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Memphis radio Mt. Rushmore

L

littlebigradio

Guest
I heard something on a sportstalk station this morning that sounded like it might be fun to try on this board. If there were a Mt. Rushmore of Memphis radio, whose faces would be carved in stone on it?

You can only have 4 faces on the mountain, but you can add a couple of alternates if you wish.

Here is my Mt. Rushmore of Memphis radio (in no particular order):

Hoyt Wooten - (the man who brought radio to Memphis, although WREC was originally licensed to Coldwater Mississippi.

Bert Ferguson - (the man responsible for changing the format making WDIA the first station in the nation to program to African Americans.

Dewey Phillips - (the man who is credited with being the first DJ to play an Elvis Presley record)

George Klein - (a good talent in his prime and deserves a spot for longevity if nothing else)

Close but no cigar:

Rick Dees - (Probably the first Memphis DJ to have a No 1 record but split for the glamor and big bucks of L.A.

Wink Martindale - A pioneer of Memphis radio who has weathered the test of time and succeeded in radio and TV.
 
Wink Martendale?

PuhhhLeeeeeze!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dewey Phillips-absolutely
George Klein-absolutely
Rick Dees-absolutely
Rufus Thomas- maybe

That's about all the possibilities.

What about a "Hall of Shame?"
Who might you put in there?
 
FM Sales said:
radiosaur said:
Al Crain.

Stuffed bear to anyone who knows who he is....
Click to expand...

Shouldn't that be the Rev. Al Crain? ;)
Click to expand...

If so, I didn't know that...even when I worked for him in 1976.

As for serious answers, it would depend on if you are talking about talent (in which case GK and Dees most certainly would be there), or pioneers such as Wooten. Can we have two mountains?
 
Only one mountain. And it's not only on talent....that's why Dees didn't make my list. He was no doubt a great talent....but didnt' have the longevity to go up on the mountian.
 
Dees absolutely has to be one of the four faces, or the list is flawed.

Dees arrived in Memphis in 1974, and within a year WMPS was dominating WHBQ.

WHBQ was so desperate that George Klein was willing to commit a federal offense (mail fraud) to shore up WHBQ's diminishing numbers.

Fast forward to the fall of 1976.

WMPS GM John Rhea blows a gasket and fires Dees over an insane interpretation of plugola laws.

So what does Dees do?

He prances over to WHBQ and does a beat-down of epic proportions to WMPS. Within 18 months, he drives them from the format.

Dees' "longevity" was shortened by getting a promotion to KHJ in Los Angeles in May 1979.

Three years AFTER he left Memphis, he was regularly cited as Memphis' favorite radio personality in call-out research.

Not only does he have to be in the Memphis radio Mt. Rushmore, he would be the obvious #1 choice.
 
Mr. Dees must be there.

Such as it is, I owe my broadcasting career to his inspiration, and I suspect I'm not alone.

And while longevity is important, Mr. Dees' efficient use of his time in Memphis cannot be ignored.

Mr. Dees, Mr. Klein, Mr. Phillips, and Mr. Thomas. Sounds good. If there's more room, Mr. Wooten ought to be there, as well.
 
I would have to include Rick Dees in the rock re-purposing based not only on his domination of the morning airwaves during his tenure in Memphis, but also on the influence he had on a whole generation of air personalities.
Rick could breeze in at 6:05.. maybe 6:10, jump behind the mike, grab three drop-ins out the rack, and rip right into a bit that would be run-off-the-road-laughing funny.
And personable; PD's used to make a point about radio being a one-to-one medium, about the vast difference between talking "to" someone instead of "at" them. Rick had a great ability to make you feel that he was talking directly to you, that you were sharing a joke. I wonder if much of that approach has been cast by the wayside with the advent of the "zoos", where everyone talks to each other, and laughs at their own inside jokes, but leaves out the listener?
But in the 31 years I've been on air in Memphis, I can't think of any single personality who has had bigger ratings (adjusted for daypart) or earned more money for their station (adjusted for inflation and duration of tenure) as had Rick Dees.
 
robgrayson said:
I would have to include Rick Dees in the rock re-purposing based not only on his domination of the morning airwaves during his tenure in Memphis, but also on the influence he had on a whole generation of air personalities.
Rick could breeze in at 6:05.. maybe 6:10, jump behind the mike, grab three drop-ins out the rack, and rip right into a bit that would be run-off-the-road-laughing funny.
And personable; PD's used to make a point about radio being a one-to-one medium, about the vast difference between talking "to" someone instead of "at" them. Rick had a great ability to make you feel that he was talking directly to you, that you were sharing a joke. I wonder if much of that approach has been cast by the wayside with the advent of the "zoos", where everyone talks to each other, and laughs at their own inside jokes, but leaves out the listener?
But in the 31 years I've been on air in Memphis, I can't think of any single personality who has had bigger ratings (adjusted for daypart) or earned more money for their station (adjusted for inflation and duration of tenure) as had Rick Dees.
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Can I get an AMEN ???!!

I agree totally. Wasn't he carrying the entrie station right near the end?
 
Carrying the station? Hardly. He was always the cornerstone, on which the new Q was built, but to say he was all there was is insulting to the remainder of a staff that created some of the best radio in Memphis history.
 
oidarman said:
Carrying the station? Hardly. He was always the cornerstone, on which the new Q was built, but to say he was all there was is insulting to the remainder of a staff that created some of the best radio in Memphis history.
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For the record... with no Dees in the equation (the book between his firing at WMPS and hiring at WHBQ), John Long's WHBQ beat WMPS in the Fall '76 book 10.7 to 5.1 (in case I can't post 31 year old numbers... if WMPS had "X" listeners, then WHBQ had more than "2X" listeners). John put together an around the clock station which took Rick's morning boost and didn't let go. Having just spent Memorial Day sampling the WLS "89 rewind" (one of Q's own alumnus, Tom Kent, had a featured role in the WLS rewind last evening), I wished someone in Memphis would have the, umm... whatever it would take... to do a Top 40 reunion before it's too late. Once again, just looking back the the early John Long lineup... wouldn't you love to hear Dr. John Winston, Stu Robb, Bob Landree, Dickie Doo Edwards, Shelia, Walt Jackson, and the elusive Robert Grey in one place at one time? Or from the earlier days, Jack Parnell, Dave Clark, Mason Dixon, GK, Tony Maddox, Brother Jon Rivers, I could go on and on... the people I grew up listening to, that made Memphis an IMPORTANT market to radio and records (yes, once upon a time it was!).
For what it's worth, WREC unexpectedly ran about 5 minutes of the WABC rewind yesterday, around 2pm. Evidently, some switcher was feeding the "live" WABC signal instead of the Sean Hannity show down the line. When composure was resumed, and the Hannity show joined in progress, I called the WREC number and said "put it back.. put it back"!
 
I think you both may have misunderstood me. Perhaps "carrying the station" was not the right choice of words, but if I recall correctly, FM 100 made inroads on AM in every daypart, but Dees held his own in the lattter part of his stint here for longer than anyone else. As I have stated numerous times on this board, I firmly believe FM 100 beat WHBQ because it was FM...not because of any better staff or programming.

Sorry if it came out wrong.
 
Rob and Allan, I'd like to hear your four faces that would go up on the mountian.
 
littlebigradio said:
Rob and Allan, I'd like to hear your four faces that would go up on the mountian.
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I am long on suggestions, but short on decisions...
I'm in line with the previous suggestions, but we need personality representation from the history of WDIA (maybe even K-97!) But whom to suggest? Bobby O'Jay, MooHah, Nat D. Williams? Remember, for most of the history of the AM Top40 wars in Memphis, the battle was to be #2 at best, because WDIA was always going to be #1!
For the "Washington" it would need to be a pioneer, and perhaps Hoyt Wooten would fill that, since he was the first on, and started an AM, a TV and an FM. Also don't forget Abe Plough, who began a chain of stations, flagshipped by WMPS. I believe Abe was also in the fight for channel 3 way back when.
As stated above, Dees would need a face in the outcropping, but also don't want to neglect Dewey Phillips, or GK. I guess if you wanted to do the chicken/egg thing, would GK have been as legendary had there not been a Dewey?
And, at the risk of being totally run-out-of-town-on-a-rail, should there be a spot left for sales or engineering?
 
no spot for sales or engineering.....nothing spectacular ever came from either of those entities in Memphis. I know I'll have lots of engineers disagree with that but my experience with radio engineers has been if you go to them with a problem, they'll try to blame you for the problem or try to send you to someone else.
 
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