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Interaction with Radio personalities...

B

Betelguese

It was so exciting at the time and now just a memory but, ..a good one.
Back in 1971, I was a freshman at Indiana Central College(now U of I) and working part time at brand new Sears in Castleton. The store had a Circus Days promotion and hired Reb Porter (WIFE) for his celebrity. We were all asked to dress up as clowns and I dressed up as Groucho Marx. Reb had to pick one person out of over a hundred employees to hang with him the rest of the day and I was selected. It was a fun day and he was a pretty nice guy as I remember. My second brush with local fame came in 1977 when I was working a part time job on weekends at Stewart Carey. Fred Heckman brought his WIBC company car into our shop to have a windshield replaced while he waited. It took about an hour and we rushed to help him out as he had to get to Chicago to interview,(his words) "Some G-Damn Arab" for a news report on the then, Arab oil embargo in the news. Other than that he was a nice guy, kind of gruff but kept us laughing.

My third brush was with Bob & Tom. I called into the show to answer a question posed by the "Reverand". It was weird because I used a rotary dial phone and got in! As I was on hold, I flipped on my stereo and cued up a cassette to record myself winning the prize package. I bantered with Bob & Tom and got through their usual condesention, and won the prize package. Better yet, I got it all on tape.....

Thats my radio 15 minutes of fame....
 
Isn't Fred Heckman the guy that was involved in the Tony Kiritsis hostage negotiations?
 
EStreeter said:
Isn't Fred Heckman the guy that was involved in the Tony Kiritsis hostage negotiations?
Click to expand...

You are correct.
 
I had the very good fortune to work with Fred over the years, sending in stories to WIBC news from the places I worked around central Indiana, until he was forced into his first retirement. Luckily, I got the chance to be around him when he came back to 'IBC just to do his "My Town Indy" features in the late 1990s and I was working part-time for Network Indiana. That was just after Emmis bought NI from Hulman Broadcasting. Yes, Fred was gruff, and he expected a lot out of those who worked for him, but he taught many of us how to do radio news properly. I am sure that John Bartholomew can tells lots of stories about working for and with Fred. I always enjoyed the challenge of filing stories with audio on the phone in the newsroom or from the scene, as the case may be. He seldom rejected anything I sent to Indianapolis because I learned what stories he wanted, how he wanted them to sound and what the listeners expected from WIBC.

He also gave the best answer I have ever encountered to the question: how long do you have to work in radio news to earn $30K? Fred's reply: 30 years. Dammit, he was about right, too. He also had a wicked sense of humor. It could be best described as "gallows humor." But, as many of us learned, that was the only way we could keep our sanity covering the kinds of stories we had to in those days.
 
Met and talked with WIBC farm news guy Harry Andrews at the Indiana State Fair one year and asked him how he came up with his character Stinky Irwin...Harry said that was reminices of people he grew up with as a child...Colorful dude God rest his soul..Also met "Cowboy Bob" Glaze,Peggy Nicholson(Popeye and Peggy) and Bob Braun at WTTV's pavillion at the fair.

I got to talk with the legendary Jack Armstrong when he was doing a Saturday night gig at 13 WIFE in addition to his afternoon gig. He was nice enough to let me in the old "window on the world" Meridian St. studio and we talked for about ten minutes. I asked him to do his battle cry to which he segued out of a jingle into a song and went "YOUR LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-DER!"
Great fellow...and was evenn crazier off the air then on.
 
Would go to Indy on trips, to the fair, pacers aba games, concerts and such, thru the years of youth... Always tuned around and dreamed of those Indy stations... Looking thru the glass on Meridian and hearing 'NAP do what they did on FM.... I had a couple of internships (weekly kind) in town.. But, when Jim Wood, Buddy Scott, Charlie Quinn, came down to E'ville to fire up top-40 WGBF... I was in la-la... Those old WIFE guys fleeing the Burden's debacle... It was our regional area's gain for our shining moment of top-40 at its best! Charlie talking about working at 99.5 when it was still in Greenfield and having to walk thru the snow to take meter readings on the 'box'....Scott Wheeler coming down for the weekend and doing an overnight shift or two... It was MAGIC... Spending the week with Hennes at WNDE while watching and changing the tapes on 'FBQ (automation), was a life memory... Wow! Where have the years gone???? ;)
 
skippertthomas said:
Charlie Quinn...talking about working at 99.5 when it was still in Greenfield and having to walk thru the snow to take meter readings on the 'box'.
Click to expand...

Live from the banks of Potts Ditch. Wow...never knew that Charlie worked in Greenfield.
 
In reflection, it could have been Mark that (Buster Bradley of 'GBF and a understudy of Charlie) worked at 99/WERK and came to Evansville in the second or third year of the original 'River City Rocker'... I still think it was Charlie, as I remember he was doing donuts on a ten speed in the studio parking lot and talking about it, one late summer afternoon... ???
 
My first radio show (Thanksgiving Day, 1977) followed Charlie Quinn's last show on WGBF. When I sat down in the air chair, Charlie patted me on the back and said, "Well, you're getting what you asked for." He was the first jock I met and introduced me to Buddy Scott. Also knew Buster Bradley well. Still in contact with a lot of the ol' River City Rockers, including Ric Lippincott (Dave Denver).
 
Pager.. Tell 'em, I GREW UP... I think???? Also, they should share some hot air-checks with Uncle Ricky over at Reelradio... I don't think the history of top-40 knows how good Metro/Bloomington's stations in E'ville and Rockford were? WROK and WGBF were the 13Q Pittsburg style taken two steps forward.... I was such a 'punk' running the canned stuff on Sunday AM and Night... But, I learned more than anywhere else... Thus, after trying to be someone I was not at 'VJC (Though Great Times) and KGMO, from 'CIL-FM on, I settled in and just enjoyed the ride in high and low times... Didn't care if it was small town or medium markets... Love the listeners equally..... 8)
 
I have a friend who was working above the ceiling of the WGBF studio when Buddy Scott was on a.. , well, on the air with a special guest in the studio (anyone say groupie?). "Hello Buddy" from the vent in the ceiling.

Taken to family court by a listener in Posey County cause I was sending her secret information (directly to her brain) via the radio. Family Court got a kick out of that. 10 other jocks got served papers the same day, same reason. Johnny Vincent about crapped his pants he got papers too. Oh, and all 10 of us were also wire tapped by the phone company (air names...haha) and were reported multiple times to the Sheriff for being at her house. (After psycho analysis was ordered she dropped the complaint.) (Key word being psycho.)

On a walk from 3 E 4th St to the Christmas meeting saw Randy Michaels Hairy Naked Astute area while mooning a cabbie (he not me) in downtown Cincinatti. (Okay it was a group thing.)(To those that think he's just another suit you're wrong.)

Now THAT'S Radio Interaction.
 
Good stuff, Chief. I've got some great memories of stuff like that from my various stops over the years. Can anyone say "Play Misty For Me?" LOL
 
shortbaldguy2007 said:
Good stuff, Chief. I've got some great memories of stuff like that from my various stops over the years. Can anyone say "Play Misty For Me?" LOL
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Dee Hillgoss got a dose of this at Kiss 106. A lady sued her because she was "giving he bank account out on the air" like that would really happen.

Now Bernice at WENS was a great fan. Fan from day 1 and a delightful senior citizen who was just nice. She sent fruit baskets, called on a regular basis, and was a nice lady. Didn't pester with lots of song requests or want to talk for more than a few minutes. She talked to all of us. Scott Wheeler, Bruce Munson (Hi Fi buys and State Senator from where else...Muncie), Christi Lee, Bernie Eagan, Eric Garnes.

She was a big Lee Corso fan. Around the time Chuck Marlowe did the IU coach show. Didn't Knight appear with a donkey one time?

I think she gave someone a car but not me. RIP.
 
I interned briefly in 1977 at WIBC/WNAP and had a chance to "mingle" a little with some of my heroes. Here are some quick snapshots of what I remember:

Gary Todd and Chuck Riley spending a lot of their time in the lobby B.S.ing - Riley usually had a cigar in his hand (and decked-out in an Hawaiin shirt - it was about 35 degrees outside). I remember they had some kind of promotion involving HOT Dr. Pepper. I thought it was awful, but for some reason, they were both drinking tons of it (knowing what I know now, Riley was probably spiking it)!

Hearing incredible sounds (to me anyway) coming out of the prod room.

My utter amazement to find out the teletype sound was on cart!!!

The ultra cute receptionist (weren't they all?) taking Top Banana calls for Bodine.

My general impression that the engineer on duty thought Buster was an imbecile (I would learn later that many engineers often felt that way about jocks)!

Being taken back to the studio to watch Cris Conner...I seem to remember him reading some kind of poetry??!!

Buster Bodine walking in with a tuxedo t-shirt and jacket with a top hat...I was awestruck :)

Watching Bodine in the studio proceeding to rip his pants on the air, then make a bit out of it.

I also remember (being a very anal-retentive college student) having this really cool ink pen (I know, I can't really explain it - sounds so stupid now) but Buster (Michael Hanks) borrowed it. A couple of hours went by and I'm thinking...man, I love this guy, but I don't think he's gonna give back my ink pen...finally, I asked him for the pen back...he looks at me speechless for a second, pulls out the pen and throws it at me!!! I laugh now, but at the time I was crestfallen - I'd just ticked off my #1 radio hero...nice.

I remember Conner in the lobby wearing red suspenders and we were watching a dog-catcher across the street from the station. Now, I love animals and, while I understand it's a necessary thing now, I didn't then. When the guy when to do his thing, I'm ashamed to say I went across the street and stole his car keys! (whereever you are, sorry man...it really turned into a terrible day for the poor guy thanks to me). But I remember Conner kind of grinning in amazement when I came back thru the door with this guy's keys. They're at the bottom of the White River somewhere.

Probably means more to me than any of you guys...but they're good memories:)
 
She was a big Lee Corso fan. Around the time Chuck Marlowe did the IU coach show. Didn't Knight appear with a donkey one time?
Um, yes...A donkey wearing a Purdue hat, no less.
 
kirkiefan said:
I got to talk with the legendary Jack Armstrong when he was doing a Saturday night gig at 13 WIFE in addition to his afternoon gig. He was nice enough to let me in the old "window on the world" Meridian St. studio and we talked for about ten minutes. I asked him to do his battle cry to which he segued out of a jingle into a song and went "YOUR LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-DER!"
Great fellow...and was evenn crazier off the air then on.
Click to expand...


I just read on All Access that Jack passed away at his home in North Carolina on Saturday. He will be missed.
 
I remember very fondly my first interactions with radio personalities. I am a little younger than most of you on the board, so my experiences happened in the early 80s. I grew up listening to 99.5 in Indianapolis (Indy's Apple, they were called at the time), and I would regularly try to call in to win the prizes, knowing full well that there's no way I could get to Indianapolis to claim the prize if I won it. I don't recall ever winning, but I do remember talking at length to the DJ at 6 in the morning about pretty much everything. He was so cool about talking to a listener and even kept me on the phone while he went on the air. I remember thinking that this guy had the coolest job in the world and that he must make a fortune for doing this job (I was a kid. I didn't know the awful truth about radio and poverty going hand-in-hand). It wasn't much, but it made me want to listen, since it seemed like the DJ really cared about me.
 
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