Jay Thomas, WAPE Jacksonville, 1971 (0:12:51)

… musta taken a funky pill …
[Description by Uncle Ricky] This is an early aircheck of Jay Thomas doing nights on WAPE Jacksonville, where he quickly took over mornings and became Program Director before moving to Charlotte to work with owners Sis and Stan Kaplan at BIG WAYS. Calling himself The King Of The City, Thomas’s energy level is very high, and his humor is more cartoonish and less cynical than we remember in later years. He even has a kazoo as a sidekick! This is also the first aircheck of WAPE in the seventies we’ve heard with PAMS, not Johnny Mann jingles. It’s the NEW WAPE, so I figure this is shortly after the station was purchased by the Kaplans.

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