From Norm Gregory’s old website:
Since the purpose of each jock’s forum is to relate memories of contact or on air performance or arrest records . . . I will start with my first meeting of the guy with whom I would spend a good part of my “radio developmental” years.
In early 1966 I was wrapping up college at Western Washington State College in Bellingham. Even though, I was living with KPUG’s Kirk Wilde I really had no plans to go into radio. But I was a big fan of top forty radio and KJR (having grown up in Seattle). One day I flipped on KPUG to hear the new guy. And I was stunned by how much he sounded like Larry Lujack. When Kirk got home I asked him who this new jock was . . . he had to be, if not Lujack’s brother, a huge fan of Larry’s, as I was. Kirk said he was some guy from Gray’s Harbor and why don’t I come along . . out to the station . . . and meet him. I walked into KPUG’s studio and met Gary Shannon . . . eating pizza while Lou Christie’s “Lighting Strikes” blared, in mono, from the speakers. And we hit it off trading Larry Lujack stories.
Several months later Gary was drafted and I graduated, got out of the draft, and acting on a Wilde suggestion, tried radio. To wrap up this “small world” story: When Gary got out of the Army in 1968; I was at KJRB and he joined me on the air staff in Spokane.
Another story–Pat O’Day on the early days of KJR’s rock rock ‘n roll period…
“Just off the top of my head sitting here. kjr staff, January, 1960: All nights, Russ Rebel….soon to be replaced by Dick Curtis. AM Drive, Lee Perkins eventually replaced by Lan moving Lee to 9 to noon. 9 to noon Big Daddy, Dave Clark. Noon to 3 Chuck Braas to be replaced by Wally Beethoven. Pm Drive Jockey John Stone. To be replaced Jan 1 1961 by O’Day. 6 to 9 Pat O’Day. 9 to 12 Ron Bailie. And the news director was Lou Gillette.
The sales staff consisted of Art Kuhlman Sales Manager, Bob Purcell, Don Grimmer, and Jim McGovern. Homer was operations, Ann Lombardo secretary, Galen Blackford was of course manager, Stone was P.D. Carole Britzius reception and Flossy Novak traffic. George Newton was Chief Engineer who quit when I hired Murphy because Newton wouldn’t work in the same building with a man who had long hair.”
Post your memories and comments about Norm, Gary and Seattle’s rock ‘n roll radio stations below. I will also be sharing snippets salvaged from Norm’s old website.
March 21, 2025 at QZVX
Jason Remington says:
Joe Coburn left this remark on Norm Gregory’s site—
Homer Pope
I guess this should go into the 1922 – 1950 section as Homer Pope worked at KJR from it’s inception, as “KOMO JR at 1000 on the dial,” until his retirement in 1974(?).
I couldn’t have been working there for more than a month and Homer must have come in on a weekend to catch me, (12N-8PM Sat’s & Sun’s on the fledgling rocker KISW-FM) but I saw him walk angrily into the studo, throw some papers on the console and say, “Listen to me my tiny peckered friend, if you don’t fill out your time card correctly I’m going to kick you!” Then, for punctuation or proof, he kicked me.
Homer was the office manager at KJR by the time Robert L. Scott, Kevin Metheny (Kevin O’Brien) and I showed up. He was the oldest guy in Seattle radio and we were all in our teens. Robert L. and I were 19, Metheny had just turned 18 and Homer had to be in his mid-70’s.
Homer was all of 5′-4″ and had a crew cut (even Pat O’Day had a long-haired toupe’ in those days). He was a wirey, feisty little fellow with a voice that cut glass. I only saw him smile twice. Once when he got to go on a plane ride from Westport to Seattle and when he ate caviar at his retirement party.
Homer had worked every job in KJR. Announcer, Salesman, Engineer, Janitor, Sales Manager, General Manager and finally Office Manager. He even lived there for a while in the 20’s or 30’s as there had been a small apartment in the studios in those days for an on-site engineer.
One day he came in the studio to complain that I had filled out a program log in purple ink. “Black or Blue ink for entries, Red ink for corrections you little bastard!” was all he said. Then he turned on his heels and left the studio. Within 60 seconds he was back. “When were you born?” he shouted. I stammered out my birthday. “What time?” he demanded. “9:15 AM,” I said defensively. He looked really pissed. He stomped out and about 5 minutes later stomped back in and presented me with the KJR program log from the year, day and hour I was born.
I don’t know what point he was making, there were several possible and I’ve contemplated all of them over the years. He never said anything to me about it and I don’t think he ever did that for any of the other staff. But, I confess that I still get emotional when I think about it. I still have the log. A single xeroxed copy on that greasy paper copies were made of in those days. But it’s mine and Homer gave it to me, uncerimoniously and officially.
Wednesday, January 17, 2001
March 19, 2025 at QZVX
Jason Remington says:
Kevin O’Brien slipped up and gave the contest participant the answer to the CASH CALL CONTEST. Remember that?
RockinBo [ rockinbo@yahoo.com ] says . . .
And WHO – could forget the mighty CASH-CALL
..And WHO – could forget the mighty CASH-CALL from the early 70’s?!
O’Day’s voice thundering over a great fanfare, drum rolls blaring, and REVERB that signified to stand by your phone!
(before the FCC rules changed….and it WAS live!!)
..and Kevin O’Brien’s classic CASH-CALL where he slipped and gave out the amount…and HAD to give it away!!
Wednesday, March 14, 2001
Kevin “O’Brien” Metheny says . . .
. . . and Kevin O’Brien’s classic CASH-CALL where he slipped and gave out the amount…and HAD to give it away!!
I don’t THINK so, Sparky!
1) yes, i DID tell the contestant the precise amount
2) we had recently attempted to kick the old cash call girl in the tush by narrowing it down to $100 for guessers, and saying “…so if you can tell me the exact amoujnt of the KJR Cash Call jackpot, you’ll win it all, and I can tell you it’s between $767 and & $867…”
3) but I said (drug free at the time, as i recall) “… i can tell you it’s between $793 … whoops, hold on a minute”
4) called the acting boss, J Shannon Sweatte (O’Day was sipping mai tais in Maui that week) who said “…put him back on the air, ask him the question, if he gets it right, give him the money…”
5) i put him on the air.
6) i asked him the exact amount of money in the KJR cash casll jackpot, WHICH amount, I remind you, I had told him scant moments prior …. and …
7) he TOLD ME THE WRONG AMOUNT!
i am flattered this story continues to be told … i just think the ACTUAL story is even MORE astonishing!
i leave you with this thought ….
it’s
CONTEST TIME!
March 19, 2025 at QZVX
Jason Remington says:
Norm mentioned Sales Manager, Art Kuhlman.
Art posted these memories on Saturday, March 10, 2001
KJR At The World’s Fair
At the time of the World’s Fair in Seattle, KJR almost walked off with a prestigious Peabody Award. Station promotion was one of my jobs and I got the idea of having dj’s from radio stations all over the country..record, TV and movie celebrities join in a massive safe driving campaign aimed at visitors to Seattle. The idea was for visitors to the Fair who listened to KJR could hear their hometown dj’s give this message….”This is….I hope you’re enjoying yourself at Seattle’s World’s Fair. Drive carefully on your way home. We’ll be waiting for your at (call letters of station) in (name of city) when you return.” Dj’s from 22 states and Canada as well as nearly 100 recording, TV, and movie celebrities participated in this 6 month on the air campaign. Among the personalities were Danny Kaye, Frank Sinatra, Stan Kenton, Mitch Miller, and several governor’s from the 11 western states.
Friday, March 09, 2001
Art Kulman [ artkulman@aol.com ] says . . .
Memorable Contests and Promotions
Norm, your message got me thinking about some other great KJR contests and promotions during the 60’s.
Many of the most memorable were the result of ideas conceived by the KJR sales staff as ad campaigns for our clients who paid in part for the airtime and supplied prizes for the contests….
As the KJR sales manager in the 60’s I was fortunate to be able to hire such great guys as Verle Wheeler, Bob Harris, Jim McGovern and Don Courtney from other Seattle stations. Collectively we generated ideas to sell time and then went out to find sponsors. With the exception of Wheeler and McGovern all of us on the sales staff had started our radio careers as on the air talent. Maybe that helped set us off from the other stations when it came to creativity. We were always looking for fun stuff that maybe allowed us to cut a spot now and then.
Some of the promotions/contests KJR listeners of the 60’s might remember are;
-3 years of KJR Bridal Showers for the Bon Marche
-The House of Suzuki scavenger hunt…we gave away 44 bikes to celebrate the station’s 44th birthday
-The Honda Motor Bike givewawy…40 Hondas in 40 days
-A vintage Chevvy convertible giveaway….
-A Jaguar convertible scavenger hunt….
-A Tiger-striped Mustang contest in conjunction with the opening of the Bon Marche Tiger Shops
-Lunch in Hollywood with Ricky Nelson
-KJR Good Guy Sweatshirts (w/Don’s Mens Shop)
-KJR Fab 50 music list published Friday’s in the Times
March 19, 2025 at QZVX
Jason Remington says:
Jon Pearkins has a massive collection of Seattle radio airchecks and stories about the personalities. Here is one he posted in March 2001.
“Robert O. Gets a Raise out of Coca-Cola
It is a Sunday morning in 1967 on KJR. As usual, Robert O. Smith is on the air, in addition to his 9-midnight weekday shift. A fairly laid back time of the weekend, he makes fun of a couple of spots. The first is a natural target, a heavily overplayed commercial for Wilderness Rim, a real estate development in the middle of nowhere.
As the spot ends, Robert O. quips “Hey, this lady just purchased a nice lot at Wilderness Rim” and goes right into Linda Ronstadt whose song opens cold with “Yes, and I’m now up to my neck in hot muddy water.” On a roll, he eyes the next commercial: one of those classic commercials where a current pop star sings about Coke. It ends with a recorded tag: “Sandy Posey Drinks Coke after Coke after Coke,” to which Robert O. mumbles “Yeah, but you oughta see her teeth.”
How can anyone take offense? Sandy has beautiful teeth. And, all’s quiet for the rest of the shift and the rest of the day.
But Monday morning, there’s an urgent call for an immediate meeting with Pat O’Day and the KJR GM. Turns out that Coke’s regional rep. was driving through Seattle Sunday morning, laughed so hard at the Wildnerness Rim bit, he almost drove off the freeway, and was glued to the radio to see what would happen next. “Coke rots your teeth” being his worst marketing nightmare, he wants “that DJ” fired or he’s pulling Coke’s $100K ad revenue from the station.
The meeting lasts two hours, by which time Robert O. figures scaring him to death is the purpose of the exercise, when suddenly it is all over and Dismissal is where it has led. By this time, other KJR staff have figured out what is going on. Instead of passing the hat for a going-away gift and presenting it to Robert O. on his way out the door, they hand him a telephone receiver instead. Being fairly astute, he knows enough to speak into it and is surprised to find Danny Holiday at the other end of the line.
Danny is PD of the newest call letters in town, KSND-1590, one of the first Oldies stations anywhere. On the spot, Robert O. is offered morning drive, with an apology for the low starting salary. In fact, it is $125/month more than KJR’s salary. Together with KJR severance, Coke has been very good to Robert O. this day. Before long, Dick Curtis hires Robert O. for afternoon drive on KOL, and the rest is history.
Few competitors realized just how little KJR paid as a starting salary. Even KRKO in Everett paid more.”
March 19, 2025 at QZVX
Jason Remington says:
In 2001, Gary Shannon posted a “Whatever Happened To” self-report…
“In case anyone is wondering what I’ve been up to for the past three or four other lifetimes, here’s a rundown for ya.
I left Seattle in the fall of 75…don’t ask me why? I ask myself that question just about every day of my life.
Anyway I landed in Atlanta as John Leader’s replacement at WQXI under Scott Shannon.
From the moment I got off the plane wearing my levis and flannel shirt I was asking myself this question: How am I going to fit into this “disco culture?”
So I drank my way through every bar on Peachtree street and when I burned out I decided to enter the 12 step program known as local record promotion with Elektra/Asylum in the summer of 78. That lasted about five years until they fiquared out that I was spending all of my expense money drinking my way through every bar in Nashville. Itwas at the moment that I was asking my self this question why is my life turning into a George Jones song? A bad George Jones song?
Next stop Miami…back in radio at a couple of stations…first an A.C. then a country station doing afternoon drive. Where’s my Spanish when I really need it?
I left Miami in 1985 to join Coyote Mc Cloud as a news/sidekick on Y-107 in Nashville
What am I doing in Nashville working with a guy named Coyote and why do I keep running into Scotty Brink….We were blown out after ten great years in which we both went thru our second divorce …I did two years at an oldies station doing mornings…
Finally in 1997 I left for Memphis to do News for Kix-106 with a morning show comprised of a redneck former cop and two
born again Baptists/a husband and wife team.
talk about dysfunctional..I’m doing news for
2 stations…the country and classic rocker..
Is this purgatory or is God paying me back for laughing at “Father Duffy” in a full body cast ordering another round at the Benbow Inn?”