The John Quincy Collection
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Even though he was born 15 years earlier, Lexington, Kentucky native John Quincy (a.k.a. Ted Tatman) didn't really discover Top 40 radio until he smuggled in a transistor radio to his church camp outside of Louisville in the summer of 1970. After a few hours of listening to the legendary WAKY in his dorm room, he caught the radio fever. Upon his return to Lexington and a visit to local AM-ers WVLK and WLAP to find out how radio stations really performed that on-air magic, he was hooked.
Luckily, an English teacher at his high school told him about a Junior Achievement program being sponsored by WVLK-AM. Every Wednesday night, WVLK would turn over a half hour of their programming to high school kids, who would sell, operate, and program it. Quincy made sure he was one of the ones chosen to be one of the teen DJs. Between his junior and senior year Quincy scored a summer job working seven days a week at WBGR AM & FM in Paris, Kentucky. Most of the time was spent running Cincinnati Reds baseball games but for a little while each shift he got to play DJ. It was country music (which was especially bad in the early 70s) but it was radio. From that point, Quincy never looked back. There were stints in other Lexington area radio stations (WEKY, WAXU, WCBR, WKDJ, and WBLG) before Quincy got the call in 1979 to escape Lexington's awful winters and work in sunny Savannah, Georgia (WKBX and WZAT). Then in 1981, Quincy moved up the coast to Charleston, SC to take on PM drive duties at WSSX. Later Charleston gigs included AC WXTC (where he spent nearly 10 years as PD), All 70s WJUK, Country WBUB, and Oldies WXLY. Subscribers to Tom Konard's Aircheck Factory service might remember John Quincy as one of the narrators of "Around The Dial" and various profiles. Today Quincy is the assistant program director and morning producer at News/Talker WTMA in Charleston. Along with his radio work, he creates and maintains Web pages plus does regular mobile DJ gigs. The Repository thanks John Quincy for sharing! |
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Unscoped
Bill Bailey, The Duke of Louisville, is profiled in this two-part Tribute. Created, produced and narrated in 2006 by contributor John Quincy, it includes an impressive list of radio talent. Allen Bryan, Bill Graham, Bob Moody, Bob Todd, Chuck Jackson, Coyote Calhoun, Dan Mason, Dude Walker, Ernie Gudridge, Gary Burbank, Gary Guthrie, Gary King, George Francis, Jason O’Brian, John Rook, Johnny Randolph, Kevin Metheny, Lee Masters, Mark Stahr, Marty Bass, Mason Lee Dixon, Mike Griffin, Mike McVay, Mike Summers, Terrell Metheny, Phil Gray, Rob Calhoun, Steven Lee Cook, Tim Tyler, and Tom Dooley all tell some of the Duke’s story.
Bill Bailey was born William Clyde Boahn in New Bern, N.C. on December 18, 1930. Over nearly 30 years, he ruled the morning airwaves at Louisville’s WKLO and WAKY, and briefly, at Chicago’s WLS. In 2004, Bailey suffered a stroke that partially paralyzed his right side. He passed away on January 14, 2012. He is survived by a son, three daughters, nine grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and a brother.
Bill Bailey: A Louisville Legend is an expansive and professionally-produced overview of the radio career of one of the most unique and unusual personalities of the Top 40 era. In addition to dozens of memories and jingles, there are aircheck excerpts including Bill Bailey on WKLO, WAKY, WCII and WVLK. This two-CD program is available from John Quincy’s 79WAKY.COM website.
Bill Bailey, The Duke of Louisville, is profiled in this two-part Tribute. Created, produced and narrated in 2006 by contributor John Quincy, it includes an impressive list of radio talent. Allen Bryan, Bill Graham, Bob Moody, Bob Todd, Chuck Jackson, Coyote Calhoun, Dan Mason, Dude Walker, Ernie Gudridge, Gary Burbank, Gary Guthrie, Gary King, George Francis, Jason O’Brian, John Rook, Johnny Randolph, Kevin Metheny, Lee Masters, Mark Stahr, Marty Bass, Mason Lee Dixon, Mike Griffin, Mike McVay, Mike Summers, Terrell Metheny, Phil Gray, Rob Calhoun, Steven Lee Cook, Tim Tyler, and Tom Dooley all tell some of the Duke’s story.
Bill Bailey was born William Clyde Boahn in New Bern, N.C. on December 18, 1930. Over nearly 30 years, he ruled the morning airwaves at Louisville’s WKLO and WAKY, and briefly, at Chicago’s WLS. In 2004, Bailey suffered a stroke that partially paralyzed his right side. He passed away on January 14, 2012. He is survived by a son, three daughters, nine grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and a brother.
Bill Bailey: A Louisville Legend is an expansive and professionally-produced overview of the radio career of one of the most unique and unusual personalities of the Top 40 era. In addition to dozens of memories and jingles, there are aircheck excerpts including Bill Bailey on WKLO, WAKY, WCII and WVLK. This two-CD program is available from John Quincy’s 79WAKY.COM website.
Scoped
Unscoped
Atlanta was a hotbed of Top 40 in 1963, and WPLO had formidable competitors in WAKE and WQXI. Little bits of the actual event are missing here and there, but this restored exhibit is a delightful half-hour for everyone who remembers 1963.
Bill Ward, decades after this aircheck
Program Director Bill Ward is efficient, friendly, and on format with lots of weather, goofy promos, and a couple of bits on this very early 6AM-ish morning. And, there’s a Top 40 playlist that favors Pop and Country. When he flubs a promo, he quips “Welcome to ‘You Bet Your Job’, friends!”.
Mr. Ward had no trouble finding a long career in programming and managing stations that he flipped to the country format, in Dallas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Twenty years after this aircheck, he was GM of KMPC and President of Gene Autry’s Golden West Broadcasters. Bill Ward passed away July 31, 2004.
Best bet for the actual date of this broadcast is December 18, 1963, based on the Ken Wilson Headline News report of a missile launch from Vandenberg AFB, which occured on December 18, 1963. Also, we know Mr. Kent recorded WPLO on December 17. The classic ad for Budweiser  first spot in the 6AM hour!  is a tasty treat, and the spot for the Wollensak tape recorder confirms that we have crossed over into the Sixties Zone.
Tom Dooley, WAKY (c. 1974)
George Patrick Thomas O’Dooley, Jr., known to Top 40 listeners throughout the country as Tom Dooley, says KHJ was a dark and evil place in this 2005 interview with WAKY historian and contributor John Quincy.
And what about those thousands of jocks who wanted to work at KHJ? “I wanted to stand on top of the mountain … and wave my arms and say, ‘Don’t Bother! Don’t come this way!” warned Dooley. “There’s no joy here. There’s no love here.” The infamous aircheck of Dooley demanding an investigation of President Richard Nixon is included in this exhibit. (It starts at approximately 15:36 into the interview.)
In a career that spanned some of the very best years of Top 40 radio, Dooley worked for KELI/Tulsa, WQAM/Miami, KNUZ/Houston, WSAI/Cincinnati, WAKY/Louisville, WMPS/Memphis, WORD/Spartanburg, KRIZ/Phoenix, WFIL/Philadelphia, WAYS/Charlotte, WIFI-FM/Philadelphia and WHBQ/Memphis, in addition to KHJ/Los Angeles and others. Dooley also recalls that he syndicated a radio contest, The Trap, and RKO tried to steal it, but they didn’t, and he did very well with it.
During the last years of his life, Dooley was an active Christian, and returned to the air on a syndicated radio program titled “The Journey”. Early in 2010, his friends and family noticed subtle changes in his behavior. Shortly thereafter, he experienced difficulty with balance and fatigue. Tests and a biopsy resulted in a diagnosis of aggressive brain cancer. A large tumor was removed on April 8, but some cancer remained and Dooley was paralyzed on his left side. Tom Dooley was born on January 18, 1947 in Chicago, IL., and was 63 at the time of his passing on November 9, 2010.
