Monday, February 02, 2009

Memories of Jong Mea - continued

This morning, I got another very nice comment on the Jong Mea posting I wrote in February 2007. It was from someone who patronized the Columbus location back in the 70's. What made this comment exceptional was that it was from Doug Ritter (Ritterling), a former radio disc jockey in Columbus (WCOL-AM 1230) and San Francisco (KITS-FM 105.3), the only 2 cities I consider as home.

Doug wrote:
Lani-
I believe that you were working the register the night I proposed to my wife in 1978. Jong Mea was our favorite restaurant and a perfect place for me to propose. I was a disk jockey for 1230 WCOL, (the studios were a few blocks down Broad Street) so we stopped at Jong Mea often after I got off the air. Pamela and I are still happily married after nearly 29 years! We still point out the old building to our three kids whenever we visit the city. Perhaps its time for a new Jong Mea?
Thanks for the good times!
Doug Ritter (Ritterling) St, Louis, MO


Well, Doug, if you find this blog posting, I'm speechless at how much our restaurant meant to you. Wow, you proposed to Pamela at our restaurant. Your former radio station holds equally special memories for me as I was a big fan of WCOL-AM in my early teens. In fact, it was the station that got me exposed to Top 40 radio.

During the summer of 1974, I got a bit of spending money thanks to WCOL. The disc jockey called my house at random and asked if I knew how much was in the jackpot. I said I didn't know. The deejay asked me to guess, and I blurted, "$150". It happened to be the correct amount during bonus hour, which I got $300. My mom picked up the check for me at the station. It was the highlight of my summer vacation.

Thank you, Doug, for sharing such a wonderful memory.

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