Rodney Manning Fry (correction); Last Show, 550 KCRS Midland | October 8, 1967

550 Midland Odessa West Texas KCRS

Longtime contributor Jeffrey Holland is quite familiar with the subject of this aircheck.

Holland has been friends with Rodney Manning Fry (corrected) for a long time. Long enough to have this vintage 1960s recording of Frye’s final show on 550 KCRS. As Holland wrote when sending these in on CD, “(This is) straight off the skimmer so you don’t have to edit them.”

For this quality, I wouldn’t dream of it.

The aircheck begins with Sgt. Don Wetzel voicing a spot for the U.S. Air Force. The main hits of the Fall of 1967 are heard, as well as KCRS news. In the headlines, Chicago is selected for the Democratic Convention for the ’68 national election, the Vietnam War (lots of it), President Johnson says when it comes to education, the U.S. is still a developing country, the UAW in Detroit approves dues increase and strike against Ford might be the longest in history, and the Red Sox lose game 4 to the Cardinals 6-0, giving St. Louis a 3-1 lead in the ’67 World Series. Even the Boston Patriots are playing!

Notice… just like so many small and medium market stations, the jock does the news. And its so amazing – Rodney Manning Frye goes from being a 60s Top 40 jock to an authoritative News Anchor.

Today, Frye can be heard on CRN Digital Talk Radio, as Chuck Wilder.