Jeffrey Alan Payne - Doczine

status. We hung on every moment of every show and actually learned from the nuancesof his delivery. It was essentially the early origin and foundation of our humor; wedefinitely felt a common “Dave” perspective on many skews and idiosyncrasies of dailylife.Not only did we enjoy the music we played on the station, and the fact that we got togoof around all night on the roof smoking pot and watching Late Night, we werebecoming aware of a prominent and unfamiliar phenomenon occurring around us:people really liked us. This was not one of those instances where the public seemed toenjoy 96 FM – The Rock as a background soundtrack. The station really meantsomething to people in this rock and roll radio starved market. It was like a unifyingcause, a club, an activity that everyone in our young adult demographic enjoyed listeningto together. “The Rock” as a brand was the hottest radio property in the region. At leastthat’s how it appeared to us.We were always out doing promotional appearances and special events. We never gotpaid for doing them, but our youthful exuberance and adulation hungry egos werealways rewarded handsomely. We would generally be awarded bar tabs for both us andwhatever current girlfriends we brought along. Regarded as the Tri-Cities’ party boyrockers, for whatever reason, Yankee Dick and Jimbo soon came to be considered thefaces that represented the radio station.That was probably because we were the only people on the station who seemed to haveany hip-ness or relevance. We loved the music and knew volumes of information aboutit. We also had senses of humor, particularly during our cross-talk as we changed shifts.We started identifying the “smell of the day”, caused by Kingsport’s manufacturing plantslocated right in the heart of the city.“Today’s smell: cat litter.” The next day it might be banana. Honestly, that’s what itsmelled like on those nights. We knew that it couldn’t be good for anyone to live withthese substances being pumped into the air, but our situation was what it was. This waswhere we were living. We might as well have some fun with it.Our greatest epiphany and breakthrough occurred during my second year at the radiostation. The Rock’s official Halloween Party was presented at a huge establishmentcalled “Harry Taco’s”. Restaurant by day and raunchy pick-up joint nightclub after dinnerhour, the establishment became the usual location for The Rock’s promotions. OnHalloween, the place was almost instantly filled to capacity, with a line stretching out thedoor for fifty yards. Everyone was in extravagant costumes, vying for a one thousanddollar grand prize and a new Harley Davidson motorcycle.Jim and I were the emcees, almost by default. The morning man couldn’t stay out late,and the afternoon “personality” was a lifeless bore with a velvety smooth voice. We tookthe stage, and the capacity crowd erupted, “Yankee Dick! Jimbo! The Rock rules!”It was quite an exhilarating night, as Jimbo and I led the crowd in contests, joked aroundand announced the grand prize winner. Apparently it was not just an epiphany for us.The next day, Ron Jeremy asked us to come and meet with him in his office at 4:00pm.“What’s this all about?” I asked Jim.33