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If you have not visited San Antonio I
urge you to go there for a treat!!! I was there for a long
weekend recently (10-29/30/31 ’04) to attend this years
Texas Hall of Radio Fame induction and banquet. The River
Walk in San Antonio is lined with a hundred restaurants,
bars, boutiques, and hotels. The 2 mile River Walk is just
an incredible experience…like a movie set. Also, there are
many small cities within 30 miles of San Antonio in the
Texas Hill Country that serve some of the best lunches
imaginable. I had lunch with some broadcasters in Boerne…a
very pleasant town of ten thousand. All of these towns are
dedicated to the San Antonio overflow of tourists. They know
how to take care of strangers!!! And we took a look at some
gated housing communities which are beautiful. These homes
sell for half of what you will find in most markets….a lot
of house for the bucks.
The Alamo is one of the top tourist attractions in Texas,
maybe it is number one. It is packed with history. My
cousin, David Stewart, is one of the top executives of the
Alamo…and unfortunately he had meetings when I was free…so
we could only chat by phone…but call him if you go to San
Antonio…he is a very gracious man even though he holds one
of the Texas POWER jobs just behind the Dallas Cowboy’s
owner, and the Governor of Texas.
Now, back to the induction and banquet scene!!! The setting
was a resort some ten miles from downtown San Antonio…it was
terrific, golf course and all!!! Attending were a number of
broadcasters I had not seen in quite a while…such as Steve
Hicks, Chuck Blore, John Borders, Ricci Ware, Ron Rogers and
Charlie Payne…all of whom were inducted. Also, inducted was
Gary Owens (Mr. Laugh In) who was once a disc jockey in
Texas. Gary had to cancel his trip, but did send an audio
“thank you” which was hilarious. If Gary’s audio acceptance
is not on the
TexasRadioHallofFame.com site at this time, I’m certain
it will be soon….listen and laugh!!
Here’s something unusual that happened to me during the
inductions. As I was listening to the inductees when some
attractive woman tapped me on the back and whispered in my
ear “Mr. Burkhart…do you remember me”. I am one of those
guys who is confused of a woman’s identity when she gets a
new hair style!!!! However, not to embarrass her I nodded
and whispered “Hi, how are you?” I turned back to the
induction, and she tapped my shoulder again and mumbled
something that I could not understand…perhaps her name. I
just smiled, and again turned to the stage where the
inductees were giving their thanks. One last time she tapped
me on the shoulder looking somewhat perplexed and said, “You
know, you recommended me to John Conally, the manager of 96
Rock in Atlanta”. I have not seen John, or talked to him for
15 years or so. This woman must have had 100 hair style
changes during that time….I absolutely DID NOT recognize
her!!! Again I smiled and whispered something about talking
to her after the banquet. But, she was gone when I tried to
find her. So, if she is reading this please accept my
apology, I was not being rude…I was interested in the
comments of the inductees.
After the banquet a lot of VERY GOOD programmers got
together to have a POWER after dinner glass of wine…they
included the aforementioned Borders and Keyes…along with Ken
Dowe, Michael Spears, and others. It should have been
taped…great programming and production suggestions. I know
because I WAS THERE listening to these guys who have
jillions of hours of programming experience!!!! Visit San
Antonio, you will enjoy it!!!!
e-mail Kent
kent@kentburkhart.com
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