KTKT DJ Hall OF Fame
1961
Early 1961
6 am - Guy Williams
1030 am - Robert E Lee
3 pm - Frank Kalil
6 pm - Dave Nelson
9 pm - Bob Dean
Midnight to 6 am – Jerry Stowe
The KTKT line up put together August of 1959 stayed intact until May of 1960. At that time John Williams – previously in Denver - joined KTKT. A noon to 3 pm slot was created for him. This gave all the KTKT DJs –except for Jerry Stowe overnights - a balanced three hour DJ shift. At this time many of the jocks – but not all- also worked a three hour news shift before or after their DJ program. Doug Stevens moves over to KTKT from KAIR (where he was known as Dudley Kilburn –his real name) late in May after that station dropped top 40 for a religious format. Doug would do weekends and fill in work. Like Jerry Stowe Doug was a graduate of Chris Borden’s DJ school. Another big change took place evenings. Lee Smith replaced Bob Dean in the 9 pm to midnight shift.
Late May 1961
6 am - Guy Williams
9 am - Robert E Lee
Noon – John Williams
3 pm - Frank Kalil
6 pm - Dave Nelson
9 pm – Lee Smith
Midnight to 6 am – Jerry Stowe
After only a few weeks John Williams left Tucson to return to Denver. He was replaced by Jay Lawrence in the same time slot. Jay Lawrence also did television work at KGUN TV 9. This line up stayed in place for rest of the year at KTKT.
July 1961
6 am - Guy Williams
9 am - Robert E Lee
Noon – Jay Lawrence
3 pm - Frank Kalil
6 pm - Dave Nelson
9 pm – Lee Smith
Midnight to 6 am – Jerry Stowe
Doug Stevens filled in on the weekends doing two shifts on Sunday – 6 am to noon followed by another shift from 6 pm to midnight.
Another program note for 1961 is that the Budweiser Best Sellers program moved to KTKT. This program was a two hour block of popular top 40 style music sponsored entirely by Budweiser. This program was Budweiser’s answer to the very popular and similar styled Lucky Lager Dance Time program that aired on may radio stations –mostly west of the Mississippi River -most evenings. The local DJ would play all the current hits from a special top sellers list provided by Bud. These charts could be picked up at most grocery stores in the beer section usually near the Budweiser products. This program was a nice fit for KTKT as the music was the same as KTKT’s regular programming. The Budweiser program had previously been on KTAN since 1959. During early 1961 KTAN adapted a full time format of adult music – mostly lush instrumentals - and dropped all remaining vestiges of pop music at that station. At this time the Budweiser program became a regular feature of Lee Smith’s program airing from 930 to 1130 pm Monday through Saturday.. The Bud program was also heard on KTKT’s sister station in Phoenix KRUX – also owned by KTKT owner Leland Bisbee.
