Hi Kent,
For the past several months, I've been compiling the week-by-week research for the entire run of The Gavin Report (1958 - 2000). I'm currently in the final editing stages and we hope to start taking orders in the next few weeks. In the meantime, I thought you and your readers would like a little preview, so I'm sending along the page for The Beatles. You'll note that there are some fun surprises, including some album cuts that were never eligible for the other trade magazine charts back then, including the #1 hit "Michelle" (which David & Jonathan covered as a single!) You'll also see that the entire Sgt. Pepper album also hit #1 in June of 1967. Take a look at the trivia note that I added directly under The Beatles main artist heading - the group was so red-hot in early 1964, that Gavin simply showed "The Beatles" at #1 for three weeks! In addition to his weekly Top 40 rankings, Gavin also listed several "regional" up-and-coming hits. We make note of any that never charted in Billboard, and there are literally hundreds of those included in the book (including "Ask Me Why" by The Beatles)!
One of the (unfortunate) quirks of Bill Gavin was his refusal to chart a few of the more "controversial" singles of the time; thus big hits like "Honky Tonk Women" by The Rolling Stones and "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tommy James & The Shondells never charted in The Gavin Report. This also affected The Beatles as "The Ballad Of John And Yoko" is nowhere to be found. Despite this somewhat puritanical stance, the overall research reveals an interesting look at how the songs and artists fared during the "golden years" of Top 40 radio.
Looking forward to finishing this book (and have it off to the printer by late October or early November) … then it's on to Top Pop Singles, Volume 2, covering the years of 1990-2022, which MAY be ready by the end of the year as well (but don't hold me to that!)
Paul Haney
Record Research
This is EXCELLENT news!!!
Joel and I talked about doing a Gavin Report book for YEARS – but at the time he was still trying to obtain copies of every issue, which have become a REAL rarity over the years as they were nowhere near as readily available as a publication like Billboard or Cash Box.
One of my hopes was that we'd get to read some of Bill Gavin's original commentary as he picked these hits ... he had a TREMENDOUS influence on what records radio stations were adding at the time ... and it'd be cool to see some of the ones he missed ... as well as read his enthusiasm for some of the ones he deemed to be "sure things" ... will any of those appear in the new book? (They could easily warrant a book of their own ... which may be a great way to expand on this series with a "supplemental" edition if you're not planning to include here.) His “diagnosis” was considered to be one of the most respected opinions in the business at the time.
Regardless, I can't wait to see my copy ... and thank you SO much for giving us the opportunity to “sneak peek” a page here in FH! (kk)
UPDATE: The new book will NOT have any of the original commentary from Bill Gavin … but I still say that alone makes for enough interesting reading to perhaps do a follow-up book somewhere down the line … so that’s my hope for right now. (Never give up!!! I prayed for the Chart Comparison Book for nearly a decade and it finally materialized!!! Lol!) kk
Some corrections to the information we posted on Sunday regarding the Rewound Radio salute to WLS and WCFL …
Hi Kent -
What a great piece you wrote for today's Forgotten Hits blog. Thank you. People have been asking a lot of questions ...
The two most asked are: "How do I hear this?" and "What's going to be on during the Rewound?" Your blog has done a great job of answering those two concerns. Thanks for that.
I do want to point out, however, that the schedule I originally sent you has already changed a bit and will continue to be very fluid. It could be adjusted on the fly with some additions or subtractions, depending on timing or flow of the show, so I want to be careful to not over-promise a specific playback at a particular time.
That being said, we will have a 22 minute aircheck of Larry's first stint at WCFL, but it isn't necessarily the very first night ... I am not sure of his start date. We also don't have Larry's first show back at WCFL running over the weekend, but here is what we can do ...
I will send you Larry's first show from 7/5/72 on WCFL via WeTransfer, but it is scoped. If you want to set up a link so everyone can hear it through the blog, that might be very cool, if you can do that. A good teaser for the Rewound. We have a handful of Larry Lujack shows on both stations from the morning and afternoon, and we know that will be a big draw.
Download link
https://we.tl/t-Y1R7MEIogG
[NOTE: This link expires on Sepember 4th so if you want to hear it, please download it NOW!!!]
I also want to note that we did not restore ALL of the music, but where there were major issues such as flutter, phasing, muddiness, or splices, we did repair it to give the aircheck a nice even flow and listenable quality. Some of the older ones, such as Dex Card, Art Roberts, and a few others sound as if you are listening to them on an old AM radio ... which we were.
The montage that was originally produced by Tommy Edwards and Al Rosen, and later Jeff Davis, has been totally digitally recreated and expanded by Scott Childers … and this will air around Noon Eastern / 11 am Central Monday, as you noted. It is one of the first times that this will be aired in stereo, which is a real treat for many of us. A fact here is that that same original montage was later played on WABC, as well as WLS and WOWO.
Ted
Kent –
I’m really looking forward to the Labor Day special - nostalgia for me as well especially hearing my colleagues I worked with during the time I was at the big 89 from 1962 to 1969 - talk about a “Blast From The Past”!!!
Ron Riley
This is going to be a great REWIND and REMIND as to the glory days of Top 40 Radio … and you were absolutely in the upper echelon of that era here in Chicago!!! (kk)
From our official press release …
One of the greatest radio wars of all time took place right here in Chicago from the mid-'60's thru the mid-'70's as two 50,000 watt powerhouse AM Top 40 Radio Stations ... WLS and WCFL ... battled it out for listeners by programming all of the latest hit music (each trying to scoop the other with exclusive first spins), contests and prizes, jocks that just oozed personality and creativity (and knew and loved the music they were playing), exclusive interviews with many of the top artists of the day ... and more.
It was, without a doubt, the most exciting time in Top 40 Radio History ... and it wasn't done any better than it was done right here in Chicago.
And with those incredibly powerful signals, you didn't even necessarily have to LIVE in Chicago at the time to hear it ...
That's because you could pick up WLS and WCFL literally all over the country on a clear night, LONG before the idea of "streaming" became a reality.
This Labor Day Weekend, Rewound Radio will present a 66-Hour special tribute to these two great stations by airing ORIGINAL clips, EXACTLY as they aired at the time ... many even including the original commercials, bits of newscasts and, of course, the incredible jingles that so dominated the era of Top 40 Radio.
But it's the music ... and the disc jockeys ... that you'll really want to hear ... an absolute hot bed of talent that graced The Windy City during this era.
We're talking about everything from the expected (Larry Lujack and Tommy Edwards doing “Animal Stories”) … to a snippet of Dex Card counting down The Silver Dollar Survey … to Larry Lujack’s first show on WCFL, circa 1967, as well as his first show from his return to WCFL in 1972 … Dick Biondi’s first show at WCFL (as well as a classic aircheck from his original WLS show, when he ruled the airwaves in the early '60's) ... Bob Sirott’s 17th Anniversary Salute to WLS as well as 30-60 minute airchecks from the likes of Fred Winston, Joel Sebastian, Jim Stagg, Gary Gears, Barney Pip, John Records Landecker, Chuck Buell, Jeff Davis, Jerry Kaye, Yvonne Daniels, Clark Weber, Bob Dearborn, Tommy Edwards, Ron Riley, Scotty Brink, Kris Erik Stevens, Ron O’Brien, Ron Britain, Tom Kent, Steve King, Dick Shannon, Bob Hale (from 1960 no less!!!), Bill Bailey, Art Roberts, Bill Taylor and many, many more.
It all kicks off at 6 am Eastern on Saturday Morning, September 3rd, and runs straight thru till Midnight on Monday Night, September 5th.
(Many of these original jocks have even come back to record new promos and drop-ins for the big event!)
You can listen to Rewound Radio any number of ways ... including: www.RewoundRadio.com; the I-Heart Radio Ap (just search Rewound Radio); Amazon devices such as Fire TV and Alexa ... just say, “Alexa, play Rewound Radio on I-Heart Radio” and the TuneIn Radio Ap and search Rewound Radio
Stop by and give us a listen … all holiday weekend long!
Ted Smucker (who has been my main contact for putting this whole WLS / WCFL Rewound Weekend together) will be a guest on John Record Landecker’s show Thursday Night to talk about the big tribute weekend. (I don’t have an exact airtime yet … but as soon as we know for certain, we’ll be sure to pass the information along.) kk
I am very much looking forward to Rewound Radio's WLS / WCFL Aircheck Marathon -- as the excitement generated by those two stations' non-stop competition was what sparked me -- as a high school and college student in central Illinois -- to make a major part of my career hit-oriented radio broadcasting. My goal became to emulate the magical and heartfelt good time atmosphere those two stations generated. And I have -- via a long succession of broadcast series and specials as well as carefully annotated LP and CD box sets of the music WLS and WCFL made famous (albums marketed through Reader's Digest Music and other distributors.)
I have been happy to be a part of Rewound Radio now for many years -- as it is the place where my 2 1/2 minute HISTORY OF ROCK 'N' ROLL features turn up weekdays at 10 AM, 3 PM and 9 PM. Those same features -- inspired by WLS' legendary "Retro-Rock with Frank Kingston Smith" segments -- now also turn up midway through every episode of the two hour syndicated HISTORY OF ROCK 'N' ROLL WITH WINK MARTINDALE series. The present day HISTORY OF ROCK 'N' ROLL is heard in Chicago twice a week over ME-TV-FM and also over all the rest of the best broadcast and online stations in the world. And now you know what makes them the best! For the complete affiliates list so far, just check out the HISTORY OF ROCK 'N' ROLL WITH WINK MARTINDALE Facebook page.
Gary Theroux
"The History of Rock 'n' Roll"
I grew up with these two stations and it was a very exciting time in radio to hear them battle it out on the air - a different era to say the least - when personality and creativity ruled the airwaves -
And with music changing as quickly as it did in the 60’s, you had a whole new sound nearly every single week - and yet somehow it all still blended together so PERFECTLY!!! (We didn’t know any better - we just loved it all!)
As a big fan of Rewound Radio, I am always happy to spread the gospel about the great job they’re doing there - and have been happy to do so for about twenty years now … so I was thrilled to be able to participate in putting together this very special weekend. Truth is, I can’t wait to tune in and listen! (kk)
The Baz Luhrmann “Elvis” flick has passed $275 million worldwide (and grossed a little more than $147 million in the US and Canada, making it the THIRD biggest music biopic since the ‘70’s.
Billboard Magazine ranks The Top 25, based on domestic box office gross sales … this includes recent flicks about Brian Wilson (“Love And Mercy,” #25, and about $12.5 million in sales), “The Buddy Holly Story” (#22 and about $14.5 million in box office gross), “Respect” starring Jennifer Hudson (#21, $24 million), #18 “The Doors” starring Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison ($34.5 million), #17 – Selena ($35.5 million), “What’s Love Got To Do With It” (the Tina Turner story), perched at #13 with $39 million, “Jersey Boys” (#11, $47 million), “La Bamba,” #39, $54 million, #8 – Coal Miner’s Daughter ($67 million), #7 - “Ray” ($75 million), “Rocketman” (#5, $96 million), #4 – “Walk The Line” ($119.5 million), “Elvis” at #3, “Straight Outta Compton,” #2 @ $161 million and “Bohemian Rhapsody,” #1 at an incredible nearly $217 million.
From Tom Cuddy …
The Temptations founder Otis Williams (2022) on the making of "My Girl"
And this, too!
Herb
Alpert Announces New Album ‘Sunny Side of the Street’
https://americansongwriter.com/herb-alpert-announces-new-album-sunny-side-of-the-street/
He is also apparently touring again …
The American Songwriter article lists these upcoming tour dates … with a Canadian leg of the tour kicking off in 2023:
Tour Dates:
2022
Wednesday, September 14th – Manhattan, KS – McCain Auditorium (Kansas State University)
Thursday, September 15th – Fayetteville, AR – Walton Center for the Arts
Friday, September 16th – Germantown, TN (Memphis) – Germantown PAC
Sunday, September 18th – Nashville, TN – City Winery
Monday, Sepember 19th – Cincinnati, OH – Memorial Hall
Tuesday, September 20th – Royal Oak, MI – Royal Oak Theater
Thursday, September 22nd – Carmel, IN – Palladium Theatre
Friday, September 23rd – Evanston, IL (Chicago at Northwester Univ) – Cahn Auditorium
Thursday, December 1st – Stuart, FL – The Lyric Theatre
Friday, December 2nd – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Amaturo Theatre at Broward PAC
Saturday, December 3rd – Clearwater, FL – Capitol Theatre
Monday, December 5th – Atlanta, GA – Variety Theatre
Tuesday, December 6th – Knoxville, TN – Bijou Theatre
Wednesday, December 7th – Durham, NC – Carolina Theater
Thursday, December 15th – Las Vegas, NV – Smith Center – Myron’s Cabaret Jazz
Friday, December 16th – Las Vegas, NV – Smith Center – Myron’s Cabaret Jazz
Saturday, December 17th – Broad Stage – Santa Monica, CA
2023
Tuesday, April 4th – Nanaimo, BC – Port Theatre
Wednesday, April 5th – Campbell River, BC – Tidemark Theatre
Friday. April 7th – Victoria, BC – McPherson Playhouse
Saturday, April 8th – Vancouver, BC – Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
Monday, April 10th – Edmonton, AL – Myer Horowitz Theatre
Tuesday, April 11th – Calgary, AB – Bella Concert Hall
Saturday, May 13th – Toronto – Queen Elizabeth Theatre
Sunday, May 14th – Hamilton – First Ontario Concert Hall
Monday, May 15th – Kingston – Grand Theatre
Wednesday, May 17th – Ottawa – Algonquin Commons Theatre
Thursday, May 18th – Montreal – Theatre Maisonneuve
And this from Ken Voss …
Presenting kind of the anti-Alpert!!!
New KISS …
The deluxe edition includes 12/31/82 in Rockford
Ken
One more classic shot from the glory days of WLS ...
Two of their biggest disc jockey icons ...
Bob Sirott and Larry Lujack!
