As mentioned in A. J. Lindsey's words below- a great way to remember George Jennings:
"A Great Way to Remember George!
Relive one of his newcasts. This newscast comes from January 1964. The newscasts were still at :15 and :45, later changed to the top of the hour.
Thanks to Mike McKinney a/k/a Jack Lee for several airchecks. This cut is a George J. Jennings newscast from Jan. 1964. I do the commercial in the middle for Holly Ham. This is a great example of a George newscast complete with Jimmy Fiddler at the end. Is anyone doing exciting radio news today? Hearing this makes me want to shuffle through the 45s and find the fastest, hottest hit, cue it up, and be ready to blow the monitor out with more muuuuusic!!! (See earlier discussion of Jimmy Fiddler and how we got "free" Ampexes.) Even in 1964 "Hollywood" news was big. The news department was never excited about Fiddler, but I'm sure he added to the adult audience."
---A.J. Lindsey, March 19, 2007
http://kaay1090.blogspot.com/2006/09/first-at-45.html
(or download here)
Did you catch A. J.'s Holly Ham commercial?
You can also search A. J.'s blog, just like you do here, for Jimmy Fiddler....
Thanks again to Dave S. for all his hard work on the audio of this blog!
Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)
While conducting research for a graduate course in 2004, I had the opportunity to interview George via telephone about KAAY's role during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He still had "the voice." I wanted to speak with him again a few years later, while conducting research for my doctoral dissertation. But unfortunately, he died before I could set that up. His wife Nancy died just a short time later. Not long after George died, she indicated that she wanted to speak with people and tell her side of her husband's radio days at KAAY and beyond. But she became ill very quickly, and I was told that she was not able to be interviewed and was too sick. So I never did get to hear her story.
ReplyDeleteBut what a wonderful voice and legacy that George J. Jennings left us. His voice WAS news in Arkansas when he was the news director at KAAY. His tones were deep, so resonant, so authoritative and so precise. He is a legend among the many legends at KAAY and Arkansas broadcasting. But most of all, George was a hell of a broadcast journalist.