Knoxville radio history

[tenacea73]

Great stuff in this thread. I remember the automated WOKI in the mid-late 70s and that really wild overnight guy who, as I recall, met an untimely demise (can't recall the story exactly.) I worked a WATO/WUUU from about '75 or '76 until landing a gig at MusicCountry 103 -- and later Rock 104.

The overnight DJ on WOKI 100.3 ("Stereo 100" then) from '75 thru '79 was J.L. Meyers. He lived in Nashville and worked at some radio or radio/TV facility there. He would send in his "show" on 3-7" reels twice a month. I'd put the reels on the machine and his intros/outros would be mixed with the rest of the night-parted rock music. The first time I met him I was really surprized. He was not the long-haired , spacey, Martin-Mull-as-Eric-Swan-from-the-movie-FM type of DJ, but was a short, middle-aged, slightly overweight, balding, and married with two kids guy instead. He drove from Nashville to Oak Ridge to pick up his complimentary two-ticket pass for the sold-out Jun 28th, 1977 Hotel California Tour Eagles Concert - the famous one where Meisner & Frey had a backstage fistfight after the show. J.L. came alone and conducted an instant Be-the-7th-caller-for-a-free-Eagles-ticket on the air. About 15 callers later, he got the friendly single female caller he was looking for, and the contest was over. I got a quick lesson on the behind-the-scenes going-ons on radio contests that day. J.L. used a real cheap 30hz tone generator for his show that would make this very noticeable fluttering noise on the air. Many listeners called in thinking their stereos were dying, and were asking for technical help. - ahhh, what fun those days were.

J.L. was finally replaced in '79 with Don Walls. (the Brothers called him "the rock 'n roll Hooter" - the all-night guy with thick glasses) Walls was a yankee from Ohio who spent the first 3 months of his show talking about the "Tennessee Vols" (as in - rhymes with "bowls") and botching every artist pronunciation possible. Answering the resulting listener hate calls was not much fun.

/

 

[radiorob2.0]

WIMZ-AM 1240 had a short lived CHR/Rhythmic format around 1990. If I remember correctly it did show up in the ratings with something like a one or two share.

Despite the almost non-existing ground conductivity its amazing Knoxville had success with its graveyard frequencies, specifically WKGN. Longtime WAMZ PD/Afternoons Coyote Calhoun was Jack Diamond at WKGN. WAKY PD Johnny Randolph was interested in bringing him to Louisville due to his nighttime ratings. To hear him live, Randolph had planned to call someone in Knoxville and have them place the receiver next to the radio. It took several tries to find someone who could receive the station at night. Randolph figured if this guy was number one with no signal then maybe he's was worth hiring.

Before 80/90 and all of the moves, WOKI's signal traveled forever and were constant catch in Lexington. And was the station in Southern Kentucky. From Lake Cumberland to Hazard, WOKI had a following either over the air or on FM cable. Even though it was over 100 miles away, WOKI had listeners in Norton, VA. There must've been a hole in the mountains that allowed 100.3 to come in like a local. They even showed up in the county by county ratings for Wise County back in the early eighties.

 

[jwk1979]

Here is list of Knoxville radio stations that existed back in 1976.

This was gathered up from some of the posts I have read on this topic:

Knoxville Radio Dial - 1976

FM Dial


WBIR-FM 103.5 Knoxville (Automated MOR)

AM Dial
WKGN-AM 1340 Knoxville (Top 40)

Here is some information:

* - WBIR-FM 103.5 was carrying an automated MOR format from Drake-Chenault called "Hit Parade".

WBIR-FM had actually switched to a country music format a year or two earlier. They were known as "Your Hit Paradrer" station until late 1974/ early 1975, when they switched formats to "Music Country WBIR". They also sponcered a contest in which the tag line was "Win a Truck, not a car, from "Music Country WBIR".

WKGN began the year as a Top 40 station, but by September 1976, they had switched formats to Album Rock format, replacing W-149 that had switched earlier in the year from Album Rock to Top-40 15Q.

Also, I wouldn't classify WOKI-FM as strictly a Top-40 station in 1976. While they did play some Top-40 music, they also played, Southern Rock, Album Cuts, Country, Zappa, soul and funk, etc. Basically, they were all over the board as far as what they played, just depended on who was voice tracking in that time slot.

 

[jwk1979]

Great stuff in this thread. I remember the automated WOKI in the mid-late 70s and that really wild overnight guy who, as I recall, met an untimely demise (can't recall the story exactly.) I worked a WATO/WUUU from about '75 or '76 until landing a gig at MusicCountry 103 -- and later Rock 104. Back in the WATO days we had a news director who had come over from W149 (WROL?) named Leslie Self. Anyone know her? I've always wondered what happened to her. I believe she left WATO to work for Tennessee Radio Network in Nashville.

Carson

Are you refering to Gus Gossage, who actually did evenings for WOKI-FM in 1976? From what I can recall, I think he was murdered due to his involvement in a drug trafficing ring. It was also rumored that he was dating Pam Tillis, who was a student at UT, at the time of his murder.

 

[jwk1979]

Here is list of Knoxville radio stations that existed back in 1977.

These come from personal memory based on the posts seen on this topic.

Knoxville Radio Dial - 1977

FM Dial
WOKI-FM 100.3 Oak Ridge (Top 40)*

AM Dial
WKGN-AM 1340 Knoxville (Top 40/Disco)***

More information about Knoxville radio in 1977:

* - WOKI-FM 100.3 was going on three years since WOKI-FM 100.3 signed on the air. They were still aired some automated top 40 programming with some live jocks.

*** - WKGN-AM 1340 aired a top 40 format with disco music mixed in. The station later became “Disco 13” and in 1980, “Love 13” was the new name for WKGN-AM.

WKGN-AM did not become Disco until Summer 1978. From September 1976 until Summer 1978, they ran a Album Rock format. WKGN-AM became Disco 13 in Summer 1978 and remained with a Disco format until late Summer 1979, when they dropped disco to become a Top-40 format. Disco was huge 1978/early 1979, but by Summer 1979, Disco was starting to fade and New Wave was starting to crest, with the Cars, the Knack, Blondie and the Clash starting to have their first success.

 

[KnoxvilleTVFan]

WKGN-AM did not become Disco until Summer 1978. From September 1976 until Summer 1978, they ran a Album Rock format. WKGN-AM became Disco 13 in Summer 1978 and remained with a Disco format until late Summer 1979, when they dropped disco to become a Top-40 format. Disco was huge 1978/early 1979, but by Summer 1979, Disco was starting to fade and New Wave was starting to crest, with the Cars, the Knack, Blondie and the Clash starting to have their first success.

Thank you very much for that. I didn't know WKGN-AM aired an album rock format.

I found a survey from the week of October 20, 1980 at http://las-solanas.com/arsa/surveys_item.php?svid=3854 and they were "Love 13" at the time.

This sure is some fantastic discussion about Knoxville radio history.

 

[tenacea73]

Also, I wouldn't classify WOKI-FM as strictly a Top-40 station in 1976. While they did play some Top-40 music, they also played, Southern Rock, Album Cuts, Country, Zappa, soul and funk, etc. Basically, they were all over the board as far as what they played, just depended on who was voice tracking in that time slot.

Exactly. Mike Beverly was the acting MD and hated the teen pop music. He day-parted the Leif Garrett/Bay City Rollers stuff and tried to keep the disco music out of his show which started at 7PM for as long as he could. (The first week he had to add ABBA's "Dancing Queen" to his show was a very dark time for him) The station was huge into Southern Rock and the only Gold Record hanging in Pirkle's office was Charlie Daniels' "Fire On The Mountain" LP. The Brothers were very fond of Jimmy Buffett, Poco, and Warren Zevon: not your usual "top-40" fare. J.L. Meyer's show was truely AOR with a heavy dose of 60's Beatles.

/

 

[KnoxvilleTVFan]

Exactly. Mike Beverly was the acting MD and hated the teen pop music. He day-parted the Leif Garrett/Bay City Rollers stuff and tried to keep the disco music out of his show which started at 7PM for as long as he could. (The first week he had to add ABBA's "Dancing Queen" to his show was a very dark time for him) The station was huge into Southern Rock and the only Gold Record hanging in Pirkle's office was Charlie Daniels' "Fire On The Mountain" LP. The Brothers were very fond of Jimmy Buffett, Poco, and Warren Zevon: not your usual "top-40" fare. J.L. Meyer's show was truely AOR with a heavy dose of 60's Beatles.

Mike Beverly is on B-97.5 sometimes where they play soft rock. I have listened to him and he is a great DJ. I am glad that we are talking about Knoxville radio history. It's very interesting.

 

[tenacea73]

Despite the almost non-existing ground conductivity its amazing Knoxville had success with its graveyard frequencies, specifically WKGN. Longtime WAMZ PD/Afternoons Coyote Calhoun was Jack Diamond at WKGN. WAKY PD Johnny Randolph was interested in bringing him to Louisville due to his nighttime ratings. To hear him live, Randolph had planned to call someone in Knoxville and have them place the receiver next to the radio. It took several tries to find someone who could receive the station at night. Randolph figured if this guy was number one with no signal then maybe he's was worth hiring.

I did some engineering work along with others duties in '78/'79 while at WOKI. WKGN had the same Chief Engineer as WOKI, "Ernie" Sutton, and I assisted with weekly remote STL calibrations. As I recall, WKGN's tower was different, in that it was floated way above ground potential somehow. There was always several dead birds around the base of the antenna every week, and the tower seemed especially vunerable to cloud-to-tower static discharges. I made it a point to never do the calibration checks with even a hint of stormy weather. This may account for KGN's coverage area edge.

/

 

[KnoxvilleTVFan]

One thing I want to mention. Jack Etzel, a veteran news anchor at WFIE-TV, was on WKGN-AM back in the early to mid 1960s as a DJ.

 

[KnoxvilleTVFan]

WIMZ-AM 1240 had a short lived CHR/Rhythmic format around 1990. If I remember correctly it did show up in the ratings with something like a one or two share.

Despite the almost non-existing ground conductivity its amazing Knoxville had success with its graveyard frequencies, specifically WKGN. Longtime WAMZ PD/Afternoons Coyote Calhoun was Jack Diamond at WKGN. WAKY PD Johnny Randolph was interested in bringing him to Louisville due to his nighttime ratings. To hear him live, Randolph had planned to call someone in Knoxville and have them place the receiver next to the radio. It took several tries to find someone who could receive the station at night. Randolph figured if this guy was number one with no signal then maybe he's was worth hiring.

Before 80/90 and all of the moves, WOKI's signal traveled forever and were constant catch in Lexington. And was the station in Southern Kentucky. From Lake Cumberland to Hazard, WOKI had a following either over the air or on FM cable. Even though it was over 100 miles away, WOKI had listeners in Norton, VA. There must've been a hole in the mountains that allowed 100.3 to come in like a local. They even showed up in the county by county ratings for Wise County back in the early eighties.

Thank you very much for the info. I was 6 at the time and in elementary school. You're right on WIMZ-AM airing a short-lived rhythmic CHR format. Do you know who worked at WIMZ-AM 1240 at the time?

Another station aired an urban format in Knoxville. It was WCGM-AM 1120 which aired an urban format as "Power 1120".

 

[jwk1979]

Great stuff in this thread. I remember the automated WOKI in the mid-late 70s and that really wild overnight guy who, as I recall, met an untimely demise (can't recall the story exactly.) I worked a WATO/WUUU from about '75 or '76 until landing a gig at MusicCountry 103 -- and later Rock 104. Back in the WATO days we had a news director who had come over from W149 (WROL?) named Leslie Self. Anyone know her? I've always wondered what happened to her. I believe she left WATO to work for Tennessee Radio Network in Nashville.

Carson

Are you refering to Gus Gossage, who actually did evenings for WOKI-FM in 1976? From what I can recall, I think he was murdered due to his involvement in a drug trafficing ring. It was also rumored that he was dating Pam Tillis, who was a student at UT, at the time of his murder.

Instead of Gus Gossage, I think his name was Gus Gossard. He was murdered in the Summer 1976 and was connected to drug trafficing ring based out of Nashville. I seem to recall that when his body was found, a large sum of cash and cocaine was found at his home, along with a book linking him to several people in the music business out of Nashville.

 

[KnoxvilleTVFan]

Instead of Gus Gossage, I think his name was Gus Gossard. He was murdered in the Summer 1976 and was connected to drug trafficing ring based out of Nashville. I seem to recall that when his body was found, a large sum of cash and cocaine was found at his home, along with a book linking him to several people in the music business out of Nashville.

You're right. His name was Gus Gossard and he was a radio DJ in New York before coming to Knoxville.

 

[SuperQ]

His name was Gus Gossert. Gus was the former PD of WCBS-FM who got hooked up with the wrong people and did a little time. He was released with the understanding that he would get a long way from NYC. He had his own money and WOKI paid him chump change for recording voice tracks a couple of times a week.

He was on his way back from Nashville from visiting Pam when his Chevy Vega (some drug lord) was found off the Watt Road exit.

The little black book of musicians wasn't Nashville folk. It was a bunch of oldies acts he used to book when he was at CBS-FM. So if he was supplying musicians with dope, it was people like Little Anthony or Chubby Checker.

 

[KnoxvilleTVFan]

His name was Gus Gossert. Gus was the former PD of WCBS-FM who got hooked up with the wrong people and did a little time. He was released with the understanding that he would get a long way from NYC. He had his own money and WOKI paid him chump change for recording voice tracks a couple of times a week.

He was on his way back from Nashville from visiting Pam when his Chevy Vega (some drug lord) was found off the Watt Road exit.

The little black book of musicians wasn't Nashville folk. It was a bunch of oldies acts he used to book when he was at CBS-FM. So if he was supplying musicians with dope, it was people like Little Anthony or Chubby Checker.

SuperQ, thank you very much on posting about Gus Gossert. Kinda interesting post to read. Does anyone know of what Knoxville station logos looked like in the 1980s?

I know of one, the Kix 95 logo with the Zebra on there. I did see the logo on a phone book from '83 or '84 a few years back.

We have now reached almost 9 pages of discussion about Knoxville radio history. This is very interesting reading.

 

[jwk1979]

His name was Gus Gossert. Gus was the former PD of WCBS-FM who got hooked up with the wrong people and did a little time. He was released with the understanding that he would get a long way from NYC. He had his own money and WOKI paid him chump change for recording voice tracks a couple of times a week.

He was on his way back from Nashville from visiting Pam when his Chevy Vega (some drug lord) was found off the Watt Road exit.

The little black book of musicians wasn't Nashville folk. It was a bunch of oldies acts he used to book when he was at CBS-FM. So if he was supplying musicians with dope, it was people like Little Anthony or Chubby Checker.

I was just going by what I had been told by several radio insiders who were in Knoxville at the time. Even the local news media was reporting about his connections to a drug trafficing ring and his list of clients book that was found.

 

[eacalhoun1]

Before 80/90 and all of the moves, WOKI's signal traveled forever and were constant catch in Lexington. And was the station in Southern Kentucky. From Lake Cumberland to Hazard, WOKI had a following either over the air or on FM cable. Even though it was over 100 miles away, WOKI had listeners in Norton, VA. There must've been a hole in the mountains that allowed 100.3 to come in like a local. They even showed up in the county by county ratings for Wise County back in the early eighties.

Here in Morganton NC (60 miles east of Asheville), I have always been able to get a very good signal from 100.3 -- many of us listened to it in high school in the mid 80s and called it "wokey". I did not realize until this post that 100.3 was a relative late bloomer in going on the air -- almost the mid 70s. However since about two years ago, 100.3 is now blocked by one of those wonderful LPFMs -- on 100.3

Eric

 

[SuperQ]

<<<I was just going by what I had been told by several radio insiders who were in Knoxville at the time. Even the local news media was reporting about his connections to a drug trafficing ring and his list of clients book that was found.>>>>

It was a common misconception. The drug trafficking days were behind him. I'll never forget Carl Williams going on Channel 10 and saying he had in his possession and unidentified white powder with an estimated street value of $10,000. The local sherrif's deputies were assigning a street value to a substance without being sure what it was. Carl also quoted the little black book and wondered about his connections with a few well known oldies acts....one of whom was already dead at the time. If a man hadn't just lost his life, it would have been a very funny story.

BTW, a multi-time loser serving life for another murder later confessed to the killing. He was never tried for that since he had chance of parole as it was. It was apparently just a random hitchhiker tragedy.

 

[KnoxvilleTVFan]

Before 80/90 and all of the moves, WOKI's signal traveled forever and were constant catch in Lexington. And was the station in Southern Kentucky. From Lake Cumberland to Hazard, WOKI had a following either over the air or on FM cable. Even though it was over 100 miles away, WOKI had listeners in Norton, VA. There must've been a hole in the mountains that allowed 100.3 to come in like a local. They even showed up in the county by county ratings for Wise County back in the early eighties.

I do remember a top-of-the-hour ID from the mid to late 1990s when WOKI was a country music station where the announcer mentioned the states: Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Georgia. I think that's what he mentioned in the top-of-hour ID.

 

[RMarino]

RE: WOKI's signal

I remember back in the early '90s making the north/south drive on I-75 and back then WOKI (I-100) was THE ONLY non-country FM you could get in southern Kentucky! No wonder they were so popular in that area back then!