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It all began in a small midwest city at a 5,000 watt radio station (yes, just like Ted Baxter!). WHOW, a daytime AM Country station in my hometown of Clinton, IL was my first job in radio. I had to get a school work permit to work at the station, since I was only 13. Of course, I also had to take that long train ride to Chicago and the Dirksen building to get the coveted "3rd Phone" with "Broadcast Endorsement."
The main (and only) Control Room and Production Studio at WHOW.
My engineering mentor Lonnie Nuenam and the guy that taught me more about being a "real" jock than anyone else Gary Carlson. Also at WHOW "Uncle Johnny" Barton, Robert Veach, Bill Ward, Bob Meltzer, Ray Livesay (owner), Johnny Ryan, Drake Bradley and the "unforgettable" Rev. J.C. Dove.
To support myself, I worked nights 10 miles down Route 16 in Mattoon at "legendary" WLBH AM and FM.
The main (and only) Control Room and transmitter remote control at WLBH. This dual channel console ran both the AM and FM. During the day channel one was on AM and two was used for production while a home built automation system was on the FM. In the evening (until AM sign off) and for special events the AM was on channel one and the FM on channel two. Many times we had different ball games on the AM and FM at the same time! At night channel one became the left channel and channel two the right when we went stereo. Two knobs for everything and you could only talk on one channel at a time. What a treat!
The home built automation for "Music from Mattoon" on WLBH FM and the main talk studio of WLBH AM.
The WLBH newsroom and production gear that never really worked! Also at WLBH: Ray Livesay (owner), Ken Woodell (GM), Alan Jarand, Lou Henson (news director), Leeland "If you eat you're involved in agriculture" Glazebrook, Ken Jakel, Wyatt Drake, Kent Melcher, Sam Miller (engineer) and more.
"On the air" from Studio Two at WLBH. I'm guessing the 7pm news on the FM. I'm also guessing that all the barbers in Mattoon and Charleston were on strike! Up to this point in time I was playing country, easy listening and religious music and doing a lot of sports, news and talk (Swap Shop, Open Line, Obituaries, etc). I was about to find out just how much fun I could have playing that loud and obnoxious "Rock and Roll" on the radio! My job at WLBH was basically tracking albums on the FM at night. It worked out great! Play a whole side of Jackie Gleason's "Doublin' In Brass" and do my homework. In an effort to liven things up a little, one night I decided to add a Doc Severinson Big Band cut to the mix. What a mistake! I was reamed for an hour for playing that "Damned Rock and Roll!" Hmmmm...Doc Severinson? Guess it was time to move on. Down the road in Charleston, WEIC was going full time with the AM and, as luck would have it, the FCC had just dropped the 1st Phone requirement for directional AM arrays. They needed an overnight jock, so I plopped myself in Rusty Russell's office and said "I'm your man."
The AM Control Room and WEIC. PD Lanny Walters on the air.
Harris BC-1 AM transmitter, BE 1.5 K FM transmitter and AM Phasor at WEIC.
FM Control Room and Production Studio at WEIC. The "Long Hair" in the picture is Henry Harrison, who later followed me to Peorias.
Yes friends, we were in the big time playing that "God Dammed Rock and Roll" and having a BALL! Also at WEIC Mark Carray, Dave Evans, Larry Scott, Kid Jensen, Jim Staley, John Clarin, Rusty and "Cougar" Russell, Henry Harrison, Marty Coffrin, Miss Joey, Rick Shields, Gary Lee (RIP) and others whose names have slipped my mind.
3 months later, I was moved to afternoon drive and felt I truly had "arrived!" Notice the Marlboro pack and matches. The WIRL control room had two main features: a big, overflowing ashtray and a big cloud of blue smoke! Ahh...the good old days in radio!
One of my favorite promotions was the WIRL Boogie Bike. A ride from Sheridan Village to Glen Oak Park. I damn near killed myself on that bike many times, but the ride was fun!
My all time favorite was the WIRL Coca Cola Hot Air Balloon. What a rush! Broadcasting live while gently floating over Peoria. We crash landed in a cut wheat field in Spring Bay, but it was worth it!
Get a hair cut hippy!! In those days, staying in one place for too long was not a good idea. Stations didn't want jocks getting married, buying houses and having babies. I did all three and so after a few years of fun times and great music, WIRL decided it was time for a change. I got moved to mid-days and asked me to move on as soon as I could find another job. My good friend Charlie O'Day had faced the same fate a few months before and had taken a sales job at a new station in Morton: WTAZ. When he was offered a sales position at WQUA in Moline, I thought "what the hell" and took the vacant position at WTAZ. After all the sales people made all the money, RIGHT! What a fall, from the top to a small town, automated FM! However, it was not nearly the fall that WIRL was soon to take at the hands of, what was then, ROCK 93 - WMBD-FM.
Main studio and Harris System 90 automation at WTAZ.
After a couple of months, the GM of WTAZ was fired and the owner, Roy Demanes asked me to take over. At last! A chance to apply all the small market tricks I knew combined with large market resources! Several more years of fun including hundreds of live high school sports broadcasts and remotes. We sold anything we could get a dollar for and actually made some money by being the local Morton-Washington radio station.
WTAZ production director Jim Crowley and owner Roy Demanes. Also at WTAZ: Rick Atterberry, Bud Carter, Martin Mitchell, Patty Curtis, Jim Dynan, Charlie Early (now Chuck Collins of CBS 31), Dave Snell (yeah, the same), Rochelle (can't remember her last name) and Cheryl Maddox (later to be Cheryl Miller...another story) "The only thing certain is change." And change came when Roy Demanes passed away suddenly and I found myself working for his widow and family. Our individual views of what WTAZ should be soon clashed and I resigned to take a position with a Nashville studio selling jingles. Big mistake! Selling jingles to rubes in Centerville Iowa and eating every meal at Dick and Vi's Bluebird Cafe was not my idea of a good job! Next up, a call to my friend Jerry Barr at WXCL. WXCL AM 1350 was still a player in Peoria. I joined the sales department and settled in to making a fairly good living selling spots on the Hillbilly Jamboree! Needless to say this was "Pre-Shamrock." WXCL was owned at the time by the Manship Family out of Baton Rouge. LA. They were a little crazy about things hanging on the wall and being on exactly on time for meetings. But all in all it was nice place to spend some time and sell some spots. I even managed to spend a few Sundays on the air doing my version of Top 40 Country. During my stay, what had been WZRO (FM) dropped their automated country format, changed calls and became WKQA 104.9. Also at WXCL/WKQA: Dick Lewis, GM, Jerry Barr (RIP), Nancy Shelton, Brad Bensman, Jeanie Plackett, Steve Young, Paul Jackson, Jim Crowley, Don Elliot, Marc Truelove, Mort Cantor (RIP), and a host of others whose names I'll post when I can remember them or somebody reminds me. After several years of making money and having fun, I caught wind that a guy named Bob Kelly was going to buy the stations. A little research proved to me that the making money and fun would soon come to a screeching halt and the stations would become something I didn't want to be a part of. So a quick phone call to and lunch with Ken Brown, GM of WIRL/WSWT resulted in a job offer as a sales rep with WSWT. Within weeks of my departure from WXCL/WKQA for WSWT, the "Shamrock" came to town. I made the right choice! As long as I live I will always remember the words of Fritz Frederick, Group VP of Mid America Media, the owners of WIRL/WSWT, when I walked back in the door on Grosenbach. He simple said "welcome home" and within minutes I knew I was. It was one of the best sales jobs I have ever had. WSWT was Beautiful Music, running only 6 units an hour and was sold out months in advance at VERY respectable rates. Gay Barton, Janice Surrat and myself spent most of our time changing copy and taking clients to lunch. Ah, the good old days! Only three sales reps and limited inventory. But, as with all good things, something happens to screw it all up. That came with the sale of all Mid America stations to Win Communications out of Ohio. Actually, Win only wanted Des Moines and Indianapolis. Flint, Peoria and The Quad City stations were to be spun off as soon as possible. Win did operate them for about a year before selling WIRL/WSWT in Peoria and KRVR in Davenport to Jim Glassman and Community Service Radio. Jim and I hit it off pretty well and after Ken Brown (and both station PDs) followed Win to Indianapolis, I was promoted to General Sales Manager of WIRL and WSWT. What a rush, the very office where I was hired by Mort Cantor to do overnights on WIRL so many years before was now mine!
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After graduating from High School, it
was off to college at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston where I
promptly "invaded" the student AM carrier current station WELH. It was
fun! We could do and play just about anything on the air because NO ONE was
listening! In addition to being a jock at WELH, I was also the chief
engineer maintaining the studio and a dozen low power AM transmitters
connected to the electrical wiring in the dorms.
One day, on a whim, I cut an aircheck
and shipped copies off to several stations including WIRL in Peoria. I damn
near fell off the chair when I got a call few days later from Bill
McCluggage asking me to come to Peoria for an interview. I was hired for
overnights and weekends. It took less than two weeks to quit school, hook
up a big truck to the mobile home and head for the big city and bright
lights!
