Rogers60

I only heard Frantic on Saturdays. One of the Bobs, or another DJ, had the nickname, “Rocky Jockey.” Frantic used to play a well-known song of the time that had jungle noises and a chant. The song's name escapes me, but Frantic claimed the chant was “Rockey Jockey, Rockey Jockey, Rocky Jockey.” I listened closely. He was right as far as I could tell!

 

In about 1959 a new DJ entered the scene. His name was Ron, not Bob! Ron McDonald was the name. I'd not heard of McDonalds until the next year at Michigan State. Even so, they had not yet created the clown, Ronald McDonald. However I had a neighbor of that name, so I can easily recall the DJ's name

 

One day Ron McDonald was a speaker at Rogers for a vocation day. He talked about being a DJ. As part of his appearance, he did a remote broadcast from the student parking lot at Rogers. I was / am a geek, so I was interested in how he got the signal to the KNEW transmitter. I thought he had an antenna like they raise on a remote mast today. I was ahead of my time. He told me he broadcast on a phone line to the studio. I was disappointed.

 

Then he asked me for a cup of coffee. I was a mere student, but I took on the mission. I went to the cafeteria and asked for a cup of coffee for the Ron McDonald. They looked at me like I was trying to score drugs. Students were not allowed to drink coffee. I was able to explain that Ron McDoanld was an adult who was a guest of the school. The cafeteria worker gave me a suspicious look, but grudgingly gave me a cup of coffee for my KNEW hero. That was my only personal contact with any of the voices at KNEW.

 

In 1960, I departed for Michigan State University. Six years later, I was living and working in San Francisco. One of the Bay Area AM stations was KNEW. I was so confused. It turned out that my KNEW became KJRB while some Bay Area station became KNEW. Nothing is forever.