October 25, 2023 • 10 mins
WVLK morning man Jack Pattie talked about the life and death of trailblazing journalist/media personality (and his friend) Sue Wylie...
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
You're a news radio eight forty wachance. Here's a little bit of Sue
Wiley at work many many decades agoin Lexington Television. For True Days,
I walked in the shoes of anEddyville Penitentiary guard. I wore her uniform.
I wore the stresses and the pressuresof her job. Imagine that Sue
Wiley just assuming a role like that, just to be a better reporter,
(00:26):
learn what life is like on theother side of the camera. That's what
she did. Jack Patty joins us, the legend himself from Lexington's broadcast Realm.
He's wvlk's morning guys since about thetime I got started in this business.
Hack Welcome back, hey man,Terry. I really appreciate the fact
(00:47):
that you never forget your friends backin Lexington, and thank you. We
appreciate that. I'll be there Saturdayfor football. What are you talking about
them? They're old. I gotsisters who live there, all right,
Ah, well good, Yeah.Sue Wiley really seriously changed the game for
women in media in Kentucky. Andthen she obviously had that stellar career at
(01:11):
w l e XTV, and thenshe was a broadcast made for you at
WBLK tell me about her well,as I understand that her first kind of
television exposure, if you will,was in Miami doing a kid's show.
Can you imagine Sue Wiley doing akids show? Oh? Wow, I
can't. Yeah. And then shemoved from that to doing weather on TV.
(01:37):
And she told me she was youngand beautiful, and she was beautiful
until she died. I mean,but anyway, she was young, and
this was in the late fifties,mid late fifties, and she did weather
in Miami, and she said,when it was going to rain or be
you know, really bad, whethershe'd wear, you know, a raincoat
(01:57):
or some sort of rain slicker orhave an umbrella. And when it was
going to be sunny, she'd weara bikini on the air. Yeah.
Yeah. But she worked her wayfrom that to reporting, which was virtually
unheard of, to anchoring serious straightnews and that was completely unheard of.
(02:23):
And when she came to work atWLX in Lexington, she became the first
female news anchor in the state.And so I had the privilege of knowing
her for gosh, forty years.I guess when she retired after her illustrious
career at Channel eighteen, she assumeda radio show that had been had existed
(02:47):
for a while from ten until noon, which followed my show, and I
had again the opportunity to run theboard, be a board op for Sue
from ten to eleven every morning.And then I even got to know her
better, and she really did openthe way. She was a pioneer.
(03:07):
She was a legend and I willnever forget her. And she liked the
phone call elements of radio too,didn't she. After she left TV then
she did sort of let the WVLKcallers sort of direct the topic of the
day, tell you're absolutely right,and believe it or not. She was
(03:29):
my guest on Monday this week,and she I used to have her on,
even though she left our station andretired about twelve years ago. I
would have her on three or fourtimes a year because she was so good
and never missed a beat. Andso I called her last week and I
said, soon will you be aguest on my show Monday? And she
(03:50):
always said the same thing. Shealways said, what are you going to
talk about? And I said,as I recall last week, how about
the war? And she said,what is there to say about the war?
Well, that was my cue thatshe didn't want to talk about the
war. And I said, sowhat do you want to talk about,
Sue? And she said the presidentialelection? And I said, okay,
well you do my show Monday,and she did, and she sounded like
(04:12):
she did thirty years ago. Ialways referred to Sue as a person that
liked to hold the cat and callthe dog. She couldn't do it when
she was a TV reporter because shehad to be sort of neutral and fair
and all that jazz. But whenshe got to be a talk show on
radio, you know, she couldkind of spread out and give her opinion
(04:32):
and get into a people and sheloved it. And I always said she
loved a good argument and would probablyhave made a great attorney. But I'm
just very thankful that she didn't gothat direction, because otherwise you and I
would never have heard of her.Right, all right, So when you
had her on the show we're justtalking about two days ago, she was
(04:56):
talking about the presidential election. Anddid she talk about life, that she's
happy, how she's doing. Nope, never did, never brought like personal
stuff into it. Wanted to talkabout the subject to hand. I learned
so much terry, because you know, I've been doing talk radio for a
minute when I started running her boardwhen she did it, and I thought,
(05:21):
you know, I never thought reallyabout it, but I thought,
there's nothing to learn here. Ohmy goodness, was I wrong. She
came in on, she did incommand. She was actually on the phone,
but she went on there with meon Monday, and she always had
a question and a question on Mondayof all the things going on in the
world, what concerns you the most? And people started calling in and we
(05:46):
lit every line up that we had. We had, I mean, you
couldn't get in, and when peoplewere called they wanted to talk about this
thing or that thing, but healways brought it back to the question that
she asked. And it was justlike, oh my god, how simple
(06:09):
is that? And yet it alwaysworked. Ask a question, get an
answer, and we just couldn't getany more texts or calls on the air
in the hour that I had heron Monday. We're talking to Jack Patty,
longtime host on WVLK. When heuses the phrase running the board in
(06:30):
radio, that means he's controlling theaudio, but he's also answering the phones.
I'm guessing. So, did SueWiley ever say I don't want to
talk to this person or that person, or if somebody wants to talk about
this, don't put him on,or did she just take on everyone?
Never never said that I ran theboard. We actually had a phone screener
(06:51):
who had sort of got the callsand got him on the air. Now,
I guess in big cities, thephone screens asked, you know where
you're getting hundreds of calls the phoneor even national whatever places I'll never go.
They the phone screeners ask them,what do you want to talk about?
Blah blah blah, and maybe we'llscreen out calls. Well, in
(07:14):
reality in Ireland, in Ireland thatwe live here, it's just a guy
that answers the phone and says,turn the radio down, hang on,
and so you know what I mean. She never had that option of saying
I want to talk to that person. So as a result, she would
talk to anybody. You know,they called in, but she would always
bring them back to whatever that questionwas. It was just she was just
(07:41):
genius. That's fantastic to hear.I saw someone right online to someone who
had worked with her. I don'tknow if it was TV or radio,
but said that they were a housesitter for when she'd go on trips.
She lived a great life. Andthe person said, she paid me well
and I got those live in herluxurious home and eat great food because her
(08:03):
home was always well stucked, andit was a pretty good gig. It's
the one you wanted. That wasLarry. That was Larry Glover. Oh
yeah, who was on the air. Who's on the air with us every
day from noon to three. Larrywould a long time married and now as
almost grown up child. But yeah, she used to pay the first time
(08:26):
she approached Larry, this all lovedthe story. Sue said, will you
come over and you know, housesit my cat and just watch over this
place while we're gone. And andso he came over and he looked around
her place, and she said,how about twenty dollars a day? And
Larry's response was, I don't thinkI can pay that much. It seemed
(08:52):
like a said. I looked atthe refrigerator, he said, and there
was, you know, like allthis delicious steak and Michelo' beer and it
was all fully stocked. And sofor a long time I used to call
Larry Sue's pool boy. Oh that'sgood. Yeah, I'm sure Sue got
to kick out of that as well. Well. We're sorry to hear that
(09:15):
her life ended last night. Andyou know, for you guys at WVLK
and at w l e X,you know, our hearts go out to
all of media, family and allof course people connected to her in her
real family and life. Just sendthem the best because she taught a lot
of people how to be better atour craft. Absolutely, all right,
(09:37):
brother, and it's great talking toyou again. Are you still going to
be in a Santa Claus like rolewith your beard this holiday season? Yeah?
I'll wrap this with a real quickSue Wiley story. Sue had two
hundred pairs of shoes. Oh yeah, she admitted that to me one day
and someone asked how many Santa Claussuits do you have, And at the
(09:58):
time I said, I hold probablytwenty. And Sue had the audacity to
say to me, what do youneed with twenty samasuits, to which,
of course I replied, what thehell do you need with two hundred pairs
of shoes. She's a stylish woman, that's right, Jack, Patty.
(10:18):
Great talking to you again, brother. Take care thank you. There you
go. Jack Patty morning host foreveron WVLK in Lexington,
You're a news radio eight forty wachance. Here's a little bit of Sue
Wiley at work many many decades agoin Lexington Television. For True Days,
I walked in the shoes of anEddyville Penitentiary guard. I wore her uniform.
I wore the stresses and the pressuresof her job. Imagine that Sue
Wiley just assuming a role like that, just to be a better reporter,
(00:26):
learn what life is like on theother side of the camera. That's what
she did. Jack Patty joins us, the legend himself from Lexington's broadcast Realm.
He's wvlk's morning guys since about thetime I got started in this business.
Hack Welcome back, hey man,Terry. I really appreciate the fact
(00:47):
that you never forget your friends backin Lexington, and thank you. We
appreciate that. I'll be there Saturdayfor football. What are you talking about
them? They're old. I gotsisters who live there, all right,
Ah, well good, Yeah.Sue Wiley really seriously changed the game for
women in media in Kentucky. Andthen she obviously had that stellar career at
(01:11):
w l e XTV, and thenshe was a broadcast made for you at
WBLK tell me about her well,as I understand that her first kind of
television exposure, if you will,was in Miami doing a kid's show.
Can you imagine Sue Wiley doing akids show? Oh? Wow, I
can't. Yeah. And then shemoved from that to doing weather on TV.
(01:37):
And she told me she was youngand beautiful, and she was beautiful
until she died. I mean,but anyway, she was young, and
this was in the late fifties,mid late fifties, and she did weather
in Miami, and she said,when it was going to rain or be
you know, really bad, whethershe'd wear, you know, a raincoat
(01:57):
or some sort of rain slicker orhave an umbrella. And when it was
going to be sunny, she'd weara bikini on the air. Yeah.
Yeah. But she worked her wayfrom that to reporting, which was virtually
unheard of, to anchoring serious straightnews and that was completely unheard of.
(02:23):
And when she came to work atWLX in Lexington, she became the first
female news anchor in the state.And so I had the privilege of knowing
her for gosh, forty years.I guess when she retired after her illustrious
career at Channel eighteen, she assumeda radio show that had been had existed
(02:47):
for a while from ten until noon, which followed my show, and I
had again the opportunity to run theboard, be a board op for Sue
from ten to eleven every morning.And then I even got to know her
better, and she really did openthe way. She was a pioneer.
(03:07):
She was a legend and I willnever forget her. And she liked the
phone call elements of radio too,didn't she. After she left TV then
she did sort of let the WVLKcallers sort of direct the topic of the
day, tell you're absolutely right,and believe it or not. She was
(03:29):
my guest on Monday this week,and she I used to have her on,
even though she left our station andretired about twelve years ago. I
would have her on three or fourtimes a year because she was so good
and never missed a beat. Andso I called her last week and I
said, soon will you be aguest on my show Monday? And she
(03:50):
always said the same thing. Shealways said, what are you going to
talk about? And I said,as I recall last week, how about
the war? And she said,what is there to say about the war?
Well, that was my cue thatshe didn't want to talk about the
war. And I said, sowhat do you want to talk about,
Sue? And she said the presidentialelection? And I said, okay,
well you do my show Monday,and she did, and she sounded like
(04:12):
she did thirty years ago. Ialways referred to Sue as a person that
liked to hold the cat and callthe dog. She couldn't do it when
she was a TV reporter because shehad to be sort of neutral and fair
and all that jazz. But whenshe got to be a talk show on
radio, you know, she couldkind of spread out and give her opinion
(04:32):
and get into a people and sheloved it. And I always said she
loved a good argument and would probablyhave made a great attorney. But I'm
just very thankful that she didn't gothat direction, because otherwise you and I
would never have heard of her.Right, all right, So when you
had her on the show we're justtalking about two days ago, she was
(04:56):
talking about the presidential election. Anddid she talk about life, that she's
happy, how she's doing. Nope, never did, never brought like personal
stuff into it. Wanted to talkabout the subject to hand. I learned
so much terry, because you know, I've been doing talk radio for a
minute when I started running her boardwhen she did it, and I thought,
(05:21):
you know, I never thought reallyabout it, but I thought,
there's nothing to learn here. Ohmy goodness, was I wrong. She
came in on, she did incommand. She was actually on the phone,
but she went on there with meon Monday, and she always had
a question and a question on Mondayof all the things going on in the
world, what concerns you the most? And people started calling in and we
(05:46):
lit every line up that we had. We had, I mean, you
couldn't get in, and when peoplewere called they wanted to talk about this
thing or that thing, but healways brought it back to the question that
she asked. And it was justlike, oh my god, how simple
(06:09):
is that? And yet it alwaysworked. Ask a question, get an
answer, and we just couldn't getany more texts or calls on the air
in the hour that I had heron Monday. We're talking to Jack Patty,
longtime host on WVLK. When heuses the phrase running the board in
(06:30):
radio, that means he's controlling theaudio, but he's also answering the phones.
I'm guessing. So, did SueWiley ever say I don't want to
talk to this person or that person, or if somebody wants to talk about
this, don't put him on,or did she just take on everyone?
Never never said that I ran theboard. We actually had a phone screener
(06:51):
who had sort of got the callsand got him on the air. Now,
I guess in big cities, thephone screens asked, you know where
you're getting hundreds of calls the phoneor even national whatever places I'll never go.
They the phone screeners ask them,what do you want to talk about?
Blah blah blah, and maybe we'llscreen out calls. Well, in
(07:14):
reality in Ireland, in Ireland thatwe live here, it's just a guy
that answers the phone and says,turn the radio down, hang on,
and so you know what I mean. She never had that option of saying
I want to talk to that person. So as a result, she would
talk to anybody. You know,they called in, but she would always
bring them back to whatever that questionwas. It was just she was just
(07:41):
genius. That's fantastic to hear.I saw someone right online to someone who
had worked with her. I don'tknow if it was TV or radio,
but said that they were a housesitter for when she'd go on trips.
She lived a great life. Andthe person said, she paid me well
and I got those live in herluxurious home and eat great food because her
(08:03):
home was always well stucked, andit was a pretty good gig. It's
the one you wanted. That wasLarry. That was Larry Glover. Oh
yeah, who was on the air. Who's on the air with us every
day from noon to three. Larrywould a long time married and now as
almost grown up child. But yeah, she used to pay the first time
(08:26):
she approached Larry, this all lovedthe story. Sue said, will you
come over and you know, housesit my cat and just watch over this
place while we're gone. And andso he came over and he looked around
her place, and she said,how about twenty dollars a day? And
Larry's response was, I don't thinkI can pay that much. It seemed
(08:52):
like a said. I looked atthe refrigerator, he said, and there
was, you know, like allthis delicious steak and Michelo' beer and it
was all fully stocked. And sofor a long time I used to call
Larry Sue's pool boy. Oh that'sgood. Yeah, I'm sure Sue got
to kick out of that as well. Well. We're sorry to hear that
(09:15):
her life ended last night. Andyou know, for you guys at WVLK
and at w l e X,you know, our hearts go out to
all of media, family and allof course people connected to her in her
real family and life. Just sendthem the best because she taught a lot
of people how to be better atour craft. Absolutely, all right,
(09:37):
brother, and it's great talking toyou again. Are you still going to
be in a Santa Claus like rolewith your beard this holiday season? Yeah?
I'll wrap this with a real quickSue Wiley story. Sue had two
hundred pairs of shoes. Oh yeah, she admitted that to me one day
and someone asked how many Santa Claussuits do you have, And at the
(09:58):
time I said, I hold probablytwenty. And Sue had the audacity to
say to me, what do youneed with twenty samasuits, to which,
of course I replied, what thehell do you need with two hundred pairs
of shoes. She's a stylish woman, that's right, Jack, Patty.
(10:18):
Great talking to you again, brother. Take care thank you. There you
go. Jack Patty morning host foreveron WVLK in Lexington,
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