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.
|
Radio personality John
W. Payne dies
St. Petersburg Times -
Tuesday, April 11, 1989
BROOKSVILLE - John
W. (Jack) Payne, a well-known advertising salesman for WWJB(-AM
1450) radio in Brooksville, died Monday. He was
57. Payne suffered an apparent heart attack and died at Lykes
Memorial Hospital early Monday morning, said Steve
Manuel, station manager for WWJB. Payne had been having heart
trouble for years and had retired from full-time work at the end of
last year, Manuel said. Despite
his health problems, Payne continued working at the station on a
volunteer basis, occasionally doing live broadcasts on location from
places such as the Hernando County Fair and Register Chevrolet, Manuel
said. "He was
always in demand to do those for us,'' Manuel said. ''He's been a
fixture around here for a long time. We're going to miss him even
though he had retired from the day-to-day operations of the station.'' Cyd
Samson, who did business with Payne and knew him as a friend, said
that Payne had a wonderful radio personality and was polite to
customers who would approach him while he was doing the on-site
broadcasts. ''He was fantastic,'' said Samson, a Brooksville jeweler.
''We're all going to miss him a lot.'' Payne
was the radio station's only salesman for about five years, Manuel
said. Payne had worked for radio station WENY in Elmira, N.Y., before
moving to Brooksville. Before beginning his career in radio
advertising, Payne worked in sales for International Harvester, Manuel
said. Payne is
survived by his wife, Phyllis; two sons, John and Steve, both of
Oregon; four sisters, Gladys Halloran, Breezeport, N.Y., Peggy Rubin,
Elmira, Ruth Barnes, Bradenton, and Patty Lou Mackovitch, Horseheads,
N.Y. A memorial
service will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Brewer Memorial Funeral Home,
510 E Liberty. The Rev. Earl Hagar will officiate. The
family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the
Hernando County chapter of the American Heart Association.
|
1988
THE ORLANDO
SENTINEL Saturday, December 24, 1988
GENE FORREST ''JIM'' MITCHELL,
52, 1600 Bigtree Road, Daytona Beach, died Friday. Born in Hope, Ark.,
he moved to Daytona Beach from Orlando in 1986. He was a broadcasting
news director for WROD-AM
1340 radio and a stock market
analyst. He was a Baptist. He was an Air Force veteran of the Korean
War. He was a recipient of the Katie Award for best spot news coverage
in TV and of the best editorial award from the UPI Broadcasting
Association. Survivors: wife, Linda K.; son, Dennis, Dallas; stepsons,
Hayes and Randy Henderson, both of Orlando; daughter, Misti Pickett,
Tyler, Texas; mother, Elvia R., Casselberry; brother, Edward Byron,
Garland, Texas; sister, Fran Wilson, Casselberry; five grandchildren.
Cox-Parker Carey hand Funeral Home, Winter Park.
|
Maurice
Jackson May
18, 1988
Rockledge
Maurice B. Jackson, 70, a radio broadcaster and advertising
salesman died Friday, May 13, of a heart attack in Birmingham, Ala.,
where he was to attend his high school reunion. Mr. Jackson, of 975
Cardon Drive, Rockledge, was a Brevard County resident for 20 years.
Born in Birmingham he was a disc jockey and talk-show host in
Ohio and Brevard at WJZX-AM
860 in Cocoa, formerly WKKO-AM
860. He also worked as an advertising account executive in the
Brevard bureau of The Orlando Sentinel.
MR. Jackson was last employed as a salesman with Stateside Auto Supply
Co. on Merritt Island. He fought in World War II with the Army.
Survivors include his son, Allen Jackson; and two grandchildren. |
James
Edgar Yarbrough, 84, Pioneer Broadcasting Engineer March
18, 1988
Orlando Sentinel
James
Edgar Yarbrough, a pioneer broadcasting engineer whose Central
Florida career spanned more than 50 years, died Friday. He was 84. Yarbrough
started with WDBO(-AM
580) Radio as chief engineer in 1926 and was in
charge of the first television broadcast of WBDO-Channel 6 in 1954. ''He
was very widely respected as a transmitter engineer,'' said Ben
Aycrigg, a news anchor for Channel 6, now called WCPX. ''He was
probably the last of the broadcasting pioneers.'' Yarbrough, 422
Raintree Court, Winter Park, retired from broadcasting in 1968 but
remained a consultant to the television station until the late 1970s,
Aycrigg said. He had a lifelong interest in baseball and
classical music and had traveled to England last October to hear some
of that nation's symphony orchestras. Born in Columbia, S.C., he
moved to Winter Park from Shelby, N.C., in 1926. A Presbyterian,
Yarbrough was a veteran of the Naval Reserve and a member of the
Institute of Electrical-Electronics Engineers. He is survived by
his wife, Rosalind B.; son, George, of West Yellowstone, Mont.;
brother, Harrison E., of Shelby; several grandchildren and several
great-grandchildren. Garden Chapel Home for Funerals in Orlando is in
charge of arrangements. |
James
Joseph Martin March
10, 1988
James
Joseph "Jim" Martin, 63, Vanderbilt Drive, Clearwater,
died Wednesday, March 10. Mr. Martin was a former news
broadcaster with WDBO(-AM
580) radio. Born in Detroit, he was a former
resident of Central Florida. He was a member of Heritage United
Methodist Church, Clearwater. Survivors: wife, Louise; daughters,
Kathy, Daytona Beach, Sally Lightsey, Julie Martin-Goodwin, both of
Orlando, Susie Combs, Fort Hood, Texas; son, James J. Jr., Orlando;
stepsons, Kim Watrous, Corona, Calif., Kevin Watrous, Springfield,
Ill.; stepdaughter, Lisa Rosengren, Springfield, Va.; brother, Burke,
Spartanburg, S.C.; 11 grandchildren. Moss-Feaster Funeral Home,
Clearwater. |
1987
Bill Hess
Floyd
William ''Bill'' Hess original owner of WEUS-AM
1240, Eustis died at age 70.
|
Bob
Keith 10-26-87
October 28, 1987 Obituary from the Orlando Sentinel
Bob Keith, a former Orlando city commissioner and radio and television
personality, died Monday, October 26, 1987 after a seven-year battle
with cancer. He was 59. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Keith was a
disc jockey and hosted a rock 'n' roll show on WLOF-AM
(950). ''All the kids loved it,'' said city clerk Grace Chewning.
''That was what we listened to in high school. 'In the late 1950s and
early 1960s, Keith took the show to television with the Channel 9
Bandstand. ''He was real tall and thin and had this real resonant
voice,'' Chewning said. ''He was our own Dick Clark.'' ''He was part
of the glory days -- the rock 'n' roll days,'' said Bud
Brewer, who worked with Keith at WLOQ-FM
103.1 in the late 1970s. In 1974, Keith was elected city
commissioner for District 3 in the non- partisan election. He
campaigned on a promise of independence from Mayor Carl Langford, and
friends said he worked hard to stick to it. ''His disposition was to
try to get along with everybody,'' said Todd Persons, who covered the
city council for WCPX-Channel 6. ''But he really did try hard to be
his own man.'' Arthur ''Pappy'' Kennedy, who served on the
council from 1972 to 1980, said Keith was an outspoken commissioner.
Yet he also remained open to ideas and was ''concerned about seeing
things go smoothly,'' Kennedy said. Keith lost a re-election bid in
1978 and ran an unsuccessful race for the Orange County Commission in
1982. He retired from politics and became a real estate agent. He was
in the public eye again last year as a central figure in the trial of
restaurateur Champ Williams on charges of bribing public officials.
Keith said that when he was on the city council he had favored
Williams on an important vote. Keith was in Williams' office, he said,
when Williams told him he appreciated his help and stuck a roll of
cash in the commissioner's pocket. Keith said he returned the money,
told Williams he was insulted and left. However, state prosecutors
also charged that Williams made illegal campaign contributions to
Keith and other politicians by passing on his money through others.
Keith said he didn't know that the money came from Williams, and no
charges were filed against him. The state's charges against Williams
were later thrown out for lack of evidence. Keith, 3213 Eagle Blvd.,
was born in Sanford and moved to Orlando from Minneapolis in 1937. He
was a Coast Guard veteran and a member of First Baptist Church of
Orlando, where services are scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday.
|
1985
Area radio celebrity dies at
67
William
Maschmeier
By Doug Cohen Florida Today Writer
Known to his radio listeners and
friends as "Prince William," William Maschmeier, the former
owner and general manager of Cocoa radio station WKKO(-AM
860), died Thursday from lung cancer. He
was 67. Mr. Maschmeier of 2100 Atlantic Ave., Cocoa Beach, died at
Cape Canaveral Hospital in Cocoa Beach about 2 a.m., hospital
officials said. "Bill was a very unique individual. He spent the
last 40 years of his life in the broadcasting business," said Tom
McArdle II, a partner of Mr. Maschmeier's at WKKO radio. "He
worked with a lot of greats in the business and gave a lot of greats
their start." One of those greats was music legend Dick Clark.
More than .37 years ago, Mr. Maschmeier gave Clark his first chance in
television when Clark - was virtually unknown. And that same blend of
daring and intuition that Mr. Maschmeier showed when he hired Clark
was the force behind his decision to buy WKKO radio in 19705. In the in
nine years that he owned and operated WKKO -which is now known as
"Fox 86" - Mr. Maschmeier used his radio talents to try and
unify the county into what he called the "city of Brevard."
By 1984, when he sold the station, Mr. Maschmeier had energized the
"city of Brevard" with more than 400 editorial broadcasts,
McArdle said. Some of those editorials were influential in the fight
against teen-age drug abuse in Brevard schools, McArdle said. Mr.
Maschmeier's influence in Brevard stretched far beyond the airwaves.
He was a member of the board of the Cocoa Beach Area Chamber of
Commerce and co-founder of M-3 Group Ltd., which promoted the
"Reach on the Beach" program and other efforts to beautify
Cocoa Beach. "He was a maverick," said his wife, Jane
Maschmeier. "He was constantly doing something for his fellow
man." Survivors include his wife; son, William John Maschmeier of
Whidbey Island, Wash.; daughter, Marti Rosenburg of Nashville Tenn.;
and three grandchildren. No funeral arrangements had been scheduled as
of late Thursday. |
1979
J.
L. "Bill" Berry
Daytona Beach Morning Journal
Feb. 4, 1979
James Lawrence "Bill"
Berry, 61, co-host of the "Sunrise Jubilee" program, on
WFTV, Channel 9, died Saturday. Berry joined WFTV in 1978 and had
conducted more than 400 interviews with agribusiness guests from
Central Florida. Berry was credited with being the areas first
television weatherman and hosted the first Cerebral Palsy Telethon.
The Seneca, S.C., native began his broadcasting career when he left
the Army in 1945. He first worked for a Sarasota radio station and
moved to Orlando two years later when he was part of the staff, which
put WHOO(-AM
990) Radio on the air in 1947. In 1949 Berry joined WDBO(-AM
580) Radio ands television (channel 6) where he worked for 22
years. Berry resigned in 1971 to form his own advertising agency, Bill
Berry Associates. During his long broadcasting career,
Berry received more than 100 community service awards and citations a
WFTV spokesman said. Berry's duties on "Sunrise" temporarily
will be assumed by Barbara Stump. Survivors include Berry's widow,
four daughters, and two sons. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m.
Tuesday at Guy Black Funeral Home in Orlando. Burial will be at 2 p.m.
in Palmetto. |