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| Don King |
People passing by Don King on the sidewalk might not have
realized he was one of the biggest names in Macon radio for more than 30 years.
According to macon.com, the broadcast legend, who stood
shorter than 5-foot-5, used to joke that he started his career a foot taller
but was a victim of continual downsizing.
The 82-year-old had been retired nearly 20 years when he
died Tuesday evening of complications after heart surgery.
While spending a decade at television station WCWB, now
known as WMGT, he created gerbil races and his “Wild Bill Peacock” television
persona, complete with a huge cowboy hat, leather vest and boots.
He’d greet folks with “people, people” and sign off with a
trail of “Bye, b-bye, bye, bye, bye.”
Colleagues say his creativity fueled a promotional
brilliance that anchored radio station WBML’s spot on the dial.
“Just genius stuff,” said Bill Elder, who ruled morning FM
radio for three decades on WMAZ. “He would paint these pictures in the theater
of the mind.”
While signing off, King often would tell listeners he was
going wandering along the Ocmulgee
River
After earning a journalism degree from Mercer
University , King joined WBML as a
traffic reporter in 1955, but he was promoted to become one of Macon ’s first rock ’n‘
roll disc jockeys a few months later.
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