WLSO.FM

ROCKOLLECTIONS: 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11- THERE BUT FOR FORTUNE PT.1

There are those I am sure who think I am going too far and too long with this series.
But it is the 10TH ANNIVERSARY of 9/11, plus I am trying to work some real bad feelings out of my system.
It’s my therapy and I’ll know when it is time to end.
And perhaps I can help somebody else out who has comparable feelings.
I am calling this chapter There But for Fortune, based on an old Phil Ochs song.
We all know that any one of us for any reason could have been present at any of the three locations the muslim terrorists struck on Sept. 11th 2001.
There But for Fortune…!
And that Good Fortune of course extends to other bad situations we are blessed to not have to cope with or live in.
That’s the thematic musical centerpiece.
But I’ll open with a Ray Charles song I first heard played in the late 70’s by Dave Herman on WNEW-FM- they were still a free-form radio station then.
I searched for it for years, never found it, never heard it again by that particular artist.
Then lo and behold, a week and a half before this series began, I got it on a compilation album!
Fate seemingly runs through this episode.
And I have a song from 1989 that is absolutely eerie in its lyrics regarding 9/11- just one of many whose content has taken on a new meaning since that fateful day.
I ask you to simply listen to the words, and you should easily hear what I mean.
And I’ll have another similarly uncanny song in Part Two that is even older.
All things considered, a nice mix of music no matter what the Theme.
Or if there even IS a Theme.
Count your lucky stars and enjoy!
 
Mike

Tags: Compilation Album, Dave Herman, Free-Form Radio Station, Good Fortune, Phil Ochs, Ray Charles, Sept 11th 2001, WNEW-FM

ROCKOLLECTIONS: WOR-FM, THE FIRST COMMERCIAL FM ROCK STATION PT.8 CONCLUSION

This is it, the final chapter.
I’ll finish with that First (and last!) Anniversary Concert at the Village Theater on June 11, 1967.
And that venue is interesting for two reasons- first of all, I lived in that neighborhood at that time, and the Village Theater was nowhere near Greenwich Village.
Greenwich Village was on the West Side of Manhattan, the theater was on 6th St. & 2nd Avenue, what was then called the Lower East Side.
Now known as the East Village, but not then!
Secondly, it was the building Bill Graham later bought and turned into the Fillmore East.
The acts perfectly reflected what WOR-FM was playing by that time, and the station was a huge success with over a million listeners- and the best part was these were primarily college students and young adults who didn’t listen to AM or FM…they didn’t listen to the RADIO!
WOR-FM had created a new audience! But the greedhead suits and consultants always want more.
Here’s what Alan Sniffen and I have to say:
WOR-FM became extremely popular on college campuses.  It began to carve out an audience that had not been served by radio up until then.  It was achieving decent ratings (for an FM station) without taking audience away from the AM stations by appealing to new listeners.  This was significant.  Even so, owner RKO wasn’t satisfied.  Bill Drake had been consulting RKO’s two West Coast stations; KHJ in Los Angeles and KFRC in San Francisco.

These were both extremely successful AM Top 40 stations built around the “Drake-Chenault” philosophy of playing just the hits while minimizing almost everything else.  In July of 1967 RKO hired Drake to consult its remaining radio properties which consisted of CKLW, Detroit; WRKO, Boston; WGMS, Washington DC; WHBQ, Memphis and, of course, WOR-FM.

The first sense of change came when memos appeared from management dictating to the air staff not to play certain cuts. Next the disc jockeys were removed from the new record listening sessions and not allowed to have input on the playlist. Next the playlist became all singles with only an occasional new record and it had to be from an established artist.

Murray the K had the highest rated FM show in New York.  He would have no part of these changes and his protests cost him his job.  He was fired by the station in September 1967.  His parting comment about the changes at WOR-FM was “Who can live with that?  Music has reached a maturity… people in radio are still treating it as if it is for teenie boppers.”

Murray had a point. WOR-FM was different from the other RKO properties in that it was FM stereo as opposed to AM.  It had built a solid audience by attracting a different group of people.  Giving up on it after only a year seemed premature. Record companies had found the station highly valuable at influencing sales of rock albums especially of new artists and groups like Cream, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience.  The format was noted for playing new records first, often playing new artists that the local AM stations wouldn’t play.

But by October of 1967 WOR-FM was changing and targeting the more traditional Top 40 radio audience. The playlist was down to about 30 records.  Other WOR-FM disc jockeys resigned including Bill “Rosko” Mercer who actually quit on the air while commenting that his action had nothing to do with the old management but with the programming consultants who had taken over. He spoke of honoring the respect listeners had for the station and described the new programming consultants (i.e.. Bill Drake) saying “what they’re doing is dishonest to us and to you.” If there had been any way to continue, he said, “we would have. I did a lot of soul-searching. This has nothing to do with the old management we started out with. We presented a lot of beautiful new things. This has been curbed.” He said he couldn’t go on with the new policy because people would say: “Hey, Rosko, you’re not the same any more.”

What is interesting is that it’s clear RKO had no idea just what WOR-FM’s strengths were.  It would turn out that its progressive rock format was a huge hit to younger rock radio listeners.  On college campuses, it was the single most popular station and its ability to sell new recordings was unmatched.
It was, indeed, the first niched radio station.

As Metromedia’s WNEW-FM went on to prove in the years that followed, the concept of an FM rock station that plays music beyond the hit list could attract a loyal and significant audience.

Thank goodness WNEW-FM was listening!
They picked up the ball WOR-FM dropped and ran with it.
WNEW-FM became the best Rock & Roll station in the country, probably the world, with the kind of musical freedom I dreamed of.
You will hear Rosko quit on the air in this episode.
But the sad story of WOR-FM will have a happy ending for most who were involved!
And it only took a few weeks for me to get over my depression and be thrilled I had gotten that AM/FM clock radio again, lol!
Hope you enjoyed this journey, and I thank you for getting on the bus with me!

Mike

Tags: AM/FM clock radio, Bill Graham, Cream, Fillmore East, First (and last!) Anniversary Concert at the Village Th, Greenwich Village, Jefferson Airplane, June 11 1967, Lower East Side, Manhattan, The Doors, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Village Theater, WNEW-FM

ROCKOLLECTIONS: WOR-FM, THE FIRST COMMERCIAL FM ROCK STATION PT.1

No theme, group or artist featured for the next few weeks- but a Radio Station!
A now-defunct Radio Station, WOR-FM, that had really only about 14 months of glory- and sadly, its call letters no longer even exist.
But it was the FIRST FM to play Rock & Roll, and it laid the groundwork for what was later to be regarded as the best Rock station ever, WNEW-FM.
It debuted on July 30, 1966, 45 years ago…and I didn’t even have an FM radio!
The year before, the FCC made perhaps the ONLY good ruling in their history, to make this extraordinary event possible.
And I will play the first song they played on that historic day.
After all the heat we’ve had and my brain being mush (surprised I could DO a show, lol!), I’ll let Radio Authority Alan Sniffen tell some of the story:
 

WOR-FM: A Brief History
by Allan Sniffen
 
In 1965 the Federal Communications Commission ruled that major market FM radio stations could no longer simulcast their AM sister stations.  FM had to become separate with individual programming.  This was deemed necessary to allow FM to grow and develop its own audience.  The ruling put radio station owners in a bind.  They needed to come up with new formats for these weaker and less desirable stations. Since FM was more difficult to receive,  its universe of potential listeners was much smaller… and so was its billing.  The new formats therefore had to be both different and relatively inexpensive to program. 
 
It was in that environment that RKO General Broadcasting launched its new WOR-FM  (98.7Mhz) “Hot 100” format on July 30, 1966.  The name is deceiving because, in fact, it was the first Progressive Rock station in the country.  It marketed itself as stereo as a way to distinguish itself from AM radio.  The problem was that many of the records played by the station were not in stereo.  While it was true that most record albums were stereo, singles were not.  Since the singles came out before the albums, much of the new music it was breaking was in mono. 
 
The original WOR-FM disc jockeys were Scott Muni (formerly of WABC and WMCA), Murray “the K” Kaufman (formerly of WINS), Rosko (Bill Mercer) and Johnny Michaels.   Even though the format began on July 30, the disc jockeys did not.  There were union problems with AFTRA.  RKO did not want to pay FM disc jockeys the equivalent pay of their AM counterparts.  As a result, the station segued from one record to another (except for taped promotions by the DJ’s) until Saturday, October 8 1966. 
 

Thank you Alan, and more from you coming.
The words GROOVE, GROOVY,  and particularly HAPPENING will pop up frequently during these shows.
As usual, I don’t know how long the series will go.
I just have a bunch of records, actual airchecks, and a desire to re-create what was the first vague inkling for me that I wanted to play music like THIS!
For oldsters and youngsters alike, I invite you to join me, because “The Sound Is WOR-FM…New York!”
 
Mike

Tags: Bill Mercer, FCC, FM Radio, GROOVE, GROOVY, HAPPENING, Johnny Michaels, July 30 1966, Murray “the K” Kaufman, Progressive Rock Station, Radio Authority Alan Sniffen, Radio Station, RKO General Broadcasting, Rock & Roll, Rosko, Saturday October 8 1966, Scott Muni, wabc, WINS, WMCA, WNEW-FM

ROCKOLLECTIONS: SALUTE TO MOTHERS PT.6 FINAL

It is time to wrap up our Salute To Mothers.
This final chapter will have a song my buddy Mike and I always laugh along with to begin, followed by an early R&B song from before there was Rock & Roll, but whose sound clearly forecasts what was to come.
After that, as I said a few days ago, I’ll turn serious in this Finale!
There was a Phoebe Snow song I was looking for, and finally found just in time for the end of this series.
It was on an old cassette tape from about 1983, has held up remarkably well, and it is a live-on-the-radio acoustic song performed on the old WNEW-FM here in New York (when it was a listenable station!).
It is dedicated to her brain-damaged daughter, Valerie Rose, called Stand Your Ground.
As far as I can find out, it was never officially released, so this may be one of the only ways to hear it.
So sad Phoebe died last month!
Followed by a song that deals with Mothers and the Thread running through 3 generations.
Then we conclude with the unfortunate but honest part of this series, the inevitable end that comes to us all.
It is the natural order of things that parents are predestined to die before their children.
And Mothers, Angels that they be, are not exempt.
I hope you enjoyed the fun, laughs and tears with our respectful and loving Celebration Of Mothers, Mamas, Moms & Mas.

Mike

Tags: Angels, Brain-Damaged Daughter, Finale, Live-On-The-Radio Acoustic Song, Mamas, Mike Hennessy, Moms & Mas, New York, Old Cassette Tape From About 1983, Phoebe Snow, R&B, Respectful And Loving Celebration Of Mothers, Rock & Roll, Stand Your Ground, Thread Running Through 3 Generations, Valerie Rose Snow, WNEW-FM

ROCKOLLECTIONS: HOME FOR THANKSGIVING 2010 PT.2

As we continue with our Home For Thanksgiving series, the Free-Form Radio nature of this show led me to take the last song played in the previous half hour and expand on it a bit.
So we will take some rural back roads Home- with none of the selections sung by authentic country folk, lol!
Then another song written by, and I’ve said it before, that most underrated and underappreciated American songwriter in all of Rock & Roll, John Sebastian.
An absolute beauty from him and the Lovin’ Spoonful!
I will take us out this time with songs about those who can’t go home- the homeless, the drunks, the druggies, all those who have no Home to go to.
A bit somber, but I won’t shy away from a part of real life.
As I recall, Engineer Ken Stanley was very deeply affected by the first tune.
I mean surprisingly so- he couldn’t look at me.
And in the final song, you will hear the story of a man’s life in precisely 3 minutes!
Even after many years, and I first heard it in the 60’s when Scott Muni played it on WNEW-FM, that one still gets to me.
When the going Home continues next week, I promise I will counter this with a very Happy beginning.
Please do come back and join me to find out just what I mean.
But until then, I hope you enjoy what is played here.
You can always let me know.
 
Mike

Tags: American Songwriter, Back Roads, Engineer Ken Stanley, Free-form Radio, John Sebastian, Rock & Roll, Scott Muni, The 60's, WNEW-FM

ROCKOLLECTIONS: PSYCHOTHERAPY LEFTOVERS PT.1

Well well, August 25 is the 12th Anniversary of my being at the same station.
12 years…those people there REALLY need Psychotherapy!
These are some of the Psychotherapy Leftovers we never got to in the other chapters, and I must tell you, this is one of the strangest half hours of musical selections I have ever done.
Certainly the most somber in those 12 years!
I just went where the free-form Muse took me, and that was a weird place.
So you are forewarned, and the next and Final episode will be much different, more normal.
I started with a song for me, one that has been an old friend for many years.
Then, for some reason last week, I flashed back to a time in 1970 or 1971 when Scott Muni, then with the 2-7PM slot and also the Program Director at WNEW-FM, chose to replace for a day Jonathan Schwartz who couldn’t make it for his 10AM-2PM show.
Scott was unbelievable that day, maybe because it was a different time with possibly a different audience.
He played fantastic old sets he had done in the past where the music went together perfectly, plus terrific new ones.
It was great Radio!
And another of those defining moments that set the stage for how I present music.
One 2-song set stayed with me for all these years, an incredible segue that I will re-create here.
Janis Ian’s “Insanity Comes Quietly To The Structured Mind” into Dory Previn’s “Mr.Whisper”.
One a song about a ledge-jumper suicide, the other dealing with a Mr. Whisper who has an “apartment” in a lady’s head!
Normally I don’t tell you what I am going to play and ruin the surprises, but in this case I figure no one will know those songs anyway, so what the hell, lol?
That’s it, I am tired of writing, so you are on your own.
But I cordially invite you to hear undeniably the oddest, but not the worst, first half of a show I have ever done!
And that’s saying something for me, lol!
There is a Darkness here, and I DARE you to listen!

Mike

Tags: 12th Anniversary, 1970, 1971, Darkness, Dory Previn, Insanity Comes Quietly To The Structured Mind, Janis Ian, Jonathan Schwartz, Leftovers, Mr.Whisper, Program Director, radio, Scott Muni, The Free-Form Muse, WNEW-FM

ROCKOLLECTIONS: A ROCKOLLECTIONS LOOK AT WOODSTOCK PT.4 FINAL

Beginning this our final look at the Woodstock Festival, I will again take you back to WNEW-FM.
In 1969, Rosko was still working the 7 to midnight shift there, so we will hear him briefly sell you on the Festival- followed by another report from their newsman Mike Eisgrau.
I thank Dennis Elsas again for these snippets, and he has a website www.denniselsas.com that is well worth visiting.
After that, the Band didn’t make onto that old original vinyl album, but we have them here.
A couple from them, starting with a song you should know by Johnny Cash, although I believe it was written by Lefty Frizzell.
I suppose I could look it up, but I am still lazy, lol!
So go ahead, you look it up!
And don’t forget, Woodstock was the Band’s neighborhood- they did Music From Big Pink there.
I’ll have a list of folks who either canceled or declined to play at Woodstock that I am sure you will find very interesting.
Some of the reasons are good ones, some are not.
More music, coming almost full circle, and finally, one of the guys who thought up Woosdstock had an idea as to how he wanted to end the Festival.
He couldn’t…but we can!
I hope you enjoyed our little look at that historic weekend.
Next, something completely different…that’s the plan anyway!

The audio clips used in this series were obtained from the archives of Dennis Elsas of WFUV, and they can be heard there along with much more, at Dennis’ website www.denniselsas.com.
I personally thank him for the memories.

Mike

Tags: Dennis Elsas, Johnny Cash, Lefty Frizzell, Mike Eisgrau, Music From Big Pink, Rosko, The Band, WFUV, WNEW-FM

ROCKOLLECTIONS: A ROCKOLLECTIONS LOOK AT WOODSTOCK PT.2

I came back in this half kidding about the name Wavy Gravy.
Engineer Ken told me what his real name was- you will not believe it, lol!
As I mentioned before, the premise of my doing Woodstock was to bring a different look at it.
So the first priority was to NOT play any of the songs that were on the original Woodstock album from 1970.
Remember, that 3-disc LP that was so amazing back then?
I mean, nobody put out 3 vinyl records in one album!
But by now, most people have heard those songs over and over, and I wanted to avoid making you do so again.
However there were necessary exceptions- and you will hear 2 of them in this episode.
To open, I have Richie Havens in his own words, talking about how they wouldn’t let him off the stage.
No one else was prepared to play, and they kept sending him back out there over and over.
And I have a confession to make- I have always done my show as a local one, a show from New York that does not try to be more than it is.
Nowadays there are so many sterile, syndicated shows that go nationwide.
As a result, they aim at such a broad audience that they lose all local color.
I want to be an exception and a throwback to when radio was your friend, and when I say it is a beautiful day I am talking about a beautiful day in New York City.
Even though terrestrially I am on over 70 affiliated stations across North America, never mind the internet where the reach is around the world.
Hell if I thought about that, I might get stagefright, lol!
All of this is leading me back to what was our local FM Rock station WNEW-FM again, and a reporter from there that would only be recalled by us New Yorkers.
His name was Mike Eisgrau, I don’t know if he is still around- but I will play the first of one of his reports filed live from the Woodstock Festival.
Also in this chapter a Bob Dylan song that I have never heard sung by Dylan, not even on bootleg.
Do enjoy our trip, definitely not on LSD, as we get ourselves Back To The Garden!
There are two more of these to come!

Mike

The audio clips used in this series were obtained from the archives of Dennis Elsas of WFUV, and they can be heard there along with much more, at Dennis’ website www.denniselsas.com.

I personally thank him for the memories.

Tags: Back To The Garden, Bob Dylan, Engineer Ken, FM Rock, Local New York Radio, Mike Eisgrau, Original Woodstock Album, Richie Havens, Wavy Gravy, WNEW-FM, Woodstock Festival 1969

ROCKOLLECTIONS: A ROCKOLLECTIONS LOOK AT WOODSTOCK PT.1

The 40th Anniversary of Woodstock took place while I was on vacation. I was not going to come back and do shows just for that.

But it nagged at me.

So I called Engineer Ken and asked him what he thought about doing it this week.

He was all for it, pointing out that the new movie Taking Woodstock just opened a few days ago, and that was after the anniversary.

I decided to do it, but only if I could bring my own peculiar presentation to it.

Whether that is good or bad is up to you, lol!

The first day featured mostly folk acts, so that is what we will focus on these first two chapters.

That made sense, because they weren’t finished with the stage and sound equipment, and folkies only need a mic and some amps.

We will start before the Festival began however, with an old 1969 commercial on WNEW-FM by legendary Program Director and DJ Scott Muni, one of my heroes.

And take it from there…

Mike

The audio clips used in this series were obtained from the archives of Dennis Elsas of WFUV, and they can be heard there along with much more, at Dennis’ website www.denniselsas.com.

I personally thank him for the memories.

Tags: 40th Anniversary Of Woodstock, DJ Scott Muni, Engineer Ken, Program Director, Taking Woodstock, WNEW-FM

ROCKOLLECTIONS: IN THEIR OWN WORDS- REMEMBERING GEORGE & JOHN 2008 PT.2 END

Odd, how life and history affect us.
To one generation, today Dec. 7th brings memories of the bombing of Pearl Harbor- and they can tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing when they got the news.
To many of the next couple of generations, they can do likewise for tomorrow Dec. 8th, when they heard of the senseless killing of John Lennon.
So now it is John Lennon’s turn In Their Own Words- and of course music too!
For some reason, all Lennon’s appearances on WNEW-FM are highlighted…except this one.
It took place on May 30, 1969 when he phoned Rosko (Bill Mercer), who was then on the air.
What followed was a far more incisive interview than when he talked to the others.
John talks about being a tough kid, not wanting to hear You Can’t Do That.
Then again, I didn’t like hearing that either, lol!
Oh, I mistakenly said it was a live track. Wrong, sorry- just made to sound that way. But a good remix!
John talks more about being a troublemaker with a chip on his shoulder.
But he found his peace.
Rosko asks him flat-out about his use of Christ in The Ballad Of John & Yoko, and you may be surprised with his answer.
Some more music and conversation, and I will close this year’s remembrance with a beautiful song by John.
Let’s all meet here next year, and I’ll have some more off the beaten path recordings by two guys who meant an awful lot to me!

Mike

Tags: , Bill Mercer, George Harrison, John Lennon, Pearl Harbor, Rosko, The Ballad Of John & Yoko, WNEW-FM, You Can't Do That

ROCKOLLECTIONS: REMEMBERING GEORGE & JOHN PT.2 2006 VERSION

I will now continue with the 2006 show I did, and a good time to point out that in 2007 I did full shows for EACH of them. You can hear them here by simply scrolling back on the words “previous posts”.
And also to announce there will be another new George & John show within the next few days, from this year 2008.

While most were watching Monday Night Football, I remember I was watching a hockey game (it’s a BETTER game!) on TV with a buddy when the phone rang and another friend told me John was shot.
I quickly put the stereo on to WNEW-FM, then the best rock station in the world, and Vin Scelsa was playing Springsteen’s “Jungleland”.
My heart sank, I knew instinctively we had lost him!
In this episode, I decided to play songs ABOUT John- as a little cottage industry has sprung up regarding that. And as it turned out, I didn’t have enough time to even play what I brought with me.
I remarked that there was a great shortage of songs about George Harrison or his death. None really. Maybe that is because it didn’t come so suddenly and in such a violent fashion.
But with intentional irony, I mentioned even George had written a song for John, and of course we will open with that.
I think you will hear some very interesting things here. George Martin’s comments on John’s death. A Letter To John written and read by Paul McCartney at Lennon’s induction ceremony to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, and of course the song he wrote for John. An underrated song by Mickey Hart, drummer for the Grateful Dead, that has never gotten any airplay, and includes John Lennon and others.
And the other usual surprises I hope you have come to expect.
Rest in peace, George and John. We are diminished by your absence. Mike

Tags: A Letter To John, Bruce Springsteen, Grateful Dead, Jungleland, Mickey Hart, Monday Night Football, Paul McCartney, Vin Scelsa, WNEW-FM

ROCKOLLECTIONS: GETTING HOME FOR THANKSGIVING: PLANES PT.4 END

Well, here we are at the final chapter and you should be Getting Home For Thanksgiving very soon now.
Planes are our mode of travel this year, 2007.
I will open this episode up with someone else who used to say “Come fly with me”, and on a nightly basis- Alison Steele, the Nightbird on WNEW-FM! A tape of the beginning of her very first show, and a befitting song for that.
I found myself getting ticked off about what happened to the Wright Brothers.
It was a shame what happened to them, and to this day those who stole their invention have never apologized nor given them their due.
And imagine this, those amazing Brothers LEARNED how to fly while they were INVENTING flying!
Compare that to driving a car, but high in the air where any mistake could be fatal.
In honor of the Wright Brothers, Alison and Women’s Libbers everywhere, lol, I will play The True Story Of Amelia Earhart by Mathews Southern Comfort.
Then the late Long John Baldry with his interpretation of a Small Faces number.
What series could be complete without a falling in love song?
I’ll take care of that with one about a woman and a pilot, grounded during a storm.
Next, I wanna play a classic one by a classic group, which despite its reputation as a drug song is actually simply about circling and landing in London.
I was handed a just-in Thanksgiving forecast that you should find entertaining, despite my reading of it, lol!
Incidentally, the instrumental underneath me at the end is a slightly different Flying by the Beatles (appropriate, yes?).
Thus will end 2007’s trip home.
It is never hard to find things to be thankful for, no matter how bad things may seem.
If you have two of most of the things you are supposed to have two of- eyes, ears, arms, legs, etc.- that’s reason enough for me.
If you have family, friends, pets or just one person who loves you, you are blessed with a bounty.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
And I am thankful to you for taking this trip and all the others with me- it wouldn’t be the same without you.

But wait, there is one more way to get home in that movie title…coming right up!

Mike

Tags: Allison Steele, Amelia Earheart, Beatles, flying, Long John Baldry, Mathews Southern Comfort, Small Faces, WNEW-FM, Wright Brothers

ROCKOLLECTIONS: THE GHOST OF NEW YORK RADIO PAST

THE GHOST OF NEW YORK RADIO PAST

One last piece of unfinished business in our Salute To Radio.Here is a classic Radio Montage I wish I could say I put together, called The Ghost Of New York Radio Past.

In fact, it was done by WFUV’s Pete Fornatale with help from Don Feergard and Peter Mocover.(That’s Fornatale at the end, when he was a student at Fordham University’s radio station.)

And what a job they did!

It is without a doubt a grand, nostalgic trip down Memory Lane for listeners of New York City radio, but is a priceless piece of history no matter where you are from.

WOR-FM, WNEW-FM, the AM stations, the FM stations, Alan Freed, Murray the K, Cousin Brucie, Scott Muni, Mad Daddy, B. Mitchell Reed, Bobaloo, and just about anybody else you can think of will be represented here.

But of course, you will not hear ME, lol!

No where, no way!

This brilliant time capsule is now at the Museum Of Television & Radio.

Mike

Tags: Alan Freed, B. Mitchell Reed, Bobaloo, Cousin Brucie, Don Feergard, Fordham University, Mad Daddy, Murray the k, Museum Of Television and Radio, Pete Fornatale, Peter Mocover, Scott Muni, the AM stations, the FM stations, WFUV, WNEW-FM, WOR-FM

ROCKOLLECTIONS: BROKEN AND BREAKING RADIOS

CHAPTER EIGHT: BROKEN AND BREAKING RADIOS

Continuing the Salute to Radio and my 10 Years as the host of Rock Lives, Rockollections or anything else you want to call it…as long as it’s nice, lol!
I am going to pick up exactly where we left off, and even on my feel-good show, not all love stories have happy endings. Under our BIG umbrella of what I consider Rock & Roll, the great George Jones will sing.
Followed by a short set regarding Broken Radios.
Then going in the other direction, how Radio can do the Breaking- unknowingly breaking your heart!
How many times have you had the radio on at home or in the car, a song comes on and you are transported back to a sense of sadness or loneliness over the loss of an ex-love?
Just another example of Radio being a part of, and affecting, our lives.
I’ll play a beautiful song by Merrie Amsterburg, and a rocker by Roy Orbison to illuminate that circumstance.
Got a song that Engineer Ken turned me on to, and a Beatles’ theme they did for their own BBC show.
Finally, I am very much aware of the special relationship- the attachment- that forms between the listener and the guy on the radio. I have had a part in both sides of that.
So, I will close this episode with a tradition born on Dec. 18, 1967- the day Scott Muni started at WNEW-FM, and stayed for 31 years!
For his first 3 to 6 years- I wish I could recall precisely- he would end his show with this song, 7 days a week, and making it easy for me to tell when it was a few minutes till 7PM.
After that, during his remaining years there, he would always use the song to end his anniversary shows, and always leave me with a huge lump in my throat.
For a man who provided such a musical style and education for me, I could do much worse than to close my own 10th Anniversary with it in honor of him.
I am sure there will be 2 more parts to this Salute To Radio, so I will have more gratitude to express.
But for now, to anyone who has EVER listened to my little radio show/podcast, a great big thank you!

Mike

Tags: BBC, Beatles, Engineer Ken, George Jones, Merrie Amsterburg, Rock Lives, Roy Orbison, Scott Muni, WNEW-FM

ROCKOLLECTIONS: THE FALL OF FM RADIO

CHAPTER SIX: THE FALL OF FM RADIO

Anyone who has ever listened to my show or podcast knows that I do not have any rules about what I am going to play.
Most times doing a theme, the opening or the last song comes to me, sometimes both.
After that, I think of every song I can on the topic.
Then the most important part- I play them!
And while one is playing, the song that should come next becomes apparent to me.
No other song will do.
I have spent days looking for that next song- it HAS to be that one!
Most times I find it, sometimes I have to give up and think of what might be the 2nd best song to play next.
Sort of like an artist searching for a particular color, but I am not so egotistical as to regard that as a real comparison.
Then I go to the station, and sometimes because of time, I have to cut that song from the set, lol!
But for me, that is how I play the music.
No playlist, nobody tells me what I can or can’t play.
I am very aware of how lucky I am.
However, there was a brief time when that was the accepted way of doing radio.
For example, we had two commercial free-form stations here in New York- WABC-FM/WPLJ and WNEW-FM.
At ABC/PLJ that free-form format lasted less than 3 years, 1968-71.
Scott Muni, bless him, fought the good fight at WNEW-FM from 1967, as Program Director and just because he was the way he was, for himself and all the other DJ’s, until 1981!!!
If you detect some lingering animosity and bitterness on my part, you are correct.
Now, I will go after those sleazy beancounters who changed all that.
First up, a song about a guy after my own heart, who will hang up on you if you question why after Madonna he played George Jones.
Because he WANTED to!
And notice the statio he was at is WANT…as in what the people WANT?
Then the highlight, the centerpiece of not only this chapter but the whole series.
An epic poem by the singer/songwriter Mike Agranoff- Ballad Of The Sandman.
If you have never heard it, you are in for a treat and will never forget it.
If you have heard it, it is like a fine brandy, taken out on special occassions and savored.
In any case, it captures what 1960’s radio was like better than I ever could.
It is just a BRILLIANT piece of work, and I always get a huge reaction when I play it.
I will close this episode out with a song concerning something we all have experienced; losing our favorite DJ!
They hardly ever say anything and we are reduced to searching for him or her Around The Dial.
Now in this case I will admit to some ego in the lyrics, “you never gave in to fashion, you never followed any trend”.
Yeah, that’s me- just trying to play what I think is the best music!
There’s Magic in the Radio, Enchantment in the Ether!
Come join me for a look at how good the Radio COULD be, if it would DARE!

Mike

Tags: Around The Dial, Ballad Of The Sandman, George Jones, Madonna, Mike Agranoff, Scott Muni, WABC-FM, WNEW-FM, WPLJ