Looks like we’ve got LOTS of great radio listening opportunities coming up over the next couple of months …
Kicking off the first weekend in August (August 6th and 7th), The History Of Rock And Roll pays tribute to several of the great TV Themes that have stuck with us several decades later.
Hi, Kent.
A while back you published a list of best-loved TV theme songs as chosen by the readers of Forgotten Hits. Those tunes, of course, were a different kind of "hit" than ordinary chart singles. While some were, in fact, released as 45s and some of those did chart, these tracks were burned into our brains by being heard on television week after week for years.
Your list did not just disappear into the wind. It inspired me to write and compile a full two hour episode of THE HISTORY OF ROCK 'N' ROLL comprised entirely of TV themes -- complete with insightful commenary by some of the stars of the shows on your list (Alan Alda, Ed Asner, Peter Graves, Ron Howard and others.)
The last two segments of the "Top TV Themes" HISTORY OF ROCK 'N' ROLL episode specifically cites your Forgotten Hits reader poll over and over -- and its choices as to what were indeed The Top Ten TV Themes of all time. That episode will air the weekend of August 6-7.
Here's the complete list of TV themes in this episode.
Hour 1, Segment 1 (12:52)
Red Skelton / I Love Lucy / The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet / The Jack Benny Program / The Honeymooners / Leave It To Beaver / The Donna Reed Show / Dennis The Menace / The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis / My Three Sons / The Courtship of Eddie’s Father / The Dick Van Dyke Show / Petticoat Junction / Green Acres / Three’s Company
Hour 1, Segment 2 (11:49)
Hogan’s Heroes / The Brady Bunch / The Partridge Family / All In The Family / The Jeffersons / Welcome Back, Kotter / Laverne & Shirley / Eight Is Enough / WKRP In Cincinnati / The Golden Girls
Hour 1, Segment 3 (13:05)
Dragnet / 77 Sunset Strip / Peter Gunn / The Untouchables / Car 54, Where Are You / Get Smart / Rockford Files / Magnum PI / Hill Street Blues / Police Squad
Hour 1, Segment 4 (7:41)
Route 66 / The Avengers / The Saint / Here Come The Brides / Love American Style / The Love Boat / The Dukes of Hazzard
Hour 1, Segment 5 (2:18)
HRR Spotlight Profile: Ron Howard (“Happy Days”)
Hour 2, Segment 1 (14:14)
Topper / The Adventures of Superman / Mr. Ed / Lost In Space / Star Trek / The Munsters / The Addams Family / Bewitched / I Dream of Jeannie / My Mother The Car / Batman / Wonder Woman / The Greatest American Hero
Hour 2, Segment 2 (21:13)
The Lone Ranger / Lassie / Alfred Hitchcock Presents / Perry Mason / The Twilight Zone / The Fugitive / Lou Grant / Howdy Doody / Crusader Rabbit / Rocky and his Friends / Mighty Mouse / Mickey Mouse Club/ American Bandstand / Huckleberry Hound /Yogi Bear / Quick Draw McDraw / Dudley Doo-Right / George of the Jungle / Mr. Magoo / The Flintstones / The Alvin Show / The Jetsons / Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color / The Archies / Scooby Doo, Where Are You? / Sesame Street
Hour 2, Segment 3 (5:42)
Gilligan’s Island / Beverly Hillbillies / M*A*S*H / Cheers / The Monkees
Hour 2, Segment 4 (6:37)
Secret Agent / The Mary Tyler Moore Show / Mission: Impossible / Bonanza / Hawaii 5-0
You may have noticed that Hour 1, Segments 1 and 2 are all comedies ... Hour 1, Segment 3 are crime fighters ... Hour 1, Segment 4 are adventures ... Hour 1, Segment 5 is a TV version of our regular HISTORY OF ROCK 'N' ROLL Spotlight Profile feature.
Hour 2, Segment 1 are all fantasy shows. Hour 2 Segment, 2 starts with dramas and then shifts to series aimed at kids.
Hour 2, Segments 3 and 4 count down the Forgotten Hits Readers' Top 10 Favorite TV Themes. (If they don't know which were the best, who does?!?)
Gary Theroux
"The History of Rock 'n' Roll"
You can view the results of our two big TV Theme Song Favorites Polls (2020 and 2013) here:
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
(You may be surprised by the movement of some of these favorites up and down the chart in just seven short years!)
VERY Special Thanks to Gary Theroux and Wink Martindale for spotlighting our Forgotten Hits Poll on their program, which is syndicated all over the world!!! (kk)
Me-TV-FM will piggyback this special edition of The History Of Rock And Roll over the August 5th-6th-and 7th Weekend by featuring TV Themes throughout the weekend ...
And Forgotten Hits will be spinning a few as well!
THIS Weekend Me-TV-FM will be running another one of our specialty weekends when they play EYE TUNES every hour, all weekend long ...
Songs about eyes ... and what we do with them ...
This weekend, The Eyes have it ... on Me-TV-FM
(You can listen live to this program ... and ALL of their specialty weekends via this link: https://www.audacy.com/metvmusic/listen#schedule ...
And great music all day, EVERY day, on Me-TV-FM!)
And look what’s coming up on Labor Day Weekend …
We just learned about Rewound Radio’s plans to salute Chicago’s two AM Giants, WLS and WCFL, over the long, holiday weekend … something like 66 HOURS of vintage air clips will be played (and more are still being collected and edited!) We can’t wait! (More information as it becomes available … along with some friendly reminders along the way!) kk
Hello Kent,
Allow me to introduce myself ...
My name is Ted Gorden Smucker, and I am a huge fan of Top 40 Radio, with special interest in WLS and WCFL, since I grew up in northern Indiana.
Anyway, Chuck Buell suggested I let you know about a big weekend coming up Labor Day on RewoundRadio.com. We are going to be featuring over 66 hours of WLS and WCFL airchecks, as they originally ran on the air from 1960-1985.
I have been working with a number of people for months on collecting and curating hours and hours of actual broadcasts, and restoring parts, if necessary. The owner of Rewound Radio, Allan Sniffen, and his primary source for airchecks, John Troll, have given me tremendous direction on producing this three day event. Some who have lent their voice talent are Tom Kent, John Landecker, Chuck Buell and Jon Wolfert from JAM Jingle Productions.
Please let me know if you would like more info on this internet playback.
Sincerely,
Ted Gorden Smucker
Hi Ted -
Nice to meet you!
I absolutely want more info - and am very happy to help promote.
I’ve been singing the praises of Rewound Radio for the past twenty years now … Hands down, the best oldies network on the planet.
Please send me whatever you can on the Labor Day Weekend special and I will be sure to pass the info along. (I know what I’LL be listening to over Labor Day Weekend!!!) kk
Later in September (September 16th, 17th and 18th), we team up with Me-TV-FM again to present another GREAT Weekend of music …
SO much great music, in fact, that you won’t know whether you’re coming or going!!!
Trust me ...
You won’t want to miss this one …
We kick the whole thing off in Forgotten Hits Friday Morning, September 16th, with a special SWEET 16 Tribute …
And then keep things moving all weekend long, with new two-fers every half hour on Me-TV-FM starting at 7 pm Friday Night … and additional posts every hour in Forgotten Hits beginning at 6 pm Friday … with both salutes running straight thru until Midnight Sunday Night! (kk)
And then, at the end of the month, I’ll be back on Phil Nee’s THOSE WERE THE DAYS program up in Wisconsin as we both count down our Favorite Songs from 1972 … a look back fifty years at the songs that have stuck with us and still remain our favorites today, all these years later.
(We’ve done this every years since 2017, I believe, when we each picked our 1967 favorites. I think we skipped 1968 but have shared our favorites for 1969, 1970 and 1971 over the past few years.)
And I will tell you that this time around, between us, we only picked SEVEN of the same songs … which is a new all-time low … so that means that you’re going to be hearing a wide variety of tracks when we do this program. (Official date still to be determined … but right now we’re thinking late-September / early October.)
Now add in our recent mention and feature on Bob Sirott’s WGN Morning Show (where we saluted the seven Chicago artists that made WLS’ Top 40 that week in 1967) and all of a sudden we’re all over the place on the radio again!!!
(No, it’s not quite the Elvis Comeback Special … but I haven’t been doing much of this lately … so it IS pretty cool to have SO many new features coming up!)
We’ll be sending out reminders as we get closer to each date …
And hope that you will join us to share these experiences when they air. (kk)
