KOKE-FM's Country Gold Will Never, Ever Be The Same Again

It had been a tradition on Saturday morning radio, both in Austin, Texas, and, for a time, on my personal computer via streamlining. The all-time great country songs performed by the all-time great country singers who helped shape the country music genre for a period of time in the 20th century. You'd hear all the big hit songs, the moderate hits, and a few rare cuts. That is what made the "Country Gold Show" work on two Austin radio stations, first on KVET-FM (98.1), and later on KOKE-FM (99.3, 98.5, and 1490 AM).

The show is still on every Saturday morning from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. It, in fact, is playing on the radio as I am writing this. And while this is going on.................I am not even listening to the broadcast.

~(Sound of needle scratching record inserted here)~ What the...????!!!

You're saying: "But Case, this was your thing on Saturday morning. This was what you lived for. This was what you've looked forward to listening to first thing on Saturday morning. This was iiiiitt! All the great mixes of eras and artists and styles of country, and how you looked forward to just....."

A lot of great memories to go along with a lot of great broadcasts through the years, but today, I'm not listening.

You see, I mentioned a while back in Case's Column about longtime deejay Tom Allen, who had been an Austin radio fixture for so many years, breaking his knee in a fall back in January while trying to get in his jeep and head somewhere in it. He broke it to a point where it badly needed surgery, followed by an extensive rehabilitation. For a while, I had high hopes that Tom would get well enough to return to the airwaves to do what he does best. I've just read on KOKE-FM's website that a friend of his, Carol Binford, had confirmed that Tom will not return to the show, not even for a final goodbye, and that she added that the show will never be the same. Indeed, it won't be. Tom had a great style and a great way of presenting the Country Gold program as he had for many years in Austin, and he gave it such a uniqueness.

Now, Tom did have a formal sendoff in 2008 when he retired from the everyday job he had as a radio deejay, gathering many folks together on his old midday show at KVET. So, he did get to do that. He'd retired from his weekday programming, but not Country Gold, which he continued to do until some radio brass decided to stupidly change the complexion of that station, forcing resignations from key personnel. When fellow deejay Bob Cole helped get KOKE-FM resurrected, Tom migrated over there in 2012 and restarted this great tradition. In January, he'd do what ended up being his last show that second week of the month before the unfortunate incident occurred. Longtime Austin jock Tim Williams would take over as the interim host, and then, eventually, the permanent host of The Country Gold Show. I'm not wishing to knock Williams, who is also a very fine radio jock in his own right, but it just isn't the same show. Yet, the show must go on, however, no matter who the host is.

The program, as it is now, does not have the same mystique and personality that Tom gave it. Williams doesn't even play the great stuff from the '30s and '40s, no Ernest Tubb, no Tennessee Ernie Ford, and very little Hank Williams. Rather, Tim is just resorting now to just playing number one hit songs and adding stuff from the 1990s (which really aren't from the Country Gold era). I'm sorry, but while some fine songs are playing now and then, it's just not the same show. Tom Allen is a legend and will be missed.

My only wish now is that, if I didn't have to be a dispatcher in Dallas, I'd trade that seat for Tom's old seat at KOKE. I'd certainly give them a lot better program than what Tim Williams is giving it now, plus I would play more rare cuts from Country Gold's prime era, from 1924 to around 1985. The reality now? Well, there won't be anymore occasional early-morning road trips to Austin for a Country Gold drivearound while the radio is playing. No more getting up at 12:30 and racing hard to get to Round Rock by 5 and KOKE's range by 4. No more waits at the Round Rock Donuts drive-through lane at 5 a.m. while the nearby water tower blinks the beacon. No more taking my Walkman into the restroom in order not to miss any of the program. No more sunrises while I remember what song played during that time, or, for that matter, where I was any other place when such-and-such played. That's all gone now. And, for the many weekends which I am at the apartment and listening on the computer, there won't be any more of that, either. Saturdays, going forward, are going to be different.

You know, I can always get up before 5 a.m. to get in my car and just tune in to Sirius XM's Willie's Roadhouse just to hear a better mix of songs that almost befit the cause.

And, all the while, the show must still go on....