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Who would you put in a MS Radio Hall of Fame?

I was going to suggest John Friskello, but someone else posted before I was able to.

Also:

Eudora Welty
Irving Vendig
Maurice Thompson
Ross Stone
Jeff Hester
William Fulton
Joanna Burke
Jimmy Swann
Heavy Herb Anderson
Larry Armstrong
Rev. Donald Wildmon

There was this bandleader, but I can't remember his first name. His last name was Scoggins.
 
Just got a reply from Roger. And the name is RoDger, I left a the D out. But I knew that.

I can remember that old Jim Walker house that was the studios of WJXN at 916 Foley Street like it was yesterday.

God, that was wonderful.
 
I remember John Friskello very well, at WJQS. At the King Edward hotel. And of course Bob Rall. He was my hero.
 
Gosh. Just got a reply from Rob Grayson. And Bill Tanner. And Rodger Ownby. I'm all excited now.

There was a mention earlier about Eudora Welty. I went through the 2nd grade at Powers Elementary. One day, the teacher picked about six of us out and we took a walk. To Eudora's house. I, of course, didn't know it at the time. I had no idea who she was. She served us cookies. It took me 20 years to figure out where I had just been.
 
I used to carry Eudora Welty's groceries to her car when I worked at the old Jitney Jungle no. 14 on Fortification street. Nice lady. She was the only old lady I ever knew that had a manual transmission with a stick shift on the floor. I think it was a late 70's or early 80's brown Pontiac or Oldsmobile 4 door. She must have ordered it that way, because I don't remember ever seeing a big car with a manual transmission in it.

BTW: someone mentioned blacks that might be considered for the hall of fame. What about Bruce Payne from WOKJ and other stations. Seems he was around forever. Or maybe Jobie Martin. I mainly remember him from his saturday TV show and his fried chicken joint, but I heard he was also in radio back in the day.

kudos to Jeff Hester and George florence. I used to listen to them on WSLI when I was a kid. That was the station my mom always listened too. Are they still living?
 
Speaking of Blacks who should be in the Hall of Fame, one should not forget Vernon C. Floyd, who put WORV-AM on air during the middle of the Civil Rights movement and was blown off the air a time or two. He's still going strong with WORV and WJMG-FM in Hattiesburg.
 
I meet Vernon Floyd in Hattiesburg when I was traveling the state trying to sell MRN affiliations. We didn't have a Hattiesburg affiliate yet. We had WNSL in Laurel. But no one in Hattiesburg. Their studios were in a cinderblock building They had already been blown up once. Now, to be quite honest, I can't remember whether they joined MRN or not. Later, I think WFOR did. But they would only carry our weather forcast. No news. But we still got our one free minute of commercial time out of every hour. Our best advertiser was Avis Rent-A-Car. That's because I got a free car out of the deal. Bill Hux sold that sponsorship. Does anyone remember Bill Hux?
 
If we are tossing in famous radio copy writers, don't forget Shelby Foote wrote and produced spots for WJPR between 1945 and 1947. At the time he was working on his first novel, and sold his first story to the Saturday Evening Post.
 
The copywriter during the WJDX/WZZQ Tanner era, Hiram Jennings. Hiram wrote the classic Yellow Cab spot we aired in the early 70s, "Don't Bellow, Call Yellow." We all considered Hiram to be the best copywriter we'd worked with...
 
Mark, I wonder if the copy writer you refer to is the same person who did another cab spot I remember well after almost 40 years ... it was a knockoff of the O'Jays song "Backstabbers;" it went something like "they're smiling in your face, and they want to take you to your place."
 
Wow I wonder... that O'Jays tunes was a hit around August of 1972, not sure....
 
Don't know if he's been mentioned yet, but I think Jay Marks aka Rodney W Randall should be on the list.
He went on to Miami and Chicago radio, then on to national voice overs in Chicago.
And we can't forget Houston "damn those transisters" Jones, engineer at JDX!
 
Jay was an incredible talent, but does his success in Miami or Chicago mean that he is a MISSISSIPPI HoF'er? It's not whether you went on to greatness that should count, but what you did in the state. As I pointed out earlier, using my own career as an example... does my 30 years in St. Louis at the most successful stations there not called KMOX mean that I made a contribution to MISSISSIPPI broadcasting? Yes, I had a few years there, but they were not a big deal with respect to Mississippi. I doubt many people here would recall my name in spite of working in Jackson (WWUN, WJDX), Vicksburg (WJFL), Hattiesburg (WFOR), Laurel (WNSL), Starkville (WSSO), and McComb (WAPF/WCCA).

As well, much of this seems centered on who has been popular in the last couple or three decades, while there's next to no consideration of some of those great talents and contributors from the early 60s, the 50s, 40s, 30, etc. The bar for HOF should be high, and not simply they were a great memory from 'ZZQ or wrote a funny spot.

Houston Jones... I was trying to remember his name the other day... what a great guy! If you ignored Bob Burton's presence, there were some really great folks at JDX when I was there.
 
Houston Jones stopped by for a visit when I was at WJDX / WMSI around 1989. Interesting guy... and well-preserved from what I had been told... ;-)

RFB
 
It's hard to believe it's been almost as long since I left WJDX as my entire career in broadcasting spanned- 36 years. Gads... was 1975 THAT long ago? OY!

There was another engineer or two at JDX in those days as well. Can't recall who, but I always made it a point to be an engineer's friend (they would often wait for me to be on the air to work on the board because I didn't moan and whine-I let them do their job and worked around them cheerfully.) I did a lot of airshifts with the board opened and an engineer inside, working.
 
SkinnyJohnny said:
I know when Houston retired, the new engineer was Tommy. Also Bobbie Bouie (don't know about the spelling) worked back there too.
Click to expand...
As I recall, Houston was the only person we knew who had qualified for full retirement under the original WJDX,Inc. plan. We were impressed with that. (For you youngsters,there were no IRA's or 401k's for the industry back then. Just free coffee.) All vested folks had to be cashed out when Keymarket bought us. For Engineers afterwards,besides Tom and B.B., we had George Thomas, and Stan Carter. And Skinny cleaned the cart machine heads for us!
 
TZ: Your mention of free coffee struck a cord...in early '58 when I was a part time DJ, the boss came by the station one Saturaday morning....I was just making coffee. We sat down briefly and he said "Good Coffee, J. Boyd". I replied that , yes, but wouldn't it be great with some cream and sugar? He abruptly replied..." Better be glad you get coffee...you will NEVER see cream and sugar!"....and I never did till I got my own operation (25 years later ) JBI...and by the way...we still have it!
 
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