THIS IS THE WAY I REMEMBER IT  (Episode Two)

Last week we talked about the influence of radio, and particularly KNUZ, on my senior year at Stephen F. Austin. In those days, KNUZ was block programmed, as were most music stations in 1951. Block programming meant that many different types of music were presented in exclusive blocks of two to four hours, one block right after another.  A block of "country" might be followed by a block of "popular" music, then by a few hours of rhythm-and-blues. As a result, the average teenager of 1951 would be interested in many types of music. Television, which had a limited program schedule, was much less influential with teenagers in 1951, when compared to later years.
 
Being a full-fledged fan of Houston radio in '50 and '51, I remember the all-night disc jockey on KNUZ. His name was Ted Jones and he called himself “Tiny Ted Jones, the Terror of the Turntables.”  Most of the disc jockeys had unusual identifiers attached to their names. I guess that is why, early in my career, I adopted the handle, “The Round Mound Of Sound.”  Even though we couldn't gain access to the KNUZ studios after hours, we could watch the on-air disc jockey through a large picture window, assuming the blinds were left open.  So in those late-night hours, I watched Ted Jones. 

He had a gimmick whereby he'd play two records at the same time, with one slightly out of sync. It gave a very unusual sound to the music, similar to the slap back echo Sam Phillips accomplished at Sun recording studio in Memphis with Elvis Presley. But we were still about five years away from Elvis. Ted did this trick only on rare occasions, but he was the only one I'd heard do that, and it was fun to watch him through the window cueing up two 78 RPM records to get the effect.

Ted was small in stature, so with those big turntables and 12 inch records it was, in the eyes of a teenager,quite a miraculous event to witness.
 
But in those days, I thought everything about radio was miraculous. I had the burning desire to be one of them: to be on the inside of the control room with people watching me perform. I'm sure every radio person knows that feeling.

I began to practice at home using a wire recorder purchased with $12 of my Daily Oil News delivery money. One of the disc jockeys at KNUZ told me that if I were to pursue a radio career after high school, I would need to find my first job in the want ads of Broadcasting Magazine. So I subscribed to Broadcasting, and was shocked to find entry-level jobs barely paid minimum wage.

Having had so much respect for DJs, I always assumed they made huge amounts of money.
 
To get a semblance of experience, I used my wire recorder, a radio, and a willing assistant: my sister. Recording mainly on the weekends, I'd use newspaper advertising for my commercial copy, and my sister would turn the radio volume up and down at the appropriate places so I could play DJ. When the music played, she'd signal me and turn up the sound. I'd quickly identify the music in my mind and introduce the song as I thought a real disc jockey would. Then I'd place the mike in front of the radio speakers so I could record the songs and commercials to create a young Dunaway radio show.

These recordings were awful.  And my first professional shows weren't much better.
 
Working with a wire recorder was quite tricky.  For one thing, sometimes the wire would break. Splicing the two pieces together was accomplished simply by tying the two sections together in a knot. Although that method was simple and efficient, it left gaps in whatever was being recorded.

But to me, it didn't matter how bad it sounded. I'd imagine I was on KNUZ and I would think of myself as a real Houston radio star, thanks to my younger sister Kay. I'm forever grateful for her help in producing the first Buzz Dunaway shows. Of course I copied “Buzz” from Paul Berlin.
 
Next week I'd enjoy telling you about the first on-air job at KLVL in Houston. Thanks to the folks who read this page last week and let me know about it. Hal Widsten (Managerof aradio station in San Antonio), Rich Warrick( New York Radio buff), Bob McIntyre (KILT newsman), Louis Connors (retired, but known on the air as Lou "King" Kirby), Bill Hennes (radio consultant), Brad Messer (talk show host at KTSA and one of the best newsmen ever), John Logan (retired from radio), Ken Dowe (manager of the number one radio station in Dallas and former on-air star), Sweet Randy Robbins (one of the best Disc jockeys to sit in from of a microphone), Bob Hamilton (ex-disc jockey and now owner of the New Radio Star), Bill Mackie (former radio engineer and DJ now involved with government communications projects), David Louie (bureau chief of CBS News in San Francisco), Bill Young (one of the best program directors ever;now semi-retired from Bill Young Productions), Danny Williams (still doing a top-rated morning program on KOMA in Oklahoma City at age 74), Dennis Soapes (Jones programming)...and several relatives who are enjoying these visits. 

Thanks for reading.