Today's Featured Biography

 
Carl Peeples

I was born December 18, 1940 and raised in Jacksonville, Florida and graduated from Andrew Jackson High School in 1958 and the University of Florida in 1963 with a Bachelors of Electrical Engineering. Following college, I worked for the municipally owned power company in Jacksonville in the early '60s, installed and maintained large, mainframe computers for Honeywell, Inc. in Atlanta in the mid '60s, and from the late '60s until my retirement this past November 2, 2002, worked for one of the greatest employers one could have - the people of the United States of America. I spent the last 32 years of my Federal Career with one of the finest, most professional organizations in the world - the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration)!

So, you might ask, how does it figure that I turn up as a country music disc jockey in King Country in the summer of 2003? Well, the short response is, I'm simply having the time of my life sharing great music and memories with thousands of wonderful King Country listeners. But, that doesn't answer the question. So, as Paul Harvey might say - And now, the rest of the story!

In the summer of 1957, when I was 16 years old, my sister's boyfriend, who loved Rhythm and Blues music (and, I too, love it to this day), decided that he and I should visit a Black radio station to which he listened constantly. Well, we did. For my friends in Jacksonville, it was WOBS. The disc jockeys and Howell (who later was killed by a grenade in Viet Nam) and I hit it off instantly. They took us into the control room, showed us everything, and let us sit, right in the studio, through a newscast. They even gave each of us a stack of 45 rpm "Promotional Use Only" or "Disc Jockey" Pop records (they didn't use those). I have them to this day. Remember now, it is 1957. Control boards are huge and hot - no transistors - all vacuum tubes. There are red, blinking and "On Air" lights everywhere, along with monstrous reel-to-reel Ampex tape recorder consoles, huge 16" turntables and transcriptions and clackety-clack teletype "news" machines spewing out world events right before my eyes! And, people were everywhere doing whatever. A big city radio station in the '50s. Man, it was exciting! And, to this day I love the smell of carbon tetrachloride! In fact, I think it flows in my veins.

So, the broadcasting bug bit me. I practiced, begged and pleaded and drove Jacksonville broadcasters crazy until the General Manager at WPDQ said, in 1959, that I could operate the control board for remote broadcasts on weekends. Eventually, I began doing station breaks and midnight dj work on weekends. I progressed to weekend day shifts and chasing news around Jacksonville and summer vacation fill-ins. I continued working part-time in broadcasting to help pay my way through college. There were many times when I nearly succumbed to temptations to drop out of college and pursue a broadcasting career. I could, of course, have sought a Broadcasting Journalism Degree. But, the space race was on big time in the late '50s (Remember our being upstaged by Sputnik?) and engineers were in great demand. And, my father, who had the best "hang dog" look you ever saw and was terrified that I was going to drop out of college, could persuade me to do anything. So, an engineer I became. But, because of my great love for broadcasting, I continued, even after college, working part-time in radio for a number of years at various stations in Jacksonville and Atlanta. Prior to WKNG, I was last on the air in 1969 in Jacksonville. And, as my oldest son Mark says, I had the good fortune to be a rock 'n roll disc jockey during one of the greatest and most exciting periods in broadcast history. Do you remember the bells, gongs and whistles, jingles, reverberation, time tones and all the great intensity of Top 40 Radio? All accomplished manually, with no computers, cartridge machines or compact disc players?!? I won't ever forget it! I was there and part of it!

Oh, and now to WKNG. My wife, Annie, and I were Sunday driving on June 22 last. I've historically stopped in to visit radio stations that I come across while traveling. Driving east out of Tallapoosa I saw WKNG's tower and like a moth to a flame I drove up to it! Annie and I went in and were graciously welcomed. In the course of conversation, I mentioned that I had for some time entertained the thought of returning to broadcasting after retirement. They told me that the station owner would be there shortly and insisted that we stay and meet Steve. We did. He said. I said. I did. He did. Here I are! And, I'm happy about it, too! Thanks, Steve!
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