Question about an old KNUS 99 stunt

My wife and I were driving along Central Expressway in Dallas today and passed by the spot just south of LBJ where an old drive-in theater once stood. When I was a kid, there was a tall sign at that spot for KNUS 99. On top of this sign was what looked like an apartment of some sort. It was probably 150 feet in the air or so. It was there for years and sat empty for most of the time that I remember it being there. The sign was up long after the drive-in closed and long after KNUS became KLUV. It fell into disrepair and was finally torn down when an auto dealership went in there. My parents told me they recall it was there as part of some pole-sitting stunt or something like that. I'm wondering if anyone here can fill in the details better than that. (maybe someone was involved in the promotion??)

Thanks

The old Gemini Drive-In at Forest Ln. & Central Expressway ... The theater was owned by Gordon McLendon, owner of KLIF 1190 and KNUS 99 back in the day. Amng other things, D.J.'s would participate in "pole-sitting" contests/promotions that would last for several days, always providing the radio station and the drive-in with extremely high visibility. The 'pole' acted as a nice vertical billboard for KNUS as well.

I remember many of the 'unusual' contests there, including a kissing contest for couples that lasted for days (it was rather comical seeing the couples trying to sleep and not lose contact between lips).

I'm sure that Mike Shannon and/or Steve Eberhart can provide more detail. Fond memories of old Dallas radio.

Buddy McGregor did the original "pole sitting" marothon on KLIF in the 50's.
KNUS did essentially the same promotion in the early 70's at the location of the old Gemini Drive In Theatre at Central and Forest in Dallas. I don't recall the name of the person who did it for them but I do recall it getting a lot of attention in local media. The pole remained for years and was finally torn down in the late 1980's.

Back in the 70's when I was programming WFAA-AM & KZEW, we were setting up a promotion at the Gemini Drive-In with the folks who had bought it from McLendon. It was a few years after KNUS had disappeared from the dial, but the ragged pole tower was still up there with peeling paint & sagging boards. I asked them why they hadn't torn it down & was told an interesting story.
Apparently when the pole-sitter was up there his sanitation system was the pole itself. I was told that he would deposit his body waste into the pole and then add a scoop of sulphur to reduce the odor. When the new owners of the drive-in wanted to cut down the pole, their engineers told them that the spark from a cutting blade could ignite the mixture of sulphur & body waste inside the pole and cause an explosion, so they didn't know how they could get rid of the eyesore.
Imagine --- a giant SH*T STICK exploding on Central Expressway!
Eventually they must have figured out how to safely remove it, because it disappeared a few years later. But before it was gone I always smiled whenever I passed it by.

That stinks!!!

I remember the pole/sign. I didn't know what it was for at the time other than a strange arrangement for a billboard. I didn't get to listen to KNUS back then as my dad pretty much ruled the radio and TV time and he was mostly fond of WBAP and KYAL...needless to say, I didn't know there were other forms of music besides country (with occasional exceptions like when Dad would watch Dean Martin's NBC show) for my first few years.

That pole was quite an institution in North Dallas for many years. Sure is a reminder about how much Central Expressway has changed since then.

easttxtv said:

I didn't get to listen to KNUS back then as my dad pretty much ruled the radio and TV time and he was mostly fond of WBAP and KYAL...needless to say

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Yikes! First time I've seen anyone mention KYAL in eons. They've been gone for what, 32 years now?

I seem to remember that one guy was going to stay up there for a year. I remember them pulling food up by a rope in a bucket. All these years I wondered if anything came back down in the bucket, mystery solved.

Wasn't the a phone contraption at the bottom of the pole so you could talk to whoever was up there?

Exploding SHI* STICK on Central... that's good one.

This KNUS Gemini stunt was done during the summertime ('75 or 76 is my guess) and the DJ stayed up there for 99 days.

KYAL, hmm.. i didn't think many people remembered that little ole station down along 121 surrounded by a Tub Club or two. . .

AM 1600 , i believe.

The KNUS Stunt.. I want to say Randy Coffee was the jock that was up there.. at least thats the name that I remember in those days... I know Kevin McCarthy was also a part of the station, but I don't think he was up on the pole...if anyone remembers the jock that stayed the 99days of Summer (thats the promotion I believe)... trying to rack that memory is like trying to open up a steel trap-- rusty and illegal in 27 states!

Just a thought

Dave Michaels
Davradio Productions
North Texas Sports Network
KVCE 1160AM News

It wasn't a jock that did the pole-sitting gig for KNUS/99 in the mid-70s.

His name was Jimmy Dean (no relation) and he was working as an "entertainment manager" for the old Loser's Club on Mockingbird before he got into a little hot water with some not-so-nice people and thought being isolated on the top of that pole for almost 6 months would be a safe place to be.

KNUS had his meals catered from the best restaurants in town, he did a little bookmaking and indulged the fantasies of a few Highland Park women who had a thing about strange places while he was up there.

The platform was only 4 & 6 feet and Lipson was right about the pole being the waste disposal unit. Ick.

Hate to bump up a thread from a decade ago, but this is pretty cool. WFAA-TV turned over a bunch of it's film archives to SMU for restoration and digital transfer. A bunch of them are posted to YouTube, including a story about this KNUS stunt: https://youtu.be/nyGF3Pbr1NM

Mediafrog+ said:

First time I've seen anyone mention KYAL in eons. They've been gone for what, 32 years now?

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The "Country American, AM-16" gave way to KXVI "K-16" and its MOR format in January 1977, so it's been 41 years now!

KXVI or K-16 was not MOR but Oldies before becoming a somewhat oldies oriented AC before going, I think Southern Gospel. During the oldies, the AC reign, they had some really decent jocks that used KXVI as a stepping stone to a fulltime Dallas gig. Used to have an old cassette of 'Sweet" Randy Robbins jocking during the AC format.

Hadn't heard the name Randy Coffey in years. A really nice guy. I met him when in high school when he was at "Stereo 102" KFWD during their top 40 leaning days of playing 3 in a row without talk. As I recall, Randy stayed with KFWD through their transition to album rock. If I recall correctly, he went to KAFM from there. I know KFWD had switched to album rock by about June 1975. He'd swing by with his wife, then girlfriend, when I was working at Sound Town Records in Valley View Mall from time to time. Not sure he was the guy on the pole but he did work at KNUS at one point, I think.

tested said:

Hate to bump up a thread from a decade ago, but this is pretty cool. WFAA-TV turned over a bunch of it's film archives to SMU for restoration and digital transfer. A bunch of them are posted to YouTube, including a story about this KNUS stunt: https://youtu.be/nyGF3Pbr1NM

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That IS pretty cool! I'm hoping they find some old footage and post it up about the Texas International Pop Festival in 1969.

KNUS kissathon

CCEX said:

The old Gemini Drive-In at Forest Ln. & Central Expressway ... The theater was owned by Gordon McLendon, owner of KLIF 1190 and KNUS 99 back in the day. Amng other things, D.J.'s would participate in "pole-sitting" contests/promotions that would last for several days, always providing the radio station and the drive-in with extremely high visibility. The 'pole' acted as a nice vertical billboard for KNUS as well.

I remember many of the 'unusual' contests there, including a kissing contest for couples that lasted for days (it was rather comical seeing the couples trying to sleep and not lose contact between lips).

I'm sure that Mike Shannon and/or Steve Eberhart can provide more detail. Fond memories of old Dallas radio.

Click to expand...

I worked at KNUS and was the DJ (Don Cook) manning the kissathon for most of the time. They had to keep their lips together but got breaks, and there was a winner. The girls whose men couldn't hack it came and finished it off with me. The contestants weren't allowed to have sex but I was. Great memory.