The Year Was 1988: Mark Remembers

I wasn't as focused on my broadcast career as I could have been in 1988, but I got hired at Cat Country. I also had a job spinning records at T-Birds. I was driving a school bus a couple of days a week. Then Coors called.

The distributor of Coors beer was independent of other beer companies at that time. They were doing a promotion at the Eagles Nest called, "Tight Fittin' Jeans Contest" and they needed an emcee. The pay was free Coors Beer. Sold.

The company representative at that time was a gentleman named Jim Rex, a man I would grow to think very highly of. Jim took me golfing even after I tried to kill him with an errant shot. The "Tight Fittin' Jeans" contest would turn into "Tight Fittin' Shorts" which would turn into some other contest that would occupy my Thursday nights for most of the summer.

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Denny Menholt Chevrolet was our biggest advertiser then. I couldn't even begin to guess how many total hours all the members of our staff spent in that showroom pitching car deals over the airwaves. We would also broadcast each show from the roof of his dealership every year during fair week. One of our first promotions had our mid-day guy stay in a coffin in the showroom for several days.

On the air, we were playing Keith Whitley, Highway 101, Tanya Tucker, Eddie Rabbitt, and folks like those because Clint Black, Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt and Garth Brooks had not had hits yet.

I am on my 14th general manager, my sixth or seventh ownership group, and I couldn't even guess how many salespeople have come and gone.

And we're not done yet.