Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Wednesday, March 06, 2024
101 Reload- regarding Ron Ashburn (originally posted in December 2008)...
101 received a lot of info regarding Ron Ashburn, the Ktown news anchor staple for decades. We hear from Your Dave, Bill Beason, and Sir Bernard~
"Hi, it's 'Sir' Bernard or plain old Bernie Quayle as I am nowadays. SS asked if anyone had memories of Ron Ashburn, I certainly do. I was doing the breakfast show on WNOX one Saturday morning, I think it was 1970. Ron Ashburn was the duty newsman. Like every Saturday we were expected to test the Emergency Broadcast System. A simple procedure that went like clockwork - except this morning. Ron came into the studio, the colour drained from his face, his hands were shaking as he asked me to hand over to him. I could not believe what happened next. The message was so grave, I truly believed World War 3 had started. NORAD had once before detected what it believed to be missiles headed towards America but they did not alert the population at that time - we were now on full alert. I've reproduced part of the text from the Knoxville Sentinel the day after the event. It was almost as if they had a war and nobody came. Only it wasn't a war. It was a mistake on the part of the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), at Colorado Springs. Instead of the regular test message NORAD sends broadcasting stations across the nation every Saturday morning, NORAD sent the real thing. "This is an emergency action notification directed by the President. Normal broadcasting will cease immediately. Only stations holding NDEA (National Defense Emergency Alert; may stay on the air. WNOX was the NDEA station for the area, the one that stays on the air to broadcast at such times and is what I had to broadcast: "The President of the United States has directed that we interrupt our normal program. This is the Emergency Broadcast system; Normal broadcasting has been discontinued for an indefinite period during an emergency action condition. This station WILL continue broadcasting to furnish news, official information and instructions." I can tell you that until the correction came half an hour later, Ron and I were quaking in our boots. The most amazing thing was that all the other stations seemed to have either not noticed or ignored the alert. As SS stated, Ron's news delivery was awesome." (Sir Bernard)
Monday, March 04, 2024
Friday, March 01, 2024
Thursday, February 22, 2024
Hello from Curtis Parham...
Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Remembering Johnny~
In the mid 60's "Teen Time"...showcasing live bands was on some Friday nights in Lenoir City. I was 13-14 and went to one show SPECIFICALLY to see Johnny. He was larger than life. He was bringing live local bands on a rotating schedule on the same nights...Farragut, then Lenoir City...Clinton...Oak Ridge...Alcoa. He had PA's set up at every location...and came to every location to see and be seen, plus...keep the machine oiled! The bands just walked in... plugged in and let it rock. Little Joe and the Apollos...Donnie and the Lads..."The Hawk". Sweet William and the Sterios...and many more came to us live thanks to Johnny. Obviously, he was making big time cash! A true innovator. Years later...I ended up in Knoxville radio and met Johnny for the 1st time. I had a great relationship with him always. I never actually worked FOR Johnny, but always had a great respect for his forward vision for business. Truly one of a kind. Always a smile and a firm handshake...and kind words. Johnny Pirkle was a true star! (Mike Beach)
I was thinking of Johnny over the weekend...guess now I know why. Johnny and Mike Beverly took me in as an ambitious 16-year-old when WORI was on the air in Oak Ridge and WOKI-FM 100 was being launched. Johnny was a legend in the Knoxville market and a big presence in my life throughout the years. My prayers go out to his family especially Jonathan, Leigh, and Monique who I grew up with in Oak Ridge. (Dave Lambert)
Johnny Pirkle was a giant among Knoxville radio folks. He was my worthy competitor during the time he programmed WNOX and I programmed WKGN and we became friends afterward. Requiescat in Pace John. (Possum Riley)
Johnny got to do the things in life he loved all of his life. He made such an impact on the business and people throughout his career. He's one of the last local owners in the business and he rode the radio wave till the end. He will be missed. Prayers for his family and friends. (Kerry Lambert)
I worked for/with Johnny at WOKI for 12 years. It was an honor...he was incredible. (Jerry Howell)
So sorry to hear of Johnny's death. Great boss, mentor, and friend. (Scott Sams)
Monday, February 19, 2024
Johnny Pirkle 1937-2024
Johnny passed away on February 17...
WLAR Athens to WNOX 990 to WROL (W-149) to WOKI-FM to WNOX-FM NewsTalk...and so much more!
Creative, innovative, larger than life!
The East Tennessee air waves are crying a tear!
Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Happy 101 Valentine's Day
It's 1984...
WEAG in Alcoa became WMDR "The Doctor"!
The DJ line up included...
6 Jim Donovan
10 Paul Vincent
2 Scott Black
6-SO Ted Ousley (Gunner)
Ernie Baker- news director
Ted Teffeteller- sports director
Saturday, February 10, 2024
Possum Riley’s White Christmas
File this one under “Christmas Miracles”.
It was, maybe, five days before Christmas in 1969 and I was doing middays on 1340/WKGN. Newsman Alan Pressley handed me a new weather forecast from the wire. I scanned the forecast and the extended outlook and said, “This can’t be right. There’s no snow on Christmas.”
I called the National Weather Service and connected with a forecaster, who was really good about being teased, and put him on the air. I castigated him for the outlook, saying we needed a white Christmas. He said it would be cold enough, but there wouldn’t be enough moisture. I did “snow dances” in the control room, I played a tight medley of snow songs, I talked up how we were going to have a white Christmas because we were going to will it into being.
On December 23, the forecaster called me, saying there was a slightly improved chance of a little precipitation, but don’t count on it - maybe 10 percent.
The young woman I was dating said her parents would like for both of us to come to their house for a Christmas Eve dinner and stay overnight. I accepted. Light was just creeping into the guest room when I was awakened by Janie’s younger brother, who was shouting, “Possum, you did it!” He opened the drapes and big, feathery flakes were falling. Think the NWS forecaster and I didn’t have a great time on the air during my next show? I checked the NWS climate records today. That 7” snowfall still ranks as Knoxville’s most snow on Christmas Day.
I’m sure glad those powerful listeners were hangin’ with the Possum.
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Saturday, January 27, 2024
AJ Sartin...
Saturday, January 20, 2024
Monday, January 15, 2024
101 Reload...in Dave Foulk's words (1st posted on 101 in 2007)
I also cut some radio teeth running the board for Doc Johnston. CP is right-on. Doc was not the easiest guy to work for. I do for control board work what the Boston Strangler did for door-to-door sales. Now, combine that with Doc's temper, and the results were some really colorful chewing out sessions. He could be a real tough person to please sometimes, but Doc also had another side that he would show sometimes. And I think he had a genuine relationship with his listeners.
The control board I ran was an old RCA BC6-A, tube type that got hotter than blue blazes. All of the CBS radio features were delay broadcast, and you had to remember when to roll the tape. For that, you had a Gra-Lab timer like the ones used in photo darkrooms. The delay broadcast programs were recorded on an old Magnecorder- a "Maggie" that Moses used to record his daily program.
Doc was a fantastic piano player, and he always started the program with the tune "Sunrise Serenade". I'm a musician of sorts myself, and I always like to warm up with some scales or exercises or something. Not Doc. He would come in, crack his knuckles, and start right on cue with the old "Woody Herman" song on that baby grand.
The spots were run on old Spotmaster cart machines, the kind that you had to lock in the pinch roller with a lever. Later, we graduated to some newer machines. Remember how the recording would have a bad place on it if you didn't watch the machine and cue past the splice before recording? The telephone coupler was a complex switch arrangement that made putting live telephone calls on the air next to impossible.
Later, I dee-jayed afternoon drive on WBIR. Doc would pre-record the General Shale 5:50 news before he went downstairs to do the WBIR TV news at 6PM. WBIR Radio ran the CBS World News Roundup at 6PM. I still believe that newscast is the best fifteen minutes of radio network news around.
Once, the legendary Lowell Thomas came to town and had to hook-up with the network to run his Lowell Thomas Report from Knoxville. That took some engineering set-up work. Thomas didn't write his own material, which disappointed me. It was dictated to someone at WBIR from the CBS newsroom in New York..possibly written by Mervin Block or one of his colleagues there. Today,..his script could have been e-mailed, and his newscast e-mailed right back to CBS. What a difference between 1976 and 2007!
Back to Doc- I was once told a story about how someone put a piece of steel re-bar across the piano strings of Doc's baby grand. One morning he came in, cracked his knuckles, and at the appointed second, he started his theme...and WHANG ! I was told it sounded more like a sitar than a piano. I never found out for sure who played that prank, but Don Lindsey, now the PR chief for Triple-A was also a Doc sidekick at WBIR, and might have some clues to their identity.
Ken McGavin (McWhorter) was a good boss and a good PD to work for at WBIR. He was even tempered, something that was a real asset in that job. Working for him was a pleasure. I also had the opportunity to work with Ken Johnson, one of the early voices of Knoxville radio from WATE.
Later, when I moved to WSB in Atlanta, I got a call from Anita- Doc's sister. She heard me on-the-air and called to see if I was the same David Foulk that had worked with her late brother in Knoxville. We had several pleasant phone conversations over the next few years.
I am forever thankful for the time I was able to spend at WBIR with the good folks who were there.