Posted by Bobby Jay on October 15, 2009 at 09:11:52:
In Reply to: Re: Hank Spann posted by Bobby Jay on October 14, 2009 at 22:51:08:
I'd like to share some observations from my wife Cynthia who was an air personality on WFMO in Fairmont, NC, on her dear friend and "Pices" brother Hank Spann.
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I sometimes reflect upon the moments of my life that have come together brick by brick to shape the pyramid of my character. Tonight, one of my ‘all-time favorite’ disk jockeys died. Hank Spann, “The Soul Server,” had a way of saying “Hey Now!” that made you think he was talking directly to you! For those of us who had the privilege of watching him in the studio as he worked, will never forget the man who 'dressed up to sit behind the mike' as he talked to the streets through the air. He would sit down to get things ready, laughing and talking all the while. But when he opened the mike he was a star and everyone’s best friend! Always in motion, Hank would be rocking the pots of the board, talking up records with rhyme as he pushed his chair back and forth to the beat of each song! Every song he played seemed like it was Number One and every phrase he said, regardless of how funny it was, seemed like poetry to our ears. I mean who today could say things like "funkier than a mosquito's tweeter;" "funkier than a crippled crap without a crutch;" "Put your foot on the rock, pat it and don't you dare stop" and certainly, "And baby you know that's too much!" when describing something or talking about a record and have thousands of people quoting him? I would sit watching him, smiling in amazement at how easy he made it all seem and promising myself I would be just as 'cool' one day.
The camaraderie between the jocks was evident to everyone who walked in the door. You never knew who was on the air because all the guys, news people and “The Urban Preacher” Bob Law included, were always there. Enoch Gregory, Jeff Troy, Jerry Bledsoe, Bobby Jay, Hank Spann and Gary Byrd were considered the "Temptations" of radio. When a jock’s name went ‘above’ the star’s name on a marquee, you knew they were BIG!
When you think about time, you realize how short life really is. In moments like these when someone who has impacted my life so tremendously dies, I often think about what Plato wrote, "An unexamined life is not worth living." I sincerely pray that Hank knew how important he was to people and the powerful impact he had on everyone who heard him. He certainly impacted me! So as Hank always said, "I'm gonna take two steps to the rear and get out of here. I'm in the wind New York, Later!"
Cynthia Jay