Wednesday, November 28, 2018

20 and Counting

Thank you for the great outpouring of love and appreciation this week as we begin our 20th Year of Forgotten Hits ... it means a lot.

But as much as WE love hearing how great we are ... (who doesn't love that?!?!) ... I figured that you guys reading this can really only take just so much of this on-going praise.

So we've added a page to our other Forgotten Hits website which we will continue to build throughout our 20th year.  Today's comments are also being posted there ... and new accolades we receive throughout the coming year will go there as well ... so please feel free to check it from time to time.  You'll find lots of other great stuff there, too.
http://forgottenhits.com/20_years_of_memories    

If you've got something nice to say about Forgotten Hits, please email us at kk@forgottenhits.com and we'll post your on-going comments there.  (If you've got something NOT so nice to say about Forgotten Hits, go ahead and send those, too ... they may not make our new web page but we're always looking for ways to improve what we do!)

So, if you will, please indulge us for just one day of praise ... and thank you all for your continued loyalty and atta-boys!!!  (kk)

************


Kent,
On Behalf of The Buckinghams, Happy 19th Anniversary! We hope Forgotten Hits has as much success in the next 20 years!
All the best,
Carl Giammarese
The Buckinghams

Hey Kent …
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!
Your blog is a must read for music fans, and old guys like me who are still rock’n and love the music.
Keep up the good work, and who knows, maybe I will be around to celebrate with you on your 40th.
Rock On, Pal,
Tommy Roe

Congratulations on your latest anniversary. We are all truly blessed because you get to share your passion on the internet with all your MILLIONS of fans. I know it is hard but hope you keep it going for at least a few more years.You are a real OLDIES pleasure! 
Art Walicki

Hi, Kent –
You have no idea how much it means to me to have a friend like you whose views on non-current hits is an exact match with mine.   The music of any era is mostly comprised of disposable tunes -- especially today in an era when "hit music" is far more formula than creative.  On top of those tracks is a layer of records which spark comments like, "Wow! I remember that!   How come radio stopped playing that song?"  Above music in both of those strata is a thin layer of tracks which are also good but for one reason or another (or none) have become completely burned out as the result of mindless overplay as oldies by programmers too young to remember when those hits were new.  Forgotten Hits remembers the music in the middle -- which still eloquently speaks to and for our hearts and souls decades after it was produced.  
Gary Theroux
"The History of Rock 'n' Roll"

Good morning, Kent:
First of all, thank you for mentioning the station in the Friday Flash!  It was quite a pleasant surprise.  You’ve placed the station in select company.  We don’t take that for granted.
Second, and more important, CONGRATULATIONS on 19 years of Forgotten Hits.  May your 20th year see you scaling new heights.  Just like the music that is your passion, your newsletter is aging like fine wine.
All the best to you and your family this holiday season.
Rick O’Dell
Program Director – Me-TV-FM

Congratulations, Kent, and thanks for your great contribution in sustaining the legacy of an awesome era of radio and rock.       
Ron Riley
WLS - “the 60’s”
Thanks, Ron … love having you onboard … please continue to share your amazing memories with our readers from time to time.  You had your finger on the pulse of the most exciting time in music … and we all want to hear more!  (kk)

Congrats on a well done rock and roll job!
Talk about a labor of love!
Clark Weber
And thanks to you, too, Clark, for becoming a very good friend over the years of pulling all of this together!  Your contributions have been nothing short of amazing and enlightening.  Our best to you.  (kk)


Wow!
Twenty Years!
Congratulations, Kent ...
Amazing!
Kris Erik Stevens

Congratulations on your anniversary.  I know I was one of those 30+ people who was on your list back in the beginning and it is always a joy to go to the site to see things about friends and people we all admire.  Thank you, Kent! 
Clay Pasternack
You were one of the early birds for sure … and I know you have referred several others along the way.  It has been an honor to provide the forum for fans to share their passion and great memories of this music and magical era.  (kk)

Congrats, Kent.
I wonder if anyone has a Forgotten Hits newsletter from the '90s floating around in their inbox. The oldest one I can find is from 2007.
Carl Wiser
The readers did a better job of hanging on to this material than I did … thanks to numerous computer crashes over the years, I’ve lost it all more than a few times now … but there were readers early on who were saving EVERYTHING … some even printed out each issue and kept it in a binder (which I imagine by now may be taller than the Sears Tower!!!)  Many have helped me rebuild the archives over the years … but even so I don’t think I have anything earlier than 2001 at this point … which is still pretty amazing when you consider that the website didn’t begin until 2008.
I thought about saving all of this stuff, too, just in case … but would probably need a hard drive bigger than NASA’s to do so!
Thanks for hangin’ in there with us, Carl … I truly do appreciate it!  (kk)

Kent –
Is there ever going to be a regular emailed newsletter with the current posts? I looked forward to it in my inbox, and it was my first read when it was. Now I hardly ever visit the site, since I have nothing to prompt me anymore.
Donald Rehrer, Jr.
Hi Don -
Great to hear from you again.
No, we won't be going back to an email format ... although we do send out occasional reminders for special features and such ... I’ll be sure to add your name to that list.
It just became impossible to manage … too many names … too many bouncebacks … I was having to break the list into a dozen separate “sends” because even with a bulk mail account and being able to send out to a couple of hundred at a time, there was still threats of “spam,” even though every list member REQUESTED they be added to the mailing list.  Just WAY too much hassle.
What we've found is that if you simply start your day with Forgotten Hits each morning, it'll become habit-forming all over again!  (Think about how much you've already missed!!!  You've got YEARS of catching up to do.)  Just make us part of your daily routine … maybe we’re the ones you have coffee with each morning!  My guess is that if you start now, it'll become a conditioned way to start your day within a week.  And, in the event that a day or two go by where we haven't posted anything new, you can use that time for catching up!
(Last year we recreated 1967 day-by-day ... EVERY major event, fifty years later ... and we've got something similar planned for next year for 1969.  Right now we're running Saturday Surveys from Top 40 radio stations in every state ... by year's end, we will have featured all 50 states.  All this plus our regular features and comments.  God, you’ve missed SO much!!!)
Give it a shot for a week or two and see what you think.  Would love to have you back onboard.  (kk)

Kent –
Thank for keeping all this great music alive.  You have done something very special.
Thank you!
Billy J. Kramer

Happy Anniversary.  
Keep up the great work.  
You make my mornings brighter. 
Ira

kk: 
Happy  Anniversary.
How many "20 SONGS" can you think of ?
How many concerts were you invited to that first year ?
Frank B.
Thanks, Frank … I think you’ve been a regular here longer than I have!!!
To answer your questions …
Not Many …
And Not Any!!  (lol)
kk
You think it would be possible to contact the original subscribers and see what they're doing now?
Frank
Believe it or not, I tried to do exactly that … nearly all the email addresses are no longer valid … a few are still on the list for nineteen years and counting … and a few have sadly passed on.  I sent a website notice to anybody else that I could from those early days and got a ton of responses … but let’s face it, there are VERY few who can claim to be one of the original 35 … it’s not like “Oh yeah, I went to Woodstock” is gonna work in this case!  (lol)  kk

Congrats to one helluva man ...
Are you going to see the New Colony Six at Pheasant Run?
I'm emceeing the show ... C'mon out, kk!
Chet Coppock
Oh wow, I didn’t even know about this one!  This Saturday Night at The Pheasant Run???  Let me see what’s cookin’.  (Nope – can’t go – folks in from out of town – who are completely unprepared for the batch of bitter cold we’re about to go thru!!!)
For other folks on the list who may be interested, here’s the link:

And, speaking of The New Colony Six …

Hi Kent -
Congratulations on this milestone. 
This morning I was remembering how I first became a member of the Forgotten Hits family. 
While interviewing Ray Graffia about a New Colony Six cd compilation called 'Sides' in 2007, he mentioned you.  I contacted you and started getting the email version.  While the emails are long gone, I still have some of the songs that you included.  There were some rare gems that I still spin on my Those Were The Days radio show. 
The first time we teamed up for a radio program was for the instrumental favorites countdown.  I believe that was 2009 (?)  I read from your script on the air from time to time and get ideas for show themes.  What would us 'poor old radio guys' do without you?  
Good luck on your next 20 years! 
Thanks for all that you do!
Phil Nee – WRCO
I’ve probably done your show more than any other at this point (now that Jim Shea is no longer on the air!!!)  Whether it’s a phone in, pre-taped or just an inspiring topic, we have always found ways to share these creative ideas with your listeners … and I appreciate your support. (In fact, we’re probably about due for another one! Now I just have to come up with another great idea!  Lol)
Thanks, Phil!  (kk)

Congrats, and of course, "Do Be Colony!"
Walt Kemp
New Colony Six
Happy, Happy, Happy 19th Anniversary to Forgotten Hits!
The only reliable source for the most accurate truth about the music and the artists we still love.
I know FH has caused 19 nervous breakdowns, too, Kent - but you keep plugging away and bringing us the best, week after week after week.
Kudos, and thank you sir! 
David Lewis
Thank you, David … you’ve been a long-time supporter … and we’ll FINALLY get to meet in a couple of weeks when we head down to Nashville to see Vince Gill and Amy Grant present their Christmas Show at the Ryman Theater!  Really looking forward to it!  (kk)

Outstanding, Kent ... so proud for you, my friend. 
May the next 20 be even better.
Take care and be blessed -
Barry Winslow
The Royal Guardsmen

Hey Kent ...
Happy 19th / 20 Year Anniversary!
Has it really been 19 years that I've been reading your great newsletter????
Thanks for all of the great info … and thanks for your support thru the years! The Rip Chords have been on a two year break from the road, but hope to be out there on the road in 2019. I'll keep you informed. Congratulations once again!
Mitch Schecter / The Rip Chords

Happy Anniversary Kent! 
I think I might be one of the first 35???
Mark Zimmerman
Not the first 35 … but a long-time reader for sure!
Thanks for your continued support after all these years!  (kk)

Happy Anniversary!  Hardly seems that 19 years have gone by.
Here's to 19 more!
Sharon
Thanks, Sharon … although you weren’t part of the original 35, I’ll bet you guys were part of the first 60!  (kk)

Congratulations Kent for hanging in there for so many years. 
Stacee

  
Congratulations!
Great Respect for your tireless devotion to promote the most played, most bought, most danced to, most listened to, and the greatest music of ANY generation.
Rock and Roll is Here to Stay ... and you're a primary reason why that's so.
Guitar Jim Nowoc

Well done, Kent!
We celebrate with you on this milestone.
Surf's up at Forgotten Hits,
Phil

Hey Kent, 
Congratulations on 20 years of Blood, Sweat and Tears.  
Well, you know what I mean.
Well done,
Paul Evans

Kent,
Congrats and thank you for mentioning all my releases when they are released.
Davie Allan

Dear Kent and family,
HAPPY TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY and a whole lot more!
Ron and Belle Kolman
Thanks, Ron … you’re certainly one of the “long-timers” on the list.  Thanks for sticking with us all these years!  (kk)

Speaking of which …

I still don’t know how you do it …
The time, the love and the energy that goes into each issue of Forgotten Hits continues to show the passion that existed on day one.
How you have been able to keep up the quality and consistency is what amazes me … it never wavers.
Thanks for the first twenty years … and here’s to another twenty as well!
Phil
It is the passion that drives me … and great encouragement like this that keeps me going.  (That and the fact that I think I’ve slept a total of about 48 hours in the past 19 years!!!  Lol) 
Thanks, Phil!  (kk)

Hi Kent -
Happy Anniversary with Forgotten Hits!  Reaching 20 years is quite a Milestone.
All your readers and fans are very fortunate for your hard work in "KEEPING  ROCK  AND ROLL  ALIVE"!!
I look forward to the next 20 years, my friend.
Carolyn

Kent:
Many congrats on your "Forgotten Hits" anniversary!
I have tremendous respect for all of the work you've put into it through the years. I had enough trouble coming up with my 1,000-word blog once a week and couldn't keep pace … (once or twice a month is more my speed now) … but you've been amazingly consistent, informative, and entertaining, year after year. But I still think you're destined to commit your knowledge and passion for the genre into book form! Just my two cents.
    In any case, keep up the good work! 
   Garry Berman
I think if you tally up all the pages I’ve probably written two dozen books by now … maybe even more!  (I’ve just published them one day at a time!)
The thought occurs to me to try and organize all these thoughts in some fashion … but most days I find it hard enough keeping up as it is.  But who knows … you may be right.  And if these ever caught on with the public at large I could become another one of those twenty year overnight success stories!  (kk)

Wow, Kent … 20 years!
However for some of us those "Hits" will never be forgotten. 
Drew Paul
Which was EXACTLY the premise for starting Forgotten Hits all those years ago.  Radio has GREATLY underestimated, underappreciated and insulted us for SO many years … but now thanks to formats like Me-TV-FM and Rewound Radio, we have been proven right all along.  (kk)


Kent - 
Congrats, and many more years!
We are going into our 18th year on the air with our Tiki Lounge  TV show on California Central Coast and Hawaii.
Best,
Merrell Fankhauser

Kent:
You are absolutely the man. 
Thank you for 19 years of dedication to a noble and worthwhile idea and for being the repository for so much information we wish we had 50 years ago.
All the best,
Bill Carroll

Congratulations on nineteen years of doing Forgotten Hits.  While I wasn’t there from the beginning, I’ll bet I’ve spent at least the last 12-15 years on the list … and it never ceases to amaze me how you keep coming up with interesting topics for discussion.
Best of luck to you on your next nineteen years!
John K.