Spike O'Dell

My friend Spike O'Dell spent most of his life on the radio. It all started in 1977 at a small station in East Moline, Illinois, and within a few years he ended up at Chicago's WGN. Yesterday he made his last broadcast as morning personality and I had the privilege of being there.

The show originated from the Metropolis Performing Arts Center in Arlington Heights and the theater was packed. I flew in Thursday and flew back home Friday afternoon. It was two days of action packed fun, and the weather was beautiful on both flights. Beautiful except for 15 degrees in the "windy city" so it was awesome coming back to sunny Arizona where the temperature was over 70.

While doing research for an article in the Quad City Times the editor found this picture of Spike on my Photo Site and asked permission to use it. It was used, along with a couple of other shots that I took at various stations, in the article that was published Friday.

I took the above photo during the show and also shot a few minutes of Video with my little Sony camera. You can click on the picture for a larger view.

When the broadcast concluded at 9 am Spike threw his earphones into the audience, signed autographs for hundreds of people, then jumped into his car and drove to his new home in Nashville where he is retiring.

So many memories with my friend over all these years, especially when we were both in the Quad Cities.

Here's a toast to you Spike!