Gary Clayton from WVJS Music Survey, 1979

1984

Gary Clayton began his broadcasting career shortly after his 18th birthday in 1972. He worked several formats, including A/C, Oldies, Country and Beautiful music in the Louisville market, to Top 40 and AOR in St. Louis at KIRL and KADI.

Gary says, "I was lucky to gain a vast knowledge of 50's and 60's music at an early age, jocking for my hometown station WXVW in Jeffersonville, Indiana." The Big X beamed their Gold of Kentuckiana format across the Ohio River to Louisville.

Gary was an air personality and Production Directory in Kentucky's third largest city, Owensboro, at WVJS and WSTO, a 100 kilowatt regional FM in the Evansville, Indiana ADI.

After moving into TV weather and ad sales, Gary worked for an ad agency and won copy-writing and production awards for WRBT, Evansville in 1990.

Today, he does some free-lance commercial production, and is also a sales rep for a wine and spirits distributor.

The Repository thanks Gary for sharing!

WAKY Louisville Composite 1973

. . . This two-bit nickel and dime operation can't afford music like that . . .

I was 14 when my family moved to Louisville. I rode my bike around the neighborhood clutching my five-dollar transistor radio in my hand — either tuned to 1080 WKLO or the Big 79 WAKY.

Bill Bailey, The Duke of Louisville, 1973

When I got my '71 Nova, my buds and I cruised over to Second and Walnut to WKLO's showcase studio, then around the corner to Fourth Street to peer through the glass at the WAKY jocks. They were both great stations, but WAKY continued with "personality" radio into the 70's, when 'KLO adopted a tightly-regimented "Drake" format.

This composite (portions of which have been heard elsewhere) was originally created either for a "Station of the Year" competition, or a presentation to advertisers. Narrated by Gary Burbank, (3-6 pm) it also includes The Duke of Louisville Bill Bailey (6-9 am), Dude Walker (10am-1pm), Johnny Randolph (PD, 1-3pm), Jay O'Bryan (6-9 pm) and Lee Masters, (9pm-2am).

Both Jay and Lee invited me to sit in on their shows a couple of times. It was great fun!

Bill Bailey suffered a stroke in 2004 that left him partially paralyzed. He passed away on Saturday, January 14, 2012.

Return to the Repository

Gary Burbank, Last Show, WAKY Louisville, 1973

. . . That's why I sing along with that record. It's the only time I can say "damn" . . .

Here's a dramatic (and dramatized) end to Gary Burbank's tenure at WAKY. He left for other markets, eventually ending up at WLW, Cincinnati.

Return to the Repository