Post by Travis on May 10, 2005 17:30:11 GMT -5
On the airchecks page of this site you can hear the final Weird Beard program from November 30, 1971. While it's true that this was officially the last show for Weird, it was not the actual last show that he did on WAKY. Some months after leaving Louisville to become program director for WBBF (a sister station to WAKY under LIN Broadcasting) in Rochester, New York, Weird returned to Louisville (most likely to visit relatives) and did yet another show on WAKY.
My memory is fuzzy on this one. I can't remember the date. All I know is that it occurred not long after he had left in November. It seems to me that he did the show on a Saturday night as a special. When I heard him on the air I went to the studios, just as I had done in November, and was able to spend some time with him. Since Weird's departure in November, I had become familiar with several of WAKY's personnel and stayed with them at the reception desk. We watched Weird through the glass that surrounded the control room and listened on the ceiling speakers.
On this final, final show, Weird was not running the board. According to Kevin Goemmer, who ran the public affairs programming on Sunday mornings, Weird had been away from WAKY long enough to lose some familiarity with WAKY's control console and the current formattics, so none other than Johnny Randolph, himself, was behind the board, playing the music, executing the spotsets and keeping everything smooth & tight. Weird merely stood on the outside of the console with just his headphones on and the mic suspended from its spring-loaded gooseneck in front of him.
It was good to hear the Weird Beard again, but with Johnny Randolph running the board, there was a difference. Weird's board techniques could be quite chaotic. He would often press wrong buttons, fire spots prematurely, play the same jingle or station ID just 15 seconds after having already done so or just be dumbfounded because something wasn't working. But, that was the Weird Beard program and he could play up to anything that went wrong. For example, if he inadvertently fired the station ID, after just having done so, he would say over the top of it, "Oh, I already did that. Okay, I'll just do it again." And then he would do something like sing along with the "Louisville, Kentucky" at the end. That was a typical Weird Beard program and I loved it.
Johnny Randolph's programming skills have become legendary, but he was also an incredible jock. And may still be. He had good delivery, could fill an intro, flawlessly, and ran a tight board. Engineering for the Weird Beard on that final, final show made a difference to me, but the show went well and Weird was in top form that night. And as I watched from the reception desk, it was apparent that the two of them were having a great time. I wonder if a tape of that particular last show exists?
My memory is fuzzy on this one. I can't remember the date. All I know is that it occurred not long after he had left in November. It seems to me that he did the show on a Saturday night as a special. When I heard him on the air I went to the studios, just as I had done in November, and was able to spend some time with him. Since Weird's departure in November, I had become familiar with several of WAKY's personnel and stayed with them at the reception desk. We watched Weird through the glass that surrounded the control room and listened on the ceiling speakers.
On this final, final show, Weird was not running the board. According to Kevin Goemmer, who ran the public affairs programming on Sunday mornings, Weird had been away from WAKY long enough to lose some familiarity with WAKY's control console and the current formattics, so none other than Johnny Randolph, himself, was behind the board, playing the music, executing the spotsets and keeping everything smooth & tight. Weird merely stood on the outside of the console with just his headphones on and the mic suspended from its spring-loaded gooseneck in front of him.
It was good to hear the Weird Beard again, but with Johnny Randolph running the board, there was a difference. Weird's board techniques could be quite chaotic. He would often press wrong buttons, fire spots prematurely, play the same jingle or station ID just 15 seconds after having already done so or just be dumbfounded because something wasn't working. But, that was the Weird Beard program and he could play up to anything that went wrong. For example, if he inadvertently fired the station ID, after just having done so, he would say over the top of it, "Oh, I already did that. Okay, I'll just do it again." And then he would do something like sing along with the "Louisville, Kentucky" at the end. That was a typical Weird Beard program and I loved it.
Johnny Randolph's programming skills have become legendary, but he was also an incredible jock. And may still be. He had good delivery, could fill an intro, flawlessly, and ran a tight board. Engineering for the Weird Beard on that final, final show made a difference to me, but the show went well and Weird was in top form that night. And as I watched from the reception desk, it was apparent that the two of them were having a great time. I wonder if a tape of that particular last show exists?
