by Kerry Peace (PD, DJ 1979-1981)

The author in his natural habitat.

Friends, I had some memorable experiences in my WIDB days, triumphs and tragedies alike.  The day Slaga handed over the keys to the Program Directorship embodies the former, while the night John Lennon was killed is over-qualified for the latter.

But it’s the silly things I remember best. They just seemed to be in the air at WIDB, ready to ignite at a moment’s notice.  Some return in a flash as indelible images (“JOEY RAMONE ATE THIS BREAD!!!”) and some inspire a more substantial reminiscence.  Below is one of a handful of my favorite silly WIDB episodes.  Fair warning: I don’t swear to recalling events exactly as they happened, etc, disclaimer, fog of war, blah-blah, woof-woof…

Change was always in the air at the station, and in the Spring of 1980 it was time for school administrators to pick a new General Manager to replace our beloved graduating GM, Al “Big Guy” Linton.  Al approached me one day and asked me to throw my hat in the ring for GM.  Two other station members had already stated their intention to apply and he feared that one of them, someone whose judgment he questioned, was going to get the job.  I wouldn’t hear of it, though.  I was “all about the music, man,” and couldn’t be bothered to give up my cherished Program Directorship.  Al tried some more, but I wasn’t budging and that was the end of it, or so I thought.

Al “Big Guy” Linton

A few weeks later I was at my desk in Wright One when Al walked in.  He put his backpack down and calmly asked me if I’d care to step out into the hallway with him.  And why not?  We were pals, chums and comrades in arms, were we not? 

As soon as we got into the hallway though, he put his big hands around my throat and began throttling me up against the wall, all the while asking me if I knew who had been awarded the general manager’s position for the coming school year.  I did not (and in fact hadn’t given it a moment’s thought since he asked me to apply), but quickly gathered that it had gone to he whom Al did not want it to go to. 

Just as I began to think Al was not just joking, but seriously choking, he loosened his grip, gave me a playful slap on the face and walked away.  That’s how much that silly Big Guy loved WIDB.