THE FRIDAY FLASH

Kudos to Ron Onesti, who scored a major coup by booking The Joe Perry Project into  both The Arcada Theatre and The Des Plaines Theatre in April!

The Aerosmith Guitarist’s side project (Aerosmith hasn’t been able to honor THEIR concert commitments of late due to health issues with front man Steven Tyler) is only doing a six show run … but Ron’s Chicagoland theaters were able to book TWO of them!

>>>Word of mouth can be a very powerful thing ... if the word is good.  (kk)

So much of the staying power of MeTVFM can be attributed to good word of mouth.  Through the years, we’ve learned that so many of our listeners are your site visitors and vice versa.  As a group, they’ve helped put both of us on the map, I’m sure.  We enjoy the compliments, of course, but we also take the suggestions and constructive criticisms seriously, too.  Quite a few of the songs we’ve added to the playlist over the years were suggested by our listeners / your readers, and several of our weekend features happen to be their brainchild also.  We appreciate being part of this sizable community that shares a common interest in the great pop songs of the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

Thanks again for your support over the years.  It was fun to revisit your comments on the station when it first launched.

Rick

Hey, Kent!

 

I found it interesting that in yesterday’s FHs, Rick O’Dell used that old newspaper expression “above the fold” which means a story printed on the top half of a newspaper's paper front page for your online Internet blog that’s read on a desktop, laptop or a smartphone screen!

 

>>>Thank you for the tremendous above-the-fold mention in your blog this morning.  (Rick O'Dell)

 

Then, it dawned on me! “Wait!  Rick's ahead of the Curve!  Again!”

 

 Smartphones are now available in "foldable" Models!'

And Tablets are also available in "foldable" Models!

Maybe THAT's where the mention he refers to appeared on those devices!

To channel Gildna Radner's Roseanne Rosannadanna . . . "Nevermind!"

 

CB ( which stands for "Circulation Boy!" )

Our FH Buddy Rich Appell counted down The Top 40 Favorite TV Themes (based on his own listener poll) last weekend and, much as we found, “Hawaii Five-O” topped the list.  (This is a popular theme … Gary Theroux recently did a two hour feature as part of his “History Of Rock And Roll” program … and counted down OUR Top Ten as part of the finale!)

Ross On Radio filed this report (which also shows The Top 15) …

https://radioinsight.com/blogs/248899/the-top-tv-themes-of-all-time/

Here are our two most recent poll results:

http://forgottenhits.com/your_top_100_all-time_favorite_tv_themes_based_on_our_2020_poll

http://forgottenhits.com/your_top_50_all-time_favorite_tv_themes_2013

Scott Shannon counted down our complete Top 50 List on The True Oldies Channel when we first published that report back in 2013.

Looks like eight of our Top 15 picks match up with Rich’s findings …

In addition to “Hawaii Five-O” being #1 on both lists, “Cheers” (us #7 / him #2), “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” (#4 / #5, “WKRP In Cincinnati” (#12 / #8), “The Beverly Hillbillies” (#9, #10), “The Monkees” (#6, #12), “Mission Impossible” (#3, #14) and “M*A*S*H (#8, #15) rank this high on both lists.

Rich’s “That Thing With Rich Appell” can be found on great radio stations all over the world …

https://www.thatthingshow.com/affiliates-page

Sean Ross also mentions that the polls are now open for Rich’s “WOW! Songs” (formerly the I.R.S. Countdown … as in It Really Shoulda Been A Hit) Favorites …

You can cast your votes here:

https://www.thatthingshow.com/wowcountdown

The Rihanna train keeps rolling …

It was announced on Thursday that she will be performing the Black Panther anthem “Lift Me Up” at the Oscar Ceremony on March 12^th.  (And to think she became a billionaire thanks to her cosmetics line!!!)

Seriously, this is one shrewd business woman … and this is a GREAT time to cash in on her newfound musical popularity, too.

(Not like she hasn’t enjoyed a little bit of chart success … according to Billboard Magazine, Rihanna has had 14 #1 Hits, 32 Top 10 Hits and 63 songs make their Hot 100 Chart since 2005.  Not too shabby at all!!!)

Her song “Lift Me Up” (from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) is nominated for Best Original Song this year.  It peaked at #2 in late 2022.  (kk)

https://www.billboard.com/artist/rihanna/chart-history/hsi/

A reminder …

Micky Dolenz makes a rare appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon next Monday Night (February 27^th) – to promote his upcoming “Headquarters” Tour - airing at 11:30 pm Eastern on NBC  (kk)

 

Kent,
I'll admit, the whole ordeal with the first play of "Please Please Me" can be confusing.
I remember hearing it when Dick played it on his show, but I couldn't remember the date if it killed me.
The bottom line is that I put together what info I could find, and it sounded reasonable, so I accepted it.
The only thing that doesn't jibe in this ordeal is that the two surveys that show the song (at # 40 and then #35) indicate that the song had been played for 3 weeks.  

Ummm ... that don't work. 

Using common sense (and math), I believe that the one that SHOULD have read "3" in the "weeks played" column should be the March 15th  (green) one. BOTH can't be correct. The first (PINK) one showing 3 weeks must be wrong, as it
would indicate that WLS received the record in mid-February.  <sigh> 

I give up.  ;-)
Mike

You are WAY over-thinking this ...

The dates make PERFECT sense.

If Biondi premiered the record on Friday, February 22nd (which is what we are suggesting), that would be Week 1.  

When the March 1st survey came out (the following Friday), even though the song wasn't listed, that would be Week 2 - meaning WLS was still playing the record ... it just hadn't charted yet.

Therefore, when the song finally premiered on their March 8th survey (shown below), that would be Week 3, which is exactly how they've shown it.  

The following week's chart (March 15th, when the record jumped to #35) would therefore be Week 4.

 

I remember seeing a YouTube clip a few years back where somebody claimed it was Dick playing the record for the first time ... but it was clearly a fake.

The fact that you say that YOU remember hearing him playing it sounds somewhat ludicrous ... because there was absolutely NOTHING noteworthy about this song in February, 1963, here in America ... it was just another flop single that the rest of the country ignored.

To prove a point even further, in 1963 there was a chart distributed in all of the record shops around Chicago and the suburbs called "The Top Tunes Of Greater Chicagoland."

Although at one time this chart was put out by WJJD when they were a rock and roll station in the mid-to-late '50's, it was no longer tied to any radio station by this time.  It simply tracked and measured each record's popularity as designated by record sales in those Chicagoland shops.

And, despite appearing on WLS' Silver Dollar Survey for two weeks ... and being played by Chicago's only  major Top 40 rock and roll station at the time ... it never even made so much as a blip on their chart ... no mention whatsoever ... and they charted SIXTY songs each week, twenty more than 'LS ... and it STILL never registered enough to make their list of "Up 'n' Coming" hits.  Zip!

I think there has been a tendency for the past couple of decades now to make more out of Biondi airing the tune than was really there.  It was just a record ... nothing more ... and he played it as a favor to a friend at Vee Jay Records.  He wasn't the first person in America to think The Beatles were going to be the next big thing ... they weren't even the next big thing in England yet (although they were certainly on their way.)

This is not to say that the fact that Biondi was the first to play it isn't a big deal ... it is ... it is definitely part of Beatles history and folklore and should be acknowledged as such ... and Dick should be recognized for having done so ... but the truth of it is, it was just happenstance at the time ... and nobody cared or noticed.  Even when The Beatles hit it big here the following year, nobody at WLS was coming forward and saying "Oh yeah, we were playing their records a year ago" ... because in all likelihood, nobody even remembered.  I just don't think it's fair to try and rewrite history sixty years later.  

As stated previously ... and as stated in our mission statement ... 

Our commitment here has always been to present The Most Accurate Truth Possible ... and these are simply the cold hard facts.  (kk)

 

And here's a shocking "real time" perspective for you ...

 

Frannie came across this clip yesterday ...

 

 Ouch!  (kk)