Thank You, My Heroes....

From my trip to Little Rock, I just wanted to say, "thank you"...

...to Jerry "Sonny Martin II" Sims, who was a wonderful host and guide who, without a lot of prompting, I may not have made "the trip".  Jerry is full of wonderful stories, of which I never tire of listening to, many of which you've read here on this blog and back on A.J. Lindsey's blog:

http://kaay1090.blogspot.com/

Jerry took me on drives around Little Rock, telling me history of that great city and we even visited many placed related to the station...and many not, but were still of great importance.  I must say, I was on sensory overload and Jerry just kept feeding me information.  Jerry made me feel like a friend and that was important to me...especially since we figured the math on his trip to Mobile awhile back and we realized I DID hear him at night on KAAY those many years ago!  What a connection...

Gosh, what a rush!  Thank you, Jerry!

...to Charlie "Charlie King" Scarbrough, who was the jokester of the bunch, keeping us in stitches as he also took my family and I on tours around the area, as well.  Yes, the stories flowed there as well, and it was like trying to take a drink from a firehose!  One instance, when we were passing a Kroger grocery store (did I already mention this?), I started singing the Kroger jingle from many, many years ago.  He jerked around and looked at me, almost shocked, asking where I'd heard that and I mentioned, from the airchecks I had.  He whupped into the parking lot and said, "Well, let's go Krogering!" and we all piled in and got gluten-free goodies from the store!  What a bunch of fun we had with Charlie, as well.

Charlie also made me feel like a friend...Charlie, my ribs still hurt a bit!

...to David B. Treadway, the giant huggy-bear of the bunch.  David B.'s warmth and passion for radio, especially KAAY, flowed like a river overflowing its banks.  So open with his memories, we all are great fans of his posts and comments here.  When David B. took me back to my motel on Tuesday, we both were exhausted from the day; we were almost too quiet, but I suspect both of us were on "sensory overload".  I wisely took his advice on waiting a couple of days to digest the days' proceedings, but we also talked of non-KAAY matters, as well.  DBT made me also feel like a friend, like I'd been his friend for many years.  I cannot begin to express the warmth that exudes from this man!

David B. Treadway, there ain't another like you...may your voice boom over Arkansas for many, many years to come!

...and Barry Mac...we didn't get to meet for that Friday morning breakfast, but duty called you and we WILL meet again...and those few minutes I witnessed with you, Jerry and David B. were like standing within a vortex of living history.  I almost forgot to BREATH with these guys standing there, sharing memories for the few minutes they had together!

There, again, Barry was holding court, regaling a quick history of the post-1985-to-present KAAY, up until his leaving a few short years ago.  I was the fly on the wall for this one....

Guys, THANK YOU for making me feel welcome!  I feel extremely fortunate and blessed to have experienced your hospitality on this trip, and continue to enjoy your hospitality via this blog!  I can never even begin to repay you for what you all did for me on this trip of a lifetime....

...and to Jim Cleveland, Charlie Okle and all the folks at The Butler Center, my hearty thanks for taking the time for me, a humble listener and fan of KAAY...you all made me and my family feel welcome and took the time to share with us.

All of these guys were fairly gushing with love for their station, KAAY; you could just feel it, hear it, experience it...I can't explain it any better than that!

I wish I would have had at least another week...but you never know what the future holds...?

Best regards to all,

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)