It might surprise many people just how many radio stations have 'ghost stories'. Here is mine.

When I started working a KNFM radio years ago, their building was located for years on West Wall Street in Midland. It also housed its 'sister station', KMND (Memory Music).

My first boss was named JJ McClain and if you look through my Facebook friends list, he's still there! Back to the story: Because I was brand new to radio and knew nothing except how to turn the mic on and off and how to load the teletype machine, I was scheduled to work between Midnight and 6AM, Saturday and Sunday mornings. Anyone who has worked the graveyard shift knows that it can do weird things to your mind; so when strange noises and lights turning themselves on/off by themselves; I pretty much just chalked it up to I was tired, drank too much coffee, electrical shorts, that kind of thing.

As I prepared for a shift change at 6 AM on a Monday morning I happen to casually mention what was going on to a fella named Max Howard who did the morning show on the AM station. He look me straight in the eye and said, 'Oh, you've met Rudy.' Now anyone's first thought in a situation like this would be, this guy's pulling my leg. But then JJ sounded off and said, 'Yeah, that's Rudy. He was an engineer who had a heart attack and died here in the radio station. He enjoyed working so much that he just stayed on.'

Photo by Spencer
Photo by Spencer
loading...

The strange light effect in the photo is attributed to 'Rudy'.

Needless to say the next weekend I was a little bit more on my guard. But just like when you're watching water boil nothing out of the ordinary happened. It wasn't until two weeks later that's some lights turned off by themselves some paper fell off the desk and I would encounter cold spots and certain parts of the station.

As I was about to wrap up and leave for the morning, I said 'Good night Rudy! Would you like me to make you a cup of coffee before I leave?'. At that the light came on in the studio. I took that as a yes, made a fresh pot of coffee and went home.

Over the next few months as I continued to work there before I went off to Texas Tech, it felt nice to have somebody to talk to in the lonely morning hours of the graveyard shift. I think Rudy appreciated the company too.

More From Mix 97.9 FM