E-mail we've received

[John Quincy]

This was received on January 17, 2007:

Hi John!

I just wanted to let you know the listener letter you have on your web site was sent from me! I was 17 years old at the time. (I'm 50 now.) It is so cool to see my letter is still around after all these years. And I still have my Hi95 license plate.

I always enjoyed radio, especially the technical aspects of it. I visited the Hi95 studios in Jeffersonville. They were great folks giving me a tour of the "Boogie Machine" and explaining how it all worked. I was also told some fun stories like the fact the tapes only played in one direction, but sometimes someone didn't rewind them and they went over the air backwards. And as a listener, it was fun to hear the station get confused when it couldn't find the oldies reels and it would go dead, then run another jingle and play two more new songs.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know I got a kick out of seeing that letter. You have a super radio site and it brings back lots of memories. Thank you so much for all the fun!

Bob Myers

[John Quincy]

This was received on January 21, 2007:

Hi John,

This new stuff is wonderful!!! You have brought back some of my fondest radio memories.

I listened to mostly WAKY and WKLO growing up, until I got into my later teen stages, when the big thing was AOR stations. WQHI came on the air just before I graduated from high school, just after I lost my mom and grandfather, just after the tornado came through and tore up their grave markers in Martinsburg.

My older brother was an electronics buff, like me. We were surfing the dial one evening, and he ran across an audio test around 96 FM. We checked back occasionally until we woke up on Saturday morning to the sound of a really cool FM station in full swing. I ran across another audio test at around 106 FM in later years that would turn out to be the new WINN as it opened in North Vernon, IN.

Good job and good luck as everyone locates all the materials from these long gone stations of Louisville and Lexington's past.

(By the way, it's a little nutty, but I tuned into Double Q's morning show every morning in the 80s, because I thought it was funnier than the one on Louisville's WQMF.)

Scott Miller
Pekin, IN

[Travis]

I'm wondering which QMF morning show Scott Miller was referring to in his letter (above).

Before Ron Clay & Terry Meiners were lured away from LRS-102 (Morning Sickness) to do what became the Show with No Name (1983) it was the Dawn Patrol with Rory "Rock & Roll" Jones. And before that, it was the Big Blonde (Liz Curtis who would later go to WAKY & WHAS).

[John Quincy]

This came in from Bill May on January 31, 2007:

John

Thank you so much for putting the Ron Clay audio up on your site. I was in the room for the Ron tribute on sept 9th 91. I was Ron's PD at the time. I also worked with Ron and Terry in 84 and 85. I have very little audio from my time with Ron, so this has made my day.

I am very excited to see what else you might find.

Thanks again!!!

Bill May
Director of Programming
Clear Channel Albuquerque

[John Quincy]

We received this on February 3, 2007:

Just found LKY radio, and you'll be pleased to know it's already gotten a mention on Wildcat Nation here in LEX .

www.wildcatnation.net/forum/view_topic.php?id=31361&forum_id=10

Regarding oldies radio, the good news is that I moved to LEX in 1969, so I remember all of the stations you mention on the site, in fact I remember some sort of publicity stunt that Dale Wright pulled at WBLG to supposedly prevent them from changing the format. He barricaded himself in the studio as I recall.

Conversely, the bad news is also that I moved to LEX in 1969, having lived the previous 5 years in LA. So, I had been listening to The Real Don Steele, Robert W Morgan, all the "Boss Jocks" at KHJ, Roger Christian at KFWB, and rockin' LA at KRLA. So, LEX was a bit of culture shock for a 19 year old in 1969.

I could talk oldies radio for days - in fact as I write this I'm listening to realoldies1690.com, WRLL out of Chicago on the web - but I'm sure neither of us has that kind of time. So thanks for a great website. I look forward to watching it grow.

Dave Robertson
Lexington, KY

[John Quincy]

This came in on May 25, 2007:

I absolutely love the site!

I currently work as the news director and morning anchor for public radio here in Bismarck, ND. I've been in radio full-time since 1978. And I really appreciate the news-based airchecks on the site. I've listened more than once to the WHAS tornado coverage, as well as the WAKY DuPont disaster. This is radio at its best, IMHO.

Thank you.

Dave Thompson
News Director
Prairie Public
Bismarck, ND

We love them too. As many of our visitors know, whenever we get unscoped airchecks, we have to scope down the songs to avoid paying licensing fees, but we always leave in the newscasts (and spots) for our online presentations. They're as much a part of a station's past as the DJs and jingles.

[John Quincy]

John -

Just wanted to thank you and congratulate you on the lkyradio.com website. You can imagine my delight and surprise when I found an aircheck from 1975 when I was doing afternoon drive on WLAP. Brought back a lot of good memories and for a few fleeting moments I was back in that time and place.

After leaving LAP I went to WKLO for a brief stint on overnights and weekends, but then the economic reality of a new family pushed me into another direction, but just like everyone else who ever worked in radio I never completely got it out of my system.

Again, thanks for your hard work putting all this together!!

John Egan
Orlando, Florida

[John Quincy]

This came in from Scott Benham on June 25, 2007:

Hey there! Just checked out the website...LOVE IT!!!

I've been in broadcasting now for nearly 18 years and I remember listing to WAKY, WAVE, WHAS, and WLRS as a kid.

Love the pics on the site. I had my first radio job at WHIC (yes, those were the call letters) in 1990 and the station still had equipment like the ones in your old pics.

Keep up the great work!

[John Quincy]

This came in from Bill Bryant on July 12, 2007:

John,

I friend of mine told me about your website and I love it. I find new stuff there all the time. Just haven't been thru all of it yet.

I was one of the original sales people at WAMZ. I listened to the "aircheck" of when WNNS became WAMZ. I remember those words, 'cause I was sitting in the sales office at midnight Feb 27th, 1977. We were the only WAMZ employees at the time. This was 3 years before Coyote arrived.

Hugh Barr's recorded commentary was run, and off we went into the C&W format (that's what we called it then). We marked the event (never knew how big things would become) by sharing a 6-pack and a bag of potato chips... I kid you not!

In listening to the full aircheck of WAMZ's first 15 minutes, I heard the first "spot" that aired... I sold that spot, and I wrote the copy. The Jeanery in Jeffersonville. I'm fairly sure they signed up for a deal we called our "Charter-Starter Advertisers". If I'm right about that, they paid about $3.00 to $4.00 for the :30 that ran that night.

Bill Bryant
Louisville

[John Quincy]

This was received from Bill Needy on February 4, 2008:

I lived in Louisville (my home town) when WQHI Hi 95 first went on the air, thru July 1978. Since then, I have lived in Wichita, Kansas, Columbus, Ohio, Overland Park, Kansas and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I can honestly tell you that there has not been radio like Hi 95 anywhere I have lived. From the day I left Louisville, I had to record my own music and rarely listened to the radio anymore. The stuff that was on the air was just that bad. Can't remember where, but I did hear the same aircheck format and voice in other cities back in the late 70s though when driving back to visit in Louisville. Then, I would run out of their signal range. (Thankfully, today there is XM. Great coverage almost no commercials.)

In closing, thank you so much for this website. You made my evening! (I think I copied everything on it for posterity, but I wish I had one of those old Hi 95 front license plates!) Was especially cool to find a copy of the Billy Cobham Spectrum aircheck. That sound was so much a part of my formative years, as I had your station on nearly 24/7. I can honestly say that I really do miss you guys. (I am sure I am not alone.) And it was really sad to read what happened in the early 80s. Hard to imagine how that could happen in America. But I think that was a bad time for us all in general. Anyway, thanks for the wonderful memories.

[Travis]

Regarding Bill Needy's post (above):

Bill Elliott wrote (see the WQHI section on this site) that the SMC automation used at Hi95 would not auto log the station's legal ID when only a dry voice was used. A music bed (or background) had to be added behind the ID's TM announcer to allow time for the teletype auto logging to print out the ID and the time that it ran on the teletype's paper roll. The teletype was crude, noisy and shook violently when typing, but it got the job done.

Hi95 went on the air in April of 1974. In that same year, Billy Cobham's Spectrum LP was released. The 4th cut on that LP is titled 'Anxiety' and runs close to 10 minutes in length. The music behind the Hi95 station ID is an except from 'Anxiety.' The excerpt was extracted at 3 minutes into the piece and potted down after 16 seconds. You can hear the IDs on the WQHI section of this site complete with the Billy Cobham excerpt.

By the way, some students operating the campus radio station (WXKE) at U of L recognized Billy Cobham's music and quickly produced a station ID using the exact same excerpt. They ran it for a while back in '74 and while it was amusing, no one had a voice like those TM announcers.

[billelliott]

Wow! I had forgotten the cut we used came from a Billy Cobham album! I knew the audio clip was something we never played. You guys are good! I actually downloaded the album today just to give it a listen. If memory serves me right, I think Ken Knight came up with the music bed. He called me into the production room and said "listen to this". We both agreed this was perfect for the ID because of the funky guitar and the drums. I don't think I have heard that album since 1974!

[John Quincy]

This was received on March 18, 2008:

Hi. My Name is Sonia (aka Jaws). I am Ron Clay's widow. I can't tell you how thrilled I was when my son-in-law found this site and told me about it. It will be wonderful for my children to revisit these shows. My son Kenneth was only five when Ron died and he hasn't heard most of this material. I have had a problem with people who have used Ron's name and his material to make money for themselves and who apparently have forgotten Ron had a family who were left mentally, emotionally, spiritually and financially devastated. He would be rolling over in his grave if he hadn't chosen to be cremated. I am glad we will all be able to listen to these shows and not have to pay for it. Sincerely, Ron's first and only wife, Sonia

[John Quincy]

This came in from Mike Proctor on April 28, 2008.

I have to tell you my WAXU story!

When I was 15, I was a tirade on two wheels; that 3 speed bicycle of mine and I would tour the northern Fayette County countryside!

I trundled over to the WAXU studios and transmitter, there in 1965, and spent some quality time getting to know Jack Webb (real name, Jesse James Faust).

Jack was a great voice on top 40 radio, but he was a fundamentalist Bible believer! Everything in the Bible was taken as literal fact! He even had an explanation for the phrases that foretold that Christ would be die, remain dead for three days and nights, and rise again.

Well, doing the math, Friday afternoon to Sunday morning is NOT three days and three nights. Jack said that there were two Jewish holidays that week and Christ was actually crucified on Thursday! Now THAT makes for three days and three nights.

I had come to watch a radio pro and got a dose of religion to go along with that!

[JQ sez: Actually the Jews counted partial days as "days". The rest of Friday was a day, all of Saturday was a day and Sunday morning was counted as a day -- so that's where the "three days" came from. I don't remember reading anything in the Bible about "three nights". ]

After three or four visits on the weekend at WAXU with Jack, one Sunday I got my mom to drop me off at the studio and I’d call later and ask her to pick me up.

Not 5 minutes after she took off, Bob Johnson, the station owner, happened to come in on Sunday. I was summarily ushered out the door and told not to come back again! I wound up walking the 7 miles back home, never to darken the doors of WAXU again.

20 years later, I ran into Bob at an aviation function but he did not remember the day that he traumatized a 15 year old wannabe!

Oh, and I heard that Bob was so tight that he purposely built the WAXU antennas shorter than the "quarter-wavelength" height that they should have been for best transmission results because the needed length would have been higher than the 200 foot height threshold that would have required him to light the towers. Squeak, squeak, now that is TIGHT with money! <big wide grin>

One final story, this one on John Chapman, Herb Oscar Kent. As a kid of 16 and 17 with a car of my own, I hung out with the weekend DJs of WLAP radio. Their studios were at 177 North Upper Street in downtown Lexington. My dad had an office and parking space at 171 North Upper. I would park in dad’s office space and cruise over to visit with the weekend warriors! I got to be good buddies with Jim Allison, Ben Story, Larry Chiles, and, especially G.C. (Junior) Kincer, who had a voice that was a cross between Johnny Cash and the bass singer of the Statler brothers. I can still remember his intro-ing the Doors song, "Light My Fire"; I get cold chills thinking about that boy’s talent!

Herb Oscar Kent would stop in from time to time, but he didn't seem to have time or the patience to answer newbie questions. Since I knew he held a First Class FCC License, I asked him to explain the difference between AM radio signals and FM radio signals. He gave me some kind of smart-alec answer and I remember thinking to myself, that, well, dog-gone-it, I’ll just go to EE school at UK and find out for myself.

I REALLY do have HOK to thank for setting in motion my entire Electrical Engineering career. When I talked to John, I had no clue as to the difference between graduate engineers and technicians, but thanks to him, I picked the more lucrative path and was able to enjoy a very comfortable financial life as a result. To the late John (HOK) Chapman: Thanks, Herb, we miss you!

[John Quincy]

We received this on May 24, 2008:

Hello John,

Your Website at www.lkyradio.com/WAMZ.htm brings back, to me, many fond memories of the people I worked with at WAMZ and WHAS from 1975-80.

Listening to the audio of WNNS-WAMZ February 27/28 1977 Format Switch, I recalled (as best a half-lifetime ago memory allows) that I "engineered" the switch from WNNS to Hugh Barr's pre-recorded announcement of the format change then to the start of WAMZ programming.

Previously, to station management I suggested that the first song played appropriately should be Waylon Jennings' "Are You Ready For The Country" but was informed the giant tape reel had already been pre-programmed otherwise.

I remained in the studio to broadcast the headline news you hear approx. 10 minutes into the tape.

Cordially,
Jerry Leitzell
Former Managing Editor, WHAS/WAMZ Radio News