a world without wayne...
There was something both wholly final and depressing about deleting a friend or relative from the contact list of my cellphone recently because that person had reached the end of life.
HUH? What's up with that?
About two years ago, my mother's name was removed from the same directory. That was the first time I went through that emotional experience even though I did have a choice. I could have left the number in my contacts as MOM, but I chose not to pretend I could call her at any time.
Of course, a good friend passing away isn't of the same magnitude as losing a parent, but there is s a degree of sadness.
My friend's name was Wayne Perkey. He was one of the first people in the community to welcome me to my new position when I moved to Louisville 46 years ago.
There are a few people in our lives who are like another brother or sister to us. It's not blood that binds us, but specific happenings going on in our lives when we meet that creates a bond and allows a relationship to blossom. Wayne was such a person.
I had just moved to Louisville, Kentucky and started a new job at WHAS Radio. Wayne was the morning personality and I was hired to be on the air from noon to 3 o'clock.
There was a lot to learn at my new radio home and Wayne took the time to see to it that I learned the politics as well as the machinations of such a vast organization. The radio station was in the same building as the CBS television affiliate, so, there were over 200 people under the same roof.
Two other talents, John Polk and Gary Burbank were great friends during those years too. John had been at WNAP in Indianapolis during that station's prime years while Gary had relocated to Louisville by way of Detroit.
Few people have the type of personality to be genuinely smiling or laughing almost every time you see them, but that was Mr. Perkey. His surname said it all and he lived up to it every day. He had the innate ability to make you feel better about yourself whether you were having a good or bad day. A huge smile on his face and an upturned thumb could very well have been his signature logo.
Wayne was a morning air personality for a reason. Great voice? Happy? Alert? Interesting to listen to? He checked all the boxes. His slogan was, Perkey in the Morning. He certainly fulfilled the spirit of a morning man. Wayne was often referred to as the Voice of Louisville.
We shared office space with our desks just a few feet apart. Our office was in a huge room that housed the station's record library. (The station employed a music librarian and an assistant. The two were in charge of storing and indexing thousands of record albums which have since been boxed up and moved or tossed out completely).
Part of our daily routine after Wayne finished his show at 9 o'clock was for him to come into the office and start discussing my show and who his guests would be for the next day. He relished talking to people and spent hours every week on a landline phone booking newsmakers and other VIPs. His show from 5:00am-9:00am was loaded with information and guests making local news. There were some tunes, but music was a very small part of his morning drive show.
Wayne came to WHAS from Knoxville in 1969 and was the 84 WHAS morning personality on the station for 30 years.
He was one of only three people to emcee a local telethon called the WHAS Crusade for Children. It's an annual fundraiser that today raises over five million dollars for agencies and healthcare facilities that specialize in treating or caring for children in Kentucky and southern Indiana. The annual event begins on a Friday night and ends Sunday evening.
The WHAS Crusade for Children started in 1954. My first year of being a part of this worthwhile effort was 1976. (Bobby Rydell was one of the featured guests). Wayne emceed this event for 20 years before his retirement in 1999. It was broadcast live on WHAS television and radio.
A few days before the start of my first Crusade, Wayne asked me if I had ever been a part of such an endeavor. My involvement through other stations to raise money for charitable causes had been substantial up to that time, however, collectively it paled next to the good works the Crusade supports.
I told him I had not done anything of this magnitude. He said, Just wait. You will remember what you helped make happen next weekend the rest of your life.
He was right. All these years later, I recall specific happenings and a few of the children who were present for my first telethon.
Wayne was divorced from his wife, Jane Anne, but years later they reconciled and became solid friends. Sitting in our favorite Starbucks, he told me many times over the past two or three years how grateful he was he and Jane Anne had developed a mutual respect. The two reached a point where they attended various family gatherings together. Wayne and Jane Anne had five children, three girls and two boys.
Last January, I texted Wayne to ask some questions about an upcoming blog. The subject of the blog was the 1976 Derby. By late February, I hadn't gotten a response, so I texted him once more. I simply said, How quickly we forget. It was an expression we often used with each other in similar circumstances.
Wayne's response was as follows: Steve, I am in isolation at Baptist Hospital with Omicron.
What can you say? How do you respond to that?
A couple weeks later, I received a text that said: Steve, you have been a very loyal and kind friend. I can't wait to get out of here and go have a cup of coffee.
It was while we sat across from each other with those frequent cups of coffee that we also shared our thoughts and challenges. He was an irreplaceable friend, supporter, and mentor.
Wayne passed away March 6th, 2022. His cheerfulness, kindness and upbeat personality left an indelible imprint on many people. I am just one of them.
Coming up: meet a 92 year old designer who still works six days a week; find out what more POS are doing post retirement, and; speaking of oddities and such!
Here's an update about a previous BLOG.
Last October 31, I published a post on B and K Enterprises. Butch and Kim Polston produce all the Elvis-type jumpsuits used by entertainers today. B and K is located in Southern Indiana.
Butch told me about an upcoming Elvis movie in which B and K produced all the costumes worn by the actor playing Elvis. He said all work on the movie had stopped because of Covid-19 and he didn't know the status of the film. The movie stars Tom Hanks as Elvis' manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
The movie is now scheduled to be released June 24th. I sent Butch and Kim an e-mail congratulating them and telling them I am looking forward to seeing their hard work.
And, finally, these two notes. Wayne Perkey probably uttered the phrase 84 WHAS as a station brand 50 times every morning, five days a week, 50 weeks a year for 30 years. That's about 375,000 times. The irony? Wayne was 84 when he passed away.
Also, this final mention of the WHAS music library. When Elvis died in 1977, my office was still housed amidst the stacks of wax. The day after his death, someone absconded with all the Elvis albums, including all the early 50s stuff. I know. I went looking for them too.
Huh? What's up with that?
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