The Coles County Reporter
A new generation of the Lynch Family takes to
N ews Reporting and Gathering
Page Two of my Central Illinois Radio History
The Story Continues

    My brother and I were always involved in the gathering of news and the witnessing of fires.  In the old days, police did little to keep crowds and onlookers away.  Many times they would even become helpers.  Perry Mason was one of our favorite TV shows.  We begged mom to go to a real trial.  She fulfilled our wish.  We attended a murder trial in the Coles County Courthouse.    This day's session would be very exciting and even scary.  A hallway distracter (faint'n Annie) had a fake heart attack.  The noise drew all the sheriff's deputies and Sheriff Paul B. Smith, and many in the audience out of the courtroom to leave the defendant by himself with my mom, brother and I, as well as the judge and several spectators-- all left unprotected from the defendant.  The judge was very upset over everyone leaving the court room.   I can remember him yelling for all to come back in.  That was the only trial I attended until serving on jury duty in my adult life.

    It's one thing to be raised by a professional fireman (off 24 hours, on 24 hours), but to have a news-reporter as a mom is mind boggling for me and probably most reading this.  We actually turned out pretty normal. 

Go to my home page <When the Gong Rings, History of the Charleston Fire Department>  to see the other side of this story.

    I'm personally glad that we were not left out of our parents lives and careers.  My brother and I both saw a lot of history.  We were well protected and not put in danger (I think!)

Here's the rest of her story

This photo was taken in the new Charleston studio of WLBH, on the square in the Lincoln Building.  Before signing on, Louise would have to make a connection and have the Mattoon adjust her volume, etc.  The amplifier in the picture was built by J.R. Livesay, and is present in the Taylor historical collection.

This photo show the Coles County Reporter interviewing the Mayor of Charleston during a parade on the square.  In this scene, Louise is actually broadcasting for WEIC, a new station for Charleston.  She was a very good interviewer and had personal interviews with governors, Bobby Kennedy, Senator Chuck Percy, and a myriad of very important "local yocals," including many children-- All important to her and the listeners!
    A letter dated 1960, when Louise would return to a Sunday afternoon broadcast for J.R. Livesay and WLBH.  She sold her own spots at $5.00 a minute.  She also wrote her own commercials and produced her own programs.  While at WEIC, Louise had several short news shows, and a 30-minute Society program each weekday morning.  She was first to introduce Fats Domino, Chet Atkins, and many others to listeners of Central Illinois.

A Fan letter from a local judge.  He wanted Louise to play a little Irish tune for his grand-daughter.  Louise could mix with any group, and was friends with then EIU president Quincy Doudna.

 WLBH summer picnic with the staff of the station.  In the second row on the far right is the Coles County Reporter.  In the front row with the 7up bottle is me (wearing glasses).  J.R. Livesay, Coles County radio pioneer is in the back row, with the white hat and light shirt.

Here's how the Coles County Reporter gathered her news.
(This would be good advice for today's local reporters)
This is how Louise Taylor conducted her business

If you mix these ingredients, you could succeed at broadcasting. 
A good voice and product to sell are important.

News and Events During the WEIC Golden Years
    The news on WEIC remained Personal and very local.  Louise Taylor was a good interviewer.  Many important personalities were happy to appear on her shows.  She interviewed EIU Presidents, Illinois State Senator Red Graham, Senators Chuck Percy and Estes Kefauver (Tenn.).  She had a personal interview with Bobby Kennedy when he would visit EIU during a campaign.  She rode in the limo with Kennedy between Mattoon & Charleston. Louise covered many parades, historical events, all the Coles County
Fairs, family reunions, fundraisers.

                       WEIC/WLBH Community Involvement

    Louise did exactly what station owners, J.R. Livesay & Jack Owens wanted.   It was difficult with her independent "spirit," but she was a good team person at the stations.
    She personally did a lot of things to make her radio programs popular and
important.  Here's some of the highlights of her community involvement
career:
Special Happenings During the Golden Days

    Louise helped a lot of people.  She would do as little as play a song for someone during her morning program.  She would recognize activities in town that were probably minor, but put the participants on a pedestal for a moment.  She would take clothes and food to old people in town that she found out were not being taken care of by anyone.  She would organize the annual Santa Claus for the Chamber of Commerce.
    In the early 60's, she took on the established Democratic leadership in Coles County and went to Springfield and got herself a state job.  She would work for the Department of Revenue as a Sales Tax Investigator. She proved her point.  WEIC had switched to a WLS "hip" format.  The news show had switched back to WLBH on Sunday afternoons, but continued, sometimes taped in advance because of her state job.  She did not like the state job, but proved that she had influence.  Again, my brother and I traveled with her to many tiny towns in Central Illinois.  Louise met a bunch of new people in an even larger area.
                   Life was interesting in the Taylor Household
    The Taylor children would go to school, watch TV, swim during the summer, help mom and dad in news gathering and fire fighting, and still end up fairly normal, but actually led very unusual life styles.
The radio station was a cool place to play in.  You had to be quiet when the red lights were on, but could do lots of quiet things.  Louise had several tricks played on her when trying to be serious.  WEIC had a boom mike.  One of the engineers or co-workers hung a very realistic plastic spider on the end of the mike and swung it in front of the society news reporter.  She displayed her sense of humor with uncontrollable laughter and had the engineer play a Fats Domino tune while she regained her composure.  These periods of laughing andloss of control would sometimes eat up an entire program.  At home, we had to put up with all kinds of people calling with news and information.In addition Mr. Taylor was a captain on the Charleston Fire Departmentand was on duty every other 24 hours, and on-call most off days.
    The Taylor family seemed to join in on most disasters and news
events.  We always felt the need to be there.   I can still remember the distinctive smell of a burning house, or the confusion of a major accident scene.

Career in Radio Ends in Retirement
    Louise returned to WLBH in 1960 to continue the Sunday afternoon news tradition started in 1937 by Lee Lynch.  A brief stint at WKZI at Casey, Illinois would end her career at news broadcasting.   The Golden Age of radio of the old style seemed to end, as with many other American traditions in the very late 1960's.  No doubt television had become the predominant source for information and entertainment.  Ray Livesay built his own TV station at nearby Terre Haute, Indiana (WTWO-NBC affiliate).  Louise was invited to work for him there, but declined because of the distance.  Family took precedent.  Many small local radio stations still attempt to provide a "public service to the community", but often end up with satellite programming with distant personalities.  Louise Taylor continued with a large variety of activities and future careers.  She worked for the Area Adult Education Center in Mattoon; ran a successful teen center in Charleston "The Nowhere" for a few years, demonstrated "Like" soda pop for a short while; worked several years at the same hospital she helped raise a million pennies for, as a sterile services technician and a floor secretary.  She loved to greet patients and give the doctors a hard time.  She could get by with it.  In 1972, she ran for office again, this time as Mayor of Charleston against her husband's boss.  She came in third out of four, but got the man in that she wanted-- her husband's boss.  Her last job with the public was bookkeeper at a local garbage house.  There she helped keep the spirits of the local garbage workers high with jokes and attention.
A News-reporter has to be a "People Person". 
Louise Taylor and Lee Lynch exemplified this characteristic.

Visit Page One for More Louise Taylor, Coles County Information

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