still has it, and he sent this photo as proof!



If you click on the photo for a larger version, you can see Ron Owens' signature in the center, just above the Beach Boys' heads!  John also told us:

Some time ago I did research and confirmed that my Surfer Girl Album is a first pressing.  It is a monophonic with "file under: the beach boys * vocal group, surfing music" and T 1981 appearing across the top.  Most of these were sent out to radio stations or used for other promo use, some did make it to retail stores.

What a great story and a great collection of photos!  Thanks, John, for telling us all about the KAAY Dance Party and putting a face to the name, "Belle Starr"!


---Dave S.  (schmidt1953@gmail.com)

P.S. If you, dear reader, have similar KAAY-related stories or materials to share, we'd love to hear from you --- contact me at the email address just above!

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Upcoming Event On Rewound Radio!

Recently, I'd heard from John Troll, a.k.a. "JT", of Rewound Radio, who will be featuring KAAY in an upcoming Broadcast, slated for 12:00 Noon Eastern Time on January 12, 2019 (at this time).  Herewith is some of his information:

"The plan is to go back 50 years almost to the day and feature one hour each from Charlie King, Mike McCormick and Sonny Martin.  A 50th anniversary celebration of sorts.

I appreciate your support on the KAAY blog and I plan on reciprocating by linking to it as well during the week of the KAAY show helping to drive traffic towards your website.  It's up to all of us who remember to keep the flame alive for as many as these great stations as we can.

Thanks!
Happy Holidays!
JT"
 
More information at: https://rewoundradio.com/
 
Thanks, JT!