KJR Seattle Composite, 1986 (0:06:47)

… Built, on a Legend …
KJR had seen better days. Much better days in fact, when it was sold by Lester Smith (Kaye-Smith) to Metromedia (Carl Bruzell) who quickly decided there were better ways to get a haircut. They flipped it to Barry Ackerley who was expanding his billboard empire to include radio and TV. For a cool $6MM ($4MM less than Metromedia had paid) Barry picked up a station with sub-2 shares. Ironically, “KJR” had far and away the most recognized call letters in the market — just no one listened to it anymore! This composite reflects the station as sort of a recurrent-AC with lots of personality. Gary Lockwood was probably the highest paid guy in the city (his deferred salary alone was in excess of $120k per year) doing mornings, Marty Reimer, one of the really smart talented guys in the market (now on KMTT) did mid-days, Ross Shaefer who hosted a local show on KING-TV, (and was later a replacement host for late night FOX host Joan Rivers), did an inconsistent job in afternoons and the legendary Pat O’Day was pulling a short two hours each day from 5-7PM. Sonics play-by-play and sports-talk shows became the staple for evenings. The hoopla regarding the upcoming Sonics broadcast was a harbinger of the move to All Sports a short time later. This composite was a national sales tool for the rep firm.

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