Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Ad, At Barnhill Field House

This sounds like someone had a lot of fun making this ad for The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band!  It took place in Fayetteville, AR, Feb. 25, 8 PM until midnight at the Barnhill Field House, University of Arkansas...the year is not known.  The sponsor was the U of A Interfraternity Council.  Ticket outlets were the Village Fox and The Campaign.

The Barnhill Arena is a beautiful facility.  I've been unable to find any early photos, however.  Wouldn't it be great to find some pictures of bands performing in the facilities mentioned in the blog?

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band at the U. of A.:   stream  |   download

For FM DXers

This is a little off our main subject (KAAY), but is radio-related, nonetheless....and fun!

The radio term "DX" means "distance"; "DXing" means chasing after and listening for other-than-local radio stations.

This morning, there was an interesting inversion layer in the atmosphere which caused stations in the FM broadcast band and in the VHF bands above it to travel and be heard well beyond their intended area.  I was listening to radio waves from several hundred miles away, up until about 7:30 AM, when the inversion layer changed with the rising sun.

This layer has cold sinking air on top and warm rising air on the bottom; where they meet causes a "trough" where very high and ultra-high (VHF and UHF) waves travel or "ride" well beyond an intended audience.  This can be fun at times, where a radio enthusiast can hear stations not heard before- and,sometimes not heard again for a long time (or ever again).  This also happened with analog TV signals in the past; I don't know what digital signals are doing now....

Remember I mentioned that weather can influence radio waves?  Get off that local station for a little while and twist that knob a bit in the early mornings, if you have time, and you may be pleasantly surprised!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Black Oak Arkansas Ad

This is a little late for the Fourth of July, but we're going to post it any way...sometimes, scheduling does get a little tight on the blog!  Thanks to Barry Mac, here is an ad for Black Oak Arkansas' performance at, what sounds to be the J Bar H Arena in Camdenton, MO, in the Lake of The Ozarks.  Apparently, this is the rodeo arena since, I think, the 1950's.  back then, I read, Camdenton transformed itself into a full-fledged cowboy town.  It seems a lot of good times were had at the arena!

Five dollars got you an open-air performance of Black Oak Arkansas, The James Gang, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Brownsville Station.

You can't get even near a decent concert nowadays for five dollars....maybe into a local coffee shop with a new band....

Black Oak Arkansas at the J Bar H Arena:   stream   |   download

Bonnie and Radio Waves

As I mentioned before, severe storms can make radio waves reflect and bounce around, allowing the listener to hear stations from areas not normally heard.  Tropical Storm Bonnie, at this time, has crossed over southern Florida and into the Gulf, headed, basically, for the Louisiana coast.  If you're a true dial-fiddler, spin the AM dial up & down and see if you can hear any unusual stations that "weren't there before"!

Have a nice weekend!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Peoria Folk Festival Ad

This sounds like it would have been a great concert --- just listen to all the acts represented in the audio clip!  Donated once again by Barry Mac; he mentioned that it was odd that Black Oak Arkansas was included in the line-up, but if you notice, they were the "special guest star."

It all took place on Sunday, May 28, noon until 10 PM.  What year is unknown.  Ticket prices were $7!  Man, I remember those prices....

Once again, KAAY lent its tremendous signal to air this advertisement.

Peoria Folk Festival ad:   stream   |   download

SALINA, 2010 & THE JERRY DON PITCOCK STORY !

Well, again, congrats to all for contributing to a GREAT first year for our new Big K Site !   I'm just happy to drop a few words for you occasionally about one of America's finest and most respected stations in Broadcast History.

Speaking of "History" (Man, I love a good seque !), I'm on my way to Salina, Kansas for the 30th Anniversary of the Kustom Kemps Of America...leaving on Thurs. (7-22-2010).  It's gonna be a "whopper" !  Hall Of Fame Legends George Barris, Darryl Starbird, Gene Winfield, "Miss Hurst Shifter" Linda Vaughn, "John Milner" (Paul LeMat) from American Grafitti, etc, etc. will be there.  PLUS an Oldies show with Jimmy Clanton, Kathy Young, The Contours, et al.

SO, you can see I'll have a busy weekend getting some great new Interviews for my Hall Of Fame Legends Series WebSite...as of today the Site has had OVER 8,000,000 Hits, 125,000 Visitors from all 50 States AND 110 Foreign Countries.  It's almost like being on KAAY again, only in Stereo !


NOW, AS PROMISED, THE JERRY DON PITCOCK STORY:

After Barry Wood & Pat Walsh hired me, Jerry Don Pitcock (Ken Knight), called me almost every night when I was at KLID saying: "Hurry up, Pard !  Come on down, we need you ASAP !"  This went on til the day I finally left and was on my way. 

Jerry had been made Production Director, and didn't want to do an airshift in addition to those duties, so he was anxious for me to get there.  Jerry was married to a really sweet, cute little girl named Lois, and he wanted to spend more of his nights with her.

Well, my first night on The Big K was April 21, 1969, and since I knew I was going to be at the station for a long time that night, I brought some food along and stored it in the Mighty 1090 Fridge.

As it happened, Jerry was there a little later that night himself, and then left for home. Shortly after, I was getting hungry, and went to the fridge only to find everything I had put in there gone !

Well, the next day I told Barry Wood about it, he brought it up with Pat Walsh, and Pat narrowed the "investigation" down to Pitcock who admitted that he was the culprit.  He said he was sorry, but needless to say, I didn't put much in the fridge after that, and if I did it was plainly labeled:  "Property of the King".

(I don't know where Jerry Don is today, but he still owes me a banana, some strawberry yogurt, a coke, and, a pair of Twinkies !)

I'm on my way out the door...more later, Salina here I come !

Jonnie King

Buddy Rogers Music Store

I have an undated, 'scoped Beaker Street that I'd sent A.J. for his blog a couple of years ago; I was recently listening to it, since I cruise through things from time to time, listening for odd, interesting bits of history.  I came upon an ad for "Buddy Roger's Music Store" in the North Hills Center, off the Sherwood exit (off I-40?).  It was touted as Central Arkansas' most complete drum and guitar showroom, which became Arkansas' first discount music store, "with everything for the music enthusiast".

I searched all over and came up with nothing.  I'm sure, for the time, it was a happenin' place, being advertised on Beaker Street and, with the influence of the music being played, probably did a brisk business.  All I could find was a reference to the same named chain of stores in Cincinnati, OH, where it looks like it's been for quite some time (since 1957).  Other branch stores include Dayton/Centerville, Wilmington, West Chester, Columbus and Harrison, OH, as well as facilities mentioned in northern Kentucky and eastern Indiana.

I was hoping for more nostalgic photo material, but I guess this one wasn't to be!  Did anyone buy their trippin' electric guitar or other gear there while it was in business?

I'll try and contact someone to see if they remember a branch store in Little Rock; however, I didn't see it in their company history....in the meantime, here's a company history; nowhere in it is Little Rock, AR mentioned:

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/How+Buddy+Rogers+thrives:+vibrant+new+management+and+strong+capital...-a08349733

Anyone remember them?

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Dave M. Comments On Charlie Scarbrough!

Thanks to Dave M's quick eye and sleuthing skills, he found a neat entry in another blog singing Charlie's praises:

At one time or another, you have probably used Charlie Scarbrough as voice talent. Charlie was a pioneer in doing freelance voice work, starting his career over 30 years ago. In that time, his status has gone from local legend to national legend. In fact, Charlie is one of the major reasons Little Rock has become a national media production center!

Now, Charlie (pictured above, circa 1934 a.d.) has gotten what he deserves. (1934???  HAS to be a mistake...this was in the latter '60s at KAAY. bs)

Our local chapter of the AAF just awarded Charlie the Lifetime Achievement Award, and this voice actor really earned it. Charlie was an inspiration to us from the beginning. He taught Brent what it meant to run a recording studio, and has paved the way for many brave voice actors to forge ahead and go full-time.

Even though Charlie’s a bit of a luddite and doesn’t own a computer, (so he can’t possibly read this) we’d like to say congratulations Charlie, and thanks for paving the way. You’re not only a great voice actor, you also light up the place every time you walk in for a session.

Here’s a short montage of Charlie’s takes and outtakes put together by our own John Crowley.

Posted by brent at 2:38 PM

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:

http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00e54f0032078834011571300dae970b

The URL for this blog is HERE: http://blog.soundscapes.com/blogscapes/2009/06/index.html

And, you'll notice that Charlie "King" is wearing the jacket with the KAAY patch on it, as we had posted awhile back!

Thank you, Dave M.!  David B. Treadway made the comment awhile back that Charlie was the least mentioned in the history of KAAY...well, we're giving him some well- earned attention now.  More later.

Keep it comin, folks!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

A Proud Jerry Sims With Daughter Karen!

Awhile back, Jerry ("Sonny Martin II") told me that his daughter Karen was about to be inducted into the Arkansas Women's Softball Hall Of Fame...and it happened!

Letters of congrats and recommendations came from his Mayor, the Governor and even the Colorado Rockies Baseball Club!

Karen made the trip from Denver for the ceremony and here she is with her very proud dad.  Jerry says, "This is even better than if I was gettiong the honor."  By the way, Jerry himself is still playing softball and travels all over for tournaments.  Congratulations, Karen!

Commonwealth Theater Ad (Starburst Movie Marathons)

Due to KAAY's great night time radiation pattern, they took advertisements from all over.  This is just one such ad for the Commonwealth Theaters' all-night Starburst Movie Marathon, which took place on a Fourth of July, but the year was unknown.  We do know this particular Fourth was on a Sunday, though.  States represented in the ad were New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma, and several eastern Missouri towns.

Thanks again to Barry Mac for the audio and to Dave S. for the audio help!

Starburst Movie Marathon:   stream   |   download

David B. Treadway, Streaming on "US 97", KQUS!

I'd been listening to Sonny Martin III on KWCK via streaming lately; hence, I'd asked David B. Treadway about streaming on KQUS, "US 97" and, lo and behold, they did the deed this week!  I listened this afternoon and the sound was pretty good, considering the internal speaker of the computer I was borrowing.  I'll have to find a way to "trick" a way into the website from my work station...it's blocked....

Here's the link; click the "US 97" button and enjoy David B. Treadway from 2 PM until 6 PM weekdays!

http://www.myhotsprings.com/

Have a happy weekend, all!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Barry Mac, KAAY Rewound And Radio Yesterday

I'd been pestering Barry Mac for some history about his role with KAAY after The Last Day and he has good-naturedly come across with some great history.  Without further ado:

"I'll give you a slightly extended story of KAAY Rewound and Radio Yesterday. For several years, I'd been told by KAAY's chief engineer, Felix McDonald (who had worked with KAAY virtually non-stop since about 1953), that there were a number of tapes out at the transmitter building, and he thought I might be interested in checking out some of the audio on them. Oddly enough, I'd only been to the transmitter building once, I believe in the spring of '88, as a head honcho with Beasley Broadcasting (who had bought the station the previous year) was in town and wanted to go out there, and for whatever reason, I don't remember seeing the downstairs, even though I'm sure we went down there for awhile. Well, fast forward about 10 years, and that's about the time Felix started to occasionally try to generate my interest in these tapes. Finally, in the spring of 2003, I told Felix that I'd meet him out there one Saturday afternoon. Understand, when Felix told me there were "quite a few" tapes, I'm thinking in the neighborhood of about 50 to maybe 100. Well, imagine my shock when he takes me to the basement of the old building, and I see hundreds of tapes lining the shelves of the north wall. Then, even more surprise when I see there's another area behind that wall that has at least another 200 tapes! So, along with a guy named Grant Merrill, who worked in the newsroom at Citadel-sister station KARN, we carried out about 50 or more these tapes and took them back to the Citadel building, loading them up on one of the few reel-to-reel machines remaining (hooked up, anyway), and spent the balance of the afternoon going through these old commercials. After another trip to the transmitter building, Grant thought that we ought to do a show on KAAY late one night, running some of these old ads and talking about the history of the station. We were able to get long time Beaker Street host Clyde Clifford to sit in with us, and on a Friday night in July or August of 2003 (I don't have the exact date), we all talked about the station's past and ran numerous clips, and even took a few calls from listeners. We called that one hour segment KAAY Rewound, and promoted it for a couple of weeks leading up to the broadcast (we even advertised it newstalk KARN). Well, because of that late Friday night gathering in the summer of 2003, I thought it might be a good idea to sort of continue it with a weekly one hour broadcast that would combine music of the '50s, '60s, and '70s with these old ads. Again, unfortunately, I don't recall when I started this show, but it was several months later, probably in January or February of 2004, and I dubbed it "Radio Yesterday." It ran twice on the weekend, once in the early overnight, Friday into Saturday from midnight to 1:00 (the same hour as that KAAY Rewound program), and again Sunday afternoon from 1:00 to 2:00, immediately preceding a syndicated show called "When Radio Was," originally hosted by Art Fleming back in the '90s, and then after he died, by comedian Stan Freberg. Even though this Sunday afternoon programming block was a departure from our normal Christian teaching format, the reponse to it was quite positive. In fact, I was always surprised that I never received any complaints about us playing old rock and roll on a Christian station!

For various reasons that I won't necessarily go into now, I announced my resignation from KAAY just before Thanksgiving of 2005, with my departure planned at the end of the year. Regardless of this, I continued on with several station responsibilities, including new Radio Yesterday programs. But because of events going on in my life at the time, by late September, I decided it was probably time to shut the show down, and the last Radio Yesterday aired on October 7th, 2006. But the spirit of the show continued on in my hometown of Harrison, AR, on classic rock station KCWD, 96.1 FM, three months later, when I started a somewhat similar (3-hour) program called Tin Can Alley.

So there! A not-so-brief synopsis of the KAAY Rewound and Radio Yesterday story."
 
We'd posted some video awhile back on "Whatever Happened To The Mighty 1090", which featured several former employees, including Barry in the KAAY studio with KTHV newsman Craig O'Neill, demonstrating some of the aforementioned shows' audio.  If you haven't seen that yet, you may want to search back and view it...here is the link:
 
http://mighty1090kaay.blogspot.com/2010/01/kaay-feature-on-little-rock-tv.html
 
Barry has been graciously sending in audio clips from the tapes he was able to rescue...there are probably more, if the current KAAY engineer hasn't thrown them out.  We may never know....
 
Thank you, Barry Mac, for all you do to bring this great history and audio to us!
 
Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Today Is Also Tommy Riggs' Birthday!

Charlie Okle wrote to remind me that today is also Tommy's birthday...little did I know that when we started this blog, that we landed on this great date.  Tommy would have been 67 today.

Thanks to Charlie Okle for reminding us.

July 15, Our One-Year Anniversary!

After A. J. Lindsey passed away, I was almost in a panic thinking that all the history he'd reclaimed would be lost again....and we'd all be poorer because of it.  Fortunately, several of us got together after I e-mailed everyone I could find and we got this blog going.  Data was saved, thankfully.  At one time, A. J.'s blog went down or the players quit, but some unknown benefactor must have paid the bill, because everything started working again.  Nonetheless, we forged ahead with this blog, to continue in the format and tradition A. J. started.

From about mid-2006 until early 2009, A. J. kept us entertained with the history of KAAY.  We have been able to do the same since starting this blog a year ago today.  It has been much more work than I had envisioned and, without the help of some qualified people in their fields (especially Dave Schmidt for all his computer & audio help!), it would have died a quick death.  Not only that, but with the help of many former employees of KAAY and many fans, listeners and other assorted people, all who donated material, memories, anecdotes and stories, it has kept going.  Just about the time I run out of ideas or material, up pops someone with a new picture, album cover, promotional bit or piece- and it has gratefully been accepted here to share with you, dear reader!

For a little niche blog, it has done quite well, totalling many more "hits" than I would have expected, from all over the globe.  I never knew that there were still people out there who remembered the station after all these years!

Some kind words from David B. Treadway, one of The Greats Who Were There:

"Dear Bud and all the crew,

Congratulations on the Blog Birthday! It's quite a testament to KAAY to have it so fondly remembered and carefully chronicled these many, many years later. I guess this is what the term "Legend" is all about.

Somewhere in the Great Beyond there's a set of transmitter tubes that are kept hot by the Blog. All of us who were There owe y'all a big debt of gratitude!

David B. Treadway
Doc Holiday VII
The Last PD"

And to David B., Jerry, Charlie, Mike, Greg, Tom, Barry, Phil, Bob, Dick, Dave, Don, Doug, Jonnie, Lee, Mark and many, many others Who Were There and continue to check in, my uttermost thanks for your support...we fans still adore you and those days and nights you entertained us!

And, most of all, to A. J., in the Studio Of All Studios, wherever you are: you gave us the impetus to continue to do and enjoy what we love.  Thank you for starting what you did and giving us the "oomph" to continue on.

Happy Anniversary to us, the Mighty 1090 KAAY Blog!  We have YOU to thank, dear reader!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

(Whew...it just seems like yesterday....)

"Sonny Martin III" Checks In!

I'd e-mailed "Sonny Martin III" (Matt White) several times, with no response (until now!), but, rest assured, he IS a busy man!  You may have heard him a time or two on an aircheck or ad here & there on this blog.  He's now at KWCK, 99.9,  "Quick 99", from 6 until 10 AM, Monday through Friday.  He's also working at the Lindsey Resort in Searcy, AR.  I feel honored that he could drop a note on us!

Here are some comments from the last "Sonny":

"HEY BUD,

THANKS FOR THE E-MAIL AND LENDING ME YOUR EARS A LITTLE BIT IN THE MORNINGS! THE FRIENDLY GIANT WILL ALWAYS BE FILLED WITH MEMORIES FOR ME. IN MY 11 YEARS AT KAAY LOTS OF FUN STUFF TOOK PLACE AND THE BEST THING ABOUT IT WAS I GOT TO SHARE IT WITH LOTS OF FRIENDS LIKE YOU. THINGS LIKE THE NECCESSARY ACCIDENTAL CREATION OF BEAKER STREET, THE FIRST AND LAST SKUNK FESTIVAL, THE DOWNTOWN BEAT TEXAS PEP RALLEY WHEN GEORGE (George J. Jennings bs) WAS '' CUFFED " BY ATT. GEN. JIM GUY TUCKER, MEETING AND WATCHING WOLF MAN JACK WORK ON KAAY, AND WELL, YOU GET THE PICTURE!

EVERY MORNING WAS A NEW EXPERIENCE AND THE SAD THING IS THEY DON'T DO IT ANYMORE..LIKE WE DID..BY THE SEAT OF OUR DRAWERS!



GOOD TO HEAR FROM YOU AND COME SEE ME AT LINDSEY'S RESORT,

SONNY"

I think that, since the KAAY we grew up with is no longer owned by the same folks, nor is using any of the deejay's patented names, he was able to take the airname with him to KWCK.  He's now, "Sunshine in the Morning, Sonny Martin".  I've been able to stream him and listen in a bit in the mornings.

Here's the link I use (I had to use the cached version, to get around the "no streaming" where I currently listen!):

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:1qrS64bG4f8J:http://www.kwck999.com/+Sonny+martin+KWCK&hl=en&ct=clnk

Give "Sonny" a listen and let him know you were also a regular KAAY fan!

Thanks, "Sonny III", hope you'll stop by here, as well!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Jim Cleveland Sends In Some Audio!

Jim Cleveland, a friend of Charlie Scarbrough/King, sent along several ads he and Mike McCormick did in 1971...here are his comments:

"Hi Bud,
I ran across an old reel-to-reel tape of (4) radio spots that Mike McCormick (Barry Wood) and I recorded back in 1971.  The spots were for a Louisiana firm—Monroe Building & Loan. The spots were based on the old "Lone Ranger" radio and TV series, with a few changes in the dialogue — i.e. instead of "Hiyo Silver, Away" - it was "Hide Your Silver Away".  Barry did the announcer voice and the voice of the "Lone Ranger" and I did the voices of the old men and Tonto.  Anyway, we had fun doing it.

Best regards,
Jim Cleveland"


Back in the early 1970's, Jim was a radio and TV producer for an advertising agency in Little Rock.  He used Barry Wood and Charlie Scarbrough frequently for voiceovers on radio and TV spots.  He hasn't been in contact with Barry Wood for quite some time, but he and Charlie have lunch often.

Thanks to Jim for these great audio clips!  (And thanks to Dave S. for all his audio help!)

Lone Ranger radio spots,  
stream:   part 1  |  part2  |  part3  |  part4 
download:  part1  |  part2  | part3  |  part4

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Craig O'Neill Follow-Up

If I would have just thought for a minute, I would have remembered who Craig O'Neill was!  Thanks to Doug Krile and Dave Montgomery, they brought my head back into where it needs to be!

If you remember a post with video we had on February 7, 2010, "Whatever Happened To The Mighty 1090?", Craig O'Neill was the Sports Director who did a 6+ minute segment on KAAY:

http://mighty1090kaay.blogspot.com/2010/01/kaay-feature-on-little-rock-tv.html

At the end of the segment, Craig said he'd never worked at KAAY, but Doug Krile came up with some info on where he DID work:

"Bud,

I'm not sure if Craig worked at KAAY, although he very well may have spent some time there. When I came to town in 1986, he was rocking morning drive on the old KKYK, then moved to B98. He joined KTHV a few years ago as Sports Director. They moved him into News maybe a year or two ago....he's doing a really good job.

Doug"
 
Not only that, Dave M. sent along a link of Craig's biography:
 
http://www.todaysthv.com/company/bios/story.aspx?storyid=28060
 
"Craig O'Neill's face and voice are among the most recognizable in Arkansas. Craig first joined Today's THV as sports director in 2000 after entertaining Arkansans for 30 years as one of the states most famous and humorous radio personalities. In the summer of 2008, Craig made the move to news anchor."
 
Read the rest of his bio at the link above...and thanks to Doug and Dave for keeping my overtaxed brain in check!
 
Bud S.(staceys4@hotmail.com)

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)

Jerry Sims' Autographed Album From Tommy Riggs

Thanks to Jerry Sims for this touching, important and warm piece of history.  To even call such a gift "history" doesn't give it justice, but I'm glad he shared it with us!

Tommy was a consumate performer, loving to sing, even to the point of putting a keyboard in the studio, playing and singing live on the air, according to a conversation I had with Charlie Scarbrough awhile back.  Needless to say, Jerry's gift to us and the blog is SO important!  It is a portion of the album, "Songs of the Funnyman".  The note reads, "Jerry & Bertha- Y'all have been good friends for a long time.  I wish you both the best. Tommy Riggs"

Here are some of Jerry's comments: "Tommy was a great entertainer. We were big fans of his. He was particularly good with blues stuff. I remember I used to get irritated when I would get him to do a particularly sad song, like "St. James Infirmary", when there he was, literally on his knees crying, and the audience would be laughing, drinking and carrying on, as if nothing was going on. My favorite song on the album is "Leave Me Alone". But again there's "Mc Arthur Park"....another favorite. Possibly I can send it to you sometime for the blog.  Oh yeah, the Tommy album was recorded live at a club in Wichita, Kansas."
Jerry told me that late one night, someone called in while he was on the air and asked for a job...that someone was Tommy.  "Tommy was on tour, somewhere in the mid-west, when he called me, on the all night radio...."Tell me you are Jerry, and get me a job" I did, too."  He came back as a "Robbins", but whether he was a "Rob", a "Rock" or a "Bob Robbins", I can't recall...Jerry will have to remind us...but Tommy, well-loved in many respects, worked at KAAY several times when he was not on the road.

Thank you ever so much, Jerry Sims!

More Charlie King Pix

And, we'll wind down the rest of Charlie's pictures with color version of him.  As you can see, he's having fun at "work".  He also mentioned that he had the most fun at KAAY.  Note in one picture, there is a circular KAAY patch over the left breast pocket.

Again, thanks to Charlie Scarbrough for these wonderful pieces of history!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Promo Picture Of "Sonny Martin" #3

This is a promotional picture of Matt White, a.k.a. "Sonny Martin", the third in line after Jerry Sims.  He played on the KAAY Kommandos with Charlie King/Scarbough and had a running on-air banter with George J. Jennings, among other things.  He still uses the air name at "Quick 99", KWCK 99.9 in Searcy, AR.

Thanks again to Charlie!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Jerry Don Pitcock, "Ken Knight" Picture

Of the promotional pictures Charlie Scarbrough sent in, one was of Jerry Don Pitcock, Jim Pitcock's brother.  Jerry was a "Ken Knight" after Howard Watson.  This is a picture of him and the back of the photo, where Jerry autographed it as "Ken Knight" and Charlie made notes.  (Charlie had previously sent this to someone and noted he wanted it back, but told me to keep it for the blog.)

Can anyone recall when Jerry Don Pitcock was "Ken Knight"?  And is he still around?

Thanks again, Charlie!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Charlie King Pictures

Charlie Scarbrough, a.k.a. "Charlie King", sent along some promotional photos of himself and others...and I'll post his here first, the others later.  Man, these deejays were sharp, they dressed sharp, they sounded sharp!  These are also some good pictures of the studio and the deejays at work...errr, doing what they love.

From our conversation, these pictures were given out to fans at events where they appeared.  Any more pictures out there anyone else would like to share?

You can tell Charlie's having fun!  Thank you, Charlie!!!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA: PT.2

A VERY Happy 4th of July to all of our KAAY/1090 friends !

Not to upstage what Bud has written, but to add to this great weekend, I will add:

Have a safe & wonderful day, and remember why we celebrate our Independence as a free nation:  For Life, Liberty, and, the Pursuit of Happiness in the GREATEST COUNTRY in the World…the United States Of America !

In God We Trust.

Jonnie King

PS:   Bud, Happy Anniversary !

Happy Independence Day!

May this land always be free...we have our own problems, yes...and we don't have a perfect form of government...but it's the best there is and we must stand together in freedom and support those who protect that freedom for us.

"We must hang together or assuredly we shall hang separately." -- Benjamin Franklin

May God bless America!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

TwentyThree Years Today, With My Lovely Wife!

Twenty-three years may not sound like a lot of time, compared to some folks who've been married a lot longer...but, I'm proud to say that today is my and my wife's 23rd wedding anniversary and it's getting better all the time!

Gimme another twenty-three, honey!  Happy anniversary!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Did KAAY Have Radioteletype Under It's Carrier Signal?

I just read in a 1997 QST Magazine article how WSM, Nashville, TN (650 AM) cooperated with the Department of Defense and allowed a radioteletype (RTTY) signal at 50 baud to be inserted under it's 50,000 watt carrier signal, to pass information during the early 1960's.  There was an initiative to do this with all 50,000 watt clear-channel stations.  The gentleman who wrote the article was a Ham radio operator and was currently the Chief Engineer for a Demopolis, AL radio station; one of his "higher-ups" came by one day and told him that if he showed him something, he could NEVER tell anyone.

This C.E./Ham had a lot of radio gear, along with some that would decode RTTY.  The visitor told him to tune to 650 AM and run it through the RTTY decoder.  "WAR WAR WAR TEST TEST TEST WAR WAR WAR TEST TEST TEST" was constantly streaming off the paper, to his amazement!

The article stated that this C.E. never found out if other 50,000 watt stations were outfitted with this; however, there are many things we may never know, due to the sensitive nature of war and near-war.  Some things are better left alone and, in my opinion, never broadcast, since the enemy can and does listen....

My question is, was KAAY ever outfitted with this capability?

If anyone wants a copy of this article (for fun or verification), please e-mail me with your address or FAX number...I may, in the near future, be able to scan and insert this into an e-mail as a file....

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Arnold's Fireworks, Complete With Bloopers!

I had a good laugh at this one, compliments of Barry Mac!  The announcer finally got it right on the last take.

It's getting rare that individuals can actually buy fireworks in some municipalities around the country, due to liability claims...remember the gool ol' days when you could actually blow up an ant hill with an M-80 and not have the Environmental Police on your back?

Now, go get some, fire it off in remembrance of our country and have fun!  But be safe!

Ad for Arnold's Fireworks:   stream   |   download

First Sponsored TV Commercial, 1941

I know, this isn't in line with KAAY, but it IS a significant event!  Today, in 1941, there were several things happening with television:

-Commercial TV was authorized by the Federal Communications Commission.

-The world's first legal TV commercial, a 10-second spot, paid for by Bulova Watches, aired at 2:29 PM over WNBT (now WNBC) New York.  It displayed a clock superimposed over the U.S.A. with a voice-over: "America runs on Bulova time."

-NBC television was launched.

-The game show "Truth or Consequences" was simulcast on radio and TV, sponsored by Ivory Soap, as a "one-off special", (whatever that means....)

Boy, times have changed, haven't they?