Upton hosts local morning radio show
At 6:00 a.m. every weekday, local radio station 101.1 comes alive. You hear the voice of Luther Upton and wonder what the next few hours have in store. It might be serious, light hearted, somber, political or just down right funny. Along with his two cohosts, Terry Daily and Lee Peacock, and the cast of characters who pop in and out of the show, the topics can range from riding pine saplings to local Bigfoot sightings. Nothing is taboo. You might shake your fist at the radio one second and bust out laughing the next. But you will listen. Love him or hate him, you will listen.
Upton grew up in south Monroe County. He graduated J.U. Blacksher in 1965 and attended the University of Alabama for a year.
"I'd never been out of the woods before and I got up there and was more interested in partying than I was studying," he said.
He came back home and joined the Marines.
"At that time in Monroe County they were drafting the black kids first then the poor white kids," he said.
"I knew my number would be coming up so I said 'I'll show them,' so I went down to the recruitment people and enlisted in the Marine Corps."
His 12 week training was cut to 8 weeks because Marines were being lost in Vietnam at a very high rate. Six months after beginning boot camp he was in Vietnam.
While there, Upton was a member of Bravo Company, First Battalion, 9th Marines, also known as "The Walking Dead." He conducted 10 combat operations. He was wounded in December 1967, and spent New Year's 1968 on the U.S.S. Sanctuary. He got off the Sanctuary in January 1968 and then volunteered to go to Khe Sanh. When he arrived in Khe Sanh he was informed there were 4800 United States personnel at the base and that they were surrounded by 40,000 North Vietnamese. He figured that this would probably be the end.
But it wasn't. Not for him.
On Jan. 21, 1968, the North Vietnamese attacked and obliterated the base. The attack lasted 77 days. He recalls B-52 bombers dropping bombs 500 yards from the perimeter of the base. Usually, they bombed no closer than 3000 yards.
"It got so bad they taught us how to get down on our knees and elbows and open our mouths for the concussion. We had guys with their eyes bleeding, ears bleeding. That's how close they were. They dropped more bombs at Khe Sanh during that siege than they dropped during World War II. Everyone in my squad was killed or wounded except for one guy."
"We were expendable," he said. "We were cannon fodder."
To this day he stays in touch with the men he served with at Khe Sanh They have a reunion every year.
He tried college again once he was honorably discharged from the Marines. He worked a job at a local business that made tailpipes for a few months until he could re-enroll at the University of Alabama. His time in Tuscaloosa ended with him standing on principle.
"I was coming in front of the old student union one day and a bunch of radicals were having a Vietcong blood drive," he said. "Well, I went off on them. I whipped around half of them and tore their display up."
He had to go see the student attorney and was told that he would have to go before the student Senate and apologize or else he would be dismissed from the university.
If you know Upton, you know how this ended
"I said don't worry about that, hoss. I'm out of here. I don't need to be around these people."
He went to work soon thereafter and advanced pretty quickly. He noticed other guys were getting promoted quicker than he was and realized he needed a college degree.
He enrolled at Patrick Henry Junior College in Monroeville and then transferred to Auburn University. He received a degree in Political Science and Public Administration in 1977. He then went to Auburn at Montgomery for graduate school. He completed his course work but did not take the comprehensive exams: he went to work for his father-in-law.
"I wasted several years fooling around at a boat store around here," he said.
He then opened a pawn shop. Then sometime in the early 80s he went to work for a friend who owned a radio business.
He made a few thousand dollars in sales the first day and he's been in radio ever since. He switched over to being a DJ in the mid-80s.
We've been listening ever since.
Upton eventually entered politics and is currently serving his third term as Evergreen City Councilman.
His reason for entering politics is pretty straight forward.
"I couldn't get my city councilperson to call me so I said I'll just run against them," he said.
He is waiting to see whether the city buys the building in Evergreen from the Board of Education before deciding whether to run again for a fourth term. The plan is to turn the building into a municipal building.
Since he has been in office the Cooperative District was created, the old depot was redone, the Veteran's monument was built and the five unpaved roads that were in his district when he was sworn in have all been paved.
"We've made little improvements all around town," he said. "We've had some good Councils."
To further help the citizens he represents, Upton completed over 80 hours of training through the Alabama League of Municipalities to became a Certified Municipal Official.
He is currently mayor pro tem.
He stays involved in the community in many different ways. He is the post Commander of the Disabled American Veterans for Monroe, Conecha and Escambia Counties. They are currently taking donations for the Veteran's Home in Bay Minette.
He is also a life member in the Military Order of the Purple Heart and a life member and former board member of the Khe Sanh Veterans.
He is also helping the Rotary Club and the school board collect coats for poor children. The drop off is the school board and the deadline is January 11.
If you listened to his morning show in the last year you know he tried his best to get listeners to donate money to buy every player on the Hillcrest football team a ring for their 2017 State Championship.
And donate they did.
"We raised $23,000," he said. "It wasn't just from Evergreen. It was from Monroeville and Brewton."
He's now helping Flomaton's Quarterback Club raise money since Flomaton won the 2018 State Football Championship.
Hillcrest's basketball team is currently ranked No.1 in 4A and are probably going to make a run deep into the playoffs. Upton thinks they probably will need to buy some more rings.
In Upton's line of work, he has to grab and keep someone's attention. The dynamic of the morning show helps him do this. Peacock and Daily scour the web looking for interesting stories to present to Upton, sometime with little to no warning. Whatever happens just happens. And it keeps people listening.
Upton is a great story teller. He hits the punchline and keeps the audience listening, wondering what will happen next. He has an anecdote about most topics that come up, whether it be a story about riding pine trees, to telling the daughter of a very well-known ex-governor exactly what he feels about her father to giving his address to an angry Klansman who threatened on air to shoot him.
"I've met some interesting characters in my life," he said. "And most of the stories I tell are true."
So keep listening, you never know just what you might hear.
