[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 50 (Monday, May 2, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 2, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
  TRIBUTE TO BILL BAILEY--KENTUCKY RADIO LEGEND RETIRES AFTER 40 YEARS

 Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to honor a 
Louisville and Kentucky legend. Bill Bailey, a radio personality for 
over 40 years, has decided to move on, retiring from his job at radio 
station WVLK in Lexington. Wednesday, April 20 was his last day on the 
air after entertaining generations of Kentuckians.
  Bill Bailey got his start in North Carolina as a teenager. From there 
he worked in several States, including Alaska, before finally coming to 
Louisville in 1965. Long before America had heard of shock jocks, Bill 
Bailey was pushing the limits on his shows.
  He was one of the first deejays to question what was considered to be 
normal. He spoofed local officials and politicians, earning him such 
descriptions as irreverent and brazen. In fact, in his early years his 
sometimes controversial sense of humor tended to scare some radio 
station program directors.
  Bill Bailey's abrasive reputation did not preclude him from holding 
down the same time slot at Louisville's WAKY throughout the 1960's and 
1970's. In fact, generations of Louisvillians, including myself, 
remember driving in to work and having difficulty seeing the traffic 
through the tears in our eyes caused by the laughter Bill Bailey's 
commentaries often provoked.
  After 40 years of dedicated service to the profession he loves, Bill 
Bailey has decided to step down. After 30 years of working in the 
Louisville and Lexington area, those of us from Kentucky will never be 
able to forget him. We will remember him and we thank him for 
brightening our days.
  Mr. President, I ask my colleagues to join me in wishing Bill Bailey 
a productive, happy, and healthy retirement. In addition, I ask that an 
article from the April 21, 1994, Lexington Herald-Leader be inserted in 
the Record at this time.
  The article follows:

           [From the Lexington Herald-Leader, Apr. 21, 1994.]

  Lexington Radio Legend Signs Off After Four Decades of Stirring Up 
                                Airwaves

                            (By Nancy Crane)

       After more than four decades on the air, Bill Bailey has 
     hung up his headphones.
       Bailey, the gravelly voiced afternoon disc jockey on WVLK-
     AM (590), spent his last day on the air yesterday playing 
     songs and saying goodbye to his listeners--many of whom 
     called the studio at Kincaid Towers to say they had listened 
     to him for 20 years.
       ``It's nice to be remembered that way,'' said Bailey, 63. 
     ``A lot of people think they're insulting me when they say `I 
     listened to you when I was growing up.' But they're not.''
       Bailey is a legend among some Kentuckians. People in their 
     30s, 40s and 50s remember Bailey as the ``Duke of 
     Louisville,'' an unpredictable and opinionated morning disc 
     jockey who played rock 'n' roll on the now-defunct WAKY in 
     the 1960s and 1970s.
       ``When I was a kid I used to listen to him,'' said Harold 
     Browning, 48, an account executive at WVLK, where Bailey has 
     worked since 1989. ``To end up working at the same radio 
     station with him is a dream come true.''
       Bailey started in radio as a teenager in North Carolina 
     playing old 78s. His career took him to at least a dozen 
     radio stations across the country--including one in Alaska--
     before he landed in Louisville in 1965.
       Bailey's brash style--he once called police uniforms 
     ``pigskins''--attracted a large audience.
       ``He was the first one to push around politicians and make 
     public officials shiver in their boots,'' said Terry Meiners, 
     afternoon disc jockey on WHAS-AM (840) in Louisville, who 
     hung around the WAKY studios as a youngster to watch Bailey 
     work.
       ``Program directors were scared of Bill,'' said Johnny 
     Randolph, Bailey's former boss at WAKY. ``He borders on the 
     edge . . . that scares them.''
       Bailey is just as irreverent in his personal life. He has 
     been married six times and claims he can't remember the name 
     of his second wife.
       ``A couple of those marriages were annulled. I was young,'' 
     he said.
       But Bailey is devoted to his four grown children--a son and 
     three daughters--who live in Louisville. He said he will move 
     there to be closer to them.
       He also plans to spend a lot of time painting.
       ``I do have a love for painting pictures. I do landscapes, 
     and I like oils. And I'll be happy to devote some time to 
     that,'' Bailey said.
       In addition to his age, Bailey says his health is a reason 
     for his retirement.
       ``I have emphysema, and I am a smoker. And I suffer from 
     hypertension . . . I certainly don't want to drop dead from a 
     stroke on the air.''
       Although Bailey has no regrets about his decision to leave 
     radio, he will miss it.
       ``It'll feel funny not getting up and going to the 
     microphone every day. I've done it since I was 16.''
       WVLK program director Robert Lindsey says it won't be easy 
     to replace Bailey.
       ``You don't really replace somebody like that,'' Lindsey 
     said. ``You find someone that can do the job. You're never 
     going to find anyone who's going to be a Bill Bailey. He's 
     unique.''
       While Lindsey looks for a new afternoon personality, part-
     timer Joe Thomas will fill the 2 p.m.-to-6 p.m. slot.
       Bill Bailey not only raised a couple of generations of 
     Kentuckians on rock `n' roll, he influenced other disc 
     jockeys. Here's what some of them said:
       Terry Meiners, afternoon disc jockey on WHAS-AM (840), 
     Louisville: ``I pretended to be him when I was a little kid. 
     My brothers would laugh at me. Before school, I would play 
     45s on our little RCA record player and I would say `I'm Bill 
     Bailey, and I've spilled coffee all over my pants.'''
       Gary Burbank, afternoon disc jockey on WLW-AM (700), 
     Cincinnati, voice of the syndicated ``Earl Pitt's America'' 
     and former Bailey colleague at WAKY: ``Earl Pitts was heavily 
     influenced by Bill Bailey. Earl is funny and witty, and you 
     catch yourself agreeing with him, and then you smack yourself 
     in the face and say this can't be right. Bailey is that way. 
     Bill Bailey is the father of Earl Pitts, and I do want child 
     support.''
       Jack Pattie, morning personality, WVLK-AM (590), Lexington: 
     ``I listened to him in high school. . . . He's the greatest 
     communicator I ever heard. He has the best handle on the 
     language I ever heard. He just knew how to talk to 
     people.''

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