Old Cocoa Beach radio stations of long ago who remembers? Did any of you work or know of somebody besides me, who worked at one of these stations and your thought's? They were oldie but goodies in their day......
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CK101....WRKT-AM/FM RK-104....86 Music Radio WKKO....
- Thread starter Stormychuck
- Start date
C
cd637299
Guest
CK connects....hit after hit!
Stormychuck said:
Yep, worked at them all.. Started my career ar WRKT-AM-FM..Rocket Radio when C Sweet Smith owned it where the former Carvelle was on the beach..Moved to Pluckebaum Road around the corner from Burnett Road and KO 86 Knocks out the hits.. Worked at WCKS when Norman Knight owned it and it was Wonderful Cape Kennedy Stereo! Had the best times of my life through my High scholl years working with Rick Morton, Bill Baker, Clark Ray and all the guys. I still talk to Tommy Tyler from WKKO in South Carolina, but most of the old guys like Fred King, Melvin Ernie Legge are dead! Worked at WEZY with Tom Morley and Bill Cummins, news director and knew Johnny Fox and Mercer Livermore very well at WWBC.
I never worked for WRKT, but I did come very close to buying the former WRKT-AM (when it was WXXU) in 1991. At the time the FM had long since moved to Orlando as WSSP while the AM was still operating at the transmitter site on Pluckebaum Road. AM 1300 had recently dropped the WRKT call letters and classic hits format in favor of simulcasting a mix of religious and Spanish language programming which originated from co-owned WXXO 1600 Winter Garden. I spent an entire day over in Brevard County testing the day and night signal strength patterns. I can say I was impressed with how well AM 1300 covered the area with its directional 5kw day signal. The 1kw directional night signal wasn't bad, either.
While there, I also looked at WWKO 860 (formarly WKKO) and was equally impresssed with its 1kw non-directional day signal, but I really wanted 1300 because of its night service which 860 didn't have.
While there, I also looked at WWKO 860 (formarly WKKO) and was equally impresssed with its 1kw non-directional day signal, but I really wanted 1300 because of its night service which 860 didn't have.
True JMTillery, WKKO had great signal strength for a day kilowatt covered the all the way to the beach nicely as did WRKT AM. WKKO air wise, nice jingle package, nice sound for an AM station but nasty management, they couldn't hold on to any talent because they treated them like, well you know, I was doing mornings, a guy named Tom Collins was PD, Bill Maschmier was owner, in short two of the nastiest people I think I've ever worked for. Tom Collins alone gave radio a bad name...and some 34 years later I still wish I could run into Tom Collins and have a visit with him.
Recently drove past both stations, KKO is boarded up and WRKT whatever they are now, I did see a sign, don't remember the call letter's, I think their Creole, are still on the air and still on Pluckebaum Rd, however the road is now paved which it was not in the mid-70's...But WKKO's building and tower still intact.
Recently drove past both stations, KKO is boarded up and WRKT whatever they are now, I did see a sign, don't remember the call letter's, I think their Creole, are still on the air and still on Pluckebaum Rd, however the road is now paved which it was not in the mid-70's...But WKKO's building and tower still intact.
Thankyou BIG APE
WRKT AM/FM has a real interesting backround, when I had left WKKO in late 1977 after about 6 or 7 months of pure non-sense (Totally Fired) thank-god, I went back home to Miami only to get a call a couple of weeks later from the new owner of WRKT, Bob Taylor, offering me the PD job x-amount of bucks and-so-forth-and-so-on. Being the good radio trouper that I was I moved back and went to work for WRKT.
Bob Taylor the new owner of WRKT was also the owner several other stations most of which were somewhere in Michigan as my understanding would have it in 1978. Bob Taylor had hired me via the telephone after claiming to have heard me on WKKO, tracked me down and wanted me for the job. Bob Taylor was young and balding and in order to combat his problem of loosing hair, grew it shoulder length on each side of his head and then wrapped it around the top of his head and used bobby pins to keep it in place, my first meeting with bob was unique as I was seeing no less then 30 bobby pins sticking out of this guys forehead at anyone given second, resembling what looked like to me as the inside of a transmitter, yes all in all he was an odd character. Now the best part of the story.
One day Bob Taylor calls a meeting with station staff tells everybody he's decided he's had enough with the call letter's WRKT-AM, and that he was going to change the call letter's, and with that said and on the same day WRKT-AM became WMOD AM 1300, this mind you was done without any FCC applications involvement or permission he just changed call letter's mid-stream to his liking and WMOD AM 1300 suited what he wanted on that particular day. Long story short YES he was soooooo FCC busted shortly thereafter (LOL), the irony of it is he took out full-page newspaper ads advertising WMOD AM 1300 as Cocoa's newest radio station, and it was NOT his first time, he had done this sort of thing several times before on several of his other stations, just changed call-letter's, the fines he amassed over the years with the FCC I figured would have put at least one space shuttle in orbit.......
Everybody and anybody who was or still is in radio has at least one radio story to tell, and with all of the radio stations that I had worked for, and just when I thought I had seen it all, something new comes along that I've never seen before that's better then the last....From silly to the most bazaar....
Bob Taylor the new owner of WRKT was also the owner several other stations most of which were somewhere in Michigan as my understanding would have it in 1978. Bob Taylor had hired me via the telephone after claiming to have heard me on WKKO, tracked me down and wanted me for the job. Bob Taylor was young and balding and in order to combat his problem of loosing hair, grew it shoulder length on each side of his head and then wrapped it around the top of his head and used bobby pins to keep it in place, my first meeting with bob was unique as I was seeing no less then 30 bobby pins sticking out of this guys forehead at anyone given second, resembling what looked like to me as the inside of a transmitter, yes all in all he was an odd character. Now the best part of the story.
One day Bob Taylor calls a meeting with station staff tells everybody he's decided he's had enough with the call letter's WRKT-AM, and that he was going to change the call letter's, and with that said and on the same day WRKT-AM became WMOD AM 1300, this mind you was done without any FCC applications involvement or permission he just changed call letter's mid-stream to his liking and WMOD AM 1300 suited what he wanted on that particular day. Long story short YES he was soooooo FCC busted shortly thereafter (LOL), the irony of it is he took out full-page newspaper ads advertising WMOD AM 1300 as Cocoa's newest radio station, and it was NOT his first time, he had done this sort of thing several times before on several of his other stations, just changed call-letter's, the fines he amassed over the years with the FCC I figured would have put at least one space shuttle in orbit.......
Everybody and anybody who was or still is in radio has at least one radio story to tell, and with all of the radio stations that I had worked for, and just when I thought I had seen it all, something new comes along that I've never seen before that's better then the last....From silly to the most bazaar....
Stormychuck said:
StormyChuck - AM 1300 is now News-Talk WMEL, having moved the call letters and format from AM 920 Melbourne. The Melbourne station is now EWTN Catholic radio as WDMC - Divine Mercy Communications.
As for WWKO, in 1991, I heard the station fine all the way into downtowm Orlando. It did have an impressive signal. However it is no longer on the air, having gone silent several years ago when Carl Marcocci acquired the station with the intent of relinguishing the license to make room for co-owned WGUL-AM 860 Dunedin to upgrade to 5kw. Currently the former WWKO tower site is being used by WWBC-AM 1510. WWBC needed the site for the second tower it needed for its own increase to 50kw-DA-D.
C
cd637299
Guest
I could faintly hear WKKO on my Sharp radio when I lived in Hialeah in the mid 1970s. Always wondered why I could hear *it* & not WEAT in WPB on 850, much closer (1 kW for each back then).
One weekend (Dec 1974) my Dad & I went to Nassau...I heard WEAT no problem! Unusual pattern then, that.
Of course 850's no problem today with that monster sig. Heard it very faintly from Bermuda in the day too....at night it was a monster signal there...nice to hear the Marlins game from there....
cd
One weekend (Dec 1974) my Dad & I went to Nassau...I heard WEAT no problem! Unusual pattern then, that.
Of course 850's no problem today with that monster sig. Heard it very faintly from Bermuda in the day too....at night it was a monster signal there...nice to hear the Marlins game from there....
cd
I can only imagine how well WFTL's 50kw blowtorch day and 24kw night signal may come in over there in Bermuda. The biggest part of its signal is blown out into the Atlantic Ocean.
Likewise the former WWKO 860 did very well with its 1kw signal. I believe much of that may have had to do with the fact there was nothing in its way on 860. It was pretty much an open frequency on the East Coast. The 860 in Dunedin would not have been a problem for you down South because Dunedin is on the West Coast and is further away than Cocoa Beach. WWKO had a direct path. Still it is somewhat of a mystery that the former WEAT 850 didn't cause a reception problem for you in receiving 860 all the way down there in K. C. & The Sunshine Band land.
Once I worked for a 100kw Florida FM which was overpowered by a co-channel Michigan station for a few hours during one summer. I was sitting in the parking lot of my station, tuned to my station's 100kw frequency but heard the Michigan station instead. We were adult contemporary while the Michigan station was beautiful music. At first I thought my station had changed format and no one informed me. Then I heard the station ID and I knew it was a summer FM trop taking place. Radio waves can sometimes be a mystery.
Likewise the former WWKO 860 did very well with its 1kw signal. I believe much of that may have had to do with the fact there was nothing in its way on 860. It was pretty much an open frequency on the East Coast. The 860 in Dunedin would not have been a problem for you down South because Dunedin is on the West Coast and is further away than Cocoa Beach. WWKO had a direct path. Still it is somewhat of a mystery that the former WEAT 850 didn't cause a reception problem for you in receiving 860 all the way down there in K. C. & The Sunshine Band land.
Once I worked for a 100kw Florida FM which was overpowered by a co-channel Michigan station for a few hours during one summer. I was sitting in the parking lot of my station, tuned to my station's 100kw frequency but heard the Michigan station instead. We were adult contemporary while the Michigan station was beautiful music. At first I thought my station had changed format and no one informed me. Then I heard the station ID and I knew it was a summer FM trop taking place. Radio waves can sometimes be a mystery.
I had the privledge of working at WKKO 860 in the mid 60's ..came there right after Tom Tyler left. John Foley aka Melvin was the program director, Stan Freed was GM and because it was the only name id jingle left, I became Mike Green. Melvin changed KO to a real tight Drake format with the
short acapella jingles. Airstaff at that time was Melvin in AM drive, I did midday, and Bill Eckerd, former jock (as I was) at WWKE Key radio Ocala did
afternoon drive. Clark Ray did swing shifts as did Simon T. The best thing about WKKO'S air sound was it's incredible engineer, Ron Schrader, he made sure every cart played and sounded right everytime.
I also worked at WMEL 1300 when John Harper moved the station from 920 (where I also worked) to 1300. I still currently do a Saturday afternoon
talk show on WMEL.
short acapella jingles. Airstaff at that time was Melvin in AM drive, I did midday, and Bill Eckerd, former jock (as I was) at WWKE Key radio Ocala did
afternoon drive. Clark Ray did swing shifts as did Simon T. The best thing about WKKO'S air sound was it's incredible engineer, Ron Schrader, he made sure every cart played and sounded right everytime.
I also worked at WMEL 1300 when John Harper moved the station from 920 (where I also worked) to 1300. I still currently do a Saturday afternoon
talk show on WMEL.
Good to hear from you "Mike" You are right, Ron was the best engineer I ever worked with. Chuck, that's a great story that I hadn't head about WRKT. I left the station when Sweet Smith sold to a company called Buckes County Radio News which consisted of John Meder, Chris Young and Chet Pike. All a bunch of losers. They came in to Brevard and immediately bought 20 station wagons and had them painted with RADIO 13 NEWS.. Everyone had one..including the secretaries. Wasn't long they had a picture in Cocoa Today of all of the cars sitting in the repo lot at Barnett Bank. I have that pic somewhere.
I always liked John Foley and dealed with him when he came back to NC working for Capital Records. He used to come by and see us regularily at WTOB in Winston Salem.
Bunch of good memories revolve around the RKT Ranch, Moody Farms and KO on Burnett Road!
I always liked John Foley and dealed with him when he came back to NC working for Capital Records. He used to come by and see us regularily at WTOB in Winston Salem.
Bunch of good memories revolve around the RKT Ranch, Moody Farms and KO on Burnett Road!
Sad to say John Foley passed away in the early 80's. He was working at what was WZXI, a beautfiul music station in Charlotte NC
W
wondorlandohits
Guest
1971, if I recall correctly. Pepper LipSync was the morning talent on WKKO. I remember being there one morning watching a very talented man at his craft.
Mark I was a jock at Key radio in 67, was brought in to do mornings when Jay Kuppers came up to Ocala from WKKO to be the program
director. I was there about a year and a half, and then went to WKKO...back then, the studios were in Legal Center. I returned to WWKE in early 90's when it was WOCA and WMFQ, Bob Hauck brought me up to be sales manager when his SM had a heart attack.
director. I was there about a year and a half, and then went to WKKO...back then, the studios were in Legal Center. I returned to WWKE in early 90's when it was WOCA and WMFQ, Bob Hauck brought me up to be sales manager when his SM had a heart attack.
quadman102 said:
Oh yes, I remember the Legal Center studios. That building is now the State Attorney's Office, which is the reason WWKE was forced to move in the first place. The county had purchased the buiding originally for county offices, then it was given to the State Attorney. This is when WWKE moved to the Cascades in late 1976.
Bob Hauck sold WOCA about ten years ago and retired although he occassionally will appear on AM Ocala Live as a guest. I recently co-brokered the sale of WOCA again representing the buyer. WOCA is a nice little AM radio station serving a niche in Ocala.
wondorlandohits said:
Well, wrong answer! Pepper LipSync was someone myself and Rick Morton invented to anser the phone calls at WRKT during his show. The name came from the crapola jingle package from Pepper-Tanner... "The Station' that's all Heart. Pepper was a high school groupie. You must be in hyperspace if you were there in 71..because there wasn't such a thing!BIG APE
You are right, sort of. I called her PeppyPlaymate. She answered phones for my show. I actually inherited her from the guy who had the show before I did. I was at wrkt from 66 to 69. Then back to run wkpe fm in around 70-71.
We were the rock at night with my show. Pop music in the daytime. Kko was the rocker during the day. Great times back then.
Rick Morton
We were the rock at night with my show. Pop music in the daytime. Kko was the rocker during the day. Great times back then.
Rick Morton
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