Earl Freudenberg: Luther Would Have Turned 100 On March 9

If Chattanooga radio legend Luther Masingill were alive today he would be nearly 100 years old. Luther, who died Oct. 20, 2014, would have been a century old this coming March 9.

 

I was sitting at my computer imagining what his radio broadcast would sound like if he were still on the air so I decided to write down some of my Luther memories.  Luther holds the record of being the world’s longest running broadcaster.

The Chattanooga native worked almost until his death.   

 

Luther and his family go back to the 30’s with the Freudenbergs. He knew more about my family than I did.  Luther often talked about his dad selling merchandise to my Grandfather at the E.C. Freudenberg grocery in North Chattanooga.  Broadcaster Ernie Feagans’ father operated a service station nearby.  Luther said my dad (Charles), Ernie, and he would often hang out together on North Market Street. 

 

Luther remembered my father asking Ernie and him to go to the Atlanta farmers market to pick up a load of produce.  Luther said they left Chattanooga about midnight traveling south on two lane Highway 41.  At that time there was no Interstate 75. Luther said he and Ernie fell asleep about Ringgold. Dad continued driving to pick up the produce. Luther said he and Ernie woke up when they were almost home saying, “Are we there yet?” Luther said he and Ernie got out of loading lettuce, tomatoes, etc. They got back in time to have breakfast and go to school. Luther said he remembered going to sleep in class and explaining to his teacher why. He said he still got a detention. 

 

Luther would talk about the time my dad (Charles) put a slab of limburger cheese on the engine of his father’s car.  Luther said it took days to get rid of the smell. Luther remembered that “my grandfather would never let anyone go hungry.”

 

My father passed away June 23, 2004.  A few days before his death, Luther came to see my dad at Parkridge Medical Center.  They talked most of the afternoon sharing stories about growing up together.  I wish I’d recorded their conversation because I heard things I’d never heard before.  As Luther left the hospital room, dad told him, “Thanks for being so interested and kind to Earl. It means so much to me.” 

 

I got to know Luther very well in 1968 while working the control board for several months at WDEF radio. I ran the Sundial radio program for two weeks while his regular engineer was on vacation and quickly found out who was in charge. Luther demanded my attention the entire show. The master announcer wanted perfection. He did many of his commercials live. He could do a 30 second spot in 23 seconds and shorten a 60 second announcement to 45 seconds. Listeners never knew the difference. 

 

Luther was very loyal to his advertisers. He told me many times, “buy from our sponsors, they pay the bills.” His wife Mary told the story of when they went to see their daughter in Texas that Luther refused to tour the Blue Bell Ice Cream Company. Luther said, “What if Scotty Mayfield saw me walking into that plant.” 

 

We all know Luther could empty grocery store shelves if he said it was going to snow.  Retired Food City Manager David Leatherwood saw that happen several times. he said, “If Luther said it we believed it.”

 

I worked at WDEF for a short time in 1974 doing the evening program. I would go in at 6 p.m. and take a thermos of coffee to share with Jolly Cholly Krause. It was Halloween and when Jolly Cholly left the studio at 7 p.m., I walked with him to the front door; his last words to me were, “See you later I’m going home to play with the spooks.” 

 

I got off at midnight and as was my custom I’d listen to the police scanner while going to sleep.  I heard the Red Bank Police dispatcher send a car to Appian Way in North Red Bank. The dispatcher asked the officer on the scene if that was the home of the radio announcer. The officer responded, Yes.  A few minutes later the officer came back on the radio and said the resident, in police code, was 449.  I immediately called the dispatcher who confirmed it was our friend Jolly Cholly.

 

When I notified management they asked me to call Luther when he got up at 4:15 a. m. Luther answered the phone and, when I told him about our broadcasting buddy, there was a long silence. I asked Luther if he wanted me to go in and work.  He just responded, “No I’ll get ready and be on my way.”

 

After the 6 a.m. news Luther came on the air informing his audience that Jolly Cholly had died.  It was the only time I can remember listening to Luther that I heard him get emotional on the air. I immediately got dressed and went to the station.  After the 8 a.m. news, Luther let me to take over his program, He had very little to say the rest of the morning. Luther told me later announcing Cholly’s death on the air was the hardest thing he’d ever done during his 70 plus years of broadcasting.

 

I was chosen to work Jolly Cholly’s shows. It became the ”Luther and Earl Show” in mid-morning.  For several days we put listeners on the air to share their Jolly Cholly stories. 

 

Clyde Hawkins was manager of the Memorial Auditorium and brought Liberace to the city for a concert.  Mr. Hawkins asked Luther to interview the famous piano player. Luther told Clyde, please let Earl do the honors so I went to the public library to learn as much about Liberace as I could. It was very different from my interview a few years back with Floyd Cramer.  We didn’t have the Internet back then. 

 

I think Luther’s favorite male singer was Perry Como.  We went together when Mr. Como came to Chattanooga with Pat Boone for a Bethel Bible Village event. Yes, I kept my mouth shut while the two talked.  Luther told Mr. Como he played his records almost every day and he did. 

 

Thanks to the persistence of TV news anchor David Carroll, Luther was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in Chicago in 2012.  Luther was one of the first inductees into the new Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame several months later. 

 

Luther broadcast the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 and he broke the news to Chattanooga about the 9-11 attacks.  I was on the air doing my talk show when Luther rushed in and pointed to the small TV set.  I stopped my conversation with the listener and said here is Luther with something for us.  He told me to point my mic at the small TV speaker.  It was Katie Couric talking about the World Trade Center being on fire.

 

In World War II, Luther proudly served his country in the U.S. Army, Signal Corps. He would tell service members and veterans, “Thank you for your service.” One of his favorite patriotic selections was “Battle Hymn of the Republic” by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  Luther enjoyed attending Memorial and Veterans Day programs at the National Cemetery.  In 1984, Luther and his wife Mary served as Grand Marshal for the Armed Forces Day Parade in downtown Chattanooga. 

 

I believe Luther’s first love was helping people through his radio program.  He enjoyed seeing listeners find their animals because he’d announced it on the air.  He liked helping organizations promote their events and attended some of them.

 

The telephone was the most important tool of Luther’s program.  It aggravated him to walk into a studio with the phone ringing. He’d head for the phone and say, “Let me stop what I’m doing and answer the phone.” He said, “Every listener is very important to me." Maybe that was why he was king of morning radio for so many years. 

 

Luther told me privately he missed Buddy Houts when he left WDEF and went to work for the Chattanooga News Free Press. Luther said Buddy was very much a part of his morning program.  Luther recalled the time Buddy telephoned and said he had two tickets for sale to the Tennessee Alabama Football Game on the 50 yard line. Luther said the phone went dead about half way through Buddy giving his telephone number. Luther said when it snowed Buddy would call and ask if Ms. Griffin’s Foot Long Hot Dog Stand would be open. That was a popular eatery at Main Street and Central Avenue.

 

Luther said his campaign for mayor in 1951 was all in fun, but the public took him seriously.  Finally Luther admitted he wasn’t serious. In a paid newspaper ad Luther said, “There are four legally qualified candidates, it’s your duty as a citizen to vote for one.”

 

Bahakel Communications, parent company of WDOD, purchased WDEF in the late 1990s. The new owner moved both stations to the old Chattanooga Hardware building at 2615 Broad St. Luther and I broadcast out of the same building. Luther would join me on the “Hey Earl Show” from time to time. He enjoyed the music I was playing especially Perry Como, Doris Day, Ray Conniff, Roger Williams and occasionally a show tune.

 

Luther’s favorite time of the year was Christmas. He especially enjoyed playing the Singing Dogs (at Buddy's request) for News Free Press writer J.B. Collins, who hated it. Luther was proud he introduced to Chattanooga “A Carpenter, Mother and A King” by the Rhodes Kids. Most Christmas mornings you’d find Luther on the air doing what he liked best.

 

I left WDOD in August, 2005 but the two of us remained good friends. I ate with the Tuesday Lunch Bunch almost every week. In December of that same year, I invited Luther to WDYN and we recorded “Luther’s Christmas Favorites,” a program that continues to air every holiday season. 

 

My mother was in the same class as Luther at Central High School. She named me Luther Earl Freudenberg, yes after Luther.  She told me one time, “Don’t get the big head son, there were dozens of other boys named after Luther because he was very popular at Central.” I told Luther I’d never use my first name because there was only one Luther. 

 

In the last few years of his life Luther especially enjoyed sharing his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Luther said he loved to read the Psalms. He told me many times about giving Billy Graham a ride in his Model T in 1953 from the Warner Park Field House to the Hotel Patten where the Graham team was staying. Luther said Mr. Graham had a little trouble getting his long legs into his antique car.   Luther remembered his mother singing in the crusade choir. Luther said he interviewed George Beverly Shea when he was in Chattanooga. “There was never a more gracious person.” One of Luther’s favorite songs was “How Great thou Art” by Mr. Shea.

 

Luther was always there for me. When I was honored in 2,000 by the “Military Order of the Purple Heart” Luther sat with my family. He was always asking about Julie, Amy, and Mark. When the Red Bank City Commission dedicated Freudenberg Lane to me, Luther was on the front row. He wanted to see me inducted into the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame even jokingly telling Jerry Pond, “You are finished in this town if you don’t vote for Earl.”

 

After having lunch at Ricky’s Restaurant in East Lake I hit my forehead on a limb hanging over the sidewalk. Luther said, “Just a minute”, and he went to his pickup and got his small saw. “Well that won’t happen to anybody else.” Only Luther could get by with cutting a Dogwood Tree limb.

 

Luther had opportunities to leave WDEF and go to other stations in Chattanooga. WDOD Co-founder Earl Winger said he tried to hire Luther but was unsuccessful. Ted Turner made Luther a generous offer but Luther wasn’t interested. Luther told me, “WDEF will always be my station.” It was where he started in 1940. 

 

Luther was faithful to church. Motorists passing by Avondale Baptist Church on Wilcox Boulevard would see Luther outside mowing the grass, cutting bushes and even washing windows. He was there Sunday morning and evening and Wednesday night prayer meeting.

 

And I can't forget Mrs. Violet Pannell who lived on Walden’s Ridge. Luther chatted with her several times a week.  She’d predict the first snow and then when Luther told her she was wrong she’d respond, “Well Luther, it’s snowing somewhere.”

 

Veteran broadcaster Jerry Lingerfelt was WDEF operations manager during part of the 60s and 70s. He remembers Luther was always on the job, worked holidays, never sick and didn’t meet a stranger. Lingerfelt said Luther did take his two weeks’ vacation each year but would call in most every day to see if there were any messages.

 

Luther had a majority of the Chattanooga radio audience for years. Former WDEF General Manager Ben Cagle said, “Luther was more concerned about helping people than radio ratings.” He said it was a tradition when the new rating book was released “he’d kiss the top of Luther’s’ bald head.” (a picture of one of those kisses hangs on the wall of Wally’s on McCallie Avenue.)

 

Jason Walker hosted the Morning Show on WDOD FM in 2014. He told me Luther came to work that early October morning and but was very sick. Several employees wanted to take Luther home but he refused. Walker said Luther did agree to drive home and co-workers followed him.  His wife Mary took him to the doctor and Luther was hospitalized. 

 

My last conversation with Luther before his death was from his hospital bed.  My mom passed October 12^th, 2014 and that same day my cell phone rang and it was Luther.  In a very weak voice he said, “Earl, so sorry about your mother. I’ll be out of the hospital in time for her funeral and be there for you." I responded, “Luther, you get well, take care of yourself.”  He said, “I’ll be ok, you know I love you and your family.  See you Earl.” I’ll always remember those last words.  Luther passed a few days later, Oct. 20, 2014. 

 

The world-renowned broadcaster was a very generous person.  It wasn’t common knowledge but he helped many of his listeners in financial distress.  I witnessed his generosity so much and that’s how I remember him. 

 

Luther told me about the first day that WDEF TV went on the air in 1954.  With a chuckle Luther said, “I have a good face for radio.” In the years to come he became a fixture on Chattanooga’s first TV station. It was an honor to work with Luther and even fill in several times on his TV 12 Community Calendar.

 

I can still hear WDEF TV anchor Chip Chapman making the first announcement of Luther’s passing.  It was shortly after 6 the morning of Oct. 20, 2014.  “A few minutes ago (6:00)  Luther Masingill signed on at his new address with his Savior in Heaven at the same time he came on the air in Chattanooga for over 70 years. Our beloved Luther dead at the age of 92.” 

 

Luther’s wife Mary and daughter Joanie have passed on, but his son Jeffery lives in Chattanooga and has many stories about his famous father. 

 

When visiting the VA National Cemetery on Holtzclaw Avenue I usually stop at the gravesite of my friend. Luther is buried on the first row just inside the old main gate off Bailey Avenue, “grave 12”. 

 

I’m sure many readers will have Luther memories as there are many.  I’ve tried to document a few of mine. 

 

As David Carroll has suggested, “In Luther’s memory do a kind deed for someone” as we celebrate the Radio Hall of Famers 100^th Birthday. 

 

Luther Masingill once explained his longevity by noting that “radio was more than playing records. It’s what you do between the songs that matters.” Luther will always be known as the Voice of Chattanooga. 

 

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Earl Freudenberg