When "Dr. Don" Bevins speaks of the past, it's almost a living testament to the Bob Seger lyric "Rock 'N' Roll Never Forgets". As Bevins, who officially retired from a long and storied career as first a radio DJ and then a television cameraman on August 1, speaks in the house in which he grew up, he can still recall one of his earliest rock 'n' roll memories.

In 1965, he got a copy of The Rolling Stones' new single, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", on a 45 rpm record and proceeded to lose himself in the music. Putting the single on, he sat on the tin roof outside his second-floor bedroom and listened to the song repeatedly. "I didn't take it off for two days", he said.That kind of commitment and love for both the music and the attendant lifestyle has carried Bevins through his life,

Right place, right time

Growing up on Upper Chloe, Bevins' future was almost decided simply by his family connections. He has many fond memories from his youth connected to music, including playing for years with his band The Stepin Stones, and seeing concerts, including a late 1960s concert in Pikeville by metal legends Blue Cheer and Vanilla Fudge that impacted him heavily. "I knew what I wanted to do the minute I saw Blue Cheer", he said.

But, upon graduating from Pikeville College in 1970, he followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, William McKinley Justice and his father, Grady Bevins, and entered the family business, beginning a career teaching. Bevins was teaching music appreciation at Augusta High School in northern Kentucky when that career was replaced by his first love.

It was there he heard about classes being given at The Columbia School of Broadcasting in nearby Cincinnati, and attended classes there at night, eventually graduating from there."I had always listened to the radio all of my life, people like Wolfman Jack, Larry Lujack from WLS in Chicago ... and Dick Clark", he said. "I loved those people. I always loved rock 'n' roll. I thought, man, it would really be cool to be a disc jockey and be on the radio".

After graduating, he returned home and began working for WLSI in Pikeville, playing country music on the morning shift. "I played Loretta Lynn, Stonewall Jackson, Patsy Cline, Johnny Horton", he said. "I played the traditional country. I played Loretta Lynn when she was new, before country was cool".

At the WLSI building, now torn down and replaced by a parking lot, Bevins said he got a great taste of the business, even seeing country artists like Ralph Stanley and Pike native Curly Ray Cline, who would perform live there on the weekends.

"That building is gone, but the memories live on", he said. "I can't pass by there without thinking of that radio station". But, it wasn't until 1975 that Bevins finally found his niche and earned the nickname by which he is most known.

The doctor is born at WECL

In 1975, Phillip Epling and his son, Allen Epling, started a new radio station in Elkhorn City, aptly given the call letters WECL.Bevins said the station came on the air with the song "The Night Chicago Died", by Paper Lace, in a reference to the fact the station was intended to replace the Chicago based WLS, which was, at the time, the main rock station in the area, particularly at night.

"I found out a new rock 'n' roll station was getting ready to go on the air", he said. "I wanted to be there on day one, and I was. I was one of the lucky chosen".

In that pre-MTV era, WECL filled a cultural hole in the region. "It was the only place you could get real rock 'n' roll music", he said. "You would get pop music on the other stations, or country music. While they were playing Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods, I was playing Neil Young or Roxy Music". WECL, as Bevin sees it, was on the edge. "I was the first and only DJ at the time to play AC/DC", he said. "Nobody would touch it because it was 'devil music' ".

At that time, DJs were responsible for deciding what songs were played, and Bevins had the 'privilege' of receiving promo records sent by record companies and deciding what would go on. That and the now-defunct JJ's Sound Shop at Robinson Creek provided Bevins with the new music he needed to keep listeners tuned in. Early finds through those methods for Bevins were rock legends like Bob Seger and Def Leppard.

"(It was) phenomenal," he said. "People from Salyersville would call me up. I'd say, "I didn't know we got down there." And they would say, "We're back here on the mountain and we've run our own antenna and we're listening to you and nobody but you". It was the same thing in Clintwood, Va."

Bevins said people, to this day, still talk to him about WECL and the music it played." It took on a life of its own," he said. "It became a way of life."

A testament the importance of WECL at the time was the live shows the station promoted locally with major artists like Jerry Lee Lewis and the group Loverboy. In addition, his connection to the station allowed him to meet and befriend artists like Blackfoot, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Cheap Trick.

Because WECL was connected with the Epling-owned movie theater in Elkhorn City, the theater hosted rock movies like Rock 'N' Roll High School, which featured The Ramones, and The Who's Quadrophenia and Tommy, which were well-received with sold-out showings.

While at WECL, he received the moniker "Dr. Don," inspired by the character from the television show WKRP in Cincinnati, Dr. Johnny Fever, who people identified with Bevins and his style, which, because of his long hair and unique clothes, set him apart.

When people ask if he's a real doctor, he said, he responds that he is a doctor of 'psychoceramics,' because he treats crackpots. Bevins said the reasons for the success of the station was a good crew there, including Jeff Webb, who along with Bevins and Allen Epling were the first DJs.

Allen Epling told Bevins and the others to simply get the listeners in, then stepped back. "You've got carte blanche, freedom," he said. "It means so much. You can be creative when the shackles are taken off." That, he said, could not happen today.

"Today, you're tied to a corporate playlist," he said. "All they want the DJ to do is give the time and temperature and get out of the way to make room for the commercials. We entertain people, we give people a reason to listen to the radio." When people listened, he said, they listened not for five or ten minutes, but for hours.

Despite his affinity for WECL, Bevins said that, in the late 1980s, the station changed to an easy listening format, and he couldn't stay there any longer. "I can play country music, but I can't play easy listening," he said. "I can play country music because I actually like country music." But, according to Bevins, his time at WECL was a good one. "It can never be that good again," he said.

A new direction

Bevins moved from WECL to a station in Charleston, W.Va., then was contacted by Paul Gearheart, who was seeking help in starting up a new radio station 'WXLR' and a cable access television station - WPRG.

The fledgling television station looking for a direction carved out a niche locally, not just broadcasting soundbites, but broadcasting (in their entirety) public meetings, local sports, community events and, when possible, concerts.

Bevins said the station chronicles the community, doing things no other station would do, like allowing him to go with a government class from Big Sandy Community and Technical College to President Bill Clinton's second inauguration. On that trip, he said, he filmed the inauguration, parade, then went on to film the students visiting various sites around Washington, D.C.

He also recalls, at one point, doing a piece with then-state Rep. Herbie Deskins, where he went squirrel hunting with Deskins, filming the hunt and filming the skinning of a squirrel later.

But, through it all, Bevins, who remained a DJ even while he was a cameraman and interviewer, carried his love of rock music onto the television station, filming groups like Metallica, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Jefferson Airplane and local native Charlie Gearheart's Goose Creek Symphony and playing the concerts on WPRG.

"What (WPRG's format) can show (is) you, it can show your kids and your family and neighbors on the television," he said.

During that time, he was given the opportunity, with his friend, Eric C. Conn, to travel to remote and exotic areas of the world like the Galapagos Islands, Cambodia and Vietnam, where, in 2002, he met the woman would later become Le Hai Bevins, his wife.

His career only came to a screeching halt while Bevins was filming at last year's Apple Days Festival in Paintsville and was run over and dragged by a truck hauling a box trailer. The damage to his leg was extensive and prevented him from carrying around the camera and doing the amount of walking required by the job.

"That's my main, No.1 goal right now - to recover from that accident and get my health back," Bevins said. He hasn't been able to return to work since, and, decided to go ahead and retire this month.

The future is bright

Bevins, through his career, has done much more than promote the music he has made such an integral part of his life and he has been honored for his importance to the community.

He was named a Kentucky Colonel in 1993 by Gov. Brereton Jones and Floyd County Judge-Executive Paul Hunt Thompson declared Dec. 17, 2004 Dr. Don Bevins Day in recognition of his contributions.

However, for Bevins, one of his proudest accomplishments was being named by the News-Express to its 2000 list of Pike County's 100 Most Significant People, mainly because he was named alongside his grandfather, William McKinley Justice, and aunt, Alice Kinder.

With that past in mind, Bevins said he looks to a bright future. His wife still owns houses in Vietnam, where Bevins said he intends to travel with her.

"I intend to live in the United States, I do intend to live there," he said. "I do intend to travel extensively. I'm only 60, so there's a big world out there to explore and a lot of adventures waiting for me."

Bevins said he wouldn't exclude the possibility of continuing to do some form of radio or television entertainment, but if he ever were to return, it would be on Dr. Don's terms.

Retirement, he said, has given him a taste of freedom, though. "For the first time in my life, I'm not tied to a schedule," he said. "That's the one good thing about retirement. That means freedom to travel at will."

Bevins said he believes he has ended up where he is supposed to be, particularly keeping in mind that rock music is such a big part of who he is. "That's who I am," he said. "You can't deny who you are. I was born to rock. Thank God, I've been lucky enough to do it without being tied to a corporate playlist or anything like that. In my heart of hearts, I think I've made a lot of people happy by being an entertainer."

And he said he doesn't regret not remaining a teacher. "If I would have been a teacher I would have retired before this, and with more money," Bevins said. "But I sure wouldn't have had as much fun."