By Robert Medley
Managing Editor
Dale Wehba had a voice that boomed from border to border over the radio airwaves in the late 1950s and 1960s.
Wehba was not old enough to drive when his voice changed his course, and he steered his life toward radio.
Growing up in Oklahoma City, his boyish voice dropped an octave or by age 15. That voice was the one heard at the original Classen High School’s intercoms and then from the bygone studios of KLPR in Capitol Hill and then at KOCY on the second floor of the Midtown District’s Plaza Court Building at NW 10 in N Walker Ave. in Oklahoma City. He was a nationally known DJ at WKY and KOMA radio stations in Oklahoma City. He had stints in Detroit and Boston before moving back to Oklahoma City.
Wehba, 88, died Friday, Jan. 17, 2025 in Oklahoma City after a short illness, a family member confirmed.
Wehba was hired as a disc jockey at Oklahoma City’s KOCY-AM 1340 radio in 1957 He could be heard on WKY and KOMA in the 1960s when the stations’ super broadcasting powers reached Canada and Mexico at night. Wehba worked with Piedmont’s Don Wallace, an Oklahoma City broadcasting legend who worked at WKY Radio before becoming an outdoor and wildlife reporter on WKY TV. Wallace died in 2020.
He was known for his radio show “Teen Canteen” took to the airwaves in the 1950s. Records by Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard spun in the studio. The rock and roll fire was set. As a senior at Classen High School, where he was also a disc jockey on the high school’s radio stations, Wehba spun records of the top 40 hits. He interviewed high school students about life.
A poster of Wehba’s “Teen Hop” when he was a DJ at KOMA hangs on the wall of the Trolley Stop Record Shop. “Viva La Wehba” was his slogan. The poster is for a 1965 record hop, when Wehba appeared in public to spin records. The poster promises records, prizes and fun. And it featured the Reepers on Friday, Dec. 17, 1965 from 9 p.m. to midnight at the Town House Roller Rink in Marlow, Oklahoma. The poster is on the wall next to other ones from memorable shows of the past, such as the Dave Clark Five show at Oklahoma City Municipal Auditorium on Dec. 6, 1964.
“He (Wehba) is the guy who introduced rock ‘n’ roll to Oklahoma City,” Dunning said.
Wehba had a voice that could sing with rockin’ teen spirit. He The fast song has backup, doo-whoop vocals from musicians The Rebels and The Untouchables, according to the record. The “B” side of the record is the slow a slower one with his lower, tenor range vocals on “I Love You Darling,” with just a tad of wild drums and sax. Wehba could wail away as he did on “Baby (You Sure Look Fine)” a song Wehba recorded on Fee Records in Oklahoma City.
Dunning became friends with Wehba in recent years, before Wehba’s health declined and he lived in far northwest Oklahoma City west of Edmond in the Deer Creek Schools district.
Dunning recalls going to Johnnie’s Charcoal Broiler often with Wehba. When Wehba would talk aloud in Johnnie’s Restaurant locations and other places around the area, his rich voice still projected as if it was blasting over the airwaves, Dunning recalled.
People who had not heard his voice for 40 years recognized it, and often asked him, “Are you Dale Wehba?” Dunning recalls.
Wehba last spun records at Dunning’s record store for Elvis’ 80th birthday.
There was a prank from the past that helped Wehba boost his radio DJ fame that involved Elvis, Dunning recalls.
Wehba talked about the time he called Elvis Presley on the telephone back in 1958.
Wehba talked about the call to Elvis in a 2012 interview.
“I was just a teenager starting in radio, trying to make a name for myself, and Elvis went into the service, this was back in 1958. He was stationed over in Germany and I was going to try to do an interview with him and try to make a name for myself. So, I found out where he was over in Germany so I called over there and said, “Can I speak to Elvis?’ and they said, ‘No,’ and hung up on me. I said, ‘‘there has got to be a way I can get to him.’ So, about an hour later I called back over there and said, ‘This is Steve Sholes, president of RCA / Victor Records. I need to speak to Elvis please.”
They said, “Just a minute Mr. Sholes. Five minutes later Elvis came to the phone, and I said, ‘Elvis, please don’t hang up on me. I’m just a little disc jockey here in Oklahoma City and I want to do an interview with you sir.”
He said, “Sure son,” I talked to him (Elvis) about 15 minutes, and he was very nice to me.”
Wehba said the radio interview was not recorded in those days, however.
Wehba recorded a song himself in Oklahoma City, a dark, novelty song about a serious subject, suicide. The song was called “Russian Roulette,” 1958 and it is now a rare collector’s item on King’s-X Records. It does not have a happy ending.
In 1967 Wehba helped singer Bobby Vee find a hit on Liberty Records with the song “Come Back When You Grow Up.” Wehba was the music director at KOMA then. Bobby Vee had dinner with Dale at Dale’s parents’ house that year off N Grand Boulevard near Nichols Hills.
On March 27, 2008, Wehba was inducted into the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
“Nobody sounded like Dale Wehba. He was bigger than life,” Dunning said.
Wehba continued to spin records when booked for parties or events until recent years.
He did more than spin records. He lived a rockin’ life, like the lines of the lyrics in the song he recorded on Fee Records in Oklahoma City.
“Rockin’ and a rollin’ twistin’ and a strollin’ baby you sure look fine.
“I’ll be round ‘bout a quarter till eight. Come on baby don’t be late. Ill pick up in a hot rod car. The swingin’ place ain’t too far.”
Sam Coury, an Oklahoma City businessman and first cousin to Wehba, remembers going to the radio stations to stay up on night shifts to help keep Wehba awake.
Coury, 88, said women would call the station all night wanting to talk to Wehba, even though he was 15. Later Coury would help him read the news reports from ticker tapes and then pile it up at 2 a.m., wondering if anyone out there was listening at all. Coury said Curt Gowdy was a sports broadcaster at KOCY when Wehba was there. Gowdy went on to fame on NBC and ABC TV television sports announcing fame.
Coury said he often accompanied Wehba to the Kotche Ballroom in downtown Oklahoma City where “Viva La Wehba” spun the dance tunes.
