Former Walla Walla DJ Survived Health Scare

Lyn Daniels worked at KUJ and Kiss-FM after graduating from Spokane Falls Community College.  It was the early 1980s.   Daniels also did some voice over commercials for my Cousin Burl, who had the rights to local commercials on the Walla Walla cable system.
It was known around town that Daniels had survived an incident as an infant where she pulled a coffee pot on top of her, nearly burning her to death.
Daniel's left Walla Walla to resume her radio career in her native Spokane.  About 13 years ago, she had to be rushed to the hospital with an aneurysm.   She once again survived and was in recovery when this great article was written, sent to me by a friend. You can click here.

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.

Old Walla Walla Radio Remembered 17--KUJ Pee Chee Folder

Big Daddy Ray Hansen found this in his attic and posted it on facebook.  When KUJ went from middle of the road to top 40 radio,  this folder with all the schools listed was one of it's promotions.

Old Walla Walla Radio Remembered Part 16--Bill Vollendorff Tribute

At a time when local radio people were celebrities in their own communities, Bill Vollendorff was news reporter at KUJ in the late '60s.  Vollendorff had a beautiful radio voice and perfect cadence.  He had previously worked at KTEL.  Vollendorff would eventually work as voice talent at KHIT.
Vollendorff had just finished his work at KUJ when I worked with him as a volunteer for Democratic Congressional candidate Mike McCormick in his successful bid to unseat Catherine May in the fall of  1970.  He told me about how his job entailed going to the Walla Walla Police Station, County Sherriff's office, and other visits and phone calls in the very early morning hours.
Probably figuring that radio talent did not pay the bills in a small town, Vollendorff  got into real estate and tax assessment, but he was no stranger in town.  He was seen in productions at The Little Theatre.  He did voice work for commercials and was tied in with local service groups. He did announcer work for Walla Walla Community College basketball when they played in the gym on Park Street.  When I briefly returned to Walla Walla and considered joining Kiwanis, it was Bill who came to talk to me about the organization. 
Bill was married to Maureen Stewart who worked for my parents as a baby sitter and house cleaner while she was in high school.  Maureen made a real impression on me after she left town to would attend school at the U-W, she would write to me.  I was 7 or 8 years old and those were probably the first letters  I would ever receive.
Bill would eventually run for Walla Walla County Assessor and win as a Republican.  Bill was one of the last of his era in Walla Walla radio and I was able to converse with him on Facebook about local history.  Bill Vollendorff passed away on December 5th. He apparently had been in bad health for a while.

Puget Sound Media Blog Features Barers Of Maple Valley

 

Seattle's top media blog, Puget Sound Media (formerly Sea Tac Media), is not only links this blog, but also my memory posts on Eastern Washington radio history.  Thank you to Puget Sound Media!

Old Walla Walla Radio Remembered Part 12

Dan Tory was a 1960s Walla Walla radio personality.  Mr Tory worked at different times for all three of the local stations, K-Hit, KTEL, and KUJ. Dan's sister, Jaynie Dillon, became well known in the Seattle radio field.  Jaynie sent this aircheck of his brother doing the "Road Show", the afternoon drive program that I remember Ken Brooks doing for many years.  Click here

Old Walla Walla Radio Remembered Part 11: Vintage KUJ

It's been awhile since I've posted anything from Joe Drazan's Bygone Walla Walla page.  This KUJ ad was published when Herb Studebaker owned the station. I believe he is the original owner of the station.  The year of this ad was listed as 1957.

Northwest Radio Personality Big Dan Murphy Dies

Big Dan Murphy, a Spokane radio personality has passed away.  Murphy, worked in Walla Walla for radio station KUJ using the name Wee Willie Winkle.  His next stop was Tri-Cities where he used the name Dancin' Dan Murphy.  I did not know him well, but he was a good friend of my brother, Danny.  The two had both appeared in the WWCC production of Arcenic And Old Lace.   Dan and I traded e-mails a while back after connecting on a radio history site.  I found this video of Dan on the air in Spokane, click here.

Old Walla Walla Radio History

Two Walla Walla radio stations had downtown business offices and studios before moving to their transmitter sites.  KUJ was well before my time and I'm not sure of the exact location, although the sign was up well after it's departure and I have faded memories of it.
I remember KTEL in the Book Nook Building (officially known as Die Brucke Building), the station would broadcast it's daytime programming downtown and it's evening and weekend programming at it's tower and transmitter site.  In the early 1970s, the station added on to it's transmitter studios and moved out of it's downtown location.

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.

The Lost KUJ Sign-Off Lost No Longer

Thank you to Charles Luce, Jr for finding this. From the 1960s through the '70s Legendary Walla Walla area broadcaster Verne Russell signed his pioneer radio station off with this audio.

KUJ carried the broadcasting of, at one time, The Seattle Pilots and the Walla Walla Minor League team, which Russell eventually purchased. It also had CBS network news and programming along with local Djs playing easy listening music. The sign-off would occur at 10:00 or whenever a game that was broadcasted, would conclude.

Lost Audio May Have Been Found

A couple of years ago, I wrote a series about growing up with Walla Walla radio. Focusing on KUJ, the grandaddy of broadcasting in the region, I mentioned a distinctive "sign-off" from station owner Verne Russell. Perhaps only handful of people ever read it, but one former listener asked if there was still a tape left, that lead to another post, A couple of nights ago, I received an e-mail from the son of a prominent former Walla Walla resident saying they may have the "sign-off" on tape. His mother was enjoyed the hymn of "Peace In The Valley" which played after Verne's descriptive monologue. Verne was kind enough to send a tape to the family of both the sign off and sign on. If they can find the tape, we will attempt of course, to post it here.

Lost Audio? Verne Russell's KUJ Sign Off

Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote a series of articles about Walla Walla radio stations. I went in depth on the city's oldest, most powerful, and most well known, KUJ. I also touched on the late Verne Russell and his memorable daily sign-off.
"And so we come to the end of another broadcast day." Russell, the station's owner, was able to use his voice as a paintbrush as he described the area where the station was located at. Last weekend, I received an e-mail from someone who read the piece and was wondering if the recorded sign-off was still in existence in some dusty attic. I sent a few e-mails, and heard a few suggestions, but so far, no answer. Stay tuned, because if it turns up, I will try to put it on the blog.

Former Walla Walla Radio Voices Silent

In my research for the stories on Walla Walla radio stations KHIT and KUJ, I learned of the passing of 2 very notable players on the scene.

Verne Russell was owner of KUJ and the Walla Walla Padres until he sold both entities to Jim and Patricia Nelly in mid 70s. He died last month at 81.

Andy Harle had passed away in 2003, although I had learned of it until a couple of days ago. As a salesman/radio personality at KUJ in the 1970s, he helped to train me for a radio job by letting me come to the studio and showing me how to make an audition tape. It was a real learning experience for me and I appreciate it to this day. He later bought a Pendleton radio station and started K-Wheat, an FM country music station in the Walla Walla area. Andy was only 55 when he left us. Andy's picture is above.  Thank you to Dennis Deccio for providing the picture.

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.

KUJ--Walla Walla's Pioneer Radio Station

If you are entering the City Of Walla Walla from the west, the first thing you may notice is the twin radio towers of KUJ. KUJ is Walla Walla's oldest and most powerful radio station. At 1420khtz, it was between K-HIT and KTEL on the dial. If K-HIT was the station that your father would listen to, chances are, in the 60s and early 70s KUJ was the station that your mother would have on. It's soft adult contemporary music and low keyed radio hosts were probably perfect for a "stay at home" housewife. For many years, it carried the Arthur Godfrey show. The owners of the two other stations in town had both worked early in their careers at KUJ. It's owner, Verne Russell , was perhaps the valley's best broadcaster, known mostly for his recorded end of day sign off ("we will shake those watts and Kilocycles out of bed..."). While KTEL carried most of the high school sports play by play, KUJ carried the local minor league baseball team's broadcasts. Russell himself did play by play in his smooth broadcaster's voice. Eventually, he bought the team.
In the mid 70s , Russell sold the station as well as the baseball team to Jim Nelly.