I recall residing in the forest with dad, 1983-84, listening on a battery-powered radio to Portland talk radio station KKEY (a favorite station of his). The station (at least the version with those call letters) is long defunct, passing the way of all phenomenona, transitory and evanescent. (Talk radio was especially important in those days before the internet was accessible; and this was also in the heated context suggested by the Talk Radio film.) I recall from memory walking past the station's singular, small corner office on Burnside street, in downtown Portland, Oregon. The bellicose Dave Collins; Lee Evans (a laid-back host, a retired lawyer), Jerry Dimmitt, Henryne, Mary Pierce, Jim Lindsay, (no doubt some, or all were assumed names) and others fielded phone calls, and discussed political, domestic, and quotidian topics. The hosts held a range of political views, moderate, left, right; or in same cases, they avoided partisan matters completely. The late, controversial religious leader/former mesmerist, Roy Masters, showed up occasionally on the station, in those days; I even called in and asked him a question, once.
At that time, the station only held a license to broadcast during daylight hours. I recall those twilights, when the station faded early off the air; especially haunting in fall or winter's dusk.
I have been unable to locate any audio recordings from the station, online or elsewhere. A number of callers were regulars -- one nervous guy seemed to be from the local red cell. His calls always culminated with something about the greatness of the Marxist bloc... "uh... uh...Communism...". My father and I pictured another frequent dialer, as a sort of Captain Willard (from Apocalypse Now) figure, with a pack of smokes, a bottle of pills, and a .45 with a live chambered round; tightly wound and chattering fast. "Caller, you're on the air..."
Casual web-searching indicates few traces of this phantom, in the data record; a photo or two, and a few brief references. It might exist chiefly through recollection.... The nearest thing I have encountered since was Art Bell's radio broadcasts, which a friend drew my attention to around 1998; but Art retired, quit, and flamed out in different ways, before his final passage...
Digital collage by JF, May 2021 (including an image of the 1983-84 camp; and the same camper, on a 70s slide photo).
