When I was a rookie disc jockey at KRDG in 1960, I worked with the great Jerry McGee, a veteran who spent 25 years there and became very popular with “Jerry’s Jumpin” Jukebox.
Jerry was a daily staple among Redding area teens, even though his main goal in life was to be a movie projectionist at local theaters.
Jerry had a long, red Cadillac convertible, and he and another disc jockey, Jolly Joe LaLonde, used to take their ladies to Shasta Lake for outings.
But I digress.
I was to perform my first Conelrad test, which is the same as today’s Emergency Broadcast test, with the announcement, the tone, and the closing message. It was started by our government to alert citizens of an attack, like from Russia or Japan, to warn people to get to a shelter in the event some country has dropped a bomb or started a nuclear attack.
McGee was at the station almost all day and came in from the front office to ask me if I could whistle.
When I asked, “Why, Jer?” he explained that we had a scheduled Conelrad alert, but the station didn’t have a tone generator.
And so, I read the script: “This is a test, only a test” – blah, blah. And then in my best puckered whistle, I gave it my best whistle for a few seconds, followed by my closing lines.
Years later, when I was at KCNO in Alturas, the boss and owner had a station on the outskirts – the boonies – with not only a radio station and towers, but a farm with horses, cattle, cats and dogs.
It also had carrier pigeons.
When I arrived at work, I asked the secretary why the boss had these carrier pigeons.
“In case of a power outage, we could send messages into Alturas,” she said.
Budd Hodges is a retired disc jockey, newsman, talk show host and lives with his wife, Nancy, in Redding.
