re: PLATTER CHATTER:
It's our brand new Radio Feature ...
Memories of the Jocks from "behind the glass" ...
The guys that were there spinning the hits.
The guys that were there spinning the hits.
We encourage all of other dj's on the list to send us their stories, too!
(Don't worry ... you can leave out certain names to protect the innocent ... or guilty as
the case may be! Besides, the statutes of limitations are probably over by now anyway!)
C'mon, guys ... the oldies nation wants to hear from you!
Send us your memories ... and then tell some of the other jocks you're
still in contact with to do the same.
Depending on the response we get, we'll run these columns periodically in
Forgotten Hits!
kk
Hey Kent!
It's been awhile since I've written to you ... I
continue to enjoy the broad spectrum of hit music mentioned on FH from Frankie
Avalon to Foster The People. The more things change the more they stay the same
...
So you want an inside radio memory ... most of mine are
from the twenty-plus years I've enjoyed in Country Radio, but here's a good one
from my Top 40 days.
No names ... and the time frame is very important ...
January, 1984.
I'm Music Director / Mid-Days at a well-managed,
small-market Top 40. Our corporate PD has just hired a new Program Director.
After everyone is introduced, the new PD handed me a white box with a 5" reel of
tape inside, labeled ... "Boston. Amanda. 4:00"
The new PD explained it's a rough mix they obtained
from a friend at CBS Records, and that the band was having some sort of
disagreement with the label at the time, Epic. So why don't I go give it a
listen?
As someone who remembers where I was the first time I
heard WRKO play "More Than A Feeling", you didn't have to ask me twice. I ran
back to the production room, strung it up on our new Technics reel deck and hit
"play". Blew me away. Sounded like a hit to me, especially for
our rock-leaning-but-still-mainstream Top 40.
So we carted it up and added it ... but of course,
never officially. This was 1984, years before BDS / Mediabase monitoring.
Playlists were still called in every Monday to Radio & Records. All the
jocks were instructed to presell AND backsell "Amanda" ... every time ... after
all, we didn't want a competitor taping it off our air!
As someone profoundly inspired by the Jeff Kaye / Don
Berns era of WKBW / Buffalo, when it wasn't uncommon to play a "bootleg" or
pre-release leaked copy of a song ... having the exclusive on a Boston record
was about as cool as it got for me.
So we went along for a few weeks, playing our bootleg
"Amanda" ... the corporate PD had even copied it and sent it to the other couple
of properties in our group. None were within earshot of a CBS Records office so
I guess everything was fine.
Until it wasn't.
I was told that one of the other PD's in our chain had
gone ahead and reported "Amanda" as an add to Radio & Records, and the
conversation went roughly like this:
R&R: "What new Boston record?!"
PD: "It's called "Amanda". I've got it here on a 5-inch
reel."
A cease-and-desist immediately followed. Apparently
from Walter Yetnikoff himself to our corporate PD via telephone.
And as we all know ... when it finally came out for
real ... 2 1/2 years later ... it was on MCA!
The "new PD" went on to great things and the corporate
PD continued his reputation for success for several years afterward. I owe both
of them a deep debt of gratitude for the opportunities, lessons and disciplines
learned. That small-market chain sent many of us on to lasting major-market
success, and it's a crying shame such opportunities no longer exist. One notable
exception is Top 40 "Q92", WDJQ / Alliance, Ohio, which is still not only live
and local, but apparently beating a voice-tracked Clear Channel "Kiss" competitor
in the Canton, Ohio market.
Enjoy the day, Kent!
Charlie Mitchell
GREAT story, Charlie! And, of course, when "Amanda"
DID finally come out (in late September of 1986), it shot straight to #1 on The Pop
Singles Chart, incredibly the only Boston single to do so. (Their best-known
hit, "More Than A Feeling", peaked at #4 ten years earlier.) After a hiatus of
seven years, "Amanda" was a welcome return for the Boys From Boston. Two other
Top 20 singles followed: "We're Ready" (#9, 1987) and "Can'tcha Say You Believe
In Me" (#20, 1987) ... and then they were gone for good. (kk)
Kent,
In regards to your 'more radio
chatter' in today's comments, you asked for possible memories of several things one might remember through
the years happening to and or on radio in the city where one lived. One of the things listed in your 'inside
radio memories segment' was crazy
promotions one might remember. For some reason I have always remembered this one
crazy promotion here in OKC on
our local top 40 radio station back in 1960. The promotion was as follows:
One of the DJ's (and I can't
remember which one), was to go to a department store in our downtown OKC, go up into one of the
windows looking out towards the sidewalk below where all the people are walking by
and they can see him and he can see them. He was to remain there from 6 PM Friday
evening until 12 Midnight Sunday night. He was supposed to stay awake, not go to sleep at all and listen
to this one particular record over and over and over again. Obviously he could eat and drink while there as well
as take a bathroom break. The record he was to listen to over and over again was Bobby Hendrick's 1960
recording of PSYCHO on Sue Records. I really can't remember or don't know if he lasted until
12 Midnight without falling asleep, but I do know that PSYCHO did make it into the top 5 of the local
top 40 radio station's survey which of course the DJ worked for.
I am quite sure that other DJ's did
crazy promotions like that at other stations in other markets.
Larry Neal
Wait till you see all of the crazy stuff our
buddy Wild Bill Cody did over the years ... many of which landed him the record
books. C'mon, Bill, share with our readers!!! (kk)
Hi
Kent,
I'm not sure if you have seen this yet or not ...
consultants
and other suits trying to figure out how to increase their “cume” with schemes and marketing social media BS, probably
while still playing the same few songs that every other station is
playing. This is why RADIO SUCKS!!
Eddie Burke,
Orange,CT
Yeah, I'm actually on this mailing list, too.
I love to hear the high-paid consultants reassure us that "We keep playing what
we're playing because that's what the listeners want to hear." Maybe they need
to expand their polling audience just a little bit ... I guarantee you, if you
look ... I mean actually LOOK ... you WILL find some intelligent listeners out
there who want more from a radio station than the same 300 songs, played over and over and over again.
And I'll tell you another thing ... if you're going to play
the same 300 songs over and over again, then you damn well better be offering
something else in your programming to make people tune in and listen and want to
hang around ... 'cause let's face it ... at that point, it's NOT about the music anymore.
We've all HEARD the music ... COUNTLESS times ... BILLIONS of time ... we know
it, we love it, we own it ... do something IN BETWEEN THE MUSIC to entertain us
and we'll stay tuned in. (kk)
After fifty years, this presentation of WLS
sales has resurfaced ...
Memories of 1960's Chicago.
John Rook
John Rook
re: ON THE RADIO:
Hey Kent,
Been missing the old Dick Biondi Friday Night Request Show
and the even older Jeff James Saturday Night 70's Request Party. Do you know of any good
programs that run themselves like these two did? I'm having request withdrawals and am sick of
hearing Journey and Bruce Springsteen in endless rotation on WLS, WJMK, and WILV. I need to request some
of my favorties :) Let me know
if you know of any good request shows!
Thanks,
AJK
I believe Danny Lake still does his
Saturday Night All Request Dance Party on WLS-FM ... and Danny's one of the
better jocks at the station. Of course if you tune into Dave The Rave's "Relics
And Rarities" Show on TopShelf Oldies, HE'LL play your requests, too ... but
that means you'll need to be near a computer to hear them. I agree with you ...
it was fun being out in the car on a Friday or Saturday Night and hearing some
"surprises" once in a while. From what I understand, WLS-FM has received
HUNDREDS (if not THOUSANDS) of letters asking that they bring back Dick Biondi's Friday Night
All-Request Show ... I can't think of ANY reason why they shouldn't do so ...
how about giving the listeners what THEY want for a change?!?!? Wow, what a
novel concept! (kk)
Hey, Kent,
Did you ever listen to Jeff
James’s ‘Saturday Night Live @ the ‘70s' on Y-103.9?
If you did, you know just how great it was! Shame on the management
for putting Tom Kent on in Jeff’s place. It’s been that way since July of last
year. If you ask Jeff, he’d definitely want to move out of the Sunday 9 am - 2
PM slot, and get back to his loyal legion of Saturday Night ‘70s lovers like
myself!
Can anything be done to convince Ryan Wild to realize that Tom
Kent’s network, just isn’t working for us! Let the ‘70s music live on!
Dave Wollenberg,
Wheaton, IL
All we can do is encourage fans to continue to write and email the
station and let them know how unhappy we are with the Tom Kent Take-Over. There
isn't a week that goes by that I don't hear from at least one or two former fans of
Y103.9, letting their complete dissatisfaction be known ... nearly every one
yearning for the return of jocks like Jeff James and Jim Shea to the fold. All
I can say is that Y103.9 really blew it on this one ... and any loyal listener
fan base they may have had must be down to next to nothing judging by the mail I've received.
I can only tell you guys that I share in your frustration ... and I rarely put the station on anymore ... but, sadly, I have no input at all. Former Y103.9 listeners unite ... and let the station know how you really feel. Maybe there's hope for them yet! (kk)
I can only tell you guys that I share in your frustration ... and I rarely put the station on anymore ... but, sadly, I have no input at all. Former Y103.9 listeners unite ... and let the station know how you really feel. Maybe there's hope for them yet! (kk)
