My column for Rocktober.
The tenth month of 2017, just a few more
and it will be another New Year. The world continues to turn and
everyday another sunrise to wake up to. Some days may be better than
others but hopefully the good outweighs the bad.
In the last few days I was informed that my friend the Mad Hatter had died in an accident.
Before I moved to North Iowa in 1978 I had been on air in Montana,
South Dakota and Minnesota. 1975, 76 and 1977 I was the News Director
for KFMX-FM and KRSI-AM with noon and evening broadcasts. The Hatter
liked the station and listened, during those drives he heard me several
times a week.
The station was sold to a new company who then let
everyone off and brought in their own people to fill in. So I was out of
a job and registered with the job finders at Brown Institute in Mpls.
When the change over taking place I was being considered for an opening
at KQRS and after a few weeks the PD, my friend "Tac" Hammer let me
know that he had chosen someone with more on air experience which meant I
needed something else.
The Hatter got my number from Brown and called me. Basically I had the night job and I should come to where he was and meet.
I have detailed the meeting in this column before. He saw me and said "just what I thought" and we became friends.
When I moved here the station wasn't finished yet and getting everything set up was in progress.
Everyone that worked for the station was picked by him for the job,
from drive time dj to the news announcer and the "night guy"and we were
all good at what we did. Randy Chesterman was a kid 40 years ago and
pestered the Hatter to give him a chance and joined the family.
I
worked for him from that January until January of '81 when the Program
Director handed me my check and said he had listened the previous night
and didn't hear a song he knew...
I went to work for the other
stations and at the Record store (remember those) the Record Vault where
I worked with Randy again, and where I first met Mark Skaar who was in
high school then.
In 1973 I got a call from the Hatter who asked me
if I would come back and told me I had freedom to do what I wanted and
the original Night Train began and ran until a new owner replaced me at
the end of 1977. During those years he was off air but managed to fire
two Program Directors who had fired me. When he said he had my back he
meant it.
There are so many stories and legends about those years
that it would take a memory more detailed than mine to accurately relay
the facts.
Much has been posted about the effect he had on so many
levels not just in North Iowa but world wide in some aspects. One night
at the station I had a call from a radio station in Australia, where it
was daytime, wanting to know more about the Winter Dance Party.
There would be a bunch of news reporters that were from all over vying
for position in the studio on the morning before the show with the stars
who would be performing.
Most recently he and I stayed in touch
while he was in the quad cities. He had talked about a 40 year reunion
to put together and constantly aggravated by my being passed over for
the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and said he had been lobbying with
the director to get me in. I have the last email he sent me regarding
giving people his contact number for 40th anniversary and he said "40
years how the f... did that happen?"
I have heard that we meet the
people we do in life for a reason but I had no idea how much influence
that one man would mean to me because of him I have met so many others
who had major effects on my life.
I would be remiss to not include
my friend Brad Johnson, Kent Fletcher and the late great Jackson F.
Wilcox what a crew we were.
There is obviously a lot more but a lot has been said in the eulogys about the Dance Parties and his years in Burlington.
If by some chance I do get into the IAR&RHOF next year it will be
bittersweet because he was going to speak at the ceremony.
I will say it again those years were the greatest times I ever got paid to have.
I will see you again my friend.
