The John Hamlett Collection
John's San Rafael High School graduation portrait (1962) |
Born in Tempe, AZ in late 1944, John Hamlett was named after his father who was wounded in the battle of Leyte Gulf. He moved to Tucson, AZ when he was four years old. In those days before television he developed a fondness for radio and as a very young boy became a regular listener of various programs such as Little Orly and the local country bands appearing on Tucson radio. His favorite singer was Nitta Lynn who performed on KCNA and who surprised him with an autographed photo and phone call on his 8th birthday.
As John grew into a young teen his interest in radio also grew and he became a frequent visitor of the various radio and TV stations in Tucson. He carried a small notebook on trips and would constantly spin the radio dial as he traveled, keeping a log of every station he heard. Like most teens of the day his favorite station was KTKT where Frank Kalil, Chris Borden and Buck Herring were the "monsters of the microphone". Family fights ensued when his oldest sister proclaimed her fondness for competitor KAIR, forcing John to buy his first personal radio, which he wasn't forced to share with his sister. In those days KTKT was a daytime-only broadcaster, so to keep the music flowing after sunset, teens turned to scratchy, static-filled sounds from faraway stations like KOMA. While a sophomore at Rincon High School John tried out for a position with a local station but lost out to a more experienced candidate from U of A. His radio career was put on hold. Shortly thereafter, his family moved from Tucson to the San Francisco Bay Area where he was surprised to find both Borden and Herring spinning the wax on KEWB. Coupled with other big names in rock and roll radio, Casey Kasem, Don Steele and Gary Owens, this was undoubtedly the high point of popular music radio. Life was good and his interest in radio continued as he entered the U.S. Navy. Three years in the radio room of a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Far East increased his radio interest even further with the addition of then state-of-the-art transmitters, receivers (long and short-wave), encryption and the clatter of the ever present teletype machines. He continued his radio log of commercial radio stations all over Asia. John returned to the Bay Area following military service in 1966 and was immediately surprised that KEWB was dropping their music format for the emerging talk and news format. His interest turned toward KYA. It was time to get a career started, but instead of radio, he turned to the emerging Information Technology industry and that marvelous new technology of computers. And, after a 30-year career as a computer programmer, systems analyst and department manager, John retired to Phoenix, Arizona in 2001, and is once again free to dabble in his long-time radio interest. John says radio clearly isn't as interesting, varied and spontaneous as it once was. Through REELRADIO, everyone can visit the foundations of modern radio and those influential stations and personalities that made it happen. |
Scoped
Unscoped