The Bill Cooper Collection
|
Bill Cooper writes:
"It was 1964 and I was in the fourth grade at Sabin elementary in Portland, Oregon when I first became really aware of radio. The big thing in Portland was to cruise Burnside street and hit the red light at 10th & Burnside so you could watch the DJ in the "window on the world" studio at nintywonderful-KISN Radio. I remember bugging my dad to drive around the block so I could get another look at The Real Don Steele doing his stuff. Too bad I wasn't savvy enough to aircheck any of the great radio I was hearing. That would come later. It was at Portland's Benson high school in 1971 where I got my first shot on the air. At the time KBPS was the only AM radio station owned and operated by a school district. A good deal of the programing, from high school sports coverage to rock and roll music shows, was produced by the students. Its still on the air, and still turning out great radio talent. While at KBPS I landed an job answering the request line for KGW in Portland. That eventually allowed me to work into a weekend all-night shift. The program director told me he'd have someone show me how to run the board. I never told him that for at least two hours every night for nearly a year I had been running the board for the 10pm-2am jock, Joe Cooper (no relation). Joe knew just how much desire I had to get on the air, and he knew just how to help. My aircheck collecting continued as I worked throughout the northwest at KGW, KGON-FM Portland, KBZY Salem, OR, KVI-FM Seattle, WA, KITI Centralia-Chehalis, WA., KEX and KPAM, Portland. As of September, 2004, I am General Manager of KBPS-AM at Portland's Benson High School — the very station that got me started in radio back in 1971. I'm glad I can share these memories with other fans of classic top 40 radio. My thanks to the many people who helped me preserve these moments by letting me at their tapes!" Visit Bill at www.voiceimagenw.com The Repository thanks Bill for sharing! |
Scoped
There’s also some question that this is all from the same day. If so, it means Three Times A Lady was played twice in the 8AM hour! The “restored” version spares you the repeat, and also, the “restored” version of this aircheck doesn’t include all the spots, or newscasts, because they weren’t included in the original contribution.
Those technical issues aside, Dr. Don offers the weather, traffic, and every gag flawlessly. Dr. Don Rose was absolutely one of the greatest Top 40 morning guys of all time.
Unscoped
In 1974, Bruce Murdock moved from KING Broadcasting’s KGW in Portland, Oregon, where he held down the 10pm-2am shift, to the company’s Spokane station, KREM and his first ever morning show.Bruce Murdock and Bill Cooper, January 2005
Bruce soon returned to KGW to take over the morning slot. In 1977 he was tapped to move to mornings at KING/Seattle. When he did, Craig Walker took over the KGW morning show.
Bruce was on the air in the Seattle market for 26-years, most recently at Sandusky’s KLSY. This story now comes full circle. As of Monday January 17, 2005, Bruce returns to Portland to take over the morning show on K103-FM/KKCW, replacing Craig Walker who is retiring after a 33-year career in Portland radio.
Bill Bilzard, aka Chuck Bennett, and also known as Gary Bennett at KGW, worked at WKNR Detroit before coming to Portland.
This 1972 KGW composite features Uncle Don Wright, Gary Bennett (Bill Bilzard), Phil Harper, Tom Watson, Joe Cooper and Ed Riley.
Robin Mitchell is featured on Seattle powerhouse KOL, along with a classic Supremes spot for Coca-Cola.
“Colorful KOL” employed a lot of top talent.
[EDITOR’S NOTE]: The exhibit description originally suggested that Larry Lujack worked at KOL. The contributor attributed this information to 440 Satisfaction and it now appears that information was incorrect. COMMENTS for this exhibit reflect this initial erroneous description, so this explanation is included here.