Jerry Krumbholz continued...

When 24 year-old Chicago native Jerry Krumbholz began studying biological sciences at the University of Tampa in February of 1955, it was the same month WFLA-TV went on the air and a few weeks before WTVT would do the same. At the time, the thought of joining the announcing staff at Channel 13 wasn’t even a tiny blip on his life’s radar screen.

Jerry had just finished a hitch in the U.S. Air Force stationed in Winipole Park, Cambridgeshire, England, where he was in charge of an eye-nose-throat clinic.  Now a civilian and hitting his mid-twenties, Jerry still hadn’t settled on a precise career direction but broadcasting fascinated him and he had the voice and appearance to get in the door.  He arrived in Tampa and joined his parents, who had moved from the 'Windy City.'  Jerry discovered that the University of Tampa was the only choice in the area for higher education at the time.  At U.T., he got involved in theatre and the campus radio station, WTUN, “mostly to meet girls.” 

Jerry and future Tampa Bay area disc jockey Jim Gallagher (left)

Jerry became a regular voice on WTUN, broadcasting from the third floor of the historic University of Tampa’s Plant Hall.  “There were some great people at Tampa U. back then,” says Jerry.  “Two of us hosted the U.T. football games from the old Phillips Field, rotating play by play and color each quarter of the game so we gained more experience."  There was no pay for working at the U.T. station but the experience was invaluable and no doubt reflected in favorable grades in speech courses.

Frank Moody, chairman of U.T.'s speech department and supervisor of WTUN, encouraged Jerry to pursue a career in broadcasting.  Jerry's first job in the 'real world' was for WPKM radio, with studios at the top of the Bayshore Royal Hotel (at Howard Avenue and Bayshore Blvd., now converted to condos).  They simulcast music on the airwaves and on receivers in stores and offices.