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Larry Smith remembers a giant of radio: Tommy Kerr The late announcer was a radio pioneer at WTCO who finished out his career at WGRK, Greensburg, KY, where he tutored a young boy from Summersville, KY With one photo By Larry Smith, WHVE FM 92.7 The WAVE news anchor Tommy Kerr was the longtime morning man on WTCO radio in Campbellsville, KY. Tommy, known as the "Ole Prospector," was famous for his down to earth radio broadcasting style, which easily related to everyone who tuned in his broadcast. A bit on the folksy side, which was exactly what audiences of the day wanted. If we had--and we ought to have--a South Central Kentucky Radio Hall of Fame, he'd be in the top of my list for first inductees. Tommy was loved and respected by everyone who knew him. He gave many people their start in radio, including me. I'll always be grateful for how much he taught me, not only about the broadcasting business, but about character, honesty, and making a meaningful difference in people's lives. Tommy Kerr was heard mornings on WTCOAM & FM, but was replaced when WTCO switched to WCKQ-FM 104, a top 40 format in March of 1980. When the change occurred, it wasn't an easy thing for him to endure. These things never are. But he wasn't one to let it get him down. Campbellsville's loss was Greensburg's gain. Kerr simply picked himself up. He was nowhere ready to retire at the time from radioso he joined WGRK in Greensburg, KY when he was hired by Mike Wilson and Tommy Kerr's voice was again back on the air, doing farm reports and representing the station as a"Radio Icon," just as James Whitlock in Lebanon, and as Hudson Willis (Beanpole) and Lanier Burchett, and Shelie Bybee were icons in early Columbia radio. You heard any one of them, or saw them in person, and they were the personification of their stations. Tommy Kerr's popularity was in a major reason for the rise of WGRK, in those days, to the pinnacle of smalltown radio listernship. He had a lifetime's worth of radio admirers, and manry thousands of friends, the kind of people everyone in broadcast wants. The kind of people who would have driven to a high hill, if they had to, to bring in the signal which carried that distinctive voice..Tommy Kerr worked with meon WGRK until his death in1996. Tommy sprit lives on todayin the lives of the many people that he had an impact on; South Central Kentucky is a better place for his life here. This story was posted on 2008-02-14 03:42:14
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