Ten years ago, I had a gut feeling….If my memory is correct it was a Friday before the 3 day Memorial Day weekend. Robert had been in the hospital for the past few days. I received news that morning that he was not doing well. I returned later that evening to the K-Earth 101 studios in Culver City (or the “Heart of the Barricaded Suspect District”) and began to rummage through some boxes of old tapes that I just finished packing after producing his retirement tribute earlier that year.
In one of those boxes I came across a DAT recording of a production that Robert and I had put together to send to his high school reunion in Galion, Ohio. We came in one weekend to do this. Weekend work with Morgan was fun! The stress of the show was lifted off of him and he would joke and show me some old tricks of the trade: like how to remove pops and clicks from a record using a glass of water! (I’ll save that story for another day! Back to the recording…. It was a very loose recording session… he wrote a short piece about his high school memories and how he left Galion to pursue his radio dream. We produced the piece and sent it to his old buddy… I then took the master recording and stored it away in a box.Now back to that Friday….. It had been a few years since he originally recorded that tape and when I gave it a listen, I knew I had to do something with it. It was sort of a self-biography about his life in Galion followed by a short story about his radio career. It was perfect! I took parts of that tape and produced it with a montage of Morgan’s professional radio experience. The whole producing of this bit is kind of a blur, but I do know that I was at the station after business hours; Jay Coffey was on the air. I finished what I thought was a “rough cut” of the retro-tribute, sat back in the chair wondering what changes I could make. Usually I would produce something, walk away from it for a few hours and then listen to it again. That was a trick taught to me by the great one himself. As I was sitting there the door opened and Coffey informed me that Morgan had just passed.
I was completely blown away…. My emotions had just been drained working on this piece for the past few hours and then to get that news, I was completely speechless. Shortly afterwards Joni Caryl, Richard Turnage, and Mitch Lewis arrived at the station… we gathered, shared some stories and stated sending out releases. I remember it was late in the evening.I went back to Studio D, K-Earth’s production studio, and began to listen back to the piece I has just produced about an hour before. I listened to it and decided that no changes were needed. I don’t know why, but it seemed like that’s the way it was supposed to sound. Of course all I could hear in my head is Morgan screaming at me to do it better!! I’m sure it could’ve been better, but it was my goodbye to Morgan. Something told me to head to the station that evening and do this. It was the early memories of my radio career where he took in an inexperienced 21 year-old intern and molded him into anything he wanted me to be. It was the memory of working with him on and off the air. It was an honor for me to be included in his circle of professional friends, even though most of the time I was a scared young man, just trying not to screw it up!!
Ten years later I have since left K-Earth 101, but the memories of those times will always start with a “Good Morgan”. I now work across town in the Inland Empire and I’m always asked to share a Robert W story now and then. I’m always more than happy to share a story or two, and as time goes by and the radio industry changes, it saddens me that the memory of Morgan is slowly fading away. The young kids joining the business today have no idea who he is! It’s up to us to keep his legacy going. It’s up to us to make sure no one forgets the reason why we got into this business in the first place!
Now as I sit here writing about this fond memory of Robert W. Morgan, and I am reminded of that “gut feeling” I had that day. It’s a memory that will forever live in my heart and in radio history.Brandon J. Castillo
Former Robert W. Morgan Production Director at K-Earth 101
