REMEMBERING RADIO LEGEND RUSS KNIGHT
To
further the radio seasoning process, I decided to become a Dallas radio newscaster. The initial choice was
one of the premier news operations in Texas, JOE LONG's intelligence gathering force at KBOX/KTLC FM (1971-72). A year
or so later, I migrated over to TED AGNEW's information center at KLIF-1190 (1972). This was a time when KLIF still
dominated Dallas' radio audience. These were the top radio news operations in my hometown and for the most part, the
entire south.
While
I was at KBOX, RUSS KNIGHT (The Weird Beard) was a DJ there. The newsroom mic faced the DJ studio. We sat there face-to-face.
Only thing between us was a giant double-paned sound-proof glass window. This kept the noisy newsroom police radios from interferring
with what went on in the DJ nook. When I was opposite RUSS, he expected me to be his direct eye-to-eye audience, but
each minute of every hour in KBOX's newsroom was filled with much elbow grease. Tried intensely not to not let our pupils
meet, but that is an impossible task when in the presence of the legendary RUSS KNIGHT. RUSS would stare straight
into my eyes as he performed each comedic bit. RUSS has the biggest smile you've ever witnessed. The Weird
Beard expected me to react in the same way to his mischievousness. Of course I smiled and laughed.
Here
I was, on the same broadcast staff of one of my childhood radio idols and we became good ole buddies. RUSS was truly a wonderful
guy to work with. RUSS KNIGHT had absolutely no vanity, not like several much less talented mic marvels which I came into
contact with all over Texas. Numerous radio stations filled the countless pages of my broadcast resume, but those were probably
the greatest to enter the list.
Out of the clear blue, two electronic messages arrived Monday from a couple of old-time
Dallas classmates - STAN DEYO and DON TIFFIN. STAN and I were students at Kimball high from 1958-62. During formative
years, DON and his family lived up the street from us in the Oak Ckiff section of Dallas for over a decade.
STAN DEYO (Pueblo, Colorado) standeyo@standeyo.com Jimmie, Hello from a fellow Knight. Life
has carried me on an extremely interesting journey so far. It has taken me around the planet several times...placed me in
Australia for 30 years....drafted me into one of the most exotic of black projects our government ever established...given
me three wives, five children and eight grandchildren...and the faith of our fathers. A solitary feeling grows around me as
I realize I have outlived many of my closest friends of those early years at Kimball. See our web site at http://standeyo.com for more details.
Each day, I become more and more impressed and enchanted with the power of the
Internet. What a pleasant surprise to her from a Justin F. Kimball high school chum after over four decades. Gave
STAN a breakdown of the multitudes of radio facilities which carried me here and there throughout Texas since the
mid-sixties. Additionally, pointed DEYO to my website. Filled STAN in on how words spoken out of a DJ's mouth can
frequently bring incongruous results from the listening audience. Tossed in a couple of examples which at many moments
kept this DJ hopping and jumping all over the great state of Texas.
STAN DEYO (Pueblo, Colorado) standeyo@standeyo.com G'day, Jim, Yes, it has been many years
since we strolled the hallways of good old JFK. Holly and I were married in a huge castle in Victoria, Australia. We dressed
the part complete with swords, boots, gowns etc. I remembered good JFK's knight in the foyer that day. Wow!!...That's a lot
of stations.
Why on Earth did you work with so many? Lotsa history there....many memories...we're
getting old m'boy!
The Internet is a marvelous invention when used properly. We use it 24/7 in our
businesses. Since I wrote my books I have had to be fairly careful what I say on air myself. The ladies still write or email
even though they know I'm happily married....Go figure!
I was recruited by Dr Edward teller's people in Dallas in 1971. Seems I discovered
a classified way to make flying saucers that worked. They took me to Australia to finish my research under their wing...We
do have antigravity and there is an alien presence on the planet...Have a good day, senor...Stan and Holly
STAN enjoyed mucho festivities in Kimball's Spanish classes. Posed a reconnaissance
flight quiz of sorts to DEYO concerning when did the urge to leave Big D occur? Where was STAN's initial destination?
Were there any publisher puzzles for his books?
STAN DEYO (Pueblo, Colorado) standeyo@standeyo.com Hey, Jim, 1971...went to Melbourne, Australia...assigned
to Sir John Williams there and presented classified propulsion papers to the Aeronautical Research Labs at Fisherman's Bend,
Victoria...Middle East work...behind the Iron Curtain work....had fun...We had to eventually self-publish our own books as
we could not break into the publishing arena here. Stan and Holly Deyo, Deyo Enterprises, LLC, P.O. Box 7711, Pueblo West,
Colorado, USA 81007 Our Web Site: http://standeyo.com
Mighty intriguing endeavors m'boy. The only secretive projects that I ever undertook
were as a radio station Program Director when I dealt with formats geared to give the knock-out punch to contenders. Highly
private and confidential documents were never to leave the building and likenesses were not to be consummated or related outside
the premises. Of course anyone on the staff could risk being fired for Xeroxing copies to the opposing radio station.
Guess in STAN's line of work, people could risk being fired at.
STAN DEYO (Pueblo, CO) standeyo@standeyo.com Hi, again, Jim, I'm being slack today
in between some difficult tasks in the name of free enterprise...otherwise I would probably not be able to respond for several
days.
We are setting up a new aerospace research company this year. It will allow me
to experiment and build prototypes of things similar to those I either designed or was shown back in Dr. Teller's group.
Time permitting, I'll see what I can find. I didn't mention the undercover work
I did for the FBI (internal affairs) back in Dallas before I was recruited by Dr Teller's group. That little escapade nearly
got me a set of concrete boots...however, I was able to dodge that one. Had one brief encounter with the KGB in Beograd (Belgrad)
but it was my informant that got the beating. Later in Oz after I left the black project - threatening to expose them - I
was hunted for six months while they tried to put me at the bottom of a mine shaft...It develops ulcers, ruins families and
generally costs more than most would voluntarily wish for. Stan...and Holly
Nothing ever that serious came calling in my epic radio career, but, a few sinister
actions did occur while at KBUC FM (1969) and KBER FM (1972) in the Alamo City. This is where I was to perform morning
remote broadcasts. Two separate occasions found bullet holes punched through the glass window which were aimed right
where my noggin would be behind the mic. Holes in the wall behind were quite evident. Life in San Antonio still mimicked
the wild west where road agents sometimes waved shooting arms at every moving object.
In Cowtown, Texas at both KFJZ (1974) and later at KXOL (1975) there were two
separate bomb threats while I was on the air. Both times the buildings were evacuated, which left me all alone as I feverishly
spun records and pretended to remain calm. Authorities scoured the building, then entered the control room where I was trying
to perfom to the best of my ability under the circumstances at hand. Felt like an uneasy rider because these officials were
very quiet, moved around gently as if walking on eggs. They searched through record bins, under the turntables and every
nook and cranny in the control room. The 1st time it happened while at at KFJZ was kinda scary - 2nd time at KXOL was a charm
because I had become kinda seasoned to radio station bullet holes and bomb threats.
DON TIFFIN (Dallas, TX) dtiffin1@sbcglobal.net Hey Jimmie, Are you the Jimmie Rose that
lived on Meade Street? I think you must be. How's it going?? Just wanted to say hi...good to see you on here. I live in The
Colony, north of Dallas. Best Regards, Don Tiffin
All tied up while I attempted to stomp out computer demons, never got a chance
to respond in a timely manner until weeks later. Been about 43 years since we lived only about ten houses away from each other
in Oak Cliff's Beckley Heights.
DON TIFFIN (Dallas, TX) dtiffin1@sbcglobal.net Hello Jimmie. Good to see you're still
around. Hope things are going well. We live here in DFW area in The Colony, north of town in the south part of Denton County.
We all had lots of good times growning up on Meade Street there in Oak Cliff. Ever hear from anybody else on that street?
What happend to Don Ross and John Moyer I wonder? Don
DON TIFFIN and his mom lived up the hill from us on Meade Street in the Dallas suburb
of Oak Cliff. TIFFIN escorted my sister, SHIRLEY, to the Military Ball at Kimball high school one year. The ROSE and TIFFIN
families were neighbors in Beckley Heights from 1949-63. Ironically, during one of many Houston contract obligations,
bumped into JOHN MOYER back in 1991. What a tiny world we live in. This was when I handled admistrative assistance in
Sprint's business office here in H-town near the Summit in the Galleria. JOHN marketed Sprint's offerings to business owners
and managers. Mentioned to TIFFIN that radio had led me astray all over the land of bluebonnets.
DON TIFFIN (Dallas, TX) dtiffin1@sbcglobal.net Hello there Jimmy, Long time no see. I
knew that you were a DJ at different radio stations, at different times also...had kind of lost track of you though. We have
been stuck in Texas, but lived in several places.
I married Patsy, who I met at North Texas, went there in the '60s some and went
back in the early '70s...we lived in Denton, Dallas, Denton, Houston ('75-'78), then back to Dallas...then 5 years in Austin,
back to Dallas for 4 years, where I tried to retire, but the stock market went the wrong way, so back to Austin for 3 years...now
back up here...
I'm doing contract marketing for AMD's lab "spin-off" called Cerium Labs, but
here in Dallas. Worked for TI, Siemens, Mostek (they changed names several times), had my own company, then AMD, then retired,
unretired, Sematech and then AMD (Cerium)....may change again soon.
But, I still remember Meade Street and that was a happy time back in the '50s
and '60s, a great bunch of kids on that street! Glad to hear that you are doing great. Houston area is a good
place. We're up north of Dallas in The Colony, southern Denton County...its growing up here...too many cars!
I think Kimball is going to have some kind of big get togrether sometime in the
next year or so for everybody that ever went to that school...might be interesting.
I went to school at NT with a guy named J.B. Worthington who works at channel
13 in Dallas, I think he still does, who's uncle started Elkins, the place everybody went to get their first phone ticket
back in the old days. JB has worked there since like 1969 or so, long time. Well if you are ever around Dallas give
us a call and we will go eat or something...We most likely will stick around Dallas area for a while now, I think...but who
knows....Great to hear from you! Don
Appears that my old school chums embarked upon high brow undertakings. Most all
I ever did was spin records, guide radio station formats and tend to DJs. Of course, did place quite a bit of effort toward
the petroleum industry in exploration and production for a few years, but that became one of the most boring aspects of life.
Radio tugged me back inside the showboat.
When we moved into our house at 6619 Meade Street, it was so new that the water hadn't
even been turned on. Dad had to buy a new galvanized tub to fill with water from the ROSS' house next door. No more linoleum.
We had nice shiny wooden floors throughout.
This was a very ironic situation because the ROSES and the ROSSES were next door neighbors.
Even more surprizing was that dad's name was GEORGE ROSE and our neighbor's appelle was GOLDMAN ROSS. This placed G. ROSE
and G. ROSS in close proximity. But, our snail mail never was interwoven. That would be an impossibility with today's mail
system.
Beckley Heights was way out in the country. Meade Street was a path inside a huge
sub-division of many parallel and perpendicular lanes. In fact, the idea of sub-divisons was a brand new concept in Dallas
and other parts of our beautiful country. By the time other houses were constructed, tar mixed with gravel was laid and heavy
earth machines made it like concrete, except for the hue. Our cars had something firm and smooth to travel
on. We eventually were granted street lights at corners but never did have curbs or sidewalks. We never needed any
because Meade Street ended into a massive park. That's where all of our baseball and football action took place.
Knew every blade of grass and every rock on the ground.
The nearest school was Wheatland Elementary. Wheatland, Texas was at the
intersection of Hampton and Wheatland Roads surrounded by flat-land farms with a small grocery store on one side, a gas
station across the street plus a few houses. By far, the biggest thing in town was the school which covered several acres.
DAVY CROCKETT said the reason he left Tennessee was to get some elbow room. Wheatland Elementary's campus offered
an abundance of boundless roaming territory for us kiddos to romp and stomp. We did plenty of that. A nice baseball diamond was stationed at one extreme vertex. A huge playground was
hunkered closer to the study rooms, which featured all kinds of swings, seesaws and a tall, wide aparatus with connected metal
rods on which to climb.
We fun-seekers can thank a New York newspaperman, JACOB RIIS, for bringing the idea
for public playgrounds into focus for America's yearlings. Before that, front yards were where playtime activity took place.
A couple of classrooms at Wheatland Elementry were large individual buildings which
sat up high with lofty ceilings. We climbed tall wide wooden staircases to reach the doorway. Other school rooms were interconnected and
had concrete steps. These chambers sat closer to ground level and were much more contemporary. The country
school had no lunchroom and only went as high as the tenth grade. A couple of students were selected to go to the little store
and bring back a wooden case with soda pops which were requested by fellow kiddos. They seemed to like the way I handled their
requests so I was always elected to be one of the two journeymen, or boys. So, taking requests began at a very young
age for me. The little store would give us two small balsa wood airplanes for our efforts. These modest wooden aircraft
sold for 10c each.
The Dallas Independant School District took over the Wheatland learning center.
We were served with a nice new large cafetaria, plus, four brand new modern classrooms. DISD down-sized the school
to only reach the seventh grade. Dallas' oldest and biggest junior high, Boude Storey, was my next level. Boude Storey presented
seventh-ninth grades.
Rock 'n' Roll was in full bloom and ELVIS was the undisputed KING.
A brand new school was under construction in our general neighborhood - Justin F.
Kimball. JFK was Dallas' largest and most elaborate lower learning institute. This massive campus was situated
on 53 acres with a 4000 student capacity.
Dallas was growing like leaping frogs in the late fifties. Folks were drawn to Big
D from coast to coast, plus other parts of the world. One of my buddies, JORGE VERONA, claimed he fought with FIDEL CASTRO's guerrillas
in his takeover of CUBA. Kimball went from the ninth-twelfth grades. During my sophomore year, Kimball was over-packed.
Hallways were split down the middle like freeways today. The stairs were one-way only. Hall monitors guarded students who
wanted to violate the law of the school.
KLIF and ELVIS were pumping out the hits.
Our home phone number was FR4-2757, address was 6619 Meade Street. Due to the
vast amount of people who flocked to Dallas, the phone company added new prefixes. This changed ours to CA4-3276. Dad went
to be with the LORD at the young age of 64 on my birthday, November 16, 1972. Mom followed at 76 years of age in November
1983.
DON TIFFIN (Dallas, TX) dtiffin1@sbcglobal.net Hey Jim....Sorry to hear about your mom
and dad, I remember them very well...very very nice people. My dad died in '66 and my mom died in '69, they were older, but
not all that old when they died. Long time back now. Ah yes....well my phone number was FR-1-3068 and address 6531 Meade...funny
but we remember those things all these years. I remember Jimmy Grubb. I have a bit more weight, around 200. My hair is going white..black and white...and not too
much of it, like my dad was.
I never heard you on the radio...but my wife Patsy did say that she did...I remember
you never slowed down playing baseball, one of the best around at baseball. You've had your share of stuff there...
Yep, its all changing...we were in Houston '75 to '78, I worked for Siemens was
a service engineer on electron microscopes, the only one they had in Texas...Siemens is a German company...interesting. Traded
20 scopes for 1 scope and moved back to Dallas. Went
to work for Mostek in Carrollton and started their lab....been in semiconductor stuff...started at TI, worked for quite a
few of them. Started AMD's lab in Austin.
Did you know Curley Davis at WFAA TV, he was a ham, friend of mine lived out there
in Oakland Hills, he died a year or two back...was like 80 something.
Hey you did good in the radio stuff...Not bad for a Beckley Heights guy...like
me. Well we had a good bunch of kids on that street. The whole world is sure a different place now than it was back in those
days. That was a better life I think.
We have had the house here in The Colony since 1979 with two times being in Austin,
but kept the house here. Had a house fire January 8 here...major thing. They are reworking the inside of the house and we
should get it back about May or so. Nobody hurt, that was good.
Still into amateur radio here. Had a bunch of old collector's item pieces of radio
gear, but the fire got them. Guess I will come up to date and get new stuff now. Melted my other computer. Had backups on
DVD but in the same room...funny they were black, but they worked! So that was lucky, got some stuff i did not want to get
lost.
Wonder what happened to some of the other folks around Meade Street. I've driven
over there on the old street quite a few times. Nothing's the same though, of course.
We lived near I-10 and the loop in Houston near Spring Branch, but in Houston
back when we were down there in the '70s.
Semiconductors had lots of layoffs in the 80s and even in the 70s too, but I was
lucky got through 18 layoffs at Mostek, then I left in '89 and started my own small company which I ran for 3 years before
going to work for AMD in Austin.
Simple life sounds much better, and we may go back to a very simple life very
soon too. Take care...if you get to Dallas, give us a call and we will all go eat somewhere some night in The Colony, southern
Denton county...its just north of Carrollton, west of Plano, east of Lewisville. When we moved out here almost nobody was
around...now too many. Take care! See ya Don
Only been since about 1963 when our families were neighbors in the Beckley Heights
section of Dallas' Oak Cliff. KLIF was everybody's #1 choice. In fact, no one even considered any other spot on the dial other
than the Mighty 1190. Oak Cliff and KLIF were synonymously related because Oak Cliff was KLIF's birthplace. Could not remember
if DON was older than my sister or they were the same age. DON escourted my sis to a military ball at Kimball high. Have tons
of photos from all the decades back to the Fabulous Fifties, but cannot seem to get my H-P All-in-One wonder machine to bring
any of those pictures to email status. DON passed along a recent photo.
DON TIFFIN (Dallas, TX) dtiffin1@sbcglobal.net Hi Jim, That's a scanned in copy. Shirley
is 2 years younger than me. I was born Nov 24, 1946 in Dallas. I think she might have been one year behind me in school though.
We have an old picture, I hope we still have those taken that shows you and Shirley
and me and your mom and my mom when we all went to the circus...and I don't know what year that was...very early in living
on Meade Street. I look about 5 yrs. old and Shirley looks about 3 years old and you were a bit older. I remember running into that old picture. That's a long time ago...maybe 1951 or
something. Don
Must've been at least eight years old when our families zipped out to that Ringling
Brothers extravaganza. Had to be at least 53 years ago. WOW!
A Toronto group from the Fabulous Fifties, the FOUR LADS, had a monstrous hit, Moments
to Remember, on Columbia records. Those lyrics sure do make bells chime. Lead singer, BERNIE TOORISH, belted out These
were days of moments to remember. It was a smash. Peaked at #2 on Billboard in the fall of 1955. Remained on America's
song charts for a total of 25 long weeks. That succession carried the song over into 1956. Could be a strong reason why the
tune still seems to be forever lodged in my memory chip.
