10/31/2022 0 Comments Weatherbug chattanooga![]() I’m teaching math and stats for 5 universities: DeVry, UMary, South, Charter and Strayer, and because of Neil Kassabaum’s influence (we did some promotions on air together when he was at Ch. At WZPH, we play the same 10,000 songs over and over and over. I bought a small station in 2005, switched it to oldies rock ‘n’ roll, and started a world record TWO MILLION songs in a row! (no commercials ever! Just non-stop song after song) Liners include: Tampa stations measure non-stop music sweeps in months, WZPH measures them in years! and “Tampa radio stations play the same 500 songs over and over and over. That’s the spelling, too, but it is not pronounce drrrr. LOL I changed my name legally after I took a doctorate from FIU, Miami. Since then, I grew up, as Luther would put it. I was Charles Kirr, aka The Chucker in 1976. But first up, here’s 8 years of rock ‘n roll in 8 minutes from the Big 1150, Super Go: WGOW. In the near future, I’ll be posting a few highlight tapes from WFLI and KZ-106. Chattanooga received national attention from Billboard magazine as WGOW, WFLI and WDXB each tried to out-do the other in attracting teens and young adults, spending money and hiring talented deejays like never before. But for a few years in the 60s and 70s, Super Go was in the midst of an epic 3-way battle for listeners. Since the late 80s, AM-1150 has been largely talk, led by syndicated hosts like Rush Limbaugh. The logo was simple: little “w,” big “GO” and another little “w.” It took a while for his new station to catch up to the mighty “Jet-FLI,” but eventually it became quite a battle for listeners.īy the late 70s WGOW would leave teen-oriented top-40 music behind, going for an older audience after FM stations like KZ-106 captured the teen audience. WEATHERBUG CHATTANOOGA FREETed hired some rockin’ deejays, told them to start playing the current hits, and decided on the name “WGOW” because it would look good on billboards (and nobody had more free billboards at his disposal than Ted). Ted diversified his business interests by purchasing WAPO, which was a weak competitor to Luther’s WDEF at that time. He was based in Atlanta, but had attended high school in Chattanooga, and developed an interest in radio. In case you’re wondering, Ted bought the station in 1968, when he was running the family billboard business. Chickamauga Charlie (Bob Todd), Bill Scott (later Coyote McCloud in Atlanta and Nashville), Allen Dennis, Bill Burkett, Jack Diamond, Cleveland Wheeler, the Mojo Man, Chucker, Gene Michaels, Jim Pirkle, Tex Meyer, Ron Brandon, Happy Harry Nelson….just a few of the guys who worked at WGOW before heading to New York, Philadelphia, Detroit and XM Satellite Radio, among others. Most of the time, I made it, occasionally on time! Ted Turner owned WGOW at that time, and from 1969 until 1977, “Super Go” cranked out the hits, with some of the top deejays in the nation passing through the Big 1150 studios. each day, setting out on the 35-mile trip to WGOW, from the mountain to the valley, into the big city, through rain, snow, ice and fog. ![]() As any 20-year-old kid would do, I set out to prove to him that I could indeed arise at 4:00 a.m. Of course, my dad knew what he was doing. In fact, if there was no compelling reason to get up by 7:30, I’d turn over a few times and greet the day around 9:30 or until he yelled at me to get up and help out. He said I was incapable of getting up before 7:30, since I had never done that in my life. to go to work from now on, he said I should call WGOW and tell them they’d have to find someone else. When I told my dad that I’d be getting up at 4:00 a.m. As in, “Can you start Monday?” I was still living at home, helping out in the family store. (WDXB was very good too, but not very powerful, so I had to catch them during my infrequent visits to Chattanooga.) Many of the WFLI guys were, and still are local, so we’ve been friends for years, and I feel honored to have worked there for a year-and-a-half in my teens.Ī little later, I took a break to go to college for a couple of years, and soon WGOW needed a morning guy, quick. WFLI and WGOW were great stations back then, both booming into my little Alabama community. So I set out on my quest to be a top-40 rock ‘n roll deejay. “When I grow up,” I told him, “I want to be a disc jockey.” Luther paused and said, “Son, you can’t do both.” Of course he was right. ![]() Having decided at age 12 that I was going to be a broadcaster, I remember calling the great announcer Luther Masingill at home one night. ![]()
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