Post by Travis on Feb 24, 2005 21:50:56 GMT -5
As John Quincy adds more interviews to this site (great job, John) It's becoming more interesting to compare the stories for possible conflicts. I'm not saying that I'm searching for lies. It's just that all of us will tell a story from our own perspective, and how we honestly believe it went down at the time. I'm certain that when I tell of something that occurred at WAKY, in which I was involved, it may not be 100% accurate. But, it will be how I remember it after all these years, and all I can do is hope that it's close to what actually happened. This is especially true of stories and events that occurred well over 30 or 40 years ago. Regardless of accuracy, one can still get the gist of how an event took place at WAKY.
As an example, one story states that Al Smith was the GM who was reluctant to make Johnny Randolph the PD until Gary Burbank took a stand and was backed by the other jocks at the time. But, another story states that it was Don Meyer, who was the reluctant GM, and that it was a somewhat intoxicated Dude Walker who made the stand. All we really need to know is that the GM was reluctant to make Johnny Randolph the PD and that the jocks threatened to walk if it didn't happen. The rest is, as they say, history.
There's also a question as to just what L-I-N, in LIN Broadcasting, stands for. It seems that many believe it stood for (L)ouisville (I)ndianapolis (N)ashville. But, according to Hal Smith (not to be confused with former GM, Al Smith) who was a WAKY jock in 1962, the letters were derived from the fact that LIN's principle owner (Fred Gregg?) lived in Nashville, and thus (L)ives (I)n (N)ashville became the basis for LIN Broadcasting. I'm willing to believe it stood for Lives-In-Nashville, only because LIN never had radio stations in Indianapolis, and because the story is just ridiculous enough to be true. Corporate names can be quite extravagant. When I was working for Louisville's WQMF (during the early to mid '80s) it was owned by... The Other Corporation, Inc. Before that, it was WQHI (the old Hi95) and was owned by... Whatever's Fair, Inc. Lives-In-Nashville, or LIN Broadcasting, sounds about right to me.
Regardless of how accurate the stories may (or may not) be, I'm enjoying hearing and/or reading these stories and hopefully, so are you.
As an example, one story states that Al Smith was the GM who was reluctant to make Johnny Randolph the PD until Gary Burbank took a stand and was backed by the other jocks at the time. But, another story states that it was Don Meyer, who was the reluctant GM, and that it was a somewhat intoxicated Dude Walker who made the stand. All we really need to know is that the GM was reluctant to make Johnny Randolph the PD and that the jocks threatened to walk if it didn't happen. The rest is, as they say, history.
There's also a question as to just what L-I-N, in LIN Broadcasting, stands for. It seems that many believe it stood for (L)ouisville (I)ndianapolis (N)ashville. But, according to Hal Smith (not to be confused with former GM, Al Smith) who was a WAKY jock in 1962, the letters were derived from the fact that LIN's principle owner (Fred Gregg?) lived in Nashville, and thus (L)ives (I)n (N)ashville became the basis for LIN Broadcasting. I'm willing to believe it stood for Lives-In-Nashville, only because LIN never had radio stations in Indianapolis, and because the story is just ridiculous enough to be true. Corporate names can be quite extravagant. When I was working for Louisville's WQMF (during the early to mid '80s) it was owned by... The Other Corporation, Inc. Before that, it was WQHI (the old Hi95) and was owned by... Whatever's Fair, Inc. Lives-In-Nashville, or LIN Broadcasting, sounds about right to me.
Regardless of how accurate the stories may (or may not) be, I'm enjoying hearing and/or reading these stories and hopefully, so are you.