THEKYUU PROMO TIME MACHINE





During the mid '80's, a very special thing took place at KYUU. Actually, a lot of them did, in the form of the following station promos written, produced and frequently voiced, by NABET engineer Burt Golden.

Now the funny thing about this, is that as a NABET employee, Burt was technically not allowed to appear on the air as a voice talent. Only AFTRA members were allowed that priviledge. Fortunately for the station -- and our many thousands of listeners -- Program Director Ric Lippincott knew a good promo when he heard it, and wisley looked the other way while Burt created the most memorable station promos in the history of KYUU.

Of course, most of the air staff did as well. Some of us even joined in the fun. Some jocks were included in the promos and didn't appreciate it at all, notably Rick Shaw. You see, Burt lifted actual airchecks of Rick Shaw and Jackie Skarr to add another dimension of humor to these off-the-wall promos. Rick voiced his opposition at being included, basically because the promos made him sound rather silly. And since that was the idea, Burt continued using Rick Shaw airchecks to create some very memorable moments in radio, in spite the protests, or perhaps even inspired by them. With all due respect to Rick, the promos were, and remain to this day, hilarious and brilliantly creative.

To download the .WAV files, just click the titles. All are recorded in 22k, 16-bit mono. They may each take a few minutes to download, but I promise they'll be worth your time. All are lavishly produced with lots of music and sound effects. Great stuff. Really.


THE LOVERS
In this promo, two lovers are interrupted by Rick Shaw asking "What's your favorite radio station?"
Starring: Burt Golden and Katie Reifman

NORMAN LIPPINCOTT
Norman Lippincott is "Money Crazy", bent on giving away thousands of dollars. And even his mother can't stop him.
Starring: Burt Golden

SO EXCITING, IT COULD BE LETHAL
Heart patient Jack Mehoff (get it?) has a massive coronary after Rick Shaw badgers him to reveal his favorite radio station. Excitement enhanced and may contain some real cheese.
Featuring: Burt Golden as Mr. Mehoff, Jeff McNeal as the announcer and Rick Shaw as himself.

MEXICAN VACATION
In this lively, but fairly straight promo, we join a KYUU listener for a romp on the beach with her new friends Marco and Antonio on the vacation to Casa Del Sol made possible by winning $1,000 on KYUU.
Featuring: Katie Reifman with cameos by Burt Golden as Marco and Al Taddeo in his intense portrayal of Antonio, the latin lover.

PRIMITIVE BELVEDERE ISLAND
In this hilarious spoof of exclusive Belvedere Island, Rick Shaw is worshiped as a God after awarding the chief $1,000. This is my personal favorite. Well produced and Burt mocks Rick Dees' insincere trademark "Heeey, that's greaat" line.
Featuring: Burt Golden as the chief, Jeff McNeal as the announcer and the hapless Rick Shaw as himself, a.ka. "bright eyes".

MAN OVERBOARD
To show how KYUU is going overboard to award listeners money, Jackie Skarr plunges off the side of the boat and talks underwater to her winner, blowing bubbles as she speaks. The crude method of causing the bubble-speak effect makes this one a campy winner.
Featuring: Jeff McNeal as the announcer, Burt Golden in a cameo off-mike voice and Jackie Skarr as herself.

CASABLANCA
This one is the "Hey Jude" of radio station promos at a whopping 2:30 minutes in duration, but it was so well done, we all thought "what the hell, we like it", and played it anyway. In this classic sendup of the airport scene in the movie, Rick and Ilsa are interrupted at the airport by a very persistent Rick Shaw, who is once again, very determined to find himself a winner. After this promo, Vickie Jenkins, our AFTRA shop steward, finally put her foot down and demanded that Burt not be allowed to act on station promos anymore. The carrot of performance taken away, Burt stopped producing the promos as well. This masterpiece became the finale of the most creative era that KYUU enjoyed. But hey, we'll always have Paris.
Featuring: Burt Golden as Rick (doing a pretty damn good Bogie impersonation I might add), Katie Reifman as Ilsa, Burt as the baggage handler Al Taddeo as Louie and Rick Shaw as himself.

WANNA SAY HI TO THE PRODUCER? WE LIKE TO CALL HIM: "THX 1138 (with hair)"



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