After 72 years as a broadcaster, at the age of 91, Walt Bodine is heading into full retirement. The end of an era approaches; the very last Walt Bodine Show will take place this Friday. What can anyone say to that?
We’re celebrating him this week with some special programming. This Thursday morning at 10, we dig into some recordings from the Marr Sound Archives, and airing a special Walt Bodine Documentary, originally called "To Kansas City, With Love," produced by Gina Kaufmann and Suzanne Hogan. This documentary really gets Walt’s story straight, through archived recordings and familiar voices.
We'll also bring you an archived recording of Walt Bodine’s old show Nitebeat, featuring Walt's trademark wit at its best. This episode is from the late 60’s, in which Walt is joined by a special in studio guest, a real life Lion named Cleo. Reflecting on the show years later, Walt remembered the night like this:
Well here I was on a rock and roll station, 10 till 1 at night, with a lot of very strange callers, and being told the show shouldn’t be too classy. So one night I told this guy who said he had a lion on Roanoke to bring it down. To my amazement, when the door of the studio opened and he came in, he had a full grown, I mean, metro golden lion, and he brought it in. This lion spent the next hour roaming the studio at will, because who tells a lion what he can’t do. I also had the feeling that he wasn’t that well under control by the guy who brought him in. My most nervous time was when he was sniffing at the calves of my legs.
