THIS IS THE WAY I
REMEMBER IT - Episode 1
I was at a
loss as to what I could write that would interest people who visit my
Web site. Then I decided to write about what I know best, my own radio
career, which spanned the years 1952 to 1994. During those years
and since that time -- radio has changed in many ways. I thought
it might be interesting to describe how radio was in the "old
days."
Some of the younger guys in the business have been telling me that radio
has become ultra-structured, especially since the massive consolidation
of the past eight years. However, us “old guys” felt it couldn't get
any more structured than it was in the mid-fifties when the "Top
Forty" format was introduced. We felt our "creativity"
was gone, but for guys like me it was the best thing to happen in radio.
My radio career began while I was in high school.
In 1951, I was a senior at Stephen
F. Austin High School in Houston. Like most other teens, I really loved
Rhythm & Blues music. We could get a good sampling of R & B
nightly by tuning into Nashville's WLAC and John Richburg. In Houston,
we were able to pick up WLAC only in the late-night hours, and I could
hear it only in the car, for some reason. Locally, King Bee,
Lonnie Roshan and The Magnificent Montague played R & B. Years
later, Montague would insist that I needed to help him connect at WABC
in New York, but maybe we’ll get to that story in a later installment.
Anyway, in 1951 or thereabouts, KNUZ hired a young disc jockey from
Memphis who mixed lots of R & B into his pop music show. His name
was Paul Berlin and he would change everything, by mixing R & B with
pop music.
During the day, most teens listened
to KNUZ and whatever kind of music they were offering. "Tall and
Thinly" Al McKinley played pop songs, Little Marge (whose father
wrote “Cattle Call”), had a country show, "Big Bad
Bowlegged" Biff Collie also played country, and Lonnie Roshan spun
R & B tunes for two hours. KNUZ used split shifts, so Paul was on
from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. and returned from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Paul's later
shift, “Dinner Date,” was perfect for us kids, especially since he
played requests.
I worked after school delivering daily “Oil Bulletins” to downtown
offices, so I could earn the money to take the bus to the KNUZ studios
to watch the disc jockeys work. I made the trip almost every day.
At that time,
KNUZ had a large area outside the twin control rooms with chairs to
allow the public to sit and watch the disc jockey. I'd sit outside the
control rooms for hours, and imagine that someday I'd work at KNUZ.
Five years later, my dream came true. It was cool because not only
did I have the shift leading up to my childhood hero Paul Berlin's
"Dinner Date", I also did the shift after.
Once, while I was still in high school, Paul emceed the “Mustang
Follies” variety show at Austin High and I went backstage to impress
my classmates with the fact I knew Paul.
The way I got to be on a first name basis with my radio hero was pretty
simple. I found out that Paul liked these little cigars called
“cigarillos.” I'd buy them, and while watching Paul work on
the air, I'd present him with the cigarillos, which I bought with my Oil
News money. In return, Paul would let me stand in the control room while
he worked.
It was very cool for a kid to be on a first-name basis with Houston's
hottest disc jockey.
More later. Thanks for reading.