Chuck Dunaway

Chuck and Kendall visit with the Bush family in Houston (click photos for larger views)

 The Way I Remember It (Episode 14)

 Dale Hawkins' "Suzie Q" was blaring on the radio. Stan Lewis' promise of a
 shiny new Cadillac when the song became a hit was rattling in my head.
 And  I was heading home to Houston for the first of several times in my 45-year
 radio career. In Shreveport, I had not enjoyed the same popularity and
 success I had found in Milwaukee, but I had met more "soon to be famous"
 people than anywhere I would ever work. I was leaving Shreveport for a
 station in Houston that hoped to challenge ratings leader KNUZ, and cut it
 down to size. The radio station manager was my old friend from high
 school, Fred Nahas, Bobby Moronko's uncle. Bobby and I had lost contact with each
 other and Fred had no idea that I knew his nephew. It just worked out that
 way.

 I joined KXYZ as the all-night guy, which lasted for two months. Then I
 was promoted to the morning show. I wasn't cut out for overnights. Two months'
 worth convinced me that I'd never want to do that shift again, and I'm
 happy to say I never did. And I certainly hated doing mornings. With small
 children in the apartment it was hard to get enough sleep when doing
 either overnights or mornings.

A promotion piece for KXYZ DJ's Left to Right top row Red Jones, Larry Kane and Chuck Dunaway. Left to Right bottom row Mike Seacrist, Phil page and Dan Crutchfield

 KXYZ was located on the sixteenth floor of the Gulf Building in downtown
 Houston, and the studios were quite luxurious. In its bid to become a "Top
 40" ratings leader, the station became known as "Supersonic Radio." The
 program director was Mike Seacrest, who developed "laser shots" and all
 kinds of sound effects that complemented the station's space-age image.

 It was 1957 and "Top 40" formats were becoming very homogeneous and
 restrictive. The ability to play distinctive music was gone, because cover
 versions of songs had disappeared.

 -------

 One time on the overnight shift at KXYZ, I let a record run out while
 going to the restroom. I forgot to take my key to the studio door with me, and
 the door locked behind me automatically. I searched frantically for the
 night security person so he could let me back into the studio. The search
 required several minutes, and when I finally returned to the control room,
 the on-air scratching from the dead grooves of the record was deafening. I
 sat down, opened the mike, and calmly said, "That was Johnnie Ray's
 'Cry'," and proceeded to carry on as if nothing had happened.

 Nobody called to ask what was wrong, even though I know we had a few
 listeners: I spent a lot of time on the phone with them to help pass the
 long, boring hours.

 -------

 Each of the KXYZ jocks was given a "Mister" title. Larry Kane was "Mr.
 Music," Ken Collins was "Mr. Personality," Dick Williamson was "Mr.
 Unpredictable," and I was "Mr. Enthusiasm." The line-up: Chuck Dunaway 6-9
 a.m.; Don McNeill's "Breakfast Club" from ABC, 9-10 a.m.; Ken Collins 10
 a.m.-2 p.m.; and Larry Kane 2-6 p.m.  Following a one-hour news block,
 Dick Williamson was on the air from 7 p.m. to midnight, and Bob Crutchfield did
 overnights. Red Jones joined the group later, arriving after the "Mr."
 thing had been dropped, and we became known as the "Supersonic Six" on
 KXYZ, the "sound of tomorrow," the "station that's found the sound." It
 was a damn good group of guys, but we didn't do much damage to KNUZ. KILT
 would be the station to do that.

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Chuck Dunaway gives a stereo to a Hi Fi Club winner

 The Houston Press ran a most-popular-DJ contest, and I was lucky enough to
 finish in the top five. Ken Grant at KNUZ noticed, and offered me a job. Of
 course, I took it, because I would be on the air before and after Paul
 Berlin, and that was my idea of "radio heaven."

 While at KXYZ I had bought a house, and talked Ken Collins into buying his
 first house, right behind mine. We were separated by a six-foot cedar
 fence. Ken is now involved with the Houston Realtors Association and does
 a weekly radio program hyping Houston-area real estate on KMBE.

 The house wasn't much, did not have central air conditioning, and cost
 about $15,000. My second car was gone, having been sold in Shreveport.  And
 the money at KNUZ was good, but not great.

Chuck Dunaway gets the drop on TV cowboy Richard Boone in the large KNUZ studio. It was the same studio in which Dunaway, as a kid in high school would sit in the audience to watch his favorite DJ's at work

 At KNUZ, I would warm up the seat for Paul Berlin from 3-5 p.m., Paul would
 follow from 5 to 7, and I'd come back from 7-9 p.m. At night I was given
 the "Hi-Fi Club" program, sponsored by the Houston Coca-Cola bottler,
 complete with "Hi-Fi" membership cards and ongoing contests giving away
 radios, money, and record players, among other things. We had lots of
 prizes and lots of listeners. It was good to be in a position to follow
 Paul Berlin each evening, and having the "Hi-Fi Club" guaranteed I would
 become one of the hottest DJs in Houston.

 Arch Yancy, another very popular DJ, was the wildest man I ever met. Arch
 was a big guy with an excitement for life that was very evident on-air.
 Arch experienced more adventures in a week than most people would in a
 year. I can remember sitting in the KNUZ jock lounge, listening to Arch
 describe the latest happening in his life.

 Many times we'd be joined in the lounge by Paul Berlin, who would
 contribute his latest gambling tale.  Paul would bet on anything, like
 which of two raindrops on a window would reach the bottom first.

 Webb Hunt, one of the nicest DJs ever to put on a headset, usually
 listened to the tall tales without comment. Webb, the music director, had come to
 KNUZ from KATL a couple of years earlier. He stayed at KNUZ for years.

 Richard Dobbins was the news director. His dramatic delivery made every
 story seem very important.

Coca Cola presentation for Hi Fi Club left to right Unidentified Coca Cola rep, Dave Morris owner/GM of KNUZ, Chuck Dunaway KNUZ DJ, unidentified KNUZ sales rep and Ken grant KNUZ Program Director

 The owner/manager of KNUZ was Dave Morris and he bought every new gadget
 offered to him. We had a portable studio which looked like a giant
 microphone. We called it, "Twillem," for "The Worlds Largest Microphone,"
 or "TWLM." We had a speaker which also looked like a microphone, mounted
 on a Vespa motor scooter. And for a time, our music was never cued or touched
 by the jocks. It was in another room and you played the music by punching
 numbers like a juke box. That was the most hated piece of equipment Dave
 Morris ever bought: it had problems galore.  It misfired, or got stuck,
 and many times someone would pour water into the cabinet or urinate into it. I
 don't know how long it stayed in use, but it lasted far too long for the
 air staff.

 I spent some of 1957 and most of 1958 at KNUZ, where the "Hi-Fi Club"
 helped build my popularity: I would make three to four appearances a week.
 And in 1958, my beautiful daughter Robin was born. Now the Dunaway family
 numbered five.

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Publicity Picture from KXYZ in Houston

 Kenny Rogers was performing in a group called "The Bobby Doyle Trio," and
 many nights Leelan Rogers, Kenny's brother, would come by the KNUZ studio
 to take me to see Kenny after I got off the air. Leelan and I decided to
 start a record company which we named Kenlee Records, mixing Kenny and
 Leelan's names. It was a three-way partnership and we recorded a young
 Houston singer named Ray Doggett. The record was played on KNUZ, but
 wasn't a hit, and Kenlee Records just faded away.

 Leelan and I became good friends, and we're still friends, though it's
 been many years since I've seen him. Our lives did intersect again in Las
 Vegas, but that's a story for later.

 At the end of 1958, Danny Williams of WKY called, asking me to come to
 Oklahoma City for an interview. Somebody had sent them a tape of my work,
 and they wanted to talk. The money would be very good, but the perks would
 be even better, and the job included television. Talk about the offer you
 couldn't refuse! Talk about almost blowing it!

 We'll talk about it next week.

 
Thanks for reading.

Edited by Stacy Richardson

© 2003 Chuck Dunaway
All Rights Reserved