Jay Lawrence, KYW, June 1965 (1:03:20)

Unscoped
The Bill Tash Collection
… I play it the company way, man – I’ll butter any bread you tell me to butter …

Jay Lawrence, the overnight host of The JayBird Show on The Great K, says he’s met the new owners — the fantastic, wonderful, marvelous, exciting, lovely new owners — and KYW is about to become WKYC pretty soon. The change took place at 5AM on June 19, 1965, and Jay was on the air when it happened.

Lawrence is a true showman, undoubtedly influenced by Joey Reynolds and Adam Sandler — except Sandler wasn’t born yet! Who else kept a guitar in the air studio so they could sing the Baseball Scoreboard and birthday songs? Listen to the parade of upcoming features! Yes Virgina, this was called a radio SHOW.

You’ll also hear Jim Runyon, Harry Martin and Specs Howard on promos. A few goofy jingles, and two funny, goofy records are included. Jay also has an extended conversation at the end of the hour with Harve Morgan, and Ken Cartwright is heard with a truly late edition of KYW news.

If 440:Satisfaction is correct, this very same Jay Lawrence was working in the 21st century at KTAR in Phoenix.

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Welcome to the new ReelRadio!

This site is now operated by the North Carolina Broadcast History Museum. 

We want to thank the board of ReelRadio, Inc. for their stewardship since the passing of the founder Richard Irwin in 2018.  It has not been easy and they have maintained the exhibits for future generations to enjoy.

I met Richard Irwin, aka Uncle Ricky, when we were freshmen at East Carolina University.  We both had worked at local stations in our hometowns.  No one was more passionate about radio, especially Top 40 radio, than my friend Richard. 

Our goals with this site are to preserve the exhibits and make them available free of charge for people to enjoy.  Over time, we hope to add some airchecks to the site.  This will not happen immediately.  Time and resources will determine the future of new exhibits. 

Many thanks to the web folks at the Beasley Media Group for countless hours of work.  Again thanks to the board members of ReelRadio, Inc. for their faith in us. 

Richard Irwin’s hope was that his site would live on long after his passing. He said, “I hope REELRADIO will survive as my contribution to the ‘radio business’. The business is allowed to forget me, but the business should never forget the great era of radio that we celebrate here”.

We remember Richard and we thank him. If you enjoy this new site, we would appreciate a contribution. We hope you enjoy the new ReelRadio!

Carl Davis
Trustee
North Carolina Broadcast History Museum