Students at KTOY [the LH Bates Voc-Tech radio station] were encouraged to develop programming that might run on weekends or in the case of the Soul Sound of KTOY, carry the station through the summertime. One such regular feature of KTOY, was the Variedas Latinas program each Sunday morning at 6 – this Spanish language music program was hosted by Mario Briones. As this program began during my time at KTOY, I was introduced to Mario and remember him as being a very nice person, with a good sense of humor. I have one specific memory about Mario though.
I hung out at KTOY to get in extra time on the air. There was a particular snowy, winter evening where Tacoma was hit with many inches of snow and I was certain that the morning guy assigned to open the station would not be able to drive in to town. I decided to set my alarm for 3 am and hike downtown, about 6 miles from my house at the time, to open up the station. I had the front door key because I often opened and signed on. 
I was correct in thinking that no one would be there at 6am. I arrived around 4:30, prepared the news copy, pulled some music to play and then at 5:40, I went up to the rooftop of Bates Vocational’s building at 11th and Yakima, with a large stick, and banged against a cable hanging off the tower — as I recall, this was to get any water, ice or snow off of or out of this cable. It seemed that sometimes, this condensation or moisture, prevented us from getting the station on the air. When we had problems firing up the station, going to the rooftop and hitting the cable with a stick got us back on the air. If there is a broadcast engineer out there that can explain this better, please tell us what this was all about.
Anyway, I digress. One Sunday morning, Mario called me and sounded quite alarmed. He was at the station and needed someone to come take over, because he had to get to the emergency room. I was unsure what the emergency was, but rushed downtown as quickly as possible.
When I arrived at the station, I saw that the window on the front door had been shattered. Upstairs, Mario was waiting, with a towel or shirt wrapped around his bleeding arm. He had gone out to his car to gather a few record albums, propping the door to the building open with a stick. The door began to close and Mario ran to grab the doorknob, instead, shoving his arm through the window.
Mario was as dedicated as they come, and did an outstanding job with his Sunday morning program.
Radio listings from 1977
In 1940, a technical education program was founded in the basement of Hawthorne Elementary School. During the 1941-42 school year, the program was officially named the Tacoma Vocational School. In 1944, LaVerne Hazen Bates (L. H. Bates) became the director of the school. In 1947, the school changed its name to the Tacoma Vocational-Technical Institute. After L. H. Bates retired in 1969, the Tacoma School Board changed the name of the school to the “L. H. Bates Vocational Technical Institute.” In 1991, the state separated the vocational technical institutes from the local school districts and they came under the auspices of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.
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Wow! Have not seen these names in print since I was at KTOY back 1970/71. I had a blast playing one hour board gigs during the week and more time on the weekends. On the weekends Chuck use to let me stop by his night KJR gigs and run the board and answer the hit line while he did the live voice. Now that was kuhl. Got my first and last DJ job at a radio station in Puyallup WA. My two sponsors were The Elephant Car Wash and Dolly’s Dougnut Shop. During the day they were a Bircher station, at sundown they went to MOR. My on air name was “Jumpin Jim” One day a record salesman dropped off a big box of the new Jackson 5 45’s. One lonesome Saturday night I got on the air and said, “Anyone who wants a new Jackson 5 45 come on down I’ll give ya for free.” Well I guess someone was listening, so a few cars drove by and I threw the 45 out the window. All of suddend a few more cars drove by so I threw out more 45’s. Pretty soon the cars were lined up blocking traffic in the street. The police dept drove by and made all the cars move on. Kind of fun. Monday morning the station manager called me at home said, “Jim great program Saturday night, but your fired.” Well, my draft number was low so I was going to get drafted. I talked with the USAF Recruiter and said I was a good choice for Armed Forces Radio. Just ask the assignment folks for an audition. So I did. In basic traing I was scheduled for an audition I had the wort case of laryngitis, couldn’t even get a whisper out of the throat. So no Armed Forces Radio. I was a security policeman, never saw that in my future. Got as assignment to Thailand and made friends with the radio guys. When they were sick (hung over) they would call me and I would fill in, good fun. I had some board time 1973 at radio KISN in Great Falls, MT. Got as assignment to an air base in Madrid Spain where I lived or 7 years. The AFR guys let me read the weather forecast and few spot announcements. A few more years later got an assignment to a NATO base in Sicily. Never got to do any air time there, but, got a job at the recreation center as a live DJ. I rocked the club with 50’s 60’s and 70’s playing records, that was really fun. Now I’m retired, I went to the local radio station and I was very disappointed. No turn turntable, no cart machines, just a stuipid old desk top and mouse. Not even a flip switch for the hot mike. Not much fun. I could actually hear the guy clicking the mouse on my car radio. As Bob Dylan said, Times They Are A Changing.” To of my good friends from KTOY were Bill Burg and Bill Ratty, both were work in the Seattle area when I left
Your time at KTOY preceded mine (1972-1973 and TV 1977) – Chuck Ellsworth, Lee Perkins, and Alan McMillan were the instructors. Darren Lamb handled special programming and his girlfriend, later his wife, Sherrie (sp?) handled the receptionist duties. Bill Luckhurst was the station engineer.
Russ (Stringham) Rebel also spent a term as instructor at KTOY.