Former radio columnist for the Seattle Times (1964-1989).
— View other articles by Victor Stredicke
Buck Ritchey Celebrates 28 Years & KUUU Plays More Music While KIRO AM Scales Back
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I do not remember KOL-AM signing off at midnight or Jim Bach doing the all nighter. That is news to me at this very late date. I do remember Jim as a newsman. He late replaced Bruce Buls on KOL-FM in August of 73. Two months later, they changed formats. I remember Dave Whiting doing weekends at KJR. Was he also a reporter at KING5?
I liked Buck’s grumpy, sarcastic mood at 6am. It matched my own mood as I got ready for a lousy school day.
As a child in the 1950’s I loved to go to western movies and listen to country music. Buck Ritchey was my hero when I’d tune him in for the real late show on KVI! He had a wonderful personality and his patter was great between the records he played on Chuck Wagon Jamboree. Later I really loved Buck and all the gang at Country KAYO!
When he took ill, he would often give the listeners a report on how he was doing in his medical struggles. I was so sad when we lost this wonderful radio personality at the youthful age of 59! R.I.P. Buck!
“He snuffed out the third cigarette . . . as healthy as any 55-year-old disc jockey has a right to be.”
Odds are that Buck already had lung cancer the day of that visit by Vic Stredicke, because in early 1971 when I interviewed with Bobby Wooten for a job, Buck had already missed work on several occasions, including that same day. I asked Bobby how Buck was doing and he told me then that Buck had just been diagnosed with lung cancer and it hadn’t yet been made public.
Bobby hired me for a Saturday shift, 6:00 P. M. to midnight. Employees would regularly bring people by the station to show them around after a night out for dinner or whatever. One night Buck and his wife Pauline dropped by with another couple. They came into the control room, made introductions and some small talk, then they went to wander around the building. Buck was the last one to leave the control room and, as he went out, he pulled a cigarette out of his jacket pocket, thrust it at me and said, “Light this and put it in the ashtray.” About five minutes later, as they were leaving, he came back, grabbed that cigarette, took a deep drag and handed it to me with a “See you later.” No doubt his lovely wife knew exactly what he was doing.
A couple of years later, I was filling in on the all-nighter for a few weeks vacation relief. We didn’t use headphones at KAYO; there wasn’t even a jack. Instead, there was an “always-on” side speaker big enough to sit on over by the newsroom door. Buck walked through that door one morning and plopped down on that speaker, almost gasping for breath. He looked at me and said, “Sometimes it gets tough.” A half hour later, he was on the air.