Radio Memories Vol. 9

Like so many other drive-ins, Doug Broome's had its own eco-culture, and I soon became a part of it. The two largest groups were carhops and customers. Smaller groups were managers and bouncers, and finally, there was me, who at first didn’t fit into any of them. 

The first group that I interacted with was the managers, most notably Alan Broome. The very first time I pulled up behind the booth, he was there as I put the key into the lock and opened the door. His engaging and affable style became apparent as he helped me carry my records and gear into the building and showed me the master power box and how the heater/Air conditioning controls worked. 

He told me that I would pick up the $21 fee for the show after it was over. He surprised me when asked me what I wanted for dinner. At my puzzled look he said that the restaurant would feed me dinner off the menu, keep my paper cup full of soda all night, and also send me a dessert for the late-night munchies all for free! I was gonna love this, but my waistline was not too sure. After checking the full-color menu, I chose the “Big Joy” Hamburger, fries, and a Pepsi. He told me that my meal would be out in a few minutes and happily went back across the asphalt parking lot to the restaurant in the main building. 

Now, I’m sure by now you are wondering about the name of the hamburger, “Big Joy!” It’s very similar to the Bob’s Big Boy Hamburger and the Shoney’s hamburger; “Big Boy!” I heard that Doug Broome changed the name to “Big Joy” as he was unaware of the other restaurant’s use of the name “Big Boy” when he used that name for his burger until the Shoney’s franchise came to South Carolina.

Doug Broomes Audio Board Stock image here

I had roughly a half hour to familiarize myself with the technical setup in that little studio; A very old audio board similar to the one shown here, an RCA 77–D microphone, three Collins cart machines, and three turntables that had a feature that I loved, they were “instant start” turntables that came up to full speed in about 5 degrees of rotation. I would not have to slip-cue them, even better they started automatically when you selected them on the board with the toggle switch assigned to each. Best of all, there were no reel-to-reel tape machines in the studio. The jingle package was recorded on a pair of 10-minute carts, one on air and one was a backup in case the on-air card failed, a not unheard-of event back then. 

I finished cueing up my first two records and loaded the jingle cart into one of the cart machines and I felt pretty comfortable by the time Mike Rast was finishing the newscast and playing the end of news station ID. At the end of the ID, I started my first record and was rewarded when I heard it in my headphones just as if I were in the Master Control Studio on the second floor of the Cornell Arms Building. I keyed the microphone open and announced the beginning of the “Doug Broome’s Nightbeat show with Johnny Foxx” the air name that was assigned to me by WCOS. I was in the groove and ready to take requests that normally would be delivered to me by the car-hops. 

When I turned my microphone off, I caught a glimpse of motion outside the right-hand window to the booth. It was Sandy, the head car-hop with my free hamburger and the first requests of the evening. Sandy like the rest of her band were old school car hops, complete with the chrome-plated change-maker on her hip and roller skates on her feet. They were all sweet, bubbly, and full of requests of their own. During the rare times there were lulls in request traffic, they supplied me with their own and I was glad to have them. All I had to do was to keep requests for the same song I had played early apart from the first play. But it was not unusual to play one of the top 10 songs twice or even three times in the 5-hour show. After all, that was Top 40 Radio!

I never learned if they were formally paid by the restaurant but I became aware of two guys who one or the other or both were on the restaurant property during the time the show was on and the parking lot full.  One was tall, taciturn, and wore his hair slicked back with Brylcreem in a classic “duck tail!” He rarely interacted with the customers of the restaurant unless there was an altercation or problem. He always wore a white “T” shirt, jeans, and black motorcycle boots. In the winter, he wore a black motorcycle jacket and in the summer always had a soft pack of “Pall Mall” cigarettes rolled up in his left sleeve. Ironically his name was Phillip Morris.

The other was much more social, he was much shorter than Phillip with shaggy hair, the same T-shirt, and jeans. His name was Charley and he drove a fire engine red Plymouth Valiant constantly up and down the rows of teletrays at Doug’s. Charley was extroverted and gregarious. He was always talking to the customers and car-hops and when the lot was mostly empty, he would park himself in the folding chair in the back of the booth and talk nonstop. He loved the ladies, especially Betty a good-looking brunette car-hop who worked for the neighboring A&W Root Beer.

The Doug Broome’s car-hops kept a close watch on “their” DJ and strongly discouraged the A&W car-hops from sneaking through the parking lot and making their own requests. Charlie would collude with Betty and later in the evening would distract the Doug’s ladies while Betty would sneak over to the booth with a raincoat over her uniform with her own request and others from the other A&W staff. Sometimes Betty would bring a bribe with her; an A&W Root Beer. Did I mention that I love A&W Root Beer? Yes, I did feel guilty and disloyal when I poured that root beer into my empty Doug’s paper cup, but I still did it. 

There was another group in Doug’s eco-culture that I haven’t mentioned yet; the customers, my on-site audience. They deserve a chapter of their own. 

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Photo Credits: 
Doug Broome's Waitresses: https://www.flickr.com/photos/..