• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

WPFR 1978-81

D

dfwrunner

What were the DJ's names during that period? I can only remember Cahill. I think it was Chuck Cahill.
 
I remember listening to the morning team. They called them the "Breakfast Flakes". Haven't been to Terre Haute in years, but that late 70's early 80's smell is still burned into my head. Lived in Jones Hall. If you closed the windows it held in the smell. If you opened the windows it let more stink in. Ahhh memories.
 
WCBKscott said:
I remember listening to the morning team. They called them the "Breakfast Flakes". Haven't been to Terre Haute in years, but that late 70's early 80's smell is still burned into my head. Lived in Jones Hall. If you closed the windows it held in the smell. If you opened the windows it let more stink in. Ahhh memories.
Click to expand...

I remember that smell...it was first burned into my brain the first day as a freshman in 1977 as my grandpa drove me in on Poplar. I was in Cromwell and Gillum.
 
radio lover said:
... Wasn't Cahill murdered after he left Terre Haute?
Click to expand...

I don't have any clear memory of that, but I had a suspicion that something like that happened so maybe I read it before.
 
I remember the last night they were on the air. DJ Chris Cline was on and made the announcment that they were instructed to shut it down at 10 pm. Rob Arnett, aka flick dillilnger was with him in studio and the big finish was the 10 minute jingle montage.
 
radio lover said:
I remember the last night they were on the air. DJ Chris Cline was on and made the announcment that they were instructed to shut it down at 10 pm. Rob Arnett, aka flick dillilnger was with him in studio and the big finish was the 10 minute jingle montage.
Click to expand...

That was long after I moved to Dallas. So it was financial? I sometimes confuse the story with WBOW/WBOQ ownership.
 
The Oak Ridge Boys discovered how much money a radio station could loose.
 
ChiefEngineer said:
The Oak Ridge Boys discovered how much money a radio station could loose.
Click to expand...

Terre Haute seemed to me to be over-media'd in 1980. There were at least 13 radio stations and 3 TV stations in a tiny city of 60000 (and 5 adult bookstores and 3 adult theaters :). Still, I don't understand why anyone with half a brain couldnt program a radio station to be profitable...after all, many of them pay slave wages.
 
ChiefEngineer said:
The Oak Ridge Boys discovered how much money a radio station could loose.
Click to expand...

They helped me cover some of my expenses back in 83. You needed a boat sometimes to get to the AM tower next to the river and the CCA FM transmitter would blow plate blockers like cherry bombs on a regular basis.
 
speakerman said:
ChiefEngineer said:
The Oak Ridge Boys discovered how much money a radio station could loose.
Click to expand...

They helped me cover some of my expenses back in 83. You needed a boat sometimes to get to the AM tower next to the river and the CCA FM transmitter would blow plate blockers like cherry bombs on a regular basis.
Click to expand...

WPFR FM did seem to me to overmodulate sometimes...maybe my imagination, multipath distortion was horrible in those dorm rooms. One of the stations used to come in on my Fm tuner between every station (so bypassing the tuner itself I guess). I used to be able to listen to KSHE in Gillum on the 8th floor though (homemade antenna). Everybody was jealous :) (or I imagined that they were)
 
dfwrunner said:
radio lover said:
... Wasn't Cahill murdered after he left Terre Haute?
Click to expand...

I don't have any clear memory of that, but I had a suspicion that something like that happened so maybe I read it before.
Click to expand...

I worked briefly with Chuck Cahill at WVTS. Several years ago someone told me that Chuck had gotten out of radio, had moved to Wisconcin and while working in an office, maybe an insurance agency, someone walked in & shot Chuck in the back as he was just simply walking in the office working.
 
MightyFrenchman said:
dfwrunner said:
radio lover said:
... Wasn't Cahill murdered after he left Terre Haute?
Click to expand...

I don't have any clear memory of that, but I had a suspicion that something like that happened so maybe I read it before.
Click to expand...

I worked briefly with Chuck Cahill at WVTS. Several years ago someone told me that Chuck had gotten out of radio, had moved to Wisconcin and while working in an office, maybe an insurance agency, someone walked in & shot Chuck in the back as he was just simply walking in the office working.
Click to expand...

Sad, I remember him as having a great radio voice. He seemed pleasant on-air too. Don't recall anything negative at all.
 
Here is what I have been able to find out about Chuck Cahill:

Real name was Chuck Hook and his father was a prof at ISU.
He worked at WBOW for a while.
He was working at a cable company in Wisconsin or Minnisota and was standing at a copy machine when some guy got pi#$%d off and came in and shot the place up (mid 80's). He was paralized and moved back here and later died of complications.
After a little research it looks like he died in Dec 1986.
 
Talk about memories! I was an ISU student at that time, and was fortunate enough that one of my fraternity brothers was good friends with a couple of the PFR jocks, so we get to hang around the station from time to time. Definitely is what got me hooked on radio. Unfortunately after about 8 years the lousy pay unhooked me.
 
He is in Dennison Ill running WPFR-AM 1480, WPFR-FM 93.9 (Clinton), WKZI-AM 800 and WLHW-FM 91.5 both in Casy. They are "Holy Roller" Moody Bible except for mornings when he and the wife entertain.
 
317C50KW said:
Sligthtly off topic but is WPFR's name-sake, Paul Dean Ford still around?
Click to expand...

I seem to remember a Paul Dean, possibly Ford, who was a AM directional guru from Indiana. Is that the same guy?

Also, Bud Walters owned WPFR at some point. He mentions the station in the company's history.
 
I got to meet Paul Ford a couple years ago, sat with him in his Illinois studio and talked a bit. He's a charming and pleasant man with lots of great stories to tell. jim
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom