The John Long Collection
John with Wolfman Jack... 
and the Blues Brothers...
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John Long was a preacher's kid who went to high school in LaGrange, Georgia. As a boy, he'd make trips to radio stations with his dad; while his father preached on the air, John gaped at the massive cabinets filled with glowing tubes. After high school, he got his first job in LaGrange at WLAG, and he entered LaGrange College. A chance meeting with a Brit who had a rare Beatles album created an opportunity for John to visit Paul Drew at WQXI in Atlanta, and in 1964 he quit college and moved to Atlanta to take a job as a promotion man for Mercury records.
John joined WQXI as a part-time jock in 1965. He first became a program director at KLWW in Cedar Rapids in 1969, and in a radio career that spans more than three decades, made stops at WROR-FM, Boston, XEROK, Juarez/El Paso, KRUX in Phoenix, WAPE in Jacksonville, and WHBQ in Memphis, among others. In the 80's, John was Operations Manager for KULF in Houston, and WCCO-FM in Minneapolis, in addition to consulting radio stations and hosting programming seminars. John's titles have included General Manager, Sales Manager, and in 2007, co-founder, with Sam Hale, of The Georgia Radio Hall of Fame. John also serves as curator for the Georgia Radio Museum located in St. Marys, Georgia. John retired to the Georgia coast in 2004. He also founded the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame. The Repository thanks John for sharing! |
In a world where there are no longer phone booths, video rental stores, or mom and pop radio stations, Jake Diamond, former disc jockey, disco DJ and now private eye, sits in his office, twisting the dial on his old radio…
In a world where there are no longer phone booths, video rental stores, or mom and pop radio stations, Jake Diamond, former disc jockey, disco DJ and now private eye, sits in his office, twisting the dial on his old radio…
Narrator: Jeff Winter
Jake: Bill Elder
JJ: Dick Edwards
Female Grocery Customer & Mary Gee: Wildcat Kelley
Louie: Paul Mayer
Delivery Boy: Nathan Scherer
Ditsy Secretary: Sherry Clark St. John
Written and Produced by John Long
This was how we introduced The Greaseman (Doug Tracht) to Jacksonville. WAPE shot to a 13 share in the 1976 Spring Book.
The guy who “cusses” before Grease’s audition is Jay Thomas. The Stan Kappleburger voice was done by Larry Sprinkle, one of Jay’s cast of characters at WAYS in Charlotte.
My tenure as PD and challenge to perennial Top 40 market favorite KRIZ was short-lived. After about 90 days, Howard Kalminson, owner, decided to go “All News” and signed on with the ill-fated NBC NIS service.
KRUX was fun while it lasted. I always thought the sonovox kruuuxxxx sounded like a belch!
[Featured: Paul Lee, Dr. John (Long) Winston, Christopher Haze, Daniel, and Bob Randall. Not heard on this composite (and we don’t know why) is Richard Ruiz. He was later hired back as PD when NIS All News failed and he took KRUX back to Top 40.]
[Description by contributor John Long]
TM Productions produced a couple of jingles for use at the 1977 Radio Music Report Convention. The first one introduced the awards portion of the big evening, and the second was the grand finale. Both are featured here, before and after the Awards of Excellence winners.
This exhibit is built from the elements of show audio used for the presentation. The “shouts” (preceded by drum rolls) were used to introduce award recipients.
There are lots of airchecks of stations that won Awards of Excellence that year:
WRJZ Knoxville TN, (C.P. and Walker, Rick Kirk, JJ Scott, Tim Edwards)
WRJZ award accepted by: Bob Kaghan
WSGA Savannah GA, (Steve Christie, Mike Allen, Brady McGraw, Jerry Rogers, Rock Jock Jim, Ken Dixon)
WSGA award accepted by: Jerry Rogers
WNCI Columbus OH, (Tyler ?,Wolfman Jack, ?)
WNCI award accepted by: E. Karl
WKIX Raleigh NC, (Jim Tate, Ron McKay, Dale Van Horne, Mark Mitchell, Phyllis Kaye, Jim Harrison)
WKIX award accepted by: Bob Bolton
WHHY Montgomery, AL, (Larry Stevens, The Birdman)
WHHY award accepted by: Larry Stevens
WBBQ Augusta GA, (Buddy Carr, Jim DeFontes with Elvis death announcement)
WBBQ award accepted by: Harley Drew
KSLQ St. Louis MO, (Mike Walker, Bill Bailey)
KSLQ award accepted by: Charlie Lake
WZGC Atlanta GA, (?)
WZGC (Z-93) award accepted by: Dan Mason
BJ-105 (WBJW-FM Orlando FL), (Mitchell Stone)
BJ-105 award accepted by: Tom West
WLAC Nashville TN, (Pat Riley, Ronnie Lake, ?)
WLAC award accepted by: Dick Kent
WSGN Birmingham AL, (?, Chuck McCartney)
WSGN award accepted by: Jan Jeffrey
Q105 (WRBQ-FM Tampa/St. Petersburg FL), (Bob McNeal)
WRBQ-FM award accepted by: Bob McNeal
Y-100 Miami, (Bill Tanner, Robert W. Walker, Jo Jo Kincaid)
Y-100 award accepted by: Bill Tanner
WHBQ Memphis TN (Dickie Doo Edwards, Carter Davis, Rusty Black, Stu Robb, John Long, Rick Dees, Terrence McKeever)
WHBQ award accepted by: John Long
[Description by Uncle Ricky]
Contributor John Long credits this selection to an Aircheck Club LP. This wonderfully rare hour of Bob Chase with newscaster Bob Mann and sportscaster Bob Mack(?) may be the first known example of the All-Bob format. This is HOT Cold-War Top 40, with WQXI Hotline – Inside Information from Atlanta, Washington D.C., New Delhi – it was “Instant Information – Any hour, any minute.” It ends with the 8AM lead story: JFK is expected to announce the resumption of nuclear tests ‘in the atmosphere’, but that is preceded by the Radio Moscow feature! It is VERY 1962. It is delightfully Atlanta and Southeastern U.S. as well.
The #1 record is played TWICE in the 7-8 AM hour. (It only took five minutes to drive to work then, so the listening times were much shorter!) The total treasures and individual “format” elements contained in an inventory of this exhibit are staggering: in addition to a full five minute newscast (plus an edited half hour teaser) and sponsor tags, you’ll get Wendy the Weather Girl, WQXI News Cruiser, and an “Auditorial” by then GM Kent Burkhart, regarding the merits of Top 40 Radio.
Also: The Dixie Piano Company, Atlanta Dairy Perfect Flavor Milk, Dixie Transmission Service, York Imperial-Size Cigarettes, and 666 Cold Preparation. (Obviously, the Devil’s Decongestant..) Jingles! Some PAMS 18 and other and also, very unknown custom song and station jings for Hey Baby and Duke of Earl; verbose “Good Morning” gag. Spots! The Birth of Busch-Bavarian Beer, VIP (Edie Adams!), Phil Silvers for Ford, A&P and … the 62 cent shrimp basket (with slaw and buttered rolls…)
This one could claim the REELRADIO AWARD for Most Stuff In an Hour, 1962.
XEROK was 150,000 watts and licensed to Juarez, Mexico, and leased by investors in El Paso, Texas. (I guess this was the forerunner to LMA’s.) The only live programming was when El Presidente de Mexico wanted to speak to the people. (That was whenever the mood hit him.) All other programming was taped 24 hours before airing. No news, obviously – no time checks, either. Nothing but The Hits.
We had postcards and letters from as far away as San Francisco and New Orleans. Somewhere in the midwest, the signals of XEROK and CKLW cancelled one another out.
Included: John Long, Eric Chase, Bill Stevens, Randy Hames, and Christopher Haze.