By MICK HOLIEN
My deceased longtime radio friend Dave Wilson was inducted into the Montana Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame Saturday night.
And it was an extra special occasion because his family, which includes his son Mark, who has dominated the Billings morning ratings for many a moon, and his wife Cheryl attended.
But there were other surprises in store and what a special and surprising night at Chet Huntley Lodge at Big Sky.
Being a finalist in a radio category I arrived at the gala affair only to discover Dave’s induction and of course expected Mark to be there but to my surprise so also was Kathy Walker, outgoing president of the National Association of News Directors and longtime news leader at KOA in Denver.
Kathy was my KGVO sales person when I arrived at Westside Lanes in Missoula in the early eighties.
Mike Doty who was the town’s leading country DJ at the time and encouraged me to work as a part-time jock, which led me to reading sports copy and onto Wilson hiring me to do some news coverage.
As one thing led to another and I left the bowling business and took full-time radio employment, Wilson called me in one Friday afternoon and announced he needed me to do the play-by-play for a high school football game that night.
What, I exclaimed; assuring him I had never done anything like that and had no aspiration to do so.
He countered he knew I had done games in Spokane to which I answered I had not but he relented, a bit aggressively as I remember, and ordered me into the control room to make up a couple of minutes of football play-by-play.
Well not wanting to lose my job I used the names of KGVO employees and called a fictitious series. Well in came Dave telling me he knew I could do it and get out the door with the equipment and oh one more thing I needed to tell the guy who thought he was doing the game I was taking over.
Quite an introduction huh.
And the old saying applies – and the rest they say was history.
But so much more to tell you not about me but about Dave Wilson and fond radio memories.
Just sayin’
