Jivin' John Etheredge loves it
\
Saturday Gold made for ‘true believers’
By JOHN WAGNER
Of the Emerald
The syrupy harmony of Little
Caesar an{J the Romans has
just faded into: "Hi, Jivin’ John
with you 'til midnight with an
other edition of the true stuff.”
Saturday Gold is on the air.
In the middle of KZEL-FM’s
control room is John
Etheredge, Jivin’ John of the
weekend oldies show. After
flipping a switch and adjusting
a couple of mixer knobs, he
cues a record, takes a drag on
his cigarette, checks the log,
pushes two tape cartridges into
a double-decker eight track
machine and, finally, leans
back to sip some chablis. An
ancient Joe Tex record roars
from the studio monitor.
“This show was started
about five years ago at KLCC
by Dave Chance, Etheredge
explains "It was called Satur
day Gold Rock and Roll and
V
was strictly a request show at
the time. We gave out that
phone number so many times
I’ll never be able to forget it. But
a few weeks after I took over I
stopped giving it out.”
"I got tired of playing Iron
Butterfly requests and decided
to bring the true believers out of
the cracks in the walls," he
says. Most of the records I play
now were never gold, but I've
kept the title for tradition."
After a year-and-a-half at
LCC, Etheredge took a job as a
station manager in Delaware,
but it was a country and west
ern station and Saturday Gold
was out. "I really missed doing
the oldies show even though
I'm a country fan, too,” he says.
"One Saturday night in Dela
ware I picked up an oldies
show from North Carolina. At
midnight he signed off with
"Goodnight My Love" by Jesse
Belvin, the song I used to close
this show. I was homesick as it
was, and that really broke me
up.”
So homesick, in fact, that
after about a year he was back
in Eugene, looking for a way to
get Saturday Gold back on the
air.
“I applied at every station in
town about three times, but no
luck," he says. “After six
months of playing country
music at KORE and KATR, I
just about gave up. Then I went
back to KZEL for one last try
and they asked me what I was
doing Saturday night. I’ve been
doing the same thing every
Saturday night since.”
That was in January of 1975,
and a good "thing” it is. The
show's popularity has been
solid and steady ever since.
Perhaps the most engaging
part of the show, next to selec
tions like “Cross My Heart” by
Johnny Ace and the Beal
Streeters, or “Goodbye Kansas
City” by Wilbert Harrison, is
Etheredge’s knowledge of old
rock, which he regularly injects
into his patter.
“I get the information from
liner notes, books, magazines,
other collectors. I buy the rec
ords from companies that rent
juke boxes, second hand
stores, specialty shops, and
sometimes I trade. I’ve got
around 5,000 forty-fives and
maybe 2,000 albums. Besides
this show, it’s my hobby. It’s
something I’m into every day.”
Something else he's into
every day is being operations
manager of KASH radio. “It’s a
nine-to-five job which is quite a
switch,” he says, though his
smile shows he enjoys it.
“Aside from liking oldies, I just
like radio.”
Listening to his show, it’s
apparent radio likes
Etheredge.
Youth commission needs council okay
A commission for the rights of
young persons may be added to
the Eugene Human Rights Com
mission in the near future as a re
suft of efforts by an ad hoc commit
tee on youth.
When the Human Rights Com
mission was established, four
commissions were created, one
each for women, minorities,
handicapped persons and aged
persons An ad hoc committee
was appointed by Mayor Les An
derson to study the feasibility of. a
similar commission for youth due
to strong lobbying efforts by young
persons.
But the committee did not only
investigate the need for a com
mission. It also probed the pos
sibilities for creating a youth advo
cacy group for the purpose of rep
resenting young persons in city
government
According to Jim Forbes,
chairer of the committee, the
committee has arrived at a deci
sion to recommend to the city
council that a nine-member com
mission for problems of youth be
established to operate on "equal
status" with the other commis
sions.
Forbes says the ad hoc commit
tee presented its findings to the
city council's committee of the
whole meeting on Wednesday,
but no conclusive decision was
made. The proposal is due to
come before the council at a regu
lar session on June 28 at 7:30
p.m. at the city council chambers.
Among the possible problems
to be hammered out by the council
is the fact that young persons are
Outdoor-related classes offered
Bend 76, a new summer pro
gram in outdoor-related education
will be presented June 28 through
August 27 by the Oregon State
System of Higher Education in
cooperation with Central Oregon
Community College (COCC).
Classes will be held on the
COCC campus at Bend. Included
are one and two-week credit
courses in such projects as vol
canology, soccer coaching,
natural history, outdoor writing
and outdoor photography
Kessler Cannon, former direc
tor of the Oregon Department of
Environmental Quality, will con
duct a two-week seminar on En
vironmental Problem focusing on
state and federal legislation as it
affects the environmental move
men. Dee Andros, director of
men's athletics at Oregon State
University (OSU) and Frances
(Sandy) Neeley, director of
women’s athletics at OSU, will
teach a one-week course on
“Making Title IX Work." They will
cover a number of questions re
lated to that portion of the Educa
tion Amendments of 1972 forbid
ding discrimination on the basis of
sex in educational programs and
activities receiving federal funds
Another intensive one-week
credit course looks at present,
past and future national and
Pacific Northwest energy re
sources
Credit for these courses is
being offered through OSU,
Oregon College of Education,
University of Oregon and Portland
State University.
Canoe floats, field tnps to some
of the caves and scenic areas
near Bend and courses in soccer
playing and soccer coaching, ten
nis, painting, picture framing, and
rod building and fly fishing are in
cluded in the non-credit offenngs
of Bend '76.
Nellie Wolcott, coordinator of
Bend '76, urges early registration
to assure opportunity to partici
pate in selected programs. She
indicates that an informational
brochure including course details
and fee schedules for both under
VOLVO
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_343-4225
Oregon Daily Emerald
J
graduate and graduate credit as
well as costs for non-credit pro
grams, dates of the various
courses and activities, is available
by writing to Bend 76, 695 Sum
mer N.E., Salem, Oregon 97310
or by telephoning Salem,
378-4858.
read the
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Page 9
not protected by the law from dis
crimination. Forbes says the
commission could include per
sons from aae 18 to 25. He adds,
however, that the youth commis
sion would be “vitally concerned
with the under-18 group, even
though there “is no legal backing
for them.''
Young persons, who “consti
tute a large part of society” are “in
a state of limbo; they need a voice
in government,” according to
Forbes.
“It is my feeling that it is now
time for the rights of young per
sons to be established and main
tained. Young people need to
have input into decisions that af
fect their lives. We can’t expect
them to act responsibly if they are
not given any responsibility,” says
Forbes.
The U.S. Navy is pleased to announce that all officer
programs, except those subject to specific U.S. statutes, are
now open to all qualified students and graduates.
ONE OF THE LAST GREAT ADVENTURES
Words
available
on tape
The spoken word is giving stiff
competition to the music of the
Douglass Listening Room.
Approximately 500 cassettes
featuring speeches are available
for student and faculty use. with
topics ranging from Watergate
hearings to Louis Schlan speak
ing on exorcism.
The library’s collection of cas
settes began in 1973, when an
audio cassette committee, com
posed of five librarians, was estab
lished. The committee was de
signed to show what could be
done with cassettes not only as
learning devices, but also as his
torical pieces.
The vital history cassettes,
which the library has purchased at
$10 each, are produced by Encyc
lopedia Americana and CBS
News. They arrive at the library
three to four months after the
event.
According to humanities lib
rarian Richard Heinzkill, the cas
settes have already enlarged the
listening capacity of the Douglass
Listening Room.
“The Listening Room was de
signed to work from turntables
and set up for music,” he said.
“Now, when those are full, people
may turn to cassettes.’
The committee intends to de
vote much of its future to publiciz
ing the cassettes, as many stu
dents still do not seem to have
information on them.
time is
short
read
the
ODE
■JL