Ty Boyd, who passed away recently, was the most creative broadcaster I ever had the pleasure of working with.
One small example:
It was 1957 and I had the sign on shift (5am til 7) at WCHL radio in Chapel Hill.. Ty followed me at 7 for the morning "drive time" shift. As DJs, we had no scripts, just a bunch of records and our job was to fill 4 hours with records and time and temperature checks and whatever else we could find to inform and entertain the audience.
The cleaning crew was usually winding up their work as I was starting my morning show.
One of the fellows, a black man, William was his name, often brought me "sayings" which he usually found in his Church bulletin that he thought I might want to repeat on the air.
Well, they were good quotations...
but I didn't see quite how they "fit" in a morning music show.
Meanwhile, the station's
old "morning man" had finished his tour of the Navy and was returning to his old job....as morning "drive DJ." Ty Boyd was his name, and viewed William's collections of "sayings" quite differently.
He viewed them as a possible "feature" for the morning show.
He introduced them as. "The Corner of William,"....which began with organ music, then: Welcome to The Corner of William. Sageness gleaned from the passage of the sands of time, through the hour glass of destiny. What is your message this morning, William?:
Then William would read the quotation...such as, "Well, I'll tell you, Mr Boyd...The largest room in the world......is the room for improvement"
(Music up...and out...)
That's just one example that comes to mind when I think of Ty. He saw posibilities in ordinary things that others ignored.
Rest in Peace, Ty
-Ed
