Radio Station KXOK Rocked the Airwaves!
by
John J. Dunphy
(Originally published in the 7–7–13 edition of The Telegraph of Alton, IL)
I received my first transistor radio as a Christmas present in 1962, when I had just turned nine. That gift empowered me to listen to the music that I wanted to hear, rather than having to content myself with whatever was playing on my parents’ radio.I was now free to enjoy the songs of my generation — rock and roll! For a kid living in the St. Louis-Metro East area during that time, there was only one radio station that could satisfy my musical cravings: KXOK.
Located at 630 on the AM dial, KXOK played rock and roll 45s, which were small vinyl records that had just one song on each side. The frequency that a record was played depended on its national and local popularity. A 45 typically had an “A-side,” which was the song that the producers expected to do well. The “B-side” song was often considered a throwaway, although some B-siders became hits as well. KXOK published a weekly flyer that one could receive simply by mailing a stamped, self-addressed envelope to the station. When I wrote this column for The Telegraph back in 2013, I stated that this flyer listed that week’s top twenty songs as well as the positions those songs had occupied the previous week. I was mistaken! A fellow KXOK fan has since informed me that the weekly flier listed the top six songs six songs as well as the next “30 in tribute to the station’s dial position.” He also confirmed that the flyer noted the rank each song had held the previous week.
Although KXOK sported any number of talented disc jockeys, only one name still remains in my memory after so many decades: Johnny Rabbitt. Yes, of course that was a stage name! When I got my radio, Johnny Rabbitt as played by Ron Elz, who is still active in the St. Louis. Ron left KXOK in 1964, but the station didn’t allow him to take his Johnny Rabbitt character with him. Management then hired Don Pietromonaco to play Johnny Rabbitt, a gig that Don held until 1969 when he left KXOK and the Johnny Rabbitt name was retired.
Don’s Johnny Rabbitt ruled the St. Louis airwaves when his show was broadcast Monday through Saturday from 7 pm to midnight. Bruno J. Grunion, his raspy-voiced co-host, drove Johnny up the wall with his inane comments. Listeners enjoyed speculating on the identity of Bruno. I remember hearing that he was a Washington University medical student who moonlighted in order to finance his education. Few listeners suspected that Bruno was simply Don speaking in an altered voice!
Like all youth-oriented deejays of that era, Don took dozens of “dedications” during each show. I also recall his “Blab It To The Rabbitt” feature, which allowed listeners to call him and proclaim that Julie and Eddie would love each other forever, or Tom was a jerk for treating his girlfriend so shamefully.
Don made frequent public appearances to promote KXOK and his Johnny Rabbitt character, including a live broadcast each Saturday from the Stix, Baer and Fuller store in downtown St. Louis. I was saddened to learn that Don had died at age 61 in 1997 from complications of emphysema. He always spoke warmly of his KXOK days.
Besides Johnny Rabbitt, I always enjoyed the “Wax Museum,” an oldies show that was broadcast on Sunday evenings. The Wax Museum featured the early works of Elvis, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and other artists, many of whom had cut their musical teeth at the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis. The dee-jay also played songs that one rarely heard on the radio in those days, such as Bill Doggett’s instrumental “Honky-Tonk,” Ivory Joe Hunter’s “I Almost Lost My Mind,” Andy Williams’ cover version of “Butterfly” and Big Bill Turner’s version of “Shake, Rattle and Roll.” The risque lyrics shouted by Turner made Bill Haley and the Comets’ bowdlerized version seem pretty wimpy by comparison. It was hardly surprising that most radio stations refused to play it. The Wax Museum program always closed with Chad and Jeremy’s “A Summer Song.”
KXOK lost many of its older listeners in 1967 when KSHE-FM went on the air. Now we could hear album cuts, rather than a steady stream of top-forty teenybopper tunes. KSHE also introduced us to to songs deemed too controversial for AM radio such as Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant” or “I-Fee — Like-I’m- Fixing-To-Die Rag” by Country Joe and the Fish. KXOK also got some competition on the AM dial when KIRL, a St. Charles-based station, began broadcasting top 40 rock and roll hits in 1968.
Young wannabe radicals such as myself became fans of KDNA, a wildly-innovative St. Louis in 1969. KDNA proved true to its counterculture roots when police broke down the door of its broadcasting studio with a battering ram in 1970 and conducted a drug raid. The dee-jay described the arrest of each staff member and station volunteer — until he, too, was also arrested by the police! The station then simply went off the air. KDNA recovered from this debacle and continued until 1973, when this community-supported station finally ran out of money.
I met Ron Elz in the late 1980s or early 1990s when he stopped by my book shop while doing promotional work for WIL, where he was then employed. When he introduced himself as Ron Elz, I exclaimed, “You’re Johnny Rabbitt!” Ron was pleased at being so remembered, and we talked about the old days. I was delighted when Ron re-adopted his Johnny Rabbitt persona for St. Louis radio. I like to think that my calling him by his old name helped to convince Ron that many Baby Boomers still recalled Johnny Rabbitt and wanted to hear that name on the radio again. He was right, of course!
John J. Dunphy’s books include Abolitionism and the Civil War in Southwestern Illinois and Unsung Heroes of the Dachau Trials: The Investigative Work of the U.S. Army 7708 War Crimes Group, 1945–1947.