Mirth on Memory Lane

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…

SILLY THING #3: TRAPPED LIKE CARELESS RATS

Springtime, 1981.  Its Easter break, but we’ve got a staff, so we’re on the air.  Wright One is deserted and locked up tight except for the WIDB studios.

Driving to the station one day, I notice dark sky approaching.  Heading east on Grand Avenue, I catch something moving out of the corner of my right eye.  I turn to look, and the wind is blowing a 55-gallon steel barrel sideways across the field north of Schneider Tower almost as fast as my car is moving. Once at the station, I regale Randy Lynch, John Grayson and Cyril Radwin with my sighting and we all agree that some serious weather is on the way.  Then a decision is made to go up the inside stairway of Wright One to the building foyer so we can, you know, “Get a good look.”

So let’s review quickly, shall we?  We have the Program Director (Mr. Peace), Music Director (Mr. Lynch), the Chief Engineer (Mr. Grayson) and the News Director (Mr. Radwin), all veteran department heads, all seniors about 60 days from entering the real world, marching up the stairs to a 6’ x 8’ glass enclosure to watch a violent storm blow through.  In Tornado Alley.  During tornado season.  Genius convention.

           Chief Genius Grayson                                               Genius Director Lynch

We get up to the foyer and there’s a great view of the gloomy greenish-grey scene, trees waving and bending, cats and dogs lining up to fall from the sky.  We point out this particularly volatile gust of wind and that ominous streak of lightning.  Chances are good I let fly with a few cries of “Auntie Em! Auntie Em!”  All great fun.  When various bits of plant life begin blowing into the windows with no small amount of force, reason arrives and we figure it’s time to head back down to the relative safety of the basement.  Someone turns to open the door leading downstairs and…it’s locked.  It had locked behind us when we entered the foyer.

Just a smidge of panic sets in as all three doors (the one downstairs, the one into the dorm and the one leading outside) are tried over and over to no effect.  We were quite trapped.  I don’t think anyone seriously feared for their lives, but the desire to leave the glass box did take on a more desperate tone.  Vandalism began to look like our only savior and in short time we discovered that the big picture window in the foyer was not glass, but plexi-glass.  Some pushing and banging ensued and before long it was dislodged from its frame.  We squeezed out of the foyer, scurried around to the station entrance and ran inside, laughing at our adventure and no doubt feeling relieved that no one would ever find out how stupidly careless we had been.

Mirth on Memory Lane

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…

SILLY THING #2: THE BRIGGSMAN COMETH

 
L-R “Uncle Briggs” Gordon, Kerry Peace, Don D’agostino.

Not sure how much mere words can add to the picture above. Briggs Gordon worked at WSIL-TV from the mid ‘70s into the ‘80s.  He did sports and, of infinitely more interest to silly college students, hosted an afternoon children’s show, The Funny Company, as the fictitious old-timer “Uncle Briggs.”  Many of us watched him religiously, cheering the appearance of Banana Man or Sally Safety, and reveling in the airing of Three Stooges shorts and Deputy Dawg cartoons.  I remember experiencing profound cosmic joy (and more than a tingle of silly) upon opening an issue of Rolling Stone one day to see a full-page color picture of Bob Dylan putting on Briggs’ infamous “cartoon eyes.”

Imagine then, the surprise, delight and outright head-scratching at the station one night, when Gordon showed up out of nowhere in full “Uncle Briggs” get-up.  He wasn’t there long, didn’t have much to say and turned down an offer to go on-air.  Just passin’ through, I suppose.  He did pose for a picture though, and as you can see by the grins plastered on the faces of Don D’Agostino and myself, it was akin to being photographed with a Pope.  A very, very silly Pope.  Sadly, Briggs Gordon died way too young in 1987.  “Yessir, we’re goin’ to Sesser!”

R.I.P. Briggs Gordon