The Late Jerry Kay(e) @ KHIT-FM & KJR-FM

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The Late Jerry Kay(e) @ KHIT-FM & KJR-FM

Postby jon » Fri Sep 28, 2007 11:18 am

As a bonus this week, given that Jerry Kay(e) passed away a day after Pat O'Day's birthday in 2005, we have two of his airchecks, in stereo, recorded off-air from Vancouver by Radiofan, and prepared especially for Today in History on September 25, 2007. You will hear some reception difficulties, given the distance, but it still makes great listening.

Jerry Kaye was doing mid-days at KHIT-FM in January 1985 at a time when the station was one of four Top 40 FMs battling it out for Seattle listeners; KHIT was actually licensed to Bremerton.

JERRY KAYE @ KHIT-FM Aircheck Click Here

6:57 5 MB

-------------------------------------

Jerry was on KJR-FM Seattle on May 31, 1991, playing Oldies, or "The Way Back Machine" as he calls it, with the original KJR-AM jingles. You can do things like that when your AM and FM both have frequencies that can be called "Channel 95".

JERRY KAYE @ KJR-FM Aircheck Click Here

12:11 4.4 MB

-------------------------------------

What follows is adapted from RadioWest's Today in History:

A Special Tribute to Jerry Kay(e):

One of the Pacific Northwest's greatest DJs of all time, Jerry Kay, passed away on September 25th, 2005, in Seaside, Oregon, at the age of 67. Ironically, back in the '60s, he would often refer to himself as "The Late Great Jerry Kay" whenever he was assigned an all-night shift.

Jerry Kay's real name was Jerry King, but that last name was a non-starter in Seattle radio, given the call letters of KING AM, FM and TV. So, he became Kay, sometimes Kaye, as many DJs did, spelling out phonetically the first letter of his last name.

Controversy also surrounds his beginnings in Radio. Many sources got their information from http://www.440.com/namesk.html#_jkaye which list Jerry beginning at KOL Seattle in 1960, moving to KJR in 1961. Pat O'Day has said that he hired Jerry in Yakima in 1957, where he was Jerry King on the air, and brought him to KJR in 1961, changing his name to Jerry Kay. Some of the "KJR Years" were actually spent at KNEW Spokane, later renamed KJRB to reflect the fact KJR owned them, although the call letters were changed because of a large cash incentive from KEWB Oakland, who desperately wanted the KNEW call letters for themselves.

Both Jerry Kay and Larry Lujack, good friends at KJR, moved to WLS Chicago in 1967, Larry by way of WMEX in Boston, where he called himself Johnny Lujack. Both would later move to WCFL, Chicago's other Top 40 giant of the period. While Larry remained to become the icon of Top 40 radio in Chicago, Jerry came back to Seattle, and KJR, in 1971, with later stops at KBSG, KYYX, KHIT, KSPL and KJR-FM. He retired in the 1990s and was somewhat of a recluse at the time of his death.

Image
1969 WLS

Reelradio has an aircheck of Jerry from WCFL Chicago from 1971. As well as the audio, there is a nice description, picture and a link to comments, which begin with one by Doc Harris: http://www.reelradio.com/joce/index.html#jkwcfl030471

To settle a controversy that raged about Jerry just after his death: he is not the Jerry Kaye who was a popular DJ at WING in Dayton, Ohio, in the mid-1960s. See the comments associated with his WING aircheck for more details http://www.reelradio.com/pk/index.html#jkwing080966-sc

And, finally, to see and hear Burl Barer explain how Jerry Kay first got him on the air at KJR, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaNjZ-PmKTM

Image

Image
L-R: Big Jim Martin & Jerry Kay circa 2003

Pictures from ReelRadio.com and Radiofan
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Re: The Late Jerry Kay(e) @ KHIT-FM & KJR-FM

Postby Tacomaradiofan » Wed Jul 17, 2013 11:02 am

jon wrote:As a bonus this week, given that Jerry Kay(e) passed away a day after Pat O'Day's birthday in 2005, we have two of his airchecks, in stereo, recorded off-air from Vancouver by Radiofan, and prepared especially for Today in History on September 25, 2007. You will hear some reception difficulties, given the distance, but it still makes great listening.

Jerry Kaye was doing mid-days at KHIT-FM in January 1985 at a time when the station was one of four Top 40 FMs battling it out for Seattle listeners; KHIT was actually licensed to Bremerton.

JERRY KAYE @ KHIT-FM Aircheck Click Here

6:57 5 MB

-------------------------------------

Jerry was on KJR-FM Seattle on May 31, 1991, playing Oldies, or "The Way Back Machine" as he calls it, with the original KJR-AM jingles. You can do things like that when your AM and FM both have frequencies that can be called "Channel 95".

JERRY KAYE @ KJR-FM Aircheck Click Here

12:11 4.4 MB

-------------------------------------

What follows is adapted from RadioWest's Today in History:

A Special Tribute to Jerry Kay(e):

One of the Pacific Northwest's greatest DJs of all time, Jerry Kay, passed away on September 25th, 2005, in Seaside, Oregon, at the age of 67. Ironically, back in the '60s, he would often refer to himself as "The Late Great Jerry Kay" whenever he was assigned an all-night shift.

Jerry Kay's real name was Jerry King, but that last name was a non-starter in Seattle radio, given the call letters of KING AM, FM and TV. So, he became Kay, sometimes Kaye, as many DJs did, spelling out phonetically the first letter of his last name.

Controversy also surrounds his beginnings in Radio. Many sources got their information from http://www.440.com/namesk.html#_jkaye which list Jerry beginning at KOL Seattle in 1960, moving to KJR in 1961. Pat O'Day has said that he hired Jerry in Yakima in 1957, where he was Jerry King on the air, and brought him to KJR in 1961, changing his name to Jerry Kay. Some of the "KJR Years" were actually spent at KNEW Spokane, later renamed KJRB to reflect the fact KJR owned them, although the call letters were changed because of a large cash incentive from KEWB Oakland, who desperately wanted the KNEW call letters for themselves.

Both Jerry Kay and Larry Lujack, good friends at KJR, moved to WLS Chicago in 1967, Larry by way of WMEX in Boston, where he called himself Johnny Lujack. Both would later move to WCFL, Chicago's other Top 40 giant of the period. While Larry remained to become the icon of Top 40 radio in Chicago, Jerry came back to Seattle, and KJR, in 1971, with later stops at KBSG, KYYX, KHIT, KSPL and KJR-FM. He retired in the 1990s and was somewhat of a recluse at the time of his death.

Image
1969 WLS

Reelradio has an aircheck of Jerry from WCFL Chicago from 1971. As well as the audio, there is a nice description, picture and a link to comments, which begin with one by Doc Harris: http://www.reelradio.com/joce/index.html#jkwcfl030471

To settle a controversy that raged about Jerry just after his death: he is not the Jerry Kaye who was a popular DJ at WING in Dayton, Ohio, in the mid-1960s. See the comments associated with his WING aircheck for more details http://www.reelradio.com/pk/index.html#jkwing080966-sc

And, finally, to see and hear Burl Barer explain how Jerry Kay first got him on the air at KJR, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaNjZ-PmKTM

Image

Image
L-R: Big Jim Martin & Jerry Kay circa 2003

Pictures from ReelRadio.com and Radiofan


Since this was 1991, I thought KJR was still playing Classic Hits/Oldies on AM 950 only; I know they switched to full time sports in either 1991 or 1992, but i'm almost positive that at the time this aircheck was recorded, 95.7 in Seattle was KLTX and in the Adult Contemporary format.

Or maybe i'm wrong, I don't know :)
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Re: The Late Jerry Kay(e) @ KHIT-FM & KJR-FM

Postby radiofan » Wed Jul 17, 2013 11:24 am

This was a KJR AM aircheck that I recorded off the air in Greater Vancouver (hence the static) in May of 1991. Oldies on KLTX (aka KJR FM) didn't begin
until the spring of 1994. I believe the only time Jerry was on KJR FM was the May 1995 KJR reunion.
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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