Every Auburn grad thinks that their years were the glory days of confrontational evangelism on The Plains (I wrote my first English composition paper on my first experience; in ’97 it was bagpipes, not Rickrolling.)
But when we read tweeted reports of a concourse preacher helping to make memories for the current crop of Auburn students Wednesday morning, we knew it was a perfect chance to honor cross-generational superstar Bro. Jed Smock… by celebrating his theory on rock ‘n’ roll.
These recently rediscovered (on our end, anways — can’t remember exactly where we got them) field-recording promo drops for WEGL were, we think, produced sometime in the mid-90s (let us know if we’re wrong). But their message is timeless: Brother Jed prefers rap.
Have some concourse preacher memories? Please share. Then repent.
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Remember a member of his flock also preached adjacent to the Eagle Cage. Sister Cindy described herself as a former disco queen in the early 80’s. I believe they eventually married.
Still remember breaking the picket line in ’79 to enter the theater to see the (now classic) Monty Python’s “Life of Brian.” The theater manager was serving free drinks to the protesters which were, in his own words, “the best advertising gimmick I never thought of!” Ticket sales were up and the theater was packed for every showing.
Too funny, especially when I asked any of the picketing students if they had even seen the movie – of course they hadn’t.
I remember the coeds who used to provoke him deliberately – exaggerated walks with shorts & mini skirts on. Always a big response. I wasn’t a big fan though – sorry – he kinda creeped me out.
There was a preacher out by where the Eagles Cage used to be and where the Tiger Transit picked up who would rant and rave about the sins of our generation. One of the topics he always covered was homosexuality and “the sins of sodom and gomorrah”.
One day he was out there yelling and carrying on with a big crowd around him and kids trying to pick arguments with him. My buddy (who was a big fella, mechanical engineer-gear head type) and I were leaving the Haley Center about to get on the Tiger Transit, when my buddy said “Hold on a minute”. He then walked over to the preacher who was in mid rant, grabbed the pastor by the face, gave him a big Bugs Bunny style kiss on the cheek, and then calmly walked over and got on the transit bus. That old man went crazy yelling, and casting out damnations, and all else. It was hilarious!
Hi, Jeremy.
That’s my voice you hear talking to Brother Jed. I believe the recording was made in the spring of 1996.
My freshman year I encountered Brother Jed standing on the concourse and gesturing in the direction of the quad dorms. I believe that his exact words were, “Who needs a whorehouse when you have all of these dorms right here on campus.”
You know, thinking back I have to wonder why all the male students within ear shot (myself included) didn’t jump the guy for besmirching the honor of the Auburn women living in those dorms.
Your voice is kind of what makes it.
Ah, the Brother Jed promos. Always a favorite to play during my shift at WEGL.
I remember one concourse preacher in the early 1990s who said this gem, “A girl who puts a cigarette in her mouth will put anything in her mouth.” Words to live by if I ever heard them.
Thanks for compliments. I had forgotten I did that, am surprised they still exist, and am very gratified that they still entertain.
My favorite WEGL promo has to be the Bro. Micah one. It goes something like this, “This is Bro. Micah on WEGL 91.1. You’re listening to rock ‘n roll, and the consequences of that are up to you.”
Also, last year there was a new group of campus preachers spouting all sorts of psudo-gosple. One of the major hitches in their proverbial get-along was about how once you’re saved, you never sin again. The neat thing was that all of the people who were talking with them – and subsequently preventing them from shouting accusations at students – were all devout Christians who knew the Bible better than they did and were attempting to enlighten them to the errors of their ways!
The WEGL Website used to have a huge collection of drops from their rotation in .wav format but I haven’t seen it in a few years. Wonder if someone at the station could put them back up; they were pretty good.
I was going to say that’s Jon, but he beat me too it. And 1996 sounds about right. (I haven’t seen Jon since he left for Texas in, what, ’97 or so? Still knew the voice.)
When you see Jed, watch the quiet, younger people working the outer fringe of the circle. Jed’s the attractor, they are the show.
I worked at WEGL for 2005-2009 (Dr. Rock & Capt. Fantasy Show/Hot Damn Radio Hour) and I was the one who recorded the Brother Micah drop on the same day as the Rick Rolling video. I was really familiar with Jed Smock and the two WEGL drops but I wanted to get Micah to actually say the name of the radio station so we could make it a legal ID. That was the best ideas I’ve ever had.
Also, I always thought the Jed Smock drops were from the early 2000s, but I’m not positive.
Just read Jon Heining’s comment. I’m an idiot.
Awesome, Brother Jed, a mystery playhouse staple. During one of his “sermons” was the first time I ever saw a bible burned.
When Sister Cindy preached, she warned the girls, “Those fraternity boys just want to get inside your pants.”
Which drew a loud cheer from the fraternity boys in attendance.
I recognized that as Jon’s voice instantly . . . that was a classic drop. On of my favorite things to do at the station was create drops and legal ids from various audio clips that I scrounged up (I think I still have a few saved from my old, college hard drive), but the unaltered, “live” ones were always the best.
Another classic set were some custom drops that were done by Andy Merrill (the voice of Brak from the Space Ghost cartoons) as the result of an “oh man, how cool would it be I’d he actually did it for us?” request from, I want to say, Chris “Cowman” Phurroughs (correct me if I’m wrong, Jon).
Yup, Chris Phurrough. He was super-serious about going into radio and had some connections with Cartoon Network in ATL. The Brak drops were my favorite, after Vincent Price.
I loved to hear Brother Jed and Sister Cindy– not to taunt them, but to enjoy their rants. They were entertaining, whether you agreed with them or not! I also enjoyed collecting the Chick cartoon tracts often left in their wake. (I still collect them to this day… over 275 different titles!) They inspired several classic Mystery Playhouse promos. I made many dozens of them, and eventually made up compilations of them in mini-radio dramas. You can still hear them on line if you Google “Mystery Playhouse Comedy Clips”.