Jim, I’ve followed you here since I happened to see you write about the baseball field in Alpine TX. Your political writing and these personal memories strike a chord with me. Since the November election I have been following you and others much less frequently. That was about my need for sanity and not a reflection on you or your talent. I loved this and would be happy to see more like this. But I’ll be sure to read every week. Thank you for your good work.
Jeff - thanks for the kind words. I don't think any of us gets the privilege of turning away from the madness, though. We have to speak up, constantly, and confront the insanity. I confess, however, I have the same emotions and simply want to stop the political writing, and just go away.
Last night driving home with kids in tow, we listened to the local baseball game on the radio. “And here comes the 1-2 pitch,” *crack*! You could hear the bat hit the ball so clearly, and then the sound of the crowd cheering. We loved it! Reminded us of being with our grandparents and our families, listening to the radio. The kids weren’t too sure what to make of it, we loved it!
And if you grew up listening to the radio in the cold and dark of a Midwestern winter, it could bring to life the warm, far off, sunny world. I listened to baseball constantly as a kid and the sound of a well-struck ball against a bat could stop me dead in my tracks. Radio is a great way for a kid to develop and imagination. Thanks for writing, Tia.
I love your political stuff, but from a purely selfish viewpoint, I enjoy getting the opportunity to vicariously relive a time I never anticipated I would miss. Were you keeping a diary during those days? I probably couldn't scrape together two stories worth writing about from almost twenty years in the business. So if you're taking a poll, I'm always up for one of your memories down broadcast lane.
Truth is, Al, I wrote a lot of stuff down in long hand on legal pad during those salad days. I still have a bunch of it, which I often go to and check to make sure my memory is correct, and it hasn't failed me yet at this quickly advancing age. Thanks for your thoughts. I'll have more than broadcast stories but I believe I'm going to expand my repertoire here.
Thanks for the remembrance; radio broadcasts were the soundtrack to my youth. Pumped up my lust, solaced my oft broken heart, and opened my mind to a larger world. Wolfman Jack on the AM, Pacifica on the FM, Armed Forces Radio, radiating waves of sound out into the ether.
Just a great story, Jim. I always read this stuff with a map tab open. I grew up listening to and loving AM radio. We had some terrific local stations in San Diego and we would get KSL from Salt Lake City at night!
Hey Scott - Odd that I should hear from you just after coming in from a long bike ride. I've been wondering about you since I decamped X. I just couldn't take that place any more. BTW, when I was going to grad school at SDSU back in the day, I remember being a big fan of "Shotgun" Tom Kelly on KGB. I think I still have a tee shirt with the KGB call letters on it and a big art workup of the San Diego chicken. Glory days, amgio.
Shotgun Tom was a local legend. Started on KDEO in Fletcher Hills (El Cajon), then KCBQ in Santee. All great stations from my childhood. I hope you're keeping well. I'm on Bluesky now. It's pretty chill. Way more interaction with people. Like the old days on the bird app. I post you on there every Sunday!!
Radio was a big part of my youth. Two memories stand out.
In grade school, my friends and I all had transistor radios with the corded ear plug. We'd surreptitiously listen to playoff baseball games, muting our cheers or jeers from the nuns who taught us. They were on to us, though, and I occasionally had to wait until the World Series was over to get my radio back.
In high school I discovered FM radio and "alternative" stations. While many of my friends wrre listening to the Archies, I was listening to the Grateful Dead and trying to imitate Stevie Winwood's piano riffs on "The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys."
Keep writing your stories please. This country of ours is drowning in shame. The sycophants are suffocating our sense of worth. Your stories are a breath of fresh air.
That's such a great story, Jim Bob. I could envision it all as i read it.
To me, there's still something magical about the word "radio." As a teen - in Burlington, NC - the radio opened a whole world of music and entertainment to me. And DJs were gods.
I would never have guessed they were mere mortals. 😄
Thanks, Mick. Radio breathed dreams into my soul. Our TV worked poorly and infrequently and I never got much from it. But listening to Charles Collingwood on CBS radio news reporting from the Khyber Pass, well, that sort of became who I wanted to be; either that or the left fielder for the Detroit Tigers. Our local AM station in Flint, Mich. was so popular business had trouble even booking the DJs for events because they were so popular. It’s almost entertaining to look back on that.
I used to listen to this hip, soft-voiced DJ on a station in Chapel Hill who introduced me to Bob Dylan and the Righteous Brothers. And late at night I could sometimes catch a station in Chicago - Chicago! - and hear the CBS Radio Mystery Theatre.
Probably the 50,000 red hot watts of WLS Chicago and listening to John "Records" Landecker, who was the evening jock. Just in case you want to take a trip down memory lane, here's one of his airchecks. WLS reached 38 states at night. https://chatgpt.com/c/680e526c-4f88-800a-8da7-9c70c0154abf
Great story, Jim. A lot of my television colleagues got their start in radio but I got a job at KMTV while I was still in college. I was so lucky to work with some very talented journalists. Though they had moved on a few years before I arrived, I was often reminded I was working at the same station that launched the careers of Tom Brokaw and Floyd Kalber. We had a 50+ share of the news audience then— a truly big number because there were only three stations. I made my rookie mistakes in front of a lot of people but, surprisingly, I kept my job. I was a kid and a girl— quite the oddity in local television at the time. But those wonderful guys I worked with took me under their wings and made me a “newsMAN.” The first day I walked into the newsroom, there were all these guys pounding on typewriters, smoking and swearing while police scanners blared and wire machines clattered in the background. I knew I never wanted to work anywhere else.
I worked up there at WOWT for a couple of years. It was a great place to be young reporter and learn. I have long been amazed at the famous names out of Omaha from Brando to Brokaw, the Fondas, Sandy Dennis, David Jansen, Nick Nolte, et al. Must be something in the Missouri River water. I was back recently for Mike McKnight’s “Face on the Floor” induction at the Omaha Press Club. Hope to get up there for his induction into the Neb. Broadcasters’ Hall of Fame in August.
I might see you in August at Nebraska Broadcasters. We have a wedding Colorado the weekend prior and I don’t know when we plan to return. The HOF is a great honor. Mike deserves it.
Well, that would be cool. Yeah, Mike amazes me. 48 years at the same station, and he won’t quit. He must enjoy it. But he’s doing what local broadcasting is supposed to do and that is serve its community. I’m proud of the guy. He’s been like my little brother since the early 80s.
Jim, I’ve followed you here since I happened to see you write about the baseball field in Alpine TX. Your political writing and these personal memories strike a chord with me. Since the November election I have been following you and others much less frequently. That was about my need for sanity and not a reflection on you or your talent. I loved this and would be happy to see more like this. But I’ll be sure to read every week. Thank you for your good work.
Jeff - thanks for the kind words. I don't think any of us gets the privilege of turning away from the madness, though. We have to speak up, constantly, and confront the insanity. I confess, however, I have the same emotions and simply want to stop the political writing, and just go away.
Last night driving home with kids in tow, we listened to the local baseball game on the radio. “And here comes the 1-2 pitch,” *crack*! You could hear the bat hit the ball so clearly, and then the sound of the crowd cheering. We loved it! Reminded us of being with our grandparents and our families, listening to the radio. The kids weren’t too sure what to make of it, we loved it!
And if you grew up listening to the radio in the cold and dark of a Midwestern winter, it could bring to life the warm, far off, sunny world. I listened to baseball constantly as a kid and the sound of a well-struck ball against a bat could stop me dead in my tracks. Radio is a great way for a kid to develop and imagination. Thanks for writing, Tia.
I love your political stuff, but from a purely selfish viewpoint, I enjoy getting the opportunity to vicariously relive a time I never anticipated I would miss. Were you keeping a diary during those days? I probably couldn't scrape together two stories worth writing about from almost twenty years in the business. So if you're taking a poll, I'm always up for one of your memories down broadcast lane.
Truth is, Al, I wrote a lot of stuff down in long hand on legal pad during those salad days. I still have a bunch of it, which I often go to and check to make sure my memory is correct, and it hasn't failed me yet at this quickly advancing age. Thanks for your thoughts. I'll have more than broadcast stories but I believe I'm going to expand my repertoire here.
Thanks for the remembrance; radio broadcasts were the soundtrack to my youth. Pumped up my lust, solaced my oft broken heart, and opened my mind to a larger world. Wolfman Jack on the AM, Pacifica on the FM, Armed Forces Radio, radiating waves of sound out into the ether.
Because our TV didn’t work very often or very well, radio was my connection to the wider world and gave my what dreams I was able to conjure.
I loved your story, everyone is tired of that lunatic who is attempting to rule the world with his stupidity.
You do you, everyone else does. I loved your car chose, I had a two door baby blue 1970’s Opel Kadette.
Just a great story, Jim. I always read this stuff with a map tab open. I grew up listening to and loving AM radio. We had some terrific local stations in San Diego and we would get KSL from Salt Lake City at night!
Hey Scott - Odd that I should hear from you just after coming in from a long bike ride. I've been wondering about you since I decamped X. I just couldn't take that place any more. BTW, when I was going to grad school at SDSU back in the day, I remember being a big fan of "Shotgun" Tom Kelly on KGB. I think I still have a tee shirt with the KGB call letters on it and a big art workup of the San Diego chicken. Glory days, amgio.
Shotgun Tom was a local legend. Started on KDEO in Fletcher Hills (El Cajon), then KCBQ in Santee. All great stations from my childhood. I hope you're keeping well. I'm on Bluesky now. It's pretty chill. Way more interaction with people. Like the old days on the bird app. I post you on there every Sunday!!
Radio was a big part of my youth. Two memories stand out.
In grade school, my friends and I all had transistor radios with the corded ear plug. We'd surreptitiously listen to playoff baseball games, muting our cheers or jeers from the nuns who taught us. They were on to us, though, and I occasionally had to wait until the World Series was over to get my radio back.
In high school I discovered FM radio and "alternative" stations. While many of my friends wrre listening to the Archies, I was listening to the Grateful Dead and trying to imitate Stevie Winwood's piano riffs on "The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys."
Keep writing your stories please. This country of ours is drowning in shame. The sycophants are suffocating our sense of worth. Your stories are a breath of fresh air.
Thanks, Kay. I enjoy yours, too. You’ve lived an interesting life.
That's such a great story, Jim Bob. I could envision it all as i read it.
To me, there's still something magical about the word "radio." As a teen - in Burlington, NC - the radio opened a whole world of music and entertainment to me. And DJs were gods.
I would never have guessed they were mere mortals. 😄
Thanks, Mick. Radio breathed dreams into my soul. Our TV worked poorly and infrequently and I never got much from it. But listening to Charles Collingwood on CBS radio news reporting from the Khyber Pass, well, that sort of became who I wanted to be; either that or the left fielder for the Detroit Tigers. Our local AM station in Flint, Mich. was so popular business had trouble even booking the DJs for events because they were so popular. It’s almost entertaining to look back on that.
I used to listen to this hip, soft-voiced DJ on a station in Chapel Hill who introduced me to Bob Dylan and the Righteous Brothers. And late at night I could sometimes catch a station in Chicago - Chicago! - and hear the CBS Radio Mystery Theatre.
Probably the 50,000 red hot watts of WLS Chicago and listening to John "Records" Landecker, who was the evening jock. Just in case you want to take a trip down memory lane, here's one of his airchecks. WLS reached 38 states at night. https://chatgpt.com/c/680e526c-4f88-800a-8da7-9c70c0154abf
Great story, Jim. A lot of my television colleagues got their start in radio but I got a job at KMTV while I was still in college. I was so lucky to work with some very talented journalists. Though they had moved on a few years before I arrived, I was often reminded I was working at the same station that launched the careers of Tom Brokaw and Floyd Kalber. We had a 50+ share of the news audience then— a truly big number because there were only three stations. I made my rookie mistakes in front of a lot of people but, surprisingly, I kept my job. I was a kid and a girl— quite the oddity in local television at the time. But those wonderful guys I worked with took me under their wings and made me a “newsMAN.” The first day I walked into the newsroom, there were all these guys pounding on typewriters, smoking and swearing while police scanners blared and wire machines clattered in the background. I knew I never wanted to work anywhere else.
I worked up there at WOWT for a couple of years. It was a great place to be young reporter and learn. I have long been amazed at the famous names out of Omaha from Brando to Brokaw, the Fondas, Sandy Dennis, David Jansen, Nick Nolte, et al. Must be something in the Missouri River water. I was back recently for Mike McKnight’s “Face on the Floor” induction at the Omaha Press Club. Hope to get up there for his induction into the Neb. Broadcasters’ Hall of Fame in August.
I might see you in August at Nebraska Broadcasters. We have a wedding Colorado the weekend prior and I don’t know when we plan to return. The HOF is a great honor. Mike deserves it.
Well, that would be cool. Yeah, Mike amazes me. 48 years at the same station, and he won’t quit. He must enjoy it. But he’s doing what local broadcasting is supposed to do and that is serve its community. I’m proud of the guy. He’s been like my little brother since the early 80s.
Jim, I bet you'd know a few of these :)
https://kel.zone/?p=1988
Yeah, a bunch of ‘em, Kelly, and almost each one has a specific memory associated, which is the great thing of music.