Does anyone remember Jim Youngblood of WDXR in 1967-1970? I used to listen to him in the mornings on my crystal radio. He was quite a hoot. I'm wondering where he went when he left WDXR and where he is now.
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Western Kentucky WDXR AM 1560
- Thread starter draffenradio
- Start date
Mr. Youngblood started in radio in Paducah in 1949 at WPAD, which was 77 years ago. He is most likely no longer with us, but I can't find evidence either way.
A profile of WPAD that has a couple of quotes from Youngblood:
Fifth-oldest station in Kentucky
On Aug. 23, 1930, at the height of the Great Depression, Pierce Lackey had a crazy idea to start a radio station in Paducah.
Does anyone remember WDXR in 1970 where they did the top ten countdown every night with each place number "i.e. EIGHT" having a distinct echo/reverb effect? As in "Hit number E-I-G-H-T....E-I_G-H-T.....E-I-G-H-T...., reverbing and slowly fading out as the song started playing. I was very impressed with this sound effect then.
Real name David Bratcher, a/k/a Mason Lee Dixon. Also of WAKY, KXOK and others. Died September 24, 2020.
My father worked there in the 1960s, as well as WKYX and WPAD.
My first year in the St. Louis area, Mason Lee Dixon held down evenings at KXOK. I remember KXOK at that time, though, for the newsman Dixon worked with: Cleo Lewright, the first black reporter at KXOK, who did the newscasts during Dixon's shift. Lewright was moonlighting at the radio station; his day job was as a coach and teacher. He died in 1973 at age 46 of a heart attack. His story merited an article-length obituary in the Post-Dispatch. Apologies for going a bit off-subject with this thread, but Lewright's story shouldn't be forgotten.
Jim Youngblood's career was derailed when WDXR-TV went bankrupt, throwing the corporation into financial chaos. He made a brief return to WDXR in the late 70's, when the station was lurching between formats, but retired in 1979, and moved to San Diego in 1984.
In his book "The Golden Age of Radio, author Per Jensen tells Youngblood's story. There's a segment of it here. Jim Youngblood: The Radio Icon, short story by Per Jensen
In his book "The Golden Age of Radio, author Per Jensen tells Youngblood's story. There's a segment of it here. Jim Youngblood: The Radio Icon, short story by Per Jensen
Thank you for this information!!!