News, Citizen Profile, Larry Wayne Evans, LaSalle Parish, La.





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Submitted by Craig Franklin and The Jena Times

From the Jena Times - Olla Tullos Signal, Jena, LA
July 11, 2001 
Page 6B
 
Thank You to the Times -Signal for allowing the following to be added to the
Archives. 

A Times-Signal feature "Citizen Profile" 
A Very Special Salute

                                                                               
Larry Wayne Evans – Citizen Profile

He has the most recognizable voice in LaSalle Parish. For years you've
listened to him wake you up in the morning or bring you play-by-play action of
high school sports at night. This week, our Citizen Profile is Larry Evans -
the man behind the voice.

Most of our readers know Larry as the operator of KJNA Radio in Jena, but did
you know that his voice has been transmitting over radio signals for nearly 40
years? His passion and love for being a radio disc jockey are equaled only to
his community spirit and the pride he has for the Town of Jena and LaSalle
Parish.

He has a God-given ability to come across as a close friend, while at the same
time broadcasting to countless people. His unique ability to mix personal
experiences with humor while at the same time sounding as the seasoned
professional that he is goes virtually unmatched.

His voice, just like himself, is one of a kind.

Larry Wayne Evans was born April 1, 1940, in Aimwell to Fred and Norene Ford
Evans. He was actually born at a relative's house down the hill from his
family's house. To make it back home, his mother held him in her arms as they
were pulled behind a horse on a make shift sled.

"We actually were ‘slid' up the hill by horse to the house," he said. "Or so
I've been told by family members. I really don't remember a whole lot about
that day."

Just as most mothers during that day, Larry's mother stayed at home and was a
full-time mother and wife. His father wore many hats throughout the years,
ultimately finding success in the gravel business.

"He did all kinds of things," Larry said. "He was a range rider, a state
forest fire fighter, a saw mill foreman and finally a gravel contractor. He
always had a garden, with cotton, corn and other vegetables, so growing up we
always had something to do after school."

Larry was one of four children growing up in the hills of Aimwell, all of whom
had to travel about eight miles along gravel roads to attend school at
Manifest Elementary. 

"I have one sister, June Poole, who teaches school in LaSalle Parish, a
younger brother who is in the insurance business in Brandon, Mississippi, and
an older brother who drowned in Searcy Lake when he was 22 years-old. I was 17
at the time."

Larry said the drowning of his brother was a hard event for him and his
family, as any such event would be on a family.

"It was just one of those tough times that you hope you never have to go
through, but every now and then you have to," he said. "It devastated all of
us."

Following Larry's graduation from the eighth grade (where he also was the
class's valedictorian), he went on to high school at Harrisonburg High School.

"What was an eight mile gravel road trip now was an 18 mile gravel road trip,"
Larry said. "But we made it and had some great times at Harrisonburg."

While he was in high school, Larry's love for sports grew and he became a
starter for the school's basketball team.

"I wasn't that good but I was alright," he said. "I averaged about 10 points a
game but I shined mostly on defense. I was relatively small, but I had quick
hands and that got me a fair share of steals."

Also in high school, Larry was on the charter baseball team, or the first
baseball team in the history of Harrisonburg.

"The team was organized in my junior year, 1957," he said. "I made the remark
one day to Reed Walters (LaSalle District Attorney and announcer at JHS
baseball games) that I made the first base hit in the history of Harrisonburg
baseball, and every since then he always makes some reference to it when Jena
plays Harrisonburg. He has a lot of fun with it."

Larry says that baseball in the ‘50's was still baseball, but there were many
differences.

"In those days we didn't have any fences," he said. "You played until they ran
the ball down in the outfield. I played right field and I've ran down a many a
balls that went into the woods."

As his love for sports flourished during those high school years, another love
also began to bloom in his life – music.

"When I was in high school, Elvis Presley had just come out and I was a big
fan," he said. "Radio had just begun to play music and Elvis was a big star.
Knowing that I couldn't sing and I couldn't play an instrument, the closest I
could get was to become a disc jockey."

So after graduation in 1958, Larry had his first experience as a radio disc
jockey at the former radio station in Jonesville.

"They had something of a teen show, where they would let a teenager come in
and pick out the music, introduce it on the radio, dedicate it to someone, and
then the real DJ would play the music," he said. "The DJ sat in one room with
the records and controls, and the teenager would sit in another room with just
a microphone in front of him. I got to do this one day and that's when I knew
I wanted to be a DJ."

By this time, Larry had started driving a gravel truck for his father's
contracting business full-time. With each load of gravel though, his desire to
become a radio disc jockey intensified.

"When I wasn't working, I'd go by the radio station and hang around," he said.
"I wanted to go to work there, but in those days, you had to attend a
broadcasting school before you were ever allowed to get behind the controls.
The closest I'd ever come was that teenage radio show."

Still pursuing his dream, Larry learned of a broadcasting school in Chicago
where he could go and learn the trade. The cost of the school was $1,000,
which he did not have.

"I started saving for the $1,000 to cover tuition and expenses at the school,"
he said. "A thousand dollars was a lot of money back in those days, and it
took me an entire year to save up enough money to go. But I did."

So in 1959, he packed his bags and hopped aboard a train and road the long
trip to Chicago on the Illinois Railroad. For three months he attended and
graduated from the Midwestern Broadcasting School while he lived at the local
YMCA.

"That was probably the most loneliest time of my whole life," he said. "Here I
was, just a country boy from Aimwell in the big city of Chicago. It was a
culture shock to me and I was a culture shock to those at the school."

Larry said he did have one thing going for him – he was from Louisiana.

"LSU had just won the national championship in football and Chicago was a big
football city," he said. "Even though I didn't attend LSU, just because I was
from Louisiana helped me. I never could convince them though that everyone in
Louisiana does not travel around in pirogues and there are not alligators
everywhere. We still battle that misconception today."

At the school, Larry learned the very basics in radio broadcasting. He was
taught how to operate a control board by disc jockeys from the Chicago area
and what could and could not be said on the air.

"It was totally different back then," he said. "If a disc jockey said a curse
word or made any immoral reference, or any vulgar statement at all, he was
fired. Today it seems that most cannot produce a show without all that filth.
Radio has changed a lot over the years and in some ways not for the better."

Even though the school taught him how to operate the controls, they did not
instruct the students on how to speak. Apparently they felt that either you
"had it", or you didn't. Larry was certainly one of those who had it.

After graduation, he came back to Aimwell and started driving a gravel truck
once again while searching for a radio station to go to work for.

He would visit nearly every radio station within 100 miles trying to get a job
as a radio disc jockey. He even placed an ad in Broadcast Magazine, but all of
his efforts were unfruitful.

"I just couldn't get hired anywhere," he said. "Nobody wanted a 20 year-old
non-radio announcer. Everybody wanted someone with experience. My question was
‘How could I get experience if no one would hire me?'"

Larry said that he knew he had the desire and he knew he could do it, if only
someone would give him the chance.

For several years now, he'd been yearning to be a real radio disc jockey. Ever
since he first entered the old radio station in Jonesville he knew this is
what he wanted to do with his life. Now it seemed as if his dream would never
come true, as he couldn't even get his foot in the door of radio. But through
all of the obstacles, he never gave up on his dream.

"I would get by myself and practice all of the time," he said. "Even while
driving the gravel truck, I'd practice just as if I was on the radio. I was
really self-taught. I would take a newspaper or magazine ad and make a radio
commercial out of it – and then practice it out loud getting all of my
mechanics down pat."

Back when he was in high school, he'd joined the Jena National Guard unit and
during this time of trying to find a radio job he would have to attend his
weekend trainings as his stint with the guard continued. It was during this
time that he became friends with Robert Wagner, who also served in the Jena
unit.

"Robert was the son of R.W. and Ivel Wagner, who at that time owned The Jena
Times," he said. "The Wagner's and the Colvin brothers also owned a radio
station in Jonesboro, and I'd learned through Robert that they had applied for
a license for a radio station in Jena. From the day I found out that the
license had been applied for I started bugging people about going to work as
an announcer in Jena."

Eventually, the FCC granted the license request, and the Wagner's built a new
building to house their new radio station, KCKW AM. The building was located
next to the old Jena Times' building, which has since been torn down and is a
parking lot for Southern Heritage Bank and the Town Hall.

"I would go by everyday after I got through driving and watch them build the
building," he said. "After the building was completed, they got the equipment
in for broadcasting and ironically, it was the same type of equipment that I
had trained on in broadcast school."

Although Larry had been involved in the building of the new Jena radio
station, and was on sight virtually everyday, he still had not been told that
he would even be hired as an announcer.

"They never told me whether or not I was hired," he said. "I just kept coming
around and waiting. When they hired two other men to be disc jockeys at the
station, I still kept hoping that I would get hired as well."

Though not an employee, the Wagner's allowed Larry to come into the station
after his truck delivers and practice on the equipment. He would also go to
basketball games with a small reel-to-reel recorder, and practice announcing
the game play by play. Little did he know how beneficial this practice would
be in years to come.

"I still hadn't been hired yet, but I would come in everyday and practice," he
said. "Although all of the equipment was ready to go, they couldn't start
broadcasting until FCC gave them the go-ahead."

Finally, the Wagner's informed Larry that they were hiring him to fill the
afternoon shift, from 3 p.m. until the station went off the air. It was a
joyful announcement to Larry, who'd been waiting years for this time to
finally realize his dream.

"In those days, the radio stations were only allowed to operate from daylight
to dark," he said. "They hired me for $50 a week to work from 3 p.m. until
dark. Had I had the money, I would have gladly paid them $50 a week just to
get to work in radio."

During those early years, it was rock-n-roll music that Larry specialized in.
He named his afternoon program "Tune Tally", but programming during this era
made him play more than just rock-n-roll.

"Back then, the programming was terrible," he said. "In one station, you had
gospel, country, rock-n-roll, easy listening, Dixieland, etc., just all types
with the station trying to meet everyone's needs. So for one hour, my show
would feature rock-n-roll, then I had to play Dixieland, then other types of
music. But my favorite was rock-n-roll."

To this day, Larry still remembers that very first day that he went live on
the air for his first show.

"KCKW AM went on the air one fall day in 1962, at precisely 12 noon," he said.
"It was a big deal and it had been promoted real big in the newspaper and
everyone was listening. The very first time I went on the air I was a nervous
wreck. I must have gone to the bathroom a hundred times."

People may not know this, but Larry Evans, that man who is never at a loss of
words, who is always quick to come up with something to say at a moments
notice, the man who can speak live on radio even in front of hundreds of
people, Larry Evans was actually . . . a shy man at one time.

"I had always been relatively shy, as far as doing anything in front of
people," he admitted. "But on that first day, at 3 p.m., I went on the air no
matter how sick I was before hand. This was what I'd been dreaming of doing
for years and it was finally happening. It was a great day."

Along with being able to fulfill his dream of being a disc jockey, the job
also had certain "job benefits" as well.

"In those days, being on the radio you became an instant celebrity," he said.
"Everybody wanted to meet the man who was on the radio."

This proved very beneficial in the area of women. Though he claims his memory
is a little faded in this particular aspect, he does recall one certain woman
who caught his eye.

Her name was Glenda Melvin from Jena. At the time, she was attending Jena High
School and was the head drum majorette for the high school band.

"We'd actually met prior to me going to work at the radio station," he said.
"One day I saw her picture in The Jena Times and I took the paper home and
told my mama that this was the girl I was going to marry. And I did,
eventually."

They started dating in 1962, but would not marry until 1970. The reason,
according Larry, was because Glenda went to college at Monroe after high
school, and economically it was better to wait.

Back on the air, Larry was having the time of his life. The people of Jena
embraced the radio station and embraced Larry. As other disc jockeys came and
went, Larry stayed and was soon moved from the afternoon slot to other times,
eventually landing the prized morning shift.

He called his program "Coffee Sipping in the Morning", and proudly sipped his
coffee loud enough to be heard across the airwaves.

"It became the thing around Jena, to wake up in the morning, turn on the radio
and drink coffee with me," he said. "I would drink it right on the air while I
played country music. Back then, the people loved the idea that I was doing
exactly what they were doing on the air."

Also during this time, another morning feature to his show was his very
familiar statement "Good Morning Brown Eyes."

"Every morning at a certain time, I'd have to say ‘Good Morning Brown Eyes,'"
he said. "I was saying this to my girlfriend, but I never said that on the
air. I would just say ‘good morning brown eyes'. Many people in Jena will
remember this when they read this article."

The statement was so popular that even a sign was erected on La. Hwy. 8, West
of Jena, near the Mt. Sinia road in its honor. It could be seen coming to Jena
from Alexandria, and drawn on the big plywood sign were two big brown eyes
with the simple statement underneath the eyes which read "Mrs. Brown Eyes."
Everyone in Jena knew what the sign was talking about.

Also during that first year of broadcasting, Larry got to put his play-by-play
practice to real use.

"It was during the Jena Invitational Basketball Tournament and Robert asked me
to do play-by-play of every game that Jena played, both boys and girls," Larry
said. "So I did. I broadcasted every game live during the day, and when they
played at night I'd record it and broadcast it the following day."

Remember, it was basketball that was Larry's first love in sports, followed by
baseball. Up until this time he'd never really enjoyed football, as
Harrisonburg never had a team. But radio led him to the gridiron and
eventually football would become just as much a passion as the other sports.

"At that time, Robert did the play-by-play for Jena football," he said. "I'd
go along with him to do commercials (remember, everything was live back then)
and so called ‘color'. The truth was, I didn't know anything about football so
my color analysis was very limited."

Although extremely thankful to the Wagner's for giving him his first break in
radio, after five years at KCKW, Larry left the station in 1967 to work for
KVCL in Winnfield.

"The owners were Mr. and Mrs. Ed Hall and they were very kind to me," he said.
"I moved up there, rented a room at 1205 Maple Street, and worked the 3 p.m.
to sign-off shift. The halls were a little more flexible, and allowed me to do
straight rock-n-roll during my time slot."

As stated before, in those days the radio disc jockeys, especially in small
towns, became instant celebrities. Because Larry was playing rock-n-roll, and
was playing it in a time slot that allowed him to have access to all of the
teenagers, he immediately became very popular with the high school kids.

"At the time I was still single, although committed to my future wife, but
just because I was single and on the radio the kids loved me," he said. "Plus,
I was playing their kind of music. It was a great time."

It was during this time that FM radio came out and was taking off across the
nation. Mr. Hall put in an FM station in Winnfield, but made it an automatic
FM station, in that no live DJ was needed. It strictly played music and
commercials. It also was the first station in this area to play music 24 hours
a day, seven days a week.

"One day Mr. Hall came to me and asked me if I wanted to do a live Friday
night Rock-n-Roll show from about 7 p.m. (when the AM station went off the
air) until midnight," he said. "I told him I'd love to, but little did we know
that we were creating a monster."

The Friday night shows were an instant success. On the very first Friday
night, the parking lot outside of the radio station filled up with teenagers
and they didn't leave until the show was over.

"It was really one big party for the teenagers," Larry said. "Mr. Hall had run
some speakers outside so that everyone could hear and everyone had a great
time. Remember, this was the late 1960's, and it really was still good clean
fun with the teenagers. We never had any problems at the shows."

Larry's theme song for the event each Friday night was Sonny and Cher's hit
song "The Beat Goes On."

"It was great," he remembered. "I'd just leave the front door open and the
kids would come in and out as they pleased, requesting songs, and even saying
a few words over the radio. Mr. Hall would just leave the station to me and
hardly ever come down during the Friday night show. Every so often he'd call
just to check on how things were going." 

With the Friday night rock-n-roll show, Larry's celebrity status in Winnfield
jumped to unprecedented heights. Everyone in Winnfield knew of Larry Evans and
"The Beat Goes On." Even those who were older than the teenagers who
faithfully followed him were big fans, and everyone wanted to talk and be
friends with the radioman.

While at Winnfield, Mr. Hall already had someone doing the play-by-play
announcing of the Winnfield football games, but he didn't have anyone doing
the basketball games. So once again, Larry found himself courtside sitting in
front of a microphone giving the play-by-play of Winnfield's games.

Despite the tremendous success he had in Winnfield, he only stayed at KVCL for
two years, when greener pastures began to call.

"I really didn't want to leave," Larry said. "The Halls had been so good to me
and the people of Winnfield accepted me with open arms, but I had the
opportunity to work for a major radio station for twice the money."

So in 1969, he moved to Lafayette and went to work for the all-powerful,
10,000 watt KXKW, a 24-hour a day, seven day a week full-time country music
radio station.

"One of the selling points they presented to me was that I would be the sports
programmer," Larry said. "I started out doing play-by-play of two high schools
and then I got into announcing the horse races at Evangeline Downs. I'd
broadcast them over the radio, as well as announce them for the crowds at the
track."

They also gave Larry the prize radio time slot, working 11 a.m. until 1 p.m.
shift, and then the 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. shift. Even though the format was
country music, that didn't bother Larry one bit.

"It really didn't matter what kind of music it was," he said. "I just loved
being on the radio. Also, by this time, rock-n-roll was beginning to change
and it wasn't the great songs of the ‘50's and 60's anymore. There will never
be an era of rock-n-roll like that again."

He worked at KXKW for 10 years, up until 1979. He said that while working in
Lafayette, he made many new friends in radio due to the fact that in a larger
city there are so many radio stations.

One of the friends he made went to work at KROF AM/FM in Abbeville, just a
short distance from Lafayette. Although it broadcasted from Abbeville, it
actually reached into Lafayette and had a large listener base there. So Larry
went to work at KROF and got started in the sales aspect of radio, handling
all of Lafayette and Abbeville sales. He was also given charge over the
station's sports program and started covering local high school sports.

"This was one of the high points of my career," he stated. "I had a lot of
freedom and enjoyed the work. It was just a very good time in my life."

Although he didn't actually do any disc jockeying while there, he did learn
integral parts of radio that would aid him later in life.

He stayed at KROF until late 1983, when the dreaded oil bust of Louisiana
occurred and forced many oil companies and related business to close their
doors.

"Lafayette was an oil town, just like most Louisiana towns," he said. "When
business started going bad, the first thing they wanted to cut was
advertising, whether it was radio, television, or newspaper. It wasn't long
before most of all of my accounts were virtually closed and I was looking for
somewhere else to go."

Even though the major decline in the oil industry forced him to find other
work, and it was one of the lowest points of his life, Larry and his wife
Glenda did experience on high point before leaving the Lafayette area.

"While at KROF, my one and only daughter was born in 1981," he said. "Alanna
was a miracle baby, you know, one of those babies that's born when women can't
have any babies. My wife actually thought she had a kidney infection when she
went to the doctor and discovered she was pregnant. It was a joyful time for
both of us."

Today, their daughter lives in Hardford, Connecticut, and works for a security
company with computers.

With the oil industry taking its toll all across Louisiana, the Evans' moved
back to Jena where Larry worked a couple of different jobs before getting back
into radio at a town that had adopted him years before.

"I knew I had to get back into radio because that's where my heart was," he
said. "So, in 1987, exactly 20 years after I'd left, I went back to Winnfield
and started working at KVCL once again."

At this time, Mr. Hall had passed away and Mrs. Hall was running the station.
Because Larry was considered one of the family with the Halls, Mrs. Hall
immediately took him in and gave him complete control of the radio station.

"She pretty much put me in charge of the station," Larry said. "I was allowed
to do what-ever I wanted to, as far as programming and sales."

He also discovered that the fan base he'd left 20 years prior was still there,
and the city took him in just as if he'd never left.

"I remember I went on the radio that first day back at KVCL and just read the
5 o'clock news," he said. "That's all I did, I just read the news, never gave
my name or announced that I was back, and by the time I got through reading
the news the phone started ringing with people wanting to know if I was the
same voice from years before."


Once again, Larry had found success in radio. It was apparent that because of
the relationship he has with his listeners, and his unique way of making
friends over the airwaves, those relationships are not temporary.

He stayed at KVCL for two years, when his success began to gain him
recognition around the state. It was during this time that he began to receive
job offers and he was forced to make a decision once again.

"I had two good offers from good stations in the Lafayette area and was set to
go and visit with them when Tom Gay called and wanted me to go to work for him
managing KJNA in Jena," he said. "After negotiating several days, I finally
agreed and became the station manager for the radio station that originally
gave me my first break in radio."

Gay had purchased the Jena radio station from the Wagner's in 1987. Now, in
1989, Larry Evans was once again beaming over the AM and FM frequencies of
Jena, his hometown.

He managed the station until 1994 when he entered a "lease management purchase
option deal" on KJNA radio.

At the same time of his take-over, the station switched frequencies; going
from 99.3 FM to 102.7 FM, and in the process doubled its power. Also during
this time Larry decided to "pull the plug" on the AM station, making KJNA a
full-time, exclusive FM station.

"I love Jena and I love my audience," he said. "I still get up every morning
at 4:30 a.m. and still have ‘coffee sipping time' – sort of – with all my old
friends."

Larry said that retirement has never even crossed his mind, and that he is the
happiest when he is sitting in front of a microphone on radio.

"As long as the Lord gives me a voice to speak and a body to carry that voice
to the microphone, I'll stay in it and continue to do the morning show as well
as keeping everybody up to date with play-by-play of all the sports in the
parish," he said.

He speaks with sincere humility when talking about the Lord allowing him to
physically be able to come to work. In November of 1996, Larry suffered a
heart attack, believe it or not, while on the radio broadcasting the 7 o'clock
news.

"I actually started having the heart attack that morning, but it was the next
day that I had the attack that put me on the floor," he said. "Had I not quite
smoking years before, I wouldn't be here today. I'd be dead."

Larry had smoked cigarettes the better part of his life, a habit that he began
in high school. While still working in Winnfield in 1989, one morning while
driving to work he decided to just quite the habit "cold turkey". And he did.

"The doctors said that if I'd continued to smoke I would not have survived the
heart attack," he said. "So that decision back in 1989 was one of the best I'd
ever made."

Along with waking the parish up each and every weekday morning, Larry is also
known for his in-depth sports coverage of Jena High School and LaSalle High
School. He is the voice of the Jena Giants, providing play-by-play action of
football games, basketball games, and baseball games. 

At every football game, spectators can be seen in the stands watching the
game, but listening to Larry on headsets and portable radios. His broadcasts
also give those who physically can't come to the game a front row seat of all
the action, and he tries to give as many details about all of the action
(including broadcasting the band's performances during half-time) that he can
for his listeners.

"I'll always try to keep KJNA a home town station," he said. "I realize that
in today's radio there are so many off-color, vulgar radio stations that some
can listen to, but KJNA will always be a station that the entire family can
listen to without having to hear that sort of thing."

Larry says his success in Jena is directly attributed to his listeners and the
businesses that advertise with him.

"I just want to say a personal thank you to all listeners for their support
and also I'm very grateful to the business community of this area for their
continued, gracious support of KJNA," he said.

Although he really doesn't consider himself to have a great radio voice, he
will forever be remembered as the voice of Jena.

"I never thought I had a good voice, so I decided early on that I'd have to
bring out more personality on the radio," he said. "I make it a point to never
talk down to my audience, but try to talk to them just as I would a close
friend."

That philosophy has paid tremendous dividends over the years and many have
become close to Larry simply because of his radio demeanor.

"One day I took my daughter (when she was about 9 or 10) with me to a
political event," he recalled. "During this event, like most places I go,
people just came up, talked and visited. While driving home after it was over
she made I statement that I've never forgot. She said: ‘Dad, why does
everybody want to talk to you? It's not that you're wise or anything?' I've
thought about that a lot. Hopefully, it's because I've treated them over the
radio just as if we were family or good friends."

Larry Evans is one of those people who takes great pride in the community in
which he lives and is in a position to display that pride on a daily basis.
His influences over the airwaves have had direct impacts toward the betterment
of LaSalle Parish for several years now and will continue as long as he sits
in front of that microphone.

Thanks Larry, for all you've done and what you will do in the future through
your radio station. Most importantly, thanks for being a friend to us all and
treating your listeners with respect and kindness.