My Trip To Little Rock: Thursday With Charlie Scarbrough

And the rainy weather continued.  Not bad, but enough you didn't want to get out in it very long...but I wasn't going to let it dampen my trip!

Charlie Scarbrough ("Charlie King" KAAY 1967-1969) again picked me and my family up and we rode around for a nice day's tour.  We'd pretty much seen almost all of the KAAY-related places, so we decided to make it a day for the girls.  Charlie and I talked about broadcast radio in general and the places he'd worked.  We also ran into a neat little junk shop which had some interesting LPs (33-1/3 "Long Play" vinyl albums, for you young 'uns!), but we didn't pick anything up.  As it was close inside, we went out underneath the awning for some fresh air; we got called back in when my wife beckoned, because a fellow about Charlie's age had inquired what we were visiting for.  She mentioned what it was all about and he stated he knew A. J. Lindsey and was a KAAY fan from a long time back.  I introduced Charlie to him and we had a nice, but short conversation.  Nice to know people still remember!

We basically headed back to Keo, AR for (if I remember correctly) the Morris Antique Mall, which had been closed on Monday.  What a great place!  We walked around, oohing and aahing over the neat stuff they had...here's one old General Electric radio that was NOT for sale (darn it!):

The unique thing about this radio is that the tubes were not mounted vertically, but horizontally behind the face of the unit!  It was really sweet.  Note the paper taped to the top, which said, "Not For Sale!"

Charlie, the ever-humerous fellow, clowned for us in a really nice setting:

Yes, the ladies assured us that we (he) could sit in the chair and mug for the camera!

As we looked around, the ladies told us that we couldn't go into a section they called, "Building One" due to a skunk having been in there and sprayed...got their dog, too, when he rushed in to attack the skunk!  My wife had again told them why were there and the lady at the register got SO animated, I thought she was going to cheer!  She was (and still is) a BIG KAAY fan, having enjoyed listening to all The Greats over the years and loved all the music (see what effect y'all had on the audience, folks?).  When I told her we were archiving music and airchecks, I thought she was REALLY going to cheer!  She called a co-worker in from another office and I introduced Charlie to them.  I gave them the blog address and they promised they'd be checking it!  As we left, we could smell that skunk in the parking lot....

Back toward Little Rock, we toured some more and Charlie had a surprise for me...he is good friends with Jim Cleveland, who was also friends with and did work with Barry Wood!  We just "happened" to be in his neighborhood, so Charlie had me call him to see if we could drop by.  Charlie had me use his cell phone, to see if Jim had any "remarks" upon answering, but he remained a gentleman!

Upon arriving at Jim's a few moments later, we shook off the rain and were welcomed in.  Man, what warm greetings these folks in Arkansas had for us!  We sat a bit in Jim's living room and had a blast- and it didn't seem boring for my wife and daughter, either (they roll their eyes and try to hush me up when I start talking radio!).  Before we left, we got a picture with Jim:

Thank you, Jim, for your great hospitality!

Onward into the rain...as we drove, I saw a Krogers and started to sing the "Let's go Krogering" jingle...Charlie looked at me and said, "You know that jingle?"  I mentioned that it was on many airchecks and that I couldn't help myself.  He wheeled in and took us shopping!

As my daughter is treating her Celiac Disease with diet (doctors will not diagnose her, since it is NOT treatable with DRUGS), Charlie said that Krogers had a nice gluten-free section...and it did!  We had a blast shopping with Charlie, who sampled some of our "special" food while driving on....

(Special Note: for any of you who may need more information about Celiac Disease, or even fibromyalgia, please contact me at my e-mail address below. Bud)

We had a nice supper with Charlie, even closing the place down.  When we looked around, there was no one in the place except us and some of the wait staff.  It was about 20 minutes or so after closing and apologized, but the people said they enjoyed listening to us talk...some knew Charlie from some of his free-lance work in Little Rock and elsewhere on the radio.

As it was getting late, Charlie took us back to the motel.  I got on the Web and let him listen to the Christmas 2010 greeting he'd participated in and he was very appreciative and amazed at what we did (thank you, Greg Barman!).  As he had given me his bowling shirt, I presented him with a copy of each of the posters I had gotten from the transmitter site on Tuesday...I wish I'd have thought to have him pose with one of them....

With heartfelt "see ya laters" all around, Charlie went off into the night, another KAAY Legend who welcomed me, a humble listener, and my family, to his wonderful state....

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)