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. “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. I mean, he’s Luther.
So I set out on my quest to be a top-40 rock ‘n roll deejay. WFLI and WGOW were great stations back then, both booming into my little Alabama community. (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.
A little later, I took a break to go to college for a couple of years, and soon WGOW needed a morning guy, quick. As in, “Can you start Monday?” I was still living at home, helping out in the family store. When I told my dad that I’d be getting up at 4:00 a.m. to go to work from now on, he said I should call WGOW and tell them they’d have to find someone else. He said I was incapable of getting up before 7:30, since I had never done that in my life. 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.
Of course, my dad knew what he was doing. 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. 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. 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. 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.
In case you’re wondering, Ted bought the station in 1968, when he was running the family billboard business. He was based in Atlanta, but had attended high school in Chattanooga, and developed an interest in radio. Ted diversified his business interests by purchasing WAPO, which was a weak competitor to Luther’s WDEF at that time. Ted 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). 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.
By 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. Since the late 80s, AM-1150 has been largely talk, led by syndicated hosts like Rush Limbaugh. But for a few years in the 60s and 70s, Super Go was in the midst of an epic 3-way battle for listeners. 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. In the near future, I’ll be posting a few highlight tapes from WFLI and KZ-106. But first up, here’s 8 years of rock ‘n roll in 8 minutes from the Big 1150, Super Go: WGOW.
Always love reading your blogs, comments and updates on Radio and also TV.
I haven’t bought Luther’s new book that was written about him as yet, but plan on getting it soon.
Love you, David. Thank you for being David Carroll.
David,I loved hearing all of the greats! What memories! I attended last year’s TRHoF banquet when Luther was honored and my guest for the event was Cleveland’s former wife of 12 years, Cindy. I am going to keep this handy to enjoy again and again! It was amazing how many of the WGOW broadcasters I remembered…as if only yesterday! When I was going to Brainerd High, WGOW came to our school as the special event of the week. What a great sound and a great station! You sound great, buddy! What fun we all had back in the day! -Jackie
What great memories! Great to hear you, David Carroll, from way back when. Also, so great to hear Chickamauga Charlie again. I wish I could listen to this all day………..like I used to do.
I worked at WGOW, “the rock of Chattanooga” in 1971 and 1972…air name was Jack Daniels…PDs Tex Meyer and Ronnie Ronnie Brandon. Midnight -6 AM. I got the job because I had a “1st phone” It was cheaper than paying an engineer and on-air talent. Oh the summer of ’72 brings back so many memories. Ted Turner was determined to make WGOW #1. We were giving away $10,000 a day during the ratings period…BTW Chickamauga Charlie worked for WDXB around that time…
Hi David!
Great presentation!
I was Charles Kirr, aka The Chucker in 1976.
Since then, I grew up, as Luther would put it. LOL I changed my name legally after I took a doctorate from FIU, Miami.
My legal first name is Dr. That’s the spelling, too, but it is not pronounce drrrr.
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. At WZPH, we play the same 10,000 songs over and over and over.
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. 9—OH! Remember Dr. Shock? Same.) so I’m studying Meteorology…and working also for The Weatherbug.com.
I’d love to converse with you, David, and anyone else:
drdrdocthayer@gmail.com
OH THE MEMORIES I Radio was so great then, I was there when we gave away the shark. Chucker I remember working with you and wondered where you wound up. Catch me on facebook “Max O’Brian Templeton”.
Really fun to hear. I remember trying to break into the business and just dropping by WGOW with my newly minted air check from the recording studio of WCLE in Cleveland. It was worse than terrible. I talked to Tex Meyer, of course he passed on hiring me. I relayed that story to him decades later when he was my GM in VA. Also, fun to hear the Fed Winston sweepers. Somewhere on reel to reel I have a copy of a copy (of a copy) of the sweeper reel Fred did from maybe 1975-1976?? Fred: “WGOW, Chattanooga with Ronnie Ronnie Brandon, what kind of a f*****g name is that ?!? HA HA HHAaa. Uh, I’ll do yours over Ronnie Ronnie.” Still makes me laugh.
I used to have that Fred Winston reel! If you ever find it, let me know, and I’ll make some CD copies.
David, this was wonderful to read, then to listen to and watch! There are so many people I knew through other markets who worked at WGOW; I’d forgotten that connection, though my WGOW time was much later. And then it was much later again! You do such a good job and give so much to all the radio people and listeners. How nice that Nick Archer posted this for anyone who missed it a few years ago.
I never see Sean Conrad mentioned although he was my favorite DJ in the early 70s on WGOW. My friends and I even started a fan club for him. Why is he never mentioned on any of these—just curious.
He was very good, I remember him well. Believe me, if I can find any existing audio tape of him, I’ll add it!