Old Walla Walla Radio Remembered Part 28--Good Bye Mason Dixon

Larry Brown had a silly radio name, no surprise, Jim Nelly, the owner of KUJ in Walla Walla, liked giving his air staff silly radio names. Larry worked what would be known commonly as afternoon drive using the name "Mason Dixon".  While Walla Walla doesn't really have commute time, it was the time when students, who listened to top 40 on their radios, would get out of school.  They could turn KUJ on their stereos and car radios.   Mason Dixon probably was working with the largest audience.  He was good.  

Mason Dixon was program director at KJUN in Puyallup.  After I left KYYX, I met with him with a tape to interview for a job.  He also worked at KOTY in the Tri-Cities with two former Walla Walla radio people, Geoff Harvey and Dancin' Dan Murphy.

Today, I read the sad news that Mason Dixon had passed away early last month.  He was 65.  Thank you to the Puget Sound Media blog.  You can read more here.

Good Bye, Jim Nelly, Sr

With a reputation of being a somewhat "loose cannon", Jim Nelly bought Walla Walla radio station KUJ in the mid 70s and local radio was never the same.  Changing the station from Middle Of The Road to 24 Hour Hit Radio, the station (the oldest and most powerful in the city) spoke constantly of it's high ratings and big contests. It was the dawn of the disco era and KUJ was able to capitalize on it.  Movies like Saturday Night Fever were rendering constant hits. Nelly gave catchy, sometimes rather silly radio names to his DJs like Mason Dixon and Wee Willie Winkle.  The theory is that in personality radio, "Dr Love" is easier to remember that "Steve Brown".  A few years later, KHIT, a local rival, launched a Hit Radio FM station known as XT97, Walla Walla suddenly had 2 commercial Rock stations.
 He also acquired the Walla Walla Padres, the city's Northwest League baseball franchise. Nelly had his wife, Patricia (Peppermint Patty) run the baseball team, adding beer sales, as well as a wide variety of stunts, loudly promoted on the station.  Although, Nelly was considered quite a flamboyant presence in a small quiet town, he reportedly sold KUJ in the early 80s at a value that was many times higher than when he bought it.   Nelly died last week.

KUJ--Walla Walla's Pioneer Radio Station Part II

I'm not going to go into Mr. Nelly's ownership of KUJ. It is probably still fresh in people's memories. To say that he changed the culture of the station would be an understatement. The station became a 24 hour all hit station. Suddenly, the KUJ salesman who was your buddy popping in, sitting on your couch and shooting the breeze with you, was now pulling at your sleeve, it was "sell to survive" Nelly's wife Pat ran the minor league Walla Walla Padres and their son Jim, Jr. worked at the radio station. He would later work a few days at B. Barer And Sons until he decided that there where better ways to make a living.