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! |
This one begins with promos for the Don’t Say Hello contest at WAVZ, New Haven, in the fall of 1972. (“I Like The New WAVZ!”) Bobby Rich was the voice and producer.
The promos are followed by a composite of WAVZ in the Spring of 1973, and once again, Bobby Rich did the promo production. This sample includes Rich, Ca$h $un$hine, me (John Long), Tom Britton, Mason Lee Dixon, Brian Phoenix and Buzzy Hart. We gave away about $25,000 in cash and prizes in the “Everything You Always Wanted To Win” contest.
[Description by contributor John Long]
In February of 1986, the “new” Big Ape debuted on FM as Power 95. Mark Driscoll was the PD. It was a Saturday morning and I was there with Jay Thomas. We had a ball. This portion of the aircheck includes three Greaseman bits. It was nuts!
[Uncle Ricky notes: Also includes Hoyle Dempsey, Mike Mitchell, Cadillac Jack, The World Famous Tom Murphy, Banana?, Ellen?, Allan Moore, others?]
[Description by Uncle Ricky]
This composite of KFRC San Francisco from 1978 includes Dr. Don Rose, Paul Fredricks, Big Tom Parker, Bob Anthony, John Mack Flannagan, Don Sainte Johnn, Beverly Fox, Rick Shaw, Jo Interrante, Robert McCormick, Connie Gordon, and Marvelous Mark.
In addition, the KFRC TM “You” jingle is performed by The Doobie Brothers, The Bee Gees, Steve Miller, George Benson, Hall & Oates, England Dan & John Ford Coley and The Carpenters. A portion of Les Garland’s Close Encounters promo (voiced by Paul Frees) is also featured.