FIVE FEET HIGH AND RISING!
JOHN RHODES hired me away from from KLIF-1190 in Dallas in 1972 for the PM Drive news
spot at KITE in San Antonio. At that time in a young broadcaster's life, this seemed like a huge leap forward. JOHN has us
labeled as News Bulldogs, We really Sink Our Teeth Into News. That title and slogan was even placed inside
the San Antonio Express and News. Individual ads ran everyday which featured our names with a picture of a bulldog and that
catchy phrase under it. There was even one display which had each of our particular publicity promos side by side. This made
for a long narrow advertisement.
KITE hired a young latino fella as an intern in our news department. This chap knew
absolutely nothing about radio news reporting, but he was soon to learn fast what on-the-spot radio news reports were
all about.
Well, early one morning, around 3 am. RHODES rang my home phone. JOHN talked fast, loud
and very urgent. He said that the Guadalupe river had surged like a hurricane through New Braunfels and he wanted me to head
on out there pronto! Before I could wake up and catch my breath, JOHN said he would send KITE's new news intern over to chauffeur
me there and assist in anyway I needed. Only had a few minutes to jump into the shower before this new news guy got to
my home.
The mighty Guadalupe river ran right through New Braunfels. All the surrounding area
was very low. Over the years, I-35 was built high above the ground so it never was overflooded. This location was
about 50 miles from my home, but it was freeways all the way.
When we got to New Braunfels, the town had been evacuated. The Department of Public Safety
officers had the entrances to town blocked off. I flashed my bright red DPS emergency news identity card which I
had gotten in Dallas as a KBOX-1480/KTLC FM news person. The authorities let us motor on in.
The Guadalupe had already finished its damage. Houses and cars floated down the mighty
river like play-toys. It looked like a war zone from another country or a Hollywood extravaganza, but this was reality. My
news intern drove slowly up and down the streets of New Braunfels as I described what was seen on the mobile radio. Thank
GOD our moblle radio sent its signal back to home base in the Alamo City with no problem.
After a few minutes, a DPS officer stopped us. He said the Guadalupe had risen again
and another surge was headed for New Braunfels. We were told to hurry out to avoid being swept up in its fast rising
current. This reminded me of the Fall 1959 JOHNNY CASH classic tune, Five Feet High And Rising. We headed for the
high road back to San Antonio. Will never forget that wonderful time in radio news reporting history which could have proven
disasterous to both of us.
LARRY TODD (Austin, TX) larrytodd@juno.com Subject: Orbison. You really seem to like Orbison's music. Did you know that K D Lang sang backup for him? Peace
and love brother. I missed out on the 60's and I'm trying to do them now. LT
K.D. LANG was born KATHYRN DAWN LANG on November 2, 1961 in Consort, Alberta, Canada.
K.D. teamed with ROY for a video on his masterpiece, Crying. This tune hit Billboard 3 months before K.D.
LANG was born. This very talented woman. could match ORBISON's pitch line by line on that wonderful breathtaking tune
from the fall of 1961.
WHAT SINGER FROM THE 1980'S ROCK GROUP BERLIN APPEARED IN THE MOVIE
THANK GOD, IT'S FRIDAY?
JOE FORD (Houston-Spring, TX) Joefordsho@aol.com Jim, Hey, I'm back and by now, you guys have probably devoured your lime sherbet! Man, you are bringing back the
horror stories with the ole man and *****. I may not sleep tonight just thinking about all the insanity that went on at THE
DIRTY TWELVE THIRTY. When we do the pizza run, I'll share some scary tales with you. I loved STEVIE very much...in fact I
spoke at his memorial service...shared some great stories with R.B McIntire, Jay West and others who came in. Sad to see one
of the all time greats like Lundy go out the way he did. I'm shutting all this stuff down. Big session day tomorrow, but I'll
be in touch. Keep up the good vibes. Joe
STEVE LUNDY was one of radio's finest, if not the best. During the time spent at KULF
(1978-80) here in Houston, I like to refer to them as a hire-'em-and-fire-'em period. KULF had 4 different AM Drive
shows from 1979-80. One of those was the great STEVE LUNDY. Called STEVIE and welcomed him to the 790 penthouse suite
at 2100 Travis. Before I could shake his hand, he was fired. So many fine DJs came and went through those doors at KULF.
JOE FORD (Houston-Spring, TX) Joefordsho@aol.com Hey, I almost forgot. My buddy, Barry Kaye, is back on the air up here in Conroe doing nights at K-Star Country
(7-Mid) Great little station and they play the best variety of country stuff anywhere in the state. JF
Quizzed buddy ED MILLER about our friend and fellow KPCN-730 DJ, the mysterious RANDY
RYDER. RANDY was so very secretive. He heavily shielded his real name and place of residence in north Dallas.
ED MILLER (Austin, TX) esmiller@swbell.net Subject: Randy Ryder. Jim, Randy Ryder's radio experience prior to KPCN was unique and interesting. He had a 15'X15'
house in his backyard in which he had a homemade radio-style control room with turntables and a primitive mixer. He
listened to KLIF and emulated the big name DJ's of the late 50's. There was, of course, no transmitter, so he amused himself
playing 'pretend radio', heard nowhere but on the monitor speakers of his little studio.
Thing was, though, that he had done enough pseudo-broadcasting before his first job
at KPCN to have given himself a sense of what being on the air was really all about. Met Ryder at Arlington State College
(now UTA) as a fellow student in Joe Lee Goodwin's radio production class, along with Joe Poovey, David Day, and Gail Mays.
I was already on the air at KPCN at the tender age of 18, and helped get my classmates hired (they were all creative, energetic,
and willing to work really cheap).
Ryder's job between KPCN and Baskin Robbins was with the fabled Trans-Texas Airlines.
He was a reservations agent for TTA (which the TTA employees referred to as Tree Top Airlines). He knew the TTA booking system
well enough to tell me the lingo so that I could call up the reservations center and use convincing language to get legitimate
but unpaid-for round-trip tickets for me, Ryder, and Joe Poovey to fly from Dallas to Laredo and back so we could visit Poppagallo's.
We had no money left for the hotel bill where we stayed in Laredo after our night of continuous carousing across the border,
so we just dropped our luggage out of a rear window of the hotel and heeled it out to the airport for our return TTA flight
back to Love Field (this being long before D/FW International Airport).
Jim, I suspect that 'normal' people who never had the chance to earn a living talking
on the radio missed out on an awful lot of interesting experiences and the chance to meet and work under unusual circumstances
with some truly fascinating and legendary characters. Ed Milton
When I had moved from WFAA-820 in Dallas to KBUC FM-AM in San Antonio, RANDY and I still
kept in touch. called me one day about us DJs taking a little trip to Laredo and easing across the border for a fun-filled
night. RYDER sure seemed to know all about that place. RANDY drove to S-A and we headed to Laredo. After our night of frolic,
we were hungry and had less than a dollar between us. On our way back, we stopped off at a tiny town and bought some packages
of cheese and crackers and chased them down with a couple of soda pops. We were hot shot big time high rolling DJs.
Received an elongated, but informative message from JIMMY STIX which talks about the
legends of Country music as being ignored by radio and TV, even though they still put out new recordings. The commentary was
generally directed toward younger DJs who do not even know of these artists. As a jest, quickly informed MR. STIX that I haven't
been a young DJ in 40 years.
JIMMY STIX (NY) jimstix@nycap.rr.com Jim! I was not calling you a young DJ! I said that article I wrote was for young DJs...and I thought you'd like
to see it Bud!! LOL!!!!! That's funny...you thought I meant you??! Sincerely your Bud forever! Jimmy Stix Promoter of country
music www.jimmystix.com , www.jimstix.com www.irg-security.us a professional member of The Northeast CMA, The Country Legends Association
JAMES R. WHITE, JR., known professionally as JIMMY STIX, has written a best seller,
America, Wake Up! which gives all kinds of security information that any individual or company should take to heart.
JIMMY co-authored the revealing book with his long-time seciurity business associate, ANTHONY S. PETTI. They were classmates
in school. This very informative book deals with security and crime prevention. In this day and age of terrorist attacks,
America, Wake Up! is a must read.
BILL HENNES, President of All About Country, says, Now, here's a book that really
talks about the 'nitty gritty' of security in easy to understand language.
Something else big is going on in New York city. The
New York State Broadcasters Association executive committee has been concerned about the publicity that satellite radio has
been receiving, so it recently launched a contest asking for great, pro-radio campaign spots from its member stations, Senior
Vice President of the NYSBA RICHARD NOVAK added things seemed to be getting out of hand when two New York City stations
have more listeners combined than the satcasters. The NYSBA offered a $10,000 prize for pro-radio advertisements. The
winner will be announced June 26, 2005 at the 44th NYSBA Executive Conference.
GENTLEMAN JIM CARTER (San Antonio, TX) JCarter536@aol.com Jim: I worked at KTEM in Temple in 1970. I did mornings. I had to sweep out the rats before
firing up the transmitter at 5:45 AM in the old newspaper building. The faulty cart machines would frequently run though recycle
the same stepping all over another one. One turntable would frequently be on the blink causing the jocks to have to talk between
records while cueing up another one. The mike in the production room would sometimes bleed over the air and you could hear
some poor guy cussing up a storm over the airwaves when he screwed up his spot and had to start over.
We used to pause at 5:00 PM each day while one of our industrious salesmen held a
five minute interview with some old geezer at a nursing home...brought to us by...some funeral home. This would be sandwiched
in between Get Ready by Rare Earth and Up Around The Bend by CCR! Talk about great programming! These folks sold everything...the TIME, brought to you by...the TEMPERATURE, brought to you by...MY NEXT BREATH,
brought to you by...six and seven minute stop sets were commonplace as were 15 second spots for crying out loud!
$150.00 a week and I lived in a dumpy old rooming house with several other gents
who all took turns sharing the same bathtub with legs on it and no shower head. I had to walk six blocks to work every morning
as I had no vehicle. Don Chaney was my GM at that time and I was forced to exit because I couldn't get along with our newly
appointed PD who had been news director, Bill Galyon. After being there for about three months I left there for KDOK in Tyler,
a much more professional operation even though the town was about the same size. That was probably my worst gig.
While at KTEM I finally got an apartment and some transportation. I also acquired
a roommate who was also our 7-midnite guy. His name was Jackie Sprott. He was a young high school senior and local yokel out
of Temple. Jack eventually moved into doing TV news and worked in California and New York.
One night, after I had gone to sleep early since I had to sign the station on, Jackie
thought it would be funny to tell his listeners that if they wanted to experience a funny phone call to call a certain number...which
just happened to the phone right by my bedside. Sleepily I awoke to the first caller and told him that he had the wrong number
and hung up. Shortly after drifting back off to sleep it rang again. I proceeded to tell the caller that they had the wrong
number. This went on for several more phone calls. Finally I asked a caller why on earth they had called me.
Then the cat was out of the bag. I was fuming! I knew that Sprott was just rolling
on the floor at the station knowing that my sleep was being so disrupted. I gathered myself up and hauled my sleepy bones
down to the station and stormed in there ready to box his ears. Instead I decided to get even. I crawled on all fours into
the newsroom which was adjacent to the control room. Underneath the news desk was a foot switch that the news guy could remotely
start a cart from a sponsor while the jock made a head call or whatever. So I waited until Jack came out of a record and was
back-selling the tune while preparing for a stop-set. While he was in yacking away high gear I pressed the remote cart start
button while he was still talking. He flipped off his mike and started cursing like a madman. This was an entirely believable
scenario as our equipment was the Za Zu PITTS!
Jackie was quite the professional and enjoyed running a smooth and tight board so
it really chapped him when the equipment malfunctioned. I kept firing off carts when he would be in between records for a
couple of more stop sets until he was absolutely LIVID and literally screaming at the equipment. I could no longer control
my laughter and he heard me and came into the newsroom ready to go to war with me until I reminded him of what he had done
with his listeners to keep waking me up when he knew how much I valued my sleep. We shared mutual laughs and I trotted off
back to bed, realizing that REVENGE REALLY IS SWEET! Jim
BLAKE LINDSAY (Dallas, TX) blazin_blake@iqmail.net Jim, I really like that KKYX SA signal. Wish they were being productive with that huge daytime
fifty K. Their ten K, is a decent south bounder too. When I worked the seven to midnight shift with KTSA, there were two nights,
that I accidentally on purpose, didn't hit our pattern button, which made us go direction five K, north and south. It was
great getting calls from at least four states. I got caught the second time, when we got a nice friendly note from the FCC,
due to 560 in Beaumont Texas being splattered on by my oops. I actually felt badly about our interference, and it never happened
again. I will ask Johnny Shannon tomorrow, what your landline number is. I am making some great hit bound CD's with my wife.
She is fourteen years younger, but knows twice the oldies that I do. Gotta love that about her. Have a Blazin Good Evening
Jim!
EDWARD GUERRERO (San Antonio, TX) edward-guerrero@sbcglobal.net Subject: Ft Worth Area Visit. Jim, Just got back from the Ft Worth area...shuttled one
of my son's '89 321i Beamer to him (lives in Roanoke abt 20 miles north of Ft Worth) over a week ago and i was to return back
to San Antonio the following morning. On my return trip back home i was driving another of his old BMW's (he has 5 of them),
but only got as far as Hillsboro. Close to where I35W merges with I35E to become I35 i had to abort my trip south. As i approached
an area of road construction i was met by a semi-trailer's tire carcass that had been shed by the trailer in front of me.
Not being able to dodge the tire remains i ran over it. The car i was driving was no match for the huge tire treads/steel
belts. The hulk underneath the vehicle wiped out the entire front end. Thankfully AAA saved the day...they towed the disabled
car back to Roanoke 80 miles away for repairs.
While riding back to my son's place the driver and i started talking about the personalities
you have been writing about on your website. Where the AAA driver picked us up (my 11 year old grandson, Carlos, had gone
with me on this trip) was only about 4 miles from Abbott (Willie's birthplace), so we started talking about Willie Nelson
first. The guy said that Willie never forgot his roots. "Its not unusual to see him in town". I asked the driver about Mr.
Nelson's homestead, but i got no answer??? We come to point out that quite a few high profile talented singers came from this
general area. They all seemed to be clustered in this geographical location. I wonder if there an answer why!
Buddy Holly's widow; Maria Elena. My oldest daughter was working at Dallas' Park
Place Mercedes in the 90's remembers her. She was a regular customer...always brought her car for warranty work. My daughter,
Ana, assisted her in processing her warranty claims several times. My daughter remembers her as being a demure type of person.
Ana was always shy about asking her about Buddy. Regards, Ed G San Antonio, Texas PS. It took me me more than a week to return
home...next time i return back to visit my son in the Ft. Worth area I will certainly do some sightseeing and take some
photos of your old stomping grounds.
TERRI NUNN WAS THE LEAD SINGER OF BERLIN WHO APPEARED IN THE 1978
MOVIE THANK GOD, IT'S FRIDAY.
Movie critic, LEONARD MALTIN, gave a rash revue of the film, Thank GOD, It's Friday.
Perhaps the worst film ever to have won any kind of OSCAR. This one-night-in-the-life-of-a-disco comedy is about
as monotonous and uninventive as disco music itself. A must-see for morons, cast not withstanding. In the summer of 1978, DONNA SUMMER's Last Dance single hit #3 on Billboard and brought home an OSCAR.
Have not personally viewed the movie, Thank GOD, It's Friday, but one thing
I have learned in over 4 decades of being in radio all over the great state of Texas is that critics of any kind are just
giving their own opinion of whatever they criticize.
This same MALTIN fella described STEVE MCQUEEN's 1980 flick, The Hunter, in
this way: Incomprehensible bio of real-life contemporary bounty hunter RALPH (PAPPY) THORSON has plot holes that HANNIBAL
could have led elephants through.MCQUEEN's last film and probably his worst. What a way to talk of a movie legend such
as STEVE MCQUEEN. This was one of my favorite movies. Critics are only highly paid points of view givers.
Before becoming the lead singer of BERLIN, TERRI auditioned for Star Wars. She
wanted to be PRINCESS LEIA, instead, became a 1980s New Wave icon. NUNN did not win the role. However, as a teeny-bopper,
TERRI had a role on TV's LOU GRANT and many other TV shows.
NUNN joined BERLIN in 1979 after the departure of the Los Angeles Electro-Pop band's
original vocalist. When BERLIN's suggestive single Sex (I'm A...) debuted on New Wave radio stations in 1982, TERRI's
R-rated script presented a raunchy alternative to the robotic singing of many Rock artists. Most were males. Critics weren't
impressed, but NUNN's good looks and British-sounding vocals, which was a cross between PAT BENATAR's tough girl tone and
ANNIE LENNOX's chilly croon, helped BERLIN create a cult following on MTV. This was especially
true with the music videos for The Metro and No More Words.
In 1986, BERLIN topped Billboard with a mainstream ballad Take My Breath Away
from the Top Gun soundtrack. Certain members of BERLIN weren't exactly thrilled with the tune's more commercial
direction, but it became BERLIN's most successful recording. In the summer of 1986,Take My Breath Away on Columbia reached
#1 on Billboard and the single sold over a half million copies. In 1987, TERRI and BERLIN split up. In 1989, NUNN, with PAUL
CARRACK, put out Romance, which was an Adult Contemporary hit. In 1992, NUNN recorded the solo album Moment of
Truth.
After being away from the music scene, in the late 1990s, NUNN recruited new players
to resurrect BERLIN. In 2000, BERLIN released Live: Sacred and Profane. True to TERRI's seditious psyche, the album
cover, which presented a woman breast-feeding her child, caused much controversy with her record label.
Jim Rose
