Taiwan - Taipei Street Scenes, Signage #13 / Don at KTRM

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[continued from yesterday's post; series started 05/09]
Another very interesting person that worked with us at KTRM was a guy named Don.  Actually he worked the all-nighter at KIEL, operating that huge machine that I mentioned before; he cued the large reels and made sure the carts were in place before the next commercial or announcement was due to air.  We got to know each other because I did the all-nighter at KTRM and we'd bump into each other quite a bit.

And I mean that literally - Don was legally blind, even with his glasses on.  He had memorized all of the switches and controls on "Big Bertha", and could even handle most emergencies, including miscues, tape breaks, and dead air.

Don really left an impression on me.  He was an older man - I'd estimate in his late 40's at the time.  And very, very kind, which went along with the fact that he was a deeply religious man who practiced his faith.  One time I asked him what he was going to do for New Year's Eve.  Being a young punk I was looking for an answer involving some party, but he told me he was going to attend a church service.  I was a little taken aback because I didn't know people went to church on New Year's Eve, and because he answered in a nanosecond, as if to say Of course I'm going to church.  Long afterwards I attended a few of those services myself, and think about him whenever the opportunity comes to attend church on New Year's Eve.  He was a great man.

I'm not sure what Don's background was in radio, but it went a ways back and he must have been fairly well-known; he used to tell me with beaming pride how, once at the Astrodome in Houston, he had the honor of introducing Johnny Cash at a performance.  That's one thing...but the fact that the crowd of who-knows-how-many-thousands gave him, Don, a standing ovation that rivaled what Cash received later was most telling of all.

God bless you, Don.


My friend Don

In spite of being legally blind, Don was able to operate the sophisticated equipment that aired KIEL, which played classical music 24/7.