E-MAIL MEMORIES, PAGE 17



JOHN (DAVID) HILLIS:
Hi, Bob. I grew up in New Orleans, and was stuck on the radio, as were so many. I was pleased to see that Norm Willie was one of your correspondents. I owe him greatly, as he was one of many who helped me get started down that dream road. For a year or two, probably in '69, WSMB sponsored a Junior Achievement company, and Norm was the advisor. I was one of the snot-nosed high school kids. Norm was kind, patient, and, always, whatta great voice! I had looked for him to offer thanks all these years later, and didn't run across him until I found your site. It was always a thrill getting in that elevator at MB and having the attendent ride you up to 13.

Sometimes, we even got inside that great big studio to get a record and stand silently while Jerry Valence or one of the Richards (Fahey or Knight) opened the mic and made some magic. Or visiting with Larry Regan was a thrill, having him tell about the hops he did, and his TV show. I think one of the secrets of WSMB's success was it was a bunch of quality (if sometimes screwy) people. Later on in my life, in years of management, I learned that kind of culture comes from the top, and John Vath and Marshall Pierce, though I never met 'em that I remember, must have been some doggone smart guys.

I also was on WDSU's Prep Quiz Bowl three of my high school years. I was on the N.O. All-Star team that beat Houston and went to England for a series of tapings on the BBC. I had the experience of getting a trans-atlantic call in the days when those were real rarities and telling Mel Leavitt and Chuck Pratt over WDSU radio that we had won our match in Scotland.

I went away to college, wound up in television on the other side of the camera, helped start CNN, took it around the world, worked in New York, and for the last 13 years have been CEO of Washington's 24-hour local cable news channel. (Does this make me a corporate a-holt, Bob?) I'll depart that this coming month to do consulting for broadcasters all over who understand what "broadcaster" really means. That, mon ami, I learnt from people like Norm Wille and Mel Leavitt and Alec Gifford. I doubt I could have had a better place to learn or better people to learn from.

BOB:
You had some good mentors and formative years there, John. My days on 'SMB with those people shine in my memory. And to think WDSU made a trans-atlantic call and paid for it, back in the days before everything was traded out. Unbelievable!!

Wish I had you pulling records for me in '67 when I did Saturday nights at WSMB, when the biggie the 'SMB listeners wanted to hear was "The Eggplant That Ate Chicago."

Rest easy...re-read your last three sentences and you will see that you are, indeed, NOT a corporate a-holt. Many who work for large corporations are not a-holts either, but the ones who are flavor the entire batch.

You still fondly remember your roots and love for the business and where you came from. A-holts are corporate gypsy airheads who get hired into positions of management by their equally incompetant friends who slither their way into their own positions. Then they proceed to present themselves as kings upon a throne and spout endless corporate mantras and slogans...and you know damn good and well that if they had to think for themselves without "I'll get back to you on that," they would expose their ignorance and emptyness, while they are now the annointed torch-bearers and keepers of the business built up by veteran and true broadcasters. All the while the workers under an a-holt scorn him/her for his/her phoniness and ignorance. A corporate a-holt does not have respect from his/her workers. An a-holt is nothing more than a stinking and festering sore on the body of broadcasting.

You, on the other hand are respected for what you've truly done to promote the purity of the broadcasting business, and have a respected background in which you used your head and your heart to get where you are, while working to enhance the true soul of the broadcasting business.

Anyway, your first name doesn't start with "A" and your last name is not "Holt," like the king of the a-holts. Actually, it should be J-holts or JA-holts, but that's another story!


ROSALYN DODDS:
Fantastic web site! Your list of neighborhood theaters brought back some great memories. I grew up in the Carrollton area (Broadway and Panola) and it was such a treat to meet my friends and bike to the Poplar for the Saturday afternoon movie. In my group of friends, the youngest ones happened to be the tallest so until we all turned 12, we'd go in height order. The first people in the group could truthfully say they were entitled to a child's ticket so then when the older ones got up to the ticket window, the lady would just hand out a lower priced ticket without even asking!

My bike was basic transportation even after I had a driver's license. I'd go to the Nix Branch of the Public Library and spend hours there. I used to like to ride in Audubon Park, too. Now that I live in Dallas, there's nowhere to bike unless you go to a bike path in one of the parks. I miss being able to hop on a bike and actually get places.

Another special memory I have from my youth is trekking to Middendorf's for fried catfish. It was quite a big deal to me. Does the place still exist? Another catfish place that was fun was Uncle Chester's in Kiln, MS. Anyone else remember that restaurant? As long as I'm on the subject of food, remember the Plum St. sno ball stand? That was another special gathering place during the summer for my friends.

When I started collecting records, I was a frequent customer at Memory Lane Records in Airline Highway. They always had the music I was looking for and I still have boxes of 45's that I listen to that came from there. I know Gordon opened a second location but I believe I heard that both stores closed some time ago. Do you know anything about that?

It was great to see all the information about the radio stations. TIX and NOE were my constant companions for many years. I even got to meet a few DJ's. I used to get concert tickets from Kim Stevens when he didn't want them - got to see the Kinks at Municipal Auditorium that way. Was very sorry to see that Steve Casey had passed away. He was a nice fellow.

BOB:
Those Friday night double features and Saturday matinees were special at the Poplar. Cartoon fests ... Little Rascal fests ... great B movies. I still have the foreign coins they gave away at the door on Saturday afternoons. Giving that white-haired lady fits with our ages at the ticket window was a rite of passage. Just about everyone I knew from Mater Dolorosa got in on children's tickets until they were 15 or 16.

I, too, spent many a cool afternoon in the aisles of the Nix Library on Willow and Carrollton. I remember the fun of the Summer Reading Club, where kids received a nice certificate upon reading 10 (12?) books during summer vacation.

Gordon DeSoto has long retired from Memory Lane. There is one Memory Lane location still remaining with wall to wall oldies for sale on Focis Street in Metairie.


TAYLOR CARMOUCHE:
Hello Bob. I remember hearing you on the radio back in the 70's. I just wanted to let you know that the 3 Stooges did appear at the Shrine Circus in 1963. I was there on the front row. I was 7 years old at the time. I went there with my brother Robert who lives in Cut Off, and my cousin Lance Pierce who now lives in Slidell. My Mother, aunt Stella, and Grandmother Vida, who is 92 years old now took us there. I remember it well. I remember that the Stooges did a short comedy routine, where they did the usual "Stooge" things, i.e. poking each other in the eyes, slapping, and the always classic hammer to the head. After the routine they got serious and told all the kids not to try any of the stunts they did at home and demonstrated that the hammer was really rubber. I still enjoy the 3 Stooges on A&E, although my wife doesn't understand why. Typical.

BOB:
Thanks a bunch for clarifying this for me. I suspected they did appear but I couldn't find anything on it one way or another. Yeah, the Stooges are a "guy" thing...she wouldn't understand!


NORMAN WILTBERGER (aka Chris Norman)
Bob, I'm a former PD, Traffic Manager, disc jockey and radio producer. I got out of the business in 1990 after the station at which I was working at the time went dark. I was in a medium market city then; I'm in Atlanta now, but not back in radio.

The reason for this email is that while doing research for a magazine article I'm writing on 'voicetracking' in radio, I ran across your web page by Jeremy. He had queried you about some aspect of New Orleans radio and I just had to comment on your response.

Please move over, your soap box has to be big enough for the two of us.

It's really ironic that I saw that web page and read your reply. You have stated just about everything that I've already got in my article. Way to go. It's unfortunate that more people aren't aware of what's going on in today's broadcasting industry. I'm a 53 year old Air Force (Southeast Asia) Vet and I was raised on Country and Big Bands. Then when Rock 'n' Roll came along, I was one of the handful of kids in the city that was allowed to listen to the "race music". And that's what I specialized in when I was on the air...Classic Hits from the '50's, '60's and '70's and I can discuss Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, The Dorsey Brothers as well as Classic Country with anyone. I know what you mean when you say that these "consultants" (for lack of a more descriptive word) don't know what they're doing. As a matter of fact, I agree with everything you wrote to Jeremy. I've been pissed at Clear Channel and Cox Broadcasting for the past few years anyway. Some of my friends have been replaced by 'voicetracking', but then a couple are doing it themselves for other stations. So, anytime you need someone to help you 'spout off' when you get hoarse, let me know...I'm right behind you.

BOB:
I say again that radio consultants are the cancer of a broadcast industry now dominated by even more ignorant owners who are just in it for greed. They should all burn in hell for what they've done to broadcasting. I hope I live to see the day when some form of internet broadcasting or satellite programming that truly gives listeners a choice and an opportunity to hear what they want to hear (and not what they're FORCED to listen to by these arrogant corporate A-holts), puts the greedy corporations out of business.

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