T. Storm Hunter, 1972

Mark Tucker, 1974

T. Storm Hunter, 1993

In 1968, with a ten-dollar bill that he stole from his father's wallet, Stormy made his first record, a direct-cut acetate of piano solos, experimental music, and silliness. In 1970, with his neighbor, friend, and colleage Louie Easley Hanley (b. Oak Park IL 1955, d. Lafayette, IN 1996), he formed Tetrapod Spools, a small record company, releasing tapes, records, and eventually CDs of their own music and also that of others.

In 1975, Tetrapod Spools released "Batstew" (shown as by Mark Tucker). Experimental in nature, rife with tape manipulation, industrial space-folk, and spoken word pieces, it was ignored by radio, reviewers, and the public. Original pressings have since become sought-after collector's items, fetching hundreds of dollars in record auctions.

Stormy's interest in radio began at age 11 in Oak Park, IL when he listened to WLS and WCFL at night through a pillow speaker in his bed. He imagined that being a DJ was the most glamorous job in the world. Shortly thereafter, he began recording big chunks of these stations' broadcasts.

This hobby continued throughout the years and he kept almost all of the tapes, never realizing that they would become important historical documents. Upon finishing high school, he decided to make radio a career. It never panned out, and his radio career consisted mainly of recording his own "radio" shows on cassette (for which he composed and performed all of the jingles and commercials) and giving them away to friends.

One of the remnants of this hobby appears on his 1983 album "In The Sack" (also shown as by Mark Tucker) in a track called "Station ID".

JFK WBAP Fort Worth Texas November 22 1963 (01:12:59)

. . . nothing left to chance, every possible precaution has been taken . . .

[Description by Uncle Ricky]

This 72-minute exhibit is an edited composite of the first few hours of over 18 hours of WBAP in Fort Worth Texas, November 22 through November 26, 1963.

It includes the last two speeches made by President John F. Kennedy in the parking lot at Fort Worth's Texas Hotel, and at the following breakfast reception.

Then, we hear a description of the extreme security measures that have been taken to assure the President's safety, as JFK arrives at Love Field, just before beginning his fatal motorcade ride through downtown Dallas.

Edwin Newman reports for NBC and we must wonder, was WBAP newscaster Norwood McLendon related to the man who owned cross-town KLIF?

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