Retro: November 1963...

...one of the bleakest periods in our modern history.  A. J. Lindsey posted about the assassination of John F. Kennedy:

http://kaay1090.blogspot.com/2006/11/where-were-you-when-jfk-was.html

I've got to go through them, but there are some important links on his original post; the KAAY tapes involving the news broadcast were lost, as well as the two-hour documentary Jim Pitcock and staff put together....

Other stations thought that, since George J. Jennings just happened to be in Dallas for vacation, that KAAY had actually sent him to cover the news!  This made KAAY gigantic in their eyes!

I don't remember the actual news about the assassination, but I do remember the funeral procession on TV... I remember asking my mother why everyone was so sad...she shushed me and left me in front of the black & white console TV...this is what I remember, someone posted it on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnOERkKYyAY

I was barely five years old...and I remember....Belmead Street, Prichard, AL.

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Retro: Thanksgiving 1962

Folks, here are a couple of links; one in which A. J. Lindsey presented the Thanksgiving 19632 "seasonal", but his link is broken, so the second link provides the link:

http://kaay1090.blogspot.com/2008/12/finally-found-it.html

http://mighty1090kaay.blogspot.com/2010/11/this-is-thanksgiving-1962.html

Wonderful production, wonderful music....

I know it's a bit early, but we have a special, historic post for the day before Thanksgiving...Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Old KAAY Stickers From Doug Virden!

Doug is a faithful contributor to the blog- and he sent along some rare treats for all to enjoy!

"Got this from Ad Craft of Arkansas.  I was contacted by them and was told about some old KAAY items.   I was told this logo started being used in 1976 when Multimedia took over and was used through the reminder of the 70's."

"Ordered this one several years ago off a website that had old vintage radio station logos.  I believe this one was used around the late 60's to early 70's."

 

Thanks, Doug, for sharing!

 

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

 

Happy Birthday Beaker Street!

In November 1966, "Beaker Street" was born.  No one seems to remember the exact date, but many remember the great music "Clyde Clifford" brought to the airwaves.  This, from Richard Robinson's doctoral dissertation.  Richard had given us permission to post this on December 30, 2009:

"Consider this:  In November 1966, eerie music and strange sound effects filled the airwaves of KAAY, AM 1090 in Little Rock.  Over these program elements, a slow deep voice says slowly, “Music of Iron Butterfly.  It’s 12:01 and I’m Clyde Clifford, and this is KAAY, Little Rock, with Beaker Street until 2:00 a.m. this morning, Beaker Theatre at 2:00.”  This was the voice and sounds of underground radio in its infancy, from Little Rock, Arkansas and beyond."

Thank you, Richard!  Thanks also to "Clyde" and Beaker Street!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Retro: David B. Treadway and Cottondale Studio

November 1, 1976 was a historic day for KAAY; I'll let "Doc Holiday", a.k.a. David B. Treadway's words describe it, from A. J.'s blog post on Oct. 9, 2006:

"On November 1, 1976, we moved to the new studios at
2400 Cottondale Lane. The Riverdale section of town is
now thriving and crowded, home to Alltel world
headquarters among other notable businesses. In 1976,
it was regarded as swamp land and Pat Walsh caught a
great deal of grief from his peers about his decision
to move the station there. As usual, Walsh had the
last laugh.

There was a certain "magic" about KAAY; it was a
living, breathing entity--apart and complete unto
itself *without* the human beings who made it run. For
the past thirty years, I have been convinced that the
magic did NOT make the move with us from 1425 West 7th
Street to 2400 Cottondale.

It would take the clueless Multimedia almost the next
ten years to run KAAY completely into the ground, but
the Final Approach began on November 1, 1976."

Here's the Cottondale location as it appeared in 2012, when Jerry Sims drove me around town:

http://kaay1090.blogspot.com/2006/10/doc-holiday-1976.html

A. J. Lindsey was the second "Doc Holiday", David B. Treadway was the last.

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

The Jonnie King Halloween Special!!!

Jonnie King needs NO introduction for those who listened to KAAY  Without further ado:

"This is G-R-E-A-T: "GEORGE BARRIS MEETS THE MUNSTERS AT THE DRAGSTRIP" !  Here's the Direct Link...PLUS, there's an Intro by Grandpa Munster !  http://www.legends.thewwbc.net/gpage.html
(If any of the guys on the Blog do FaceBook...this is a "FUN/MUST" !)

(That Yvonne DeCarlo- va va va VOOM!  Bud)

 Here is the 2015 (Updated) "Halloween Film Rarities" List:
http://www.jonnieking.net/gpage36.html

 AND, this is the Link to the COMPLETE "Main Feature" Page:
http://www.jonnieking.net/welcome2.html
 A little over 200 Hours were required to put this together like I wanted it.  It ties all areas together: Film, Music, Radio, TV, Cars, and, my old friend "The Amazing Criswell".  ALL best-viewed on a Laptop or Desktop...they're built for the big screen.

 Best witches, er, wishes, for more "Treats" and no "Tricks" this Halloween !

Jonnie"

Happy (Early) Halloween!

DON'T EAT TOO MUCH CANDY!!!!!

(NEXT:  Watch for Jonnie King's post tomorrow!!!)

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Arcane Radio Trivia Links To Us! Re: Beaker Street

Hmmm...what happens when I click the link that says "here"...Oh!  It's us, The Mighty 1090 KAAY!  How flattering that someone thinks enough of us to do so!

http://tenwatts.blogspot.com/2012/07/beaker-street-with-clyde-clifford.html

It may be a bit dated, but interesting, nonetheless.  They gave credit to Don Payne as being the last person to run Beaker Street until "the suits" discontinued it.  I WISH someone would come forward with some tapes of Don those last few nights!!!!  Anybody????

It's always fun to fiund "new" stuff...thanks to Arcane Radio Trivia for this one!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Oletia McDonald, R.I.P.

Thanks to Doug Virden:

http://www.arkansasonline.com/obituaries/2015/oct/18/lois-mcdonald-2015-10-18/

"Funeral service will be at 10 a.m., Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015 at Smith-North Little Rock Funeral Home, 1921 Main Street, 758-1170. Visitation will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Monday. Burial will be at Martindale Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Martindale Cemetery Perpetual Care Fund, 40000 Hwy 10, Bigelow, AR 72016."

Such a delightful lady; she made us feel so welcome when Jerry Sims, David B. Treadway and I visited with she and Felix McDonald several years ago.

She is now with Felix....

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Bob Steele Article Via Doug Virden

Thanks to eagle-eyed Doug Virden for this piece of news!

http://www.syncweekly.com/news/2015/oct/13/shining-example/

"Decades in the news business taught Bob Steel to expect the unexpected. Even when Cumulus Media fired him from his morning news job nearly two years ago, the 68-year-old wasn’t deterred and ready to quit working."  "Steel returned to Cumulus in September as the Arkansas Radio Network affiliate relations director."

Thanks, Doug!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Wierd Poetry, Re: Beaker Street

I'd not seen this before, in all my research.  I guess it'll make sense.  I never "got" poetry that didn't rhyme:

http://allpoetry.com/poem/12068531-Thank-You--Beaker-Street-by-Corvino

Nonetheless, I, too, thank "Clyde Clifford" and Beaker Street...

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

A Listener From Cuba Checks In

"Come new times, new winds blow . After all, you KAAY (Baker Street),
have a place here in the heart of many Cubans. Bud visit us soon, we
are waiting with open arms, please bring to Clyde .
You could post the photos on your blog . Best regards

--
R.Peraza"

This was a message via e-mail from Ramon Peraza a few days ago.  He'd also sent a few pictures of Americans and Brits who visited Cuba, with no known dates.

The one that seems to fit is Mick Jagger, taking some time off in Havana....

Thank you, Ramon!

If you remember (and for those just visiting), KAAY's nighttime signal enveloped Cuba and much of the area around- folks in the Caribbean, Central and South America also heard the signal!  See the nighttime antenna plot below:

 

This also shows why so many people to the north could hear KAAY, too!

Thanks to Ramon for checking in!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Retro: KAAY & "Monster Mash"

Let's have some fun!  I found this post of A.J.'s regarding the above:

http://kaay1090.blogspot.com/2007/10/kaay-monster-mash-new-at-same-time.html

What a great video!  I'll be watching for scary B-movies this Halloween season!

By the way, if any of you have over-the-air digital TV and can get MeTV, be sure to watch Svengoolie every Saturday night for some fun entertainment!  I'm sure he'll turn up the cauldron for October!!!

http://svengoolie.com/

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Retro: KAAY, October 1962

This began a very serious involvement of KAAY in our nation's history.  Because the FCC overlooked the fact that KTHS was bought by KAAY, and that KTHS no longer showed on the rolls for broadcasting, the FCC "forgot" about the whopping signal emanating from Little Rock and how it blanketed the area of the Caribbean, including Cuba.

Because of this, several of The Greats have related to me that Jim Hankins/"Mike McCormick" almost lost his job in getting KAAY involved in this most important service.  At Midnight every night, government agents would come in, lock the studio and broadcast Voice Of America propaganda to Cuba.  I am PROUD that Mr. Hankins had the guts to go through with this.

Here is A.J. Lindsey's post to that effect:

http://kaay1090.blogspot.com/2007/07/more-cuban-missile-crisis.html

And, later, our post to the effect:

http://mighty1090kaay.blogspot.com/2014/09/then-cuba-happened.html

Thanks to all who participated in this patriotic gesture.

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Radio Yesterday from June 19, 2005

Here is more retro-fun from Barry Mac's Radio Yesterday service.  This one aired on KAAY during the weekend of June 19, 2005.

On this show -- Eddie plays some blues, a visit with the Candyman, what the Byrds want to do, checking out the coal mine, a sermon from the Staples, the one-hit wonder of the week, and a movie ad flashback:


(or download here)

Greg Barman

KAAY Poster From Doug Virden

"KAAY used to give out posters each week during the Razorback football season.  Of course this was done before all the patents and trademarks took place.  For the Arkansas Razorbacks this was done about 25 years ago.  This has happened with most college and professional teams over the years.  For example with the Razorbacks the logo or name can't be used without written permission from the University of Arkansas.  Now IMG Media owns the rights a majority of Division I college teams.  It includes merchandise and games broadcast over the airwaves.  Its similar to what Iheart and Cumulus is to radio."

Thank you, Doug!  I'll have to dig out my posters and re-post them, as well, for football season!

Any others out there?  Please contact me at my e-mail address below!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Retro: Car Giveaway

After listening to A.J. Lindsey and others regarding KAAY's appearance in 1962, he said they were scared stiff at how KAAY sounded, with the new "hip" music and slick deejays.  Here was his comments about a giveaway KAAY started in 1962:

"Continuing the contests memories. KAAY signed on September (Labor Day weekend as I remember.) 1962. I was Program Director at KXLR. With KAAY, a total of four stations in the market were top 40. We had heard on the street, that KAAY was going to give away a car. So, we got our crack sales department to go out and trade out a car to give away. KAAY's contest was to give away a car a day for a month and ended the promotion with a car an hour for 24 hours. Mike McCormick (PD at the time) always thought big even for 1962. The run of the mill contests, the news tip, etc. were usually small dollars."

The whole link:

http://kaay1090.blogspot.com/2006/08/car-hour.html

Thanks again to A.J. and the Lindsey family for allowing us to carry on his work here.

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Jonnie King Departed KAAY in September 1972

The Mighty Jonnie King, after spending about 3-1/2 years in Little Rock, got "the call" about this time in September 1972 to go to WDRQ in Detroit Michigan, at that time, the 5th largest market in the country.  What was Little Rock's loss was Detroit's gain.

For old time's sake, let's go back and listen to Jonnie in the summer of 1972:

http://mighty1090kaay.blogspot.com/2010/09/new-jonnie-king-aircheck-2.html

Thanks to Jonnie for ALL the great memories!  Here is the link to his great website:

http://www.jonnieking.net/

Thank you Jonnie!  You are a wonderful friend!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Going Retro: What Else Happened In September?

KAAY, that's what!!!  Back on Labor Day, 1962!!!!  A. J. Lindsey entered this post on his blog, which included the link, "Take Me Back To The Sixties"...pay heed to what many of us experienced- I certainly wish we could go back to simpler times:

http://kaay1090.blogspot.com/2008/08/golden-oldie.html

If the link in A.J.'s post doesn't work, here it is:

http://objflicks.com/TakeMeBackToTheSixties.htm

Boy, how we as a country and a people have degraded and decayed....

Thanks to A.J. for this post and link.

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Let's Go Retro: Paul Harner's Comments From A.J.'s Blog

As this day dawned, I remembered the awful events that happened today, fourteen years ago.  We were at work and someone ran down the stairs from our break room at work to tell us of the planes hitting the Twin Towers...then the Pentagon...then the crash in Pennsylvania.  We didn't get much work done that day.  I went back to A.J. Lindsey's blog and found Paul Harner's comments, a portion of which are reproduced here:

"As far as September 11 goes, I haven't forgotten. I don't think anyone alive and awake would ever forget that, regardless of their political stripes. I also despise that damn "Have You Forgotten" record that was released afterword. I was doing data entry work at Harrah's Casino that week. It was my last week of working there. I was stuck in traffic that morning, for no real reason. I called the Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT), just to find out why the road was unnecessarily jammed. There wasn't any real reason for it. The woman said "it could be worse, I just heard that two planes flew into the World Trade Center." I thought she was joking. Nope. As I made the rounds, all the monitors switched to CNN, showing what happened. Twenty minutes later, the Pentagon was hit, and I watched that. From that point on, there wasn't a whole lot of work to get done. Three hours later, a large number of people show up. Passengers from flights to Las Vegas diverted to Lambert Airport as all the planes were grounded. These passengers had no place to stay and were looking for hotel rooms.

As the afternoon progressed, there was talk about price gouging and long lines at area gas stations. When I left work, I sat in a long line, but thankfully the price at the station was unchanged.

There were hardly any patrons at the casino that week. That Friday, my town hosted their annual Italian Fest. It was my last day of working at Harrah's, and I decided to take a long and more scenic drive home. There are marinas along the Mississippi river, and there are several scenic routes that take you to them, exiting from Missouri 94 from St. Charles to West Alton, MO. After the drive, I went to the Italian Fest. It was probably the first time anyone went out and did anything besides watch television that week.

If there was anything I remember the most, it was how quiet everything was. It was like that for months. It was as if everything slowed down. For me it was like that until March of 2002. I've never seen anything like it.

What makes me sad about events like September 11 is the realization that our country will spend decades of lives, resources and treasure into a war that will not end. I had hoped that the Cold War's end would have opened up new opportunities to do something different with said lives, resources and treasure. Now I don't think that's likely. I also don't care for the marketing of fear these days, and the concept of "The New Normal." Bulls**t. The Germans and Japanese occupied land and were truly a threat to the world, as were the Soviets later. The people responsible for September 11 aren't remotely as smart or brilliant as that, and probably could be disrupted and de-fanged if the will was there, and in a much shorter time than decades.

Paul Harner""

It seems to me that MANY have forgotten those tragic events...and that people are so willing to look the other way at how terrorism has progressed.  WE HAVE BECOME COMPLACENT AGAIN, as if it won't happen again.  Well, don't bet your last pair of boots, it very well COULD, and possibly sooner rather than later....

Sorry for the non-KAAY/radio post, but I thought it was appropriate...thanks to Paul Harner for his comments to A.J. back on 10/4/07.  You can see the entire post here:

http://kaay1090.blogspot.com/2007/10/kaay-coments.html

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)