BUCYRUS — The only things that have had longer careers at the WBCO and WQEL radio stations than Davey Jones, are the radio stations themselves.
On May 28, Jones celebrates his 50th anniversary of employment at the Bucyrus radio station. He began his career Memorial Day weekend in 1970. WBCO was just seven years old and WBCO-FM, which later became WQEL, was just six years old when Jones joined the sales staff.
When then-station owner Tom Moore hired Jones, he had him sign a three-year contract.
“Evidently, I overstayed my welcome by 47 years,” Jones said.
Jones admitted when he joined the radio station staff as his first job out of college, he thought Bucyrus would be a good training ground to prepare him to join a station in a bigger market, and despite receiving job offers from larger-market stations, Bucyrus and Crawford County became home.
Jones and his wife, Joanie, both natives of Toledo, remained in Bucyrus and raised two sons, Mike and Matt, who both attended Bucyrus City Schools. In 1983, Davey had a chance to move to Cleveland to work for the flagship station of the Cleveland Indians, 1100 AM, in sales but did not see it as the right move for his family.
“Our kids went to the old Norton School building, which was right down the road from our house,” Jones said. “This is a great community to live, work, have an opportunity to raise your kids in a nice community like this. Mike and Matt both flourished here.
“This has been a great community and we’ve truly enjoyed it.”
One of Jones’ fondest memories came within the first year of Jones being at the radio station, when the Bucyrus station became an affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. The timing seemed perfect to Jones, as the Federal Communications Commission had just mandated the station, which broadcasted from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m., had to extend its broadcast schedule to 11 p.m.
A few days after the announcement by the FCC, the Indians came calling and asked to partner with Bucyrus, but management was about to turn them down.
“It was kind of gutsy for a young guy, 21 or 22 years old, I’m in his office jumping up and down saying, ‘Wait a second, is that the Indians? We got to do this,’ and I said, ‘Tom, if I can’t make you a little money on the Cleveland Indians, you can fire me right away.’”
The day after the contract with the Indians was signed, Jones sold the first client on the broadcasts, First National Bank in Galion. Later that year, Moore signed contracts for the station to become an affiliate of the Ohio State Buckeyes and Cleveland Browns, which also fell to Jones to sell.
“It pretty much turned us into a sports operation,” Jones said.
The sports operation continued as local sports became a staple at the station, with the Friday Night Phoneboard with Davey Jones promoting decades of support of local high school athletics.
Phoneboard began in 1975, replacing a previous model that involved airing a tape-delayed high school football game. Jones was a primary broadcaster of the tape-delayed games but said the games did not get much feedback from his audiences, so Moore tasked Jones and fellow salesman Charlie Brown to find replacement programming.
“(Phoneboard) wasn’t an original idea. I’d love to tell you I created myself, but I didn’t,” Jones said. “I stole the idea from a station in Toledo. It was a station, WCWA 1230 AM, The Don King Sports Show on Saturday afternoons right after the Ohio State broadcasts.
“I created nothing. I blatantly ripped it off.”
Jones then began hosting Friday Night Phoneboard, while still hosting the Saturday morning shift beginning at 4 a.m.
“I would go home, roll across the bed, get back up and do Saturday mornings, and I did that for about seven or eight years,” Jones said.
Along with many sports memories, Jones said various other events stuck out to him during his 50 years at the station, including the Blizzard of ’78. Jones said disc jockey Raymond J suspended regular programming during the blizzard and began taking phone calls from area residents on their perspective of the storm, and Jones took over when his shift started.
“Ray and I were the only ones who could get here because we were the only two who lived in town, and I only made it in because Mayor Paul Outhwaite came to my house in a city truck and picked me up and drove me to the station,” Jones said.
Jones started a shift late Thursday morning and he and other employees stayed until Saturday afternoon. He said there was some sensationalism to the event, as the station was the first to report a man was found frozen to death on Ohio 4 and a woman in Nevada called the station saying she was in labor and nurses in Nevada heard the call and went to assist and delivered the baby.
Jones said when he sits back and thinks about his 50 years at the radio station, the items that stick out the most to him are the community events he’s been able to broadcast at and the people he’s gotten to work with.
Local sports events like various state tournament runs by local high schools and the Bill Rahm Bowling Tournament and the Ladies Invitational have been some favorites of Jones, as well as community events like local car shows and festivals.
He’s also come to the realization that not only has he broadcasted parents and their kids, but now a third generation of listeners in many instances.
Jones said he is proud of all the people he’s been able to work with during his 50 years from former colleagues and current coworkers.
“I don’t really like to try to list everyone, because I’m bound to leave somebody out, but you look at all the people over the years, and even one who left and went to other area radio stations or went on to bigger markets, I still stayed friends with.
“I am also very appreciative of everyone we have at the radio station right now. Fifty years, there are a lot of really cool people I’ve gotten to work with.”
Jones said he has enjoyed the work done by his current coworkers and is proud to be at a station that has been an attractive place for people, from salespeople to journalists, to have come to from other local media outlets during his 50 years to come and work.
What is to be in the coming years for Jones’ career remains unknown.
“I’m not going to put any timeline on it. As long as my health holds out and my family’s health holds out, I can do this for a while,” Jones said. “I’m glad to still be here. It’s fun. I enjoy going to work.”