Tag: laradio.com

Unforgettable Morgan Williams

By Anita Garner

Three of us at KBIG Los Angeles mid 1980s
Sandra, Morgan, Anita

In this picture we’re on our way to El Compadre, a frequent stop just up  the Sunset Strip from the station, where margaritas and mariachis welcomed entertainment industry types.

I like social media’s “remember when” aspects and I like writing about unforgettable friends.  When I find pictures like this one I know I’m fortunate to have shared a chunk of life with these people.  Sandra Williams, on the left, worked the front desk at KBIG sometimes. She was also an extra in movies and last I heard, a makeup artist.  Morgan hosted a public affairs show for KBIG and I hosted afternoon drive.

Here’s what Variety said about Morgan when she died.

“August 3, 1999 12:00am PT

Morgan Williams, a longtime Los Angeles news and public affairs reporter, died July 24 at her home in Los Angeles after a short battle with lung cancer. She was 68.  After graduation from William and Mary U, she worked in the media in various locales around the country. During the 1960s, she worked as a news reporter for KABC, Channel 7, and KHJ, Channel 9, (now KCAL) in Los Angeles.

During the 1970s, she segued into radio, where she had a long stint with radio station KFI-AM, covering news and public affairs. During the 1980s and ’90s, she served as the public affairs director for KBIG radio, where she became known for her interviews on “The Big Picture.” During the late 1950s, she was married to Tony Williams, the late lead singer of the Platters.  She is survived by a son.”

I’m guessing Variety got part of that information from Don Barrett, whose laradio.com “Where Are They Now” archives are still the go-to for information about anyone who was ever on the air in Los Angeles.

Variety doesn’t mention how Morgan named her big old sedan “Diana” in honor of Miss Ross, and how she loved that car so much only one mechanic was allowed to work on it.  Variety doesn’t tell you about her devotion to her sports teams and her crush on Kareem Abdul Jabbar, whom she interviewed several times because she loved him and because she could.

Another thing that doesn’t fit into an obit, but it played a big role if you hung out with Morgan – she hated freeways and refused to drive them.   Getting around in Southern California without using freeways requires a whole different set of navigation skills and guarantees the driver will arrive late for many functions. If you loved the driver a lot, you sat outside on Sunday morning at Farmers Market until Diana rolled into the parking lot at 3rd and Fairfax.

That smile, that big beautiful smile of hers, she loved to tell how she got it.   After her Mama died, Morgan inherited a sum that she planned to spend on something she’d always wanted, a smile to resemble Diana Ross.  Most of us thought Morgan’s smile was already dazzling but she wanted veneers that were bigger, the biggest that would fit, so she got herself some.

Today Karin Moss and I have been friends for several years because of Morgan. Karin contacted Don Barrett at laradio.com looking to find Morgan and he sent her to me because he knew Morgan and I were friends.  Karin had worked in the record business in Hollywood with Morgan way back before I knew her. Karin and I both live in Northern California so we met for breakfast to share Morgan stories and we’ve been getting together ever since.

As we traded details about our experiences with Morgan, we learned this was a lady who’d reinvented herself several times.  I see reinvention stories woven through many careers in entertainment and each time I write about someone, I hear from someone else who knew them in a different way.

Back then, just before that Variety obit, my last lunch with Morgan was on the calendar. I arrived in Santa Monica expecting a nice catch-up but she was a no-show.  I called her work phone number and they told me she was very ill.  She’d chosen not to disclose it to any of us.

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L.A. Radio Guest Columnist – I’m it today.

Anita Garner

Our esteemed host, Don Barrett, invited me to tell the story about one more media person’s memoir – mine.  It’s been in the works for a while and now it’s in the “Coming Soon” category.  Here’s the cover.

Turning the tables on Don, I should let you know that he’s been part of this project from way back.  We met when he was writing his first book, “Los Angeles Radio People” in the 90s.  Thousands of people from around the world visit his site, laradio.com, every day.  Click his artwork above to join them.

Don was conducting one of his thorough interviews about my time on the air and we bonded over the fact that both of our mothers had ALS and we were caring for them.

I showed him a short story, material planned for a someday book about my gospel-singing family and our life in the Deep South during the 1950s.  He sent the story to a friend in the movie industry whose wife was an agent. She liked the material and asked if I’d adapt it for the stage. I did and we had play readings in Los Angeles, so though I haven’t been steadily working on this book since the 90’s when I met Don, pieces of it did exist back then.

I knew I needed to finish telling the stories I’d begun, so I set myself the task of finishing a book manuscript by a certain date in 2017, pulling out reams of stories and rough chapter outlines and notes on scraps of paper and putting in long days and nights until it was ready.

I submitted to a university press in the Deep South. The Glory Road:A Gospel Gypsy Life, is a first-person memoir, but it’s more like a novel about some colorful characters I’m related to, singers and songwriters and musicians, with American music history woven through.  It takes place during times of enormous change in music and religion, when Saturday night came to Sunday mornings, when my family’s gospel music merged with rockabilly and church became entertainment.

My brother and I sang harmony with the family and lived much of our lives on Route 66 moving from tent revivals to radio stations to All Day Singings to churches and just about any place a microphone and amplifier and speakers were set up. I wanted this material and the music the family made to become part of Southern history. I learned that many university presses keep their books in circulation and keep printing for years into the future. That matters to me.

What does this have to do with radio?  Just about everything.  Without radio, my parents’ music wouldn’t have been heard by people who eventually recorded it, and who later offered Mother her own recording contract. We appeared on radio stations where the studio was in the antenna shack outside of town and other stations located in fancy hotels. My first radio appearance was on WDAK, Columbus, Georgia, at age three.  No adjustable booms.  Stand the little girl on a chair stacked with stuff until she can reach the mic and she’ll sing her part.

After my parents passed, a record label re-issued their music and it appears everywhere these days – movies, TV shows, downloads, wherever there’s music. I’ll post a couple of links that’ll take you to a current Netflix show soundtrack where my mother, Sister Fern Jones is singing and a wayback link to Johnny Cash singing a song she wrote.

My book releases April 21, 2021.  Here’s the publisher.

And here’s a nice thing someone said about them.

“University presses have long been key in the literary ecosystem when it comes to issuing original, risky work, and ’Bama’s is one of the most innovative.”

Just this week, the contract arrived from my audio book publisher. Media people, especially voiceovers, tend to record their own manuscripts. I’m not doing that. I want to sit back and listen to someone else tell these stories.

I write a new blog about once a week here at this site Dave Williams (KLIF/Dallas) and I share.  I write often about The Glory Road and sometimes I include excerpts from those days.

Here’s a song from Sister Fern.  You can find others on You Tube.

And here’s a song she wrote, recorded by Johnny Cash with the Tennessee Two

Johnny Cash - I Was There When It Happened

 

Thanks, Don, for the invitation.  It’s good to visit laradio.com.  I do it every day.

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