WAKY Reverb Unit

[John Quincy]

Someone recently wrote me and asked what happened to the gig Grundig plate reverb unit that was in one of the walls at WAKY's 4th Street studios. I didn't know the answer; I heard it was so big and difficult to remove that it stayed in the 4th Street location long after WAKY vacated the premises, so for I know it might still be there.

It's not.

Tonight I called Johnny Randolph, and in the course of our conversation I asked him if he knew what happened to the big reverb unit.

He said it ended up at WDJX. Randolph, along with some other ex-WKLO jocks, was part of WDJX's 10th Anniversary Celebration. There he spotted WAKY's old reverb unit. He didn't know if WDJX ever used it. (By this time WDJX had moved out of the old WKLO studios.)

Randolph said the reverb unit used at the Kentucky Home Life Studios was so small you could hold it in your hand. It was called a "spatial expander." The one at the new studios was as big as a grand piano standing on its side.

Randolph said the Grundig reverb unit was set that it would react to mid-range and high frequencies only. The sound going into the reverb unit was not limited or otherwise pre-processed. Therefore, the harder you hit the levels on the board, the more reverb you got on the air.

BTW, Randolph told me he remembered the exact day WAKY moved from the Kentucky Home Life Building. It was September 13, 1969 (a Friday). The last record played at the old studios was spun by JR. Appropriately, it was "Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire. A switch was thrown and Jim Fletcher played "I'm So Happy" by Company Front as the first song from the 4th Street studios.

[bpflederer]

John & JR, the hand held type of reverb you mentioned, was used in the KY Home Life, Production room, as I can remember, in the late 60's. Doc interfaced with the RCA console. As I can remember, it was one that had the control knob on the front, and believe it was from Allied.

The main reverb in the mid 60's was located at Tucker Station. If I can remember, it was about the size of 4 RU high, and was mounted in the corner rack with the CBS gear. This unit had the external springs in a chassis, or box. After 40+ years , it is shaking the cob webs

[Travis]

Johnny Randolph remembers September 13, 1969 as the day when WAKY moved from the Kentucky Home Life Building to its Fourth Street location, but I have reason to believe that the move had occurred at some point during late 1968. That's a full year before.

Back in 2005, I wrote a post on this board pertaining to a memory I have of the Weird Beard inviting everyone to take part in saying goodbye to the Kentucky Home Life Building. You can find the post by doing a search for "chain" on the message board's search feature.

Oh, what the heck. Here's the post:

---- Start Paste ----

The Kentucky Home Life Building "Love Chains" (3/2/2005)

Speaking of the Weird Beard and WAKY promotions, I seem to recall that when WAKY was ready to make its move from the Kentucky Home Life Building to its 4th street showcase studios, Weird spent about two weeks asking listeners to make "love chains" and to bring them to the station. These were the typical paper chains that kids made by cutting paper into strips and then gluing or stapling the strips end to end through another strip and so on, creating a very flexible paper chain. Listeners were told that the chains could be as long as they wished, any color, design, size, whatever. My memory's a bit fuzzy on this part, but I do believe that listeners were asked to write "WAKY" on each link and they could write their name on the links as well. I believe the person creating the longest chain was to win a prize, thus the need for names. Now, if memory serves, the goal was to receive enough chains that when linked together, end to end, would actually surround the Kentucky Home Life Building (can you even imagine?). There was to be a ceremony, with the mayor in attendance, because not only was WAKY saying goodbye to relocate to its 4th street studios, but the building had supposedly been condemned and was going to be torn down. To my knowledge, it's still there today (say wha..?). Help me with this one. Were enough chains received to completely surround the building? Was there a small ceremony with WAKY personnel and the mayor in attendance? If the Kentucky Home Life Building is still standing, was it actually condemned around the time of WAKY's move to 4th street? If so, why is it still there and would you take a job working in that building today? I don't know why I can't remember, but maybe someone else does.

--- End Paste ---

The questions I asked at the end of the post have not been answered to this day, but I did come across a WAKY Boss 30 Survey which includes a photo of the event. The survey is dated August 7, 1968 and can be seen here:

www.79waky.com/surveys/WAKYSurvey1968-08-07-Back.jpg

I was only 14 at the time, so there's plenty of room for error in my memories. Johnny Randolph has a fantastic memory of WAKY related events and if he says the move was in September of '69... then most likely it was. For all I know, WAKY held the "love chain" event a full year before actually making the move.

Attn: Ben Pflederer and Dude Walker. Do either of you remember the "love chain" event? If so, what can you tell us about it?

[John Quincy]

Travis, you're probably right that WAKY moved in September 1968, not September 1969. Bob Todd started work at WAKY on 1/1/69 and the studios had already moved to Fourth Street. Also, Dude Walker began his WAKY stint in 1968 and I don't recall him saying he worked in the Kentucky Home Life Building.

[John Quincy]

Okay, here's another correction to Johnny Randolph's recollection. (Hey, that rhymes!)

Tim Tolbert wrote me this morning and included part of his post on this board from 11/7/2005:

"Here's a little bit of trivia for you. When WAKY moved to the new showcase studios on Fourth Street, Tom Dooley was the first jock on the air there.

"I still know that is true. I can still remember it. I remember Dooley saying, 'Can you hear me?' The reply, was, 'Yes, Tom go ahead, you're on." Tom Dooley said, 'This is the REAL Tom Dooley, now at our new studios on 4th Street.'

"Can you get Dooley to verify that? When I read the post of JR saying Fletcher was the first one on the air there, I knew that that was totally wrong. Sorry Randolph."

So I wrote Tom Dooley, and he replied:

"Yes, it’s true. Mother Fletcher (which was our pet name for him) was supposed to sign on at noon in the new location. We ballyhooed it to death – then it didn’t happen because of 'technical difficulties.' Yeah, right. The truth was – our wonderful engineer did not have the studio wired up to the transmitter. Minor detail. They worked on it frantically all afternoon. I was literally sitting at the mic testing the stupid thing for an hour before they got it on. When I said, 'Can you hear me?' – one of the engineers was standing in the studio with the door open while the other guy hollered at him from down the hall somewhere. There was a slight pause – the guy at the door got the high sign and said 'Yes, Tom – go ahead, you’re on!' We were really high tech.

"So that’s the extremely trivial saga of WAKY’s first day at the 4th St. location. The parking still sucked."

Thanks to Tim and Tom for their input.

[Travis]

Hey, the more trivial - the better.

Thanks to Tim Tolbert and the REAL Tom Dooley (is there a phony one?) we're starting to get a clear picture of how WAKY's move from the Kentucky Home Life Building to Fourth Street may have actually gone down. But I'm still wondering if the move took place in late 1968 or 1969.

I was thinking that Dude Walker started at the Kentucky Home Life Building, but there are no photos of him in those studios, whatsoever. And his photos on the WAKY Boss 30 Surveys do not appear to start until very late in '68 (there's another rhyme for you) which may be another clue that WAKY had moved to its Fourth Street location in that year and not in '69. In fact, the earliest photos of Dude show him in the Fourth Street studios at the time when the "bull's nut" microphone (as Johnny Randolph always called it) was in use. That microphone was later replaced with an AKG model, but since I did not get my foot in the door at WAKY until sometime in 1970, I don't know in what year the microphones were changed. Depending on what year the AKG model was introduced, and depending on when WAKY got one, the "bull's nut" microphone could be another clue that WAKY was in their Fourth Street studios in late '68. (Had to rhyme one more time)

Actually, Dude Walker may be able to settle all of this by merely telling us the year in which he started at WAKY and whether he started at the Kentucky Home Life Building or the Fourth Street studios. He still looks in on this board, so I'm certain he will see our writings and respond.

Regarding the Grundig Plate Reverb: I have made mention of it on this board before, but I always thought it was "Grundy" rather than "Grundig." I was wrong. I do recall that it was in a back room just to the right of WAKY's small production room. Ernest "Doc" Dockery and Kevin Goemmer both showed it to me. It was a strange sight with its large plates all spaced apart with what appeared to be springs. The room was full of old junk, cable, spare parts, a shop vac and whatever. I even saw Johnny Fever sleeping in one of the corners. Oh, wait... that was another room in another station, and in another time.

As for Johnny Randolph's memories: I know from personal experience that as more & more years go by it's very easy for one memory to cross with that of another and it can seem so very, very real as if that is exactly the way something went down. Randolph has experienced a great deal during his still on-going career and we must remember that he's getting up there in years. In fact, I believe he's over 40 now.

Gotta be careful what I write here. To most of us, Randolph is still "Big R."

[dudewalker1]

Ben I don't remember the love chain But for Travis he is right. When I came to WAKY they were just finishing the final touches and that was in 1968. Hope that helps.
best always,
Dude Walker

[Travis]

Always good to hear from the one, the only, John W. "Dude" Walker.

Dude, the 26th of this month is fast approaching (just one week from today) and you are about to set another record in your family history. While I may grumble at turning 54 this month I will be ever so thankful if I should see 65. Keep the faith.

[dudewalker1]

Thanl you Travis. You always remember my birthdate, I hope you have a great birthday this month as well. When I came to WAKY I was 25 on Saturday I will be 65. It's hard to believe it's been 40 years but I loved every minute of it and the guys that I worked with. God has truly blessed me.
best always,
Dude Walker

[bruiser]

Happy b-day, Dude.

Any more news on the Sputnik movie?

[dudewalker1]

Brusier, They are still trying to find the right person to play Sputnik. I will let you know when I hear something.
Thanks for asking,
Dude Walker