I’m fortunate to have many photos from the early days of KBOA (Kennett, MO). This one of John Mays, cueing a record in the control room, was taken by Johnny Mack Reeder or Bob Miles. Probably in the early 50’s.
You can see into Studio B which served a number of purposes over the years. Live newscasts and commercials orginated from Studio B. Later it house a large “disc cutter” used for recording spots.
I’ll never forget the pleasantly musty smell of these ancient rooms with their massive doors
Mike Neely died last week. I’m not sure about the date or just how he died. I’m told his health had not been good in recent years. I spoke with his mother, Myra, tonight and she said Mike and his family had visited in September. His death was “not real” to her yet.
Mike lived next door and we were best buds all through grade school. His family moved to California about the time we were starting high school. I think he did a couple of years of junior college before enlisting in the air force and serving in Thailand. After his discharge he moved back to Kennett and attended college at Arkansas State where he got an accounting degree. He went to work for some big accounting firm (Frost?) and they sent him to St. Thomas, VI. He and Jeanine have been there ever since.
Many of my best childhood memories include Mike. He was something of a golden boy. Great at all sports. Popular. He was a good kid. (He’s on the left in the photo above)
Mike and I could always make each other laugh. I’m talking about hysterical, gasping, tears-streaming-down-your-cheeks, can’t-get-your-breath laughter that literally leaves you rolling on the floor.
We didn’t keep in touch in recent years, as is often the case with childhood friends. I regret that. I might never laugh that hard again.
Mike and his wife, Jeanine, have two sons, Luke and Jake.
Back in May, I posted on Jeff McVey and his wife (Deborah) who I live in a martial arts academy in a small village in the mountains outside of Yantai, China… studying Kung Fu from the Shaolin Monks who teach there. (I shit you not)
“I had my first kickboxing match this week. I think I did pretty well. They weren’t actually keeping points, but I controlled the fight and got in some good hits. It’s a little nerve racking to just put on a pair of gloves and go at someone. I know we practice this stuff daily, but it’s a different story when someone is trying to knock you out. However, I really liked it. It’s the best practice you can do for that sort of thing. I think I’ll be a bit more confident the next time we do this.”
John Reeder (known on-air as Johnny Mack Reeder) passed away in Mt. Ida, Arkansas on October 10, 2006, at the age of 82. John was living in a nursing home at the time of his death. He’ll be buried in Blytheville, Arkansas. John helped put KBOA on the air in 1947. He and my father worked together until John left Kennett (in the fifties sixties?). John Reeder was a great broadcaster. He established KBOA’s reputation for local news coverage. You can hear John’s great pipes in the brief interview segment on KBOA830.com. John was a talented and avid photographer and took literally hundreds of photos of the early days of KBOA. Almost every image on the KBOA830.com site was taken by John.
Charles Jolliff describes this year’s Delta Fair as the “cleanest” he can remember. [Flickr set]
Charles Jolliff shares his flickr set of the 2006 Delta Fair Parade. Brings back lots of memories. My first radio interview (1972) was with Bill Walsh and Jack McDaniel, the Kennett businessmen who have been organizing the parade for about 50 years. My end of the interview was so bad, I spliced (magnetic tape, grease pencil, splicing block) in new questions. Took hours.
For years, Jeff Wheeler, Tom Colvin and I broadcast the parade live (You had to be there).
Back in the fifties, my father rode in the the parade in a wheelbarrow, as part of a radio station promotion. God bless America!
Kennett pal Everett Mobley started blogging recently. He’s still finding his rhythm but is off to a great start. The blog is primarily a companion to the website for his veterinary practice and I predict it will be very popular if he keeps posting useful and interesting information like today’s on dental care for dogs. If you have pets, you’ll want to visit and subscribe to Your Pet’s Best Friend.
I recently received an email from Ben Brogdon, a long-time radio guy (KLCN, Blytheville, AR) who stumbled across one of my websites:
“I Googled my old hometown radio station, KLCN, Blytheville, AR, and found a link to your Early Days At KBOA site. I sat and read every word of it, looked at every picture, and finally went to bed at 6am.”
Ben is a musician at Dollywood and played in a jazz band in college with Wendell Crow (Sheryl’s daddy). We bounced emails back and forth for a few days before he brought up “the Senath Light.” This is (was) a well-known paranormal phenomenon (that I never witnessed).
“Actually, I never saw the light. Oh, we’d drive up from Jonesboro when I was living there playing in bands, working at radio stations, and attending class on occasion, and we’d sit patiently, not making a sound, those who smoked wanting a cigarette REALLY bad, and wait, but it never came out while I was there.
Others told me they had seen it, though. One of my jazz mates at school, Hollie Farris, a trumpet player who has the distinction of being the only white musician James Brown has ever had, and who QUIT a gig with Steve Winwood to go back with JB after he got out of prison, DID stand under that tree in the middle of the road and supposedly got KNOCKED CLEAN OUT COLD by the light hitting him in the head, which most assuredly changed his life and his thinking process from that moment on.
I also worked with a piano player from Caruthersville who could talk to spirits, and was told that he had actually TALKED to the light, which surprised me, since we all knew if you made a sound, it would disappear. BUT, having him sit in my house and tell me it was inhabited by spirits, which I had suspected, and then say once when we were watching a storm that it would kill 35 people, and it DID kill 34, I somehow believe he may have talked to the light.”
Why do I blog? So I can “meet” people that played with Holly Farris, the only white musician to play with James Brown.
Sirius might be a great satellite radio service but I think their website sucks. My plan was to record Trent Tomlinson’s appearance this morning by streaming the audio from the Sirius website. Couldn’t get their three-day-free-trial to work. Even borrowed a password from a subscriber and couldn’t get that to work. So, unless one of you recorded this, we won’t get to listen. It shouldn’t be this difficult to steal part of the guy’s radio show.
Quick Google search found an amazing website called MarksFriggin.com. It appears this guy posts a detailed description of each day’s show. I’ll add the archive link as soon as he puts it up (tomorrow?) but if you find the show for 7/24/06 and scroll down to 7:30 a.m., you’ll find his account of Trent’s segment. Here’s a portion:
Miss Howard Stern Performs With Trent Tomlinson. 07/24/06. 8:30am
After the break Howard said he was listening to country singer Trent Tomlinson warming up during the break and he was wondering why they were letting Andrea come in to ruin it. He said the song is a little more than country and he’s not sure how he missed the song. He’s not into country music so that’s how he missed it. Trent told Howard about how he came up with the lyrics for his song ”Drunker Than Me.” Howard told the guys to perform the song before Andrea came in since she was probably going to ruin it.Trent and his band performed the song ”Drunker Than Me” (from the album Country Is My Rock) which is the song that Andrea sang while drunk the last time she was up there at the Stern Show. Howard said he was amazed that Andrea could remember the lyrics to the song because they’re not easy to remember. Trent said he even has trouble with them sometimes.
Howard said that Trent has opened up for bands like Bon Jovi and John Mellencamp so it’s not strictly country fans that he’s performing for. Trent told Howard that one of his guys used to be in The Black Crows but he had a falling out with them. The guys said that he’s talking to the band now but he had to get out back then because they were playing too long for him. They turned into a jam band and would just keep going on and on while playing.
Howard spent some time talking to Trent about his career and how his father actually wanted him to be a basketball player. Trent said his father used to play himself so he tried to groom him for the same career. He said now his father is happy with what he does and calls radio stations trying to get them to play his songs.
A reminder for Kennett readers that hometown boy Trent Tomlinson will be on Howard Stern’s show on Monday monring. I think I’m all set to record the segment and will post it here until the Sirius lawyers make me take it down.
I wanted to play the Drunker Than Me video for some neighbors last night and did a google search (drunker than me video). It still amazes me that smays.com is number five in the search results. Power to the bloggers!