| TRAVELS OF DURSMIRG VOLUME IV THE ROGUES OF ST. AUGUSTINE AND OTHER SOCIAL MISFITS Chapter 36 |
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WFOY RADIO STATION; The call letters stood for the “Fountain of Youth”. The radio station was originally part
of the financial empire of Mayor Walter B. Fraser who also happened to be the owner of the fabled “Fountain of
Youth” located on the adjacent property.
The radio station was housed in a beautiful old stately colonial building, constructed of tabby, a cement building
material using oyster shell in place of stone in the old original style of St. Augustine and was originally designed with
a thatched roof. Situated on the waterfront with a fabulous view of the expansive salt marsh and the ocean inlet
beyond, it was favored with fresh sea breezes. The station was nestled in a heavily wooded and quiet neighborhood
filled with gigantic ancient old oaks older than the city itself, aromatic southern red cedar and palms. WFOYs unique
location was adjacent to the north side of the fabled Fountain of Youth tourist attraction on a quiet little dead end
street named Radio Road where all you ever heard were the birds chirping.
Fred Cone, the governor of Florida, traveled to St. Augustine in the 1930s to dedicate the unique building. This
historic building at 1 Radio Road was where the famous evangelist Billy Graham preached his first radio sermons
back in the 1930s.
In the 1970s when Jane and I were neighbors with our Dufferin Street properties the owner of WFOY Radio was Pat
Barnard who was a real southern gentleman and always would stop by to chat in a neighborly sort of way whenever
he was driving by. I can still remember some advice he gave to me one day when he saw that Jane and I were busily
building our new 540 foot dock. Pat said; “John, you know that people that have long docks have more friends than
people that are free with their booze.”
The pioneer female broadcaster, Frankie Walker was so much apart of WFOY and the community that her name
was a St. Augustine household word up into the 1980s. Frankie served over the decades as news director, on-air
personality, talk show host and even corporate officer. When you thought of WFOY Frankie Walker and her
outgoing and talkative associate Pappy Schilling automatically came to mind.
Pappy Schilling the other station announcer was a regular fixture synonymous with WFOY in those same years
and had his own special programming and style.
Pappy started the broadcast day and would first open his morning broadcast with a little prayer session that he
cleverly called “Snap Finger Creek”. As religious and corny as it was and as sentimental as Pappy Schilling was I
must at least give him credit for his originality and daily reliability.
For many years WFOY was the only local radio station in town and broadcast everything of local interest.
With its small population St. Augustine’s only radio station tended to be lost in another bygone era. When we arrived
in town competition also arrived and it marked the end of some of St. Augustine’s unique old-time small-town
quaintness.
Pappy was a very big man and drove a very small car. He had a little white Rambler Gremlin, and when he sat in it
the little car seemed to creek and groan as it perceptively heeled to the port side and groaned under Pappy’s bulky
burdensome weight. One day Pappy ran out of gas in front of our Flamingo Apartment building and sat in his car
patiently waiting for over two hours before someone came by to render assistance and answer his prayers.
next chapter
of the financial empire of Mayor Walter B. Fraser who also happened to be the owner of the fabled “Fountain of
Youth” located on the adjacent property.
The radio station was housed in a beautiful old stately colonial building, constructed of tabby, a cement building
material using oyster shell in place of stone in the old original style of St. Augustine and was originally designed with
a thatched roof. Situated on the waterfront with a fabulous view of the expansive salt marsh and the ocean inlet
beyond, it was favored with fresh sea breezes. The station was nestled in a heavily wooded and quiet neighborhood
filled with gigantic ancient old oaks older than the city itself, aromatic southern red cedar and palms. WFOYs unique
location was adjacent to the north side of the fabled Fountain of Youth tourist attraction on a quiet little dead end
street named Radio Road where all you ever heard were the birds chirping.
Fred Cone, the governor of Florida, traveled to St. Augustine in the 1930s to dedicate the unique building. This
historic building at 1 Radio Road was where the famous evangelist Billy Graham preached his first radio sermons
back in the 1930s.
In the 1970s when Jane and I were neighbors with our Dufferin Street properties the owner of WFOY Radio was Pat
Barnard who was a real southern gentleman and always would stop by to chat in a neighborly sort of way whenever
he was driving by. I can still remember some advice he gave to me one day when he saw that Jane and I were busily
building our new 540 foot dock. Pat said; “John, you know that people that have long docks have more friends than
people that are free with their booze.”
The pioneer female broadcaster, Frankie Walker was so much apart of WFOY and the community that her name
was a St. Augustine household word up into the 1980s. Frankie served over the decades as news director, on-air
personality, talk show host and even corporate officer. When you thought of WFOY Frankie Walker and her
outgoing and talkative associate Pappy Schilling automatically came to mind.
Pappy Schilling the other station announcer was a regular fixture synonymous with WFOY in those same years
and had his own special programming and style.
Pappy started the broadcast day and would first open his morning broadcast with a little prayer session that he
cleverly called “Snap Finger Creek”. As religious and corny as it was and as sentimental as Pappy Schilling was I
must at least give him credit for his originality and daily reliability.
For many years WFOY was the only local radio station in town and broadcast everything of local interest.
With its small population St. Augustine’s only radio station tended to be lost in another bygone era. When we arrived
in town competition also arrived and it marked the end of some of St. Augustine’s unique old-time small-town
quaintness.
Pappy was a very big man and drove a very small car. He had a little white Rambler Gremlin, and when he sat in it
the little car seemed to creek and groan as it perceptively heeled to the port side and groaned under Pappy’s bulky
burdensome weight. One day Pappy ran out of gas in front of our Flamingo Apartment building and sat in his car
patiently waiting for over two hours before someone came by to render assistance and answer his prayers.
next chapter
(Ray Charles was a graduate of St.
Augustine’s Florida School for the
Deaf and Blind that was opened in
1884. The school is just four blocks
north of the radio station and also
fronted the salt marsh of Hospital
Creek.)
Augustine’s Florida School for the
Deaf and Blind that was opened in
1884. The school is just four blocks
north of the radio station and also
fronted the salt marsh of Hospital
Creek.)