A very sad day.

[Rick Mitchell]

>From my brother :
Longtime Orlando radio giant William Joseph Vermillion Jr dies of cancer at
71
Rich McKay
Orlando Sentinel
May 27, 2008


Before the homogenization of radio, it was the voice of "The Weird Beard"
who ruled Orlando's airwaves with rapid-fire banter, free-style record
selections and a zaniness that has all but been sterilized out of existence.




Heart and soul of rock 'n' roll
BILL VERMILLION REIGNED OVER ORLANDO RADIO
Bill Bauman
Special to the Orlando Sentinel
May 29, 2008


When I was 16, growing up in Orlando, my best friend's older brother was a
weekend jock at WLOF AM. He was one of the 12 or so guys who disc-jockeyed
under the name of "Peter Jay." The station manager said, "No one will ever
remember the name of a weekend disc jockey, so they will all be named Peter
Jay."


It seemed to work, as did almost everything at WLOF. As rock 'n' roll
exploded in America, WLOF was on point in Orlando.


Years later, when I became the news director of WLOF, we had 40 percent of
the radio listening audience in all the time slots, every day. It didn't
seem like a big deal. It was expected, and delivered, year after year. And
this was an AM radio station. The station manager married cutting-edge rock
'n' roll with aggressive local news coverage. No one thought it would work.
But if we slipped below a "40 share," we had emergency staff meetings.


Elliott


--
Elliott Mitchell
Music City Arts TV9 / iQ TV10
http://www.meac.tv
615-419-4383