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Fred Cook 1925-2008

T

Tynosaur

I have just heard from Reva Cook in the last few minutes. Fred died this morning at 6:15. I'll include parts of her note to me:


I am so, so sad to tell you Fred passed away this morning at 6:15 A.M. He had been very ill but we all thought he would be home again to plan our Traditional Christmas Eve, and then he slipped into a coma.
It's such a shock to realize he is gone but I do have my son and daughter here, along with my new baby grandson. They do give me a lot of comfort,
Fred's wish was to be cremated and have a private service only for his kids and me. I will abide by his wishes, but I had no inkling of all the red tape and delays I have to go thru! We spent all the morning and some of the afternoon at Forrest Hill Cemetery signing papers, etc. Apparently you have to wait on the doctor, medical examiner, state, etc. when you cremate. At any rate I wish to have a time for friends and family to visit and pay their last respects, here at the Cook home. Right now, it looks like that won't be until Wed and Thursday, or Thursday and Friday from 3 to 7 P.M. I do know that the funeral home sends an Obituary to the Commercial Appeal, and that might be today or tomorrow.
His daughter Laurie, has already contacted The Memphis Flyer but I don't believe she has contacted the Commercial Appeal. I have a very good picture of my hubby if the CA wants to use it. Please feel free at this time to contact all Fred's radio friends, and if the paper is interested, please tell whoever to call me.


We have lost a friend, a man of immense integrity, and one of the great talents I have known and worked with. It doesn't seem possible he is gone. Fred Cook will always be the name that comes to my mind whenever anyone speaks about greatness in our industry. Truly, he was the reason I stayed in radio for 40 years and I know I'm not alone in paying my respects to this inspirational broadcaster and man.
 
A very talented man. I have had the great priviledge of working with him doing voiceover projects, especially in the last couple of years. He always had great stories to tell of the "old days", and I always pressed him to tell them when he came in. When Fred came to WREC, an announcer's work schedule was a seven-day week (with no voice tracking)! He was a victim of corporate changeovers decades before some of today's victims were even in grade school.

And despite popular history, Fred may have been the first DJ to ever play Elvis Presley on the radio. He just didn't let the song finish... another story for another day.
 
I sincerely came to the boards today to ask Rob Grayson if he remembered what he was doing 28 years ago today only to hap upon this...

When I first started working on Beale St., Fred Cook was already a God in my eyes... Doom Hayes and Keith Lee still echo in my ears (And he would HATE when I asked him to do it; "Get out of my face, kid...") from years in the coliseum.. I KNEW I had made it just working in the same building with him. Making coffee for Fred was an HONOR! (Tho I wanted to piss in it for others...) And especially GOURMET coffee! Grinnn I haven't seen him in years but thought of him often...

AT - Please update us if you hear of any type of memorial... And I am so sorry for you too. You were his backbone...

RG - Wasn't it Johnny Cash that he did that too or was it Elvis...

cbj
 
This news saddens me greatly. I was one of the locals who knew the "TV" Fred long before the "radio" Fred...even though I never actually remember meeting him face to face. In the mid-eighties, I once passed on a opportunity to work overnights & weekends at WZXR simply because those shifts did NOT fit into my then current lifestyle. But regardless of the money, strange hours, etc., I kept telling myself "man, I sure would like to work in the same buidling as Fred Cook." Same thing was true of you, Alan Tynes, John Powell, Redbeard & all the rest. Man, what an outstanding radio factory that was in those days. Maybe I should have taken Sherry's advice.
God rest your soul, Fred Cook. You were the best.
 
During my many years in Memphis radio, I was fortunate to work with some special people. Being the GM during the days when the nostalgic format was revived on WREC and the Rock format returned to Rock 103, I was privileged to work with Fred for some time. He was the consummate professional, passionately committed to his work and his audience. My sympathies to his family and all who were a part of his long and rich history. He was one of a kind.

Craig Scott
 
I remember that my dad was listening to WREC the day they had the fire at the Peabody. He was always a big "Zero Hour" fan. I used to enjoy Fred's occasional banter with the Rock 103 DJ's and often wondered what he thought about their music. Truly we have lost a man with a tremendous knowledge of great music and radio history.

Thanks from the listeners, Fred.
 
Hi All,

I am Fred's youngest daughter, Shana. A friend of mine sent me a link to this thread. On behalf of our entire family, thank you all for your memories and sentiments. My dad would have been humbled by all of this. I would like to print off your comments and hopefully read some of them at the family service we will be having this week. He did LOVE to talk about the "old days"! I knew I was in for it when he would start a sentence with either "Well, back in 1950", or "Back in the early days of WREC..." I would simply roll my eyes and go turn on MTV! But as I got older, I really started to listen to him, and to others who would come up to him on the street, recalling some memory of how listening to "Chicken Man" or "Collierville" would get them going in the morning. Or how for 20 years they loved going to Tigers' basketball games to hear "that voice" over the PA. I will miss him terribly, as I know many will, but this time is made much easier by the knowledge that people all over Memphis loved him and appreciated him.

By the way, in answer to the query of what he thought of the music played over at Rock-103? Most of it he hated...I won't lie. However, he knew that I did like that music, all of it, and he would frequently bring home to me Rock-103 promotional prizes/giveaways without me even asking for them. For instance, when I was in high school I loved the Black Crowes. He didnt' know them and if he heard them he probably thought they were complete crap, BUT...he showed up one day after work with two luxury box tickets to their show at the Coliseum for me and a friend. I mean really...that's a cool friggin' dad!!!

Oh, and it was Elvis that he played on the air for the first time, for only a matter of seconds. As he tells it, he let it play less than a minute, ripped it off the turntable and said "that's the worst piece of shit i've every heard. This guy will go nowhere!". Just for the record, he also thought ESPN would never make it. So...as great as he was at his craft, not so much at the prediction game! Ah well, as he would often say, you win some, you lose some.

Shana Cook
:)
 
I met Fred (and saw him quite a bit) when he and I were performing/auditioning at Studio Center in Memphis. He'd always shake my hand, ask about my son, even play around with my son while we were there. I remember having an audition just after him and he waited until I was through and he and I sat in the waiting room and talked for a long time, and we did this whenever we met up. He also told me about how he played Elvis and didn't let the song finish, and to hear Fred tell it was awesome..and any story about the old days. My condolences to Fred's family, and my thanks also for sharing this awesome human being with all of us.


Chris Burks
 
I met Fred once and was treated very kindly. He had already left WREC before I came there. But I will always remember his iconic voice along with his knowledge of so many topics discussed on Zero Hour. I am sure Fred already has a place on Heaven's morning show.

Dan Sears
 
Fred Cook and John Powell were two of my early influences in radio. I enjoyed their laid back, off-the -cuff banter...something I had not heard when listening to Top 40 formats.

While I did not know Fred personally, I always admired his style, wit and the feeling that I was eavesdropping on a private conversation!

We've lost another great one. My condolences to his family.

Andy Montgomery
 
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