Rob again…with a sidetrack from our usual radio timeline, to focus on the joys of overnight radio. When I got into commercial radio, 1420 WVJS was an AC (Adult Contemporary) station, with a heavy gold rotation, and even featured all oldies on what we called a “Solid Gold Weekend.” We were AM stereo (it sounded AWESOME) with an added bonus of being the audio on channel 8 of the cable television system. Cable was run in a building next door, by Century Communications. Many people would keep their TV’s on all night, listening to the music. When I was hired, I was put on the overnight shift Friday and Saturday nights. Friday I ran the Larry King Show from midnight to 2am, then got four hours live on the air. Saturday night, I got a whole 6 hours live, the longest air shift of anyone on staff.
In those days, Internet was non-existent, and people kept the studio phone lines busy. We had a “stoplight” style light in the control room for knowing when the phone was ringing. Green was for the extension within the building, for when someone in another office (such as Jane in the lobby) was calling. Yellow was the request line. Red was one we didn’t enjoy seeing, and that was the “Guide Line,” a phone number management called if they had a question or we did something wrong on the air. For added effect, Joe Lowe had his own two-way radio. If we heard “Unit 11 to AM,” we were really in for it.
As soon as I got out of ABC News at 5 minutes past the hour, I did the weather and played my first song. Often the phone would begin to ring, and we would get several calls each hour, well, for a while. They’d drop off around 3:00 or so, but I knew they were still out there as our towers flashed in the night. I would usually get tired around that time, but after a few drinks of a 30 cent bottle of Mountain Dew from the machine (“don’t bring it in the studio, put it out on the desk!”) I got a second wind and could last until 6. That’s when Paul Emmick came in (rest in peace, brother), his cereal in his hand and often dressed like he was headed for the beach. Sometimes he’d be in such a hurry he’d be carrying his shoes in his hand.
So back to 3am, when the calls would slow down. It was quiet, except for one loyal listener. It didn’t matter what kind of night we had, there was always Rocky. A cheerful woman, I would estimate in her 40’s at the time, would call and chat. She was friendly and funny, telling me what she’d been up to that week. She kept her mother company and listened to us often. Her favorite song was “Wildfire” by Michael Martin Murphey. She wouldn’t request it every time she called, but just in case, I memorized the cart number and wold have it on the side, ready to play. Like a few others, she became friends with about everyone on staff, especially the overnighters. I often wonder what happened to a few others I talked to in those lonely hours, the lights dimmed and the music up. There was Betty, who liked “Photograph” by Ringo Starr, Joe B., who liked songs like “All Right Now” by Free and “The Thrill is Gone” by B.B. King. Or Larry, who didn’t like to be recorded and put on the air, so he started talking before we could even answer the phone with “WVJS!” After I had moved on from Owensboro On The Air, on to WHIC and later Cromwell Media, I found out Rocky had passed away. Every time I hear the piano intro to “Wildfire” I think of her. How we made her night better with music, and how she made mine better with conversation. To Rocky and all the others who crossed our path, if even just on the telephone, I thank you for being there.
