After more than 55 years in radio, Earl Freudenberg officially retired on Aug. 26.
Known for decades as "Hey Earl" because that's how callers greeted him, Freudenberg spent the last 10 years at WDYN-AM 980, FM 94.9 and WDYN.com.
Barry CourterHe began his broadcasting career as an intern in 1962 at WAPO-AM 1150 while in his teens and started at WDOD-AM 1370 the day he graduated from Kirkman Technical School in 1965. The military called in 1970, and he went to work at the American Forces Network Europe in Frankfurt, Germany, for a year.
He spent the next 40 years at WDOD-FM 96.5 as news director, talk-show host, announcer and doing some sales. He also worked at WDEF-TV 12 for a bit.
He was inducted into the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame earlier this year.
On his last day, Freudenberg and Ben Cagle, another longtime local radio and TV veteran, spent the better part of an hour on WDYN swapping stories and saying goodbye. He also was visited by former Hamilton County Commissioner Curtis Adams. The two have worked together on various radio shows for years.
Freudenberg spent a good deal of time talking about Jack Hatcher, who passed away last week. The two worked together at WDEF, but like most veterans of local radio and TV, everybody seems to know everybody and they had plenty of stories to tell about Hatcher, Luther Masingill and the local broadcasting scene over the years.
You can see the video on Freudenberg's Facebook page.
* WRXR-FM 105.5 has changed up its format a bit, though it is still playing rock. The station has brought in Wells Adams and his morning show from 6 to 10 a.m.
The show went live at midnight Sunday. Adams has appeared on the reality TV shows "The Bachelor," "The Bachelorette" and "Bachelor in Paradise." He'll do the show live from Nashville, where he's based, and will make regular monthly appearances in Chattanooga.
* It was great to visit the new Bones Smokehouse location on Saturday. Now located in the space formerly occupied by Fanatics on East Brainerd Road, Bones was forced to relocate because of the widening of East Brainerd Road.
It's another Hennen operation with a second generation of family members heavily involved.
One of these days I need to do a story on all of the people Tim, Johnny and Denny Hennen have put through college via their restaurants over the years.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.