In Memoriam: Guy Christian

[EricStein]

The Radio & Records website had a brief headline which read that longtime Flagstaff broadcaster Guy Christian passed away yesterday. No age or reason was given.

This year, he had added Prescott (the KNOT stations, in which the FM became Magic 99.1 and the AM switched from Standards to Classic Country) to his portfolio of stations which included KAFF AM/FM and KMGN in Flagstaff.

http://www.radioandrecords.com/Newsroom/2005_07_27/guyannbroadcasting.asp

 

[ironbear]

> The Radio & Records website had a brief headline which read
> that longtime Flagstaff broadcaster Guy Christian passed
> away yesterday. No age or reason was given.
>
> This year, he had added Prescott (the KNOT stations, in
> which the FM became Magic 99.1 and the AM switched from
> Standards to Classic Country) to his portfolio of stations
> which included KAFF AM/FM and KMGN in Flagstaff.
> http://www.radioandrecords.com/Newsroom/2005_07_27/guyannbroadcasting.asp

Rest easy, Guy.

http://www.azdailysun.com/non_sec/nav_includes/story.cfm?storyID=112668

 

[gyrony]

> > The Radio & Records website had a brief headline which
> read
> > that longtime Flagstaff broadcaster Guy Christian passed
> > away yesterday. No age or reason was given.
> >
> > This year, he had added Prescott (the KNOT stations, in
> > which the FM became Magic 99.1 and the AM switched from
> > Standards to Classic Country) to his portfolio of stations
>
> > which included KAFF AM/FM and KMGN in Flagstaff.
> >
http://www.ra> dioandrecords.com/Newsroom/2005_07_27/guyannbroadcasting.asp
>
>
> Rest easy, Guy.
>
http://www.> azdailysun.com/non_sec/nav_includes/story.cfm?storyID=112668
>
KAFF AM/FM was the second station I worked at, and the opportunities that Guy gave me enabled me to make the jump to the Phoenix market in only two years. Ah, the days of the studios in the converted house next to A-Aarons Waste Disposal , right underneath the 930AM tower. And from the studio window you could see Guy's house, so if you did something he didnt like you'd see him driving up the road in the Newcruiser

The biggest thing I carry with me from those days is the belief that we are here to serve the public interest....something that is oft forgotten in the 1200+ station max-the-profits world of consolidation.

Thats why things like the 97.5 move-in bothers me....take a 100k boomer out of small market to rimshot into a major market, and then can't the damned thing on the air ....who loses? the listeners.

Goodbye to a broadcaster who did it right.

-30-

PS: Now, the fun part...the disposition of the Guyann stations.

 

[thirdticket]

> > > The Radio & Records website had a brief headline which
> > read
> > > that longtime Flagstaff broadcaster Guy Christian passed
>
> > > away yesterday. No age or reason was given.
> > >
> > > This year, he had added Prescott (the KNOT stations, in
> > > which the FM became Magic 99.1 and the AM switched from
> > > Standards to Classic Country) to his portfolio of
> stations
> >
> > > which included KAFF AM/FM and KMGN in Flagstaff.
> > >
> http://www.ra>
> dioandrecords.com/Newsroom/2005_07_27/guyannbroadcasting.asp
>
> >
> >
> > Rest easy, Guy.
> >
> http://www.>
> azdailysun.com/non_sec/nav_includes/story.cfm?storyID=112668
>
> >
> KAFF AM/FM was the second station I worked at, and the
> opportunities that Guy gave me enabled me to make the jump
> to the Phoenix market in only two years. Ah, the days of the
> studios in the converted house next to A-Aarons Waste
> Disposal , right underneath the 930AM tower. And from the
> studio window you could see Guy's house, so if you did
> something he didnt like you'd see him driving up the road in
> the Newcruiser
>
> The biggest thing I carry with me from those days is the
> belief that we are here to serve the public
> interest....something that is oft forgotten in the 1200+
> station max-the-profits world of consolidation.
>
> Thats why things like the 97.5 move-in bothers me....take a
> 100k boomer out of small market to rimshot into a major
> market, and then can't the damned thing on the air ....who
> loses? the listeners.
>
> Goodbye to a broadcaster who did it right.
>
> -30-
>
> PS: Now, the fun part...the disposition of the Guyann
> stations.
>

I was employed by Guy for a very short time doing mornings at KAFF-AM back in the summer of 1979. Had to crank up the transmitter at 6 am in those days. I worked in the old studios across from Guy's house and you could always see him and Ann walking or driving up the road with their many dogs...Guy was certainly a pioneer broadcaster and a consistent one.

It was good to know you Guy.

 

[ironbear]

Re: In Memoriam: Guy Christian (KDKB, puppy spots and a country gentleman)

> It was good to know you Guy.

I'll add my own story, because it points out so well what a class act Guy was.
He hired me for my third radio job in 1971, and I figure he got a handful with me. Patrick Payne, (a bud of mine who did an AOR show on KAFF-FM) and I visited KDKB one weekend, and we got to know Lee Garrett, who was a blind, totally amazing R&B dj who was doing weekends there. Lee co-wrote "Signed, Sealed & Delivered" with Stevie Wonder, and later worked as a successful record producer and single act.

Lee used Braille coded records, and with a little help from his wife pulled off some astonishing radio. We were blown away. We invited Lee to Flagstaff to sit in on Patrick's KAFF-FM show. Thinking he was BSing us when he gleefully accepted, we drove home to Flagstaff and forgot about it.

3 months later, totally out of the blue, Lee showed up right before Patrick's show at KAFF-FM, with his wife in tow and several, carefully selected cases of classic R&B LP's. Lee went on the air, and he was wonderful...Flagstaff had never heard such a jock. The phones lit up. Listeners were digging it, including Lee's occasional asides like, "Gettin' it on good, with the Pecker Wood!!", and "We're going to burn down this white man's radio station!" going into Stevie's "Love Having You Around". Oh. My. God.

Was there an uproar about any of this? No. Guy apparently did not hear the show, but received a number of concerned reports about it. And he was absolutely cool. He knew without us telling him, Lee's background, and shrugged the incident off as youthful hijinx. I was so amazed.

I had good and bad times with Guy, but over the 35 years I knew him, he was respectful and professional with everyone, wherever we were in our own life journeys.

Oh, yea...the frequent lost puppy reports (that actually served the community) and my secret love for Ann. Some other time, I guess.

 

[brldt8]

Anyone who ever worked for Guy knew two things:

1) He was obsessively observant of the company's bottom line

but,

2) He also believed that a huge part of owning the right to broadcast over public airwaves was his mandate to serve the public interest.

I'm too young to have worked at more than two locally-owned stations in my career (I started after he built the new station across Rt. 66 from the old one), but I'd be lying if I were to say I wouldn't give up the larger salary I'm now getting from a massive radio conglomerate in trade for eeking it by with someone like Guy. To whomever posted it before: The lost pet report was a perfect example.

I feel fortunate to have worked for one of the last radio owners in the world who actually felt a genuine obligation to the community that he/she/it operated in. To know that I'll probably never work in that kind of organization again kind of suppresses the childhood reverence I once had for radio.