To
add your memories, send me an email: emm755@mizzou.edu |
| KCCS
1964-65 Posted by Mike Robertson. The years: 1964 and 1965. Yes, believe that if you can. 1964?? Was there even a radio station then? No. But that's the year it was being birthed, by two excellent and dedicated undergrads ... I just wish I could recall their names. Both great friends who happened to live in my dorm here at MU. I was a lowly freshman. But I was in love with radio and was determined to get on the air. So I followed these two organizing geniuses around like a puppy with my tongue hanging out. They also had real babes for girlfriends. As it turned out, one of them ended up marrying one my girlfriends of that period ... But that's another story. They worked out all the tangles with the student council, who funded the new station, and by (I'm pretty sure, by late '64 or early '65, KCCS went on the air for the first time. I was there. I was a DJ, mostly on Saturday mornings and some evening shifts. My show was all classical music, and my theme music was the Jupiter Suite from Holst's "Planets Symphony". Yeah, I know. Times change. People change. Now I produce ambient electro tracks and own a recording studio here in Columbia Missouri. I was with the station right up until my fourth semester, when I received a nasty note from MU's administration announcing that my grade point was too low to return for another year. Why? One reason: radio. I lived it, I breathed it, I slept in the air room (well...) it was all I wanted to do, which meant I didn't do a lot of homework that last semester. But boy did I learn a lot about radio! |
| KCCS
late '60s Lou Bloom: "I remember at one point we were considering a call change to KZOU, and to pass out kazoos as a hype. I'm glad we didn't." |
| KCOU
circa 1973-75 Tom Lange (GM 1973), now Tom Leeseberg-Lange, remembers: "The most requested songs at KCOU from 1973 to 1975 (and abhorred by almost every jock on the staff) in all probability were: 1. Funeral for A Friend 2. Freebird 3. Stairway to Heaven 4. Golden Country, REO Speedwagon Just remember, the next generation will probably gag on your favorite music, too, so be kind." |
| KCOU
mid-70's Carl Oberfranc: Top 10 favorite KCOU memories from the mid-'70s: 10.
Al Mitleider going ballistic when you screwed up carting his phone-in
weather forecast |
| KCOU
circa 1978 Rockin' Robert Kuhlman: "On the recommendation of my high school buddies (who already attend the J-School), I transfered to Mizzou with the sole purpose of doing radio at KCOU and studying Radio-TV-Film. My first afternoon in Columbia, I heard the DJ back announce Psycho Killer by the 'punk band' Talking Heads. I called to register my indignity that a band had to be defined as punk rock, especially when they were more of an art band then punk band and couldn't he just announce them by name. He nobly defended his decision, asserting that Columbia needed to know that all Punk Rock wasn't noisy or bad. Accepting his explanation, I then requested some noisy Ramones or Sex Pistols. He sadly noted that they were locked in the music office, and not part of the current play list. When questioned more, he offered that the only time they have been on the air was when one of the jocks had to program a 'punk rock' show as punishment for saying 'fuck' on the air. A few weeks later, I was discussing the program director job with General Manager John Keck at the pizza parlor. He asks me why I want the job. As part of my dissertation on the state of radio and music, I related the above story about the jock and the Talking Heads. Turns out he was the jock. Turns out I got the job. I'll never forget meeting Marvelous Mike (who dubbed me Rockin' Robert) and doing Cruisin' Music every Sunday night! It was hilarious - both of us trying to crowd into that little studio, tripping over piles of oldies collections and singles. That show was the greatest lesson in radio by the seat of your pants. Every Tuesday and Thursday, it was Rockit 88. The show name was an ode to Dave Thomas' revolutionary Friday night punk rock show called Rock It on KWUR at Wash U in St. Louis. It was the weekly meeting place and unifying thread for all the St. Louis punk/new wavers back in 1977. We strived for the same vibe with KCOU's Rockit 88. It was a way we could introduce new bands to the Columbia audience, and many of those bands (The Cure, Blondie, Graham Parker, Clash, etc) ended up in KCOU's regular rotation long before they became fixtures on mainstream rock stations. While the Fabulous Poodles, 20/20 or Wire don't get Jaguar commercials like The Clash, they hold an honored place in the history of KCOU. Hats off to Brad Markowitz, and Tom Harper for their support and help in the early going! Let's see,the best? The night a bunch of KCOU staffers were all partying at the A-Frames (GM John Keck, chief announcer Tom Apple and I all lived there at the time) and listening to the station. Janice Hughes (I think it was Janice) opens the microphone and all we heard was this horrible feedback for 15 seconds then dead air. Then, after another 10 seconds or so, an extremely composed Janice Hughes (again, I think it was Janice) opens the microphone and calmly says, ';Well, I hope that didn't do to your ears what it just did to mine.' CLASSIC! The entire party just lost it! The people: John Keck, Tim Tilton, Brad Markowitz, Tom Apple, Tom Harper, Jeff Propst, Major Mike, Jim Smith - and so many more names that I can't remember - leading the transition of the station from the KSHE clone it primarily was. By slowly and methodically introducing new, fresh bands and sounds, and educating the jocks and listeners, the station changed course and ended up where it is today! Thanks to everyone that followed for keeping it alive!!! |
| KCOU
'78-'82 Shawn Marsh: "KCOU-FM (78-82) was a great place to make mistakes and learn. Radio was never as fun as it was there. We were able to tweak KBIA and celebrate our victories in news. I still remember the laughter." |
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'81
Marc Chechik (GM 1981): "When I was first given the GM title, I was told that our little station had a working RHA budget of about $1000. Whoo-hoo. As I settled comfortably into my new role, I settled rather uncomfortably into my old, barely functioning office chair. The slightly dim bulb above my head lit up and I thought "Hey, I'll buy office chairs!" Stupidly, I thought that just because we could order these chairs through the University's supply people, it wouldn't go against my budget. So, $600 and four new chairs later, I realized I had completely fucked up. We had these really hideous chairs that were too big for our offices...and I had a $600 bill going against our budget. Worse, when we got the chairs, they had come packed in really big boxes. One night, Jeff Propst and a couple other station folks, including me, got drunk/high/whatever and played "box wars." This little game was basically like human pinball, where we were all wearing the boxes over our bodies and running into each other at full speed. The boxes were damaged beyond repair. This made it quite difficult to return the chairs in their original packing. So, several days later, we called University Services and had them come pick up the afore-mentioned chairs. Sans boxes. Our account was credited. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was that night, too, that we had target practice with some old vinyl promo discs. We would stand about 40 feet back from the front door and hurl these discs as hard as we could. Stupid? Of course. We nearly decapitated a few news stains. We did embed several records in the door, however, and, I believe, there are still pieces in the door. goofy, yes. But pretty damned funny at the time." Jeff Propst's version: "Marc Chechik, as one of his first 'executive decisions' as newly appointed GM, accidentally blew almost the entire semester budget on big leather office chairs like you'd find in the Chancellor's office. He thought they were free for the taking. To make matters worse, when the chairs showed up, we were so thrilled that we put the boxes over our heads, rolled them down the hallway and had jousting matches. Of course the boxes were destroyed immediately. When Mark realized the error of his ways, he had to explain why the chairs couldn't be returned to Central Supply in their 'original packaging'." |
| KCOU
early '80s Jeff Propst remembers: "Jay Scott, newbie dj, passes out (following his frat's little sister party) on a live mic at 2am. You could hear his forehead hit the counter, and hear him snoring." "Dave Wolf, wore dashiki sandals in the middle of January; sat cross-legged in the production room with the monitors cranked, and played his hand-made flute (hollowed out from a tree limb) turned up to 11. He also used to sleep on the station sofa on many occasions." "Jim Smith: Great voice, did Nixon and Brother Beauregard Swan on breakers. Also did a kick ass Sunday Night show (later taken over by Steve McIntyre (who's also on the alumni page). Jim was always fighting and arguing with somebody at the station, making my life a living hell. When I was GM, every month I would referee some station squabble between Jim Smith and (fill in the blank for this months bitch fest). I love Jim to death, but he could be a major pain in the ass. "One night during Rockit 88 I dared a dozen Stephens Girls to chase me around the station with spatulas. Said that's the only way I'd play the Bangles. Half an hour later, a dozen (or more) Stephens Girls with spatulas...banging on the back door!" "We used to have LP record fights. We'd get crappy albums that came in from the labels (stuff like "The Captain and Tenielle"), so we'd either take them outside and throw them at each other, or frisbee them up onto the roof of Pershing Hall; or we'd throw them at each other and try to imbed them into the front door. If you look at the inside of the inside KCOU door, you'll probably see little shards of black vinyl imbedded deep in the door." "Once when I was the C.A., I had a newbie on at 2am, freak out on the air and run from the station; leaving a Black Sabbath record playing. When it got to the end, it just made the thunka thunka thunka noise that the end of an LP record makes. He bolted, left the station unlocked, and was never seen or heard from again. (Lots of times announcers went to the bathroom and locked themselves out of the station)." "One time when the sports guys were doing play by play of a Tiger baseball game at Simmons Field (with the Marti remote unit) a tornado came through. It damn near killed them! But they were so hungry for air time (the sports guys never got much air time), that they started doing Play by Play of the tornado. 'OK...the wind is really howling now....the sky's turning green...chairs are flying around here in the stands...I think we better take some cover.....YAAAAAA'. What a hoot." |
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early '80s Vince Patton (News Director): "Aside from the butterflies in front of the microphone, I remember sleepless nights as News Director. All because I made the mistake of living in Defoe Hall in the Pershing Group, right next to the radio station. That meant that everytime an early morning news crew locked themselves out of the newsroom or couldn't fix a jam in the AP wire machine (it was a real, old teletype machine back then) they'd call me to come down to help. In 1982, Harvey Bennett did a heck of a job as News Director recruiting volunteers to re-establish a once dormant news operation at KCOU. He took KCOU from no newscasts to a team of 40 students doing 10 newscasts a day. Then as he "graduated" into J-School in 1983, I took his place and we managed to keep up the pace. We news junkies didn't have a lot of contact with the music DJ's. But they sure loved to throw us for loops. Imagine the challenge of trying to segue into a serious newscast when the jock has just played some colorful tunes like, "I Had Sex With E.T." or "The Beach is Nothing But a Bird Bathroom." One point of particular pride back then: a coup KCOU scored over the J-school. KCOU managed to score the rights to the last Marti frequency available then in town giving us the ability to do crystal clear remotes. Before that we'd always relied on telephones to do remotes." |
| KCOU
1980-83 Brian Karem: "KCOU was a great time in my life. I still have an 8th Anniversary t-shirt. I remember December 8th, 1980 very well. The Feature album of the evening John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Double Fantasy". I was a big fan and while it wasn't my night to work, I listened to the album while I worked at Paul Revere's Pizza, a now defunct establishment across from the Campus Inn. Halfway through the album word came out that John had been shot in New York. A friend of mine had the 2-6 shift that morning. I showed up with some of my own collection and we played Lennon music at KCOU all night. Getting stinking rotten drunk I drove to the Columbia airport intent on travelling to NYC to mourn. I woke around 11 a.m. on a cloudy, cold day with snow hitting me in the face from my open driver's side window. I went to New York where I spent the next two days in an alcoholic and other substance haze. Jeff Probst stands out as the guy who was running the station at the time. I remember he told me how he'd bit off his lower lip, I think, in an auto accident and had to have it sewed back on. Al Germon was our engineer and I believe he went on to run a commercial station in town. Mark Chechik was also one of the executives and the head d.j. was a guy named Tom Dresner who I later saw many years later in an NRA advertisement on television. He had become a cop, I believe. Richard Keller worked with me to produce a special on John Lennon which aired for two or three years after Lennon's death. It was a three hour long program with music, alot of boot leg stuff, interviews and etc. KCOU was the only station I listened to when I came to Mizzou. KFMZ had an automated station which was nothing more than cultural vomit. KOPN was a little too esoteric, not to mention boring. But, I remember Jeff Probst telling me KCOU had broken "Blondie" to the Mizzou audience and a host of other artists. KCOU always had a NYC feel to it. It was hip, it was cutting edge, it was never boring and working there was a load of fun. The programming was light years ahead of its time and the people were the best." |
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late '80s Carrie (Leech) Weston (1987-91): "During Mudhoney madness circa 1989, someone put a tree branch up in the studio with a sign that said 'Touch me I'm a stick.' "The best show ever at the New Note IMHO was our Halloween Birthday Bash with Sonic Youth and The Jesus Lizard. Sarah Marcus (the GM) and I went to Wal-Mart and bought three garbage bags full of candy, Moon Pies, condoms, and lightweight plastic toys. That night we (had lots of *fun*) and went into one of the opera boxes and showered the crowd below with treats. It was SO COOL looking (well, duh, we had help) to see the masses swirling around trying to catch the loot. The show was so unbelievably great (especially The Jesus Lizard) I couldn't conceive of seeing any rock show ever again that was so over the top. Then--the scandal! The Promo Director at the time (I won't mention her name at request of her lawyers) got cash from the night's proceeds. She then "lost" it. I mean, really. She says she couldn't remember where the hell she put it. She made this huge blustery show of searching all over the station, even removing acoustic tiles from the ceiling "I don't know, I could have stuck it up in the ceiling to keep it safe." I don't think the money was ever recovered, nor were charges pressed. I'd like to hear other people's side of the story." "P.S. I never had sex at the station." |
| KCOU
late '80s Jackie Dana (Chief Announcer): "I remember going down to KCOU as a brand new freshman and ringing the doorbell. When no one answered I gave up and went back to the dorm. Two years later I was drafted by Lisa B who was subbing that night for Scheduled Fallout. She didn't know the music and needed help. I wasn't yet a DJ, so I made a deal to let her train me in exchange for helping her with the playlist. You haven't lived until you have to cue up (on vinyl of course) about 50 really fast songs for a 2 hour show. But I got trained, and the rest is history. After that I managed to get a shift on a Sunday 2-6 am slot, and was one of the first women to get an overnight shift, I think. Usually I would ride my bike directly from the Blue Note or Shattered straight to KCOU. Eventually I graduated to Kruzin' Music and being Chief Announcer. I can't think of all the people I trained but it was nuts. I think we had 54 people regularly on air at that time and the turnover was crazy. But it was great experience and I met some of the best people in the process. (I've lost track of most of them, but if any of them are reading this, they should drop me a line!) When I was at KCOU, Ian Sights was station engineer. As my fellow alums would attest, he was super dedicated to the station and took KCOU's equipment seriously. No one dared eat, drink or smoke in the studio lest they face Ian's wrath. I recall watching Ian literally grab a cigarette right out of some poor DJ's hand and then crush it in his own palm. Thank god for Ian, though - he was the only person who ever vacuumed! I think I was also on the air when he installed KCOU's very first CD player. I recall being very, very skeptical about it, because it seemed too good to be true (and in reality it was a piece of crap but we didn't know that then!). Then again we only had something like 20 CDs anyway. When I think of KCOU I remember the local bands we had on carts. In particular, who can forget Pineapple 69? We had 2 or 3 songs that kicked around the station for years! I'd give anything for a tape of those songs now. For those who were there then, Pineapple 69 pretty much sums up the spirit of the late 80s. Looking back, I miss KCOU as well as the old, crappy, rundown, but oh so beloved Blue Note on the Business Loop! Thank god for the KCOU discount - I saw so many shows to count! I loved the KCOU Springfest with the Fleshtones, and I got to see bands like They Might be Giants when NO ONE knew who they were (back in 1987 they only had 10 people in the audience!) and bands that would never play again (Husker Du's last show was at the Blue Note). I should also note that it was at KCOU that I first got to know Tom Churchill, who was a great guy and friend both in Columbia and then in Austin. Some may not know that he was tragically killed a few years ago when an asshole drunk driver hit him as he was riding his bike home from work. Oh and one more thing: where the hell IS Bill? Oink" |
