From Jeff Wilkinson:

Life has been full of its twists and turns, but WDVH and all of those involved will always have a special place in my heart.  Probably my most special memory involved a fiasco I caused that landed us on the front page of the Gainesville Sun.

 It involved parking tickets and charges of favoritism w/the police from Mac McEachern based on a misinterpreted comment I made to him earlier that day.  Larry was out of town but I remember speaking to him by phone as it was blowing up and he verbally "took me to the woodshed" and ordered me home and to NOT speak to any other reporters.

 J.B. saved the day because--strange upon strange things--at that very moment we were launching a sales promotion involving things that looked like parking tickets we were putting on cars all over town "summoning" them to the station to pick up prizes.  J.B. was able to turn it into a big joke by making fun of the fact the Sun (and Mac) were totally mixed up and thanked them the whole week for giving us such generous free publicity!   It worked, and Larry didn't have to follow through with those eloquent gentle words he told me over the phone.

Best wishes,

Jeff Wilkinson

WDVH News

Fall 1983 - Summer 1985

ED: Here are links to scans of the "evidence" and newspaper stories referenced in Jeff's story.

From Susie Fogle:

From Augie Grant:

From Mitch Miglis:

John Posey posted a note which I received from you stating that he was going to be in Melbourne, FL and would be performing a one-man show called "Father, Son and Holy Coach". I live in Melbourne and already had season tickets and so was planning on seeing this show anyway, but did not realize John was the performer. I e-mailed John and we arranged to meet after the performance. John both wrote and performed the show, which was outstanding. What a talent!

I met John afterward. In fact, the show has is very physical at times and, to make a long story short, John seemed to have needed chiropractic attention after his performance. He came by the next day and I treated him at my office. I had not met John before. Apparently he worked at WDVH a few years later than I did. It was a pleasure to get the chance to make his acquaintance and to share some memories of the Radio Ranch. He is a very talented and interesting person.

Mitch

From "Boogie" (Jim Williams):

I remember fooling around with the 'DVH well pump when it quit and we couldn't flush (hey, that's how I became the "Boogie Man" wasn't it?), the free Easter egg hunts, climbing the (live) tower to check the Marti antenna and feeling a tingle of high voltage grow stronger as I neared the top....things like that.

I recall the time I  put us off the air for a full day.  The "Old Man" (George Fogle) and another engineer spent the day replacing diodes in the home-made rectifier stacks for the old 4-cabinet transmitter.  I had decided to clean the inside of the transmitter after sign-off one evening.  That wasn't such a bad idea but using 409 to clean the tubes WAS!  I didn't realize that 409 left a conductive film on the tubes.  I left the station that night feeling smug.  Unfortunately, when Wayne "Payne in the Morning" hit the high voltage switch the next morning the plate voltage arced across the glass of the tubes to ground and toasted the hundred or so solid state rectifiers!  I'll never forget that, but wish I could. I think that tops the time you put out the fire with dirt doesn't it Ferrell?

Wayne's "Georgia Crackerisms" were great, as you've said Jinx.  I remember that when I'd ask him how he was doing he'd often respond with "fine as frog fur" or something like that. I also remember that one of his buddies owned the local "Port-A-Potty" company and always had a new outhouse-related joke or two when he visited.  When George was fixing something, or promising to get around to it some day he'd frequently tell us "the old man's doin' the best he can."  Dornberg does a great imitation of that!  I also remember one time when Steve was PD and was feeling especially stressed he climbed into the record cabinet in the back of the control room and wouldn't come out until people left him alone.

One of the few times I remember getting drunk was at the station after hours one night.  I believe that Nolan Shapiro, the Copywriter/Production Director and I were the only ones in the station.  I had to cut a spot and he shared his bottle of MD 20/20 with me.  I managed to get very drunk before cutting the spot and felt that I had produced an award-winning commercial.  The next morning I heard it as I drove to work and almost died! It was absolutely awful!

I have fond memories of the first Hatchett Creek Bluegrass Festival.  We put the stage and various other buildings together from old boards which gave the whole festival a unique flavor that I've never seen since.  I remember the rural setting among the trees and trappings of an old farm.  A friend and I used to handle sound for a yearly festival here in the Northwest.  It just wasn't the same with a portable stage setup in a rodeo arena facing the grandstand.  My memories of that first festival also include how cars got stuck in the mud in the parking area and had to be towed out with the land-owner's tractor on the last day.  I remember Gary Allen pretty much running the show for the first one and thought he did a good job.

Then there was Gary Nelson, red-headed and tall as I recall.  The thing I remember most about him is the way he said his name over the air....Nngaaaaaary Nelson.  Oh yeah, there was also "Long" Tom Downey, trained as a civil engineer who's favorite phrase around the station was "Rip rap, rip rap, great to be alive!"  A strange man but thoroughly delightful to be around.  And what about Don "Dancin' Bear" Dornberg who never lets me forget that I was the guy who fired Forrest Sawyer?  Hey, I'm sorry, but Forrest was not cut out to be a jock.  As it turns out he WAS cutout to be a newscaster and we are all proud to have worked with him at 'DVH.  I prefer to think of that little incident as having put him on the road to becoming the success that he is today.  Oh, and yes I do remember those "rearranging the weimeraner" sessions!  And ain't it amazing how things work out sometimes.  Janis commented recently on Mitch's great back rubs and that he should be a chiropractor, which we all know is exactly what he did.  Good thing Dornberg stuck with news casting, I just can't see him making much of a career out of dancing around with a dog....:-)

Anybody remember the old green console radio in the lobby?  I found that thing somewhere and pulled the guts out one day.  Then I painted it "antique" green and set it up in the lobby as a monitor speaker.  I've always regretted doing that to an old radio since I've become a collector of antique radios and would give big bucks for something like that today.

One event stands out in my memory above all others.  There came a day (I think it was my birthday) when the crew got together and arranged to pull off the joke of jokes with me as the victim.  I was pulling my daily air shift when someone ushered an attractive woman into the control room.  She was carrying a 45 record and I was told that she was a singer who was delivering her new record to radio stations.  Between breaks, as the music played on the air we had a nice conversation with me promising to listen to the record and such.  At one point she commented on how warm it was in the control room.  She asked if she could take off her jacket and I said sure just as a song ended and I opened the mike.  (I later learned that the whole thing was timed to happen as I read a live 60 second spot).  However, she didn't stop with the jacket!  Before I realized what was going on she had stripped to the skin and I was left trying to maintain my composure on the air in the presence of a pretty and very naked woman!  Then I noticed everyone crowded around the control room windows having a good laugh.  OK, ya got me :-)

Mark Fowler was gone by the time I pulled into the "Radio Ranch" but I remember hearing about him and how he became FCC Commissioner.  Then there was Mel Turner who was a pilot and bought or started a FBO (fixed base operation) at the airport AND did the weather on TV.  Lots of great people have been through WDVH and I'm proud to be able to say I worked with them and called them friends.

From BJ Sullivan:

The Sales Manager at the time, Alan White (1968), decided to do a "Wonderful Week of Weddings" at WDVH  in June, since "radio personality" Steve Sullivan was getting married.  Alan hit just about every business in town and convinced them to not only buy advertising but to donate duplicate gifts for  both the winning couple and to yours truly the Sullivans.  Our wedding was off limits but the reception was held at the now non-existent Park Lane Cafeteria where there was a remote broadcast, a fashion show, a 500 piece wedding cake and the general public as guests.  Included in the prizes were our wedding rings, (we still wear the same ones), the wedding cake, a honeymoon in Miami Beach, a rental car for 1 week to get us there, misc. household appliances including a toaster and mixer, and a mobile home rent free for 3 months (brand new). I know I am leaving a lot out but what a fitting event for a wedding that might never have happened if this little groupie had not convinced  her friend Tommy Talcott (former announcer at WDVH during the Tom Hannssen era)  to get me a date with Steve if I got him a date with my roommate Bettina. I did, he did and the rest is history. 

Ferrell was there, Fogle was one of the ushers as was Mark Fowler (former chairman of the FCC but law student at the time).  Sue Fogle planned the private reception after the public one.  I remember one thing vividly. It rained for 7 days straight the week before the wedding but did NOT rain on our wedding day.  Another vivid memory is when Steve tried to feed me a spoonful of baked beans and spilled them down the front of the wedding dress.  Of course the dress will now fit my right toe, maybe.  Where oh where has that size 10 gone?? LOL   (LOL = Laugh out loud)  And of course my 5 brothers chasing us through the streets of Gainesville on a Saturday afternoon down 13th street at 60 mph.  Traffic was considerably less busy back then. It is still fun to remember all of this!!!

From Dennis Winslow:

Great reading all the stuff on my first radio station! I worked at the station from 1965 thru 1968, eventually doing afternoon drive as "Little" Bobby Dennis while I was going to U of F. When I started, Stu Bowers, Larry Havill, Mark Fowler, Bill Marr, and Randy Rogers were the daytime staff.  Later, "Tom Allan" Talcott, Bud Blackwood, and  Steve Sullivan came on-board. (I think Preston Hicks worked there for a time also.)  When I was doing afternoon, it was 2 to 5pm, leading into the 5pm to signoff Bill Marr Traffic Watch!  I think Randy Rogers (Fred Czerner), then Mark Fowler was doing mornings, and Steve or Bud was on midday.  (I later went to WUWU as PD for a year or so before I graduated and left for grad school in Tallahassee.)

Later, I went to Orlando to program BJ-105 (and work for another old 'DVH alumni, Pierre Bejano). Then, to Atlanta to work on-air at WQXI-FM ("94Q"), to Milwaukee to program WMGF-FM, Tampa to program WMGG-FM, then back to Atlanta to sign on and program WFOX-FM for 10 years, then across town to Classic Rock WZGC-FM ("Z93") for a year.  I was in Houston as PD for KLDE-FM, then Operations Manager for the Cox Radio cluster there (KKBQ, KLDE, KTHT, KHPT) for the past 6 years.  In September, I came to Philadelphia to program WOGL-FM, Oldies 98.1 (Infinity Broadcasting).
I'm married, and have 3 beautiful daughters.

I remember Susie and the log fines! And, of course, all of us were college students, so the $1.25 fine was a BIG deal to us!  I also remember someone "papering" the windows of the newsroom when Ferrell was trying to read news to totally block out ANY light, then reaching in and turning off the light switch.  As I remember it, Ferrell-- always the consummate professional-- ad-libbed the rest of the newscast without missing a beat!

One of my biggest on-air flubs was in a 'DVH newscast, when I miss-read the line "The rail strike is threatening to put a definite crimp in the nation's economy.."  It came out, "The rail strike is threatening to put a definite crap in the nation's economy ..."  Luckily, my girlfriend at the time, Judy Lee (Who worked for Chuck and BJ Ansell at The Record Bar), and who was sitting in the room at the time, was busy studying and never heard my mistake. I'm afraid that if she had laughed, I would have never been able to finish the cast, and probably would have been fired!  (I also miss-pronounced State Representative Don Fuqua's name the first time I read it live. It came out pretty vulgar-sounding. Since owner Tom Hanson was his campaign manager at the time, I was sure I'd be fired that time also, but Tom never said a word!)

I also remember re-dubbing the one jingle cart in the control room, adding a "wild-track" jingle with silly sound effects to the cart.  I didn't tell anyone, and that afternoon Bill Marr read a breaking news item about a particularly gruesome accident at the medical center in which an elevator operator had been crushed to death as his family or co-workers watched in horror.  Of course, Bill hit the jingle to transition back to music, or into spots, and what he got was a station jingle filled with slide whistles, coo coo clock sounds, and so on. (That day, I learned the most effective way to shatter an audio cart against the studio wall without actually breaking the soundproof glass!)

Since we didn't have much of a production facility, most of the commercial production was done after sign-off. I can remember many nights with all of us fighting for space in the main control room to cut commercials for the next day. Remember guys? The Ampex was in the news studio (which also doubled as Ferrell and Pierre's office) so we had to stop and start it by remote control.  Then, after you'd finished the spot, you'd have to walk into the next room to dub it to the one recording cart machine we had in  the building!)

And, after long nights of production, I very often "forgot" to get up for classes.  I am probably one of the few guys in radio who regularly almost overslept afternoon drive! (I would jump out of bed at my SW 16th Avenue ("Sin City") apartment grab a drive-thru hamburger from King's Food Hosts, and madly dash the back way out to Kincaid  Road, trying to balance a coke, eat a hamburger, and drive a stick shift car.)

What a great time!!! Thanks for the memories, and for allowing me to share mine!

Dennis Winslow
WOGL, Philadelphia

From Brad Cox

When I was in high school I got a job working weekends at WPXE in Starke, but what I really wanted to do was work at WDVH.

The summer after I graduated I called WDVH and Keith Conway answered the phone. I asked if there were any openings and he said yes 6:00 - signoff. I got a tape together and made an appointment to see Jim Brand.

I was thrilled when he hired me. WDVH was the station that my family had always listened to. I remember my father driving me to school in his old VW van and listening to Jim Brand and Wayne Payne.

My grandmother and aunt kept the station on in their grocery store and could always tell you the exact amount in the cash call jackpot.

The station had such a big, fun sound and I was proud to be a part of it just out of high school.

I remember coming on after Pat Patterson and working until signoff. When the fall came Larry and Jim added the title of "Promotions Director" which gave me more hours and responsibilities. I also worked whenever Keith or Pat was off.

I remember setting up a promotion at the Record Bar in the Oaks Mall with a new group called Alabama.

I remember Leonard's Losers, Hiney Wine, The Hills-United Van Lines Cash Call Jackpot, the Williams-Thomas bulletin board, Paul Harvey, Keith's blue Gremlin and Jim's old Porsche.

I remember George Fogel, lots of reverb on the mic, and how you had to choose between the back turntable and the second set of cart machines because there weren't enough inputs on the board.

One day Keith and I were in the production room working on a B&H Plumbing " Superplumber" commercial when I got a call. The caller identified himself as Chuck McKay, program director for WHOO-FM in Orlando and asked me to hold.

Keith asked me who it was and I told him. Keith asked what he wanted and I said
"maybe he wants to hire me". And he did.

I found out later that Chuck had called Jim Roop (another WDVH alum Jim Quinn) who was in Tallahassee and asked if he knew anybody, he didn't but he said to call Lou Patrick who was program director of KISS105 in Gainesville and Lou suggested that Chuck call me.

After WHOO-FM I spent 8 years at K92FM also in Orlando.

All in all I've worked at 9 different stations, but WDVH was my favorite. The talented people there made great radio happen everyday.

I now live in Clermont Florida, I hung up my headphones for good a few years ago after quitting 4 times at COOL105.9. ( "I know you quit and all, but I could really use you for a few more weeks...")

I also produced radio and television commercials for DeFalco Automotive Advertising before starting my own company CDH Marketing & Advertising, Inc.

I've been married 17 years and my wife Cheryl and I have 6 children.

I'll always remember the fun, the people and the "larger than life" sound of WDVH.
It was a truly great station and I'm proud to have been a small part of it.