This handout from WGAT-FM is 3.5 x 8.5. It dates from before 1972, when WJCW-FM became WQUT-FM. Check the mistake at 91.9 mHz.
WGAT-FM
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The Old WKPT-TV
I ran across an old page of slides from the early 70s that had been used on WKPT-TV. Figure these slides are around 40 years old, so live with the poor quality (highlights blown out, mostly).
The Scene at Six. On the left is anchor Mike Lee, then Frances Eden, who did weather, and Bob Haywood, sports. I don’t recall the name of the lady on the right.
Pat Woodham and her Somebody Special Show
And the man himself, Bill Trailer. He also did TV weather and, yes, he always tied his tie like that. When Bob Ratcliff, the boss at the time, warned him about letting his hair grow too long, he held firm until Bob paid for the haircut. I don’t know why this shot doesn’t have a caption…it may have never been used, although it was prepped properly.
I first met Bill when he was doing the Night Sounds show on WKPT-AM, which started off with the quote from Longfellow:
And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares, that infest the day,
Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs,
And as silently steal away.
I was doing a show down in the FM control room and had to make sure that the door was shut, because, now and again, Bill, irritated at something, would storm out of the studio cursing loudly.
JBR Buick GMC
A 2.25″ pen knife. These were generally given out to customers or potential customers who were a little above the ordinary “hearty handshake” group. I’ve received several of these over the years, not from auto dealers, mind you. The blades will cut butter, once or twice. After that, the joins begin to decouple.
JBR, owned by the Belle family for three decades, was absorbed by Courtesy Chevrolet in 2010.
I did at least one remote broadcast from JBR on Lynn Garden Drive. I was in the showroom, facing the street through those big windows. It was a morning remote and business was slow. At one point, the manager came over and handed me five one-dollar bills. “Tell ’em that the next five people who come in for a test drive will get a one-dollar bill,” he said, “that’ll bring some in.”
Sure. I recall that one guy straggled in after I’d put out the word a couple of times. The rest of the time, I could almost hear the crickets outside.
I can hear Daffy hissing, “Ingrateth!”
Another RESCO Item
I was walking by the engineer’s annex (Don Gibson’s former desk) and I spotted this:
Bet this one’s been around for a while.
Bechtel Eastman becon buckle
My buddy ran across this at a flea market. It’s made by Anacortes Brass Works in Anacortes WA, which went out of business this year (owner retired). The buckle is around 3″ x 2.5″. The brass works has a website showing many of their buckles, but this one isn’t listed.
Old topographic maps
If you’re a map nerd, like I am, check out this website. (http://www.oldmapsonline.org)
It’s free to use and has 1935 and later topos of Kingsport. They’re fascinating. They’ve been scanned at very good resolution, so zooming in is no problem.
Batclub!
WKPT-TV kicked up its bombazine skirts in the late ’60s to get down with the bat crowd. Someone came up with this club idea.
If you joined the club, you got two things: this pin and ignored.
Flying rodents. O u kid.
RESCO Rules!
Radio Electric Supply Co. (RESCO) was THE place for electronics when I was starting out in Radio. They had everything, or could get it quickly for you. This shows them at 961 East Sullivan Street in Kingsport and this is where I remember them. At the station where I worked, it was standard practice to answer any query as to where the engineer was with “You checked RESCO?”
However, in 1945, the company is listed at 210 Cherokee Street (near the alley behind the bank) (across from where Kingsport Camera Shop used to be), you know the place.
This little measuring tape (I haven’t chanced pulling the tape out to see how long it is) was made in Hong Kong. That the trademark is “HONG KONG” and not “Made in Hong Kong” places this in the ’60s.
Oakwood stop
I just posted the extant spur stop by the former Oakwood Market (built in 1949).
Pen staff, Kingsport Inn
I rescued this pen staff (it’s just one; I rotated it so you could see the whole graphic on the staff) as the Kingsport Inn was being demolished. A buddy and I, we both lived downtown, went over one evening to explore the building. It was partially razed, but the lobby and some of the rooms were still accessible. There was no security that we saw. We wandered around and looked at stuff. I remember finding a room rate card, but it’s been lost in one of many transitions.
To use this, one would insert a steel nib, dip the pen in an inkwell, and sign your name with a scratchy flourish, or not. Really, casual handwriting has hardly improved.
Bob Lawrence's Kingsport 