JACK ALLEN REMEMBERS:
I think it would be fun to communicate with other radio talent who have experienced the 1960s, 70s & 80s from a one-on-one entertainment & personality perspective. If you're familiar with Golden West Broadcasters then you know what I mean (KMPC, LA - KSFO, SF - KEX Portland, Ore, KVI - Seattle). Names like Don Sherwood (KSFO), Barney Keep (KEX), Robert W. Morgan (KMPC), Robert E. Lee Hardwick (KVI). These stations, these people and this era provided the premium in radio entertainment on an individual and station basis. We made it fun to listen and music was secondary.
For example, a wonderful promotion occured on KVI, Seattle in about 1977. In a station promotion we proposed to plant alligators in Lake Washington. Our promotion guy Jack McDonald (bless his heart, what a genius) provided reams of info on alligators. We talked it up big time over two weeks and come the day before the event we announced the introduction of alligators to the water in a very exclusive neighborhood the following morning at 9:00 am.
That morning hundreds of listeners showed up to watch the event. No one else was there, just a bunch of people milling around with radios blasting on the station. Promptly at 9 am from a phone booth on the hillside above the event our morning man called in a "live report" from near the scene and reminded listeners that it was, if fact April Fools Day.
For a week the switchboad was lighted with phone calls from listeners who had been had and loved it. Now, stuff like that is fun. What happened to it???
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