NOT affiliated with anyone associated with this radio station in its past or present, or any other stations which now have these call letters
Page 1
Here's my tribute to this radio station, containing audio that I was lucky enough to dub in the station's production room years ago, and some other things that I hope will be interesting. A big thank-you to those past employees who have E-Mailed me and let me put their stories on the page!
WKYE radio, 1550AM in the Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia area, began in 1962.
1963 newspaper ads
Click on each ad to see a larger image
Steve Nelson (aka "Steve Richards")
E-mailed this info:
"I worked there in 1969 when
John Lee Davenport owned the station. At that time we were
located in the basement of the Dickey Building. Other jocks
working there when I was there was Mike O’Brian (Larry
Williams), Bob Dale (Bob Lackey), Steve Richards (Steve Nelson),
Ned Michaels (newsman), Chuck Williams, and Kelly Green. In 1969
there was a jingle package called the “Winners” –
it was reworked as the “Losers” – We were sued by
Excedrin for a billboard we had that said that "WKYE is
Excedrin Headache #30”. I could tell you a thousand
stories….."
WKYE-FM ID's, early
70's
Download(222KB)
Here are a couple of ID's that I dubbed from one of the many
"automation" tapes that were played overnight. What
started in the 40's as WOPI-FM was bought by WKYE in the
early-70's. WKYE-FM was bought by Bristol Broadcasting in 1975
and became WFHG-FM, simulcasting their AM station until their FM
format changed to country in 1977. It is now known as WXBQ. WKYE
kept on as an AM station only, under separate ownership.
Although the FM station was 24 hours, the AM station has always
been a daytimer.
1973 Bristol city
directory ads
Click on each ad to see a larger image
The Silver Dollar Kid
- Sept. 14, 1974
Download(7.3MB)
Here is the first of my 2 airchecks of WKYE, which at
this point was a country station. They were sponsoring a Charlie
Rich concert at the time. The news report at the end may have had
to do with Nixon's phlebitis. As you'll notice in these
airchecks, 1974 must've been a time when a lot of country
versions of pop/rock songs were recorded ("Oh How
Happy", "Having My Baby", "Ruby Red
Dress", etc.)
The Silver Dollar Kid
- Sept. 30, 1974
Download(7.7MB)
The sound quality on this aircheck is not as clear as the 1st
one, but this one has advantages: the recording is longer, the
commercials weren't scoped as heavily, and this has one of
Shirley Lightfoot's weather reports in its entirety. One big
highlight is when "Silver" sings football scores! This
tape also has a couple of songs in their entirety! (Is it just
me, or does this Red, White, & Bluegrass group sound eerily
like the Starland Vocal Band? ehh - just me, I guess.). There is
a 26-second blank space in the tape during a song, and when it
comes back, the song is almost over. I have cut that space out of
the file here.
Jingle package -
Concept Productions, Mid-70's
Download(228KB)
These jingles were recorded at 7 1/2 IPS, followed by the same
series again at 15 IPS. The jingles may have been cheesy, but
by-dingy this company really cared about that sound quality! (But
then there's the music library tapes they put out - that's
another story.)
Jingle package, 1976
Download(616KB)
Here are all the jingles in a package made for WKYE, recorded in
1976. I forgot the name of the company that made these. Some of
them were used in the next 2 airchecks. The jingles came in 3
versions, each with more reverb than the last. I tried to dub the
versions with the least reverb - and/or the least print-through,
which this tape has since suffered.
1977 Bristol city
directory ad
Click on the ad to see a larger image.
Chris Hicks / Bill
Byrd demo, 1977
Download(1.2MB)
This is a demo tape, including a WKYE aircheck, from DJ Chris
Hicks, who worked as Chris Lee during KYE's last days as a rock
station in 1980.
WKYE aircheck - Fri.
Feb. 10, 1978
Download(12.6MB)
One of the reels I took home with me before the move out of 6th
street in 2005, this one is interesting for me because it
mentions Washington Co., Va. schools being in session on
Saturday. I remember 2 times while I went to High Point
Elementary School in Bristol, Va. in the 70's when we went to
school on Saturday, so this is one of those times. Somebody who
didn't know any better probably typed "Mamas &
Papas" on the cart label of "Midnight Confessions"
(It was by the Grass Roots). Disco was pretty big at this time as
well. An ABC newscast seems to be the only thing scoped-out in
this tape.
Letter from a
"concerned Smokey fan", 1978
This was laying around in the offices. Sometime in the 90's my
dad found it and brought it to me. Click on the letter for a
larger image.
"Production
Master" reels
From 1978-79, WKYE personalities recorded reels of commercials to
be aired on the station - and the outtakes thereof. I will put
the numbers that appeared on the tape label.
#1 - Oct., 1978
Download(7MB)
"SENSITIVE FOLKS' DISCRETION
ADVISED" I mean, what has happened to the
Bristol Mall in the past couple of years is sad enough, but my
gosh, what used to be! For folks like me, this is enough
to bring tears to your eyes.
WKYE had this "Lucky 13" contest having to do with
Friday the 13th, which fell on October.
And how'd you like to win tickets to the Super Bowl - from over
30 years ago? Who knows - they might be worth a lot now.
#3 - Oct., 1978
Download(6.9MB)
I wish I had the reel-to-reel player
I have now before I got hold of these tapes. At the time I dubbed
them, the WBCV production room only had the ability to run audio
from one audio channel of the reel player, and there are a few
things recorded on the other channel that you can barely hear. I
figured I'd keep them here because you can hear them a little, and I would like to keep these things in
their entirety.
That sounds like Shirley Lightfoot as the travel agent in
one of the commercials!
#12 - Apr., 1979
Download(6.7MB)
Not that much material recorded this time around on that
"other speaker" that you couldn't hear on the
"main" channel.
Jill Ashley, 1980
Download(1.3MB)
I'm not sure if this is an aircheck or a demo tape, but this is
interesting. I scoped this when I dubbed it in the first place,
which I regret now. Jill worked in a few different Bristol
stations during the 80's, but this gem probably documented her
cutting her radio teeth. She definitely improved over the years.
WKYE aircheck - Chris
Lee, May 8, 1980
Download(26.4MB)
This is the 1st of 3 airchecks I have from May, 1980 - less than
a month before WKYE was bought and became a gospel station. At
this time, it called itself "Southland KYE", indicating
that it was a southern-rock station. This includes 2 ABC
newscasts dealing with, among other things, the Iran hostage
situation and the Cuban "boat people". There are a few
pretty-good stretches of "unscopedness" in this
over-an-hour-&-a-half recording!
Chris Lee - May 9,
1980
Download(1.3MB)
These next 2 are among those airchecks that I regretfully scoped
when I dubbed them. Coke and Pepsi seemed to be the prominent
sponsors of the station at this point. The sound suffers from
distortion, but I think it's an interesting find from this period
in the station's history.
Chris Lee - May 10,
1980
Download(7.3MB)
At this point, I've gotta wonder when the news was starting to
get out about the new ownership and impending format change of
the station. There are times when Chris all but begs for
somebody to call the request line! This aircheck
contains an ABC newscast and parts of 2 more, and an ABC
sportscast. It sounds OK at first, then becomes distorted later
on (That part was recorded on side 2 of the reel containing the
May 9 aircheck). And remember, folks - "Until you've tried
Orange Crush, you ain't tried."
"K-Rock
1550" ID, 1980
Download(11KB)
It sure was a surprise when I heard this on a reel. The
voice on this is Jim Edwards.
WKYE goes gospel, then becomes WBCV
Chuck Lawson, who has worked in Tri-Cities
radio for decades, Sent an E-mail giving some interesting insight
on WKYE during its last year as a rock station.
"I worked at WKYE 3 times, 1973, 1974, and 1979-80. In 79, I
began working part-time and was full-time within one month. We
knew that Bill Tilley was selling the station. Everyone started
jumping ship. Bill Cramer was doing mornings at that time and was
the second person to leave going to WXBQ, after midday jock, Sara
Hobbs who moved to North Carolina. I moved to mornings and was
the music director during the Southland format. The pd was Tony
Ray and he pulled afternoons. Mark St. Clair was brought in to
replace Sara. We had 2 part-timers, Chris Hicks and Kevin
Nickols. The format was actually very good and the station
actually showed up in the ratings for the first time in several
years. Bill Tilley began to regret the decision to sell off the
station at that point, but the wheels were in motion. Tony Ray
left and went to WJCW as PD. At this time, I was appointed
manager and PD of Southland KYE. We were trying to keep the
station on and operating as usual under extreme disadvantages.
The word began to leak out that Bud Carrigan was taking over the
station and changing the format to gospel. The listeners, who
were mostly "good ole southern boys" were furious at
the news. Mr. Carrigan started coming into the station on a daily
basis trying to tell us what to do, even though he had not taken
ownership yet. It finally got to the point that I had to throw
him out of the building. I dropped the Southland slogan and went
to K-Rock 1550 for the last month. There were no format
restrictions and the jocks were allowed to do pretty much what
they wanted. There is a lot more to the story, but I will just
say there was a protest in downtown Bristol by the listeners one
day. It was really a great "WKRP" kind of moment in
time. This happened on a Friday and Carrigan was to take over
operations on Monday. Bill Tilley called me into his office at
Bristol Steel that Friday afternoon and told me to go ahead and
leave. He knew I would not work for Carrigan. He told me how much
he appreciated all I had done for him and the station and
actually was laughing about the protest. Also, he congratulated
me for kicking Carrigan out of the building earlier as it was
against FCC rules for him to set foot in the building until he
actually owned the station. It is still a fond memory of my early
days in radio."
And so, on June 1, 1980, WKYE became a gospel station.
"Christian
WKYE" promo with Reagan Riddle of the Primitive Quartet
Download(178KB)
This is the complete recording of takes - technical glitches and
all.
"Contemporary Bristol"
During this time, WKYE had a public-affairs interview
program called "Contemporary Bristol". Here are all the
interviews I dubbed. They were recorded from 1980 to probably
early 1981.
Mary Harmon #1 (11/13/80)
Download(1.7MB)
Mary talked, among other things, about how Christmas isn't what
it used to be, but that we should think positively on the future.
Mary Harmon #2
Download(974KB)
Mary returned to talk about recreational activities.
Frank Cordle
Download(2.4MB)
A relic from the last waning days of government workers being
allowed to tell you to "go to God", "God can do
it", etc.
Claude Honaker
Download(1.2MB)
The then Bristol, Virginia fire chief discusses Christmastime
safety.
O.J. Rankin (12/11/80)
Download(1.4MB)
This Bristol missionary discusses his Christmas fund drive.
Bill Phelps
Download(1.9MB)
The then John S. Battle High School drama director.
Amy Williams
Download(1.9MB)
This Bristol businesswoman gives interesting facts about Bristol
history.
New Deli commercial outtakes
Download(1.4MB)
That sounds a lot like Sally McKinney of
"Contemporary Bristol" fame as the teacher here. This
is an outtake reel of a commercial for yet another one of those
Bristol Mall "used-to-bes".
I received an E-Mail from former WBCV DJ Scott
Spangler, mentioning when the station changed call letters, as
well as other interesting information.
"That, in fact, happened in
either 80 or 81 when the station moved from the Arcade Building
to the upstairs studio on 6th Street. Bud Carrigan had already
purchased the station and Danny Creech was the PD/GM and hired me
in May of 81. I had just turned 15 at the time and was working
from 6-11 AM on Saturdays and Sundays. A man named Keith Young
was also working there as was a guy named Paul Miller... By September of 81, Paul Miller was gone,
as was a girl named Mary Marshall... Danny Creech had me go on
during the afternoons from 4 PM til sign-off... I've been away
from Bristol for the most part since 1988... I am now a Funeral
Director and own my own funeral home in Indiana"
WBCV print logo
Click on the logo for a larger image.
Lester Roloff promo,
1981
Download(332KB)
Evangelist Lester Roloff recorded this announcement that his
"Family Altar" program was starting on WBCV.
WBCV Aircheck - Mon.,
June 29, 1981
Download(1.6MB)
Voice of Victory
intro & outro
Download(250KB)
The announcer here is Claude Wood. I don't know when this was
recorded. It might have been during the station's
"secular" days. As I understand it, this program
started on WKYE in 1967, and continued during the new ownership
of 2005. I can remember Austin Cook coming into the station
almost every morning to do his program live - which by that time
increased to 10 minutes.
In 1982, church pastor Jennings Dotson became the new owner and General Manager.
Harvest Time promo
Download(126KB)
A very young Chris Dotson, son of Jennings, does this
promo.
WBCV ID's
Download(58KB)
These ID's were the ones most familiar during the 80's and 90's.
The voice was Ben Peyton, son of Harry R. Peyton, whose
"Voice of Calvary" broadcast was running on many
stations including WBCV.
"In the
Word" Mon.-Sat. intro & outro
Download(254KB)
"In the Word" was a broadcast that needed 2 carts - one
with the intro and outro to its Mon.-Sat. 15-minute program, and
one with just an outro to the 30-minute program on Sundays.
"In the Word" Sunday outro
Download(150KB)
For some reason, this cart was pitched higher than the other one.
Roberts Diamonds
& Jewelry commercial
Download(207KB)
This page will also have commercials that were recorded at the
station, taken from various carts.
Sermon and Song
Broadcast intro & outro
Download(172KB)
Yes, that's Jill Ashley doing these. (I told you she
improved.)
Christmas greeting
takes
Download(439KB)
Jill does this Christmas greeting for a sponsor. Notice how
scratchy some of the records used for background music were.
"Big 6 High
School Football Review"
One DJ who was with the station under both country and
gospel formats was the late, great "Jimbo" Widener. He
was also the interviewer / reporter for WBCV's high-school
football review show, which aired Friday afternoons. The way it
usually went was: During the week, Jimbo would begin taking his
casette recorder to all the local high schools and interviewed
the football coaches. He used these casettes that were a few
minutes on each side to record each interview. Then on Friday
afternoon he went to WBCV to put the show together on
reel-to-reel before airtime.
And you gotta love the good ol' band music - none of that alt /
hip-hop nonsense you hear nowadays in high-school sports
programming.
1984
Download(6.6MB)
Jimbo and Tim Hickman did the intro. Jimbo also did the
commercials for Western Sizzlin' and Bristol Muffler & Shock
Center. Tim did the Carpet Mart ad. Jennings Dotson did the ads
for Lady & Son Equipment, Felty's Chicken, and TKD Recording.
I don't know who that was doing the Squre Pizza ad.
This really takes me back hearing this - a buffet at Squire Pizza
(which sadly went out of business a few years later) for $2.99,
and when Todd Daggs & Chip King were big names at Tennessee
High. Jennings Dotson did the interview for the Daniel Boone
review. The tape on the reel was short, and ran out during the
5th school's report. I can only assume the casette tape of the
last interview was played over the air after this one ended.
Last show of the 1985 season
Download(6.5MB)
Tim Hickman did the intro & outro alone from this year on.
Tim also did the ads for Squire Pizza, Town & Country
Optical, Franklin Savings & Loan, and Quality Printing. Chris
Dotson did the ad for Bristol Sewing Center. Jimbo did the ads
for Piccadilly Cafeteria and Magic Carpet Carpet Cleaning.
Here, Jimbo does all the reviews himself, except for the John S.
Battle & Abingdon High coaches, who had at least one more
game to play. By this time, Squire Pizza's buffet went up to
$3.09. This year may also have been the beginning of the hard
luck of Sullivan East, who won very few games until they finally
picked back up in the late 80's. Definitely a far cry from their
near-championship year of 2005.
Sept. 26, 1986
Download(7.2MB)
Jill Ashley did the ads for Pizza Plus, and a place called
Puppies - one of the short-lived hot dog stands tried in Bristol
during the early-mid 80's, first on Bluff City Highway (Remember
"Tennessee Dawg House"?), then on Volunteer Parkway.
Jill & Jimbo work together in an ad for Campbell Used Car
& Truck Mall. Jimbo did the ads for Bill's Auto Sales (I
didn't know 1980 Pintos were made), Blue Circle, and 20th Century
Dental Lab. Tim Hickman did the ad for Bristol Sewing Center
(They'll sharpen your scissors?).
At this time Jennings Dotson was the sports reporter for WBCV's
news program. Jimbo was unable to do the show this week, so
Jennings did all the reviews himself. There were no interviews,
so it was just Jennings giving his views on the teams. Jennings
has been known as a minister and a church pastor, and he seemed
(to me, anyway) to give these reviews in the same delivery as his
sermons. After hearing this, I'm starting to wonder if Tennessee
High is showing up in the Lamb's Book of Life! (I've got a sense
of humor here, guys.)
1st show of the 1987 season
Download(5.7MB)
This was the first Football Review since my dad, Cecil Reed,
started DJing there. He and Jimbo worked together for Hayworth
Tire, and he himself did the Campbell Ford ad. Jimbo did the ads
for Campbell AMC/Jeep/Renault and Bristol Sewing Center. Tim
Hickman did the ad for Sullins Plumbing.
And continuing with Sullivan East's hard luck, the East review
didn't even have a sponsor.The wind outside John S. Battle High
School hits the microphone hard, and Jimbo reads the material for
the Abingdon High review out of the newspaper.
2nd show of the 1987 season
Download(6.2MB)
The Sullivan East review got a sponsor (Thompson TV, with Jimbo
doing the commercial), but that didn't help their scoring
situation much. I'm under the impression that this was a winless
year for Sullivan East. They kept losing game after game, and
their coach did not want to be interviewed for these reviews.
Later on, Jimbo would cheerlead for them every week by saying
"East is gonna win that big game someday!"
Christmas Greeting
takes, 1984(?)
Download(3.2MB)
Here, various WBCV staffers do commercials with Christmas
greetings from different sponsors. The highlight is when one of
them has a rough time with the Piccadilly Cafeteria commercial.
Gum Hill Missionary
Baptist Hour intro & outro
Download(468KB)
Jennings Dotson did the honors here.
WBCV News - Nov. 8,
1985
Download(1.9MB)
Tim Hickman did the news and sports, with the weather recorded
separately on a cart. The next year, Jennings Dotson became the
sports reporter. Those of us who did news and sports reports did
them by reading the first couple of paragraphs from each story in
the newspaper. Try doing that nowadays, and right away you'll see
why it wouldn't fly now. Anyway, as time went on the news &
weather report and the sports report were each recorded at
different times onto one cassette tape, and the same tape was
played twice during the afternoon. And it was only Monday-Friday.
E-Mail: sr@sammyreed.com
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