Chuck Dunaway

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

 The Way I Remember It (Episode 16)

Having said goodbye to what I had once considered the epitome of big time radio, KNUZ in Houston and its "Nifty50" music list, I was about to become involved with a true "Top 40" format at WKY in Oklahoma City. As soon as Danny Williams saw my little Fiat, he suggested I paint my name and the station's call letters on the side of the car. The TV station's art department took care of that project. Then, as my introduction to Oklahoma City, I drove onto the set of the "Teen Dance Party" show on WKY-TV, two days before my first show on WKY radio. 

In Houston, Coca-Cola sponsored a one-hour TV program every Saturday. Three DJs from Houston radio stations would be guest "spinners," and through that show I received a tiny amount of television experience, but by no means was I a "pro," especially by comparison to Danny Williams, who, in addition to being a fantastic radio performer, was a TV professional in every way. But my "Teen Dance Party" appearance went well, and I was ready to begin my WKY radio show. 

Two happy clients stand next to GM Lee Allen Smith on one side of the remote vehicle named Big Mike. On the other side Program Director Danny Williams pretends to interview Chuck Boyles while Chuck Dunaway smiles for the camera

Danny had never programmed a radio station before, but he was a student of "Top 40" formatics, and was a quick learner. He had the basic ideas and allowed everyone on the staff to become as involved as they wanted to be. We had a very good group at WKY: Dale Webha, Chuck Boyles, Don Wallace, and Bob Hamilton. Later we were joined by Howard Clark, Jerry Kunkle, Terry McGrew and Ronnie Kaye. 

I loved the promotions and production, and helped develop the promotions and record the teasers, pre-promotional spots, promotional elements, contest elements and post-promotion elements. It was the old formula that's been attributed to Gordon McLendon: "Tell them you are going to do it . . . do it . . . and tell them you've done it, and how great it was".  I brought everything I had learned with McLendon and every other station to my new job in Oklahoma City. At that point, Danny was the best program director I had ever worked for. In fact, of all the PDs with whom I've been associated, Danny Williams was the most giving, and Bill Young was the smartest. Danny gave you all the creative room you needed or wanted, and would pull you back only when necessary, to keep you from going overboard. 

I kept an Ampex 401 tape recorder rolling whenever I was on the air. I listened to the recording of every break, and would mentally correct mistakes for future reference. If I was having an off day, I could get back on track by constant monitoring. I've never received as much encouragement or praise as I did from Danny Williams. My programs were all very enthusiastic, smoothly-produced, straight-ahead short D.J. raps,and totally positive. But one day I experimented and told a joke. Danny immediately called the hotline and asked me if I "thought that was a funny joke," to which I replied "No." That was all that needed to be said. For the remainder of my career, I never attempted to be funny by telling a joke. 

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The radio program was going great with superior numbers and the personal appearances were drawing big crowds. Every jock on the staff was doing well, with a full load of "hops," appearances at dances featuring local bands. The jocks had divided the state into sections and each jock got his own territory. WKY had a large coverage area, so our hops were often held miles from Oklahoma City. We hired bands, and found people to collect the money at the door and pay the band at the end of the night. The jocks would show up, introduce the band, mingle a bit, get the cash, and leave. It was the second most lucrative hop arrangement ever for me. The best was in Cleveland, Ohio many years later, at WKYC. 

Members of Oklahoma University fraternity Tau Kappa Ipsilon pose with Chuck Dunaway whom they've just made an honorary member of their fraternity

The parking lot at WKY was loaded with disc-jockey Cadillacs. We were envied by the guys on the TV side. Steve Powell had inherited the children's afternoon cartoon show from Danny and called it the "Circle4 Ranch." Steve became "Foreman Scotty." I was asked to audition for a comedy role on the program and began appearing as the second banana, "Hog Waller," from Big Rock, Arkansas. "Hog" would appear in the daily ten-minute adventure serials. Steve would give us the start and finish to each segment and we'd be off on an ad-lib spree. 

Steve had his own airplane and we would go to the small towns on Saturdays as grand marshals of local parades, and we even performed stage shows at local movie theaters. I received a talent fee for each TV show, and all five weekly shows were taped in one afternoon. The weekday ratings became so good that WKY-TV decided to string the ten-minute daily adventure segments into a one-hour Saturday morning show. 

Things went smoothly until the day Danny made a guest appearance on the Circle 4 Ranch as the "Old Prospector," and pandemonium ensued. Steve repeatedly would stop taping to give us a chance to regain our composure. To say that Danny and I got a bit out of control with the ad libs would be an understatement. 

In one episode, Hog took the Old Prospector to town for a milk shake. They sat in a booth at the town restaurant, and suddenly the juke box in the booth began to play. The Old Prospector had never seen anything like that, and was startled. He jumped up, pulled his six-shooter, and shot the juke box speaker, which then exploded. At that point, Hog became afraid that the sheriff was going to arrest them for shooting the juke box speaker, so he pulled the Old Prospector out of the drug store and into an alley, where they both jumped into a trash bin and closed the cover to hide. 

At Steve's cue, Hog and The Old Prospector were to jump out of the trash bin and run to the Circle 4 ranch. We were taping just after lunch, and when the Old Prospector raised up to get out of the trash bin he expelled a huge amount of gas. Hog, not wanting to be left to suffer alone in the bin, pulled the Old Prospector back down. Every time Danny would try to get out of the trash bin, I would pull him back down, and vice versa. We were both laughing, and it went on for about a minute until Steve called a halt to it, and told us to proceed to the next scene in the bunk house at the ranch, where we were supposed to be eating some chocolate candy we'd found. 

Neither Danny nor I could stop laughing. Steve went to blank screen, came onto the set and, with microphones off, told us in no uncertain terms to straighten up. We couldn't settle down for several minutes, until we both ran out of gas, so to speak. Somehow we controlled ourselves enough to get the job done in time for me to change clothes and go upstairs to do my radio program. 

Chuck Dunaway in the WKY studio with the Tau Kappa Ipsilon bell he used to ring in celebration of  Oklahoma University football victories in 1959. It was a very good year for Dunaway and the OU football team

Not only was I part of the "Circle 4 Ranch," Danny also assigned me to do commercials and ring-announcing for the syndicated wrestling show which was taped on Saturday afternoons. Talk about a full schedule of programs, shows and appearances. Danny was the morning man, program director, and TV personality, yet he had time to play golf everyday. He is an amazing man and I love him. Danny is still on the air doing an oldies morning show on KOMA in Oklahoma City. Working with Danny is another WKY DJ, Ronnie Kaye, who has also had a fabulous career in Oklahoma City. 

While I was at WKY I assumed I'd spend the remainder of my radio life in Oklahoma City. I thought things couldn't get any better. But then, for the first time in my life, I was fired. I'll tell you how it happened in the next episode.

Thanks for reading.

Edited by Stacy Richardson

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