He was Brandenburg, Kentucky's radio station announcer when an F5 tornado struck on April 3, 1974, but the city did not have either a civil defense siren or a National Oceanic and Atmopsheric Administration Weather Wire Service to notify an early tornado warning. Thirty-one citizens lost their lives. An F4 tornado struck Louisville on that same day. Louisville thankfully did have a civil defense siren to notify the National Weather Service's tornado warning to its citizens. Louisville certainly did have a few fatalities, but it was not tragic as Brandenburg because of the National Weather Service's early tornado warning.