Larry Larkin Column



While digging around in the closet this past week, I dumped over a stack of 45 rpm records. While picking up Elvis, Little Richard, The Big Bopper, and all the rest, memories turned back to a man who enjoyed calling himself "Tulsa's Oldest Teenager."

Rockin' John Henry died at the age of 60 in the summer of 2004, but not before becoming the most popular and the longest-lasting radio disc jockey in Tulsa history. No one knew more about rock 'n' roll than John David Henry.

His "Saturday Bandstand" program was legendary as he continued to spin the "oldies" from the earliest days. As impressive as his record collection, which numbered in the thousands, might have been, his encyclopedic knowledge of the music matched it.

Former Tulsa World entertainment writer John Wooley once wrote that John Henry's gravely authoritative voice defined classic rock 'n' roll in Tulsa for more than a quarter-century.

While his radio show moved around to different Tulsa stations, his devoted fans always made the moves with him. Two of the stops were at KAKC and KELi, city pioneers for the rock 'n' roll format.

Like most teenagers of the 1950s, John Henry would drive his car up and down the streets to the music of Buddy Holly, Bo Diddley, Lloyd Price, The Coasters. When a commercial interrupted the music on one station, the kids switched to the other.

I first met John Henry before he became Rockin' John. It was early in 1970. He was working at radio station KWPR here in Claremore and was a few years older than me. The station and a weekly newspaper, The Rogers County Observer, were owned and operated by the same people. My first job following military service was with the newspaper.

Broadcasting from a small office on Second Street, now Patti Page Boulevard, KWPR was on the air only during the daylight hours. It offered local and state news events (including the popular Swap Shop) while playing mostly country music. Even then, John would slip in a Bill Haley and the Comets recording of "Rock Around the Clock" or Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues."

Born and reared in Sapulpa, he moved to Claremore in 1965 and stayed seven years. Also hanging out at the station and doing some on-air work during John's stay was a high-school student by the name of Wayne McCombs.

It was during his stay in Claremore that John met a local young lady named Barbara Deanne Koger. They were married in 1967.

In the following years, John Henry would mention his stay in Claremore numerous times. He always claimed that winter is never over until March 17, the date of the big 1968 snow storm that buried Claremore and the surrounding area.

Bandstand Starts

Although his Bandstand idea was formulated back in 1961 while working at Sapulpa radio station KREK, it didn't really take off until 1979. That was the year he started his Saturday show on KELi. The station had gone back to the sound it originally played when new.

But there are oldies and there are OLDIES.

John Henry played the OLDIES.

Listeners heard early rock 'n' roll, the blues, R&B.; For Baby Boomers, it was a step back in time. That generation's children also discovered they liked the sound.

John was playing the music before the Beatles, before the Beach Boys, before Motown, before disco.

Nowhere else could those fabulous sounds of the ‘50s be heard on the airways. Not only could John pull out a long lost record by Little Willie John or Big Joe Turner, he would spin numbers like "Sixty-Minute Man" by Billy Ward and the Dominoes or "Lolly Pop Mama" by Wynonie Harris.

Jerry Lee Lewis' "High School Confidential" would lead into Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool" or Chuck Berry's “Johnny B. Goode." "The Bells Are Ringing" by The Van Dykes would follow "Sixteen Candles" by The Crests.

John Henry had them all. Not only did he have the actual 78s and 45s, but he had a vast wealth of knowledge of the music and the artists. He shared that information in addition to playing the records.

This knowledge also included early country and hillbilly music. He also had the records from this field, records with titles like "Your String Is Longer than My Yo Yo" or "You Flushed Me From the Bathroom of Your Heart."

It wasn't long before he added this field to his Saturday mornings. Starting at 6 a.m., he called the first two hours the Hadacol Hillbilly Hoedown Show.

His fans knew he was about to go on the air when a rooster crowed. The music of Jimmy Rodgers, the Carter Family, Hank Williams, Bob Wills, would follow.

One Saturday, a fan, Danny Weddle, took a rooster to the studio with the purpose of getting the bird to sound off live on the air. Attempts failed and the listeners were left to wonder if that rooster ended up in the flying skillet the next day.

Another fan called in one week wanting to know about the Hadacol Hillbilly name. John explained that Hadacol was a liquid elixir, popular in the ‘50s, and was said to be the cure-all for various illnesses, aches, and pains. The name, John said, came about because the makers "had a call it something."

Since the tonic included a significant amount of alcohol, John also enjoyed saying there were many grandmas who would never allow alcohol to touch their lips, but they had to have their daily dose of Hadacol.

Between records, John would pick out a certain week in Tulsa's history. He would run down a list of movies from that period playing at the local drive-ins. Elvis' first motion picture "Love Me Tender" might be at the Admiral Twin all week while The Airview was showing "Mr. Rock 'n' Roll" Friday through Sunday.

During his radio shows, John enjoyed taking telephone calls from his fans. Be it a request for a certain song or the telling of a favorite memory, he always took time for the caller.

It was on one of these occasions that our paths crossed again. Talking about the movie singing cowboys, one day John asked his listeners if anyone knew the name of Tex Ritter's horse.

I called and told him White Flash was the correct answer. Remembering me from his Claremore days, we started talking while on the air. Discovering that I knew a little about the B-movie cowboys, John invited me to visit on a future show. He wanted to discuss the cowboy heroes and some of the musical groups that performed with them on the silver screen.

John's favorite cowboy was Lash LaRue. The whip-cracking LaRue dressed in black from head to toe. This was also John's choice of color when it came to clothing.

In time, John invited me back for three more visits. Because he liked to present local talent, John asked me to bring my daughter on one of the trips. Using a prerecorded background tape, she sang Patsy Cline's version of "Crazy."

A Busy, Busy Man

John was a busy individual. For a while, he was on the radio seven days a week. In addition to "Saturday Bandstand," he started a Sunday night show called "Smokehouse Blues." More times than not, this show was a live remote at one of the local nightspots. On Mondays through Fridays he presented a version of his Saturday show.

Referring to it as his day job, John worked for Newspaper Printing Corp., as an advertising executive. During the Tulsa State Fair, he would be involved in the musical entertainment.

John was also a musician himself, playing guitar and fronting a rock 'n' roll revival group, the Bopcats.

Formed in 1980, his band included his sister, Jill, and two cousins, Gwyn and Sue Ann, as backup singers — eventually becoming known as the Bopkittens. The Bopcats quickly became a popular choice for parties and reunions.

A regular highlight was Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue" with John on guitar and singing lead. John always said that “Peggy Sue” was his favorite song from the rock ‘n’ roll era.

Many a time the group would finish a gig after midnight in Springfield, Missouri, or Lawrence, Kansas, or some place else. John would drive back to Tulsa, and go straight to the radio station to start his Saturday morning show.

It was John's work with the Bopcats that allowed him to make personal contract with several performers. The band worked behind the like of Del Shannon, Ricky Nelson, Roy Orbison, Gary U.S. Bonds, and Fabian.

Friendships developed with these entertainers and it wasn't unusual for John to call them for on-air interviews.

In 1991, the Bopcats backed rock legend Chuck Berry in an outdoor show in downtown Tulsa. Because Berry's contract spelled out that no other guitar player could appear on stage with him, it appeared that John would be unable to fulfill his desire to play on the same stage with the musical icon.

John, however, was able to solve the dilemma to his satisfaction. He came out on stage during Berry's closing number and hit the drummer's cymbal with a drumstick.

A change in corporate ownership of the radio station brought his “Bandstand” to a close after nearly three decades on the air. The Saturday morning slot was exchanged for one on Sunday mornings.

Still dressed in all black and wearing his dark sunglasses, the ever-present cigarette in hand, "Tulsa's Oldest Teenager" continued to play the music.

But it just wasn't the same.

There was one good thing, though, about the move. It actually allowed John more time for another love he shared with his listeners. There was not much he didn't know about the “muscle cars” from the early '60s.

On Aug. 10, 2004, John Henry suffered a massive heart attack and died.

Family, friends, and legions of fans overflowed Sapulpa's First Baptist Church for his memorial service. At the conclusion, something not listed in the program took place.

John Wooley wrote: "It hit the congregation like a cloud-to-ground lightning bolt. Spontaneously, applause and chills broke out."

Over the church's sound system came a song by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The title: "The Last DJ."

"There goes the last DJ/

who plays what he wants

to play/

Who says what he wants to say"