I was so fortunate to make friends at Ohio University who I’ve laughed with and learned from my entire life.
Now I have to refer to one of them, Steve Korte, in the past tense. I worked with Steve at WOUB, the public TV and radio station at OU that gave us practical experience in what one of my journalism profs loved to call “the workaday world.” That’s Steve at work in this picture from 1977, wearing what looks like an ancient headset and a ‘Hocking Valley Bluegrass’ t-shirt, directing a crew of four through an evening’s programming.
We got an email from Steve’s wife Susan yesterday conveying the sad news that he passed away from an apparent heart attack just minutes into the new year. Susan and Steve met in Athens, worked together early in their marriage at WHBC radio in Canton, Ohio for not much money, and raised a daughter (almost off to college) and a son in a town that had a lot of family connections, but not much in the way of broadcasting opportunities.
He turned his love of pipe organs into a series of gigs (can you call them that?) at churches throughout Canton on Sundays, and used his deep understanding of sound and music to create original compositions, recordings of his and others’ performances, and I can only imagine what albums, tapes, and digital bits of sound he has stashed away over the years.
Like many of the true broadcasters he loved to collect the artifacts that make up radio and television’s young history—classic RCA carbon microphones, old jingle packages from the days when radio had great jingles, and snippets of sound from all over. He took some old audio tapes of mine and his, cleaned them up and sent me a one-of-a-kind CD called ‘J.C.Burns Radio Arcana’, filled with all kinds of wonderful bits from his past and mine, packaged elegantly with a custom-made cover. What a great gift, and of course, its contents wander around with me today on my iPod.
Where some of us would just remember an old song from a Columbus, Ohio kids’ program, he’d sit down and painstakingly, authentically recreate it. Here, please enjoy Steve’s rendering of ‘Wake up Mr. Tree’ from WBNS-TV’s Luci’s Toy Shop, circa 1960-something.
He took a job at Diebold that he was way overqualified for in order to make a good life for his wife and family, but in my mental snapshot he is and was a remarkable father, broadcaster and musician, and I’ll miss him. Our hearts go out to Susan, Lily, and Will.
* * * * *
Found this obit for Steve in The Marion Star, in his hometown.
January 5th, 2007 at 7:33 am
So sorry to hear about your friend.
January 5th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
oh, john, i am so sorry to hear about steve. i don’t think i ever met him but i remember you speaking of him so often. condolences. he’ll live on on my ipod, too; i’m copying “wake up, mr. tree.” bring the CD next time you’re in the neighborhood. i’d love to hear it.
hugs and stuff.
January 5th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Thanks for letting Bob know about this. I can hardly find words for how devastated I feel or for how unreal it all seems. I actually said to Bob, when he told me, “No, he was in our wedding!” Because somehow it is still impossible for me to reconcile the notion that someone can be dead who was in our wedding. It’s preposterous.
It’s hard for me to imagine how we could value you any more than we already did, but somehow it feels to me like we do, now. You and Steve shared a special place in Bob’s heart and memory and now, you live there alone.
Go collect a huge hug from Sammy and hold onto each other and know that in spirit, Bob and I are in that hug too. What a heartache!
Love,
Susan
February 16th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
John,
Found your website when googling Steve. Steve was an icon at our company — one of our favorite clients. And the only one, as far as I know, who could throw down on a pipe organ.
As a fellow musician, Steve and I regularly talked music, and I will miss him. But now that I have Wake Up Mr. Tree, I’ll be able to remember him every time my cell phone rings.
I’ve also played it for others at The Carson Group who were fortunate enough to know and work for Steve. And I sent it to a guy who used to work here who’s now a commander serving our nation overseas in Crete. So look how far Steve’s music is going because of your great memory of our friend.
Thanks for putting this up there.
Any friend of Steve’s is a friend of mine.
George
May 24th, 2007 at 10:57 am
John – shocked to see Steve’s name listed in the ‘In Memorium’ column in OU Today just received. I always skim, hoping I WON’T see someone I know. Nothing but fond, fun memories of Steve at OU & Telecom. Working, singing, laughing & enjoying time together. Your tribute is wonderful.
– Jean OU ’80