Bob Barry's Unearthed Interviews Bob Barry

On the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941 we’ll get an interesting story from a popular film star. This actor received an Oscar for his role in the film “Charly” in 1968. Cliff Robertson’s career spanned six decades. One of his memorable roles was his portrayal of John F, Kennedy in “PT 109.”  He was in the Spider-Man trilogy, played astronaut Buzz Aldrin in “Return to Earth,” and was Henry Ford in “Ford, the Man and the Machine.” Cliff, an accomplished pilot, was the founding chairman of the EAA Young Eagles program in Oshkosh. It was the most successful aviation youth program in history. 

“There’s No Getting Over Me” was the biggest hit for one of the most popular and influential country performers of the 70s and 80s. Ronnie Milsap appealed to both country and pop music fans. He received six Grammy awards and had 35 no. 1 country hits. Ronnie is in the Country Music Hall of Fame. All of this happened while he was almost completely sightless. He talks about working with one of the biggest recording artists of all time. Ronnie obtained some recent success when he charted an album in 2019 that included a song with Dolly Parton, “Smokey Mountain Rain.”

Today is the 60th anniversary of the assassination of the 35th President of the United States John F. Kennedy. In this podcast you will hear excerpts of WOKY radio the way it sounded on this day, 60 years ago. And I’ll set the excerpts up for you, so you’ll know exactly what you’re hearing. At the time I was DJing the all-night show, midnight to 6 a.m., and was taking a nap during the day. I was awakened by my mother’s screams from the living room. She had been watching a soap opera when they cut in with the bulletin that the president had been shot. I got dressed and immediately headed to the WOKY studios on 76th and Grange. The staff there that afternoon, included news director Bill James, newsman Bob Carpenter and DJ Bob White. You will hear their voices. I went from being a disc jockey to a newsman in minutes. My reporting on the late-night show continued until after the funeral. For days, our rock and roll radio station, WOKY, played religious and classical music. At the end of this podcast you’ll hear my interesting conversation with Margarette Oswald, mother of the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.

On today’s podcast a really fun songwriter, guitarist, and singer. You have probably seen Jerry Reed in the “Smokey and the Bandits” movies. We played his hit records. “Amos Moses,” “When You’re Hot,  You’re Hot,“ “East Bound and Down” and “She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft),” which was used in the movie “The Bounty Hunter” with Jennifer Aniston. He was a southern boy from Atlanta and he’ll tell you the rest of the story. Elvis recorded two songs Jerry wrote, “Guitar Man” and “U.S. Male.” He was asked to play guitar on both sessions. He also does the picking on Presley’s hit “Big Boss Man.” Reed has been called one of the most inspirational guitar stylists in the history of country music. I talked with Jerry for a couple minutes at the WOKY pops festival.

Maybe you won’t recognize the name Mary Travers, but if after you hear the songs she recorded with her trio I’m sure it will your ears will get perky. Peter, Paul, and Mary had six top 10 hits on the Billboard charts from 1962 to 1970. The three hitmakers shared a manager with Bob Dylan and recorded his song “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.”  They broke up shortly after their biggest hit “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” written by Bob Denver. Peter, Paul, and Mary reunited for some tours in 1978 and were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999.

It was always fun to go to Las Vegas. I had a chance to see shows and interview some of the most popular recording artists including Glen Campbell. After Glen’s show, he invited us backstage where he told us why it’s tough to sing in Vegas and talked about his biggest hit at that time, which was released 55 years ago today. We didn’t want to keep him too long because he was in the middle of a hot and heavy card game with his band.