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WKDL, Clarksdale's Other AM

D

DouglasB

The last couple of topics jogged my memory of another long-gone station, WKDL, Sweet16 in Clarksdale. My room mate at MDJC was from C'dale and worked a weekend gig there. 1000 watt daytimer on 1600. Can't think of the owner's name, but his son did the engineering and the studios were downtown on the lower level of some office building down by the river. (how's that for a steel-trap memory?) There was a Collins board that used LDR (light dependent resistors) to control the audio, and they were sluggish......a real bear cutting in and out of ABC news. Studios were decent given the size of the station.....Understand that some bigger names got their start at Sweet16.
The station was later sold and moved to West Helena, AR. And the C'dale had one AM....
 
yes it was down on sunflower
Mcintosh family was the owner
tower was between Clarksale and Lyon
I think CJ Morgan told me he worked there once he is Mornings at WQUE New Orleans Prev. WHRK & KRNB
 
Another historical side note...WKDL studios were originally on Hwy 61, Just north of the Sunflower Bridge, and was founded by
John Mc Clendon, who also founded WOKJ, Jackson, WENN, Birmingham,and WYES, Tampa, Fls., Plus many others...history abides in the Delta!...(His first was WNLA, my first job in radio, and should be close to Doug's memory)...Thanks, all...JBI
 
i learn something new everyday
i was a weee little tot when KDL was on in Clarksdale
but i do remember when it signed on in W. Helena as Tall Cotton Country
I remember when i stumbled over the tower wandering around with a friend.. he asked what it was and i start pointing out where the tower insulator was and where the guy wires went to... then explained why the tower had the insulator on the bottom... The other kid was like how do you know that.. I was like 10 years old maybe...

i once found a paper weight with Sweet 16 and their phone number on it

the building on the river downtown is now home to the police station
 
OK...I realize that you are talking about the second studio,,,the original is North of the river, but the second one is the police station...sorry...now we are togeather...all the best...JBI
 
Was there some strange circumstance concerning Mc Clendons death? I seem to remember hearing that he was out of the country at the time or something but can't recall. You know that 1600 kc wound up in Memphis licensed to Lakeland. They took West Helena and Milan Tennessee dark and measured it out to 50kw day 0.030 kw night. I installed their transmitter and set the tuning network in 2002. It is located off Jackson Ave at the end of Whittier Road. A real good part of town as I remember, just glad I got out of there with all my equipment.

Watt
 
Watt, there are strange circumstances about his demise...however, as I have stated on this board many time, I try to avoid being a party to speculation..and I won't start now.
 
Douglas B. said:
There was a Collins board that used LDR (light dependent resistors) to control the audio, and they were sluggish......a real bear cutting in and out of ABC news.
Click to expand...
I worked with one of those at WKOR. Found out about them the hard way when I ducked the mike pot to cough! Oops!
 
I went to high school in Clarksdale, 1960-1963, and knew Bob McIntosh through my family. He was a Civil War buff and had a room in his lovely home with books and memorabilia from the North on one side and the South on the other. His wife was French and a dear friend of my mother...Josephine was her name as I recall and she and Bob were gracious, friendly folk. He died of a heart attack before 1970, still a relatively young man.

WKDL was in the Bobo Building, now the police station, and was quite advanced for the times. Betty Lou Stribling had an interview program and I and another student were her guests for some reason-my first time on the air, about the fall of 1962. I attended Clarksdale Baptist Church and talked my way into being WKDL's "engineer" for their Sunday morning remote church broadcast. It got me out of the congregation and into the little hallway behind the pulpit through which the preacher entered. I had a two-pot mixer and a couple of permanently mounted mikes for the choir and preacher and rode gain while wearing a pair of those old bakelite headphones. You couldn't touch me-I was smoking!!! 45 years later and you wonder where the time went!
 
Well, I wouldn't say "giant."
 
All of my people have fled from there pretty much as well as most people I grew up with from what I can tell.

They are mostly in the Memphis, Tupelo, Grenada, Batesville and Oxford areas.
 
If LF will do a "quick car loan" deal... $99 down and $199 a month, I'm in!

In all honesty, it is sad that the Delta has diminished to the point where it looks like there is no saving it.
 
Clarksdale

I did easy terms once before and got screwed. By the time I took the station back, the guy owed me about $30,000. Plus, a considerable amount of my equipment had disappeared - including an Optimod 2200, an LPB console, and a Comstream satellite receiver. I got a judgment against the guy, but he filed bankruptcy and stiffed me. I managed to recover a Computer Concepts DCS, but nothing else - he probably sold it all on E-Bay. I do get a certain amount of satisfaction watching all the trouble he's having with the FCC at his other station.

LF
 
I worked there in the late 70's on a secret LMA for Eddie Fritts and 2 lawyers who's names escape me in my old age. I was working at KCRI-FM i8n Helena, Ark.when I got the offer. Dudley Evans of WRBC fame, (or infamy) was the GM in Helena at the time.
You were right about the board. Cueing was an adventure. John Bell Williams Jr. worked there with me and the guy that came in, after I moved back to Vicksburg, died in the production room. I remember I was offered sweat equity in the station, until someone told me I'd be liable for a percentage of the debt also.
If any one can fill in the blanks, I'd appreciate it.

By the way, I learmed more about radio from Eddie Fritts in the 2 years I worked for him, than anyone since.
 
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