William
Edward Compton
Bill Compton was born on Dec. 29, 1945 in Henderson,
Texas. The Compton family settled in Tyler ,Texas, which is where he
got his first job as a disk jockey in 1964. Throughout the mid-sixties
he worked at stations in several cities in Texas including Athens and
Dallas and also in Nashville, TN.
In the late sixties he headed out to Los Angeles but, ended up in Phoenix.
In 1969, he got a job on K-R-U-X radio doing an open format show called
"KRUX Underground". He used the name of "Little Willie
Sunshine" on that show. He also worked at KUPD for a short time.
He eventually became the station manager of a small
500 watt, AM, daytime only, station called "KCAC" . KCAC quickly
became the station of choice of a new generation of music listeners.
The format of KCAC was what became known as "album oriented"
radio. Eventually, KCAC succumbed to financial problems and in 1971
most of the staff migrated to a new station called KDKB.
Bill was the ring leader of a merry band of
free spirits who brought a new era to Phoenix rock and roll radio. A
tragic automobile accident took Bill from us in June, 1977.
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