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Post by bruiser on Jul 11, 2005 19:20:08 GMT -5
I was listening to Terry Meiners today, and he mentioned something about a Bill Bailey tribute. Unfortunately, this is a private event, and it seems as if only those who either worked with the Duke, or are in radio are invited. I heard the name Tom Dooley mentioned as being one of the attendees. Meiners said to be watching the news on Wednesday. Anyone else heard anything about this?
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Post by Travis on Jul 13, 2005 9:45:17 GMT -5
John Quincy discussed the reunion on WHAS last night (Tuesday Night) and Johnny Randolph said by phone that he (Randolph) and Gary Burbank had talked of having a reunion for the past 25 years, but could never get around to actually doing one.
Enter John Quincy, who has been in contact with many of the legends from both WAKY and WKLO due to his work with the websites. A somewhat impromptu mini-convention somehow came about, but unfortunately, space will not permit it to be open to the public.
A much better reunion could be organized in the future, but for now it's probably important to go through with this one for the sake of Bill Bailey, since he is still hanging in there.
John Quincy has done a wonderful thing by creating these websites. And none too soon. None of us are getting any younger and we've already lost a few that made WAKY & WKLO the stations we loved.
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Post by Mike Griffin on Jul 14, 2005 9:44:20 GMT -5
The WAKY/WKLO reunion and tribute to Bill Bailey did happen last night.
There were tears in the Duke's eyes as Johnny Randolph was talking, telling him how important he was to the careers of many of us in the room. Talking about how Bailey was a consistant ratings topper in all demographics. With tears in his eyes Bailey told him to stop it, but Randolph continued and Bailey loved it. Then came the trophy as Louisville's Greatest DJ, and one of Max's tee shirts. Someone in the back of the room yelled that Bailey only got the shirt if he was the seventh caller.
Mason Dixon offered a poem, Dude Walker, Tom Dooley, Bills daughter, sales people, Don Meyers (WAKY's former GM) all offered their complements to the Duke. Coyote Calhoon couldn't make the reunion but sent his regards through John Quincy. Bill Crisp who was on mornings at WAKY when the Duke started at WKLO commented how painful it was having his brains beat out in the ratings, but how he liked throwing a few back at the watering hole across from WKLO with Bailey in those days. Tim Tyler talked about how releaved they were when the WAKY guys first heard Bailey on KLO, they knew he just couldn't possibly work out.
John Quincy was MC and recorded the whole thing. He will undoubtedly post it along with the many tapes and pictures that people brought.
Travis's comments were right on regarding getting this thing together.
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Post by bruiser on Jul 14, 2005 11:51:16 GMT -5
Thanks for the review, Mike. Bailey is still the man as far as I'm concerned.
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Post by John Quincy on Jul 15, 2005 3:31:53 GMT -5
Hi folks... I'm not back in Charleston yet, but I wanted to share this link with you ASAP. The brother-in-law of Steven Lee Cook (former WAKY weekend warrior) is a professional photographer (Greg Baigi), and Mr. Cook arranged to have him at the reunion. Over a hundred shots were taken, and you can view the proofs here: www.foxdigital.com/cgi-bin/tame/www.gregbiagi.com/login.tam?The password is: billbailey All pictures are available for purchase on this site. (Of course, you can look at the proofs for free.) Thanks to Steve Cook for setting this up, and for Greg Biagi to capturing this wonderful event in photo form. Later I'll be setting up a special reunion page on both the WAKY and WKLO Websites with the pictures I shot along with those that might be submitted by other folks who were there. You'll also be able to hear the audio from the Bill Bailey trophy presentation plus hear my two appearances on WHAS. Several former WAKY and WKLO staffers brought airchecks, photos and surveys to share on the Website...so there is LOTS of great new content in the pipeline. Finally...to the visitors of this message board. I wish it would have been possible for all you to be there, but due to size restrictions of the venue it was impractical to open the event up to the public. (We had 80 folks show up and that was pretty much a packed house.) I so much wanted to tell you what was going on, but hopefully with the photos and audio, you'll feel like you were part of the action. Our intention is to try to get a reunion event organized for next summer that will be open to all WAKY and WKLO fans, on a Friday or Saturday night, and be sponsored by a local radio station. Special thanks go out to Mike Griffin, who helped me and my wife navigate around Louisville on Wednesday -- and Coyote Calhoun for arranging the venue (the Corner Cafe) and getting Bill's trophy made. |
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Post by Max on Jul 16, 2005 8:16:51 GMT -5
John, Although you may tire of me saying this, again, THANK YOU for all you have done and continue to do to make this all possible. I'm definitely ordering the photo of me shaking hands with the Duke. It is definitely a God-thing that he took a photo of that moment in time. I will definitely be at the next one! I also expressed gratitude to Terry Meiners for putting the 'Come Home Bill Bailey' article online on his site...I feel that was the first seed that relit the spark of WAKY/WKLO. That's it...I feel he lit the LOCAL spark, and you've taken the torch and started to run and run and run and you haven't stopped running yet. God Bless you, John Quincy! :-) Max   |
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Post by John Quincy on Jul 23, 2005 22:08:10 GMT -5
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Post by John Quincy on Jul 23, 2005 22:13:15 GMT -5
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Post by Travis on Jul 24, 2005 7:34:23 GMT -5
Wow. It's like a before & after, from Bob Watson's perspective. I regret that I didn't speak with Bob. There was so much bouncing around from one room to another, and from one person to another, that I completely missed him.
I was also guilty of clinging to certain ones that I had been close to in the past (and had not seen in 30 years) when I should have been making an effort to meet as many people as possible. I'll have to keep that in mind during the next reunion.
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