The Stories

Almost every announcer has a funny story...here's one about Rick Lane: Rick was in the Army, during his stay on Okinawa. He was assigned to the Information Office. He had access to all of the Radio Shows flown over from AFN's Headquarters in Los Angeles. One day he got a hold of a daily show from one of AFN's contracted announcers from the States. Rick's show began at 5:45pm the AFN guys show began at 6:05pm. At 6:00, Rick announced his records using the same words that he picked-up from the transcribed Disk he had heard earilier that day. Making the AFN guy sound like he was copyiing everything that Rick said.. Although Rick had the first listen hours ago.

Here's another...Rick Lane,Skip Willis, and "The Porcupine" John Richards were heading to a social event at Monza Beach. Skip was driving and was stopped by a MP for going too fast on the highway. Rick who was in the front seat quickly grabbed a microphone, and pretended to be doing a "Live" radio report.Asked why the MP had stopped them. He told them they were driving too fast, and he was going to give them a ticket. Rick told him they were doing a Radio report, and that he was on the Radio. Embarrased that he interupted a "Live" Radio report he let them go. Oh...by-the-way, the microphone was never "Live", and they got away with one!

"The Janitor In the Morning"---Paul Compney recently shared this: When Lou Rawls appeared at the Officers Club, Rick Lane was driving him around to each destination,and making sure he got from point A to Point B. Rick had Lou call the station, during Paul's shift. Paul immediately put him On-the-Air, and his lesteners were treated to an exclusive interview. This one thing that KSBK had over anyone else------the freedom to run shows/special events on a One Minute notice. Years later---Lou Rawls was appearing in Atlanta,Georgia, I asked him if he remembered the station. He said "KSBK was one of the best outlets around the world":.Whenever he released anything new---he could count on Airplay from Okinawa's KSBK/JORO.

So....How did KSBK keep up with the popular hits in the U.S? There was a service that the station used to rush what ever tune was in the Billboard Top 100. This way we always had the tunes that were hitting the charts. PLUS.....The DJ's also had the freedom to bring in Albums/45's that they liked. On Okinawa, there were two outlets that we used to get music,if we needed it. The Futema Music Center, and Poncie's House of Soul, were two music stores that got us the records too.

Cal C. writes in...."I remember on the radio, one of the DJ's had a Monkey,as a regular on his show....was that a real Monkey"? YES......That Monkay was owned by a friend of Rick Lane,Skip Willis,and "The Porcupine".I can't remember his full name,but his first name was "Bob". (Named after his owner) He was a real hell-raiser! One time he was spooked by a visit from one of the RBC Engineers, and started to run and jump all over the broadcast room. crashing some tapes,and music cartridges all over the place. All this during a "Live" Radio Show.Needlessly to say--that was the last time "Bob" was allowed into the studio! We also had a pet Cat. Sometimes the cat would go on the request show, and meow to some of the callers. Everybody loved that cat---we called him the "Geepes"

From Kevin, who was stationed at Kadena Air Base: Was the Disc Jockey "The Janitor",a real RBC/KSBK Janitor? NO! If you are speaking about Paul Compney--It was Paul's "Radio Moniker". He did the over-night shift, so he became the Station's Janitor. However, sometimes on the shows, various people who worked at RBC, would stop by the studio, and we would have them on "Live". I remember having one of the Engineer's actually Introduce one of the Records I was playing. In broken English, he Announced: "A Cowboys Work Is Never Done"/Sonny & Cher". That was a great bit! Plus, he had some fun too! He would frequently sit around the studio, and be amazed to the fun we were having!