What a great lead in for my special guest, Bob Barry. That's remembered as a legendary
Milwaukee DJ. He introduced the Beatles during their only Milwaukee appearance and was
the only local personality spend time privately with them. Though his successful Bob Barry
calls the world show, he interviewed famous and infamous celebrities, including Bob Hope,
Sophia Loren, Ron Howard, Elton John Sharon, lots more. During his career, he received numerous
industry awards, chief among them billboard magazines, top 40 air personality of the year
of 1975. And in 2001, Bob inducted into the Wisconsin broadcasters, all of fame. It is
my honor to speak with Bob Barry this morning. Hi, Bob. How are you? Good morning. On
great. Joining us. You're doing good. Yeah, we are. Joining us this morning is someone
used to work with. I feel like this is like one of those, this is your life thing. So
somebody used to work with in radio. He worked overnight and you followed him in the
morning. So he was your big lead. And that's why he did so well. Chris Marlowe, vice president,
general manager, worked overnight. What a lead. And that's why you were so successful.
Okay, Bob, we're going to talk about your book. And the book is fantastic. And I can tell
you, it's not just for radio people because my wife actually read me the book because
she's such a great reader. And she loved it rock and roll radio Milwaukee stories from
the fifth beetle. Now we're going to do this in chronological order just so I want to
keep my head straight on this. Did you ever work in radio outside Wisconsin? Never. That's
what I thought. No, the only time I ever worked on a radio station outside Wisconsin
is when I had a bet going with the guys at CFL. And they lost and they had to come and
do my show, but they said, Hey, who's going to do our show? So I went to Chicago and did
their morning show and they came here to Doug Alderman. Oh, yeah. Oh, sure. Sure. There's
a name for the past. Yeah. You know, it's funny. You're going to mention a lot of names
and I've only been in Wisconsin since 1980. But you're going to mention a lot of names
now. Chris has been in Wisconsin radio almost all his life. He's got stories we could talk
about some other time from his out of state radio stations. But what made you go into radio?
I had a lot of encouragement from instructors in college. And they said, you know, why don't
you, you know, they've heard me do the speech class. They would be doing some presentations
and they liked it. And so a friend of mine happened to his dad on the part of WTKM in
Hartford. And he said, let's go talk to my dad. And the other owner is the owner of the
Hartford Times press. And he owns the part of the radio station too. So go and talk to
them and see what they have to say. Well, it just all happened that they had a hard time
position open. And I went on the air there. I was still bad. I couldn't stand myself.
I mean, it was, I thought, well, this is the end of my career. But they were desperate.
And they kept me on. And I guess I improved because I stayed there for almost a couple
of years. And when I left, I'll never forget George Dodge, the managers saying, this
is nothing, but a school for broadcasters because they go on from here to other stations.
And that's when I came to Milwaukee, WNP before we get there. Now WTKM is in Hartford.
At the time you were there, it was a polka station. And the cattle moring in this where it
gets a name from. But it's up in Hartford still around still doing whatever they do. But
you were there for a couple of years playing polka music, right? Yeah, right. And my
mom loved it. She loved Lawrence Walk and and and all those, you know, the the polka artists
of those, the Frankie academic and all those. And she thought I was famous until she found
out it was broadcasting from the basement of the farmhouse. That's right. That's right.
Now how did you make the leap to Milwaukee radio? Because that's tough to go from a small
town to a big city. And the Milwaukee radio was huge at that time. How did you make that
leap to get into a major radio station? Oh, man, that was really surprising because Chuck
Phillips, who was the program director at WNP at the time, he drove it. What he the way
he would choose an answer is he would drive around the state. And he would listen to radio
stations like the origin and WTKM and all the stations around the state. And if he hear
somebody he'd like, he would call them up and ask if they wanted a job. So the all-night
man at the time, in fact, they had they changed position because coffee at Larson at that
time. And I just dropped an earphone. Excuse me. Coffee at Larson was on and east switched
over to WRIT. And so they needed somebody right away. So he asked if I'd do the all-night
show. So that was a thrill. Yeah, right to work with Joe Dorsey and Rob Thomas and Tom
Shanahan. Yeah, I'll do it. So that's that's how I started Milwaukee radio.
Everybody starts overnight. Chris, how old were you when you were working overnight?
I was probably 19 doing over nights at WKY. But I'd started in Racine when I was 14. But
it was a little A.M. station in Racine where I played the Sunday morning, you know, religious
shows. That's what I said. Yeah, 14-years-old push and buzz and beautiful music. But yeah, the
overnight show on WKY was my break into Milwaukee. And for me, at the age of 19, I thought I had,
you know, just made the biggest jump of my career. Okay, so now the big stations in town,
I assume the three big ones were WMPWRIT, which is it's not one of this today. It was an A.M.
station. 13, 14, 13, 14, and WKY. Those were the big three. And you were at WMP, right?
That's right. Okay, so describe the life at WMP at that time because that is what was EMP 1290?
1250. 1250. 1250 WMP. And so what was life like there for you?
Well, that was interesting because we were playing all the, you know, big bands and
Rosebury Clooney and Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra. And we had all, it was all records, of course.
I know this is going to be hard for some of the younger people to understand, but there were
45s, 78s, and 33 and a third. So we would stack these and you'd stack them in the music library
and you'd bring them into the studio. Many times you didn't make it. You'd stack the two
lines and they'd all over the place. Of course, 78s were breakable. So, you know, you'd lose
part of your show. But that's the type of, you know, and you were able to choose your own music out
of what they had in the library and the mark cuts a little more mark. And that was, you know,
pretty much the way it was in those days. We had a quick break. We're talking to Bob Barry,
who has a book out. And this is really good rock and roll radio and Milwaukee stories from
the fifth beetle. Can't wait to get to the beetle stuff because you have pictures and he was
with Paul McCartney. And Paul McCartney now will not take a photo with anybody. And I've got a
story about a big time radio guy in New York wanted to picture with Paul McCartney. He said,
no, wouldn't do it. So you're very lucky. You've got one of the few photos with Paul McCartney.
Hey, we're talking to Bob Barry this morning. I need to keep saying this because I don't
want to embarrassing him. But legendary radio personality in Milwaukee. I mean, last night,
I mentioned that Bob Barry was going to be on the radio. We were at that function
with Jim and Carol had a church in on the right avenue. And I mentioned, I really,
cried. I went, ooh, got a great following. Okay. So you're at WEMP. And we've got to get
you to W. OK. Why? How did you make the leap from EMP to OK? Why?
OK, you mentioned people on a beach. And I was working the the all night show. And that's
a crazy story, too, because I went to a party for the circus parade, which you know,
it's when the circus parade was in Milwaukee every year. And they're John, John Reddy, the
program director of your W. OK. Why? I said, we've got a opening on the all night show. Would you
like to take it? Yeah, definitely. And I was out of work. And that's another long story. But
anyway, I took the job. And in the middle of the summer, all the kids here out at the beach.
And Lee Gray is on the air in the afternoon on a Sunday afternoon. And he plays the song.
Girls are made to love by Eddie Hodges. But he introduces it as girls are made to lay.
Eddie Hodges. And he got a call from John Reddy, the program director, and said, you're done.
And he told the engineer to cut his mic off. That's when engineers played the records. And
all we had to do was sit there and talk. And he called me and he said, you want a full-time job?
So I went from the all night show to a full-time all night show gig. So I was still working
the all night show, but it was full-time. And that's a W.O.K.Y though. That was a W.O.K.Y.
Wow. And that's when the legend started right there. Now, how did you get started at O.K.Y.
Chris? I had been working here in Racine at the O.W.R.K.R. And I was just a young rock and roll
disc jockey. And for some reason, Jim Brown was the program director at W.O.K.Y at the time.
And Jim was a character. Bob will back that up. Yeah, but just a bigger-than-life kind of dude.
And he held court at a bar across the street from the radio station. I'm Sirman Boulevard.
I think it was called the Tanglewood. Was it? Oh, OK. You had an anx. That's right.
That's right. That's right. That's right. But yeah, the anx. And he invited me up for an interview
one day. And it was in a bar. And he had his own phone at his booth. And that's pretty much where
he did business and said, I got an overnight opening. It was two to six in the morning.
It starts like next Monday. Can you do it? And I was like, oh, I will. I will. Because at the time,
I mean, W.O.K.Y. This was in the 70s. It was the biggest station, a young person,
or really a lot of people would listen to. And for me, the day always started with Bob Berry
calling the world. And it was just kind of a part of our culture growing up down here.
So when I got that overnight job at W.O.K.Y. I thought it was the peak of my career at 19.
And maybe it was because moved around a lot after that. But yeah, that's how I made the jump
from from playing the hits at W.O.K.Y. to go into Milwaukee thinking it was the big time.
From Moe in the line. Did you work for George Wilson also, Chris?
George, he was the general manager at the time.
Okay. I think I think he was the general manager. I was so far down the pecking order.
And I came in at 130 in the morning and left at 605 when you got there. So it was pretty much
a sheltered existence in those studios on Sherman Boulevard.
Hey, Bob, how did you make the jump from overnight to the mornings?
I worked several shifts after the all night show. And the big move was in 64.
When Bill Taylor was doing the 7 to 11, I think it was, maybe an 8 to midnight, I don't remember.
But he did voices and he was really clever. He was good. And the manager said or the program director
said, look, Bill, you're really good. But you got to control what you're doing with these
voice tracks. And Bill got kicked off and he said, I'm not going to do it. So they took
Bill out of that shift, put him on the all night show. And they put me on the 7 to 11.
That's when the Beatles hit. And so I started playing almost all Beatles. And that's how I got the
gig during the Beatles concert. Now every city, every city had the had one DJ and one radio station
that was Beatlemania. In New York, it was W A Beatle C, W A B C. And they claim immediately
to wear the official Beatle radio station. And they were other stations in town that wanted to
try to warm their way into that. But when the Beatles came to town, that's the station they chose,
W A B C, to wear all the stations vying to be the Beatles station here in town.
No, W R I T was more like the Rolling Stone. If you ask Eddie, if you say that, he'll tell you that
the Beatles, they were free girls, you know, the teeny black or girls. And the Rolling Stones,
that's they were a man's group. So they did not. Oh, they played them. They were forced to,
you know, they had to play them. In fact, when a new Beatle record would come in,
they would bring it over to us and say, now, look, we're going to give you this new Beatle record.
But I don't want you to play it until we get over to W R I T and give them the record. So we'll
call you as soon as we get to R I T. Well, they no longer cut out the door. And we had a new
Beatle record on the air. So it was, you know, it was cut through in those days. And I think one
of the stories that you referred to when you were talking yesterday was when R I T would play
a record, popular record, Mitch Michael, who did the afternoons, would play the same record.
So the kids that switched back and forth, trying to get away from a song they didn't like,
or a commercial, they would hear the same thing on, okay, why? That's one of the sign R I T.
So we were doing all kinds of stuff in those days that you never hear of today.
Radio wars back then. Yeah, it was. Now, did they, when you move from EMP to W O K Y,
was there animosity between the two stations that now, hey, is this still our guy?
No, EMP was, that was a little different because, you know, they were, I was younger. So I
didn't fit in with Dorsey and Rob Thomas from those guys. So that, no, that wasn't the big,
the big problem was when I moved from W O K Y back to W E M P and a really stupid move.
But I thought, you know, I was looking at the money and instead of, you know, how dumb it was to
make that move. Did you work at W R I T as well? Yes, I did for a very short time and then they
went automated. And then I went to work for the Sentinel in the promotion department and then
the journal bought the Sentinel. That's when I was at that circus party and I was hired by W O K Y.
Man, you're lucky, though, in radio. A lot of people in the radio had to move all over the country
and get a U Hall and buy it and own it. But you luckily just, you know, just a different route to
get to work every day. That was, that's all you had to do because all the stations were in their,
nearby. So that's pretty nice. Well, I love, I love Milwaukee too is I had opportunities to go to
Minneapolis LA Chicago. Chicago was one that I really did think about doing a W G N in Chicago.
But I thought about the family and I said, nah, I don't want to move them into that kind of an
atmosphere. So I stayed at, at O K Y and they would always, you know, give me more money or some
furniture or car. Nothing like that trade account at the furniture store. Yeah, that's great.
Bob, before we come back after the news, I've always wondered what, what made you start Bob
Berry calls the world? Because to this day, I remember the interviews, the phone calls, the people
you talk to. But to me, Bob Berry calls the world was brilliant because at long distance,
phone calls were expensive back then. You just think of the phone. So my image is, you know,
you had this, this account with AT&T to call the world and for whatever reason, you know,
they paid it for you. But when we come back, I want to hear what, what inspired that to happen.
And I want to hear some of the crazy calls you made because you mentioned them in the book,
some of the wild calls. And I also want to talk about some of the crazy contests you got
involved in. And of course, the celebrities who interviewed the Beatles and so forth.
And my special guest is Bob Berry, who wrote a book called Rock and Roll Radio, Milwaukee
Stories from the fifth Beatle. Chris Morrow joining us, our vice president general manager is
here because Bob and Chris worked together at W O K Y. Now you're going to have to leave
it about 10 minutes. I do five minutes. Yeah, maybe 11 minutes. We'll see what we can do.
You want to say something? Well, obviously, before the news, I was going to ask Bob,
how did the Bob Berry calls the world idea come to you? And in the way it just
bleak took off, it became a brand for the remainder of your career. What was the,
what was a catalyst for that? And how did it start? And I guess, and Don's got these questions.
I'm sure. What was the weirdest? What was the best interview you did when you were calling
the world back in the day? Well, the way that calls the world started, I was on the air from
noon to three at the time. And I was bored. This is an awful shift. And so I got to do something
here. So I said, what would happen if we called the White House and asked for the president?
So that's what I did. And I got a run around that you wouldn't believe. I mean, from one
department to another, nowadays, they just hang up on you. And people loved it. I said,
oh, you know, maybe I got something here now. So then I called a pizza place in Italy,
I ordered a pizza. And that was a funny bit. I'm the guy who was, you know,
welcome English. And it was very funny. So when I got on to the morning show, I decided,
hey, I'll keep this going. So that's, that's how it started.
But the fun thing was though, it became such a brand for so long. It was kind of said on
Bob Berry calls the world. It just took off is such a big deal. I, to this day, I remember some
of those phone calls. And I remember hearing about the White House call. I didn't hear it
actually myself, but I remember hearing about it and thought it was one of the funniest things
it could have done. I said, you cut out there. What, which one are you talking about?
The White House call. I mean, that, you had to be brave to make, can you imagine today,
not only probably getting hung up on, but having visitors at your front door, you know,
just for calling the White House with a prank they'd be after you.
Well, I got away with calling, you know, these were live. I didn't say you're on the air or anything.
I mean, these were just, you know, and of course, the FCC tried to crack down on, you know,
on people doing that. But I was calling all over the world, the prime minister of Australia,
you know, woke him up at three o'clock in the morning. And stuff like that that you couldn't
know where could you get away with today. I would call plants and during the pollution scare
in the 70s. I would call Alice Chalmers and say, hey, there's cars outside with dirt all over
them from your plant. You know, what's going on? And oh, man, you know, they really got upset
because they were on live radio trying to answer that question. So, you know, it was stuff like that.
Well, I did. I worked at W. O. K. Y. But I've been working the fun days. I worked in the mundane days
of W. O. K. Y. They were music of your life. And it was. And they couldn't really do much,
but intro and outro, the songs and so forth. But you also worked there with the
gentleman who worked here for 20 years. He just recently passed away about a month or so ago,
Ron Richards. You worked on one of the nicest guys. Yeah. Yeah. He was a rebel though. I mean,
you know, a lot of the stuff he didn't like to play that we were playing. He'd tell the program
directly. So he was, but he was a nice guy. Nice guy. You have to go. I got to tell you this.
One more story about calling one morning. I called this was one. You had to answer your phone.
I listened to fun love and W. O. K. Y. And I called W. I. S. M. switchboard. And the,
the girl reception this answer. She said W. I. S. N. And I said, Oh, gee, I'm sorry. If you
would have said, I listened to fun love and W. O. K. Y. You would have won $3,420.
You said, Oh, no. She said, and I listened to you all the time. Of course, she said, I'm at
the switchboard. So I can't, I can't listen to that. The switchboard. You understand that, right?
Luckily, she didn't get fired. But, you know, that's the kind of thing that you guys couldn't do
today. Right. But, but we did it in those days. That was probably John Hinkel's first heart attack
over at W. I. S. We got a phone here. Let's try it. Let's call somebody in Milwaukee right now.
Let's see if they can answer the phone. You have to run. I got to run. But Bobby was so great to
hear you back on the radio this morning. And thanks, thanks for the inspiration of my career
over the years. And I'll never forget that first morning that I was working overnight. I sweat
for two hours, knowing that Bob Barry was going to be coming in to do a show. And, and when you
did, you were the most gracious, kindest, easiest to work with guy that that I worked with. So,
thank you for that. And, and keep going, man. Good to hear these stories.
Chris, thank you. And keep up your good work. I enjoy listening to you. Thank you.
And the Chris is still sweating, knowing he was going to talk to you this morning here. He was
still nervous. I didn't know if I should take coffee. He's going to clear the AP lawyer about
keeping it. And Chris has his corporate work to do right now. Right. Thank you, Chris. Thank you.
We got so much more to talk about with Bob. Let's talk about how you started off with the Beatles.
How did you get him bombed with the Beatles? I got a call one day. Well, as I mentioned before,
I played almost every other record, a Beatles record out of my night show, 7-11 show.
And so, I had the, you know, they gave me the name, Beatles Bob, and a fifth
beatle in all that. So, all the fifth beatle came later, but, uh, a Beatles Bob. And, um,
uh, the, uh, promoter of the Midwest Beatles concerts, uh, called me. And he said, we
want you to empty the Beatles concert on September 4th. And I said, because I had been paid by, you
know, the Rolling Stones and the Hermann Hermits and all the rest of the groups that were coming to
Freddie and the Dreamers. Uh, I've been paid to 250, uh, $250 for doing those concerts. So, I said,
what does it pay? And he said, well, we're not paying any of our MCs. And I said, well,
I think I'll take a pass. And I hung up and the music director, Arlene Choir said, um,
what was that all about? And I told her and she said, you got to be kidding. She said,
to look at this and she opened cash box and billboard magazine and Beatles were all over it appearing
in Europe. And it was the biggest thing. And, uh, I said, well, okay, she's just calling back
and telling you to do it. So I did. And, uh, that was close because they had already hired Eddie
Deuce up to do it over at RIT. And, uh, they had to call Eddie back and tell him that he would do the
warm up, he would introduce the warm up packs and then introduce me. You imagine a guy from RIT
and you want to do something for both of you. And then I would introduce the Beatles. So,
that's how that happened. So that had to be something. I mean, that had to be a giant thing on your
head. You're going to introduce the Beatles. And by the way, you have photos with them in their,
well, it's now the market dorms, but it was a hotel room at the time. And you have pictures with
them, all four Beatles. I mean, that's got to be big swell on your head to do something like that.
Well, the, uh, the road manager for the Beatles. Um, and it wasn't Epstein at the time there's
some one of them that was with them traveling with them. And after the concert, she said, uh,
we'd like you to come to the hotel tomorrow. If you want to get an interview and and bring your
photographer along. I said, Oh, okay. So 10 o'clock in the next morning, I was at the hotel just
before they left to the airport. And that's when we took some pictures and talked to them.
You got some great pictures in this book too. Tons of pictures, by the way. And just love
looking at them. Let's talk about some of the other people you interviewed over the years because
you interviewed a ton of them. Because when they came through Milwaukee, they had to go on W-O-K-Y.
And you were the guy. So let's talk about some of the other people you interviewed. And if you have
any good stories about them, I want to hear it. Well, I don't know where to start because there's
so many stories that, um, you know, there was a really nice people, uh, West Paul, Elton John,
Rod Howard, um, Jimmy Farr, Johnny Cash, Hank Aaron, Sophia Loren, Dolly Parton,
and the other people. Back up just super nice people. How did you get, uh,
where did Sophia Loren fit in with all this? Okay, Sophia was in town promoting a perfume.
And she was at the WISN Studios. I had done some work for WISN television. I had done some for
WKTI. I mean, WITI also. And, um, they asked if I wanted to do an interview with her. So I did.
And then she had to leave. And she had a limel parked out in front of, uh, the WISN.
And I walked her out to the car. And we had a photographer at that time. The station did.
Had a photographer. And he would follow me whenever I had an interview. And that's how all those
pictures turned up because he was the Bob Lewis, his name. And he was a great photographer. And he
took most of the pictures that you see in the book. And you've got some great legendary
pictures. You and Chuck Berry. Wow. And you're actually have his. Yeah. The book came about. Yeah.
By the way, the book came about because, uh, the publisher, uh, said both Cindy, uh, you know,
a drafted book. And I did. And, uh, he, uh, saw the picture of Chuck with Chuck Berry. And he
says, wow, this is interesting. He's, uh, sent me some more. He's, oh, that's how I, uh, I got
a publisher for the book. How did we meet the loan ranger picture? How did we meet the Clayton Moore
who was TV's loan ranger? Uh, how did they fit in some of these people? I don't know how they
fit in at a rock and roll station. So how do they fit into this picture? Well, they're always
promoting something. And, um, Clayton Moore was, um, I'm trying to think of what he was promoting.
I know he was ticked off because they took his mask away. I know. And I'm not sure if that
picture is in the book or not. But, uh, my mother, uh, I, I invited her with me to the interview.
And she wore sunglasses. So the two of them are wearing sunglasses. And it's kind of a funny picture.
I'm not sure if that one appeared in the book or not. But anyway, uh, he was promoting something.
And most of these, you know, when you look at most of our promoting thing, not Dali Parton,
that was taken at the Grand Ole Opry. That was a new show they were introducing. And they invited
me to go to Nashville to, uh, do interviews for this new show. And that's how I got to meet Dali
Parton. And she asked me if I wanted to go to a party. She said, there's a member of my band that's
from Milwaukee. Why don't you come to a party we're having? And I said, oh, no, I said, I've got a
stuff like that. And I said, there's no way I can get out of it. So that was, uh, one of my heartbreak.
More with Bob Barry coming up at just a moment, we're talking about his book Rock and Roll Radio,
Milwaukee Stories from the Fifth Beetle. This is a great book. And even if you're not into radio,
you're going to love this book. My wife and I asked her last night, we were coming back from
somewhere. And she's from Union Grove. And I said, what stations do you listen to? And she said,
well, W-O-K-Y was my favorite, but I also listened to WCFL and W-L-S, but it had to be W-O-K-Y.
And that was it, 60s and 70s. That's her. And this was the, uh, where she grew up. And she loved
reading this book to me. She's a great reader. That's why I had to read it to me. And it's-
Is it okay to mention where they can get the book? Yeah, of course we're going to mention that.
Yeah, go ahead. Uh, it's available at let it be at seven,
16 Clinton Street in Waukeshaw. And you can also, uh, send a check for $25, which includes
postage to let it be seven, 16 Clinton Street, Waukeshaw. And just put Bob Berry's book on there.
And by the way, every penny, not proceeds, but every penny, uh, goes to, uh, the, uh, donate
life Wisconsin foundation. I have a couple of friends who received transplants. One received a
heart transplant and another, a double one transplant because he has cystic fibrosis. And he's
alive today because of that double one transplant. So every penny goes to donate life Wisconsin.
Absolutely. That's fantastic. We're talking to radio air personality. And I hate to keep saying
legendary, because I know what probably annoys you to hear that so much. Legendary radio air
personality. Bob Berry is with us this morning. If you grew up listening to radio in the 60s and
70s in Milwaukee, you're probably were listening to Bob Berry on the radio at W. O. K. Y. And a
few other stations. He worked that as well. Uh, let's talk about some other personalities. We
mentioned David Haynes because he was a big news personality in town. When David Haynes first came
to Milwaukee, uh, the program director. Um, in fact, I had him over to the house of program director Jim
Brown, um, who you see he wasn't program director then, but Jim Brown and David Haynes.
And I introduced him to George Wilson. I said, this is Bruce Haynes, George. He's our new
newsman. And he said, Bruce, there's nobody on my radio station with the name of Bruce. Your name
is going to be David Haynes. He was really upset. You know, David was really upset about that,
but he went along with it. And he was a personality. Yeah, they used to, they were radio stations gave
you your name. This is the name you're going to use on the radio. Yeah. That's right. That was
very common back then when I was in Atlanta, they said, you're not using your name. We're going to
give you the name. And I had no choice. You know, I just moved Kitten Caboodle down to Atlanta. And
so that they didn't tell me they were going to do that before I got it. But that was very common
back then. You're not going to use real name. You're going to use this catchy name that everybody
can remember. Now David Haynes had a great catch line on the air. And
it's Austin coffee time. Right. Burnt toasty. And whenever he did his stories,
like if there was a shooting, I couldn't do this today. What he used to say, shot dead with lead
in the head. I remember that. Yeah, that was a little girl that was shot and boy, did he get some
negative feedback on that one? The manager almost fired him. He was really upset. He worked
a lot of calls. Yeah, when I came to town, he was working at WZUU, which is now WRIT, which is
different stations and call letters as do you want that though? Everything moves around.
Let's talk about Barbie Benton. Now you interviewed her. She was a big with Playboy magazine,
you have there. There's a picture of her sitting on your lap. And the reason you interviewed her,
she actually recorded an album. Yes, it was a country album. And it was not real bad. I mean,
they put her in an echo chamber and she did not too bad. She was a good interview,
a Kirk Pavakwa, who played for the Brewers at the time. I don't know what that name
is. Yes, it brings about what does some really true Brewers fans will remember Kirk Pavakwa.
He was making a play for the air. That turned out to be quite interesting. Let's talk about
something. Let's talk about some of the crazy promotions you were involved in that some of them,
you know, today radio stations we do promotions are pretty safe. You go online, you register,
and you win. But back then, they didn't have that. There was no computers, no online. So you had
to do these crazy promotions to give away prizes on the air. Get people to listen. Talk about some
of them. The I listened to Find Love in W.O.K.Y., which I mentioned earlier was a big one you had to
answer your phone. I listened to Find Love in W.O.K.Y. Sometimes the jackpot got up to $5,
$6,000. Our 92 was another good one where the car would drive around Milwaukee and park in front
of a house. They'd get the address. And if you came out within 92 seconds, you would win
the really nice prizes. We brought live worlds into a studio one time. We had trips to Las Vegas
on a Valentine contest where you made the best Valentine. The winner was a school teacher,
art teacher who had her class designed the Valentine's. She took the best one and entered it
in the contest and won this trip to Vegas. The Meetpoint Newton and some of the other stars in
Vegas at the time. The 95 minute trip was great. Yeah, talk about that when that was good.
That's a good one. Yeah, that was a good one. That was when I was with W.O.K.Y.Y.Y.Y., the old
East station. And we would call and just open the phone book and add random. We'd call and
say, hey, Don Rosen, we've got a trip for you to go to Las Vegas this weekend. And you've got to
be kidding. No, turn your radio on to 95.7 and then you'll hear us under here. Oh my god.
So you want to go? Yeah, I want to go. Well, you have to be to the airport in 95 minutes.
And that's the only catch. And it will make sure that we'll call your boss. We'll do whatever we
have to do to help you to get there. Some would have to turn it down, but others know, one was a
minister and he had to get another minister to take his place. But they made it in 95 minutes,
believe you're right. And of course, you couldn't do that today because you can't arrive at the
airport the last second anymore. So when did you decide enough is enough and you didn't want to do
radio anymore? I think when it got to be so complicated, you know, you had not only one
program director, but you had a national program director. You had the companies that owned
300 radio stations and they kept on adding. And it just, it wasn't the hometown feel anymore.
You know, you guys have, you guys sound great. I mean, this is what radio should be, what you're doing.
But at that time, for me, it was not, it was not the same anymore.
How did you feel when you finally said it? That's it.
I felt good because I just felt this was a time, you know, hang it up. Of course, I didn't,
I didn't quit completely. I mean, I've been doing all kinds of stuff. I'm still doing some
commercials and I'm on the board of the braves, Milwaukee Braves Association. I'm writing a
children's book now. Oh, really? I got it. I have a podcast and let me talk about that for
my sister. Let me talk about that. The Wisconsin Broadcasts Association,
in their audio museum, all your podcasts are there. So people can listen to them all the time.
Yes, you can, you can hear me, you can hear share hanging up on me. Oh, that one.
Oh, wow. That's what I ask her. That's what I ask her about her marriage to Greg Almond.
Click and she said, you know, you, you've been married that long. What happened? She says,
I don't know. You don't know what happened. No, she's, I mean, it's none of your damn business.
Well, she was honest. Yeah. She was. She was. She was not. She was not your business,
absolutely. Now, the book, I'll let me go over it again where you can get the book. It's called
Rock and Roll Radio, Milwaukee. Stories from the fifth beetle. And it's a great book,
the great reading tons of photographs in there. And if you grew up with radio in Milwaukee,
you've got to read this book. Even if you didn't, you got to read this book. It's a good,
good book. How can we get it again? Well, it's available at let it be. And by the way,
if you haven't seen let it be, what a fantastic place. It's got a cavern club, which is a replica
under cavern club in Liverpool, England. He's got bands there like this coming Saturday. He's
got a beetles tribute with the tax men. They are fantastic. And they're the age that the beetles were
when they started out. So it's really a lot of fun. And you just go to let it be limited,
and you'll see all the information. So you can just say Bob Berry's book at let it be
716 Clinton Street, Walker Show, Wisconsin. I think it's 531-H6 as the zip code.
I needed another hour or two with you. This wasn't good enough. Just one hour.
Oh, man, I would love to do. Yeah, we got to do show with you something.
Yeah, we got to do this again. Bob Berry, thank you very much for joining us in Chris
Morrow, who run out. Yeah, Chris Morrow used to work with you at W.O.K.Y.
I wish I could have worked. I worked at W.O.K.Y later on when it wasn't our rock and roll station anymore.
But it was just great talk with you. Hold on the line, Bob. Don't go anywhere. Okay.
Thank you, Bob.
