Tim McKee
IndyDan said:
Tim was indeed a good guy with a great voice and it was a shock to learn of his untimely death. I remember WENS dedicating their Sky Concert to him that year, and I thought it was a very fitting tribute. He certainly had the best seat in the house.
Tom Woody and Gene Olson did the on-air tribute to Tim right before the show. Tim had passed just a few nights earlier. The '84 Skyconcert is the only one I remember nothing of - other than their pre show tribute. Likely the most poignant moment in the history of WENS - and as I recall done mostly off-the-cuff.
Didn't Tim have a military background? And had spent a few years doing woodworking at a shop in Brown County. Tim loved to take care of the woodwork of the studios - cleaning and polishing everything from the wood frame of the board to the cart racks lining the walls. The same with his Toyota. He spent a lot of Saturdays washing and waxing his car behind the old Hawthorn Lane studios after his weekend shift.
What a quick career. He'd tell great stories of his first job in radio. Board-op'ing the Sunday night southern gospel show on WRCR Rushville. He spent some time at WTRE prior to the move to Tri-Y. And then to Q and finally the launch at 97.1. Tim was the first voice heard on WENS. "WENS Shelbyville. We let our music do the talking." Tim was station voice at Channel 6 too.
Despite spending time at "the album station," Tim wasn't much of a fan of some of Q's core artists. He cringed at Stevie Nicks vocals and equally disliked Bruce Springsteen - especially "Dancing in the Dark." Instead, Tim's guilty pleasure in music was old R&B. Al Green was a favorite.
The day I met Tim was the day I accepted an offer to do weekends at WENS. As Rick Cummings was showing me the station, the building shook to the Reverend Green's "Let's Stay Together." Cummings decided that was the time to show me the air studio. I always remember Tim towering over the board, headphones on and the monitors blaring too. I knew I was going to enjoy working with him.
I've often considered how different the history of WENS might have been if we wouldn't have lost Tim. He had an incredibly quick wit and quirky somewhat dark but darned entertaining sense of humor. When Tim passed, he'd just been promoted from mid-days to Bruce Munson's co-host on the morning show at WENS.
Maybe it's just me, but I've always thought that Tim might well have become the long time morning franchise for WENS. I think he, and WENS, could still be a big part of Indianapolis radio today were it not for that heart attack. That's how good he was. In some ways, WENS never recovered from his loss.
With my working nights, other than for meetings and events, I never saw Tim much at the station. Instead it seems we'd end up chatting somewhere around Castleton...the old Haag drug store at 86th and Allisonville was where I seem to remember running into Tim most of the time. We'd always do the usual shop talk and then Tim would have a joke to tell.
For the longest time after he passed, I'd still find myself keeping an eye out for him around Castleton. He's still missed.
