November 21, 2016, Issue 526
Kingsley Joins National League
Fall’s been a winning season for Chicago and the good news continued last week with Bob Kingsley’s National Radio Hall of Fame induction (CAT 11/18). “I don’t think I’ve ever drank that much champagne in my life,” he says. Country Aircheck spoke with him today (11/21) about the honor of a lifetime. CA: You had the largest group of supporters in the room and made a few days of it, from what I understand. What was the schedule? BK: I was surprised how many wanted to come. We just kept saying, “Yeah, come on.” There were eight friends from here in Texas, and other people just showed up. We started Wednesday, had a big dinner Friday and went home Saturday afternoon. I’m still trying to get my head wrapped around it all. Lisa Purcell from the Country Music Hall of Fame had a Hatch Print made up, which just killed me. The first time I saw one of those was the ‘60s. I don’t want to say where it was hanging, but it was in the bathroom of a honkytonk and had Hank Williams on it. To see my name on one was just great. My good grief. This has come real close to being overwhelming. You were inducted with a group of people who have also enjoyed incredible careers. What stood out to you as you listened to your fellow inductees? There are a lot of similarities. I related most to Delilah, who said she counted 20 times she’s been fired. I said, “I think I’ve got you beat by three.” The common thread is if you hang in there long enough Bob Kingsley in this business, something will come together. I sat there listening to everyone talk about all the various stations they worked at and thought, do we realize just how fortunate we all are. The question I get asked most often is what does it mean to me. That’s hard to answer, but when I was a kid I spent a year in bed. Every day I woke up looking forward to that radio beside my bed, waiting for the soap operas to be (continued on page 6)
Gruene Day: MCA’s George Strait and team at New Braunfels, TX’s Gruene Hall for last week’s launch of Strait Out Of The Box: Part 2. Pictured (l-r) are manager Erv Woolsey, UMG/ Nashville’s Mike Dungan, Strait, UMGN’s Cindy Mabe and Messina Touring Group’s Louis Messina.
For The Good Times: Ken Rush
Family trips and solo sightseeing adventures to Chicago, the Florida Keys, and a litany of state and national parks have kept industry vet Ken Rush busy since his July retirement (CAT 7/14), a reality much changed from the decades prior. In 45 years – 20 in radio and 25 in music promotion – the affable and easygoing Texan has witnessed infamous radio contests, renowned rock debauchery and label successes rarely duplicated in country music. Rush’s career started at Baylor’s campus radio station and eventually took him to Galveston, Dallas and Austin, where at KEYI he indirectly helped rewrite radio’s rulebook. “You may not have heard of the station, but you’re familiar with the result of one of our promotions,” he says, referencing the now-routine contesting requirement that winners not be radio employees. In 1986 the station was giving away a Mazda RX-7 and Asst. OM Rush was Ken Rush in the room when morning man Dave Jarrott
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