Hayward Talley, who with a partner put WSMI Litchfield, Illinois on the air in 1950, has passed away at age 91

His son Brian is running the show now, but Mr. Talley was active in the station's management and operation until late 2013.

A true radio broadcaster, he was the model for "small town radio" in these parts

I met him once, election day evening of 1978, when I was working for Motorola and drove to Greenville, IL to repair a remote broadcast transmitter - old Motorola base station that he had converted to get audio from the Greenville location back to Litchfield - as I recall, it took a tube that he didn't have on hand. Fixed it and he offered to buy me a meal as it was already 6 p.m.

A true gentleman, will never forget him thanking me over and over for "driving all that way to help a small-time operator."

There was nothing "small" about him.

R.I.P. Mr. Talley.

Contributed by KHMO engineer Gary Glaenzer 

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