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On Saturday night,
August 5,
2006, dozens of former WAKY and WKLO employees gathered -- along with family and
friends -- at Louisville's
Clifton Center to
celebrate the time spent at Louisville's two legendary Top 40
stations of the '60s and '70s. This page features photos and sound clips
from that reunion. The open event was a
fundraiser for Big
Brothers/Big Sisters of Kentuckiana. Over $8000 was raised through
admission charges and a silent auction, which included items like WAKY
gold records and DJ paintings.
The Monarchs,
one of Louisville's favorite local bands, entertained with two great
sets of musical memories (and many of the original members).
The Monarchs
Besides rekindling old friendships with
former coworkers and listeners, two awards were presented before the
doors were open to the general public.
Michael Louis Griffin and Mason
Lee Dixon surprised John Quincy (the curator of the WAKY and WKLO
tribute sites) by reading letters from former WKLO PD Terrell Metheny
and former WAKY PD Johnny Randolph proclaiming him an honorary
WAKY and WKLO air personality. The letter was later signed by other WAKY
and WKLO folks (read the letter here) and
Quincy was presented a customized "staff" jacket with the logos of the two
stations on the back.
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John Quincy models his customized
WAKY-WKLO Staff Jacket |
The other award was presented by Gary
Burbank to Johnny
Randolph, who was named by his contemporaries as "Louisville's
Greatest Program Director." Several other former WAKY staffers got
up and sang JR's praises. (Download or stream the audio of the award
presentations here.)
Johnny Randolph and Gary Burbank
WAKY and WKLO On-Air People and Program Directors in attendance included:
Allen Bryan, Angie Gimmel, Bill Bailey,
Bill Graham, Bill Purdom, Bo Brady, Bob Cline, Bob Moody,
Bob Todd,
Bobby Hatfield, Chuck Jackson, Chuck Lyons, Coyote
Calhoun, Dave Jacob Straub, David James, Dude Walker, Fleetwood
Gruver, Gary Burbank, Gary Clark, Gary Griffin,
Gary King, Gary Major, Hutch, Jack Thurston, Jason O'Brian, John Ashton, Johnny Randolph, Joe Elliott, Joe
Fletcher, Joe London, Karl
Shannon, Len King, Leonard Yates, Mac Hunter,
Marty Bass, Mason Lee Dixon, Mike Griffin, Mike Summers,
Rich Gimmel, Rip Rinehart, Ron Lake, Rudy Ratfink, Shirley Smith, Steve Cook, Tim Tyler, Tom Dooley,
and Tom Prestigiacomo. (Did
we miss anybody?
E-mail us.) |
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Our Thanks To...
Big Brothers/Big Sisters
of Kentuckiana, who arranged the venue, food, cash bar and
entertainment.
The Monarchs,
for donating their talents.
Louisville's
WRKA for their on-air
promotion of the event, the sound system and those great-looking
laminates they provided for the former WAKY and WKLO on-air people.
The Louisville Sun
for their promotion of the reunion, and for arranging for videographers
and a photographer to capture the memories.
Allen Bryan, Bob
Cline, Chuck Jackson, Gary Clark, Mike Griffin,
Mason Lee Dixon, Rich Gimmel and Ron Lake for their
help in promoting the event on local media -- and to
WAVE-TV,
WHAS-TV and
WDRB-TV for having
the guts to put a bunch of old DJs on the tube (in the morning, no less)
to get the word out
Mike Griffin and Rob Calhoun for behind-the-scenes
technical assistance.
Angie Gimmel for her invaluable
help in working with us and Big Brothers/Big Sisters to plan and
coordinate the event.
Those who made donations to cover the
expense for the awards, and to Johnny Randolph, Karl Shannon,
Mike Griffin, Mason Lee Dixon and Terrell Metheny
for their help in award creation.
The WAKY and WKLO DJs,
newspeople and other former employees who came, all of which paid their
own way in (and many of which returned to Louisville at considerable
personal expense).
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