RB, this is outstanding! Thanks for all the time you put into it. Brings back tons of memories. Radio was fun then, both in the studio and listening at home or in the car. Loved the KUDL on the Plaza, with Doc's Army, the Real Don Steele, and the evening guy Johnny Argo, who used to play Moms Mabley and Redd Foxx comedy records. (Within walking distance of home, and they were gracious to neighborhood kids who dropped in.) Then, the 13-8 of the Lenexa corn field, in the back yard of the 87th Street Drive-In, was a whole different thing, with a whole different staff, as you've documented here. Both groups did a great job of creating a BIG station with just a few watts and not much budget. (P.S. Last emailed with Ed Haase just a few years ago. He's married, young adult daughter, doing Havana radio.)
+Art Hadley - Hey Art, your name is familiar. Didn't you work at KUDL? Maybe in sales? I might have a pic of you if I'm connecting your name to the right picture. (I might not be, too. Heck, I have a hard time remembering what I ate for breakfast this morning. LOL!) Ed Hasse and I rode together to REI together to study to get our First Class Radiotelephone licenses (a requirement to work at KUDL back then). I'd love to get in touch with him. I *know* I have a pic of him filling out the transmitter log one night. Please send me his email addy. You can contact me at: randb AT mindspring DOT com.
+rbvo Thank you ever so much for posting that aircheck of Robert W. Walker. It was listening to him that inspired me to get into radio. While I was still living in the dorms Art Jones hired me at KUDL-FM (the AM was all news at the time) to work weekends. Don't laugh but I honestly thought I had arrived. I had the time of my life and never forgot it! I remember listening to you at night and also thank you for posting that photo of Mark Rivers and Tom Wright. He was the first jock I ever won any money from ("Beat The Bomb). You are the man!!!!!!!
+Joe Schmoe - Hey Joe, thanks for the kind words. I remember quite well when KUDL ran the "Beat the Bomb" contest. In response, WHB ran their own version of it they called "WHB Time Bomb." I actually have Richard Ward Fatherley's production reel in which he voiced and produced the "tick...tick...tick...tick...SEVEN DOLLARS...tick...tick...tick...tick...SEVENTY-ONE DOLLARS!....tick...tick...BOOM!" I'll eventually post that stuff for all to enjoy. Mark Rivers (Driscoll) is still very active in the business as a voice talent (as am I). Not sure what ever became of Tom Wright. I lost track of him as soon as he left the station...that would have been about '68, when Mike D'Arcy and Bill Stevens (Dave Shaw, RIP) brought in the FIRST Robert W. Walker (who is also still very active in the media...in Los Angeles). The Robert W. Walker heard in this video replaced the first Robert W. Walker. The station had the Robert W. Walker jingle, and by God, they were going to use it. LOL!
Ed Hasse..now theres another name from the past, I last worked with him in the mid-1980s at KCMO radio. He was one of the AM board operators/production, I was the overnight jock. Another friend of mine and former KUDL jock, Bill Spellman, was one of our sales guys....great memories!
Thanks, rbvo for this great piece of history! I was born and raised in Lawrence. Once I discovered the Big 13-8, KUDL, WHB was put on the back burner. With Topeka to the west of me I would occasionally see what KEWI 1440 had to offer. Along with Robert W. Walker, the names that stand out the most with me are yours, The Real John Steele and JP Soul. Were you also known as Brother Bob? You did a great job on the news! I would not have had any clue back in 1970 or today that a 17 year old was reading it! Today I’m trying to hold onto FM radio. At home I’ll listen to Pandora, but in the car, it’s FM radio for me. My station of choice is KZPS (Dallas/FW). Unfortunately, there is way too much corporate Clear Channel crap on the station, but I suppose it is necessary since FM radio has to compete with satellite radio. Thank you for the great memories! I’m gonna give this another listen! (-:
Yes (don't be fooled by the different screen name, I am also RBVO). I was both Bob Scott and "Brother Bob." Interesting that you're trying to hold on to KZPS. I spent the better part of 25 years in Dallas radio at KNUS, KFJZ, KNUS (again), KFJZ-FM (aka "Z-97" and later flipped to KEGL, aka "Eagle 97"), KTKS (aka Kiss-FM), KOAI (aka "The Oasis"), KLRX (Lite 97.9 FM), NewsRadio 1080 KRLD, and Texas State Networks. There's a fun little trip down memory lane that has a snippet from KUDL and KCJC-FM on it here: ua-cam.com/video/tg_AmZZMMsc/v-deo.html
In 1967 my best friend and I decided to visit KUDL at the Country Club Plaza (John Hancock building?). We were 13. They were very gracious, let us watch the DJ in the booth for a while and gave us candy bars.
Robert W Walker was his stage name...Last I heard was that he moved to Oregon with his wife (and a few friends followed....) Said my personal good-bye to him in 1971 at Volker Park, now Theiss Park.
Hi RB, great to run across this memory of the Big 13-8, I have fond memories of KC radio from that era, as I too was starting out my career during those years. A few observations from this aircheck. The Candlelight and Jaccards spots were both voiced by KUDL and former WHB, WDGY veteran Bob Cole. The student reporter from Baker University in the newscast is Johnny Rowlands who went on to become a successful Kansas City programmer, KBEQ and is now traffic reporter at KMBC and many KC radio stations. If my memory serves me correct, Anderson Little (JP Soul ) met an untimely death as the victim of a midtown KC shooting in the mid 1970s. Thanks again for posting
+ArizonaBossJock Somewhere around here, I have an air check of myself as a "Boss Jock" (not subbing as a newsman) on KUDL. By that time, Bob Cole had become PD at KUDL. I remember him. And I remember thinking at the time that having him join the KUDL staff added a measure of credibility to the station, at least within the local media (and advertising) community. Although I don't really know how much he knew of, or even believed in, the Drake format, which KUDL's 1967-'71 incarnation was built to mimic. Having gone on to work at a bona fide Drake station in Tulsa in my next career stop, I came to realize how close KUDL was to the real deal (and where it was quite different). Sad to learn of JP Soul's demise. I also came to learn recently from someone who's still in the KC radio biz that the Robert W. Walker heard on this air check left us a few years ago as well. I don't have any details, however.
Wasn't the news director, Jim Barnard? I was hired at KUDL a couple of years later than this aircheck but my current GM counter offered, and to be honest the station, format and Don Burden had started to unravel so I ended up not making the move. Timing is everything!
+ArizonaBossJock It was a screwy company, no doubt. But I was 16 when I started working there, and was just starting out. So it all seemed pretty cool to me at the time. Jim Barnard? Not sure. That rings vaguely familiar. I remember Randy J. Pennington, Bill Stout (who also doubled as the station's Chief Engineer)...and whoever the guy was that did news in mornings (and was news director). Jim Barnard might have been his name. That doesn't ring a loud bell...maybe a little tinkle.
I remember a news guy named Ken Rowland too. Not sure what he looked like though. By the time I got in the door there, they had abandoned the Boss radio and weren't really a top 40 format. It was AOR (all over the road). Mix of album rock, MOR, top 40, pretty lost actually. Only a few moths later it was sold and became a news format.
No, that Robert W. Walker also worked at KUDL. He was the first of two Robert W. Walkers that were at KUDL. When the first one left, they hired Bill Scott, and since they had the Robert W. Walker jingle already cut, they just gave him the same name. The first Robert W. Walker -- the one who would go on to work at Y100 in Miamia, is still around (2020) and works as a voiceover talent and television producer in Los Angeles. Very successful. He and Dave Shaw (aka "Bill Stevens") brought the Drake format from KAKC/Tulsa to KUDL in KC.
+Oldies Radio Oh, God no. This Robert W. Walker sounded NOTHING like Robert W. Morgan on 93/KHJ (the original Boss Radio) in Los Angeles. If he sounded like anyone on KHJ, it was The Real Don Steele. But having known him a bit, I would say his on air act was more of a hybrid between The Real Don Steele on KHJ and a guy named Dave Diamond, who, for many years, did nights on KFRC in San Francisco, one of the truly great night jocks in top 40 radio history. Search around a bit and you are likely to find some air checks of him. He was great.
+rbvo Having been around KC radio during all of the 1960s and 70s, I would dare to say that this Robert W Walker was the first truly high energy jock in the market. Was one of my favorites
and I agree, RWW sounds nothing like Morgan. Morgan was as smooth as silk. btw, rbvo, were you at KUDL when Eric Chase passed through there as "Humble Harry" ?
+ArizonaBossJock - Yes, "Humble Harry," real name Paul Stelljes (sp?), aka "Paul Christy" in Houston (where he's still on the air today) was a terrific jock (still is, I would assume). The name Humble Harry, was, of course, a rip-off of KHJ's "Humble Harve," who was convicted of murdering his wife. KUDL had a few jocks whose names were rip-offs of KHJ jocks, including Robert W. Walker (KHJ's Robert W. Morgan), Humble Harry (KHJ's Humble Harve) and The Real Jon Steele (KHJ's The Real Don Steele). Jon Steele, by the way, was just inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame, and like Paul Christy, is still working in radio in Houston. When I worked at KNUS in Dallas, we hired a young fellow and gave him the name Eric Chase (ripping off Paul Stelljes's name when he was at KFRC/San Francisco, one of KHJ's sister stations). Eric, who is still using that name, is also working in Houston, running his own creative services firm. For many years, he was the voice on the radio spots for Men's Warehouse.
+rbvo OK I knew there was a connection. I remember when Humble Harry came on board, I knew at the time it was a rip off of Harv Miller, and also recognized the Robert W Walker style as a combo of RDS and Dave Diamond. The guy who Humble Harry replaced was a mid day jock who used the name J. Michael White. At the end of the year 1968 KUDL did a top 500 of all time and published a multipage survey (booklet) with all the jocks pics on it. I still have one of them around somewhere. The lineup on it was Bobby Mitchell, Bill Stevens, Humble Harry, Mike Darcy, RWW, and JP Soul. Great memories! Ive been in touch with the first RWW a few times recently, and another jock who worked there between the RWWs... Kris Kelly, real name Gil Cox, who used multiple names on the air there. Darcy is still in Kansas City and recently gave a talk on the old KUDL/WHB rivalry and counter-programming at one of the Kansas State University broadcasting department seminars. I also have about 45 minutes of telescoped air checks from this same timeframe of Walker, Mitchell and Driscoll. Got them years ago from Jeff Roberts. Probably recorded by you or whoever rolled this one. if you're interested, when I was in Kansas City at UMKC I was friends with a lot of guys who knew you from Center HS. If you want to email me directly at ArizonaBossJock at gmail I can catch you up and drop a lot of familiar names if you wish.
Nothing beats fake Drake Boss Radio. I worked at 2 fake Drakers: WNHC New Haven, WSVP West Warwick-Providence RI. Just to play the Johnny Mann jingles LOL.
This clears up a decades-long mystery. I listened to KAKC in Tulsa in the late 60s when it was a Drake-programmed station that featured Robert W. Walker. In 1970 I first heard KUDL, which I could tell sounded almost like a Drake station but not quite. And I heard the 1970 version of Robert W. Walker and wondered if it was the same guy. Now I learn it wasn’t the Tulsa RWW, although the Tulsa RWW had already come and gone from KUDL.
Rob Walker (the name he goes by today) is still in broadcasting...well, media, anyway...in Los Angeles. He left KAKC in 1968 with Bill Stevens (Dave Shaw) to bring the authentic Drake format from KAKC to KUDL. There, Bill Stevens became Program Director and Rob did nights. I was a pimply-faced future radio guy who would call the requestline and pester him for hours at a time. (Pretty much the story of all teenagers who would go on to have careers in radio.) When Rob left (I think it was 1969), he was replaced by a guy named Bill Scott (he had previously used the air name Peter Wolfe in California), and since KUDL already had the jingle sung for Robert W. Walker, which was a particular favorite among fake Drake stations because it mimicked the melody of the famous Robert W. Morgan (KHJ/Los Angeles) jingle, the station's management decided to name the next night guy Robert W. Walker and just deal with the curious listeners who might wonder why the guy on the air suddenly changed his voice...and his personality. (Stations used to do this all the time, expecially if they had a DJ they felt had some name recognition in the market -- when he left, they'd just give his replacement the same name). Now, I think most people who remember Robert W. Walker on KUDL remember the guy on this air check. He was the last one, and he was there longer than Rob. Rob, however, undeniably went on to have the far more prolific career in radio and media. He's still active and still crankin' out quality television productions.
@Kirk Moore -- Well, to add to that confusion, the name Eric Chase actually originated at KNUS-FM/Dallas. I was there when KNUS Program Director Michael Spears (AKA "Hal Martin") hired Phil North (his real name) to come from Memphis to KNUS, and we named him Eric Chase. Michael left KNUS to take the PD job at KFRC San Francisco in 1973 (I replaced him as PD of KNUS/Dallas). When he hired Paul Stelljes (his real name), he gave him the air name Eric Chase, which he'd assigned to Phil North in Dallas just a few months earlier. And yes, Paul Stelljes had also worked at KUDL/Kansas City when he first became known as "Humble" Harry Miller (a rip-off of the KHJ/Los Angeles jock, "Humble" Harve"'s name). Today, that same Paul Stelljes works on the air in Houston under a whole different name. Why did he change his name when he went to Houston? Because the original Eric Chase (Phil North, the one that Spears hired in Dallas in '73) was already an established talent in Houston. The KFRC Eric Chase (Paul Stelljes) is now Paul Christie.
@Kirk Moore Sebastian Stone prior to becoming PD at WOR FM in NEW YORK as SEBASTIAN STONE was also JOHNNY MITCHELL at both KHJ & KFRC.it seems like Mitchell was a popular air name for PHIL YARBROUGH(BILL DRAKE)and PAUL DREWall the way back to The original DRAKE format from 1960 at WAKE ATLANTA! Harley DREW THEN OWNED THE MARKET AT WFOM , Marietta (metro Atlanta)
@@ProdigyBowlersTour REMEMBER ME I KNEW GORDON FEASTERS CH ONLY REASON YOU DID XeROK EL PASO WANTED TO BUY KABL SF FLIP Top40 FCC no WORKED @ dallas times herald HE JUST KEPT YOU @ KNUS 99 YOU HELP KILL KLIF 1190 PLAY BY FCC RULES🤣♦♣FOLD!
The Boss 30 is a exact replica of the KFRC Big 30 (on the inside). I'm talking about the one with "Mama told me" at #1. The fake Johnny Mann jingles are of poor quality.
They were horrible. But they weren't fake. Drake-Chenault, the consultants of the RKO General stations (including KHJ/Los Angeles, KFRC/San Francisco and others) used the same instrumental tracks produced for KHJ and customized them with the same Johnny Mann Singers and sold them to stations all over the country, including KUDL. KUDL's set were horrible. The worst of all the Johnny Mann Drake Series jingles I've ever heard. I also worked at KGW/Portland where we had the same package, which were wonderful...except that the singers sang the letter W as "dubba-yewwww" instead of "double-yewwww." But KUDL's just sucked. Still, they were better than the truly "fake Drake" jingles that preceded them, sung by Pepper-Tanner. Those were truly horrible, as was everything else that ever came out of Pepper-Tanner.
Oh and the Boss 30 design seen here originated with KHJ/Los Angeles. They cloned it for all the other Drake-Chenault stations in the RKO General Chain, although a few opted to use a different design. KGB/San Diego never used this design. Neither did KAKC/Tulsa. Both were Drake-consulted, but not RKO owned. I don't believe WHBQ/Memphis, WRKO/Boston, CKLW/Windor-Detroit or WOR-FM/New York, all RKO owned, Drake consulted stations, ever used the "Boss" design either.
RB, this is outstanding! Thanks for all the time you put into it. Brings back tons of memories. Radio was fun then, both in the studio and listening at home or in the car. Loved the KUDL on the Plaza, with Doc's Army, the Real Don Steele, and the evening guy Johnny Argo, who used to play Moms Mabley and Redd Foxx comedy records. (Within walking distance of home, and they were gracious to neighborhood kids who dropped in.) Then, the 13-8 of the Lenexa corn field, in the back yard of the 87th Street Drive-In, was a whole different thing, with a whole different staff, as you've documented here. Both groups did a great job of creating a BIG station with just a few watts and not much budget. (P.S. Last emailed with Ed Haase just a few years ago. He's married, young adult daughter, doing Havana radio.)
+Art Hadley - Hey Art, your name is familiar. Didn't you work at KUDL? Maybe in sales? I might have a pic of you if I'm connecting your name to the right picture. (I might not be, too. Heck, I have a hard time remembering what I ate for breakfast this morning. LOL!) Ed Hasse and I rode together to REI together to study to get our First Class Radiotelephone licenses (a requirement to work at KUDL back then). I'd love to get in touch with him. I *know* I have a pic of him filling out the transmitter log one night. Please send me his email addy. You can contact me at: randb AT mindspring DOT com.
+rbvo Thank you ever so much for posting that aircheck of Robert W. Walker. It was listening to him that inspired me to get into radio. While I was still living in the dorms Art Jones hired me at KUDL-FM (the AM was all news at the time) to work weekends. Don't laugh but I honestly thought I had arrived. I had the time of my life and never forgot it! I remember listening to you at night and also thank you for posting that photo of Mark Rivers and Tom Wright. He was the first jock I ever won any money from ("Beat The Bomb). You are the man!!!!!!!
+Joe Schmoe - Hey Joe, thanks for the kind words. I remember quite well when KUDL ran the "Beat the Bomb" contest. In response, WHB ran their own version of it they called "WHB Time Bomb." I actually have Richard Ward Fatherley's production reel in which he voiced and produced the "tick...tick...tick...tick...SEVEN DOLLARS...tick...tick...tick...tick...SEVENTY-ONE DOLLARS!....tick...tick...BOOM!" I'll eventually post that stuff for all to enjoy. Mark Rivers (Driscoll) is still very active in the business as a voice talent (as am I). Not sure what ever became of Tom Wright. I lost track of him as soon as he left the station...that would have been about '68, when Mike D'Arcy and Bill Stevens (Dave Shaw, RIP) brought in the FIRST Robert W. Walker (who is also still very active in the media...in Los Angeles). The Robert W. Walker heard in this video replaced the first Robert W. Walker. The station had the Robert W. Walker jingle, and by God, they were going to use it. LOL!
Ed Hasse..now theres another name from the past, I last worked with him in the mid-1980s at KCMO radio. He was one of the AM board operators/production, I was the overnight jock. Another friend of mine and former KUDL jock, Bill Spellman, was one of our sales guys....great memories!
Robert W Walker, (Bill Scott) passed to stardust back about 10 years ago....
Thanks, rbvo for this great piece of history! I was born and raised in Lawrence. Once I discovered the Big 13-8, KUDL, WHB was put on the back burner. With Topeka to the west of me I would occasionally see what KEWI 1440 had to offer. Along with Robert W. Walker, the names that stand out the most with me are yours, The Real John Steele and JP Soul. Were you also known as Brother Bob? You did a great job on the news! I would not have had any clue back in 1970 or today that a 17 year old was reading it!
Today I’m trying to hold onto FM radio. At home I’ll listen to Pandora, but in the car, it’s FM radio for me. My station of choice is KZPS (Dallas/FW). Unfortunately, there is way too much corporate Clear Channel crap on the station, but I suppose it is necessary since FM radio has to compete with satellite radio.
Thank you for the great memories! I’m gonna give this another listen! (-:
Yes (don't be fooled by the different screen name, I am also RBVO). I was both Bob Scott and "Brother Bob."
Interesting that you're trying to hold on to KZPS. I spent the better part of 25 years in Dallas radio at KNUS, KFJZ, KNUS (again), KFJZ-FM (aka "Z-97" and later flipped to KEGL, aka "Eagle 97"), KTKS (aka Kiss-FM), KOAI (aka "The Oasis"), KLRX (Lite 97.9 FM), NewsRadio 1080 KRLD, and Texas State Networks.
There's a fun little trip down memory lane that has a snippet from KUDL and KCJC-FM on it here: ua-cam.com/video/tg_AmZZMMsc/v-deo.html
Where was the Draft House in Lawrence, did that become the Palladium st 9th and Miss?
In 1967 my best friend and I decided to visit KUDL at the Country Club Plaza (John Hancock building?). We were 13. They were very gracious, let us watch the DJ in the booth for a while and gave us candy bars.
In 1967, KUDL was not on the Country Club Plaza. They were located at the same little house in a corn field at 87th and I-35 in Lenexa.
Robert W Walker was his stage name...Last I heard was that he moved to Oregon with his wife (and a few friends followed....)
Said my personal good-bye to him in 1971 at Volker Park, now Theiss Park.
Hi RB, great to run across this memory of the Big 13-8, I have fond memories of KC radio from that era, as I too was starting out my career during those years. A few observations from this aircheck. The Candlelight and Jaccards spots were both voiced by KUDL and former WHB, WDGY veteran Bob Cole. The student reporter from Baker University in the newscast is Johnny Rowlands who went on to become a successful Kansas City programmer, KBEQ and is now traffic reporter at KMBC and many KC radio stations. If my memory serves me correct, Anderson Little (JP Soul ) met an untimely death as the victim of a midtown KC shooting in the mid 1970s. Thanks again for posting
+ArizonaBossJock Somewhere around here, I have an air check of myself as a "Boss Jock" (not subbing as a newsman) on KUDL. By that time, Bob Cole had become PD at KUDL. I remember him. And I remember thinking at the time that having him join the KUDL staff added a measure of credibility to the station, at least within the local media (and advertising) community. Although I don't really know how much he knew of, or even believed in, the Drake format, which KUDL's 1967-'71 incarnation was built to mimic. Having gone on to work at a bona fide Drake station in Tulsa in my next career stop, I came to realize how close KUDL was to the real deal (and where it was quite different).
Sad to learn of JP Soul's demise. I also came to learn recently from someone who's still in the KC radio biz that the Robert W. Walker heard on this air check left us a few years ago as well. I don't have any details, however.
Wasn't the news director, Jim Barnard? I was hired at KUDL a couple of years later than this aircheck but my current GM counter offered, and to be honest the station, format and Don Burden had started to unravel so I ended up not making the move. Timing is everything!
+ArizonaBossJock It was a screwy company, no doubt. But I was 16 when I started working there, and was just starting out. So it all seemed pretty cool to me at the time. Jim Barnard? Not sure. That rings vaguely familiar. I remember Randy J. Pennington, Bill Stout (who also doubled as the station's Chief Engineer)...and whoever the guy was that did news in mornings (and was news director). Jim Barnard might have been his name. That doesn't ring a loud bell...maybe a little tinkle.
I remember a news guy named Ken Rowland too. Not sure what he looked like though. By the time I got in the door there, they had abandoned the Boss radio and weren't really a top 40 format. It was AOR (all over the road). Mix of album rock, MOR, top 40, pretty lost actually. Only a few moths later it was sold and became a news format.
I worked at KCMO and actually lived at 79th and Sweitzer, just north of the 5 KUDL towers during the years when they bulldozed the towers.
Live local exciting radio 24-7. Where did it all go? Radio is a sorry joke now of what it once was. This is great stuff here
KUDL ROCKER OF KCMO
Whatever happened to Larry Miller back around 1972 on KUDL FM?
I wonder if this is the same Robert W. Walker that DJd for Y100 in Florida!
No.
No, that Robert W. Walker also worked at KUDL. He was the first of two Robert W. Walkers that were at KUDL. When the first one left, they hired Bill Scott, and since they had the Robert W. Walker jingle already cut, they just gave him the same name. The first Robert W. Walker -- the one who would go on to work at Y100 in Miamia, is still around (2020) and works as a voiceover talent and television producer in Los Angeles. Very successful. He and Dave Shaw (aka "Bill Stevens") brought the Drake format from KAKC/Tulsa to KUDL in KC.
That "Robert W Walker" sounded like Robert W Morgan from KHJ in Los Angeles
+Oldies Radio Oh, God no. This Robert W. Walker sounded NOTHING like Robert W. Morgan on 93/KHJ (the original Boss Radio) in Los Angeles. If he sounded like anyone on KHJ, it was The Real Don Steele. But having known him a bit, I would say his on air act was more of a hybrid between The Real Don Steele on KHJ and a guy named Dave Diamond, who, for many years, did nights on KFRC in San Francisco, one of the truly great night jocks in top 40 radio history. Search around a bit and you are likely to find some air checks of him. He was great.
+rbvo Having been around KC radio during all of the 1960s and 70s, I would dare to say that this Robert W Walker was the first truly high energy jock in the market. Was one of my favorites
and I agree, RWW sounds nothing like Morgan. Morgan was as smooth as silk. btw, rbvo, were you at KUDL when Eric Chase passed through there as "Humble Harry" ?
+ArizonaBossJock - Yes, "Humble Harry," real name Paul Stelljes (sp?), aka "Paul Christy" in Houston (where he's still on the air today) was a terrific jock (still is, I would assume). The name Humble Harry, was, of course, a rip-off of KHJ's "Humble Harve," who was convicted of murdering his wife. KUDL had a few jocks whose names were rip-offs of KHJ jocks, including Robert W. Walker (KHJ's Robert W. Morgan), Humble Harry (KHJ's Humble Harve) and The Real Jon Steele (KHJ's The Real Don Steele). Jon Steele, by the way, was just inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame, and like Paul Christy, is still working in radio in Houston. When I worked at KNUS in Dallas, we hired a young fellow and gave him the name Eric Chase (ripping off Paul Stelljes's name when he was at KFRC/San Francisco, one of KHJ's sister stations). Eric, who is still using that name, is also working in Houston, running his own creative services firm. For many years, he was the voice on the radio spots for Men's Warehouse.
+rbvo OK I knew there was a connection. I remember when Humble Harry came on board, I knew at the time it was a rip off of Harv Miller, and also recognized the Robert W Walker style as a combo of RDS and Dave Diamond. The guy who Humble Harry replaced was a mid day jock who used the name J. Michael White. At the end of the year 1968 KUDL did a top 500 of all time and published a multipage survey (booklet) with all the jocks pics on it. I still have one of them around somewhere. The lineup on it was Bobby Mitchell, Bill Stevens, Humble Harry, Mike Darcy, RWW, and JP Soul. Great memories! Ive been in touch with the first RWW a few times recently, and another jock who worked there between the RWWs... Kris Kelly, real name Gil Cox, who used multiple names on the air there. Darcy is still in Kansas City and recently gave a talk on the old KUDL/WHB rivalry and counter-programming at one of the Kansas State University broadcasting department seminars.
I also have about 45 minutes of telescoped air checks from this same timeframe of Walker, Mitchell and Driscoll. Got them years ago from Jeff Roberts. Probably recorded by you or whoever rolled this one.
if you're interested, when I was in Kansas City at UMKC I was friends with a lot of guys who knew you from Center HS. If you want to email me directly at ArizonaBossJock at gmail I can catch you up and drop a lot of familiar names if you wish.
Nothing beats fake Drake Boss Radio. I worked at 2 fake Drakers: WNHC New Haven, WSVP West Warwick-Providence RI. Just to play the Johnny Mann jingles LOL.
This clears up a decades-long mystery. I listened to KAKC in Tulsa in the late 60s when it was a Drake-programmed station that featured Robert W. Walker. In 1970 I first heard KUDL, which I could tell sounded almost like a Drake station but not quite. And I heard the 1970 version of Robert W. Walker and wondered if it was the same guy. Now I learn it wasn’t the Tulsa RWW, although the Tulsa RWW had already come and gone from KUDL.
Rob Walker (the name he goes by today) is still in broadcasting...well, media, anyway...in Los Angeles. He left KAKC in 1968 with Bill Stevens (Dave Shaw) to bring the authentic Drake format from KAKC to KUDL. There, Bill Stevens became Program Director and Rob did nights. I was a pimply-faced future radio guy who would call the requestline and pester him for hours at a time. (Pretty much the story of all teenagers who would go on to have careers in radio.) When Rob left (I think it was 1969), he was replaced by a guy named Bill Scott (he had previously used the air name Peter Wolfe in California), and since KUDL already had the jingle sung for Robert W. Walker, which was a particular favorite among fake Drake stations because it mimicked the melody of the famous Robert W. Morgan (KHJ/Los Angeles) jingle, the station's management decided to name the next night guy Robert W. Walker and just deal with the curious listeners who might wonder why the guy on the air suddenly changed his voice...and his personality. (Stations used to do this all the time, expecially if they had a DJ they felt had some name recognition in the market -- when he left, they'd just give his replacement the same name). Now, I think most people who remember Robert W. Walker on KUDL remember the guy on this air check. He was the last one, and he was there longer than Rob. Rob, however, undeniably went on to have the far more prolific career in radio and media. He's still active and still crankin' out quality television productions.
@Kirk Moore -- Well, to add to that confusion, the name Eric Chase actually originated at KNUS-FM/Dallas. I was there when KNUS Program Director Michael Spears (AKA "Hal Martin") hired Phil North (his real name) to come from Memphis to KNUS, and we named him Eric Chase. Michael left KNUS to take the PD job at KFRC San Francisco in 1973 (I replaced him as PD of KNUS/Dallas). When he hired Paul Stelljes (his real name), he gave him the air name Eric Chase, which he'd assigned to Phil North in Dallas just a few months earlier. And yes, Paul Stelljes had also worked at KUDL/Kansas City when he first became known as "Humble" Harry Miller (a rip-off of the KHJ/Los Angeles jock, "Humble" Harve"'s name). Today, that same Paul Stelljes works on the air in Houston under a whole different name. Why did he change his name when he went to Houston? Because the original Eric Chase (Phil North, the one that Spears hired in Dallas in '73) was already an established talent in Houston. The KFRC Eric Chase (Paul Stelljes) is now Paul Christie.
@Kirk Moore Sebastian Stone prior to becoming PD at WOR FM in NEW YORK as SEBASTIAN STONE was also JOHNNY MITCHELL at both KHJ & KFRC.it seems like Mitchell was a popular air name for PHIL YARBROUGH(BILL DRAKE)and PAUL DREWall the way back to The original DRAKE format from 1960 at WAKE ATLANTA! Harley DREW THEN OWNED THE MARKET AT WFOM , Marietta (metro Atlanta)
@@ProdigyBowlersTour REMEMBER ME I KNEW GORDON FEASTERS CH ONLY REASON YOU DID XeROK EL PASO WANTED TO BUY KABL SF FLIP Top40 FCC no WORKED @ dallas times herald HE JUST KEPT YOU @ KNUS 99 YOU HELP KILL KLIF 1190 PLAY BY FCC RULES🤣♦♣FOLD!
The Boss 30 is a exact replica of the KFRC Big 30 (on the inside). I'm talking about the one with "Mama told me" at #1. The fake Johnny Mann jingles are of poor quality.
They were horrible. But they weren't fake. Drake-Chenault, the consultants of the RKO General stations (including KHJ/Los Angeles, KFRC/San Francisco and others) used the same instrumental tracks produced for KHJ and customized them with the same Johnny Mann Singers and sold them to stations all over the country, including KUDL. KUDL's set were horrible. The worst of all the Johnny Mann Drake Series jingles I've ever heard. I also worked at KGW/Portland where we had the same package, which were wonderful...except that the singers sang the letter W as "dubba-yewwww" instead of "double-yewwww." But KUDL's just sucked. Still, they were better than the truly "fake Drake" jingles that preceded them, sung by Pepper-Tanner. Those were truly horrible, as was everything else that ever came out of Pepper-Tanner.
Oh and the Boss 30 design seen here originated with KHJ/Los Angeles. They cloned it for all the other Drake-Chenault stations in the RKO General Chain, although a few opted to use a different design. KGB/San Diego never used this design. Neither did KAKC/Tulsa. Both were Drake-consulted, but not RKO owned. I don't believe WHBQ/Memphis, WRKO/Boston, CKLW/Windor-Detroit or WOR-FM/New York, all RKO owned, Drake consulted stations, ever used the "Boss" design either.
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