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Carl Blanton

WLRS-FM (3,000 watt progressive rock station), Louisville, KY; Air name: "Carl" (We only used our first names); Employed from October 1970-April 1972; Air shifts: Began working weekdays from noon-6 pm, switched to morning drive 6 am-11 am, and hated it. Moved to overnight shift 1 am-6 am; Reason for leaving: Drafted in US Army.

Interesting story: Program Director Steve Parker (real name Steve Avery) liked to draw cartoon characters and created the "Walrus" that became the mascot for WLRS. LRS stood for "Louisville Radio School", but it was later tagged as "Louisville's Rock Station." We could only play albums, because you couldn't switch the turntable speed from 33 to 45 unless you lifted it up from the console and slid the belt up to the 45 speed position. Therefore, several of us (including me) used to take the 45 rpm demo records and throw them off the balcony of the 800 Building as Frisbees!

From April 1972 through April 1974 I served as a Broadcast Specialist in US Army at Ft. Bragg, NC. Responsible for recording weekly music show titled "Insight" that was aired on WFBS, Spring Lake, NC; WFAI, Fayetteville, NC; WIDU, Fayetteville, NC; WFLB, Fayetteville, NC; WFNC, Fayetteville, NC; and WSHB, Raeford, NC.

WQSM-FM (50,000 watt country station), Fayetteville, NC; Air name: Carl Edwards; Employed from June 1972-April 1974; Airshift: Weeknights 7 pm-9 pm and weekends noon-6 pm (while serving in Army); Reason for leaving: Finished tour in the Army.

WFNC-AM (100,000 watt rock station), Fayetteville, NC; Air name: Mark Stevens; Employed from 1973-1974; Airshift: Weekends 6 pm-midnight.

Interesting story: I worked at WQSM on Saturdays from noon till 6 pm under the name of Carl Edwards, and at 6 pm on Saturdays, I would walk across the hall to WFNC and work 6pm-midnight under the name of Mark Stevens. I don't think anyone ever figured it out that Carl Edwards and Mark Stevens were one and the same. I also remembered getting a death threat at WFNC from some redneck because I played "Society's Child" by Janis Ian. It made me so mad, I cued it up and played it again after the dude hung up from threatening me.

WXVW-AM (1,000 watt oldies station), Jeffersonville, IN; Air name: Christopher Michael Stone; Employed from 1974-1975; Air shift: 10 am - 2 pm and moved to midnight to 6 am after marrying the the overnight deejay (Kathy Leary) live on the air. (I took her shift. We divorced two years later.); Reason for leaving: Accepted employment as a radio dispatcher for a non-broadcasting company.

WINN-AM (1,000 watt country station), Louisville, KY; Air name: Jason Williams; Employed from October 1977-September 1979; Air shift: Started as part-time jock working overnights on weekends; later moved to full-time overnights from 2 am to 6 am; Reason for leaving: Got married and enrolled in college full-time.

Interesting note: New management came in and fired everyone except for me. I stayed for a little while longer, but couldn't stand the consultant who was running the station. I won't give his real name, but he was nicknamed "Goats Breath". The last song I played on the air was "Take This Job and Shove It." I was half way home before the song ended!

I began working in video production at American Commercial Lines from 1982 through 2004 producing and narrating training videos. I also produced and edited weekly TV show "Let's Go Racing" for Louisville Motor Speedway from 1987-2000. I joined WKJK-FM (Real Country 98.9) in 1994 as a weekend board operator. WKJK switched to an Adult Standards format and later became Talk Radio WKJK 1080. Moved to 84WHAS in 2000 as a part-time producer and still work there. I'm also employed full-time at the Louisville Water Company as the Director for Organizational Effectiveness.

Scott Goettel

My first time on radio: November 30th, 1980, on a WWKK (K-105 FM) show called "Sittin' In".

I remained part-time (weekends and some weeknight fill-ins) till I went full-time on WSAC 1470 AM (K105's sister station) in August 1981. I did the 6-10 am morning show for about one year, then went to middays 10 am-2 pm, then shortly after did afternoons 2-6 pm.

July 1983: Went to work part-time
at WRKA while still remaining full-time at WSAC. (I left WRKA in March or April 1984.)

January 1984: Became program director for WSAC (upon departure of PD Ron Davidson, whose on air name was Ron David), and I once again went back to mornings 6-10 am, on what was now a simulcast of both WWKK and WSAC on FM and AM. (They simply called it "K105-15 SAC".) But at 10 am WWKK and WSAC would split and go back to their own separate broadcasts for the rest of the day and night.

April 1984: Bill Walters and Mike Baldwin bought WSAC and WWKK and sold the AM frequency, so now WWKK 105.5 was renamed "The All New WSAC 105-and-a-half FM". I asked, "Why not call it WSAC 105.5 FM, or WSAC 105 FM?" but was told by Bob Craft (the new PD at the time) that they wanted to try and keep the identity away from sounding like it might still be "K105 FM". Thus, they chose to use "one-oh-five- and-a-half FM. I was kept on as assistant PD and to do the midday shift 11 am till 5 pm.

July 1984: While still working full-time at the "all new WSAC", I was hired to do a weekend shift at THE radio station I had always dreamed of working: 84 WHAS. I remained at both WSAC and 84 WHAS until the end of April 1985, when I was hired to evenings (7 pm-12 midnight) at 79 WAKY. I really hated to give up my 84 WHAS weekend gig, but the PD at 84 WHAS (Denny Nugent) was very glad for me to have gotten the full-time gig at WAKY, and he said that though he hated to lose me as an employee, I could not work for the two competing radio stations (WAKY and WHAS) at the same time. I certainly understand that!

May 1985: I worked the evening shift on WAKY from May through July 1985, when I was asked if I'd like to do afternoons on WVEZ, as they were going to now have live morning and afternoon jocks. So, from August 1985 through March 1986, I was on what was then called "FM 107 WVEZ -- light and easy". At the end of March 1986, WVEZ went to an automated format (it was called Format 41), and I, along with several others, including former WSAC newsman Sam Stephens, lost our jobs that day.

April 1986: Began doing mornings (5:45 am-11 am) on 14 WIEL, and remained on mornings until March 1987 (when Greg Laha left WIEL to join the Air Force). I also became PD and moved to the afternoon shift, and Mark Stahr was hired to do mornings.

May 1986: Went back to work part-time at WRKA, while still remaining full-time at WIEL. I left WRKA around July 1986 to concentrate on WIEL duties.

August 1986: While I had sworn to myself that I would not work another part-time job at the same time that I was employed full-time, 84 WHAS had another opening on the weekend, and it was something I just could not pass up. I saw this as an opportunity to get back on with the radio station that one day I was determined I would be employed at full-time, and as I found out, dreams do indeed come true! In September 1987, I was offered the job of production director for 84 WHAS, and I remained there in that position until the end of November 2007, when Clear Channel Radio had another "reduction of work forces"...and that's okay. I firmly believe that when one door closes, God always opens a better one!

I said it before, and I'll say it again...my dream came true...I got to work for 84 WHAS for a little over 21 years, and if I had it all to do over again, I would do it!

And now...I look eagerly to what the future has in store. I currently still do TV and radio commercial voiceovers, and I just know in addition that something wonderful is straight ahead too!

Scott now is doing production at WQXE in Elizabethtown.

Jerry Leitzell and friend today

Jerry Leitzell

Hello everyone! I have much enjoyed viewing, reading and listening to John Quincy's historic data on LKYRadio.com. As John requested, here's some info on me, too.

I hold a bachelor's degree from St. Procopius College (now Illinois Benedictine University) and a master's degree with a scholarship from Loyola University Chicago.

Before joining WHAS News full-time in the summer of 1975, I served seven years as an English professor at the University of Kentucky's Elizabethtown Community College.

A few years ago, Kentucky's largest circulation weekly newspaper published a profile of me that summarized my 1974 entry into broadcast news. Titled "Former newsman [is] media contact for Knox schools," Turret staff writer C.J. Gregory wrote:

Most parents are likely familiar with the faculty members and administrators at the Fort Knox Community Schools attended by their children.

But they probably aren't familiar with the man who's in charge of all communication involving the school system and varied on and off post organizations and media.

Although Jerry Leitzell has been involved in the Fort Knox schools for more than a decade, his career in the media began much earlier, quite by accident.

Leitzell, who was teaching English at Elizabethtown Community College at the time, recalled that his news career began by simply listening to the radio.

"I was listening to the newscaster on the radio," he explained, noting how awful the broadcast was. "It was full of errors, mainly mispronunciations."

He could have laughed it off or turned the channel. But the erroneous newscast made such a negative impression on Leitzell that he did what many people wouldn't even think of -- he called the station and offered to do it better.

"I can do the news better than that," he told the manager at WQXE in Elizabethtown.

Following a quick audition, the station manager offered him the early morning and late-night news broadcasts.

He parlayed his early success into a stint as news manager at the station before moving on to Louisville radio at powerful 50,000-watt clear channel WHAS.

At WHAS, from 1975-80, I worked as a reporter, anchor, producer, and then managing editor.

Each year, stories produced by WHAS radio news staff, led by Director Glen Bastin, drew national attention. Among them:

1975 - Major anti-busing disturbances following federal court-ordered school desegregation in Jefferson County, Kentucky.
1976 - Twin coal mine explosions at the Scotia Mine in Letcher County, Oven Fork, Kentucky. 26 miners died.
1977 - The Beverly Hills Supper Club fire in Newport, Kentucky that killed 165 people and injured scores more.
1978 - The "Great Blizzard" that struck the Ohio Valley.
1979 - Kentucky's coldest winter, which produced freezing of the mighty Ohio River.

These stories, and many others, WHAS radio news staff also aired on CBS, NBC (via WNNS-FM), and other national news broadcast outlets.

I left WHAS in January 1980 to accept a new position as Director of Corporate Training in the Bingham family-owned media companies.

In 1981, I resigned from the Bingham Companies to join Creative Video Productions, working with two former WHAS executives (the General Manager and a Sales Executive).

Later, I returned to radio news, re-joining Glen Bastin, then WAKY's News Director. Glen recommended me for my next position as Humana's Corporate Community Relations Manager.

On weekends, I also worked as producer of WLKY TV 32 News. (My most memorable program led with the live remote broadcast at Louisville's airport the day President Reagan fired the air traffic controllers.)

For the past 16 years, I have held several supervisory positions within the Fort Knox School System, including Director of Technology, Director of Instruction, and Director of Communications. Currently, I am Administrative Officer, representing the school system's interests with faculty, staff, parents, the media, the military, and Headquarters.

Lou Kloufetos

I worked at WXVW in Jeffersonville, Indiana in 1984 and 1985 as a fill-in board op and announcer mostly on weekends under my real name, Lou Kloufetos. For whatever it is worth my real career as a part-timer didn't begin until 1995 when I worked for WXVW and WAVG when they were both in Jeffersonville. Now there is only WAVG 1450. I was a board op and announcer working weekends and running the board for sports. Also I was at 790 WWKY doing the same thing in 1997 and 1998, WRKA for about six months in 1996 and WFIA AM-900 from 1998 to 2000 and worked Sunday mornings only. I forgot to mention I worked at WLRS FM-102 from January to September 1997 as a board operator on Sunday mornings.

Dave McCree

I was on WHAS 84 in Louisville from 1970 to 1973. I had the overnight position for almost three years. Then, was moved to 12p-3p position for about three months, until I gave an interview to a Louisville Courier Journal writer for an article on my show. Program Director, Hugh Barr, didn’t like it because I was quoted to say "that I had to tiptoe through the tulips" while talking with the listeners on the air.

I moved to Little Rock in May of 1973 to work as air personality and program director of two stations (KMYO-AM and KMYO-FM). During my first month on the air as a personality, I received a phone call from Dick Marendt. He told me that he was previously working on the air at WAVE, Louisville during the same years I was at WHAS radio. He had moved to Little Rock one month before I did. He was employed by KARN radio, Little Rock as Production Manager until the mid '70s and then opened a recording studio with Clyde Snyder, now called A.R.C.A. Studios.

Since then, I’ve kept my hand in the media while doing freelance radio and TV commercials around the country. Plus, my friend Jim Davidson (a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist) and I have had a five minute syndicated motivational and personal development radio program called "How To Plan Your Life" from 1977 until the present. However, now I make my living as an account executive with Clear Channel Radio, Little Rock.

I graduated from Emerson College, Boston in April 1967. Started at WHMP radio, Northampton, Mass. on May 1st, 1967 as evening air personality. Moved on to WARE, Mass. in 1968 as air personality. Then, in 1968 I moved to WCCW Traverse City, Michigan for the coldest winter of my life (Nov.1 968 to April 1969 ...36 below zero when I came in at 5 a.m. to turn the defrosters on the transmitter). Brrrr.

An opportunity opened at WOOD radio and TV in Grand Rapids, Michigan in April '69, so I took it. I was the evening radio 7-10 personality and also weekend weatherman on WOOD-TV. I had a chance to go to WHAS Louisville in February 1970, and you know the rest of the story.

For more history about Louisville on-air personnel, check out
the 79WAKY.com DJs Page and the 1080WKLO.com DJs Page.

Did you work on the air in Louisville before 1990?