Recent comments

Here are more comments recently posted on the blog.  Click on a comment to read it in larger type. Each comment is documented with the name of the post where it was attached, and you can jump to the post by typing its name in the search box located at the upper left corner of this web page.  Happy reading!

The Skunk Festival, Jan. 1973

From Facebook entry by Vickie Hahn Wyeth:

 

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"The Skunk Festival, Jan. 1973, in Little Rock. War Memorial Stadium, I think. It was in honor of Loudon Wainwright III's hit song, Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road. Loudon was there, and the other guest was Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders. And people brought pet skunks. This photo is of Sonny Martin and Mark."

Thank you, Vickie!  She was prompted by Doug Virden to send this to me, and I was alerted on Facebook.  Thanks, Vickie and Doug, for alerting me!

Another piece of history revealed!

Bud S. (Staceys4@hotmail.com)

Celebration of the Mighty 1090 KAAY

Blog friend Doug Virden is hosting a "Celebration of the Mighty 1090 KAAY" at CALS Ron Robinson Theater on June 29, 2018, 100 River Market Ave., Little Rock, AR 72201.  The event will take place at 7PM.  For more information, see the Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1875563855807913/permalink/1876456722385293/?notif_t=event_mall_comment&notif_id=1526558493328859

Wish I could go, but other life events are taking place that I must take care of....

Thank you, Doug!  Send plenty of pictures!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

From Doug Virden: Valerie Pruitt Info

As per Doug Virden: Valerie Pruitt, chairman of Youth Home's annual Eggshibition fundraiser....

http://m.arkansasonline.com/news/2018/apr/01/valerie-pruitt-20180401/#.WsLJ9iLMD3w.mailto

Something for the KAAY blog, started out as a news reporter for KAAY.  If my memory serves me correctly she was there on the last day reporting the afternoon news.

(There may be a survey pop up, just click "skip survey" for the article.  Thanks, Doug!  Bud S., staceys4@hotmail.com)

Clyde Clifford For Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame?

Folks, I have heard from "moparjeff" several times about starting something like this and it looks like things are maybe taking off...here's his e-mail to me:

"We have a good following going on Facebook to get Clyde Clifford in the RRHOF.  There are almost 300 people liking the idea.  I have been encouraging them to write letters to the nominating committee, although I don't know how many of them have, but I do know it's a good number of them.  From the research I have done, this appears to be the best way to make this happen.  The award Dale (Seidenschwarz) would be eligible for is the Ahmet Ertegun Award as a non-performer.  The recipient of this award is chosen by a subcommittee of six people from the main nominating committee.  The nominating committee meets in September.  The address is: The Nominating Committee, Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, 1290 Avenue Of The Americas, New York, NY 10104. 

I have been sharing the blog address whenever I can.  Please feel free to share this on the blog.

Your KAAY Beaker Street friend, Jeff"

Thank you, Jeff!  I wish all the success to you and the fellow nominators out there!

Bud S. (Staceys4@Hotmail.com)

More comments

Here are more comments recently posted on the blog.  Click on a comment to read it in larger type. Each comment is documented with the name of the post where it was attached, and you can jump to the post by typing its name in the search box located at the upper left corner of this web page.  Happy reading!

Staunch Allies Get A Shout Out. (David B. Treadway on Facebook)

KAAY's night signal rolled right over Satsuma, Alabama, where it swept a young Bud Stacey into the ozone. I never knew he was out there until years after the station was sold away to the Christians. He and some friends put an excellent blog on the 'net, entitled mighty1090kaay (link below).  (David B. inserted a link to our blog in his Facebook post- thanks, David B.!  bs)

If you're still a fan of the station, I highly recommend you give this blog some of your spare time!

It's done from a listener's viewpoint, though insiders check in from time to time. It gives a perspective that we did not get on the air--and it's got everything about the station. It also links back to the late AJ Lindsey's (Doc Holiday #2) blog, which is another treasure in itself.

Very belated thanks to Bud, Greg Barman and Dave Schmidt and all others who are keeping the legend alive.

More comments

Here are more comments recently posted on the blog,  Click on a comment to read it in larger type. Each comment is documented with the name of the post where it was attached, and you can jump to the posting by typing the name of the post in the search box located at the upper left corner of this web page.

KAAY Signal Restored

In an e-mail from Doug Virden:

"The nighttime directional signal for KAAY has been fully restored after nearly 15 years.  The nighttime signal had to be cut back because a power plant was built a mile away from the towers right in the directional signals path.  This forced the signal to be reduced from 50kw to around 17kw at night.  According to Barry McCorkindale this led to a significant loss in revenue.

Two-thirds of the revenue the station brought in was from the nighttime signal.  There was a higher rate charged during skywave hours.  Once the nighttime signal wasn't coming through anymore the prime revenue started leaving.  More revenue left when the station was off the air twice for weeks.  There are currently less than 30 ministries still on KAAY, once revenue is lost its doubtful its coming back.  I believe it cost more than twice of what the current yearly revenue is for the station.  From my understanding it was either restore the signal or turn in the license and shut down.

 

     I'm sure the company is going want a return on their investment.  Keeping the status quo with programming won't cut it.

 

A couple of ideas for programming would be to move the sports talk station to KAAY or block all the ministries that are left into the late night and overnight hours and play 60's and 70's music for the rest of the time.

  

There is now FM competition on the religious front in Little Rock.  Salem runs three stations in Little Rock one is a full time religious block station where a lot of programs that were once on KAAY went, next is a Contemporary Christian music format, and a conservative talk station.  Younger listeners will go to these stations for that type of programming.  Another issue is the ministers that have time on KAAY are getting older and there is NO younger ones coming in to take their place."

 

I tuned into 1090 this morning, there was a good strong signal.  Good job!  Thanks, Doug!

 

Bud S. (stactes4@Hotmail.com)

We get comments....

A lot of people read this blog, and they leave comments to the postings.  But to see the comments, you have to click on the "comments" link at the bottom of a posting.  Lots of comments are still being added to popular posts from years back, and there is no way that anyone is going to check all these older posts for new comments.

So, for the next few weeks, we will be relisting comments that have been posted over the past year.  The comments have been lifted from the blog's "dashboard," and they aren't formatted all that pretty, but at least you can read them.  Each comment is documented with the name of the post where it was attached, and you can jump to the posting by typing the name of the post in the search box located at the upper left corner of this web page.

We hope that you will enjoy the info and memories contributed by our readers.  (Also, the last comment in today's batch contains a nifty link that takes you to a dropbox account of collected Beaker Street audio files!   By the way, Bud S. has some leads on new Beaker Street audio, which he is trying to track down.  We'll let you know....)

Finally, a comment about comments:  our blog uses Blogger (run by Google) for its postings.  Blogger is great for presenting essays, audio files, etc., so that the blog becomes a history or archive on its topic.  This has worked great for documenting the story of KAAY.  But it makes comments secondary (otherwise, Blogger becomes Facebook).  So, we will stick with Blogger and do a bit of extra work to flush out your comments.

Here's the first batch --- click on a comment to see it in a larger type font.

---Dave S.

KAAY Question

This, from Bill in Las Vegas:

"Years ago, I found online somewhere, a bunch of playlists (not the mp3's, just a copy of the paper list) for Beaker Street. I think there were some from maybe 1966 and 1967. I cannot find them anymore. Have you seen them anywhere?

Thanks

Bill

Las Vegas, NV"

 

I sent Bill a reply and I'll be looking into it; in the meantime, anyone know where these playlists might be?  I believe, if memory serves me correctly, that Beaker Street actually started in November 1967....

 

Bud S. (staceys4@Hotmail.com)

Beaker Street Tribute

Happy (belated) New Year, everyone!

Without further delay, here is some information from blog friend Doug Virden:

" A radio show paying tribute to Beaker Street is on for an hour every Friday night.  The show airs from 9-10pm on radio station KCCK 88.3 FM in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and hosted by John Helm.  The station is run by Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids and is a non commercial station funded by donations.  They specialize in Jazz music and have a blues program following the Beaker Street Hour.  If you are outside the area, you can go to the station's website at kcck.org and hit the listen live button.

You can also listen through the tuneinradio app on your phone just search "kcck"."

 

Thanks, Doug!  Usually by that time, I am dead to the world, after a hard week; business is booming in my industry.  I suppose this is Central Time, as well.  I will have to make an effort to stay up and listen!

 

Bud S. (staceys4@Hotmail.com)

Merry Christmas!

I like radio-related things, of course!  I can only imagine that Santa likes me so much, he'll bring me radio goodies!

Wait!  Who could this be?

I'm sure after a long shift at the mall, these Santas are enjoying some soothing tunes in front of the Admiral console in the lounge before heading out for the evening!

Nonetheless, we here at The Mighty 1090 KAAY Blog wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Bud S. (staceys4@Hotmail.com)

Other Telephones

(From Doug Virden)

Remember seeing the old black telephone on the blog from the transmitter visit in 2011, there are two other telephones at the transmitter.  The one pictured on the blog then is the 302 model which 1st came out in the late 30's and was in circulation through the 50's.  I'm assuming it was the original telephone at the transmitter.  Barry McCorkindale took it home with him a couple of years ago when he was out at the transmitter.

   

The other two telephones are still there one is the rotary dial phone we are most familiar with which is the 500 model.  I'm guessing it was added sometime in the 60's.  The telephone was modernized sometime in the 80's with a touch tone telephone,I believe the color of the touch tone is ivory.  Telephone service was shut off at the transmitter building due to leases still be paid on those phones around the middle to late 90's.

 

The black one sits in the workshop area while the ivory one sits to the right on a shelf as you walk in the building on the top level.

 

Thanks, Doug!  We here at The Mighty 1090 KAAY Blog appreciate your contributions.  Keep up the good work!

 

Bud S. (staceys4@Hotmail.com)

KAAY's New Transmitter

(A bit late, due to my extremely busy schedule, but better late than never...my fault entirely. bs)

"I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, now it is time to start posting again.  The new 50kw transmitter was still in the crate when I visited there in September.  There is an engineering firm from Baton Rouge that will be installing the new transmitter.  Read on another FB page about a month ago that their firm would be there soon to install it.  That company also completed the ground work on the towers.  A new ventilation system was also installed upstairs to keep the transmitter climate controlled.  The building originally didn't have a/c, the heat and humidity would eat the new transmitter up within two years without it.  Remember reading stories about how the old RCA kept the building warm on very cold days and nights.  

The other transmitter is a 5kw backup transmitter, it was sent from an affiliate in Dallas to get the station back on the air a few years ago when water from the roof leak destroyed the one in the workshop area.  The Harris 50kw transmitter installed in the early 80's will be used as a backup.  That is the one with the blue cover in the previous post.  The new transmitter is approximately the same size as the 5kw in the pic and will be placed right next to it."

 

Thank you, Doug...keep up the good work!

 

We appreciate those who go to the trouble of contributing; things have been somewhat slow at The Mighty 1090 KAAY Blog and I think we've pretty much tapped out what is out there.  Who knows, there may be someone out there, sifting through their oddball tapes and finding some "new" audio, or finding a shoebox full of memorabilia that they'd be willing to share.

 

(I know there is more stuff out there, but I have had a hard time convincing people of donating samples for the blog....)

 

Nonetheless, as bits and pieces surface, we will continue to share them here.  Thanks for stopping by!

 

Bud S. (staceys4@Hotmail.com)

Recent Pictures From Doug Virden

"Saw this on top of the console where Clyde did Beaker Street.  This was a very big football rivalry when Arkansas was in the Southwest Conference.  Even had a bet between KAAY and WOAI one year, unfortunately Arkansas came out on the losing end of that bet.

The console used to sit in front of the old RCA, it has since been moved in front of the Harris Transmitter which has been there since 1980.  The new transmitter is still in the crate and I will post a pic of it for the next post and give an update on it."

Thanks, Doug.  I remember when the console was in front of the old RCA back when I visited back in April 2012.  Wish I had all those notebooks there, too.  I wonder if any of the old station logs have been thrown away, too?

Thank you for sharing, Doug, we'll be looking for more coming our way!

Bud S. (staceys4@Hotmail.com)

 

Comments From Cuba, From Antonio Diaz

In fact I didn't remember anyone been jailed for listen to radio stations from USA but if the police or any communist official got you doing that you end up been marked as a gusano (dissident).I'm a living example of that I was thrown out of university of Havana in 1980,they found out that I was an underground music fan and was listening Beaker Street every night in my house and finally I had to head north to America. ---Antonio Diaz on More Cuban Comments 10/6/17
	It's very exciting to know that people from Cuba took the time to send letters to the staff of KAAY, I'm Cuban and by that time 1973 I was a diehard listener of the station, Beaker Street was my favorite program I didn't miss them , each night I used to turn on my radio on 1090 khz from 1971 when I first discovered the station until September 27 1977 that beaker street wasn't on the air and never again I had the chance to hear BS I still don't know what happened, anyway I still keep those memories as my fondest, there's no doubt about it KAAY was the best station I've ever heard in my life. ---Antonio Diaz on Long DX Letter From Cuba 10/6/17

Tower Pictures

Took some pics of the towers and you will notice fencing around each tower as well as where the guy wires connect to the insulators on the ground.  It was raining off and on the day I was there so I didn't get close up to the towers.

Once again, Doug, thank you for the pictures and the update!

Bud s. (staceys4@Hotmail.com)

More Transmitter Pictures

Here are pics from the outside of the KAAY transmitter building.  Included pics from the back and front of the building.  Notice the dumpster out front.  It was there when I took the picture just after the property was bushhogged about six months ago.  With a wet summer it has really grown back.  The cattle guard gate has been replaced by a sliding gate.

Thank you, Doug!  Y'all stay tuned for more!  Bud S. (staceys4@Hotmail.com)

 

"AR ANSAS"

From Russell Wells' post on Facebook:

1968 trade publication advert. "You can't spell Arkansas without the K."

Thank you, Russell!

Bud S. (staceys4@Hotmail.com)