This one-hour tribute to WAKY was produced by John Quincy in 2003 with the assistance of former WAKY Program Director Johnny Randolph. It features several airchecks of some of WAKY's top personalities during the Johnny Randolph years, along with an interview with JR himself.

It's located on the ReelRadio Website and is RealAudio format.


WAKY Remembered

Here are a couple of outstanding (and award-winning) documentaries produced by the WAKY news department. Soul Searching was done in 1969 and deals with race relations in Louisville. The subject of 1970's America, What's That Sound was the politics of the country (Liberals vs. Conservatives). Except for an open and close on Soul Searching by WAKY News Director Bob Watson, these documentaries feature no narration (just music, actualities, and sound effects). Mike Summers, who engineered both projects, gives us a little background on their production: "They were done on 2-track Scully and Ampex decks, using dub after dub to create all the layers. We did them at 15 ips, as I recall, to reduce the loss from all the dubbing. The 'master' was perhaps three generations old. Not to mention there were probably 100 splices in each one!"

Download "Soul Searching"
30:16 - 10,644 KB

Download "America, What's That Sound"
23:57 - 8246 KB

In this 1969 pre-recorded presentation, WAKY examines the rumor of Paul McCartney's death. Here's some background from then-PD Bob Todd:

"It is my voice. I have to give tons of credit to Production Director Jim Fletcher for helping me put it all together. Again, it was a real team effort. And I have to say it again that Fletcher deserves a lot of credit for it. He wrote at least half of the copy with me. He went up a huge notch in my book that week. He was really talented with a razor blade. What a great promotion it was.

"As I recall, when we heard about it, I think Skinny Bobby Harper got hold of the story from a friend at Keener (notice the mention of WKNR in the program). He and Gary Burbank, Dude Walker and Weird Beard were on it like bees on honey for a week at least gathering clues from listeners: 'Is Paul McCartney really dead?' 'Listen and look for the clues in their songs, their album covers, the photo inserts and tell us if you find any more.' They'd give a clue and ask: 'Is Paul McCartney really dead?'

"The teen audience responded like crazy. The phones went bonkers. Somewhere I think I have an aircheck of that week of zaniness within my boxes of tapes. When I find it I'll pass it on. Everybody played a part in that one, all of the jocks. It was a huge station event.

"Fletcher and I holed up in the Production Room for days putting it all together in a special half-hour program and promoted it heavily. We ran it every 2 hours or something over the following weekend and periodically for another week at night. It was another departure from our regular programming that stood out like a sore thumb. But the only real sore was the one it put on WKLO. Another reason we creamed them. Teamwork wins every time.

"I always thought it would make a terrific TV program with all the visuals and the music it would be great nostalgia. Still would be."

Download "Is Paul Dead?"
23:19 - 8,333 KB

Vice-President Richard Nixon pays a visit to Louisville as part of his unsuccessful bid for President...and WAKY's crack news department is all over it. In this right-off-the-board 'check, you'll hear live reports from Jon Poston and Tom Perry, full newscasts from Mike McCormick, and DJ breaks from Bob Russell and Art Keller.

Download It!
28:48 - 10,128 KB

In this collection of aircheck segments, you can hear how WAKY covered the explosion at the Dupont Plant in 1965. WAKY Program Director Jim Brand was the DJ on duty. You'll also hear WAKY News Director Bob Watson, plus Bill Kennedy, Don Sheridan and Jack Daniels. Bob remembers: "Bill Kennedy and I were out there most of the time, three days in a row, sleeping in the mobile unit and eating Red Cross food. Our National Headliners Award was mostly based on our coverage of the Dupont plant explosion from which newsman Bill Kennedy and yours truly came close to getting blown away."

Download It!
18:51 - 6632 KB

All good things must come to end...even legendary radio stations like WAKY. Here's a scoped version of the last few hours of WAKY, recorded on Sunday night, August 31, 1986. Along with many members of the then-current WAKY airstaff (including Gary Clark, Joe Elliott, Mark Stahr and Mark Strauss), former program director Johnny Randolph appears for the last 90 minutes as the oldies format gives way to beautiful music.

Download #1
19:34 - 6884 KB

Download It!
15:32 - 5462 KB

Here's a scoped version of WAKY's final 15 minutes.

Download It!
8:41 - 3053 KB

Mike Griffin, Mason Lee Dixon, and Allen Bryan with
WFPL State of Affairs host Julie Kredens

On the August 17, 2006 broadcast, former WAKY DJs Johnny Randolph and Tim Tyler joined Duke and Marvin by phone, along with musician Wayne Young.

August 17, 2006 Show
23:11 - 8152 KB

The February 22, 2007 show featured a phone interview with former WAKY and WHAS air personality Gary Burbank along with some of his records. Music historian Leonard Yates was in the studio too.

February 22, 2007 Show
30:58 - 10,890 KB

The March 8, 2007 program highlighted former WAKY DJ Tom Dooley and the Lovelights. Several members of the band were in the studio, while Tom joined the conversation via phone from Texas.

March 8, 2007 Show
38:16 - 13,453 KB

Download It!
17:09 - 12,061 KB

Download It!
60:40 - 28,379 KB

Download It!
47:12 - 16,598 KB

Download It!
57:53 - 40,707 KB

Download It!
47:56 - 22,472 KB