Oct 14, 2026 · 25 min · 8 segments
**WE DON’T NEED NO STINKING TV NETWORKS.** **A SEND OFF TO JACKSON’S MENTOR** **AND MAYBE WE DON’T NEED EXPENSIVE NIELSEN RATINGS…MAYBE?** Media Insultant is produced each Wednesday as Jackson…
[upbeat music] Well, we certainly have a lot of people leaving the broadcast business these days, with layoffs and everything else, and, and then there's the other half of the ledger, which is those who, uh, go on, sadly, to the control room in the celestial kingdom in the sky or wherever they, you think they happen to go after they leave this mortal coil.
Gary Waldron, uh, better known as Wally Waldron, died last week at the age of 83.
Um, he was my boss, our program director when I was in college and working for KCPX, uh, which was the big Top 40 that owned the Salt Lake City market in the '60s and early '70s.
You remember that? You know, there just was nothing like Top 40 radio back in the late '60s and early '70s.
Um, we have talked about it, but, um, I'm sure you, uh, you read about it in history books, but.
He had the rare ability to recognize that he could blend, had to blend teen hits with adult hits, and he, uh, Pat O'Day had the same talent in Seattle, and, you know, the, in a quarter hour they could play The Who and Helen Reddy in the same quarter hour, and it worked for huge mass audiences for teens and all the way up to, uh, 44 and even 54.
Um, he, Wally gave us a lot of freedom on the air, and he's very seldom critiqued us.
I gotta say, um, he, that freedom he gave us, I probably said a lot of stupid things, and hopefully none of those stupid things are on tape anymore.
But he had a wonderful dry sense of humor, uh, just, and he played a mean racket handball game.
I mean, he was, we played handball quite a bit, and just, he was, he was a short guy, so he just, he had the leverage down there that the rest of us didn't have.
He, he liked the song Wooly Bully by Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs, a band all of us have forgotten, but he liked Wooly, and over the years, you know, he kinda became a Wooly, you know? It's, he worked his way into being that.
And for anybody who's interested, I had a chance to do an extensive interview with him in three parts, uh, on Vimeo.
It's on Vimeo in the showcase under Broadcast Bookend Stories, and he's got some great stories about everybody from Elton John to Marie Osmond.
And so, uh, if you wanted to watch that, it's, uh, Showcases at Vimeo under the Broadcast Bookend Stories.
Legendary radio people are slowly going away, and, um, glad you were here with us, Wally.
[upbeat music] Well, we certainly have a lot of people leaving the broadcast business these days, with layoffs and everything else, and, and then there's the other half of the ledger, which is those who, uh, go on, sadly, to the control room in the celestial kingdom in the sky or wherever they, you think they happen to go after they leave this mortal coil.
Gary Waldron, uh, better known as Wally Waldron, died last week at the age of 83.
Um, he was my boss, our program director when I was in college and working for KCPX, uh, which was the big Top 40 that owned the Salt Lake City market in the '60s and early '70s.
You remember that? You know, there just was nothing like Top 40 radio back in the late '60s and early '70s.
Um, we have talked about it, but, um, I'm sure you, uh, you read about it in history books, but.
He had the rare ability to recognize that he could blend, had to blend teen hits with adult hits, and he, uh, Pat O'Day had the same talent in Seattle, and, you know, the, in a quarter hour they could play The Who and Helen Reddy in the same quarter hour, and it worked for huge mass audiences for teens and all the way up to, uh, 44 and even 54.
Um, he, Wally gave us a lot of freedom on the air, and he's very seldom critiqued us.
I gotta say, um, he, that freedom he gave us, I probably said a lot of stupid things, and hopefully none of those stupid things are on tape anymore.
But he had a wonderful dry sense of humor, uh, just, and he played a mean racket handball game.
I mean, he was, we played handball quite a bit, and just, he was, he was a short guy, so he just, he had the leverage down there that the rest of us didn't have.
He, he liked the song Wooly Bully by Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs, a band all of us have forgotten, but he liked Wooly, and over the years, you know, he kinda became a Wooly, you know? It's, he worked his way into being that.
And for anybody who's interested, I had a chance to do an extensive interview with him in three parts, uh, on Vimeo.
It's on Vimeo in the showcase under Broadcast Bookend Stories, and he's got some great stories about everybody from Elton John to Marie Osmond.
And so, uh, if you wanted to watch that, it's, uh, Showcases at Vimeo under the Broadcast Bookend Stories.
Legendary radio people are slowly going away, and, um, glad you were here with us, Wally.
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