# Ask The Old (Late 60's-Early 70's) DJ Something

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 28, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756 "2009-12-28T01:31:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756/21 "2009-12-28T16:24:08Z")

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Did you ever watch WKRP in Cincinatti? If so, what parts do you think were accurate?

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**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756/22 "2009-12-28T17:11:19Z")

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> [@Declan](#):
>
> Ok since no one else has asked yet and I assume that the statute of limitations has passed, what about payola.
> 
> Declan

I was wondering about that myself.

My other question was about the swag.

What kind of free stuff did you get?

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**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756/23 "2009-12-28T18:15:41Z")

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T- Shirts, autographed liner sleeve from Ray Stevens (everybody’s “cousin” from Tallapoosa, GA)

And that 45 sleeve from The Kendalls.

[![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TJWfM7dS5-M/hqdefault.jpg "The Kendalls - Heaven's Just A Sin Away") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJWfM7dS5-M)

And Rick (y) Nelson gave me his guitar pick when he played at Cedartown, GA. one night.

(No, I NEVER use it.)

Drummer didn’t get his set (flown in) and had to rent one from a local music store.

He “made do”, but “Hello Mary Lou” sounded like shit.

Guess why. 😉

Q

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**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756/24 "2009-12-28T18:37:09Z")

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> [@BigT](#):
>
> Did you ever watch WKRP in Cincinatti? If so, what parts do you think were accurate?

I _loved_ that show! (BTW, they supposedly “stole” that call sign from a station in Dallas, GA. Big news item at the time, IIRC!)

Only thing (which comes to mind right now) that was “inaccurate” was Les Nessman’s “office”.

I later became a news-director/talk-show host and had my \*\*own \*\*office located near the AP printer.(Og, I _loved_ to hear that thing “chatter” and _always_  
kept it full of that yellow-looking paper!)

And of course, I _always_ ask every golfer I meet these days, if they are as good as “Chei-Chei Rodwigees”🙂

Q

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**Author:** ![rolandgunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@rolandgunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rolandgunslinger)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756/25 "2009-12-29T02:58:30Z")

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> [@Quasimodem](#):
>
> T- Shirts, autographed liner sleeve from Ray Stevens (everybody’s “cousin” from Tallapoosa, GA)
> 
> And that 45 sleeve from The Kendalls.
> 
> [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJWfM7dS5-M](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJWfM7dS5-M)
> 
> And Rick (y) Nelson gave me his guitar pick when he played at Cedartown, GA. one night.
> 
> (No, I NEVER use it.)
> 
> Drummer didn’t get his set (flown in) and had to rent one from a local music store.
> 
> He “made do”, but “Hello Mary Lou” sounded like shit.
> 
> Guess why. 😉
> 
> Q

I knew when I clicked that link it was gonna be Heavens just a sin away. That Kendall chick was kinda hot.

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**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2009, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756/26 "2009-12-29T03:11:05Z")

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Maybe someone upthread asked this…

How did you get started? Could a person do the same nowadays with all the stations using nationwide programing services? (In other words, has Rush Limbaugh killed off the market for local talent?)

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**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756/27 "2009-12-30T00:40:11Z")

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Do you relate to [W O L D](http://www.lyricsdownload.com/harry-chapin-w-o-l-d-lyrics.html)?

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756/28 "2009-12-30T18:40:06Z")

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Many years ago, you mentioned that you had been looking for Joe South, and that he had once fired you.

So far as I know, he’s still in the Atlanta area, so did you ever find him? And if so, how did it go?

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**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756/29 "2009-12-31T00:15:37Z")

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Does current radio suck as much as it seems to?

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**Author:** ![Proudest\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/proudest_monkey/32/13257_2.png) [@Proudest\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Proudest_Monkey)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756/30 "2009-12-31T22:45:13Z")

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Do you have one of those DJ voices? You know, that middle-of-the-throat thing with one word catching onto the next with a vocal hum in the background.

Did you do contests like “Tenth caller gets front-row tickets to the CCR concert!” And if so, did you give those tickets to a hot girl you knew and make up a name for the “winner” you announced on-air?

On the continuum of loathe-------love, where did (do) you place your listeners?

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**Author:** ![MwNNrules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@MwNNrules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MwNNrules)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756/31 "2009-12-31T23:10:10Z")

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I’ve got two if you have the time:

1. What did you think about how music was changing at the time? How’d you feel about hippies, Vietnam, and America’s slipping traditional values?
2. Did you talk about the premature deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman on the station, and if so did you play tribute music?

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**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756/32 "2010-01-03T06:34:21Z")

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I love listening to classic unscoped airchecks. Ya got any?

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**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756/33 "2010-01-03T16:50:03Z")

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What kind of production for commercials did you do? Did you guys have carts back then, or was it reel to reel? What’d you do for sound effects?

(DJ, college radio, 1990s. Just barely pre-computer mixing.)

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**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756/34 "2010-01-03T18:36:42Z")

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**E!** 🙂

Sorry to be just now returning to this thread, but yeah we had carts (4 of them which used to “trip” to each other?) and for sound effects, we used 33 1/3 LP’s with train sounds and all kinds of goofy sounding shit on them.

Also used to play with the reel to reel when we “cut” commercials (then known as “spots”). Slowed it down, sped it up (think Chipmunks), did echo (once I ran 60 minutes of Halloween snarls, groans and screams which haunt my 39 year old son to this day! God, he cried, and his Mom. the once and present wife D, NEVER forgave me for that, but I still have it on cassette!)

😉

Q

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**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756/35 "2010-01-03T18:42:51Z")

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> [@In\_Winnipeg](#):
>
> I love listening to classic unscoped airchecks. Ya got any?

Oh, yeah! Just have to figger out how to get them off cassette and on to MP3, since I no longer have a cassette deck.

Know what?

The AM station I used to work for (WLBB) used to get postcards from folks as far away as Alaska (we were “sun-up to sundown”, then, and very low modulation. Don’t remember the terminololgy now, but does 1100 kilo-hertz sound right?) telling us they could hear us on an atmospheric “skip”.

We used to think that was so awesome, man!

Q

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**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756/36 "2010-01-03T18:55:29Z")

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> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#):
>
> Maybe someone upthread asked this…
> 
> How did you get started? Could a person do the same nowadays with all the stations using nationwide programing services? (In other words, has Rush Limbaugh killed off the market for local talent?)

Started with the Sunday preachers and then moved over to FM (our “sister station”) where I “engineered” the Braves games.

All I had to do was cut away and play the “local” commercials, but at “the top” and “bottom” of the hour, I had to do “station identification”, and it sounded like this:

“You’re listening to Atlanta Braves Baseball with _Bill Craig_ (I wasn’t supposed to say my name, but what the shit, right?) on WBTR-FM, Carrollton, Georgia”

It was then that I started cultivating my “voice” and yeah, to answer another question, I DID do that DJ voice, but hated it, and finally modified it down to where I sounded like that guy who used to introduce “Masterpiece Theatre”.

Women would call me ALL NIGHT long and just wanna TALK to me about ANYTHING!

I was “phone sex” before “phone sex” was cool, dude!

All of us jocks used to love this tune:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Pm8w5C7po](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Pm8w5C7po).

ANYTHING that paid tribute to deejays got immediate play because we were all so ugly and so badly wanted to be STARS, man! 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756/37 "2010-01-03T19:08:09Z")

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> [@MwNNrules](#):
>
> I’ve got two if you have the time:
> 
> 1. What did you think about how music was changing at the time? How’d you feel about hippies, Vietnam, and America’s slipping traditional values?
> 2. Did you talk about the premature deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman on the station, and if so did you play tribute music?

1. I WAS a hippie in those days, **MwNNrules**! Before and AFTER I got out of the USAF. Wore the ecological peace symbol on my denim jacket, beads in my hair, the _works_.

I got arrested in Atlanta for being a Viet Nam war protester (and later joined the USAF. Irony, huh?;))

Didn’t pay much attention to _America’s_ slipping values, then. Just tried to be the best “me” I could.

I was actually in the military when I heard that Jimi had passed.

Somebody smuggled a joint into the barracks at Lackland and we played his albums on an old portable record player.

Same thing with Duane (being in the Air Force I mean).

Him having been a Macon, Georgia “homeboy” (I know. That term didn’t exist in those days) made me sad. Dickey Betts’ death as well.

Hey?

I just wanna say thanks for all the questions, man, and if I missed any, I’ll get back to the thread asap.

Keep askin’, I’m lovin’t it!🙂

Q

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756/38 "2010-01-03T19:15:45Z")

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> [@Proudest\_Monkey](#):
>
> Do you have one of those DJ voices? You know, that middle-of-the-throat thing with one word catching onto the next with a vocal hum in the background.
> 
> Did you do contests like “Tenth caller gets front-row tickets to the CCR concert!” And if so, did you give those tickets to a hot girl you knew and make up a name for the “winner” you announced on-air?
> 
> On the continuum of loathe-------love, where did (do) you place your listeners?

1. Yeah, we did 10th caller, and some of the other jocks may have given tickets that way, but I was ALWAYS honest about it.

2. I LOVED my listeners, and couldn’t WAIT to do my talk show (when I “graduated” from jock-ism, I mean)! Used to get up at 5 in the morning just to get to the AP ticker and gather material.

Only thing I didn’t like was the fact that on the talk show, I didn’t have a “screener”, and I’d get people who’d wanna read Bible scripture to me. I used to ask them politely to tell me in “your own words what that passage _says_ to you”, and if they continued to read I’d just click 'em off and go to the next caller.

Nothing against religion, okay, just needed something more than what I was being told.

I had MANY a head-to-head confrontation with station managemnet about that, but always held my ground.

Q

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**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756/39 "2010-01-04T00:07:03Z")

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You know, I could get my hands on a cassette-tape-to-mp3 jobbie. (I could also get my hands on a LP-to-mp3, but it’s mostly all on CD anyhow.) Might be worth it if we could think of two or five other people who have interesting kinds of things on tape. You know, mail it around from person to person.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-old-late-60s-early-70s-dj-something/522756/40 "2010-01-04T00:44:55Z")

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Oh wait! You said _un_scoped, right?

No, mine are the program director’s desired versions; i.e. just the start and end of the tune and my voice. Three minutes tops.

You know, there _used_ to be some LP’s (now maybe on cd?) which had comic book covers and had music and jocks’ voices/commercials from certain years.

Arnold “Woo-Woo” Ginsberg comes to mind as being on one of those, and some of them have that “from the diaphragm” voice **Monkey** refers to in his post.

Anyone know which albums I mean?

Some of those commercials were awesome!

Q

> [@Quasimodem](#):
>
> Oh, yeah! Just have to figger out how to get them off cassette and on to MP3, since I no longer have a cassette deck.
> 
> Know what?
> 
> The AM station I used to work for (WLBB) used to get postcards from folks as far away as Alaska (we were “sun-up to sundown”, then, and very low modulation. Don’t remember the terminololgy now, but does 1100 kilo-hertz sound right?) telling us they could hear us on an atmospheric “skip”.
> 
> We used to think that was so awesome, man!
> 
> Q

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