Comments on: Gary McKee on 79 WQXI Atlanta | 1973

By: Jeff Hall

Jeff Hall — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 05:53:42 +0000

‘Tis the season to be jolly,
So why worry, o by golly
Mistletoe and fruitcake and smoke fallin’ out the chinmey
I can hardly wait ’till next year for that gimme, gimme, gimme
…..and grandma saying to us all, “Sorry about the dinner
it looked like a turkey to me!”
—partial Christmas poem by Willis the Gauard

The fact I can remember even that much of his poem–30 years later–attests to the supreme enjoyment I got listening to “Willis”and the “94-Q” lineup while growing up in Atlanta.
One morning while getting ready for school, I called with the name “Orphus Walcos, 80 years old” to be read by Willis prior to the singing of “Happy Birthday” by the birthday monster.
The guy answering the phone asked, “Is this a real name?”.
I laughingly assured him it was, then listened as Willis saved the name for last, paused, and said, “and Orphus Walcos is ‘gonna be 80 years old today..somebody’s grand-daddy, Gary” with a flourish.
McKee started snickering–knowing the name couldn’t possibly be real–and Willis’ next response was, “Now don’t laugh, Gary. These is peoples real names!”.
My freshman year at Mercer in Macon, my roommate and I were disappointed to realize we could not pick up 94-Q on my stereo in the dorm.
So, I climbed onto the roof of the Freshman Men’s dorm one night, erected a television antenna, and dropped a wire down to our second floor room to remedy that situation.
And Jeff, I don’t know if you’ll remember, but I’ll say “thank-you” again 31 years later for the following:
In 1978, I was working at WNEX in Macon–jocking and doing news–and, during a trip home to visit my folks in Conyers, heard you play the Eagles’ “Please Come Home For Christmas” one afternoon.
It wss the week after Thanksgiving and our station had yet to receive a copy of the song from Asylum, nor were any of the other stations in Macon playing the song.
So I plugged your afternoon broadcast into a quality cassette deck, called you during your shift, explaining my stations’ lack of a copy, then rolled tape as you most graciously hit the song with no intro, then left just enough time for the fade at the end, which allowed me to cart a clean copy of the song back at the station in Macon.
Thanks to you, WNEX “broke” the song and played it days before anyone else in the market!
Jeff, I’m so glad you wrote a response, letting us know what you and Gary are up to.
In closing, I’m wondering what ever happened to your Program Director, Don Benson?

By: Karl Phillips

Karl Phillips — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 11:39:58 +0000

Calradiopd you are absolutely correct. Quixie was a Pacific and Southern owned station.

By: Calradiopd

Calradiopd — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:05:26 +0000

WQXI was never owned by RKO General.

By: George

George — Sun, 10 May 2009 17:14:58 +0000

It was August of 1975. I had graduated from Ridgeview High School in Atlanta three months earlier and left my high school friends and everything Atlanta behind, including by favorite radio show in the morning: Gary and Willis. I was now at The Citadel in Charleston, SC. The life of a military academy plebe was more difficult than one could imagine, especially after recently being a cocky high school senior. One of the worst parts of the day was noon mess. The upperclassmen would turn up their verbal flamethrowers to full blast. We would almost have rather starved than go to that noon meal every day. On the mess hall speakers, they piped-in whatever current hits were playing on the radio: Boz Scaggs, Zepplin, Steely Dan, and the rest. One day I was sweating to the mess hall punishment as usual, and who should come out of the speakers but good old Willis the Guard as he played his tunes on Gary’s morning show. “Gonna drive mah truk, all over thu world…” It may have been Hell in the mess hall that day, but it was Heaven in my thoughts as I sat at attention and squared my meal. I was taken back to a better time. I wonder how many other plebes from Atlanta had that same experience. If they did, I’ll bet that they remember it to this day, just as I do. Thanks fellas. You made it more bearable.

By: Karl Phillips

Karl Phillips — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:57:32 +0000

Any girl with Red Neckerson other than his wife – Necterine…..would be unacceptable. Necterine Neckerson would kill him !!!

By: jeff mccartney

jeff mccartney — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 20:09:39 +0000

wow! Gary makes me remember working with him like it was yesterday. We were Qackers (Qxi Qackers?) then both moved over the big 94Q! Gary is semi retired and living in ATL, Im there also and working in another (very boring) field. Jeff Mccartney

By: Ronus

Ronus — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 23:57:11 +0000

Gary Mckee is my absolute favorite all time disc jocky. His shows were the funniest. I’ve never heard another radio show host that even approached his skill. I used to listen to him on 94Q all the time. Those of you who listened to him will remember Willis the Guard, the Birthday Monster (friday, friday, friday!) Yetta Levitt with the news, whom he once called Letcha Loveit, and Beau Bach with sports. Remember the lobster alerts? They were talking about Tang (a drink) on one show. Mckees response was “Tang? As in Poon?”. His humor was the greatest.

By: mjones

mjones — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 00:55:22 +0000

what was the girl with him ,I know red neckerson ,but who was the woman?

By: Ian McCullough

Ian McCullough — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:37:27 +0000

What a flashback. Doraville, Sequoyah High ‘73, I went to high school with Gary’s son, Rick. Got good concert tickets from Rick’s dad! Part of my inspiration to get into broadcast. Went to UGA, worked for NBC & Fox Owned & Operated stations for 30 years. What memories: World record STREAK ‘74 at UGA, ‘71 Chattahoocee Raft Race. We were the ’70’s Show…….

By: Stephen Mckibben

Stephen Mckibben — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:32:38 +0000

thanks carl , i did happen to work with tom at WQXI 94.1, he was very nice to everyone, im not in radio anymore but i do miss the fun times i had with tom sullivan and gary mckee in the late eighties.