By Randy Speck

Dave Thompson, a 43-year-veteran radio broadcaster, was recently given the Kentucky Mic Award, which means he is now a member of the Kentucky Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. It happened at the 75th Kentucky broadcasters meeting, which was held October 10th and 11th in Bowling Green.

Thompson, who retired from radio broadcasting in 2007, grew up in Lebanon, Kentucky listening to the local radio station, WLBN, where legendary broadcaster, J.T. Whitlock, worked.

It was hard to find a job when he graduated from Lebanon High School in 1963, and he took on a government work program in Somerset and started a radio class there. But, he wasn’t in the class very long. As soon as jobs were open in the area, he was sent out to apply for them.”

Ken Howlett of K105 recently wrote, “It was by “accident” that Thompson entered into the radio broadcasting field in early 1964, not long after he graduated from high school in Marion County, KY.”

“About six months after graduating high school I didn’t have a job, and the government had a training program (in Somerset), and my friend was interested in the radio training program,” Thompson said. “He talked me into going and applying for the class; so I went with him, and I was accepted into the program and he wasn’t.

“After about a month in radio school, they would send us out to jobs that were available in the area,” Thompson continued. “And so they sent three or four of us to a radio station in Albany – WANY. It was a small station, but a couple of days later they called and said ‘You have a job if you want it.’”

And thus Thompson’s broadcasting magic began, while he pulled in $60 per week in Albany.

“So I got a job there [1964] and I felt really good about that,” Thompson remembered. “I was hired as a staff announcer, but we did everything. At a small market station, everyone does everything; for example, our first class engineer also mowed the grass.”

During his two years at WANY, Thompson learned all about radio. In 1966, the man who hired him at WANY, the late Welby Hoover, decided to move to Leitchfield to go to work at WMTL as the station manager.

“Welby asked me what it would take to move up here to Leitchfield, and I told him $100 per week. He told me that was a little more than he wanted to pay, (but he agreed).”

So, after two years at WANY, Thompson moved to Leitchfield and began working at WMLT and WKHG.

After Hoover left for WJRS/WJKY in Jamestown/Russell Springs, Thompson remained in Leitchfield and for the next 41 years, became the voice people in Grayson and surrounding counties listened to for local news, in addition to him becoming “The Voice of the Grayson County Cougars,” a distinction near and dear to Thompson’s heart. Being the voice of the Cougars is a title Thompson carries to this day despite the fact that he has been retired for nearly a decade.

“I got started in sports early on. I had as much fun doing Grayson County High School basketball as Cawood Ledford had doing UK basketball,” Thompson beamed. “I really enjoyed it.”

Being an “ol’ country boy,” Thompson was flattered at the offers he received to migrate to larger markets, but the pull of Grayson County, the pull of small market radio, kept him firmly planted in Leitchfield.

“Small market radio is what I grew up with, it’s what I was interested in and got started in,” Thompson said matter-of-factly. “I stayed in it, and I never had any interest in going to a bigger station. I thought about that, but the small market had already grabbed me, because when I walked out the door, I was meeting my listeners right there … at the grocery store or wherever. You know them and they know you, that’s why I like small market radio. The listeners will tell you want they think.”

Remaining in small market radio allowed Thompson to wear different hats throughout his career. “After 40-something years in radio, I’ve done it all,” he said. “Everything from general manager, to news director, to sports director, to farm director to everything else.”

While certainly content with his nearly five decades of broadcasting, Thompson was sincerely surprised when he received the news that he was selected to receive the KBA Kentucky Mic Award, and be inducted into the KBA Hall of Fame.

“I was really shocked,” Thompson said about receiving the honor. “I had never even thought about anything like that. I did my job and did the best I could, and if I did it well I’d get a paycheck. Of course, to be honored by your peers and by a great organization like the KBA, to be honored in that way…I don’t know how to describe it. It’s just really special, especially after the (induction) dinner, people came around and congratulated me. Some of them that I had never met before said they had heard me on the radio.”

Thompson isn’t the first former WANY broadcaster to enter the Kentucky Broadcsters Association Hall of Fame. The Kentucky Mic Award went to Ray Mullinix in 2004 and Sid Scott in 2008. This award is presented to those individuals who have made outstanding personal contributions to the broadcasting profession in Kentucky and is considered to be the highest award given by the KBA to recognize accomplishments in Kentucky broadcasting. Only the recipients of this award are members of the KBA Hall of Fame.

Congratulations to Dave Thompson, a radio broadcasting legend with roots at WANY.