Tuesday, November 28, 2000

Like rock ’n’ roll, Stubby lives on
By Bill Whitaker

Even though he’s been off the air since a fall at his home last September, John Turner still has the problems that come from bearing such a well-known radio nom de plume.

When I inquired after Turner at Sears Methodist Assisted Living Center the other day, the woman in charge had no earthly idea where he could be found or even who he was — not till I finally mentioned the name of Turner’s alter ego, “Stubby Baldwin.”
“Oh, of course … Stubby!” the woman replied, and soon I was in Turner’s presence.

Although his health has ebbed in recent years, Turner remains a favorite around town under either name, especially among fellow Abilene Chamber of Commerce Redcoats. He’s been one almost 30 years, helping open new businesses and turn soil at groundbreakings.

“Rain or shine, we’ve cut ribbons all over Abilene,” the 87-year-old local radio legend bragged during a reception hosted by Redcoats last week. “We stood out at some groundbreakings with a wind-chill of 20. We had some pretty shaky shovels!”

Although the frail-looking, hunched radio personality doesn’t look particularly hardy, Turner has had a hand in wide-ranging activities about town since 1953, when he took over as chief engineer at the old KRBC radio station.

For instance, he recalls helping West Texas showman Slim Willet, best-known for penning the hit song “Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes,” mount the Big State Jamboree at the old Fair Park auditorium. Elvis Presley was among the entertainers.

Turner also delights in telling how Willet owned a piece of nearby Impact, a municipality set up solely to sell booze during Abilene’s dry days.

“If it rained and Slim happened to be on the radio,” Turner remembered, “he’d say, ‘Well, folks, we had about a half-inch of rain in downtown Abilene … but we had three-fifths in Impact.’”

Turner has ventured far beyond Abilene. One of his biggest disappointments as a globe-trotter came when a Vietnam War mission to bomb the Ho Chi Minh Trail aboard a Dyess-based B-52 was scrubbed, foiling Air Force plans to allow the radio journalist to tag along.

But when the mission was still active in Guam, airmen permitted an eager Turner to scrawl on one of the bombs in chalk: “Hi, Charlie!”

Although in his early Abilene days Turner toiled as a serious radio newsman who traveled the globe, he later became popular to legions of local youths as “Stubby Baldwin, the world’s oldest rock ‘n’ roll weatherman.” He still insists his favorite song is “Highway to Hell.”

This enduring radio stunt brought “Stubby” media attention from as far away as Dallas. It also made him the butt of jokes. Once radio station officials mischievously unleashed a stripper on him while he was doing the weather.

“I just kept giving the weather — and she just kept taking it off,” Turner recalled, proud of his ability to maintain on-air poise amid titillation. “Now, I did say finally, ‘Current temperature at the station is 110’ — and that ended the broadcast!”

After convalescence at Sears and countless encouraging visits by Ellen, his wife of 56 amazing years, Turner says he’s anxious to return to his duties at KEYJ Rock 108. He’s finished a month of therapy — “walking and stretching and wiggling — I call it controlled rock ‘n’ roll.”

Of course, energy and longevity are Stubby trademarks. Redcoat pal Alpha Quinn recalls the time she and others were at a chamber convention in Colorado and were stunned to find their aged, little friend prostrate on a bridge over the Royal Gorge, apparently passed out.

“But he wasn’t unconscious at all,” she marveled. “He was down taking pictures of the gorge through a crack in the bridge.”

Contact associate editor Bill Whitaker at 676-6732 or whitakerb@abinews.com. Check out Bill’s previous columns at www.brazosbill.com.