Ken Lueck
Obituary from the Daytona Beach News Journal
courtesy of Chuck Johnson
Ken
Lueck, WNDB Radio Personality, Dies
by Cora Huckins
DAYTONA
BEACH NEWS-JOURNAL - Monday, March 6, 1989
Kenneth
Arthur Lueck, 73, widely known for his early-morning broadcasts from
an "air-conditioned broom closet" at radio station WNDB(-AM
1150) when it was owned by the Daytona Beach News-Journal,
died Sunday at Halifax Medical Center. He was retired from broadcasting in the
mid-1970's, sold his home in Ormond Beach and he and his wife, Dorothy (known to
her friends as Dottie), moved to 524 S. Beach St., where he took
great pleasure watching the comings and goings on the Halifax River from his
apartment window. Mr. Lueck was born in Irma, Wis., described in an
article written by the late News-Journal columnist Phil deBeaubien in 1970,
as "down the road from Tomahawk Lake and the village of Bearskin." With
his gravelly voice, Ken, as he was known affectionately by his thousands of his
listeners, was one of the least likely persons to take up radio announcing
as a career. He once described himself as "possessed of the worst
voice since Marconi invented wireless, but they listen - perhaps suffering
a little, but they listen." After a stretch as a Merchant Seaman on
the Great Lakes, he spent time during World War II as a radio operator in the
Air Force when he also play with the Army-Air Force Band. He had a checkered
career which included a stint as a cowboy out in Bozeman, Mont., and playing his
saxophone with big bands in Milwaukee. Finally, he started as an engineer
at a radio station in Elk City, Okla. One day the regular morning
announcer, who had a taste for sour mash bourbon, didn't turn up for work,
having indulged the night before. Ken pushed the button 6 a.m. and was on the
air playing a 33 1/3 record on a 78 rpm turntable. After this fast start,
Ken polished his act and Elk City had a new "electronic hero." Ken
first came here in 1949. He started work for WNDB and featured a teen club on
his morning show when he built up a loyal following. He left in 1952 for Warsaw,
Va., where he became program director and chief engineer of WNNT and
organized "Ken's Kousins" a
talent show that toured Eastern Virginia. While in "colonial
Virginia," as he called it, he married Dorothy Thompson,
a former Chicago model who was managing a charm and model school in Cincinnati.
He then moved to Cincinnati where he became WZIP morning man. The Luecks'
daughter, Sally, was born there in 1954. One night in 1955,
according to guest Chatterbox columnist, Ann Hicks (Marsh), when Ken was
taking off his shoes, "sand fell out all over Dottie's nice clean vacuumed
rug, and before they could yell 'Daytona Beach!' Ken was back in his favorite
broom closet". A son, Michael, was born soon after they arrived here.
Ken returned to WNDB, but this time he was the night man, and his
legion of loyal fans joined him. His irreverent style included awarding the
station manager and chief engineer to listeners as prizes in
"contests" and slugging his listeners from time to time with
outrageously raucous records. After a few months broadcasting during the late
night, he returned to the morning show, playing favorites from the 1940s
to the 1970s. He loved to accompany his special favorites such as
"Heartaches" and "Stardust" on a wooden whistle, or he
would just whistle along himself. He and Dottie enjoyed dancing and were
frequently seen at dances and parties throughout the area. In 1961, while
looking for a piano that would take a beating by his youngsters, he
stumbled on a "monstrosity." It was a big square "bulky piece of
junk." While refinishing it, he found markings underneath and made
out the words "Solano Grove." It turned out the piano had quite a
history. Ken traced its history to Jacksonville of the 1880's history when
British born composer Frederick Delius, who absorbed Florida moods and
atmosphere on the St. Johns River in 1884-85. Delius divided his time
between orange tree planting at Solano Grove on the St. Johns, and writing and
studying musical composition with a friend and teacher, Thomas Ward of
Jacksonville. Ken later sold the piano to the University of Jacksonville Music
Dept., where it has been placed in Delius' home, which had been moved from
Solano Grove to the university campus. Ken was also a speech and radio
teacher at the Mary Karl Vocational School, a division of Daytona Beach Junior
College (now Daytona Beach Community College) for 14 years. In 1972 he joined
the real estate firm of Austin Combs and Associates, selling real estate
afternoons, evenings and weekends, and continuing with the "Ken Lueck
Show" in the early mornings. Besides his wife, survivors include son
Michael of Dallas, and daughter, Sally Lueck, Fort Lauderdale. Woodward, Holly
Hill is in charge.
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