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Memory Lane

N

NWilliams

Do some of you "old timers" (no pun intended) know the history behind WBKH (Hattiesburg), WXXX (Hattiesburg) and WLAU (Laurel)? Owners, formats, locations.....

I worked for WBKH in the early '90's when Romeo Sullivan was still there. I believe the Easterling's from Mize owned the station.
 
I remember WXXX 1310 in the late 70's and it was sort of a top 40ish oldies station. It was actually pretty good, they played some cool tunes. it later changed the call letters and went contemepory Christian in the 80's. Its been silent for a long time, late 80's or early 90's, not sure

WBKH 950 iirc was Southern Gospel for a long time. It went dark for a while and is now back on as WHSY talk. (WHSY used to be the call letters for 1230, (which is silent) and 104.5 FM) But of course most of ya'll probally already knew this.
 
I'm sorry I can't answer your specific question, but since I grew up in the area I can offer some memories of both stations.

I was raised in south Jones County during the early/mid 1960s, and remember my grandmother listening every morning to WBKH 950. The morning host was Jimmy Swan, father of WDAM-TV ND Randy Swan. Jimmy Swan was well known across South Mississippi as a country singer with his own band who did also appeared regularly on a weekly Thursday night prime time show, "McCaffery's Showtime" (sponsored by the McCaffery's supermarkets) that aired on WDAM-TV. This was also during the Civil Rights Era, and Jimmy actually ran for governor.

As for WXXX, during this period it was the Top 40 radio station. A few things I clearly remember: 1) While most radio stations signed on/off with "The Star Spangled Banner", "Triple X" did so with The Beatles' "Sgt. Peppers' Lonely Hearts Club Band"; another edited bit signing on, but signing off ending with the end where the orchestra comes to it's crescendo. 2) The GM was Jim Cameron, whose voice I always admired. His spots for "The STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE TOAD!" during the late 60s/early 70s were something to hear, and 3) When I married, one of my closest friends, Craig Dale, was my best man. He worked at WXXX for quite awhile and had just started a weekend gig at a Jackson station when he ended up late for work on my wedding day because my new wife and I were riding with him from the nuptials in Fulton (near Tupelo) and decided to take the Natchez Trace Parkway...not knowing the lower speed limit (45). He earned a speeding ticket and visit to a federal magistrate for the effort.

Those were the days...
 
A little extra information on my best man, Craig Dale, as mentioned above, in case anyone knows him or his current whereabouts:

He was known at WXXX (and I believed elsewhere) as Craig St. John, and is originally from Pascagoula. This was circa 1978-79.

Please note here anything about the rest of the "Triple X" crew from that era.

Thanks, and sorry I didn't get to mention this in my earlier post.
 
> A little extra information on my best man, Craig Dale, as mentioned above, in case anyone knows him or his current whereabouts

Craig is in Hot Springs, Arkansas, after many years in Camden, Arkansas. He works for the U.S. Stations cluster.

I think I'm responsible for luring him from Mississippi to Arkansas in '83 when I was the GM at KIXK/El Dorado.

LF
 
I visited with Craig on Friday... He and his partners own six stations in the Hot Springs/Glenwood market and are doing very well with them.

He sometimes reads the Arkansas boards...
 
I worked at WXXX in Hattiesburg from 1973-1977. It was a great little station! I was actually the Craig's best man at his wedding and he was my best man at my wedding. small world!!!
 
Hope Craig didn't get a speeding ticket like he did after my wedding!
 
I worked at triple X around 81 or so. Jackson Walker did the morning show, Steve Spillman did mid-days and I did the afternoon shift and DJ'd down the road at Bonnie & Clyde's in the evening. In fact, I was the first DJ at Bonnie & Clyde's. Came up from WVMI/WQID and after several months, went back there.
 
Where was the Triple XXX Studios located and who owned it? I am trying to remember this station (I'm from Hattiesburg) but I don't recall it.
 
The Triple X studios were located in the Y where West Pine and Broadway drive split. If you are heading downtown, look to your left in the split and you'll see a little strip center. Triple X was housed behind the last 2 doors on the end of the building closest to downtown. The loby was behind door #1 and the sales office was behind the door on the end of the building. In it's hay-day, the station was owned by the Saunders-McCoughla (or something like that) group out of Greenwood, Mississippi.
 
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