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Last laugh
But the tears shed this morning were not of sadness, but of laughter. "I love the yuks," Phillips said. "Just being here is fun. It doesn't feel like work." "We laughed a lot. We always had fun together," Thomas said. Thomas cites his "Odd Couple" chemistry with Phillips for the show's wide appeal on the adult contemporary FM station.
"Hugh is Mr. Neat," Thomas said. "On his side of the console, everything's in its place. I'm just the opposite. We're the neat guy and the slob." Yet Phillips never tried to develop a radio persona, Thomas said. "What you heard on the air, that was Hugh. One of our callers today said it best. He said, 'He's just one of your down-to-earth Minnesotans.'"
Of the morning show, Phillips said he's never gotten used to getting up at 3:50 a.m., but other than that, "It's been a ball. Ken Thomas is very easy to work with. Two-headed shows are always difficult. You need a thrower and a catcher. In this case, he's the thrower and I'm the catcher."
The thing Phillips will miss most is the people. "Working in Brainerd has been the best 18 years of my life. I will miss the people I work with and the ownership. In this business, it's rare to have a good relationship with the owners, but they are great people to work for."
Phillips announced his retirement April 3, and his last day was supposed to be April 11. But April 4, he was admitted to Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, where he had a pacemaker put in. Despite losing some weight, Uncle Hugh is still looking -- and more important -- sounding good. "I didn't intend to retire like this, with a trip to Abbott Northwestern. But I had tossed around the idea of retiring for a while and I figured I gotta do it sometime. I didn't want to be falling down in the hallways."
The Robbinsdale native started his life in broadcasting with night classes at the Brown Institute in Minneapolis in the 1950s. After stints with WIGM in Medford, Wis., and KRFO in Owatonna, Phillips returned to Brown as an instructor. Among his students was his son, Kurt, who recorded a tribute to his father that had the entire studio laughing this morning.
Phillips owned and operated a studio in Florida before moving to Brainerd in 1986. He said the biggest change in radio in the last four decades is the equipment. "Everything is done by computer now. When I started everything was live. We even did the commercials live."
In a career that's included stints as production manager, sportscaster, announcer and newscaster, Phillips has many stories. The funniest, perhaps, is about broadcasting a football game in southern Minnesota where the best view was from atop a boxcar. "There was a train track running along the side of the field. The best place to watch the game was from atop a boxcar. So we got everything set up -- card table, wires, everything. Then, all of a sudden ..." Phillips makes the noise of a train chugging along. "The train was going to Seattle. So we threw our stuff off."
Listeners won't be the only ones affected by Phillips' departure. His co-workers point out many of the intangibles he brought to the office every day, from professional advice to a friendly, down-to-earth attitude. "He always said, 'Good morning,'" said advertising salesman John Bahma. "And he made great golf clubs."
"When I started writing copy, people would always use adjectives wrong. He would always critique our poor English, and he was always right," said Brian Churack, account manager.
"Losing Hugh is like losing Johnny Carson on 'The Tonight Show,'" said advertising salesman Don Turcotte. "Hugh and Ken are like the Johnny and Ed McMahon of our community. It's not something that can be replaced."
Billy Holiday, who does the morning show on Cool 101.5 in the neighboring studio, agrees. "(Phillips and Thomas) are funny, and they have their style that's distinct to 'JJY. People are used to that show, and they really connect to them."
Holiday enjoys the contests and promotions that partner his oldies station with WJJY and B93.3. "When we get the three morning shows together, it's radio magic," he said.
Brian Moon temporarily will join Thomas for the "Wake-up Show" before a permanent co-host is found. But WJJY owner and manager Mike Boen knows Uncle Hugh can't be replaced. "We love Hugh and we're gonna miss him," he said.
(reprinted from the Brainerd Dispatch 4/24/03)
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