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YOUR FIRST STATION
- Thread starter beefjerky
- Start date
I grew up on Burt and Kurt on 62JDX for the hits WZZQ for the long hair maggot infested FM-type music. I remember a little of WRBC when I was little. At night it was the Big 89 WLS the Rock of Chicago, the Mighty 1090 KAAY Little Rock and WLAC-Nashville. I also liked the short-lived Y-16 (WYIG-1590 Jackson) around 1976 or so.
How's about including the first station you ever worked at and what you remember about it, too??
Mine was WLSU in Tiger Stadium 1975...pretty much got to spin anything you wanted ...I also lived in the stadium dorm my 1st year...really rocked during football season!
1st fave MS station? WQID of course...but teen years grew up on TIX and NOE in New Orleans...always loved to hear Landecker on WLS and O'Brien and Beeker Street on KAAY Little Rock...
Mine was WLSU in Tiger Stadium 1975...pretty much got to spin anything you wanted ...I also lived in the stadium dorm my 1st year...really rocked during football season!
1st fave MS station? WQID of course...but teen years grew up on TIX and NOE in New Orleans...always loved to hear Landecker on WLS and O'Brien and Beeker Street on KAAY Little Rock...
I have an older sister that turned me on to WTIX. I remember that being the station I first heard Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs "Little Red Riding Hood." I was about 5 years old and living in D'Iberville when that was a hit. I had to have the record of course to play over and over and over.... LOL That was my first record in fact. Later, I too became a huge fan of WQID.
The first radio gig I got was at WTXI if memory serves me (it may NOT) and that was a 3,000 watt FM in Ripley, MS. Now WKZU 102.3.
My first PD gig was at WXOQ 105.5 in Selmer, TN. I fell in love with this area and the folks here. Still living in Selmer and now PD at WYNU in Jackson, TN. LOL My first 100,000 watt station!
The first radio gig I got was at WTXI if memory serves me (it may NOT) and that was a 3,000 watt FM in Ripley, MS. Now WKZU 102.3.
My first PD gig was at WXOQ 105.5 in Selmer, TN. I fell in love with this area and the folks here. Still living in Selmer and now PD at WYNU in Jackson, TN. LOL My first 100,000 watt station!
It's funny you should bring this up now. I was just back in my old hometown, Greenville, last week. As I drove through the delta, I hit scan on the AM and realized it stopped on what were the top-40 ish stations I grew up listening to. 540/KNOE, 560/WHBQ, 620/WJDX, 680/WMPS all came in like locals in the daytime. At night, back when, you lost the local 900/WDDT, but picked up (first and foremost) the big 89 WLS, plus X-Rock80 out of Juarez (El Paso), 1200 WOAI, KAAY out of Little Rock. It was a near religious experience to hear the jock roll the first song at the top of the hour and hear this "voice of God" type annoucer (Gary Gears, perhaps?) saying something like "Greetings Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama.. you're listening to the 50,000 watt nighttime voice of Arkansas, KAAY, Little Rock" slammed straight into the post.
My stint in radio began with "hanging out" in the local stations. Being Walt Grayson's kid brother helped, because I knew a few of the guys who would let me come in and goof around. I'm thinking it was probably David Kuhn who would actually let me bring my 45's to WJPR and run a fake "show" in audition in the control room while automation was patched in on the air. I still remember the General Electric tube console, the Sony mike, the Clevite-Brush headphones.
In those days, you had to take a test to get a license to be able to take meter readings, a requisite if you wanted to be on the air in the smaller towns. A couple of weeks after I turned 14, I went to Jackson and took the test, and became a licensed radio operator (3rd class, broadcast endorsement). After much wheedling, pleading, and pestering, Mr. Artman at WBAQ-FM gave me my first break, and let me do the afternoon shift, provided I could get clearance from the wage and hour folks. Too young to legally work, and no DECA program at my school, I had to be declared a "child actor". After a year of playing Montovani and the Ray Coniff Singers, I repaid Mr. Artman's kindness by bolting across town to the top-40 station, WDDT. And thus began my life as a shiftless gypsy.
My stint in radio began with "hanging out" in the local stations. Being Walt Grayson's kid brother helped, because I knew a few of the guys who would let me come in and goof around. I'm thinking it was probably David Kuhn who would actually let me bring my 45's to WJPR and run a fake "show" in audition in the control room while automation was patched in on the air. I still remember the General Electric tube console, the Sony mike, the Clevite-Brush headphones.
In those days, you had to take a test to get a license to be able to take meter readings, a requisite if you wanted to be on the air in the smaller towns. A couple of weeks after I turned 14, I went to Jackson and took the test, and became a licensed radio operator (3rd class, broadcast endorsement). After much wheedling, pleading, and pestering, Mr. Artman at WBAQ-FM gave me my first break, and let me do the afternoon shift, provided I could get clearance from the wage and hour folks. Too young to legally work, and no DECA program at my school, I had to be declared a "child actor". After a year of playing Montovani and the Ray Coniff Singers, I repaid Mr. Artman's kindness by bolting across town to the top-40 station, WDDT. And thus began my life as a shiftless gypsy.
Ah, to answer the original question... my first "fave Mississippi radio station" would have been WDDT as a child, then WRBC when I was in my formative years (even though I couldn't pick it up... I guess that made it more "mysterious"). Outside of MS, my influential stations were WLS, WHBQ and WMPS. Shortly after I started in radio, Allen Reynolds at WJPR gave me a copy of Bootleg Top 40, Volume I (then my cousin Keith Chandler later gave me volume II), which I devoured and regurgitated over the course of my career. I figured that any station featured in that collection constituted "the big time".
It was a different landscape back in the early 70's,with AM radio so strong at night,and personality jocks that lit it up. WLS in Chicago("the temp downtown is 75,78 at the airport,and 89 at WLS"),KAAY("greetings to the Dakotas and the great Divide"),WMPS(Spiderman)and anything with a clear signal after sundown took me away from the little town life in Newton. But in-state, the threesome in Jackson of JDX,WRBC, and WWUN got me stuck on wanting to be on the air. No wonder we got paid nothing!
since i didn't grow up in miss the stations i mention may be unknown to most of you...kleo, keyn were the 2 biggest reasons i got into radio...kleo was the powerhouse am...then keyn fm came along and dominated in wichita, ks...my 1st radio gig was at wqst fm forest, mike duke & terry c burton did mornings, for a small town station it had a huge following...ahhhh the good ol' days
WDDT went dark in machinations related to the Bishop Willis fiasco. It was a fun station in its day. They tended to recycle jock names there, so there were a number of Mike Mitchells, Sonny Days, etc. Walt was Sonny Day when he was there; I started out with my own name (Rockin' Rob), then became Jim Cassidy when they got a new jingle package. One of the Mike Mitchells I worked with went into the Air Force and wound up a NorthWest Airlines pilot, and another of them is now Rob Mitchell, doing traffic in Mempho. Alums include Ron Lundy and Marc Sommers of WABC fame.
I am about 10 years behind you old geezers. My early radio memories include me calling 7 or 8 times an hour to my big brother Tim at WBKN to play The Lion Sleeps Tonight by Robert John (for 20 years I thought this was his song). He wouldn't play it until my Mom would call and make him 8) . Fast forward a half dozen years and I was working for that station in a morphed state. It was then that I learned of the great stations across the state borders: Smokey Rivers on WLAC. John Records Landecker on WLS. God.... radio was simply an art in those days. Where have all the cowboys gone?
Unfortunately, with the state of the industry, up "Broke" Back Mountain...
My first station was WAMY. WAFM, fm 95 in Amory, Mississippi, and WWZQ Aberdeen, all owned by Ed Stanford. I ran the board for the AM preachers and live black gospel shows...those were teh days and I met some awesome people there...and I don't care how long you've been in radio..if you've never ana live Sunday A.M show with the in studio participants getting in the groove and the spirit..there's nothing like it in the world!
The first time I opened up the mic..Ed stood behind me and John Barrentine (one of the preachers) was to my right in the studio looking at me through the glass and listening to me. I had the weather written out (hadn't been able to form my thoughts yet..hey, back off! First time..hehe) and Ed said "Ok, Chris, go for it!"
I rotated the pot, turned on the mic, and "WWZQ weather is...uhm..well..it's..sunshine..may rain..uhm..that's your weather!" I turned the mic off to find Ed and John laughing their keesters off...and rightfully so!
Nothing I've done since beats thos early Sunday mornings though. There was, and is, something special about that first gig.
The first time I opened up the mic..Ed stood behind me and John Barrentine (one of the preachers) was to my right in the studio looking at me through the glass and listening to me. I had the weather written out (hadn't been able to form my thoughts yet..hey, back off! First time..hehe) and Ed said "Ok, Chris, go for it!"
I rotated the pot, turned on the mic, and "WWZQ weather is...uhm..well..it's..sunshine..may rain..uhm..that's your weather!" I turned the mic off to find Ed and John laughing their keesters off...and rightfully so!
Nothing I've done since beats thos early Sunday mornings though. There was, and is, something special about that first gig.
What an interesting question ??? My favorite stations as a teen were as follows, AM stations : WJDX -Jackson , WRBC - Jackson , WXXX -Hattiesburg (These were the daytime favorites ) Then when the sun went down , WLS - Chicago , KAAY-Little Rock , WLAC - Nashville. As for the FM dial : WQID - Biloxi , WJDQ (Q 101) -Meridian , WAIL (Whale 105 ) -Slidell , LA . WQMV (Q99) -Vicksburg , WZZQ (ZZQ/102 ) -Jackson . I would love to just have ONE of these back to their original status . By the way , If Larry Fuss reads this , Larry you were the man at Q 101 . I was listening the day you all made the switch from WDAL-FM to WJDQ-FM , kicking it loud with "Ain't No Stopping Us Now "
Take care my brother and God Bless !!!!
Take care my brother and God Bless !!!!
WTUP in Tupelo was my first radio discovery. Early to mid 60s. I memorized all the lines the DJs used. Soon I found WHBQ in Memphis after seeing George Klein on WHBQ TV. TIX in New Orleans and WLS Chicago soon followed. I never got to vist WTUP, but I often hung out at the Greenwood AM that had Dave Diamond as DJ. We'd drive over from Carroll County Mississippi and Dave would let us watch him do his radio show. Totally amazing! Sometimes DJs from other Delta stations would come by, which just blew us away. Can't remember their names but one DJ was an Asian guy. Me and my friends felt like we were hangin' out with the coolest people on the planet!!!
Oh, forgot to mention, back in this same time period. While visiting my grandparents in Brookhaven, a few of us went down to the local radio station and there was Bob Pittman spinning the tunes, the guy who later started MTV! It was your typical afternoon Top 40 show you heard on so many Mississippi AMs back then. The hits, a local high school student DJ and Coca Cola commercials! Classic!
Oh, forgot to mention, back in this same time period. While visiting my grandparents in Brookhaven, a few of us went down to the local radio station and there was Bob Pittman spinning the tunes, the guy who later started MTV! It was your typical afternoon Top 40 show you heard on so many Mississippi AMs back then. The hits, a local high school student DJ and Coca Cola commercials! Classic!
When I took my 3rd class test in Jackson, I got a lift from WRBC/WJMI to downtown with Gary Phillips, who did afternoons at WRBC at that time, and one of the guys from WJMI, both of whom were also taking the test that day. For my storytelling purposes, I have speculated that the 'JMI jock along for the ride was Bob Pittman. Maybe, maybe not. Circumstantial evidence has him doing all-nites at WRBC by February 1972, and this incident was in November, 1971, so it could have been my brush with greatness.
beefjerky said:
Heh. Well, since I just moved here last year, the first station to catch my attention was WROX in Cleveland. The fact that there's a station playing the blues is just cool. Ain't many of them around anymore. Sure, I can pull it up on the internet, but it's still more fun to snag it on the ol' Panasonic on cloudy days.
My first taste of radio came in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, listening the day "Magic 96" first came on out of Birmingham. It seemed so neat to me as a kid that I could get all these stations from so far away (okay, it was only about 35 air miles to the B'ham towers, but still. . .) Eventually I discovered "The mighty 690" doing oldies, who soon flipped to a country format, giving me my first radio-related disappointment. :
As I got older, my parents moved to Birmingham and I began chasing another out-of-market station, this time a 'new' oldies station out of Carrollton, AL (WZBQ). Chasing that station led to FM DX being a hobby I enjoy to this day.
Whenever my parents would go on vacation somewhere, I had to listen to the station on 102.5 out of Jasper, on the "Tuscaloosa tall tower", just to see how far it'd make it. . . And back then, it was a monster, with 77kW @ (I think) 2,062' HAAT. It was pretty solid down in Greenville, AL (135 air miles) and even decent on the west side of Atlanta on I-285 most days (185 air miles). A few times I heard it in Meridian as well as west of Starkpatch. Unfortunately Clear Channel pulled them off the tall tower due to multipath issues in the suburbs of Birmingham, so now they're just another run of the mill 100kW'er up on Red Mountain. I bet it'd have been a good catch here in Grenada on those good radio days.
At least "Rock 99.5" from Birmingham still makes it to Grenada some mornings. Heck, my dad's still got it preset in his car. ;D
tzbarber said:
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