Charlotte was a fairly sleepy town back then, Sis Kaplan remembers. “It was pretty different from what it is today. People who complain about the progress, I’m not one of them. It’s gotten to be a terrific city.”
In those days, WBT-AM (1110) ruled the roost as a courtly CBS affiliate still carrying “The Arthur Godfrey Show.”
Stan and Sis Kaplan, owners of Charlotte radio station Big WAYS. In 1965 they paid $550,000 for a station that would be worth millions only ten years later.But it was the treasure hunt, the first of many stunts that made the station famous, that had all Charlotte talking. Each week, a $1,000 coupon was buried somewhere and clues were broadcast day-by-day by Mr. Treasure, a character created by morning personality Gale.
Within days, the local Sears store was completely sold out of transistor radios. A moonscape of craters spread across the city, and traffic jams developed around suspected money dumps.
Police appealed to Stan Kaplan to knock it off, and the city’s old guard found his brash tactics beneath dignity. “Havoc being created in the community by his treasure hunts is hardly the way a newcomer should introduce himself.” - The Charlotte Observer.
Police appealed to Stan Kaplan to knock it off, and the city’s old guard found his brash tactics beneath dignity. “Havoc being created in the community by his treasure hunts is hardly the way a newcomer should introduce himself.” - The Charlotte Observer.
But the public absolutely ate it up. Listeners also fed their appetites with programming like these airchecks featuring DJ Jack Gale on October 3, 1967
[ LISTEN ] (1:03:03), and again on June 26, 1969. [ LISTEN ] (11:10)
[ LISTEN ] (1:03:03), and again on June 26, 1969. [ LISTEN ] (11:10)
BlackwellWhen Mr. Treasure would reveal the final clue, news director C. Michael Blackwell would be waiting at the spot to interview the winning prospector and present the check.
“It was the most energetic thing I’ve ever been a part of,” Blackwell recalled this week. He was news director at WAYS for two years, before leaving for Southeastern Baptist Seminary. He later became the president of Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina. Blackwell recalls his first newscast on WAYS – as he was running through the script, Sis Kaplan walked in the studio, leading a horse.
Jimi & the MonkeesWAYS sponsored concerts and once landed the Monkees. Blackwell remembers talking to the warm-up act, a nice guy and little-known performer named Jimi Hendrix.
Robert Murphy was one of the biggest names at the station. He wrote skits for the show, and Larry Sprinkle – long before his forecasting days at WCNC would bring them to life with a panoply of voices.
They had the psychic named The Great Dildoni and, as the PTL scandal heated up in Charlotte, a televangelist named the Rev. Bill Taker, leader of the Pass The Loot Club. Traffic reports would talk about backups at the Belmont tunnel.
“61-derful WAYS” deposed WBT as No. 1 in the ratings and, at its height, had the largest audience share of any Top 40 station in the nation and ranked 15th among all U.S. stations in total listeners.
Mid-’60s WAYS DJs in the Waxhaw Christmas Parade, from left, Michael Blackwell, Long John Silver with eyepatch, Jack Pride, Jack Gale and Mike Greene. Courtesy Michael Blackwell.
WHO WORKED AT WAYS? Here is the list: Michael Blackwell, Ron Brandon, Jack Gale, Bill Garcia, John Kilgo, Tom Kinard, Pete Ray (“the Pete Ray-D-O Show”), Dick Blanchard, Mike Greene, John Larsh (Jack Armstrong), Jay Thomas, Long John Silver, Jack Pride, Mick Rizzo, Mike Shannon, Morton Downey Jr., Cal Walker, and Cleveland Wheeler.
Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Rock Radio Scrapbook, DJ Master Control, The Charlotte Observer.
