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K
KennyBosak
Guest
I had the priviledge of working with Ron Jordan on three occasions: At WMPS in 1975-76, at FM100 in 1980, and at WHBQ in 1987-88.
In the summer of 1975, when Ron was a local radio megastar, he took this 20-year-old under his wing. On many Saturday afternoons, he would let me come down to WMPS and sit in the studio with him while he did his airshift. As you might imagine, I had a front-row seat for many great moments. I'll share one:
In those days, WMPS had a Code-A-Phone answering machine on the request line. If the jock didn't catch the phone after four or five rings, it would roll into the recorded message in the jock's voice, telling the caller to leave their request at the tone. If a listener wanted to talk with the jock, after the tone they would ask him to pick up the phone if he was listening. One day Ron was monitoring the machine by keeping it in cue, when -- after the tone -- some little kid was singing along with whatever song was on the air at the time. Ron sat there listening for a few seconds and then inspiration struck. He slowly turned the pot out of cue and rolled it up on the air. The kid had no idea that he was on the air singing for a good 60 seconds.
I believe that Ron had more natural talent than his morning counterpart, Rick Dees. Make no mistake, I'm here to give Rick his due. But Dees was very structured and organized. Billy Frank Birmingham at 7:12 ... Dortch Horton bit at 7:23 ... School lunch menus at 7:36. Ron had the ability to walk in the studio at three o'clock with not one ounce of preparation and be funny, irreverant and entertaining for four hours.
In November 1975, Roy Mack hired me to run the Sunday morning public affairs block on WMPS. It was my first paid job in radio. I can't help but believe that having Ron as an advocate helped get me in the door.
We next crossed paths at FM100. In 1980, Gary Guthrie hired me to do weekends. At the time, Ron and Terrence McKeever were the morning show.
My foray in the news/talk arena came at WHBQ in 1987, when I did a Saturday show and co-hosted a one-hour show on Friday with Mark Davis. During the time I was there, WHBQ management put together the unlikely morning-show pairing of Ron Jordan and former Shelby County Sheriff Gene Barksdale. Not long after that came the dark day of October 1, 1988, when Dr. Flinn bought the station and we were all swept out of 485 South Highland.
In less than 20 years, many of the key players at News/Talk WHBQ have left us. Gene Barksdale, Oliver C. Reed, John DeCleaux, and now Ron Jordan.
My deepest condolences to his family. I hope you can take some small comfort in knowing that he inspired many of us who now make our careers in the radio business.
In the summer of 1975, when Ron was a local radio megastar, he took this 20-year-old under his wing. On many Saturday afternoons, he would let me come down to WMPS and sit in the studio with him while he did his airshift. As you might imagine, I had a front-row seat for many great moments. I'll share one:
In those days, WMPS had a Code-A-Phone answering machine on the request line. If the jock didn't catch the phone after four or five rings, it would roll into the recorded message in the jock's voice, telling the caller to leave their request at the tone. If a listener wanted to talk with the jock, after the tone they would ask him to pick up the phone if he was listening. One day Ron was monitoring the machine by keeping it in cue, when -- after the tone -- some little kid was singing along with whatever song was on the air at the time. Ron sat there listening for a few seconds and then inspiration struck. He slowly turned the pot out of cue and rolled it up on the air. The kid had no idea that he was on the air singing for a good 60 seconds.
I believe that Ron had more natural talent than his morning counterpart, Rick Dees. Make no mistake, I'm here to give Rick his due. But Dees was very structured and organized. Billy Frank Birmingham at 7:12 ... Dortch Horton bit at 7:23 ... School lunch menus at 7:36. Ron had the ability to walk in the studio at three o'clock with not one ounce of preparation and be funny, irreverant and entertaining for four hours.
In November 1975, Roy Mack hired me to run the Sunday morning public affairs block on WMPS. It was my first paid job in radio. I can't help but believe that having Ron as an advocate helped get me in the door.
We next crossed paths at FM100. In 1980, Gary Guthrie hired me to do weekends. At the time, Ron and Terrence McKeever were the morning show.
My foray in the news/talk arena came at WHBQ in 1987, when I did a Saturday show and co-hosted a one-hour show on Friday with Mark Davis. During the time I was there, WHBQ management put together the unlikely morning-show pairing of Ron Jordan and former Shelby County Sheriff Gene Barksdale. Not long after that came the dark day of October 1, 1988, when Dr. Flinn bought the station and we were all swept out of 485 South Highland.
In less than 20 years, many of the key players at News/Talk WHBQ have left us. Gene Barksdale, Oliver C. Reed, John DeCleaux, and now Ron Jordan.
My deepest condolences to his family. I hope you can take some small comfort in knowing that he inspired many of us who now make our careers in the radio business.
T
Tenn Radio Boy
Guest
"Not long after that came the dark day of October 1, 1988, when Dr. Flinn bought the station and we were all swept out of 485 South Highland."
And Kenny, it's been dark days ever since Flinn bought his first stations. The respectability of the industry dropped off the charts that day.
And Kenny, it's been dark days ever since Flinn bought his first stations. The respectability of the industry dropped off the charts that day.
K
KennyBosak
Guest
It's official! BookerT has executed the trans-lunar injection burn and is now in lunar orbit. Godspeed, (and Green Onions) BookerT.
The three main reasons I got into radio: Ron Jordan, John Landecker & Rick Dees...in that order. The Incredible Are-Uh-J doing afternoons at 'MPS while Dees was at 'HBQ doing mornings? That was as good as Memphis radio ever got. And was it ever enjoyable to listen to. Man, oh man.
L
littlebigradio
Guest
I got into radio because I thought it was better than driving a tractor down on the farm....and it was for about 12 or 15 years until radio became nothing more than just a tool for the bean counters at corporate to turn a profit. Those air conditioned tractor/combine/cotton-picker cabs are looking better every day.
T
Tenn Radio Boy
Guest
That tractor/combine/ probably costs more than WHBQ is billing.
O
Old School
Guest
My sincerest condolences to the family.
I hadn't written anything on this board in ages. Suddenly, I'm compelled to write twice in the same day. Go figure.
I, too, had the chance to work with Ron, albeit briefly. It was at WLVS back around '80 or 81. He had just returned from a stint in, I think, Boston(?). Maybe it was the gig in Indy -- the years have stolen some of the gray matter. Pretty interesting line-up then. I remember we had Ron, George Klein, Art Shell and others. Some great pipes in the bunch.
Ron really cracked me up back in the 70s with his on-air shtick. He brought it back home with him, too. Funny stuff, like (the oldest joke in the book) reading the letter from a devoted listener who marveled at the fact that everything on radio was always done "live." Yet, when recording the bit, Ron would intentionally bump the reel to make it speed up or drag -- eventually sounding as if the tape had snapped. He'd open his mic, sounding as if he was totally caught off-guard. It was d@mn funny on the air then; it still makes me laugh now.
Anyone recall the creative, long-winded stories he used to tell on Q that would somehow manage to capture the title of a song? Just as he'd get to the punchline of the story, the intro music would start. I recall the punchline of "Sure, Phil will tell Fee a free dumb," introducing, of course, Elton John's Philadelphia Freedom. God, how I wish I had just a little of his talent!
Despite the demons, he still had more creativity than I could ever hope to have. We'll miss you, Ron.
I hadn't written anything on this board in ages. Suddenly, I'm compelled to write twice in the same day. Go figure.
I, too, had the chance to work with Ron, albeit briefly. It was at WLVS back around '80 or 81. He had just returned from a stint in, I think, Boston(?). Maybe it was the gig in Indy -- the years have stolen some of the gray matter. Pretty interesting line-up then. I remember we had Ron, George Klein, Art Shell and others. Some great pipes in the bunch.
Ron really cracked me up back in the 70s with his on-air shtick. He brought it back home with him, too. Funny stuff, like (the oldest joke in the book) reading the letter from a devoted listener who marveled at the fact that everything on radio was always done "live." Yet, when recording the bit, Ron would intentionally bump the reel to make it speed up or drag -- eventually sounding as if the tape had snapped. He'd open his mic, sounding as if he was totally caught off-guard. It was d@mn funny on the air then; it still makes me laugh now.
Anyone recall the creative, long-winded stories he used to tell on Q that would somehow manage to capture the title of a song? Just as he'd get to the punchline of the story, the intro music would start. I recall the punchline of "Sure, Phil will tell Fee a free dumb," introducing, of course, Elton John's Philadelphia Freedom. God, how I wish I had just a little of his talent!
Despite the demons, he still had more creativity than I could ever hope to have. We'll miss you, Ron.
K
KennyBosak
Guest
The stories ending in the song title punch line he called "Believe It Or Don't."
It was essentially the same as John Landecker's "Americana Panorama."
Along with a friend of mine, Ken Tanner, we wrote three or four of Ron's "Believe It Or Don't" bits.
The ones I can remember ended with the following lines:
"Half? You? Never, Ben Miller!" = Have You Never Been Mellow by Olivia Newton-John
"That hat's away in the Jai Alai kit." = That's The Way I Like It by KC & The Sunshine Band
"Oven U is greasy cuz it's butane full." = Lovin' You by Minnie Riperton
I think Ken may have also written the above-referenced "Phil'll tell fee a free dom."
As you can tell from the song titles, it was a very 1975 kind of thing.
Hearing him read something on the air that I wrote was a rush I'll never forget.
It was essentially the same as John Landecker's "Americana Panorama."
Along with a friend of mine, Ken Tanner, we wrote three or four of Ron's "Believe It Or Don't" bits.
The ones I can remember ended with the following lines:
"Half? You? Never, Ben Miller!" = Have You Never Been Mellow by Olivia Newton-John
"That hat's away in the Jai Alai kit." = That's The Way I Like It by KC & The Sunshine Band
"Oven U is greasy cuz it's butane full." = Lovin' You by Minnie Riperton
I think Ken may have also written the above-referenced "Phil'll tell fee a free dom."
As you can tell from the song titles, it was a very 1975 kind of thing.
Hearing him read something on the air that I wrote was a rush I'll never forget.
O
Old School
Guest
Obviously a behind-the-scenes team effort that few of us really knew about. You guys must have made a great team, and his on-air delivery of the final product was impeccable.
I'll carry some of those laughs with me for the rest of my life. Memphis radio at its prime. There was never a better place or time for me.
I'll carry some of those laughs with me for the rest of my life. Memphis radio at its prime. There was never a better place or time for me.
Not to resurrect an old thread or anything but the other night I was thinking about Ron Jordan and stumbled on this. Ron and I worked together at WHBQ sometime in the late 80's (?) after George Flinn bought it and switched it to oldies. Bob McClain and George Klein were there as well, and I can't tell you how incredibly cool it was to just hang out with Ron and listen to the old stories he'd tell. I was producing weekend remotes and doing other odd stuff there, like transferring music to carts, etc and Ron started putting me on the air with him occasionally to get some back and forth banter every so often.
One night around 11pm on a weeknight he sent me out to the corner Walgreens with a remote broadcast setup thing that worked over cellular (and was crazy expensive!) to ask late night shoppers there what they were buying and why they thought Walgreens was the most happening place to be that night. Got kicked out by the manager then Ron called him on the air, and the a week later the station GM called me in the office and I had to explain what happened (Pro tip : Owners and managers listen to their stations so you might think you'll get away with something but you probably wont lol).
He told me about the time Rick Dees called him and complained because he had the number on hit at that time (disco duck) and couldn't play it at fm100 because it was his. I think Ron told him to play it anyway.
Ron coached me in being a DJ and got me my first DJ job in Osceola AR. He told me that coffee and cigarettes were the way every DJ got their radio voice. He wrote me an awesome letter of recommendation letter that I have around here somewhere and he scrawled "GREAT PIPES!" across it.
@payne5259 Myra, you probably don't remember me but I met you when you sat in with him one night. Gage was really little at the time, IIRC, and you told me where you got his name from.
Ron told me the story about the time he dropped the F bob on the air in some middle of nowhere radio station during a huge blizzard and when he read the temperature for the weather report, that I think he said you handed to him, it was negative something crazy and he instinctively said 'Are you F***ing kidding me?" and then turned the mic off and said 'well., that's it. I'm fired' but that no one ever said anything to him about it. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I am deeply sorry for your loss. Ron Jordan was more than a legend. He was one of a kind. He was Elvis, and Superman, and a bit of the Lone Ranger all mixed together and it is a truly sad that the world is here without him in it. He inspired me and changed my life as a result. I'm no longer in radio but he instilled a confidence in me that to this day tells me that I can do anything, BE anything, I want. And that it is far better to go out and get fired having fun than to be a slave to the corporate suits. He was a fine man and I miss him. Trick
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