Word has been received that former Walla Walla Rock DJ
Dave "Rockin" Cochran has
died. Cochran worked for KTEL in the late 60s and early 70s when the station played Rock and Roll at night. At the time, employees at KTEL were basically "day laborers", the full timers would put in an 8 hour regular shift while taping programs off the network feeds, cutting commercials, etc for a seemingly laughable wage, all in hopes of getting the big break. For Rockin' Cochran, being on KTEL seemed to be all that mattered. To the listeners, he was bigger than life, to the management, from what I've pretty much heard, he was a major headache. His talent and rebellious spirit came really came across on the air. Much of the music that I've come to love over the decades was introduced to me by listening to Rockin' Cochran.
Cochran was let go from KTEL towards the mid 70s, he did voice over commercials on the local cable TV channel and even a Yakima/Tri Cities station before reappearing again in the summer of 1976 as a rock DJ on KUJ, which had recently been purchased by
out of town interests, it was a short lived engagement as management there grew weary of Cochran's free form ways.
Dave Cochran may be gone, but former Walla Walla teens who wanted to be part of the scene, decades ago will never forget him.
My brother was a jock and worked with him at KTEL. I still have an aircheck from back in that era. My brother used the air name "Dan Tory" and did afternoon drive. (Real name was Dan Todorovich) He also went on to KUJ. K-HIT, KTEL, and KUJ were everything to us in the Walla Walla Valley in the '60s. (Remember Gerry Giles? Dale Unruh, of course. Spike Friedman. Burl...et al)
ReplyDelete