Old What's New Items

Here are items that used to appear in the "What's New" section on the Home Page.

March 23, 2008

Several WAKY text-based Top 10 lists from the 1970s have been copied from the 79WAKY.com Message Board to their own page. Our thanks to Max Highbaugh for transcribing the original image-based surveys.

February 17, 2008

We've added the December 14, 2007 Cincinnati Post article about Gary Burbank's WLW retirement here, plus the December 18, 2007 Cincinnati Enquirer Burbank retirement article here.

February 10, 2008

A great big Super 79 salute to John Frank, who has transcribed all of the image-based versions of the 1960s WAKY music surveys on this site to text. Not only does it let vision-impaired visitors enjoy the surveys using screen reading software, but everyone should be able to browse through the '60s surveys a lot quicker. We've saved them all in a single PDF file here. It's interesting to see all of the songs that made WAKY's Top 10 that today's oldies stations ignore.

December 27, 2007

Remember the "WAKY Radio Loves You" song from 1978? Download it here. A big thank you to Jon Wolfert at JAM Creative Productions for making it available. 

December 9, 2007

Thanks to David Cox for his memories of an early '60s visit to the WAKY studios and his meeting with the legendary Jumpin' Jack Sanders. Read it here.

December 6, 2007

'Tis the season to be WAKY! Get in the festive mood by downloading and listening to Dude Walker's and Weird Beard's late '60s Christmas shows here.

October 28, 2007

Another 790 WAKY vet guest jocks on WAKY-FM. Grab a scoped version of Chuck Jackson's two-hour October 11, 2007 appearance on the new WAKY here. Again, we thank Mike Griffin for his original recording expertise.

October 8, 2007

Nearly 30 years later, Tom Prestigiacomo was back on WAKY -- WAKY-FM that is. Download a scoped version of Tom's two-hour guest DJ spot on 103.5 WAKY on July 21, 2007 here. (Our appreciation to Mike Griffin for the original aircheck.)

October 2, 2007

Want to get a good taste of what the new WAKY sounds like? Check out the just-added scoped version of the first two hours of Johnny Randolph's July 23rd show. Find it at the bottom of this page. (Thanks to Mike Griffin for making the original recording.)

September 24, 2007

Read the September 22, 2007 Roger Moon Times-Mail feature article "WAKY: the soundtrack for many lives" here.

September 11, 2007

Thanks to Leonard Yates for the 1988 Courier-Journal Magazine piece on former WAKY DJ Gary Burbank (who will be retiring from his daily WLW radio show at the end of this year).

September 2, 2007

Check out the great collection of WAKY photos Robin Ballard sent us from 1966 and 1967.  We were so impressed we used it to try out a fancy-shmancy Flash-based image viewing applet.

August 19, 2007

On August 15, John Quincy visited the Elizabethtown, Kentucky studios of 103-5 WAKY and was given the opportunity to be an authentic WAKY DJ for two hours. See photos and download a scoped aircheck of his on-air appearance here.

August 10, 2007

A couple of more pictures from the "Gary Burbank Day" proclamation last month have been posted at the bottom of this page, as well as a WLW aircheck of the award presentation. Mucho gracias to WRKA's Gary Clark for passing it along.

August 6, 2007

Thanks to Robin Oldham and "Joe Mama" for sending us more WAKY Surveys (ranging from 1966 to 1976) and for the scan of the 1975 WAKY "Name It and Claim It" winner's postcard that now resides on our Promotional Materials Page.

August 2, 2007

July 20 was Gary Burbank Day in Louisville. That afternoon some folks from WRKA motored to Cincinnati's WLW to present Mr. Burbank with a proclamation from Louisville's mayor. Thanks to Gary Clark for the pic that now graces Photo Page 9.

July 12, 2007

There's a new page of WAKY photos, all from the Kentucky Home Life Building days. Thanks to Robert "Robin" Ballard for letting us scan these and share them with the world.

June 27, 2007

Two November 1968 pics of Weird Beard have been added to Photo Page 4. 

June 25, 2007

We've added a great aircheck of Weird Beard from November 1968, courtesy Mickey Lunsford. The music has been edited down, but nearly all of the commercials and newscasts were left intact.

June 22, 2007

How did Mason Lee Dixon explain "American Pie" to his WAKY listeners in late 1971? Download our newest MLD aircheck here and find out. A Super 79 thank you to Rob Kersting for making it available.

June 10, 2007

A WAKY Music Survey from November 15, 1972 has been posted. Thanks to Mickey Lunsford for sending the scan our way.

May 28, 2007

We've posted better-sounding copies of several WAKY Jingle Packages: CRC Series 8 and 10 (which we believe were the first jingles WAKY used), CRC Series 18, Tom Merriman's Keyed Acapellas, JAM's Raft Race & Free Picnic Customs, and JAM's You've Got It.

May 23, 2007

Wouldn't it be cool to hear from the first DJ on WAKY? It was! Download our audio interview with the man who helped launch a Louisville legend here.

See photos from WAKY 103.5's first day on Photo Page 19.

May 13, 2007

In case you missed the launch of the new 103-5 WAKY on May 11, you can download a scoped version of the first hour (which includes the last moments of WASE) here. Thanks to Mike Griffin for the original recording.

May 2, 2007

Several more 1963 WAKY Music Surveys are now online here, courtesy Mickey Lunsford.

April 29, 2007

Thanks to Bobby Ellis for the 1982 exterior photos of the WAKY (and WVEZ) studios, now found on Photo Page 19.

We've begun adding recent photos of WAKY on-air folks to their listings on the DJs Page.

April 28, 2007

Scans of WAKY music surveys from October 18, 1963 (thanks to Mickey Lunsford) and December 12, 1964 (thanks to Randy Davidson) have been added here.

April 25, 2007

A longer, more complete version of WAKY's 1980 TM Air Works jingles has been added to the Jingles Page, courtesy Bob Walker. These were pulled from a cassette and tweaked to sound as good as possible, but if anybody has a reel-to-reel copy (or the station master), please let us know.

April 17, 2007

We've added a site search function to the Website.

March 19, 2007

WFPK's March 8, 2007 edition of "Louisville's Lost and Found" spotlighted Tom Dooley and the Lovelights, complete with interviews with Tom and many band members. Download a scoped version of the show here. Our appreciation to WFPK's Duke Meyer for getting us a CD of the program.

March 14, 2007

A scoped version of WFPK's February 22, 2007 edition of "Louisville's Lost and Found" that featured an interview with Gary Burbank (along with some of his music) can be downloaded here. Thanks to Duke Meyer of WFPK for sending us a copy of the show.

February 21, 2007

An August 14, 1985 Vince Staten TV Scene blurb about Bob Moody leaving WAKY has been added to Bob's listing on the DJs Page. Thanks to Leonard Yates for sending it our way.

February 20, 2007

Our 2005 phone interview with Tom Dooley (who did two PM drive tours at WAKY) is now available here.

February 19, 2007

A February 27, 1982 Louisville Times article about WAKY's upcoming switch to all-oldies has been posted here. (Thanks to Leonard Yates for sending it our way.)

We also posted Joe Elliott's Summer 2006 Louisville Sun article about Johnny Randolph here.

February 18, 2007

A 1974 aircheck of Byron Thomas doing the news on the Lee Gray show can be downloaded here. We appreciate Byron sending it in.

February 14, 2007

We added a photo of the WAKY airstaff from early 1982 to Photo Page 17, thanks to Leonard Yates.

February 11, 2007

After WAKY's short-lived Beautiful Music format (which launched in 1986) came another format that didn't last too long: WAKY Country. Thanks to Jim Barks, you can download an aircheck of the automated format's final day: February 28, 1988 here.

February 8, 2007

Just added: a great-quality BJ Koltee aircheck from September 10, 1982.

February 5, 2007

A newspaper ad for WAKY's 1972 Haunted House has been placed on the Promotional Materials Page. Thanks to Leonard Yates for finding and scanning it.

January 12, 2007

We posted a photo of the tape box that contained WAKY's 1972 PAMS jingles, as well as scan of the PAMS cue sheet. Find them here.

January 8, 2007

Thanks to Tim Tyler for the great photo of the WAKY management and sales department from December 1967. It's found a home on Photo Page 2.

December 20, 2006

Better quality copies of WAKY's CRC Series 8, 10 and 13 jingles are now on the Jingles Page.

December 18, 2006

Jingle all the way! Thanks to Santa (alias Mark Travis) for providing WAKY's 1968 Tom Merriman custom acapellas and 1977 JAM "You've Got It" jingles, plus some WAKY moog synthesizer logos (date unknown). Find them on the Jingles Page.

December 15, 2006

Additional WAKY Surveys from 1972, 1974 and 1975, thanks to WAKY alum Darrell Douglas.

November 28, 2006

We've partnered up with RadioLogoLand to offer t-shirts and other goodies with the WAKY logo on them. Proceeds from all purchases (whether it's a WAKY item or from another classic Top 40 station) go towards the upkeep of this Website and its associated expenses. There's one catch though. In order for us to get credit, you need to get to their site through the links on ours.

November 14, 2006

We've posted a two-minute composite of Louisville's present day 790 AM, WKRD, at the bottom of this page. Thanks to WKRD PD Jim Fenn for sharing it with us.

November 10, 2006

The CRC jingle montage we posted on October 26 has been split up into four pieces, based upon series number. Thanks to jingle guru Don Worsham for helping us identify which jingle went to which package.

October 30, 2006

See the Kentucky Monthly September 2006 mention of the WAKY-WKLO reunion here in PDF format.

Another Mark Travis contribution is the early '60s "When WAKY Music Ends, WAKY Music Begins" stager voiced by Bob Russell.

October 29, 2006

Two more items from the Mark Travis stash of goodies have been posted in our brand new WAKY Miscellaneous Audio section of the Jingles Page. Casey Kasem gives props to WAKY and two of its employees in 1977, and Karl Shannon records Paul Stanley, Livingston Gilbert and Ken Rowland.

October 28, 2006

Here's another gem from Mark Travis. This "raw" tape from the WAKY Production Room showcases the frustration of Chuck Jackson trying to get 75 seconds of "Sight & Sound" copy down to 60 seconds. Find it in the Commercials Section of the Jingles Page.

October 26, 2006

Wow! What a find! We just posted a 16-minute montage of some of the earliest jingles WAKY aired. We don't know the exact years WAKY used them, but since the original pilot packages were first marketed by CRC between 1958 and 1960, we'd say these sounds are definitely vintage McLendon-era WAKY audio. 

October 25, 2006

Johnny Randolph interviews Donny Osmond! Download this 1974 behind-the-scenes-at-WAKY nugget here. Thanks to WHAS' Mark Travis for sending this our way.

October 22, 2006

We've added WAKY music surveys from 1967, 1968, 1971, 1972 and 1973.

October 6, 2006

We're fortunate to have many scans of WAKY music surveys on this Website, but viewing them is a problem for the vision-impaired. So we've begun to post text-based surveys, which can be enjoyed by those with screen-reading software.

October 3, 2006

WAKY newsman "Billy Bob" McQuage checks in with 79WAKY.com. Read his story here.

October 1, 2006

Download Max Highbaugh's recent audio interview with Bill Bailey here.

Thanks to Ron Lake, we have another page of 2006 WAKY-WKLO Reunion photos.

We've added .zip files of freshly scanned 1975 and 1976 WAKY Music Surveys, plus added more scans to the 1974 Music Survey .zip file. Thanks to Clyde Williams III for letting us borrow the surveys to scan.

September 27, 2006

Gerry Cunningham has contributed a tasty 1971 Mason Lee Dixon aircheck, recorded during one of WAKY's famous "Name It and Claim It" weekends.

September 23, 2006

Two new photos have been added to the Bill Bailey Visitors Gallery.

September 9, 2006

Thanks to Chris Lundy for the new pics that grace Photos Pages 3, 4 and 9.

August 29, 2006

Yet another page of 2006 WAKY-WKLO Reunion photos has been added, thanks to pics Penny Whitaker and Coyote Calhoun sent us.

We also posted another video tribute...this one to Dude Walker. A big Super 79 "attaboy" to Kevin Bratcher for more excellent production work.

August 27, 2006

We've posted a scoped aircheck of the recent WFPK "Louisville's Lost and Found" show that featured interviews with Johnny Randolph and Tim Tyler.

August 23, 2006

Check out our first video from the 2006 WAKY-WKLO reunion, courtesy of Kevin Bratcher and the Louisville Sun.

August 22, 2006

Thanks to Leonard Yates you can hear The Hiney Wine Song played on WAKY in the early '80s.

August 20, 2006

Find out what happened to Chris Lundy (WAKY's midday man between 1969 and 1972) on the DJs Page.

August 19, 2006

The eighth page of 2006 WAKY-WKLO Reunion photos has been added.

August 16, 2006

We've added another page of 2006 WAKY-WKLO Reunion photos.

August 15, 2006

There's another new page here: The WAKY Video Page. You can stream or download vintage videos of the Super 79 that feature Bill Bailey, Reed Yadon, Mike McVay, Bobby Hatfield and Darrell Douglas. 

August 13, 2006

Check out the new 2006 WAKY-WKLO Reunion Publicity Media Page. There you can see and hear interviews that ran in the days leading up to the Reunion. Thanks to Mike Griffin for his assistance.

August 12, 2006

Scans of a 1968 WAKY rate card have been added to the Promotional Materials Page, thanks to former WAKY salesman Biggs Tabler.

Want to see what is was like to get a memo from a WAKY PD? Check out the 1983 Bob Moody memo here.

Read Byron Crawford's August 2, 2006 Courier-Journal column about his WAKY remembrances and the then-upcoming 2006 WAKY-WKLO Reunion here.

August 10, 2006

More pictures have been added to 2006 Reunion Photo Pages 5 and 6.

We've upgraded the sound quality of WAKY's 1969 "Is Paul Dead?" special. Thanks to Bob Todd for letting us make a digital copy from his master reel.

Bob also gave us two other great WAKY audio items: A November '69 aircheck of Skinny Bobby Harper -- plus our first ever Bob Todd WAKY aircheck, as Bob kicks off the March 1969 "Battle of the Giants" promotion.

August 9, 2006

Now we have six pages of 2006 Reunion Photos online.

Thanks to Bob Moody for the four new pics at the bottom of Photo Page 18, and to Len King for the new one on Photo Page 19.

August 8, 2006

We've revamped the 2006 WAKY-WKLO Reunion Page and so far have two pages of 2006 Reunion Photos.

August 1, 2006

Thanks to Ron Lake for May 1976 airchecks of Johnny Randolph and Coyote Calhoun. We scoped out the songs but left in all the promos, news (from Woody Stiles) and commercials.

July 26, 2006

Check out the new photo of Bob Moody and Gary Burbank on Photo Page 19.

July 25, 2006

Near the end of its life, WAKY utilized satellite-fed Transtar Oldies Channel programming during some dayparts. Hear how it sounded in August 1986 here. (Thanks to Bruiser for this aircheck.)

July 14, 2006

Read Joe Elliott's Louisville Sun article about WAKY and Johnny Randolph here.

July 8, 2006

New pictures have been added to Photo Page 19.

Download the July 7, 2006 WFPL "State of Affairs" show with Allen Bryan, Mike Griffin, Mason Lee Dixon and John Quincy here. Thanks to Mike Griffin for rolling the aircheck.

July 6, 2006

Snag our 2005 interview with WAKY newsman (!969-1971) Mike Summers here.

July 5, 2006

We've had a 2001 Gary Burbank audio interview online for a while. Now we're delighted to add the one we did in 2005. Download it here.

July 4, 2006

Celebrate Independence Day with our audio interview with one of the most independent ex-WAKY jocks we know: Mason Lee Dixon. Find it here.

June 27, 2006

You want even more audio interviews? You got 'em! Our 2005 conversations with Coyote Calhoun and Lee Masters have been added here.

June 26, 2006

And the audio interviews keep on coming! Download our 2005 conversations with WAKY's Chuck Jackson and Len King here.

June 25, 2006

Audio interviews with WAKY's Bob Moody and Jason O'Brian have been posted. Get 'em here.

June 24, 2006

Download our 2005 audio interviews with the two guys who did middays at WAKY through most of the '70s: Dude Walker and Gary King. Find those interviews and more here.

June 20, 2006

Jack Sanders' ex-brother-in-law Tom Kennedy has contributed an excellent essay about Jack. Read it here.

June 15, 2006

Thanks again to Mike Harpring for more 1966 and 1967 WAKY music surveys.

June 9, 2006

We've posted scoped versions of all four hours of Terry Young's April, 2006 XM Radio WAKY Tribute. Thanks to Gary Clark for providing the original recording.

June 3, 2006

Former WAKY Promotions Director Penny Whitaker just send us a bunch of great photos. Some are better-quality versions of images already on the site, while others are brand new. Find them on Photo Pages 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 and the Promotional Materials page.

June 1, 2006

Thanks to Leonard Yates for our two latest WAKY airchecks -- including our first of Bill Purdom (with Leonard as guest DJ). The other has Leonard playing "The Name Game" on Fourth Street Countdown in '83.

May 19, 2006

We've added two new pics to Photo Page 7, compliments of Dude Walker.

May 9, 2006

Mike Griffin just found some old WAKY photos and so graciously shared them with us. They're posted on Photo Pages 5, 6 and 8.

May 4, 2006

Thanks to Mike Harpring we've added a bunch of 1964, 1965 and 1966 music surveys.

May 1, 2006

We have a winner in the WAKY Oldie Contest. Find out who walks away with the $79 prize and what the answers are here.

April 23, 2006

The folks running Louisville's 790-AM in 1988 gave up the WAKY call letters in favor of WVEZ-AM. In 1989, the call letters -- and format -- were changed again. Read the 1989 Courier-Journal article about about the switch. (A Super 79 thank-you to Rob Calhoun for furnishing it.)

April 14, 2006

We've launched a page for the 2006 WAKY-WKLO Reunion.

Thanks to Karl Shannon for contributing several photos. You'll see pictures of WAKY billboards here, a photo of Lee Masters on the air here, and a photo of the main WAKY production room in the early '70s here.

April 7, 2006

The audio version of Max Highbaugh's interview with Bill Bailey and Dude Walker can now be downloaded here.

April 5, 2006

Max Highbaugh's photos of his April 1 visit with Bill Bailey and Mr. and Mrs. Dude Walker have been added here.

April 4, 2006

Thanks to Max Highbaugh for putting together an excellent piece about his April 1 visit with Dude and the Duke.

April 3, 2006

Dude Walker and Max Highbaugh visited Bill Bailey this past weekend. See photos here.

April 2, 2006

We've created a dedicated page for WAKY Promotional Material. (It had been part of the Surveys Page.) Thanks to former WAKY Promotions and Continuity Director Penny Whitaker for more photos of WAKY goodies.

April 1, 2006

Chances are that if you're viewing this Website, you're interested in Louisville's Top 40 radio history. One of the best pieces we've seen on that subject is a March 1971 Louisville Scene feature. Thanks to Leonard Yates, we're delighted to offer it here.

March 31, 2006

Thanks to Penny Whitaker for providing new pics for Photo Page 15 and the Promotional Materials Page.

March 29, 2006

Now available: The WAKY 1958-1970 Screen Saver...and it's free. All 32-bit versions of Windows are supported.

March 28, 2006

We've added new and upgraded pictures to Photo Pages 1, 2, 3 and 13, compliments of Bob Watson. You'll also find scans of a nifty early '60s WAKY Program Schedule on the Promotional Materials Page.

March 26, 2006

New pics have been added to Photo Pages 6, 8, 12, 13 and 15. (They came from negatives Bob Moody rescued from the WAKY dumpster in the mid-80s.)

March 24, 2006

Bill Bailey's retirement plans come true! Well, sort of...

New pictures have been added to Photo Page 17.

March 23, 2006

Thanks to Leonard Yates for providing our first 1980 WAKY Music Survey.

March 22, 2006

We've made it easier for you to see the 1977 film of Bill Bailey and Reed Yadon doing the WAKY morning show live from a listener's home. It's now offered two ways: in streaming RealAudio format and in higher quality downloadable Windows Media format.

March 16, 2006

We've just posted an aircheck of Bob Moody doing WAKY's very first Saturday night edition of Fourth Street. (Count the number of songs you never hear on your local oldies station anymore.) Thanks to Gil Herbig, Jr. for providing the unscoped version of this 'check.

March 12, 2006

Two photos have been posted on the Promotional Materials Page: a 1967 QSL card and a late '70s WAKY Bill Bailey coffee mug, compliments of Jim Nall.

March 8, 2006

Thanks to Leonard Yates, we added three more WAKY surveys (one from '72 and two from '73) to the Surveys Page. We also moved some of the pictures of promotional items from various Photo Pages to the Promotional Materials Page.

March 7, 2006

We've completed reorganizing the Photo Pages so the sequence of their contents makes more sense (to us anyway).

March 2, 2006

Find out the secret of the famous WAKY shout from the man who helped create it. Was it really done in WAKY's production room, or did it come from one of Dallas' jingle mills?

Read our Q&A with a loyal WAKY fan growing up in Southern Indiana in the 70s: Jackie & WAKY.

February 26, 2006

New airchecks have been posted of Bill Bailey, Coyote Calhoun, Bob Moody and Keith Landecker, all thanks to Mr. Moody's recent garage cleaning. We've also begun reorganizing our Airchecks Page, setting up special aircheck pages for Bill Bailey, Gary Burbank, Coyote Calhoun, Mason Lee Dixon, Lee Masters, Johnny Randolph, Dude Walker, Bob Watson and Weird Beard.

February 20, 2006

New photos have been added to the Bill Bailey Visitors Gallery.

February 10, 2006

We received a nice note from WAKY News Director (1980-1982) Glen Bastin. Find it under his listing on the DJs Page.

February 9, 2006

How did those pesky commercials get produced at the Super 79? Read our Q&A with WAKY's Production Director between 1971 and 1977, Mike Griffin.

February 8, 2006

New pictures have been added to Photo Page 18 and we now have a Photo Page 19 and a Photo Page 20. Plus...new and upgraded photos have been added to some of the other Photo Pages.

February 7, 2006

We've added an audio interview with Bill Graham, who was as a WAKY news reporter and anchor in the mid-70s and eventually replaced Reed Yadon as News Director and Bill Bailey's morning sidekick. Bill divulges the inner workings of the WAKY news department and shares his memories of some of the WAKY folks he worked with...including the Duke of Louisville.

February 6, 2006

Check out the new Tim Tyler aircheck from 1980. Tim did a one-shot guest DJ spot on WAKY's oldies show, "Fourth Street Sunday Night" complete with old jingles, stories and the songs that made WAKY famous in the '60s. Thanks to Bob Moody for making this available.

February 5, 2006

We reorganized the Features Page, which will hopefully make similar items easier to find.

February 4, 2006

New pictures have been added. Find them on Photo Page 17 and the brand spankin' new Photo Page 18.