July 13, 2023 • 12 mins
He's a Hall of Famer! My buddy John Willyard is now in the Country Radio Hall of Fame, the NATIONAL Country Radio Hall of Fame. How did John get there, what do John, Angie and Bob have in common, why is this Austin radio and Country radio history, and what else do Bob and John have in common (you'll be surprised)......come on in as we salute KVET's John Willyard!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Now, John, Now we're goingto get into the meeting potatoes. Here
we go. Oh, I likemeeting potatoes, don't you? Um?
Meeting three? Like, you know, do you have that in the South
meeting I mean in Austin, Texas, because we have meeting three. I'm
here. No, we just havemainly your sausa and chips. That's about
it. You know, it's asouthern thing. Yeah, it's a Southern
thing like sweet tea. John Williard, Is that your real name? Yes,
(00:25):
that's the stage of name. Icouldn't know, you know. Actually
it's funny. Does it sound well, that's cool. I love it again.
I think it's kind of lyrical sounding, John Williard. I think it's
a cool name. But I justwant to know if Yeah, when did
you live in Ventura? I uhwe uh moved here until we moved here
(00:47):
when I was five, to WestTexas to Sweetwater, Texas. But I
would go back and I would spendall my summers at my grandparents right here
on South Joanne and I would spendyou know, three months until I had
to come back here for school.I was on the beach, I was
surfing. I was a California kidand you'd come back and you'd see stuff
and in California, and that itwould finally hit Sweetwater two years later,
(01:11):
fashion and products. And I remembera stupid example fruity pepples, kogol pepples
took two years, two years fromnicitten, you know in Sweetwater. You
know a little bit of stuff likethat, you know. But I was
a California kid, spell my sonin California. That's interesting that the reverse
was true going from Tera to WestTexas, right, and for my grandfather,
(01:38):
this is my maternal dad, movedhis family from stand in Martin County
that area to first to Recita ordo you know where I resided. Of
course after a couple of years there, moved up to vinter right on on
Channel Drive, which we've talked about, which is a fairly close to my
(02:00):
grandparents. I see we're talking withJohn Willard cover you Music Hall of Famer
John w I could say it nowbecause the big induction ceremony was this past
Monday, But John and I havehad a lot in common for a long
time. Radio of course Ventura,California, which I mean we were fairly
close within a couple of blocks.Just did not know it. At the
time. You know, really,now we're close. Now we're in the
(02:22):
same hall. Yeah. And notonly that, but we both had taking
a celebrity and showed him where thebathroom is. I love that you posted
that the other day. Tell pleaserepeat that story. Who did you show
where the bathroom was? One time? It was in the Grand Old Robbery.
Yeah, And here's here's what Iwould do. I would go out
because of the proximity of where thevoice booth was that was close to get
(02:43):
into the room, into the hallat the Grand Old Robbery. Would I
would notation a look at this scriptbook and I'd go for the longest commercial
break. I think there was oneof those five and a half minutes.
And this is when you were doingthe of course doing the voice for it
for the SIMA Awards exactly. Sowhen it was either in nineteen ninety nine
or two thousand and I went outinto the house and during one of the
(03:08):
commercial breaks, and I was walkingdown or up the the center aisle,
and I didn't know he was there, but for some reason I just recognized
that it was. It was alate grade Oscar winning actor Rod Steiger,
And I said, mister Steiker,it's so wonderful to see you, and
he goes, I'm one of morefun here than the Academy Awards. And
(03:30):
then and then I perceived that hewas looking he had been look in his
eye, and I took him tothe men's room. He was looking for
the men's room, right, Okay, yeah, and I'm not making this
up. Willie Nelson picnic Zilker Parkin Austin, Texas. I had to
show mister Steiger Academy Award winner wherethe vip restrooms were. I wasn't going
(03:50):
to show him are the ones thateverybody outside. But yeah, so that's
that's another thing that John and Ihave common. Enter a California cool escorting
celebrities to the band room and ofcourse the ip IP and of course Country
Music Hall of Fame Radio Hall ofFame. John, I gotta. I
(04:10):
watched the ceremony Monday, and Iwarned you I was inducted a few years
ago. But you did not looknervous. I was scared because you're talking
to your radio peers. They're listeningto every where. Were you nervous because
you if you were, you didn'tshow it. You know, I was
very much at ease um I thinkdrugs will do that will not take the
(04:33):
edge off. I'm just kidding.I'm just kidding. I was totally Um,
I was pretty much prepared. Um, I knew that I wouldn't go
over six minutes. Now. Thisthis year, we had a couple of
things that were instituted that that arenude right over. It was the past
years. One it was on telepopter, which we didn't have when I did
(04:54):
it. Man, it was Iwas looking down at my speech the entire
time. Yeah, well and thatwas it. Now, when you when
you're gazing over when it when it'sin on the big screen at the back,
you have a tendency to be moreum, your eyes on the entire
room. You know, you cankind of look back and forth. Uh.
(05:14):
Sometimes it's less nerve wracking when youare looking down at the podium metro
speech. But so it was anew thing. Um, I cut it
down. I cut down so muchmaterials that I cut out some of the
choice things that I wanted to share. We'll share it with us right now.
We got time. I'm not you'renot looking at to tell a prompt
(05:36):
you what were some of the storiesthat you want to tell that you couldn't
tell going well. One thing Iwanted to kind of pivot on was our
wonderful guest who was the Career AchievementAward winner, Barbara Mandrell. Yes,
oh man. When Tricia Earwood cameout and she was singing with two great
songwriter singer songwriter guitarists, they werejust in a class of their on.
(06:00):
One of them was Gordon Kennedy,and I asked him, what is the
deal with how rich that guitar sounds? I walked up to him during rehearsals
about two hours before everything started,and he and the oppositely, he threw
these chords at me, just verydeftly and very quickly, and he said,
this is and I said, thisa D twenty eight. He said
it's a it's a D model something. I can't remember the number, but
(06:24):
it's an Eric Clapton Model acoustic.And then he hit those chords too.
If I if I could change theworld, Wait a minute, and he's
yeah, he wrote for Eric Claptonon that guitar. That song, Yeah,
I got. I got instantly,Well, I've got chill bumfry now
just hearing that. That's amazing.He was just really down to Earth really
(06:46):
really a cool guy. Um.And but Tricia, Tricia year when she
just sang the heck out of twowonderful songs, you know, Sleeping Single
and uh and I Love I meanno wayman, she did free. I
think she did free. I thinkshe did. You know that her big
of his country. And then atthe in the end of that verse in
(07:11):
chorus, all of a sudden,I didn't even know he was in the
room. Here comes Garth from thecorner working as a waiter, probably right,
Yep from stage right, and itwas just I couldn't believe it.
Yep worked his way over and thenhe said some beautiful things about how unbelievable
Barbara Mandreau's, how her span ofher career, and what a businesswoman she
(07:33):
was, and what had been consummateentertainer she really she really was. So
it's great to be reminded of whata powerhouse she was. And Sarah Trehearne,
the CEO of the CMA, wasthe one who really introduced that part
of the program. But you're rightthere, you're getting ready to give your
speech. You've got Tricia Yearwood,You've got Barbara Mandrell, You've got some
(07:55):
guy named Garth. You got allthese radio people and yet you were not
sweating. You handled it perfectly,my friend. Oh, thank you.
I mean it was a great speed. Well, there's a lot of love
and boom. I think that waspart of part of what put me at
ease. And so many people Ihadn't seen, um, you know,
(08:16):
came out and oh it was justit was magical. It's still surreal,
and you're right, it's a it'sa different feeling the morning that you get
up afterwards, and then when youlook at that plaque again, and I
gotta tell you where it is,it's a it's on a stand. It's
almost like my wife ordered this stand. I don't know where it came from,
but it's in the living room rightnow. Might stay there for a
(08:39):
while, but I don't know whereit's going to go eventually. And it
probably says I'm looking at mine rightnow. It probably says honors John Willard
for his significant contributions to country musicradio. Right, that's right, yeah,
right, yeah, you're it's verysurreal and it's a beautiful plaquet.
It's heavy, man, ways aboutfifteen pounds done that. Yes, that
(09:01):
was the first thing that surprised meabout it, and and I love the
way that they had some handlers inthe back, you know, how they
do the photos beforehand with their familiesand then the other winners. And if
there's something very orderly about it,it's almost the sacredness to it, which
I love. Yeah, yeah,it's you're right, is it's very surreal.
I was inducted in twenty twenty one, not indicted, inducted, and
(09:24):
I uh, it's still very surrealjust to look at so that feelings never
going to go. But you knowwhat's funny, Okay, I'm gonna ask
you this. Do you feel old? I mean, what else? What
else can we do? Now we'vegot the this is the ultimate thing that
we've won, right, Well,you know that's that's that's a great question.
(09:46):
Um. I look at it kindof as a maybe a bookmark in
the middle of my career or amoment, a milestone, because and yes,
for many they have pity a veryvery well led life in the business,
a good career, a great career. I am. I think it's
(10:09):
right in the middle of mine andI because I don't know if you taught
this, but my inspiration for keepingat it longevity in this business and voiceover
especially specifically, is the man whoturns on the thirteenth of this month ninety
five years old. And here's theone you hear who says, is pretty
(10:33):
Johnny Gilbert? Yes, yes,yes, love, yeah, yeah,
in the form of a question,of course. But how many now there
I know, I mean, look, how many people have been in radio?
How many people have been in countryradio? There's what is the number
of people in the Country Radio Hallof Fame. It's it's less than two
hundred, less than two hundred andeighty. What is it? I heard
that number of the other night forthe first time. Yes, I thought
(10:56):
I heard one forty nine. Icould go back, it could be one,
but it definitely two hundred, undertwo hundred people you myself, Angie
Ward on one station ninety eight onecavet. That's remarkable. I don't think
that will ever happen again anywhere.No, no, I I but let
me tell you if such an honorknowing you, working with you, and
(11:20):
then finding out about all the youand I have in common. You know,
hey, for all I know,we could have been married to the
same woman at one time. We'renot going to bring that up. But
anyway, but such such an honorto be working with you. You are
the very very best. Uh.Your voice is instantly record. Let me
tell you what you've done with Caved, buddy, what you what you've done
(11:43):
with Caved. You've set that identity. We hear you many time. We
hear you more on the radio thanof course that you would hear myself or
Obama or Angie Ward. So youare the heart and soul of Cavet.
And I want to say congratulations onyour induction to the Country Radio Hall of
Fame. My friend, my brother, and I am going to teach you
(12:05):
the secret handshake. It involves tenfingers, two hands, occasionally a toe.
But I'm going to show it toyou the next time. You'll be
the first. Nobody has done ityet. I think everybody else is scared.
I don't know what they're scared of. Well, Coyote showed me,
and I'm still scared. I'm stilltrying to tash from that boy. But
(12:26):
a lot. Yeah, But seriously, you know, congratulations, you're a
Hall of Famer, buddy, youare a Hall of famer. Thank you,
mister Pickett, winner yourself, thankyou, John John Willard right here,
and I love your story and welove. In fact, I'm just
gonna go listen to you on theradio right now. John. That's why
I'm loving why not
Now, John, Now we're goingto get into the meeting potatoes. Here
we go. Oh, I likemeeting potatoes, don't you? Um?
Meeting three? Like, you know, do you have that in the South
meeting I mean in Austin, Texas, because we have meeting three. I'm
here. No, we just havemainly your sausa and chips. That's about
it. You know, it's asouthern thing. Yeah, it's a Southern
thing like sweet tea. John Williard, Is that your real name? Yes,
(00:25):
that's the stage of name. Icouldn't know, you know. Actually
it's funny. Does it sound well, that's cool. I love it again.
I think it's kind of lyrical sounding, John Williard. I think it's
a cool name. But I justwant to know if Yeah, when did
you live in Ventura? I uhwe uh moved here until we moved here
(00:47):
when I was five, to WestTexas to Sweetwater, Texas. But I
would go back and I would spendall my summers at my grandparents right here
on South Joanne and I would spendyou know, three months until I had
to come back here for school.I was on the beach, I was
surfing. I was a California kidand you'd come back and you'd see stuff
and in California, and that itwould finally hit Sweetwater two years later,
(01:11):
fashion and products. And I remembera stupid example fruity pepples, kogol pepples
took two years, two years fromnicitten, you know in Sweetwater. You
know a little bit of stuff likethat, you know. But I was
a California kid, spell my sonin California. That's interesting that the reverse
was true going from Tera to WestTexas, right, and for my grandfather,
(01:38):
this is my maternal dad, movedhis family from stand in Martin County
that area to first to Recita ordo you know where I resided. Of
course after a couple of years there, moved up to vinter right on on
Channel Drive, which we've talked about, which is a fairly close to my
(02:00):
grandparents. I see we're talking withJohn Willard cover you Music Hall of Famer
John w I could say it nowbecause the big induction ceremony was this past
Monday, But John and I havehad a lot in common for a long
time. Radio of course Ventura,California, which I mean we were fairly
close within a couple of blocks.Just did not know it. At the
time. You know, really,now we're close. Now we're in the
(02:22):
same hall. Yeah. And notonly that, but we both had taking
a celebrity and showed him where thebathroom is. I love that you posted
that the other day. Tell pleaserepeat that story. Who did you show
where the bathroom was? One time? It was in the Grand Old Robbery.
Yeah, And here's here's what Iwould do. I would go out
because of the proximity of where thevoice booth was that was close to get
(02:43):
into the room, into the hallat the Grand Old Robbery. Would I
would notation a look at this scriptbook and I'd go for the longest commercial
break. I think there was oneof those five and a half minutes.
And this is when you were doingthe of course doing the voice for it
for the SIMA Awards exactly. Sowhen it was either in nineteen ninety nine
or two thousand and I went outinto the house and during one of the
(03:08):
commercial breaks, and I was walkingdown or up the the center aisle,
and I didn't know he was there, but for some reason I just recognized
that it was. It was alate grade Oscar winning actor Rod Steiger,
And I said, mister Steiker,it's so wonderful to see you, and
he goes, I'm one of morefun here than the Academy Awards. And
(03:30):
then and then I perceived that hewas looking he had been look in his
eye, and I took him tothe men's room. He was looking for
the men's room, right, Okay, yeah, and I'm not making this
up. Willie Nelson picnic Zilker Parkin Austin, Texas. I had to
show mister Steiger Academy Award winner wherethe vip restrooms were. I wasn't going
(03:50):
to show him are the ones thateverybody outside. But yeah, so that's
that's another thing that John and Ihave common. Enter a California cool escorting
celebrities to the band room and ofcourse the ip IP and of course Country
Music Hall of Fame Radio Hall ofFame. John, I gotta. I
(04:10):
watched the ceremony Monday, and Iwarned you I was inducted a few years
ago. But you did not looknervous. I was scared because you're talking
to your radio peers. They're listeningto every where. Were you nervous because
you if you were, you didn'tshow it. You know, I was
very much at ease um I thinkdrugs will do that will not take the
(04:33):
edge off. I'm just kidding.I'm just kidding. I was totally Um,
I was pretty much prepared. Um, I knew that I wouldn't go
over six minutes. Now. Thisthis year, we had a couple of
things that were instituted that that arenude right over. It was the past
years. One it was on telepopter, which we didn't have when I did
(04:54):
it. Man, it was Iwas looking down at my speech the entire
time. Yeah, well and thatwas it. Now, when you when
you're gazing over when it when it'sin on the big screen at the back,
you have a tendency to be moreum, your eyes on the entire
room. You know, you cankind of look back and forth. Uh.
(05:14):
Sometimes it's less nerve wracking when youare looking down at the podium metro
speech. But so it was anew thing. Um, I cut it
down. I cut down so muchmaterials that I cut out some of the
choice things that I wanted to share. We'll share it with us right now.
We got time. I'm not you'renot looking at to tell a prompt
(05:36):
you what were some of the storiesthat you want to tell that you couldn't
tell going well. One thing Iwanted to kind of pivot on was our
wonderful guest who was the Career AchievementAward winner, Barbara Mandrell. Yes,
oh man. When Tricia Earwood cameout and she was singing with two great
songwriter singer songwriter guitarists, they werejust in a class of their on.
(06:00):
One of them was Gordon Kennedy,and I asked him, what is the
deal with how rich that guitar sounds? I walked up to him during rehearsals
about two hours before everything started,and he and the oppositely, he threw
these chords at me, just verydeftly and very quickly, and he said,
this is and I said, thisa D twenty eight. He said
it's a it's a D model something. I can't remember the number, but
(06:24):
it's an Eric Clapton Model acoustic.And then he hit those chords too.
If I if I could change theworld, Wait a minute, and he's
yeah, he wrote for Eric Claptonon that guitar. That song, Yeah,
I got. I got instantly,Well, I've got chill bumfry now
just hearing that. That's amazing.He was just really down to Earth really
(06:46):
really a cool guy. Um.And but Tricia, Tricia year when she
just sang the heck out of twowonderful songs, you know, Sleeping Single
and uh and I Love I meanno wayman, she did free. I
think she did free. I thinkshe did. You know that her big
of his country. And then atthe in the end of that verse in
(07:11):
chorus, all of a sudden,I didn't even know he was in the
room. Here comes Garth from thecorner working as a waiter, probably right,
Yep from stage right, and itwas just I couldn't believe it.
Yep worked his way over and thenhe said some beautiful things about how unbelievable
Barbara Mandreau's, how her span ofher career, and what a businesswoman she
(07:33):
was, and what had been consummateentertainer she really she really was. So
it's great to be reminded of whata powerhouse she was. And Sarah Trehearne,
the CEO of the CMA, wasthe one who really introduced that part
of the program. But you're rightthere, you're getting ready to give your
speech. You've got Tricia Yearwood,You've got Barbara Mandrell, You've got some
(07:55):
guy named Garth. You got allthese radio people and yet you were not
sweating. You handled it perfectly,my friend. Oh, thank you.
I mean it was a great speed. Well, there's a lot of love
and boom. I think that waspart of part of what put me at
ease. And so many people Ihadn't seen, um, you know,
(08:16):
came out and oh it was justit was magical. It's still surreal,
and you're right, it's a it'sa different feeling the morning that you get
up afterwards, and then when youlook at that plaque again, and I
gotta tell you where it is,it's a it's on a stand. It's
almost like my wife ordered this stand. I don't know where it came from,
but it's in the living room rightnow. Might stay there for a
(08:39):
while, but I don't know whereit's going to go eventually. And it
probably says I'm looking at mine rightnow. It probably says honors John Willard
for his significant contributions to country musicradio. Right, that's right, yeah,
right, yeah, you're it's verysurreal and it's a beautiful plaquet.
It's heavy, man, ways aboutfifteen pounds done that. Yes, that
(09:01):
was the first thing that surprised meabout it, and and I love the
way that they had some handlers inthe back, you know, how they
do the photos beforehand with their familiesand then the other winners. And if
there's something very orderly about it,it's almost the sacredness to it, which
I love. Yeah, yeah,it's you're right, is it's very surreal.
I was inducted in twenty twenty one, not indicted, inducted, and
(09:24):
I uh, it's still very surrealjust to look at so that feelings never
going to go. But you knowwhat's funny, Okay, I'm gonna ask
you this. Do you feel old? I mean, what else? What
else can we do? Now we'vegot the this is the ultimate thing that
we've won, right, Well,you know that's that's that's a great question.
(09:46):
Um. I look at it kindof as a maybe a bookmark in
the middle of my career or amoment, a milestone, because and yes,
for many they have pity a veryvery well led life in the business,
a good career, a great career. I am. I think it's
(10:09):
right in the middle of mine andI because I don't know if you taught
this, but my inspiration for keepingat it longevity in this business and voiceover
especially specifically, is the man whoturns on the thirteenth of this month ninety
five years old. And here's theone you hear who says, is pretty
(10:33):
Johnny Gilbert? Yes, yes,yes, love, yeah, yeah,
in the form of a question,of course. But how many now there
I know, I mean, look, how many people have been in radio?
How many people have been in countryradio? There's what is the number
of people in the Country Radio Hallof Fame. It's it's less than two
hundred, less than two hundred andeighty. What is it? I heard
that number of the other night forthe first time. Yes, I thought
(10:56):
I heard one forty nine. Icould go back, it could be one,
but it definitely two hundred, undertwo hundred people you myself, Angie
Ward on one station ninety eight onecavet. That's remarkable. I don't think
that will ever happen again anywhere.No, no, I I but let
me tell you if such an honorknowing you, working with you, and
(11:20):
then finding out about all the youand I have in common. You know,
hey, for all I know,we could have been married to the
same woman at one time. We'renot going to bring that up. But
anyway, but such such an honorto be working with you. You are
the very very best. Uh.Your voice is instantly record. Let me
tell you what you've done with Caved, buddy, what you what you've done
(11:43):
with Caved. You've set that identity. We hear you many time. We
hear you more on the radio thanof course that you would hear myself or
Obama or Angie Ward. So youare the heart and soul of Cavet.
And I want to say congratulations onyour induction to the Country Radio Hall of
Fame. My friend, my brother, and I am going to teach you
(12:05):
the secret handshake. It involves tenfingers, two hands, occasionally a toe.
But I'm going to show it toyou the next time. You'll be
the first. Nobody has done ityet. I think everybody else is scared.
I don't know what they're scared of. Well, Coyote showed me,
and I'm still scared. I'm stilltrying to tash from that boy. But
(12:26):
a lot. Yeah, But seriously, you know, congratulations, you're a
Hall of Famer, buddy, youare a Hall of famer. Thank you,
mister Pickett, winner yourself, thankyou, John John Willard right here,
and I love your story and welove. In fact, I'm just
gonna go listen to you on theradio right now. John. That's why
I'm loving why not
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