Rudy

I’ll get into the San Diego report shortly, but I need to do this first.

Typical Dulaney luck. When my folks picked me up at the St Louis airport, dad told me he had some bad news that happened while I was gone and they didn’t want to tell me until I was back. At first, I thought my dog Lupe had died. After all she’s getting up in years and is starting to show her age. But that wasn’t the case…it wasn’t Lupe, but Rudy who had passed.

I’ve known Rudy Rudolph for as long as I can remember. I think he and dad got to be friends when dad was tending bar at the Carmi Elks. Rudy was the morning man at WROY and also one of the top sales guys. Aside from a stint in the military and Armed Forces Radio, he spent his whole career at the Carmi stations but he had the voice and talent that could’ve landed him a gig anywhere. Think Gary Owens’ pipes with the relaxed delivery of Kris Kristofferson. There was a reason other stations in the area went as far as offering him half stakes in the stations to try and lure him away. When I look back at the guys who influenced me to get into radio, Rudy is right there at the top.

Like I said, I’ve known him as long as I can remember. I remember being four years old and living on Staley Street when he and dad would go driving down to Kentucky to track down bars of Trilby Soap. (And thereby giving a name to one of our Siamese cats at the time.) Going to Disney movies at the Carmi Theatre with his daughter Rachel. The day he slipped an opossum in our basement after Mom snuck into his garage and put a caged turkey on the roof of his car. Going out on the Ohio River on his boat. After we moved out into the country, him planting an “illicit” plant in our garden between the eggplant and pepper plants. (Very healthy plants that year, btw.) Then there was after I started at the Carmi station. Doing overnights when Rudy would either be the first of the sales/office staff to come in or him coming in to wrap up extra production. Him calling into my show when I’m thinking there was no one out there. Becoming his back-up on recording the “News and Information Network” spots and “Hart’s Shoe Store” program. The biggest regret about leaving Carmi being that I wouldn’t be working with him anymore. Just missing him the Sunday before I left for San Diego as I was mowing and he was picking up his paper at the station next door.

Until the funeral yesterday, it just didn’t seem real. As it sinks in, I realize how much of a mentor he was to me even after I left Carmi. He was always there as I needed advice about changing jobs, about certain clients, so many things. Above all else, he taught me to be professional on air. That said…I’m so tempted to shut down the network long enough to play Deep Purple for him one last time.

Thanks Rudy. I’m going to miss you.