That hair says it all, doesn't it?  I love this picture and it's a perfect Throwback Thursday tribute to Goldie when she did the morning show here on The Country Station!

It was 1977 that Goldie became WBKR's first live DJ and, as you can see from that t-shirt, brought her personality, wit and charm to WBKR in the Morning!  In fact, I remember listening to Goldie.  I was in the same grade as her daughter, Cindy.  And, yes, the Thruston Elementary School rumors were true.  We were quite the item.  And I wrote a series of love letters to my 4th-grade girlfriend.  In those love letters I told my one true love that I was going to call WBKR and have her mom play a song for us-  ABBA's "Take a Chance on Me."  LOL!  No, ABBA wasn't country.  But I was determined to have Goldie celebrate our love on the air.  Thank goodness I never called the request line.

This morning, we're celebrating Goldie's radio run here at WBKR!  The folks at American Pickers have asked Goldie to find some photos from the Windy Hollow Country Music Jamboree.  She was looking for those and found these.  These great Throwback Thursday photos of her career here at WBKR.

Photo courtesy of Goldie Payne
Photo courtesy of Goldie Payne
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Goldie was on the air on 92.5 from 1977 to 1981.  And the impression she made still resonates inside this building and, of course, in this community.  I can go on and on about the cultural impact Goldie has had in the tristate, but I would be telling what you already know.  A personality and a legacy like hers doesn't need words or retelling.  It just needs an occasional photograph to remind us what a pioneer she was and remains.

One of my favorite Goldie stories involving radio is the story about how she officially ended her radio career.  And this story will resonate today amid the atmosphere and conversation about equal pay for equal work.

Goldie asked for $150 per week here at the station.  And management in place at the time wouldn't budge.  They offered her $125 per week claiming that her "husband made good money" and she didn't really need the extra $25.  Putting up with that like Billie Jean King put up with some smack talk from Bobby Riggs, she told them she was worth more than that to her kids at home.  And that's precisely where Goldie went.  And she did it with one final and triumphant blaze of radio glory.

Goldie was told that she couldn't say "goodbye" to her listeners because "radio people don't do that."  So, she let the country music she spent five years playing do the talking for her.  She threw on Johnny Paycheck's "Take This Job and Shove It" and walked right out the door.

That's a country song if I ever heard one.  And it was spun and sung by a local country legend.  And, well, while we're at it . . . a local radio legend.  I'll admit it.  Goldie is one of my heroes. And for this reason-  she's one of those rare individuals who can say she did it her way.  And, who are we kidding?  She's STILL doing it her way.  As she said to me as I prepared this story, "I have loved my life and still have more good times to go."

While she may not have a microphone anymore, the truth remains.  With those pipes, she never really needed one. You can hear her from a mile away and see her coming for blocks.  And that's what makes her uniquely and unabashedly "Goldie!"

Happy Throwback Thursday to the one and only Goldie Payne!

 

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