BUCYRUS, OH (CRAWFORD COUNTY NOW)—The sun rises in the east every morning. The trees lose their leaves each fall.

But few things outside of nature are more dependable than Davey Jones hosting his Friday Night Phoneboard show on WQEL.

Jones will begin his 50th year on the Phoneboard Show this Friday night, August 22. What was hatched from a brainstorm to replace tape delayed football games on Friday night turned into a staple for the radio station and the community.

“I started at the radio station May 28, 1970. I had a retail and business background,” Jones said, noting that sports were not his strong suit at the time. “I have a degree in business communication and broadcast communication. I started on air doing the Saturday morning drive show from 5 a.m. to noon.”

In the summer of 1975, the staff was preparing for the football season and decided to go with a call-in show following the broadcast game. Jones, however, was not the first choice to host.

“Four days before the first football game, the guy who was supposed to do the show leaves,” Jones said. “So, we’re in trouble. (Station manager) Tom (Moore) goes, ‘You’ve got an idea how to do the show. Just do it for 3-4 weeks before we get somebody else.’ I did it and it just took off.”

While Jones suggested the concept for the show, he fully admits that he got the inspiration from another show, the Don King Sports Show on WCWA in Toledo, a call-in format that followed Ohio State football games.

“I didn’t create the show. I flat out stole it,” Jones quipped.

Even the name of the show was not his idea.

“At a sales meeting, Tom said, ‘You’re going to do a scoreboard show that you don’t know the scores. You get the scores of callers on the phone. It’s not really a scoreboard, it’s a phone board.’ Tom came up with the idea.”

At first, the show carried over to basketball season. However, response on those shows was nothing close to that of football. Jones estimates  about 30-40 percent in comparison.

For that reason, the station suspended Phoneboard for basketball season from 1979-84. It was resumed in the fall of 1985 on the coattails of the momentum from the Galion Tigers football team winning the state championship. The basketball version continues today, but the caller response discrepancy with football remains.

Jones has amazingly missed only one show (for football) in his previous 49 years.

“In 1979, I won a weekend trip, and I took my wife, Joanie, and oldest son, Mike,” Jones said. “One of the days was Friday, but I didn’t want to give up the trip.”

He had one near miss, years later when Mike got married. They had the rehearsal dinner scheduled for the Friday night before the Saturday wedding. Since it happened to be football season, Jones wasn’t sure how to accommodate both, not missing Phoneboard and keeping the family happy.

“I didn’t want to miss a Phoneboard Show,” Jones said. “But we had guest (NFL) predictors back then. I had my son’s father-in-law (George Thornton) be the guest predictor. As it turned out, Mike, George, and the whole (male contingent) of the wedding party came to the studio.”

That would be the definition of dedication to the show.

Jones said he could not have continued for so many years without the support of station management, his many sponsors, and his producers over the year.

He mentioned board operators such as Brenda Reece, Casey Morgan, Rick Brienza, Brad Scolari, Pat O’Brien, Jeff Ehrhart, Jim Hahn (for over 20 years), Dani Layne, and Jon Crider.

Looking back over a half century, Jones reflected on his brainchild that became iconic.

“It was a good idea, and I ran with it,” Jones said. “It is certainly what I am known for in the community.”

He also recognizes it as something good for the North Central Ohio Media Group.

“That two-hour period is probably the biggest moneymaker that the station has in any two-hours period in a week. Phoneboard, high school sports, the Cleveland Guardians — that’s what we’re known for.”

What’s in store for the future after 50 years?

“The radio station (management) has told me I can have Phoneboard for as long as I want it,” Jones said. “As long as I’m physically capable, I probably will come back and do it again, in year 51, 52 if I can.”

Phoneboard fans stay tuned as the legacy continues.