Rita Elkins née Giddings aka Rita Michaels and Rita Lorraine   
WCKS-FM    

Spanky McCoy, PD hired me in late 1976 or early 1977 to replace Tremonte Watts on weekend overnights - I was the first FT female jock on CK101 (WCKS-FM 101.1) - or all of Brevard County for that matter although Jan Moore (Leslie Overby, office manager) had been pulling CK swing shifts for awhile before me and Bonnie Ezell King had been FT on the old easy listening WEZY-FM before then. My air name then was Rita Lorraine - we used the ultra-tight Mike Joseph's* format then (10 seconds tops!) By 1977 I was overnight weeknights, then 7-midnight, weekend swing, and also copywriting for SM Tom Love and the infamous Howard Feingold and Frank Konn. I drove the CK Hit Van around town delivering the CK Hit List to all the local record stores and 7-11 stores, and emceed the surf fest wet t-shirt contest (before they changed to a bikini contest). We also aired the then-famous Reach on the Beach, when Bubba Sutton got some great publicity for the ailing post-Apollo Space Coast, by establishing the Guinness World Record for longest continuous strand of people holding hands on the beach. I still have that T-shirt! Stan Anderson and I did a lot of remotes in those days - sometimes with OM Bill Baker too - who covered mornings and PD role between Spanky and Jim Sumter.  Some of my other coworkers in those days: Steve Ocean, Billy Charles, some cranky dude name Jason who was thankfully replaced soon by the affable Gabriel Aaron Burton, a cool lady named Pat in sales, and the beloved Ginny Johnson in the office.
Stan got many of us together for a reunion at Kiwanis Island some years ago - it was awesome to see so many of these friends. Life is a trip, and life in radio is the trippiest of all!
I left CK to work for its top advertiser at the time, Ivan Davis of Norgren-Davis Advertising. But the airwaves called me back and I resumed radio work as Rita Michaels at WAMT/WAJX 1981-1983, WRKT/WSSP in 1984-1985 and WLRQ/Lite Rock 99.3FM 1986-1988. Don't hold me to these dates - that was a long time ago, lol!
When De-reg killed community radio I jumped over to print 1988-2000, but radio is forever in my blood. I'd be back on air in a heartbeat if I thought I could manage the new technologies - and if it would ever again give me a chance to make a difference for my community - that's what I loved the most about the CK days/daze!

*Mike Joseph was a radio format consultant  in the 1970s.Mike created the "Hot Hits" concept, which helped spur the birth of what is now known as CHR, also revitalized the Top 40 format and would play a role in bringing the format to the FM band throughout the 1980s. He died in Los Angeles on April 14, 2018  at the age of 90.