Former WHAK D.J. continues to entertain TV viewers in Tennessee

by Peter Jakey–Managing Editor

Ken Schwall has the fun job at a television station. He is the news reporter who gets to do the human-interest story at the end of a newscast. The news can be depressing, so Schwall?s reports on television station WBIR in Knoxville, Tennessee, which are called ?Positively Schwall,? are aimed at cheering people up. Not every segment is a human-interest story, he said, because sometimes they are ?downright silly.?

The former WHAK afternoon radio host, who has been coming to Rogers City since he was 14, and still makes annual trips to the Nautical City every summer, has a knack for coming up with creative stories about nearly any topic. How many reporters can go to the local mall and do a story about why people stand still on escalators? He also did a two-minute segment on the mythical ?Wampus Cat,? after finding what appears to be a doctored head of an animal at a local grocery store. There are other stories about kids running in the hallway of an elementary school preparing for a marathon and another about teams of people stuffing into a minivan.

ONE OF THE teams included staff from WBIR. In his own unique way, Schwall poked fun at his workmates when a large looking fellow was recruited. ?We knew from one look there would be trouble,? said Schwall in the segment, which can be seen on the Internet. ?Usually teams try and find the smallest people around.? ?You think maybe you are not cut out for this?? Schwall asked the man.

?I know I am not cut out for this. I am shaped way too round for this. This is going to be something else,? he said. Schwall then questioned a member of the 10 News team who organized the effort. ?Who recruited that guy?? Schwall asked, the camera diverting over to the man sipping a beverage. ?That would be us,? the young woman said. ?Did you think this out first?? Schwall continued.

?Obviously, there was not a whole lot of thought put into that,? she said, with a contagious laugh.

SCHWALL HAS been hosting ?Positively Schwall? for the last 11 years. A native of Detroit, Schwall began his career in radio at WHAK. ?I was there for five years, and, to be honest, it was the best five years of my professional life,? he said. ?Harvey Klann was great to work for and is still a good friend.? Schwall was the afternoon D.J., playing easy listening and soft music. He also played a half hour of Polkas each day. In Schwall?s bio on the WBIR website, it states, ?He once sprained his tongue while trying to pronounce the name of a Polish accordion player, Casmiradius Thaczsuscowazlowski.? Schwall remembers talking with local people on the air. ?I wish Rogers City still had that.?

Since Schwall?s wife, Corina, is from Tennessee, they decided to move south from their Lake Street home, packing up the moving van with two children and one on the way, with no promise of a job. ?In retrospect, that was pretty stupid,? he said. But within two months, Schwall landed a job at a country music radio station in Maryville, Tennessee. That?s where he would spend the next four years before converting over to television in 1979. He said the transition was easier than you would think.

?I DID SOME news in radio, and for TV it was just a matter of adding video,? said Schwall. He was a beat reporter for his first 17 years at WBIR, before starting ?Positively Schwall.? He doesn?t even bother keeping a list of the famous people he has met over the years. Schwall has done stories on Bob Hope, Dolly Parton, and Red Skeleton, to name a few. Parton had been a regular on the morning show at WBIR in the 1960s. ?I?ve interviewed Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush. But the highlight was having lunch in a small room with Roy Rogers and Gene Autry at the same time,? he said. ?For a baby boomer, it was like I?d died and gone to Heaven.?

?Some of the most interesti

ng people aren?t famous,? said Schwall, ?Like the old moon shiner who now works as a consultant for an ethanol company. ?The most interesting person wasn?t even a person. It was a greyhound dog with two legs. He managed to run and jump just like a four-legged dog. That?s because he had two legs and a whole lot of heart.? Andy Rooney won?t have to worry about his replacement coming from Knoxville, because Schwall?s big ambition is to retire in one piece and spend time with his five grandchildren. ?And spend a whole lot more time sitting at Kortman?s big roundtable listening to Mike Eustice jokes. On second thought??

Schwall?s segments can bound found at the WBIR home page by clicking on ?Positively Schwall? under the heading ?Autobuynet.? Once there, there is an area to become an ITunes subscriber, so the reports are downloaded automatically to your computer. Even though Schwall moved from the area more than three decades ago, he remains interested in Rogers City and has kept his subscription to the Advance going through the years.