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Today in New Orleans History |
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November 15
On November 15, 1965 he played the first song (Seventh Son by Baton Rouge's
own Johnny Rivers) on the first broadcast of student operated WLSU radio. He called his show
Bob Walker's Wax Museum and played oldies, even back then. After 45 years in radio Bob said,
when speaking of his affinity for “the oldies”, “It'll probably follow me to
my grave”. Ironically, exactly one year later WTIX-FM first went on November 15, 1966 as KLEB-FM. Walker began his professional career in radio in 1965 at WNNR, spent a year
at WSMB, and moved to WTIX-AM 690 in 1967. By 1968, the 22 year old's Afternoon Drive show was one of the top
five in the nation. In 1979, at age 32, while working for WTIX he said “My nickname
around here is the Oldies King”. Robert Mitchell
became Program Director in 1968, and the station had over 100 gold 45's and LP's on the wall
for groups and singers we "broke" like Dr. John, Tony Orlando and Dawn, Sonny &
Cher, Roberta Flack, the Fifth Dimension, etc. by the 80's. Bob says that in 1973
WTIX introduced Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. to the world as "Dr. John The
Night Tripper” with "Right Place, Wrong Time" and that in 1975 he “broke”
the three-year old version of Second Line by Stop Inc. (1972) during our Mardi Gras remote broadcast. “The
crowds around our station van went wild. The Second Line had been re-born”. During the
Carnival Day broadcast that same year Bob premiered "They All Ask'd For You" by the
Meters from from a Fat City Parking Lot. Pictured here at a reunion of local radio figures are (left to right) Bobby
Reno, Bob Mitchell, Don delaHoussaye, WTIX GM Bill Engel, Joe Culotta, "Pal Al" Nassar, Skip Broussard,
and Bob Walker. (Courtesy of Bob Walker.) Walker said that in1980, when he began
hosting WTIX Original Oldie Hour at noon daily, “All the legendary '60's local singers were 'dead '(figuratively) and
long forgotten”. So he devoted every Thursday to feature the great ones. “WTIX and the Oldies Hour were personally
responsible for restarting the careers of Irma Thomas, Ernie K-Doe, Benny Spellman, Tommy Ridgley, Oliver Morgan, the Dixie
Cups, John Fred, and the Nevilles [individually and as a group]. Mardi Gras Mambo by Art Neville & the Hawketts was literally
forgotten. We were so successful, as written up in the trade mags like Billboard and Cashbox that every major market had most
minor markets popped up with an oldies station”. ” In 1986,
when WTIX dropped most local programming by hooking into “Solid Gold” produced by Dallas based Satellite Music
Network, Bob's dissatisfaction with that decision led him to leave the station. That year he moved to 990 AM – WYAT,
which billed itself as “The Oldies Channel”. After a post-Katrina return to WTIX he retired from radio in 2006. You can catch him now on television (Treme) and movies (with Will Ferrell,
DAn Ackroyd, BRooke Shields, Virginia Madsen, Daryl Hannah, Wanda Sykes, Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson, Tim Robbins, and Brad
PItt to name a few). And you can try to keep up with him by visiting his website at walkerpub.com and by viewing his facebook
page. To help make ends meet while his children were growing up, Bob
took on a variety of DJ gigs at weddings, parties, and reunions. His son Scott, as a young teen, helped carry and set up
the then bulky audio equipment He too, got the bug to speak before an audience. By age 15 Scott was doing his own gigs while
also working as a weekend DJ on Oldies 106.7. Scott attended the University of Southern Mississippi, majored in Broadcast
Journalism, and began a career in television – working while still a student at a Hattisburg station. After a variety
of moves to several southern stations the sports announcer turned to news. He is now as a familiar a face in the greater
New Orleans area as his dad is a familiar “voice”. Metairie born Scott Walker is the Emmy-nominated news anchor
for WDSU News. (Courtesy of Scott Walker.) From Legendary Locals of Metairie
The Central City Branch of the New Orleans Public Library opened in the Mahalia Jackson Childhood and Family Learning Center on November 15, 2010.
The Doobie Brothers hit "Black Water", released on November 15, 1974,
features its composer Patrick Simmons on lead vocals. Simmons credited his writing the song to making his first visit to New
Orleans when the Doobie Brothers toured the southern States in the early 1970s. He said, "When I got down there
it was everything I had hoped it would be...The way of life and vibe really connected with me and the roots of my music."
Having earlier constructed the song's basic guitar lick Simmons completed "Black Water" on the basis of the experience
of his introduction to New Orleans: the lyrics Well if it rains, I don't care - Don't make no difference to me/ Just take
that street car that's goin' uptown specifically reference a streetcar journey Simmons
made on a rainy day to the Garden District to do his laundry. Two exhibition games were played at the beginning of the NORD Bantam football season in 1947 –
one before the Tulane-Auburn game on October 25 and a second before the Tulane-Florida game on November 15.
Regular games during the season were played at the “Recreation Stadium” (later named Harrell Stadium) at the
corner of South Claiborne and Leonidas and at City Park Stadium. View photo. The department of recreation had organized two six-team leagues, one in the 100-pound class and the other in the
125-pound class. Teams were furnished with competent coaches and all necessary equipment.
Weiss, Dreyfous and Seiferth submitted plans for the Jung Hotel at 1500 Canal Street on November 15, 1927. Born in New Orleans on November 15, 1921, James Edward "Jimmy" Fitzmorris,
Jr. was a Democratic member of the New Orleans City Council from 1954–1966 and the Democratic Lieutenant
Governor from 1972–1980. He was the first full-time lieutenant governor in state history, and in his first
term, prior to implementation of the Constitution of 1974, he was the last lieutenant governor whose duties included presiding
over the Louisiana State Senate. In 1950, he was named "Outstanding Young Man of New Orleans". In 1999, Fitzmorris was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame and, in 2001,
he was honored by the naming of the "Jimmy Fitzmorris Presidential Suite" at the New Orleans Sheraton Hotel.
He served on the New Orleans Board of Public Welfare andwas a member of the Chamber of Commerce of Greater New Orleans. He
has won the "Leadership Award" of the Leukemia Society. In his early years as lieutenant governor, he was chairman
of the state employees division of the United Way. Jazz clarinetist and saxophonist Achille Joseph Baquet, born in New Orleans on November 15,
1885, was an early musician on the New Orleans jazz scene. His father, Theogene Baquet, led the Excelsior Brass Band.
His brothers, Harold and George, were both musicians. He learned clarinet from Luis Tio, and played with the Original
Dixieland Jazz Band, Papa Jack Laine's Reliance Brass Band, and the Happy Schilling Dance Orchestra. Baquet's credits
as a composer include "Why Cry Blues", written with Jimmy Durante. He is also thought to have co-written "Livery
Stable Blues" with Yellow Nunez. He died on November 20, 1956 (or 1955).
Captain Dominique You, the pirate, well known for his courage and intrepidity, cherished and esteemed by every American and mostly by every native of Louisiana for the signal services which he rendered this State and the Union during the invasion of the British, died the following year, November 15, 1830. He was never favored by fortune and died almost in want, but no sooner did his death become known to the members of the City Council, then they hastened to pay the sacred debt which the city owed this brave man for his efforts, by furnishing him with a suitable funeral which took place from his residence corner Mandeville and Love Street. He is buried in St. Louis Cemetery number two. |
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Before you saw Frankie, Johnny, or The Special Man on the television commercial which was blasted into your home in 1989
you heard a familiar voice while a photo of the furniture store was displayed. That was Bob
Walker – the legendary “Oldies King” of radio fame. 
Second Generation On the Air
