Dex
  Allen

<<Listen below>>

By late October 1967, the KOL airstaff was:

6-9AM           GARY TODD
9-Noon          BOBBY SIMON
Noon-4pm    TOM CONNORS
4-8PM           DICK CURTIS
8PM-Mid       ROBIN MITCHELL
Mid-6AM      GREG CONNORS

No changes, indeed.  No wonder I was concerned by the time I recorded this aircheck 11/14/67.  What you'll hear:

         - The late Bill Munson (B.R. Bradbury) on the legal I.D.
            and promo for "Seattle has Boeing….& now KOL
            has Boeing."  I figured "Boeing" would replace me!

         - TOM CONNORS delivering KOL 20/20 News.  Tom
            replaced Logan Stewart for a short time before
            Bill Fuller joined KOL for evening news.

         - BOBBY SIMON featured on "Will Tomorrow Be Your
            Day on KOL?"

         - LEE PERKINS on a Flame-In in Burien Spot.

         - A Frank Sinatra film, "Tony Rome" is just opening.

         - Hey...and how about the spot for the Drive-In with
           "The Flesh Eaters"….I smell Oscar!!!

Around this time, I received a call from TED RANDLE.  Ted had been a KFWB L.A. DJ, and was now a consultant.  He had mentored Rhett Walker when he was KOL's P.D.  Ted
Immediately seized control of our phone conversation, and told me:  "I want you to move to Tucson to do PM Drive at KIKX, and host a weekly Bandstand TV show."

The job would pay the same money I was making in Seattle.
(Coke was supposed to sign as a sponsor of the TV show.)
It was an intriguing offer.  However, I'd never considered leaving the Northwest, and without a "signed" sponsor I feared the TV gig and "blue sky" salary might not happen.

The very next night, I was in the control room getting things ready to start my show toward the end of Curtis'
airshift.  Dick said, "Robin, I don't know how you're feeling about all the changes that have been taking place here, since nobody has included you in the planning sessions."

I replied, "I guess I don't feel like the most secure night DJ in America right now, but I've got this deal brewing in
Tucson," which I then shared with Curtis.

Curtis continued,  "Jim Meeker is planning on firing you
tomorrow, but I can't figure out why considering all the work you do around here.  What Meeker doesn't know is that as of tomorrow, I'm being named KOL PD, and Meeker will be fired instead.  I want you to stay on.  In fact, effective
Immediately I'm giving you a $150 a month raise!!!"

It turns out Jeff Boeing was a new mid-day DJ, and the lineup by mid-November 1967 became:

6-9AM          GARY TODD           (Promotion Director)
9AM-Noon   JEFF BOEING       (Station Voice on ID's)
Noon-4PM   BOBBY SIMON
4-8PM          DICK CURTIS          (Program Director)
8PM-Mid      ROBIN MITCHELL  (Promo Production)
Mid-6AM     GREG CONNORS

Buckley Broadcasting, owners of KGIL in the L.A. area, WDRC in Hartford, and soon WIBG in Philly were the new owners of KOL.  Bob Cooper exited as G.M.  Rick Buckley, Jr. was officially the G.M., but he was only in town every 3-4 weeks.  Dick Curtis as P.D. ostensibly filled those duties as well as Programming when Rick wasn't in Seattle.

KOL bombastically brought 1967 to a close with FLASHBACK 67.  Here are several of the promos written by Dick Curtis that Robin Mitchell produced to sell "KOL" growth and imaging.  Music was started under the last several words of many of these promos for effect!!!

Promotions included KOL DJs hitting all area beaches to award
Summer prizes via the KOL Beach Buggy, a custom made vehicle that was given away at The Eagles Auditorium at the summer's end.  The vehicle was "unveiled," when KOL "brought love to the Seattle center."

In addition to being KOL's morning man, Gary Todd was a very good promotion director.  He was great on details and follow-through.  He secured the beach buggy, and a ton of cheap "love beads" for the DJs to hand out at the Seattle Center Symphonic Fountain, which was transformed with the music of KOL for this event.

Gary left KOL for mornings at WIBC - Indianapolis by Fall 1968.  Paul Oscar Anderson was hired from Portland for KOL's morning show.  By December '68, Jeff Boeing (Jack Hayes) accepted a job in another
market.  Before leaving, Boeing put many station I.D. elements in the can for future station imaging, including "Flashback '68."

By December, KOL's on-air lineup looked like this:

6-10AM           PAUL OSCAR ANDERSON
10AM-2PM     BOBBY SIMON
2-6PM            DICK CURTIS
6-10PM          ROBIN MITCHELL
10PM-2AM    ROBERT O. SMITH
2-6AM            GREG CONNORS

Paul was great on-air, however he had one fault incompatible with a morning DJ.  He had a hard time getting out of bed in the morning.

Curtis drove to his house to see him after having to fill-in for him one last time.  P.O.A. made it to work the next morning, but after his shift declared, "I did something exceedingly unprofessional this morning.  I went outside to watch the sunrise.  It was so beautiful, I didn't get back to the studio before the record ran out."  He then added, "I'm quitting, and moving to the Oregon coast to write my memoirs"!!!

Dick Curtis replaced P.O.A. doing mornings on KOL.  Robert O. Smith was moved up from 10PM-2AM into 2-6PM.  Burl Barer joined KOL for 10PM-2AM after a short stint doing weekends for KJR.  Burl was much more excited to be joining "the concert station."  For many years, Burl introduced all KOL's major concerts at the Eagles Auditorium.

6-10AM          DICK CURTIS       
10AM-2PM     BOBBY SIMON
2-6PM            ROBERT O. SMITH
6-10PM          ROBIN MITCHELL
10PM-2AM     BURL BARER
2-6AM            GREG CONNORS

In early 1969, Dick Curtis was officially named General Manager of KOL.  Lan Roberts had not renewed his KJR contract.  KOL hired Lan as Program Director and Morning Man.  KJR sought court
enforcement of the "no compete" clause of his expired contract.  The result was Lan could PD for KOL, but not go on-air until the courts
resolved the issue.

Greg Connors, who had been a full-time student at UW while doing overnights exited for KING.  Even though he was only working part time, KING had wonderful schooling benefits.  I believe Chris Hill, who had been working weekends, moved into the overnight shift at this point.  Terry McManus joined KOL as Production Director. 

Lan Roberts crafted a "new sound" for KOL.  "Kolorful KOL" became "Seattle's KOL" via a new jingle package KOL & WQXI - Atlanta piloted with TM Productions (formerly CRC).  Lan's creative juices were in overdrive, while he waited for the courts to settle the "non-compete" issue.

Lan created "The KOL Lil' Guy."  It was an Isetta covered with synthetic fur, mouse ears, nose & whiskers, and a tail that wagged when driven.  It was used in all the Summer Seattle community parades.

KOL encouraged listeners to "stop doing their dishes."  Listen for the KOL radio-controlled "automatic dishwasher."  KOL would take a call from a community in which Terry McManus (wearing a butler's outfit) would be driving in the KOL Lil' Guy.  Terry would arrive at the winner's home with rubber gloves and liquid detergent.  He'd do a phoner, do the dishes and leave!!!

Other innovations included the Elvis Presley AC/DC automatic milking machine, which was the signal to call in and win Elvis stuff.  It
consisted of cows mooing, and Elvis crooning "It's Now Or Never" in the background.

But the Lan deal that really created talk among listeners and the DJs alike was this.  A "thunder throated" mellow Terry McManus intro and bed exclaimed, "And now KOL reads more names from the Seattle
telephone directory."  The DJ would then read the names assigned to him for the hour.  (Example:  "Jones, Stephen; Jones, Theodore; Jones, Twyla; etc.)  We'd read 5 names, then hit the Terry McManus outro:  "Listen next hour when KOL reads more names from the Seattle telephone directory."

The DJs were asking each other, "Why are we doing this?"  Listeners were calling and asking the same thing.  We developed a pat answer
for the callers, like:  "I'm sorry we can't tell you, but listen for your name."  Since the names were being read in alphabetical order,
eventually we would get to them.  Ironically, the new phone book came out about 3 weeks after we started this campaign.

Suddenly, one day a new Terry McManus promo appeared:  "KOL
regrets to announce, we are no longer reading names from the Seattle telephone directory."

The telephone response was immediate and huge.  People were calling to ask:  "WHY HAVE YOU QUIT READING NAMES FROM THE PHONE DIRECTORY???"  Another KOL ZINGER!!!

By Summer '69, the KOL on-air lineup looked like this:

6-10AM         DICK CURTIS
10AM-2PM    DON BURNS
2-6PM           ROBERT O. SMITH
6-10PM         ROBIN MITCHELL
10PM-2AM    BURL BARER
2-6AM           CHRIS HILL

By the end of August, I exited KOL seeking a PD opportunity.  I was hired by new KING PD Buzz Barr to fill the overnight shift.  KING was kind of "Chicken TOP 40" at this point.  After meeting with Seattle
advertising executive John Mowbray and his partner Chris Wedes, I joined their station, KEED - Eugene as P.D. in November 1969.  Chris was better known as Seattle TV Clown J.P. Patches.  I had more than one high-level meeting at KIRO with Chris, while he was in full clown makeup.  THERE CAN BE NO STRANGER BUSINESS MEETING!!!

Soon, the courts ruled that Lan Roberts could return to the air at KOL.
Terry McManus joined him on the morning show as Jimmy Stalwart, and Jimmy in the "Mr. Science & Jimmy" epics.

Lan's show had to be the number one priority.  When you're in the pressure cooker everyday, you need a way to relax.  For Lan, that
became Sky Diving!!! 

Lan was getting spread pretty thin:  Up at 3:30am for the morning show, overseeing programming, meeting with record promoters,
creating promotions.   

It got to the point, if a record promoter wanted to talk to him they had to jump out of a plane with him.  Instead of Lan's "infamous timer," they had until they hit the ground to convince him.

It was time for reinforcements.  Robin Mitchell was invited back as KOL's off-air Program Director in April of '70.