I was surprised and pleased
to hear Harvey Kubernik with George Noory on Coast to Coast AM overnight ... they
even promoted your blog on the air and on their website. Nice!!!
On another musical note ...
Things are looking good for the
upcoming WLS/WCFL Rewound, to be heard for the second straight year on RewoundRadio.com.
I have been working almost daily with Bill Shannon in acquiring and
restoring old WLS and WCFL Shows. There have been a number of people who
have contacted us with something "new" to offer. It is amazing
how many good quality shows are out there still, almost five to six decades
later. We have also heard from a number of former D.J.s and News People,
and Steve Brelsford has been putting some outstanding promos together for this
year's event. Thanks Bill and Steve.
So the call to action is
this: If you, or someone you know, has any "undiscovered" WLS or WCFL
airchecks that they would like to submit for our Rewound, please contact me at radiofun22@gmail.com. We are constantly digitizing, filtering,
restoring, equalizing and processing new-found material to bring you the best
quality shows possible. We understand that many of these programs were
recorded at home, sometimes a great distance from the transmitter, and on
marginal quality tape and equipment ... but, we can listen and see what we can
do with these archived relics gathering dust in the basement.
All in all, we can't wait to
bring you this year's edition of WLS/WCFL Rewound, heard for three big days
over Labor Day Weekend. If you missed it last year, don't miss it this
year, because radio will never be the same as it was in the 60s, 70s and early
80's in Chicago. Tune into RewoundRadio.com and judge for yourself.
Ted Gorden Smucker
Man, I can’t wait to hear this year’s edition of the
WLS/WCFL Rewound! (I wish I had even the
SLIGHTEST amount of time to help out with this this year … but my schedule of late
has been completely out of control and unmanageable. Meanwhile, I will continue to spread the word
and, hopefully, get you some new material to air both this Labor Day Weekend
(which is a WHOLE lot closer than you may think!) as well into next year’s
WLS/WCLF Rewound Radio THREE!!!
Please, contact Ted at the email address above if you’ve got
quality airchecks to share. (Personally,
I would LOVE to hear more ‘60’s clips this year if we can come up with them …
that’s when WCFL first signed on as a Top 40 station and REALLY gave WLS a run
for the money. Of course the ‘70’s
competition was fierce, too … with jocks jumping ship from one station to the
other trying to keep them at the top of the heap.)
Top 40 Radio didn’t get any better than what we got to hear
here in Chicago … and music and radio fans all over the country were tuning in
by whatever means possible to hear these great sounds in every other state
across the nation.
More programing information as it becomes available … but
please, join in on the fun and help make this year’s edition even brighter than
last year’s runaway success! (kk)
Last week we told you about the newly updated and greatly
expanded edition of Ranking The ‘70’s put together by William Carroll … and it
sounds like a few of you have already ordered your copy of this research
delight.
Along the way, I wondered if there were any plans to revamp the '60's
book in similar fashion … and also talked about perhaps being able to
incorporate some of this information from both decades into my own
chart-tracking research in the way of establishing a "hit index" so
that songs from different eras can be accurately compared to one another. (Of course, I’ve been working on THAT theory
for about 40 years now!!! lol)
Bill came back with some comments of his own in this regard
…
Nice article, Kent. Thanks very
much. And you're right -- the trivia quiz is hard. I hope the hints
page helped a little.
As to Ranking The 60s, I have most of the data
that would allow for a similar revision. Of course, albums weren't
anywhere near as big a presence in the '60s, particularly not before the
British Invasion. In fact, I spent about a year harvesting all the albums
and all the cuts from everything that charted between 1961 and 1972. It's
a huge amount of data, but the short takeaway is you can see a linear change in
genres between "adult" music -- virtually everything in 1962 -- and
"kid" music -- virtually everything in 1972. The crossover
point is 1/1/1967.
Redoing RT60s would be Dann's call. We worked on it a little a few years ago, but
he really doesn't have the energy for it and I won't push him. I owe him
tremendous props for getting me into this enterprise nearly ten years ago.
Good luck with the hit index.
Normalization for me was the computationally simplest approach that takes into
account the most important fact: More records on the chart means less time for
each. You can't score if you're off the chart, so you can't compare raw
scores over time.
But there are things I either never figured
out or never figured out how to explain ...
Acceleration: How do you reward the fastest to
the top?
Peak performance: six consecutive weeks
at number 1 has to be cumulatively bigger than 1 week -- and two consecutive
weeks bigger than two non-consecutive weeks -- but how much bigger?
Even the absolute scale itself: How much more
valuable is number 1 than number 2, 3 or 10?
And finally, what is the experimental error:
Is number 57 for the decade really different than number 58, especially given
Billboard's fast and loose approach to the underlying data?
I've come to the conclusion you just take your
shot and understand that this is a relative business, not absolute. This
system is one lens to see through. There are an infinite number of
others. Pick one and be consistent.
Thanks again for your constant support over
the past decade, Kent. FH is a bigger resource than even you may know.
Bill
The fun thing about the charts is that there are so many
different ways to analyze them … which is also the most FRUSTRATING thing about
the charts!!!
Now factor in the two competitive business trades at the
time … Cash Box and Record World … and the discrepancies we write about every
day in Forgotten Hits, sometimes as many as 20 chart places different from one
publication to the next. (Some of this
is because each used their own set of research to collect their data, some of
which overlapped. And, as we’ve learned
over the many years of doing this, NONE of these publications were immune from
“outside influences” in spiking chart performances.)
This is why I always point to our Super Charts as being the
most accurate representation … because they take into consideration all of the
cumulative research in order to build the most comprehensive result.
And then there are the exceptions to the rule … the anomaly
I always cite is “They’re Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haa!” which had the most
rapid rise to the top before it was banned on a number of stations and the
novelty of the track wore off, causing it to plunge to oblivion as fast as it
rose. Still, in its seven week chart
run, it would have scored a higher hit index than most of the biggest hits of
the decade … and we all know that THAT isn’t true!!!
SO many different ways to look at these things … and every
time you think you’ve got it figured out, something else sways you in another
direction. (Look how many times we’ve
talked about hits that would have been MUCH bigger on the charts had the
momentum been all at the same time rather than spread out over three or four
months as it became a regional hit in different parts of the country … by which
time it had already dropped in favor of where it first ignited. Absolutely NO way to measure that … but we’ve
seen it when we’ve run our weekly charts from all over the country … records
that have made The Top Five week after week after week no matter where you go …
yet still barely registered as a Top 40 Hit in Billboard at the time (keeping
in mind that Billboard’s list only reflected what our local lists were showing
a couple of weeks sooner … the national charts were always playing catch-up in
this regard.)
As you can see, we could go on for hours and hours on this
topic (or, in the case of putting together a book like yours, years and
years!!! Lol)
But I can assure you that us chartaholics LOVE this stuff …
and we thank you and appreciate you for all that you’ve brought to the game!
(kk)
Speaking of which …
The
Dusty Rhodes Show is on Sundays at 5 cdt
Here is his Facebook page:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0dXjGVCQer4srYWCHBMnjPs9nZBeXfaJfu3TCbV1EMrVT4hUrAqxu96extZVFpakNl&id=100032546277049&sfnsn=mo&mibextid=RUbZ1f
Where were you in ’62?
Recapture the rapture tonight (6/4) 6pm – Midnight on
Cincinnati and Dayton’s great new radio station. 105.9 FM “The Oasis” wherethemusicwent.com and Delhi Township’s WDTZ 98.1 FM
and Z98fm.com.
We’re on at 9 pm, too (6/4) on WMKV 89.3 FM and WLHS 89.9 FM and wmkvfm.org
Bill in Dallas / Fort Worth
Micky Dolenz, in London this past Sunday for the James Burton One Night Only
event (at The London Palladium) is shown here in rehearsal with
(sitting) L-R: Jeff “Skunk” Baxter; James Burton; Brian May; and Albert
Lee.
Dolenz performed “I’m A Believer,” “Randy Scouse Git” and “Daydream Believer.”
His Micky Dolenz Celebrates The Monkees tour picks up Thursday, 6/8, at The Egyptian Theatre in Park City, Utah.
David Salidor
The "Forgotten Hits Cinema Corner with Chuck Buell!"
Kent wrote:
>>>We
went to see the new live action version of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” over
the Memorial Day Weekend and were blown away … absolutely magnificent …! (kk)
OK then Kent, this
is for you!
He continued
with:
>>>I took my then four year old daughter Nicki to see the animated version in 1989, and she was completely mesmerized! (kk)
Well then, this
is for Nicki!
Now, with
those two movies in mind, here’s my Special “Chuck Buell Mermaid Music Melody”
briefly highlighting “Under the Sea,” Then and Now! First the Original;
Second the Current.
(They’re
separated by a Mermaid Splash because, basically, staying true to the original,
it’s really a bit difficult telling those two versions apart!)
And, of
course, as long as we're on the musical portion here, here’s a Top Three
Forgotten Hit from late 1963 – early 1964 from . . . The “MURMAIDS!”.
“Today’s
Chuck Buell Forgotten Hits Movie/Music Feature has been brought to you by the
Choice of Forgotten Hitters Everywhere ~~~ “
[ circa 1965
]
WHOA!
I love their slogan, “It’s water-active just like me!”
"Man
the Water Buckets, Men!”
CB ( which
stands for Cecil B. DeBuell!” )
The Murmaids’ hit “Popsicles And Icicles” went all the way
to #1 in Music Vendor Magazine, the precursor to Record World, back in
1963. (It peaked at #3 in both Billboard
and Cash Box.)
It also spelled an early round of success for a young
songwriter named David Gates … about seven years before he hit major pay dirt
with Bread. (That’s right, folks … he
made MAJOR bread with Bread … until they were toast.)
Three years after his success with “Popsicles And Icicles,”
Gates scored a track on The Monkees’ first album (“Saturday’s Child’), which
sold about a gazillion copies and kept those songwriters royalties coming in
for decades to come.
But it was while he was leading Bread that his career really
took off … and made him a household name.
(Between 1970 and 1976, Bread scored seven Top Ten hits … plus three
more that just missed when “Diary,” “Sweet Surrender” and “Aubrey” all peaked
at #11.)
“Make It With You” (#1, 1970), “If” (#4, 1971), “Baby I’m
A-Want You” (#3, 1971) and “Everything I Own” (#5, 1972) all made The Top Five
while “It Don’t Matter To Me” (#6, 1970), “The Guitar Man” (#9, 1972) and “Lost
Without Your Love” (#9, 1976) round out their Top Ten Hit List.
I kinda get Nicki’s objection to seeing the remake … when
something is perfect just the way it is, there is really no reason to mess with
it. Disney built their business in top
shelf animation … and “The Little Mermaid” was a HUGE comeback for the
company. Redoing some of their big
second wave hits in live action films (“The Lion King,” “The Jungle Book” and,
more recently, “Pinocchio” with Tom Hanks as Geppetto) just don’t measure up to
the classic originals … and odds are every new generation of kids to come along
are going to fall in love with the cartoon versions just the way we did.
But I’ve got to tell you, they did a stellar job with this
“Little Mermaid” redo … it is BEAUTIFULLY filmed and sung … and remains
faithful to the story we all know and love.
(Even, as Chuck mentions, remaining faithful to the music … along with a
new hip-hop tune called “Skuttlebutt!”)
I can’t help but highly recommend it … as I truly did find it quite
enjoyable. (kk)
OK, now this one is REALLY bothering me!!!
Why is it when I look at that last photo that Chuck sent in, the first thing that pops into my mind is "They're not looking for tuna with good taste ... they want tuna that tastes good!" (Something's just not right there!!!) kk
Or worse yet ...
Remember the whole scandal surrounding the VHS release of Disney's "The Little Mermaid" a couple of decades back???
Another important day in June ... Breaker 1-9!
It was the dark of the moon, on the sixth of June.
Jack
10-4, Good Buddy! (kk)
>>>I was going to ask you if listening to those records in your car
was what earned you the nickname “Skippy” … but that one was just too
obvious! (lol) kk
Yeah, "Scratch" that! Because, for a while, I was pretty much "In the Groove" with that idea!
So, got any more puns up your "Sleeve?" 'Cuz if if do, tha'd be a "Record!" And you'd just be "Needling" me!
CB ( which stands for Turntable "Cartridge Boy!" )
