Bucky Stover

1979	2004

Back in 1974 when I was a junior in high school, I decided that I was going to work in radio. I was doing the Cave Spring reports on WROV, working at our high school's closed circuit radio station WCSH and thought that in terms of radio, I had to be the coolest high school kid in town.

But I kept hearing about this other guy, a student at Andrew Lewis who was just a few months older than me, who actually worked at two radio stations and had even built one in his basement. "Who is this guy?" I thought. Surely, he couldn't be THAT good.

But he was!

And one night in early 1975 I met him at WROV. Starr Stevens had just replaced Chuck Holloway on the 7-Midnight show, I was at the station hanging around after doing the Cave Spring report on a Wednesday night, and Bucky showed up. We immediately became good friends and Bucky, along with Steve Finnegan, became my radio "alter-egos."

But though The FINMAN and I spent a bit more time together back then, Bucky was in many ways closer to being my "radio twin." Steve had come to the area from Pennsylvania in 1974. But Bucky—like me—grew up in Roanoke listening to WROV all through the 1960s, spent much of the 1970s as a listener/groupie and eventually ended up working there.

Though only 18 in 1976, Bucky had already worked at WPVR with Adrian Cronauer and was the afternoon DJ at WYTI in Rocky Mount. I could barely pick them up from my parents' house in the SW by hanging a long piece of TV wire out the window and hooking one end to my radio. Somewhere I have a tape of him playing "Go All The Way" by the Raspberries for me then telling his local listeners "he's in Roanoke but at least, HE'S LISTENING!"

Bucky drove around in an old white International Scout that had previously been used as a mail truck. The driver's side was on the right instead of the left. Some nights we'd be about half crazy and would drive around town with him slumped down in the driver's seat so nobody could see him. I'd be hanging out of the left side window, waving my arms and screaming "HELP! I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DRIVE!" Yes, we got many strange looks from some very concerned people.

During my senior year, after Bucky had graduated from Lewis, I'd "vanish" from school, drive to his house and do radio shows in his basement. He had a "home brew" control board, two turntables and a r2r tape machine with the WABC New York jingles on a reel. He'd also built a small transmitter and could put his station on the air at about 10 watts—enough enough to cover the neighborhood and occasionally get the attention of Uncle Charlie (the FCC).

We also spent many nights visiting his sister and her husband, who lived near the radio station on Mountain View Terrace. They had the coolest, best sounding stereo I had ever heard in my life and Bucky would grab junk records from the station, take them over there, and we would listen. One of these was the "Dream Weaver" album by Gary Wright. Bucky brought this great album to the attention of WROV, who played the single, and the rest is history.

When Bucky finally debuted on WROV in 1975, I remember sitting there listening to it and thinking "Wow! One of us finally made it." I think I was more nervous than he was. He sounded right at home and did a great show. Thinking about this, he was probably one of—if not THE—youngest guy to ever sit in the WROV air chair. Obviously, all his years of practicing in the basement paid off. Bucky kicked ass!

Bucky went on to work at WUEZ, WSLS-TV, K92, Q99, then about the time I left Roanoke, he was hired at Channel 7 as an engineer. For years, I lost contact with him. But in 2004 we finally got back together again. He regularly emailed all the other former WROV folks and came to the very first WROV reunion that June. He was a major influence in the creation of the WROV History site and personally saved much of the old broadcasting equipment when the former studios were demolished in late 2004.

We stayed in touch until the end. With every visit to Roanoke he was one of the first people I called when in town. And in July 2006 we started getting together with the kids. I told him how much I enjoyed this. He said "Me too, and it's about time we did this." We decided that our families would continue to do this on a regular basis. Indeed, we were supposed to do it again on August 6 but didn't get the chance.

The timing of his passing was so strange that I now think it was one of those things that was just meant to be. It exactly coincided with WROV legends from years gone by all being in Roanoke for a yearly reunion party. We were all part of his extended family and were in town when he needed us.

Sitting here writing this, it's hard to put into words just how much I loved the guy and how much he helped me with my radio career. He was a good Christian and he's now in the Promised Land. So I'll just say "Goodbye, old pal. Put in a good word for me with The Man Upstairs and have a few DG Ales on ice waiting for me."

—Pat Garrett, 2006