wivk: REMEMBERING MY TIME AT WIVK RADIO

I've been told I need to do more blogging. I'm generally a man of few words, and only talk when I have to. That seems so odd I know since I am in television, but it's the way I was raised. I'm also old school TV ,meaning I would rather give facts than my opinion on issues. So blogging is not a natural for me, but I guess it will have to be. But this one is a no brainer. I worked at WIVK in the 1980's in what I consider their heyday. I was Sports Director and worked mornings alongside Jim Donovan, Steve Armistead, (the man of many voices), and Claude "The Cat" Tomlinson. Now they have a book out on the history of all of this,"Images of America Knoxville's WIVK.

I did my Tennessee Traveler on the WIVK book and wanted to go even further to jog your memory, even talk about some things that would never make it on the tube. Claude Tomlinson was a character. We would both meet at the front door of WIVK around 5:30 every morning barely awake. But when it came time to talk, Claude was king. His characters of Ole Man Schultz and Lester Longmire were uncanny.

Even today people have asked me about working with the three of them! Ed Brantley, now GM told me a story of a woman who was in speech therapy at UT and called the station saying she could help those men if you let her! The late Jim Donovan worked the production board in the morning. He was a great guy, always laughed at the right time. It made the morning show the number one show in America, and I recall, it was the highest rated morning show in America!

I'm using alot of exclamation points, but it makes me proud to have worked there. I learned alot of lessons on how a business operates. They have a strong desire to win. I remember when other stations were taking shots at them, Bobby Denton said let them talk, let them do their thing we don't need to mix it up, we're number one and they're not. It was and still is their philosophy to also take the lead, and not to follow.

Names like "Your" Dave Young, Bob Thomas, Jean Ashe,Beecher Bailey, Tonya Stout Brown, Mike Hammond,Channing Smith, Dan Bell are just a few of those that meant alot and still do. From it's Shindigs to "The Cat", do you have any memories you want to share? I'll check back and we'll talk.


Source: volunteertv.com