Across from the main studio is the station’s “museum,” housing some of the equipment used to produce a radio show over the decades.None of the disc jockeys gathered inside the WFLI-AM 1070 studios nine days ago could remember the young lion’s name, but the ones who were at the station in the mid-’60s all remembered having to clean up after the station mascot.
“What a mess,” says Tommy Jett.
Station owner William Benns thought it would be a good idea to keep the animal in a cage inside the lobby of the station, and it fell to DJs to clean the cage. The station also at one time had a myna bird that learned a few choice words from the staff. Such mascots were popular with radio stations, apparently.
“I don’t know why [Benns] thought it was a good idea at the time,” says Ben Cagle of the story he’s heard many times.
“He fed it hamburger, and [on car trips] he would put the lion in the back seat and he’d put the hamburger meat in the seat in front of his passenger and the lion would reach around to get the hamburger meat.”