Possibly, Peterson lost his visual reference and thought he was ascending while he was actually descending and it’s possible that he had mechanical problems and was attempting to turn back toward Mason City. Upon hearing that his bandmates had given away their plane seats and were going to take the bus rather than fly, Holly joked, “Well, I hope your ol’ bus freezes up again.” Waylon Jennings jokingly replied, “Well, I hope your ol’ plane crashes.” Those words would haunt Jennings for the rest of his life.įor some unknown reason, shortly after take-off, the plane slammed into the ground at full-throttle about 5 miles outside Mason City in the middle of farm country. Richardson was suffering from the flu and was complaining that the bus was too cold and uncomfortable for him, so Waylon Jennings voluntarily surrendered his seat on the plane to Richardson. On a friendly wager, Ritchie Valens flipped a coin with Tommy Allsup for his seat on the plane, and Valens won the coin-toss.
While Frankie Sardo went to meet the crowd, Holly went into one of the dressing rooms at the Surf Ballroom where he notified Allsup and Jennings that he had chartered a plane to take them to Fargo, North Dakota (which is directly adjacent to Moorhead, Minnesota). The local weather forecast for the Clear Lake area was 18 ☏ that night with moderate gusty winds and light scattered snow, and Peterson was fatigued from a 17-hour workday, but he agreed to fly the trip. A 21-year-old local pilot, Roger Peterson of Dwyer Flying Service, had agreed to take Holly and his bandmates to their next destination.
The chartered flight would allow them to avoid another arduous bus ride, arrive early before the Moorhead show, do their laundry, and get some rest. They were tired, they had not been paid yet, and all of their clothes were dirty. The musicians had been traveling by bus for over a week, and it had already broken down twice. That night, rock star Buddy Holly chartered an airplane from Dwyer Flying Service in Mason City, Iowa, intending to fly himself and his bandmates (Waylon Jennings and Tommy Allsup) ahead to their next tour venue in Moorhead, Minnesota, immediately after the show in Clear Lake. On the 11th night of the tour (Feb 2, 1959), the musicians played the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. Richardson is credited for creating the first music video in 1958, and recorded an early example himself. Richardson soon became the station’s program director. His new radio show ran from 3:00 to 6:00 pm. Richardson had seen the college students doing a dance called The Bop, and he decided to call himself “The Big Bopper”. One of the station’s sponsors wanted Richardson for a new time slot, and suggested an idea for a show. Following his discharge as a corporal in March 1957, Richardson returned to KTRM radio, where he held down the “Dishwashers’ Serenade” shift from 11 am to 12:30 pm, Monday through Friday. He spent the rest of his two-year service as a radar instructor at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. In March 1955, he was drafted into the United States Army and did his basic training at Fort Ord, California. Richardson married Adrianne Joy Fryou on April 18, 1952, and their daughter Debra Joy was born in December 1953, soon after Richardson was promoted to supervisor of announcers at KTRM. He was hired by the station full-time in 1949 and quit college. Richardson worked part-time at Beaumont, Texas, radio station KTRM (now KZZB).
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