Thank you, Lori Tucker!
By Derrick Lee Anderson

The clock turns back to 1993. The Blizzard of 1993 brought record snowfall to the Eastern United States. WLAF radio and WATE-TV in Knoxville both celebrated their 40th anniversaries on the air that year. The Intel Corporation shipped its first Pentium chips. And Lori Tucker joins Knoxville’s WATE.

For 25 years, she has been the heart and soul of WATE’s news department.  Last June, Lori came to LaFollette for the Campbell County Chamber of Commerce Banquet. She was the event’s keynote speaker. It was at this event where WLAF won the Business of the Year award for 2017. That July, Lori did the story on me. It will always be my favorite story of all time, because
she shined the spotlight on me, WLAF’s great DJ.

This month, Lori Tucker is celebrating her 25th anniversary with WATE 6 On Your Side in Knoxville. But on Thursday night, the East Tennessee community gathered to honor Lori for her excellence in journalism during the 40th Annual Front Page Follies at the Bijou Theatre in Knoxville. The attendees for this event included past Front Page Follies honorees, political figures
and personalities from WATE 6 On Your Side. For my girlfriend Candace and me, this event was very special to us, because it was not only our first time attending this event, but it was also our first time inside the Bijou Theatre.

CLICK HERE to see Derrick’s photo gallery.

Frank Murphy was the show’s emcee, and the anchors for this event were WBIR’s Beth Haynes, WATE’s Amanda Ketchledge and WVLT’s Casey Wheeless. For the 40th anniversary of this event, the show featured a number of songs related to news, weather and sports. The highlight of the event came when WATE’s Matt Hinkin, WBIR’s Todd Howell and WVLT’s David Aldrich performed their rendition of Foreigner’s “Cold as Ice.” And for the finale, the Follies crew performed a song called “Find the Good and Praise It”.

All in all, it was a special night honoring WATE’s Lori Tucker, a wonderful friend and an amazing journalist. For Candace and me, it was a joy to be part of it all.

On behalf of myself, my girlfriend Candace and the entire WLAF radio family, we want to say thank you, Lori Tucker! Thanks for all you do.

Publisher’s note:  Lori saw to it that Derrick Lee and Candace were seated in the VIP section.  CLICK HERE to see all of DLA’s photos. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 06/18/2018-6AM)