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WDDD-FM

H

hickok

Guest
Has anyone else out there ever had the misfortune to work at W3D Marion back in the 90's? :mad: :mad: I'd like to hear some some of your stories. My gig at mornings lasted all of six months when I was called into the office and fired for doing a DJ gig at a bar about a block from the station. It was explained to me that it was not in the stations best interest for me to represent them at a bar. And it was a country bar! I remember being treated like a grade schooler with management watching your every move. They even made you leave the station property if you wanted to smoke. Most of the staff smoked back then and they would hide behind the station and either bury their cigarette butts or would throw them into the gutters on the roof. They quit doing that when management scouted the area one day after a rain and found a ton of butts on the ground. That was also cause for termination for a couple of the staff. It worked out pretty well. My next two gigs were in Memphis and Richmond VA.
 
I had nothing but good times with the staff there, when we were all getting 'sloshed' at nearby 'CIL-FM.. Maybe that's why the 'Three-D' guys would come out to hang with us at Coo-Coo's when we were doing live shows from the nightclub??? I was down the road at 'CIL-FM in it's glory days (I feel were "Three-D's", too)!
Jay Pierce was working for Dutch and we always met him and Helleny at the local bars for fun.. Joey ended up with us and such... Also, the guys from "Whoopie" country and their boss, Sarah would join us for some cocktails, I remember! If you came into the "DMZ"....Downtown (Carbondale/SIU) Maniac Zone, you see the radio consortium at "The American Tap" or "Gastby's" joining Earl Jive and the WTAO jocks for beer and imprompt-too selections on guitar... It was a wild time in the late '70's and early '80's in "Little Eygpt".... 8)
 
I was in southern Illinois from 1972 to 1977 and I was always told that W3D was a very professional operation. In the 5 years I lived there however, I never once listened to the station because I loathe country music.
 
Here's a start: http://www.plainfieldtv.com/Boothinterview.html
Doug was one of the news directors at 3D when I was operations
director. When I worked there...roughly from 1977-1984...it was
a top flight place. By '84 Dutch wasn't really involved as much as
he had been...and it started being not as fun...and CIL-FM was
getting more fun by the minute...so I headed over there. I'm sorry
to hear it got even more unfun as the years went on. But then,
WJPF was fun in the early to mid 70s and so was KGMO...etc.
Skipper...I do think there was less hostility and more partying
in the 70s and 80s. Then everyone seemed to get real serious.
NOW you can't even smoke in a BAR! We should have seen it
coming.
 
Jay and I are in agreement! In those days, we all worked hard, had fun and then would party hardy! It was a magic time in So-Ill.... No matter who you were, or what you angle was, you were the 'radio-family' and we all smiled at the fact that three stations ruled over the other 12 in the market (56 share of the market consumed by three FM's with St.Louis breathing down our backs in the northwest county of our new metro, in that first book!)...I still have my copy of the books from that era.. Four County and County by County! Some of us look back and can't believe any station could have a 49 share in their 7 to 12 evening daypart. The radio gang would have their favorite meeting posts... Earl Jive and the 'TAO guys would meet the 'CIL guys at The American Tap on S. Illinois Avenue.. We'd end up next door at El Greco to get a king sized, sliced gyro sandwich... Joey, Jay and the 'Three-D' gang would hang with the 'CIL and 'Whoopi-Country' gang at Coo-Coo's or meet up with Bill Glenn of 'EBQ across '13' at Beefmasters.... Or, you could join me anytime for a free brew on the house at Uncle Dennis & Sue's "DuMorac" in DeSoto.... And come DuQuion State Fair time, we all mingled between our gigs, live at the fair.... We were eternally free and eternally young! (Donald Fagen line)....
 
Dutch was a southern Illinois born and raised kid who went to school, saved pennies, and walked through the much harder task of filing (in those days).. Got a station and made his town proud...Then upgraded it into the true Country powerhouse of southern Illnois! It, and WMIX-FM became the FM giants of Country, which for a rural market, was quite an early venture from small town Country AM stations... And, southern Illinois had some well loved AM's in that format! (WEBQ-AM in Harrisburg, WHPI-ol' WJPF in Herrin and WMCL, a daytimer in McLeansboro that held Mt.Vernon's ear until WMIX-FM made the switch!).... In the late '70's and thru the mid '80's, Three-D, CIL-FM and TAO held everyone else to small shares in the four county arbs... It was a magic time for small/regional market radio!
 
For a 2500 watt daytimer WMCL did some damage back in the day. When I arrived in'87 it wasn't billing much(under 10K), but it had a good staff, Danny Johnson, Mark Holstein, Wayne Church,The Super Fox--Charlie Pendel, Linda Devoy in the office and 2 top notch sales people. We added Ken Kessler to the sales staff and collectively we had that puppy humming in the mid $20's. Not bad in the late 80's when the FM's began rulling the roost! I enjoyed the 2 years I was there. Sure wish we could have snagged 102.1 in Mount Vernon back then. WMCL FM &AM had a nice ring to it!
 
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