Post by Travis on Aug 21, 2007 4:09:44 GMT -5
During John Quincy's recent visit to the new WAKY 103-5, he observed that Johnny Randolph does not wear headphones during his breaks, but rather monitors himself via a small speaker at the right of the board.
What? Johnny Randolph doesn't wear headphones? Does he think he's at WKRP in Cincinnati? Everybody knows all jocks wear headphones.
OK, so that's not exactly true. I even tried doing without them myself back when a particular model known as the Koss Pro-4 AA (or double "A") was all the rage in the industry. From somewhere in the mid to late '70s on up through the '80s, and possibly beyond, Koss Pro-4 AA headphones were being worn by just about everyone in the business. Or so it seemed.
If you look through the photos on this site, the Koss Pro-4 AA headphones appear more frequently on the heads of everyone who was a part of WAKY from the late '70s and up. Leonard Yates, Darrell Douglas, Dirty Harry Lyles, Tom Dooley and even Mike Griffin, as he does the WAKY Talk Show, can all be seen wearing this particular model. The Duke of Louisville can be seen wearing them as well, but choosing to cover his left ear only. And even Johnny Randolph can be seen wearing them on the Big 79's final night as WAKY back in 1986.
When QMF was born in February of 1981, the owners gave each of us our own personal headphones. They were, of course the Koss Pro-4 AA and I still have mine to this day. However, I have never really liked these phones. They were so large and heavy to work with, and not all that comfortable to wear. Some of the QMF jocks, such as Duke Meyer (who is currently at WFPK) began to just leave the headphones off to the side with the volume cranked in the ear piece so that he could monitor the air during breaks much in the same way that Johnny Randolph does with a small speaker. The risk of feedback was great and did happen. Ron Clay and Terry Meiners preferred to use a portable radio, with the volume low, rather than use the headphones.
So just what was it with Koss Pro-4 AA headphones? Why were they so popular that they became an industry standard? If you were to throw these phones at someone, you could quite possibly injure or kill them. They were (are) that heavy.
WKRP in Cincinnati was just a TV show, but I still like to joke to this day that the reason no jocks were ever seen wearing headphones on that show was because Mr. Carlson had given them all Koss Pro-4 AA models.
What? Johnny Randolph doesn't wear headphones? Does he think he's at WKRP in Cincinnati? Everybody knows all jocks wear headphones.
OK, so that's not exactly true. I even tried doing without them myself back when a particular model known as the Koss Pro-4 AA (or double "A") was all the rage in the industry. From somewhere in the mid to late '70s on up through the '80s, and possibly beyond, Koss Pro-4 AA headphones were being worn by just about everyone in the business. Or so it seemed.
If you look through the photos on this site, the Koss Pro-4 AA headphones appear more frequently on the heads of everyone who was a part of WAKY from the late '70s and up. Leonard Yates, Darrell Douglas, Dirty Harry Lyles, Tom Dooley and even Mike Griffin, as he does the WAKY Talk Show, can all be seen wearing this particular model. The Duke of Louisville can be seen wearing them as well, but choosing to cover his left ear only. And even Johnny Randolph can be seen wearing them on the Big 79's final night as WAKY back in 1986.
When QMF was born in February of 1981, the owners gave each of us our own personal headphones. They were, of course the Koss Pro-4 AA and I still have mine to this day. However, I have never really liked these phones. They were so large and heavy to work with, and not all that comfortable to wear. Some of the QMF jocks, such as Duke Meyer (who is currently at WFPK) began to just leave the headphones off to the side with the volume cranked in the ear piece so that he could monitor the air during breaks much in the same way that Johnny Randolph does with a small speaker. The risk of feedback was great and did happen. Ron Clay and Terry Meiners preferred to use a portable radio, with the volume low, rather than use the headphones.
So just what was it with Koss Pro-4 AA headphones? Why were they so popular that they became an industry standard? If you were to throw these phones at someone, you could quite possibly injure or kill them. They were (are) that heavy.
WKRP in Cincinnati was just a TV show, but I still like to joke to this day that the reason no jocks were ever seen wearing headphones on that show was because Mr. Carlson had given them all Koss Pro-4 AA models.
