Bob Barry's Unearthed Interviews

“There’s No Getting Over Me” was the biggest hit for one of the most popular and influential country performers of the 70s and 80s. Ronnie Milsap appealed to both country and pop music fans. He received six Grammy awards and had 35 no. 1 country hits. Ronnie is in the Country Music Hall of Fame. All of this happened while he was almost completely sightless. He talks about working with one of the biggest recording artists of all time. Ronnie obtained some recent success when he charted an album in 2019 that included a song with Dolly Parton, “Smokey Mountain Rain.”

Today is the 60th anniversary of the assassination of the 35th President of the United States John F. Kennedy. In this podcast you will hear excerpts of WOKY radio the way it sounded on this day, 60 years ago. And I’ll set the excerpts up for you, so you’ll know exactly what you’re hearing. At the time I was DJing the all-night show, midnight to 6 a.m., and was taking a nap during the day. I was awakened by my mother’s screams from the living room. She had been watching a soap opera when they cut in with the bulletin that the president had been shot. I got dressed and immediately headed to the WOKY studios on 76th and Grange. The staff there that afternoon, included news director Bill James, newsman Bob Carpenter and DJ Bob White. You will hear their voices. I went from being a disc jockey to a newsman in minutes. My reporting on the late-night show continued until after the funeral. For days, our rock and roll radio station, WOKY, played religious and classical music. At the end of this podcast you’ll hear my interesting conversation with Margarette Oswald, mother of the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.

On today’s podcast a really fun songwriter, guitarist, and singer. You have probably seen Jerry Reed in the “Smokey and the Bandits” movies. We played his hit records. “Amos Moses,” “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot,“ “East Bound and Down” and “She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft),” which was used in the movie “The Bounty Hunter” with Jennifer Aniston. He was a southern boy from Atlanta and he’ll tell you the rest of the story. Elvis recorded two songs Jerry wrote, “Guitar Man” and “U.S. Male.” He was asked to play guitar on both sessions. He also does the picking on Presley’s hit “Big Boss Man.” Reed has been called one of the most inspirational guitar stylists in the history of country music. I talked with Jerry for a couple minutes at the WOKY pops festival.

Maybe you won’t recognize the name Mary Travers, but if after you hear the songs she recorded with her trio I’m sure it will your ears will get perky. Peter, Paul, and Mary had six top 10 hits on the Billboard charts from 1962 to 1970. The three hitmakers shared a manager with Bob Dylan and recorded his song “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.” They broke up shortly after their biggest hit “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” written by Bob Denver. Peter, Paul, and Mary reunited for some tours in 1978 and were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999.

It was always fun to go to Las Vegas. I had a chance to see shows and interview some of the most popular recording artists including Glen Campbell. After Glen’s show, he invited us backstage where he told us why it’s tough to sing in Vegas and talked about his biggest hit at that time, which was released 55 years ago today. We didn’t want to keep him too long because he was in the middle of a hot and heavy card game with his band.

It’s time for another World Series. Our podcast today features a Baseball Hall of Fame catcher who helped the Brooklyn Dodgers win its first World Series championship in 1955. Three-time MVP catcher Roy Campanella was in every all- star game from 1949 through 1956, including the first integrated all-star game with Jackie Robinson, Don Newcombe, and Larry Doby. During his career, he threw out 57 percent of the base runners who tried to steal a base on him, the best of any catcher in major league history. His playing career came to an end after he was seriously injured in an auto accident.

This guy did it all. He was the lead or character actor in many TV shows and movies. Robert Vaughn was the disabled drunken war vet in “The Young Philadelphians,” for which he earned an Oscar and Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He was a gunman in “The Magnificent Seven.” And was the lead or guest star in more than 200 television shows. Bob was best known for playing spy Napoleon Solo in “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” The show was so popular that he received more than 70,000 fan letters a month. He had to put up an electric fence around his house to keep out the frantic young females.

This trumpet-playing musician and bandleader was loved by Milwaukee symphony fans. Doc Severinsen appeared many times with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. And in 2007 he was named Pops Conductor Emeritus in Milwaukee. His father wanted him to play the violin. He wanted to play the trombone, but his arms weren’t long enough, so he settled for the trumpet. Doc toured with Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey and served in World War II. He became the studio musician for NBC and worked with Steve Allen on the original “Tonight Show.” He left the show for a while, until Tonight Show bandleader Skitch Henderson asked him to return and play trumpet in the band. Five years later he was the leader of the “Tonight Show” band. Doc was known for wearing gaudy clothing, joking with Johnny Carson, and playing “Stump the Band.” Severinsen has recorded many albums and won the Grammy award for best large jazz ensemble performance. In this conversation he discusses his broken marriages, how he got the name Doc and what he thinks of the unauthorized biographies.

October is National Popcorn Month. When we hear the word “popcorn,” many of us think of Orville Redenbacher. Orville was a businessman and food scientist who revolutionized the American popcorn industry. He began his career selling fertilizer, but in his spare time worked with popcorn. It took him years to come up with his hybrid brand in 1970. Orville surpassed the $1 billion sales mark in 1987 and captured a third of the entire popcorn market. He was so popular that he appeared on the TV game show “To Tell the Truth.” You probably saw the digital recreation of his commercial in 2007.

If ever there was an irreverent, spicy comedian, it had to be Buddy Hackett. Buddy was a nightclub comic and one of the biggest headliners in Las Vegas history. He also had some acting credits including “It’s a Mad Mad World,” “Music Man,” and “The Love Bug.” Hackett made many appearances on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson and Jack Paar. Buddy had bell’s palsy as a child which caused his slurred speech and strange facial expressions. Did he ever appear nude on stage? I’ll let him answer that. On the radio, his recording of “The Chinese Waiter” was played many times.

Mr. Las Vegas, Mr. Entertainment, Midnight Idol. Those words describe one of the most popular entertainers of the past century. Wayne Newton has been performing in Vegas since 1963. He was friends with some of the country’s biggest acts: Frank Sinatra, Elvis, and Bobby Darin. His hit “Danke Schoen” was used in the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” He has performed more than 30,000 times in Vegas. Wayne has appeared in numerous movies and TV shows including “Dancing with the Stars.” When we took listeners, contest winners, to Las Vegas, Wayne was a most gracious host and would show off his champion Arabian horses at his ranch. Speaking of listeners, we had some audience participation during this interview.

I followed the Beatles on their 1966 tour here in the United States. One of the concerts was at the Chicago amphitheater on Aug. 12. Bobby Hebb was a warmup act for the show. He was a singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist from Nashville. Bobby was featured on the Grand Ole Opry at age 12. He talks about his start and his only top 10 hit. As you will hear, we were backstage for this interview.

Are you ready for some football? It’s that time of year. The Pack opens the season Sunday against the Chicago Bears. One of my all-time favorite Green Bay Packer players was Bart Starr. Among his many football accomplishments, Bart led his team to victory in the first two Super Bowl games. He was named MVP in those games. His record in post season was 9-1. His career completion record was the best and he held the Packers’ franchise record for games played: 196. Bart was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Packers Hall of Fame. He and his wife Cherry were married for more than 60 years. They helped start the Lombardi Cancer Foundation and co-founded the Rawhide Boys Ranch. In this podcast we’ll hear from Bart in his playing days, when I interviewed him at the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation Golf Tournament and then on the phone when he was starting his coaching career with the green and gold.

In 1964, on the Beatles tour, the warmup acts had a tough job. The many fans of the Fab Four wanted to see them and not anyone else. In Milwaukee on Sept. 4, 1964, the acts preceding the Beatles were Bill Black’s Combo, Clarence “Frogman” Henry, the Exciters, and Jackie DeShannon. One of the questions I asked Jackie was about her experiences during the Beatles tour.

If I told you today’s podcast features a British lad who had a hit with a song called “Escape,” you’d probably say, “What song is that?” If I said the “Pina Colada Song” you might remember. Rupert Holmes was a pop singer and song writer. He stopped by the WOKY studios one morning to introduce his new record, which also made the Billboard Top 10. He wrote the song about a personal experience, which he’ll talk about and you’ll hear a bit of that hit. He’ll also mention the connection he had with Barbra Streisand.

If you were a fan of the long running CBS TV series “Hawaii Five-O,” you aren’t alone. The popular catchphrase “Book ‘em Danno” came from that show. Actor Jack Lord starred as detective Steve McGarrett, head of the State Police Criminal Investigation Department in Honolulu. After he appeared as Felix Leiter in the James Bond film “Dr. No,” he demanded a bigger role and more money, which resulted in his dismissal. He was offered the role of Captain Kirk on Star Trek, but when he asked for 50 percent ownership of the show, the part went to William Shatner. He also lost the part of Eilot Ness to Robert Stack in “The Untouchables.” He did have parts in many TV shows including “Bonanza,” “The Fugitive,” “The F.B.I.” and “Have Gun, Will Travel.”

The Wisconsin Broadcasters Association is proud to present a very special "Bob Barry's Unearthed Interviews - podcast #200". #200!!! The WBA wondered how this came about. Bob says "It was suggested we do something special for the 200th podcast, so we are flashing “way back” to 1972, to me and my morning show on WOKY. As far as we know, this is the first time anyone has heard my morning radio show in 51 years. Can you believe it? That goes for my newsman David Haines and his colorful high-energy delivery too." Bob's morning show on WOKY was usually #1 in the ratings. This meant Bob could spend company money on long distance phone calls. And he did. In 1972, long distance calls cost dollars per minute. The Milwaukee Journal reported monthly phone bills at WOKY were over $1000. Adjusted for inflation, that's $7300 a month! Bob spent WOKY's money wisely, making his show so popular he was voted #1 DJ in the USA in 1975 by Billboard magazine, beating out DJ's from New York and LA. Bob says "That was quite an honor and thank you to everyone who listened to me back in the day." Several people helped put this "200th special" together. Thank you's to WOKY alum Jack Lee who brought back Milwaukee's very own “Lady of Charm”, to radio vet and voice talent Bill Shannon for playing the role of "Mr. Announcer", and to marketing guru Kipper McGee for handling promotion. Continuing thanks to Kyle Geissler, Vice President of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association for coordinating and getting these podcasts to you on Youtube, Spotify, Apple, etc. And special thanks to Mark David (MD) Heleniak of MixMasterMD.com for restoring the 1972 WOKY aircheck, and for producing, writing, and engineering the 200th special podcast. If you enjoy this special, let us know. email: bbarryunearthed@gmail.com We’ll do more in the future. And thanks for listening!

In the early morning hours of Aug. 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber named Enola Gay dropped the world’s first atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima. The explosion immediately killed 80,000 people and many more would die later from radiation exposure. This was the beginning of the end of World War II. On today’s podcast, the pilot of the bomber, Col. Paul Tibbets.

The Downbeats, ponytail, and “Where the Action Is” can all be tied into our podcast recording artist today. Mark Lindsay was the lead singer for Paul Revere and the Raiders. They named their first group “The Downbeats,” after a magazine with the same name. But soon they decided to use the Paul Revere’s name and call themselves Paul Revere and the Raiders. They went all out with the revolutionary theme and mark grew his hair out and tied it back into a ponytail. Dick Clark signed them to the “Where the Action Is” TV show. This brought them instant fame and the good-looking Mark Lindsay became a teen idol. Mark was singer, producer, composer, and saxophone player for the group. He had some hits of his own: “Arizona,” “Silver Bird,” “Miss America” and the “Grass Won’t Pay No Mind.” Recently he appeared with the Turtles on their “Happy Together” tour.

Donny Osmond sings, dances, acts and first gained fame with his brothers. The Osmonds, who had three top ten hits and numerous top 40 songs on the Billboard charts. Donny starred in the long running musical “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” co-hosted a musical variety TV show with his sister Marie, and the duo appeared many times together on stage in Las Vegas and Donny recorded six top ten hits. In this podcast episode Donny shares info on their act, songs, religion, and where all of their energy comes from. And Marie added some comments during the interview.