Extensions of Remarks E507 HON. JOHN J. DUNCAN
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March 18, 2003 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks E507 2003 removes discriminatory features from the On Wednesday, March 19, WIVK will cele- The measure passed, and ‘‘the next morn- Medicare mental health benefits and helps fa- brate its 50th anniversary with a gala that ing Mull was packing up his records and he cilitate access to up-to-date and affordable will include testimonials from stars like left the station,’’ Dick remembered. Dolly Parton, Kenny Chesney, Kenny Rogers, Rock ‘n’ roll did serious damage to country mental health services for our elderly and dis- Travis Tritt, Charlie Daniels and Ray Price. music’s popularity in the late 1950s and early abled. I encourage my colleagues to support There’ll also be stories and reminisces from 1960s. Stations across the country abandoned its passage into law. the station’s longtime personalities. the format for Top 40. Local country favorite f Few would’ve given the station much hope WNOX had already abandoned country music in 1953 when young radioman Jim Dick put when WIVK followed suit in 1961. TRIBUTE TO MR. JIM DICK AND WIVK-AM on the air with $3,000 of his sav- That was about the time a young an- WIVK ings. At the time WIVK was just a 1,000-watt nouncer named Bobby Denton was trying to station that operated from sunrise to sunset break into radio. only. ‘‘I started in radio by announcing drag HON. JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR. Dick initially rented space on the second races from Maryville Drag Strip after school OF TENNESSEE floor of Greene’s Hardware on North Gay on WSKT,’’ said Denton, who is now offi- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Street and broadcast at 850 on the AM dial. cially retired but still serves as a consultant to current WIVK owner Citadel Communica- Tuesday, March 18, 2003 Dick didn’t think the location of the station mattered much. tions. Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ‘‘Absolutely the most important thing I Denton became acquainted with Tomlin- pay tribute to Jim Dick and WIVK, the radio did was to determine who were good people son, who then persuaded Dick to give Denton station he created in Knoxville, Tennessee. On and hired them,’’ said Dick, who is now 84. a job at WIVK. But Dick was not impressed Dick’s ‘‘good people’’ became regional with his new hire’s broadcasting skills. Wednesday, March 19, WIVK celebrates its ‘‘He said, ‘This guy is so bad we have to get 50th anniversary. icons: ‘‘Big Jim’’ Hess, Claude ‘‘The Cat’’ Tomlinson, and later, Bobby Denton, Ed him off the air!’ ’’ Denton recalled. Five decades ago, Jim Dick applied for and During the station’s three years of playing Brantley, Mike Hammond, Mickey Top 40, they found the field crowded. WNOX received a license from the Federal Commu- Dearstone, Dave Young and other personal- and WKGN dominated the Top 40 format, and nications Commission to build and operate a ities became part of Knoxville’s cultural in 1964, WIVK moved to all-country program- 1,000–watt AM radio station. At that moment, landscape. ming. In its infancy the station aired programs Dick Broadcasting Company was created. In 1965 two pivotal events took place. hosted by gospel music impresario the Rev. Jim Dick is certainly a visionary. He was WIVK was granted permission to increase its J. Bazzel Mull and millionaire grocer Cas one of the first people in the radio business to AM signal from 1,000 to 50,000 watts and an Walker, who began broadcasting musical understand the importance of broadcasting on FM sister station was established. FM’s re- shows in 1929 to promote his grocery stores. placement, because of its clearer signal, of the FM dial. He is also one of the most ad- The station also hired A. C. Wilson, one of the AM radio format was still years away, mired and respected businessmen in East the city’s first black disc jockeys in 1954. but Dick had the foresight to promote FM Tennessee. Wilson hosted ‘‘The Acey Boy Show,’’ which WIVK-AM debuted playing a wide range of heavily from the outset. featured jazz and hot rhythm and blues. ‘‘We would sign off at sunset and say, ‘If ‘‘He was a super guy,’’ recalled Dick. ‘‘If he music including gospel, country, jazz and oth- you just have half a radio, we’ll have to say hadn’t have died, he could’ve really gone ers. The station only operated during the day- goodnight until tomorrow morning. But if places.’’ time hours in the early years. WIVK has grown you have a whole radio, you can tune us in Hess and Tomlinson were the first two disc immensely since then and is now a part of the at 107.7 FM.’ ’’ Dick recalled. ‘‘Car dealer- jockeys to establish themselves at the sta- ships would tell us that people came in want- Las Vegas based Citadel Communications tion with the team ‘‘Big Jim’’ and ‘‘Little ing to buy a car with a ‘whole radio.’ ’’ By Corporation. Alf.’’ The duo’s mischief on the air was but the mid-1970s, however, FM was the domi- Jim Dick and everyone at WIVK have al- a pale shadow of the trickery they pulled off ways supported the community and have nant frequency. it. With its new, more powerful signal, WIVK- They particularly delighted in playing given so much to the citizens of their listening AM shifted into high gear. Longtime morn- jokes on Rev. Mull, whose eyesight was so area. Almost everyone in East Tennessee re- ing disc jockey Tomlinson created the char- poor he was classed as legally blind. Once lies on WIVK for great country music, timely acters ‘‘Ol’ Man Schultz’’ and simple soul Hess and Tomlinson put Mull’s car up on news and information, as well as radio broad- ‘‘Lester Longmire.’’ The characters would blocks just barely off the ground while the remain regional favorites for the next 25 casts of University of Tennessee football preacher and his wife were on the air. When years. games. the Mulls attempted to leave the station Mr. Speaker, I would like to again congratu- The station also began hosting a series of with Mrs. Mull at the wheel, the car’s tires country concerts and championing country late Jim Dick, all of the staff at WIVK, Citadel simply spun in the air. Thinking the vehicle performers. In its early days the station had Communications Corporation and all of those was somehow stuck, Mull got out and pushed had young singer Dolly Parton performing in people who have given so much of them- it, knocking it off the blocks and sending it its small downstairs auditorium on Cas selves to make this great radio station the and Mrs. Mull sailing. Walker’s program. She had also recorded best in the Country. I have also included an On another occasion the pranksters rigged early demos after hours in the station’s stu- the studio so that when Mull’s program went dios. article from the Knoxville News-Sentinel that on the air, what the preacher heard in the celebrates the 50-year anniversary of WIVK By the mid–1960s the station was beginning studio was Elvis Presley singing ‘‘All Shook to wield enough influence to have a big im- that I would like to call to the attention of my Up,’’ while the radio audience listened to the pact in the country music field. For example, fellow Members and other readers of the gospel number that was actually on the Denton has long been credited with per- RECORD. turntable. suading Jerry Lee Lewis to give country [From the Knoxville News-Sentinel, Mar. 16, One of the pair’s jokes riled Mull so badly music a shot when his rock ’n’ roll career 2003] that he promised to go to Dick and get them was at an ebb. fired. But Tomlinson, who was a master THE FROG HITS 50: WIVK CELEBRATES HALF A ‘‘We became good friends, and he would mimic and could imitate Dick perfectly, CENTURY OF BROADCASTING come to my house,’’ Denton recalled. ‘‘I slipped into the boss’ office before Mull got think I just said ‘Jerry Lee, I think if you (By Wayne Bledsoe) there. The preacher’s eyesight was so poor, would record country, people would buy it.’ ’’ Radio station WIVK is as much a part of he didn’t detect the impersonation, and Lewis replied that he was country and was East Tennessee as UT football and the rush Tomlinson promised Mull that severe pun- a far sight better country singer than some for bread and milk at the first hint of snow. ishment would be dealt to Hess and himself. of the current country stars. Shortly there- Through five decades of changing musical ‘‘The Rev. J. Bazzel Mull was very impor- after, in 1968, Lewis began a string of coun- tastes, the station has unapologetically tant to WIVK’s early success,’’ said Dick, try Top 10 hits. played country music and retained an un- who could be both amused and frustrated by Other stars have credited the station with precedented share of the listening audience. his employees’ antics. helping establish their careers. Alabama’s The station has helped launch the careers of It wasn’t the jokes, though, that finally Randy Owen has long recounted how he and country stars and even influenced the gen- drove Mull from WIVK; it was a referendum his wife stopped at the station with the first eral direction of country music.