K
KD5VHF
Guest
==>PEGGY SUE GETS LICENSED!
During the recent Buddy Holly W5B commemorative special event operation,
Peggy Sue Gerron-Rackham was perhaps the most prominent of the W5B guest
operators. The namesake of Holly's 1957 "rockabilly" hit "Peggy Sue"--who
went to high school with Holly and later married the drummer in his band,
The Crickets--says participating in the W5B event sharpened her desire to
get her ham license. That happened this week when the FCC granted her the
call sign KE5AKW. She now plans to apply for a vanity call sign.
"Out of all the Buddy Holly events that I have attended in my life," she
said after the W5B special event. "This event will always stand out in my
memory."
As rock n' roll history has it, Holly originally titled the song "Cindy
Lou," but Crickets drummer Jerry Allison convinced the singer to change
the tune's name to "Peggy Sue" just before the recording session. Gerron,
who still goes by that name, says that story is "close" to the truth but
not entirely accurate. After Holly's death, Gerron toured with The
Crickets when the band got back together. Holly's follow-up song "Peggy
Sue Got Married" inspired a 1986 movie starring Kathleen Turner.
Over the years, Gerron has made public appearances all over the
country--including on "Oprah," VH1, the Oxygen Network, as well as network
TV, and has worked as a speaker, columnist, back-up singer and talk radio
co-host (her show was called "Rave On"). Getting on the air during the W5B
special event, however, turned out to be very "special" for her.
"You can do TV specials, and you can be interviewed by the very best DJs,"
she said, but there is nothing like the feeling of putting your finger
down and transmitting your call sign and having somebody answer back."
The Buddy Holly special event--January 29 through February 2 in Holly's
home town of Lubbock, Texas--marked the 45th anniversary of the
entertainer's untimely death in a February 3, 1959, plane crash in Iowa.
The mishap also claimed the lives of early rock n' rollers Ritchie Valens
and JP "The Big Bopper" Richardson.
The Lubbock Amateur Contest Club's W5LCC provided the site for the special
event station. Some area hams still remember Holly as a classmate at
Lubbock High School. Bryan Edwards, W5KFT, who obtained the W5B call sign,
reports W5B logged more than 1000 contacts. The special event generated a
lot of interest in talking to Peggy Sue, and she obliged as many as
possible. A few shared personal recollections of Holly and his music.
"This is not planned conversation," Gerron said of Amateur Radio. "It's
one person communicating with another. Is anybody out there? You bet they
are! Keep rockin'!"
Other operators during the W5B special event included Doug Hutton, W5JUV,
Terry Bajuk, KE5BL, Dennis Brush, WA5CBG, Joey Johnston, KC5MVZ, Eddie
Petmecky, KC5OBX, Davis Plunkett, K5DLP, Rick Roy, KB5KYJ, and Tom Tucker,
KB5UOP.--thanks to Mike Gruber, W1MG, who provided information for this
article
<hr />73, Mike KD5VHF@ARRL.net</p>
During the recent Buddy Holly W5B commemorative special event operation,
Peggy Sue Gerron-Rackham was perhaps the most prominent of the W5B guest
operators. The namesake of Holly's 1957 "rockabilly" hit "Peggy Sue"--who
went to high school with Holly and later married the drummer in his band,
The Crickets--says participating in the W5B event sharpened her desire to
get her ham license. That happened this week when the FCC granted her the
call sign KE5AKW. She now plans to apply for a vanity call sign.
"Out of all the Buddy Holly events that I have attended in my life," she
said after the W5B special event. "This event will always stand out in my
memory."
As rock n' roll history has it, Holly originally titled the song "Cindy
Lou," but Crickets drummer Jerry Allison convinced the singer to change
the tune's name to "Peggy Sue" just before the recording session. Gerron,
who still goes by that name, says that story is "close" to the truth but
not entirely accurate. After Holly's death, Gerron toured with The
Crickets when the band got back together. Holly's follow-up song "Peggy
Sue Got Married" inspired a 1986 movie starring Kathleen Turner.
Over the years, Gerron has made public appearances all over the
country--including on "Oprah," VH1, the Oxygen Network, as well as network
TV, and has worked as a speaker, columnist, back-up singer and talk radio
co-host (her show was called "Rave On"). Getting on the air during the W5B
special event, however, turned out to be very "special" for her.
"You can do TV specials, and you can be interviewed by the very best DJs,"
she said, but there is nothing like the feeling of putting your finger
down and transmitting your call sign and having somebody answer back."
The Buddy Holly special event--January 29 through February 2 in Holly's
home town of Lubbock, Texas--marked the 45th anniversary of the
entertainer's untimely death in a February 3, 1959, plane crash in Iowa.
The mishap also claimed the lives of early rock n' rollers Ritchie Valens
and JP "The Big Bopper" Richardson.
The Lubbock Amateur Contest Club's W5LCC provided the site for the special
event station. Some area hams still remember Holly as a classmate at
Lubbock High School. Bryan Edwards, W5KFT, who obtained the W5B call sign,
reports W5B logged more than 1000 contacts. The special event generated a
lot of interest in talking to Peggy Sue, and she obliged as many as
possible. A few shared personal recollections of Holly and his music.
"This is not planned conversation," Gerron said of Amateur Radio. "It's
one person communicating with another. Is anybody out there? You bet they
are! Keep rockin'!"
Other operators during the W5B special event included Doug Hutton, W5JUV,
Terry Bajuk, KE5BL, Dennis Brush, WA5CBG, Joey Johnston, KC5MVZ, Eddie
Petmecky, KC5OBX, Davis Plunkett, K5DLP, Rick Roy, KB5KYJ, and Tom Tucker,
KB5UOP.--thanks to Mike Gruber, W1MG, who provided information for this
article
<hr />73, Mike KD5VHF@ARRL.net</p>