WKOR-Starkville

[tzbarber]

Wow, sure is fun to read the comments about WKOR! I was lucky to be there when the station came on the air in August of 1968. Everything was new, the DJs (Bill Tanner, Jon Robin and Butch Luke) would do practice shows, getting ready for the FCC to give us the go ahead for the first sign on. Quite a trip!

Mark Shands
WKOR 1968-1971
[email protected]

And the rest, is freaking history. The pipeline of talent that came thru that dungeon. Not bad for a daytime AM, huh?


tb(the other one)

 

[Russ L.]

Anybody else ever see or hear the ghost? The late night guy back in '88, Zeke Osbourne (high school kid named Brad Dorough) swore there was a ghost there. I drove to the station many nights at 1 am after he called freaked out about it. Said he heard solid footsteps and doors closing, he'd run up and nobody there...all dark upstairs. I heard it a couple of times myself.

I told him to just turn up the music and drown the ghost out. Zeke was a great guy. he was killed in a car wreck not long after I left. He loved the business and would've had a great and long career.

 

[Kevin James]

I don't know if there were any ghosts, but I did hear the sounds when I was there late at night. Also, there were the occassional 'things' that you see out of the corner of your eye! Didn't help matters that I had heard that the studio was a funeral home in times past. Is that true?

Odd you should mention Zeke....we always heard the ghost was Zeke. It was all affectionate and not disrespectful at all. I was told he had the type of sardonic humor that would allow him to laugh at that kind of irony. Wish I had known him.

 

[Russ L.]

I wouldn't put it past Zeke to show back up. His mom and dad told me at the funeral that giving him the chance to be on the radio was the greatest gift of his life. If that wasn't even to choke me up, then i saw him lying in the casket --- with a microphone in his hands. If there's truth to an emotional connection bringing someone's spirit back, the radio station would be it.

I was told at first that it was an old funeral home. But, I learned later that the funeral home was next door (apartments in later days), and the actual station was a doctor's office. The doctor rented the basement where the studio was to the funeral home for cold storage. That's spooky enough, but Hudson told me he thought the ghost was the old doctor who used to own the place.

Worse (or better) story: back in '77-'78 I worked at the old WACR-AM in Columbus when it was owned by James Eatherton. It was upstairs on Catfish Alley. The entire building was indeed a funeral home, and the control room still had a sink in it. The urban legend was that room was the embalming room. Steve Poston was a college student working there. I had great fun scaring the s*** out of him with that sink. Funny what red kool-aid stains can look like. It was daytimer, and when Steve worked sign-off, he'd knock the transmitter off about 15 minutes early and get out before the sun went down! Never saw or heard any ghosts there, though.

 

[robgrayson]

I spent the fall of '75 at WKOR with the legendary Glenn James, Larry Blakeney, and John Boogie Bailey. I believe Fred "Buster" Wilson was there at the time, also. I wasn't there long, but have many fond memories of the time spent there and folks I met there.
Out of that bunch, Glenn, of course, was and is, well, legendary. Larry was just exploring ownership at the time; John went on to Chicago, to WVON and WLS-FM; at one time Buster was producing a nationally syndicated program for the Southern Baptist Commission.
I wound up corrupting my roommate with the sleazy radio life, and Mike Patton forsook his serious studies of Electronics at Mississippi State, to go on and found his own engineering consulting company. At this point, he's doing his part to help post-Katrina Louisiana broadcasting rebound.
I'm pretty sure I met Tim Barber in Jackson before my move to Starkville, but among other things, I remember working with him on a group project for a class which we tossed together in the production room. He put in some time at "the rock of Lee Hall" before moving on to bigger and better things. Tim had a suite mate who was crazy about radio (Marty maybe?), but apparently smart enough to actually steer clear of depending on it for a living.
I got to spend some time in Starkville with Dave Sandefur. I had worked with Dave at WDDT, and Dave worked for a while on WSSO, then did weather at channel 3 in Memphis. I introduced Dave to his wife-to-be, Jan, and I was best man at their wedding. Dave is now a lawyer in the Jackson area.
The Lord brought a lot of great folks together in that one place at that one time, all of whom have been and remain a blessing to me. One of my fondest memories was my 18th birthday "party" at the McDonalds in Starkville... somebody even brought a cake!

 

[tzbarber]

I spent the fall of '75 at WKOR with the legendary Glenn James, Larry Blakeney, and John Boogie Bailey. I believe Fred "Buster" Wilson was there at the time, also. I wasn't there long, but have many fond memories of the time spent there and folks I met there.
Out of that bunch, Glenn, of course, was and is, well, legendary. Larry was just exploring ownership at the time; John went on to Chicago, to WVON and WLS-FM; at one time Buster was producing a nationally syndicated program for the Southern Baptist Commission.
I wound up corrupting my roommate with the sleazy radio life, and Mike Patton forsook his serious studies of Electronics at Mississippi State, to go on and found his own engineering consulting company. At this point, he's doing his part to help post-Katrina Louisiana broadcasting rebound.
I'm pretty sure I met Tim Barber in Jackson before my move to Starkville, but among other things, I remember working with him on a group project for a class which we tossed together in the production room. He put in some time at "the rock of Lee Hall" before moving on to bigger and better things. Tim had a suite mate who was crazy about radio (Marty maybe?), but apparently smart enough to actually steer clear of depending on it for a living.
I got to spend some time in Starkville with Dave Sandefur. I had worked with Dave at WDDT, and Dave worked for a while on WSSO, then did weather at channel 3 in Memphis. I introduced Dave to his wife-to-be, Jan, and I was best man at their wedding. Dave is now a lawyer in the Jackson area.
The Lord brought a lot of great folks together in that one place at that one time, all of whom have been and remain a blessing to me. One of my fondest memories was my 18th birthday "party" at the McDonalds in Starkville... somebody even brought a cake!


Had to add a small correction about myself there, Robert. The Rock of Lee Hall(the campus radio station at MSU ,run by unpaid college students,for those unfamiliar) had no use of me so I got the "lucrative" Sunday morning gig at KOR, which led to me being picked up by Skinny Johnny at WSSO. Being exposed to the corruptional forces of yourself,Dave,and others was a milestone for me. Having greasey burgers with Larry B. made on his Ronco burger maker in the dorm room. Late night calls from Pittsburg and Chicago from buddies to remind me where they were. It was good, wasn't it?

tb(the other one)

 

[Doctor_Technical]

Hey 'KOR guys: who was the PD when the tornado took down the 980 tower? I put a KOR person on the air at SSO to say "we'll be back". I've burned way too many brain cells since my too-short stint at WSSO, but I think it was the PD, or was Randy Bell there at the time? I recall expecting Joe Phillips to go nuclear, but he was surprisingly fair, saying something like "as long as you don't expect me to run their (insert Joe's usual cuss-words) spots, I don't care". Reaching out to KOR seemed like the right thing to do.

Paul Burt, WSSO '77

 

[tzbarber]

Hey 'KOR guys: who was the PD when the tornado took down the 980 tower? I put a KOR person on the air at SSO to say "we'll be back". I've burned way too many brain cells since my too-short stint at WSSO, but I think it was the PD, or was Randy Bell there at the time? I recall expecting Joe Phillips to go nuclear, but he was surprisingly fair, saying something like "as long as you don't expect me to run their (insert Joe's usual cuss-words) spots, I don't care". Reaching out to KOR seemed like the right thing to do.

Paul Burt, WSSO '77

Not meaning to take over this thread,but since my anal brain seems to remember such things, pretty sure it was Glen James that informed his listeners that they'd be back. Randy was at JDX way before then. It was cool for me because, for some reason,I was on the air at WSSO during the lunch hour that first day KOR was off the air,and knew the Paul Harvey listeners that normally listened to KOR had to listen to us since we were literally the only game in town. We played a tape from time to time to let Glen remind listeners that the suffering would end soon and they wouldn't have to listen to us much longer,or some other words to that effect. Can still smell that pipe smoke. Glen, what ever happened to that lady that ran the Record Shoppe downtown? I used to hang out there a lot to act like I was selling something.


tb(the other one)

 

[glennnn]

You are correct TB. That would be me. It was a fun morning. Cooper was out of town and we had a part-time engineer on call. Long story but we got back on the air that evening with a long wire antenna. Followed by a temporary short tower, followed a few months later by a new tower site. As Hudson would have said..."a fun time was had by one and all."

 

[glennnn]

Glen, what ever happened to that lady that ran the Record Shoppe downtown? I used to hang out there a lot to act like I was selling something.

She is still around town. Her name is Pat. Her husband died several years ago. I run into her from time to time.

 

[Kevin James]

WOW! Great stuff! Thanks for all the info about the old KOR bldg. BTW - after a brief stint as offices for a forest products company, the building is now a video production studio (front portion) while the rest of the building has been converted to apartments. I have a buddy who just moved into one of them. Need to ask him about the 'sounds'! Pretty creepy about the morgue being downstairs....figures!

Also, I never had the priv to work when Glen, but have heard him and know he is great.....if that isn't enough, he lives three houses down from me and it is sickening how great his yard looks compared to mine.....and I'm a landscape architect! Thanks a lot Glen!

 

[mobiledjin]

This is one of the better threads on the board right now. Had the pleasure to work at KOR during the move Columbus. Got there just in time to help Olen load up the trailer and move the studios. Remember doing a shift just before the move and had Olen standing on the console with his butt almost in my face. Wow, the crazy things we remember. Kevin James good to see you have done well as a grassologist LOL. Still remember the Star Trek spot we did for Woody's, in fact I still have a copy of it. Those were good times in radio. The Jock formerly known as M.J. O'Brien

 

[glennnn]

WOW! Great stuff! Thanks for all the info about the old KOR bldg. BTW - after a brief stint as offices for a forest products company, the building is now a video production studio (front portion) while the rest of the building has been converted to apartments. I have a buddy who just moved into one of them. Need to ask him about the 'sounds'! Pretty creepy about the morgue being downstairs....figures!

Also, I never had the priv to work when Glen, but have heard him and know he is great.....if that isn't enough, he lives three houses down from me and it is sickening how great his yard looks compared to mine.....and I'm a landscape architect! Thanks a lot Glen!

Hey folks... Don't let Kevin fool ya. His yard looks like a picture out of Southern Living Magazine, especially compared to my collection of weeds and junk grass. I just keep it cut short so my neighbors can't tell how bad it really looks................

 

[Russ L.]

OK, the yard stories brings up another Hudson-ism. If you try this, it's at your own risk.

I lived around the corner from Dennis, and when I first moved in, he cornered me at work and asked how often I planned to mow the yard. I gallantly said no less than every 2 weeks. He gave me a lecture about the "Green Oaks standards" and that I HAD to mow every week.

Then, first summer I was there, I his yard turned completely brown early in the season; he didn't mow because for all appearances his lawn was dead. But, by 4th of July, it came back as the greenest, lushest lawn in the neighborhood. He explained his method: he applied full, concentrated strength Roundup, and when it came back, it was weed-free. THEN, he mowed every week. Sometimes twice. The man was obsessed.

 

[robgrayson]

Had to add a small correction about myself there, Robert. The Rock of Lee Hall(the campus radio station at MSU ,run by unpaid college students,for those unfamiliar) had no use of me so I got the "lucrative" Sunday morning gig at KOR, which led to me being picked up by Skinny Johnny at WSSO. Being exposed to the corruptional forces of yourself,Dave,and others was a milestone for me. Having greasey burgers with Larry B. made on his Ronco burger maker in the dorm room. Late night calls from Pittsburg and Chicago from buddies to remind me where they were. It was good, wasn't it?

tb(the other one)





[/quote]

TZB, thanks for setting straight the record. I can toss that errant brain synapse which links you with Radio Free Starkville for once and for all. And Glen, I also propose to spell your name correctly in all future posts concerning our exploits.

 

[tzbarber]

No problem, fellow Farkel brother(are you Simon or Gar?). I just always like to point out that the little clique of wannabees at the campus radio station wasn't interested in someone who had actually worked at a real station. You remember the beacon of radio in Newton, dontcha? Seems that you and our buddy Paula came by there once when I was there. Talk about brainwaves that need to die.

 

[markoni]

Anybody else ever see or hear the ghost? The late night guy back in '88, Zeke Osbourne (high school kid named Brad Dorough) swore there was a ghost there. I drove to the station many nights at 1 am after he called freaked out about it. Said he heard solid footsteps and doors closing, he'd run up and nobody there...all dark upstairs. I heard it a couple of times myself.

I told him to just turn up the music and drown the ghost out. Zeke was a great guy. he was killed in a car wreck not long after I left. He loved the business and would've had a great and long career.

Back in '68, the original GM, Lep Boyd used to say he thought the building was haunted.

Someone also mentioned that the building next door (to the East) was apartments. Back when WKOR started the next door building was a fraternity house.


Mark Shands

 

[tzbarber]

Oddly enough, I stayed overnite at the Fiji fraternity house next to KOR a few times before I came to MSU. The guys there loved the idea of living in an old funeral home.The basement was cold and creepy,and had a freezer up against the wall. Needless to say,I never looked inside.

 

[Russ L.]

By the mid 80's, the old frat house was rundown and vacant. Somebody remodeled and turned 'em into apartments. Hudson and I joked about pitching in and renting a unit on the side facing the station and turning it into a "pad." We said we'd run a phone extension over the fence in case the wives called looking for us. Never got serious about it, but still think it was a cool idea..

 

[MediceneMan]

Hey, Markoni.....2-Things
-Ride you Gypsies! and
-Wolfff-Man!