But we've got a couple of GREAT offers for you today.
First, however, we've got to feature the two songs that best fit today ...
Nothing says leftovers like ...
And then, of course, there's THIS classic by Steely Dan ...
Now as for me, I won't even drive BY a mall on Black Friday ...
But today's feature allows you to shop from the comfort of your own home!
First, from long-time FH-er DAVIE ALLAN ...
Hi Gang,
Since I basically only sell "downloads" anymore, I am offering a CD 2-fer deal for $5.00. That's "Retrophonic 5" and "Retrophonic 6" for $5.00 total (that includes postage, Paypal, etc)! I wanted the entire 10 year series on CDs and the liner notes alone are worth the price of admission!
Thanks and Happy Holidays,
Davie Allan
12100 Coventry Way
Unit 306
Tustin, CA 92782
Shit, Davie, it's gonna cost more than that just to mail them!!!
This is an awesome deal from The King Of Fuzz ... grab these while you can at this unbelievable price!!!
And now this, from long-time FH-er JACK LEVIN ...
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to purchase a near-complete collection of WLS and WCFL Surveys ... all original copies ... in great shape.
Kent,
As I mentioned to you before, I'm getting out of the survey business ...
Not only the surveys I have for resale already, but the items in my own collection as well. The stuff already for resale, can be had for as low as 50 cents each if you buy at least 100. If you're going to buy just a couple, the price range is a dollar to as much as $50 per survey, depending on the survey.
As far as my own collection, that's only for sale as a bulk lot.
If you want WLS 3/8/63 and/or 3/15/63, one has to buy all 30 years, or about 1500 surveys.
The value lies in the completeness.
Over the course of the entire surevy run, I'm missing about five weeks.
The same goes for WCFL.
In that case, I have EVERY survey that was made available to the public. There's about 450 of those.
I'm not real close to completing WJJD, but it's a good sized amount. That, too, I'd like to sell as a bulk lot.
Obviously, the more you buy, the better the deal.
Just don't insult me with ridiculous offers. You know what they're worth and so do I.
We can make this happen.
Contact me at rockandrollneverforgets@yahoo.com.
We can share more contact info. I accept cash, money orders, checks if we've done business before and Pay Pal. Thanks.
Jack Levin
I have known Jack since the mid-'70's. Believe it or not, we met when he answered an ad that I had run in The Chicago Tribune looking for WLS and WCFL surveys!
My father was not at all supportive of my hobby ... to put it bluntly, he considered it a complete waste of time and space ... but these weekly charts meant the world to me at the time ... and I would faithfully pick up the latest survey every Friday on my way home from school. If for any reason the store was out or they hadn't come in yet, I would go back ... sometimes as many as two or three more times that week, to make sure I didn't miss one.
My whole music world as I knew it was WLS and WCFL at the time. I had no idea there were national publications like Billboard and Cash Box that monitored record popularity like this ... and each week I would compile my own chart, based on the combination of the rankings of songs as shown on these two lists.
One weekend my dad saw an ad in the paper placed by a couple of college kids who were looking for WLS surveys to complete a research paper they were working on. He thought this might be a good way for me to make a few bucks by selling them. I, of course, wanted no part of it, but he invited them over anyway to show them what I had.
When all was said and done, there were about five charts that I had that they needed for their research. There was no money being exchanged at all ... they just needed to take the charts, add the information to their research, and then they would bring them right back. (Yeah, right.)
Needless to say, I never saw or heard from them again ... and, because of the age of the surveys involved, they were now irreplaceable. I was heartbroken (and pissed at my dad that he would force me into such a position.)
So, years later, I ran my OWN ad looking for surveys ... anything that I was missing that might fill in my collection ... especially once I discovered that WLS had been printing charts for YEARS before I started collecting them in the Summer of 1964.
Jack responded to my ad and we've been friends ever since. (Ironically, a Tribune reporter, who wrote their weekly Antiques Column, ALSO saw my ad ... and called me for an interview, curious as to what my interest was in these charts ... why were these so important to me ... and what was my perceived investment value. Naturally, I had absolutely NO idea what she was talking about ... I just collected them for the fun of it! ... but she ran the interview in the paper the following week, along with my contact information in case anybody else out there had a collection of surveys they might want to pass along! And I heard from quite a few!)
It is UNREAL how many copies of a single week's survey people would pick up ... God knows why (but this was probably why I couldn't find a copy in the store from time to time! lol)
As such, I'm sure Jack has numerous duplicates in his collection ... perhaps upwards of 50-100 copies of the same chart ...
But to me, it is the COMPLETENESS of this collection that is the drawing card. Believe me, if I could afford to do so, I would snatch up this entire collection right now and replace my own warn out and weathered (and often xeroxed) copies with these originals.
I even thought this collection would make a GREAT piece to include in The Chicago Music Hall Of Fame as a means of representing Top 40 Radio, Chicago-style, for the '60's, '70's and '80's ... a display piece if you will, unlike any other.
(Over the years we've heard horror stories of fans visiting the radio station and running off with the station's own copies of charts ... full-on thievery ... but to actually BUILD a collection of EVERY chart ... and then display the pride of having done so ... that to me is the big difference here.)
Now in all fairness, I already have all of the facts and figures that I need when it comes to Chicago Top 40 Chart History ... between my own complete collection and Ron Smith's published books recapping the results Whitburn-style, this information is readily available and serves my purpose for conveying these facts and figures in Forgotten Hits. But still ... to OWN a complete set ... now THAT is something I would love to have.
So ... since I can't grab these ... here's hoping someone else out there will ... and give them the proper home, respect and reverence they deserve. WLS and WCFL were Top 40 Mega-Giants in the world of broadcasting in the '60's and '70's ... true trend-setters among their peers.
So good luck (and congratulations) to whoever is able to take home the grand prize. (And maybe you'll allow us to share copies from time to time in Forgotten Hits!!!) kk
Speaking of which ...
Jack was kind enough to send us a copy of every WCFL Chart from 1970. You'll begin to see these run next year in our Fifty Year Flashback beginning on January 12th ... and, much like we did this year with the WLS Charts, they will continue to run thru year's end.
It's a brand new decade coming upon us ... and we'll keep you up to date with ALL the latest happenings ... from exactly fifty years ago! (lol)
