Day: April 13, 2012

FLASHBACK POP MUSIC HISTORY: APRIL 13

From the MCRFB music calendar:

Events on this date: APRIL 13

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1959: The Fleetwoods “Come Softly To Me” hits No. 1 on the charts.

1962: The Beatles begin their legendary stint at the new Star Club

The Fleetwoods circa 1959.

in Hamburg, Germany. Performing three to four hours a night for 48 days with just one day off, the group logs a total of 172 hours of performance. When the band returns to England, they are already stars with a record contract.

1965: At tonight’s Grammy Awards ceremonies in Los Angeles, Roger Miller is the big winner, taking home five awards (a first for a country artist at the Grammys). Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto wins the

Roger Miller with his five Grammy awards in 1965.

Record Of The Year Award for “The Girl From Ipanema” and Album Of The Year for Getz/Gilberto. The Beatles win the Best New Artist Award and Best Performance By A Vocal Group for “A Hard Day’s Night.”

1967: The Rolling Stones play their first-ever gig behind the “Iron Curtain” of Soviet countries with a performance in Warsaw. When the club is overrun by fans without tickets, the local police react by dispersing the crowd with tear gas.

1968: Bobby Goldsboro’s “Honey” hits No. 1 on the national chart.

David Crosby mugs two for the Dallas cops; April 13, 1982.

1969: Diana Ross makes her first television appearance as a solo-act, performing on Dinah Shore’s NBC-TV special, Like Hep.

1974: Paul McCartney and Wings LP album “Band On The Run” hits No. 1 on the national LP chart.

 

1982: Still awaiting trial on a concealed weapon and illegal drug charges three weeks earlier, David Crosby, formerly of the Byrds and with Crosby, Stills and Nash, is again arrested in Dallas after local police found him preparing a “speedball” of cocaine backstage before he was to perform.

1989: Jack Jones is honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame at 6104 Hollywood Blvd. in L.A.

1999: After nine years of a very public marriage, Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley announce they are separated. They will divorce later on in the year.

2008: Cult ’60s Detroit soul man Nathaniel Mayer collapses from a brain hemorrhage that will, within the year, will take his life.

 

 

 

 

And that’s a few of the events which took place in pop music history, on this day….

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BEHIND THE ‘RECORDS’… AUGUST 13, 1966

From the MCRFB news archives:

BEHIND THE RECORDS: Thank you, Dave Prince….


 

 

 

 

Dave Prince of WXYZ 1270 Detroit

It is high time we give thanks to the nation’s deejays who are performing an invaluable service for music publishers and record companies by bringing to their attention talent from their area — talent which otherwise might never had the opportunity to have been heard by publishers and recording companies.

A case in point is Dave Prince of WXYZ, Detroit. About two years ago, Mr. Prince wrote us about Billy Lee & The Rivieras, a group appearing around Record Hops in Detroit. He was so impressed with their musical talent and performance abilities that he felt it was his duty to help them. He waxed so enthusiastically about the boys that we agreed to hear them. We liked what we heard and we signed them.

Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels’ “Sock It To Me” LP; New Voice Records; 1967.

 

The rest is musical history, the group now known as Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels has soared to stardom. As for Dave Prince, he derives much satisfaction in realization he discovered a stellar group, and in knowing that was truly a great judgment in talent found.

There are other cases where deejays discovered writers, musicians, and singers, and have done much to help them. This speaks well for the radio personalities of the USA who feel a sense of responsibility for their listeners. So, we say thank you one and all, you dedicated people in radio wherever you are.

 

 

 

Dan Crewe,                                                                                                                           

Vice-President,

Saturday Music, Inc.

1841 Broadway, New York, New York 10023

212-CI 5-3535

 

(Information and news source: Billboard; August 13, 1966).

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UK ARTISTS BEAMED TO CKLW… NOV. 28, 1964

From the MCRFB news archives:

BRITISH ARTISTS BEAMED OVER TO U.S. VIA CKLW

 

 

 

 

 

LONDON — The Animals, the Bachelors, the Nashville Teens, the Isley Brothers and Paul Jones, lead singer of the Manfred Mann group, recently took part in a unique broadcast from London to 26 States and much of Canada via transatlantic cable telephone.

A poor, grainy newspaper image of WJBK/CKLW deejay Terry Knight from 1963.

The program was the first from a series to be beamed by Britain’s leading “pirate” station Radio Caroline to CKLW, Detroit. The two stations are taking turns to phone a 30-minute show from each other’s country every week.

The British part is phoned from Caroline House in London and used in disc jockey Terry Knight’s CKLW four-hour radio show. Knight interviews all the artists in the British studio and later plays each artist’s their respective records. CKLW returns the same kind of material for similar use here. END.

 

 

 

 

(Information and news source: Billboard; November 28, 1964).

 

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ALL GIRL JOCKS: ’67 WABX-FM . . . AUGUST 19, 1967

From the MCRFB news archives:

Girls ‘Man’ Deejay Mikes at WABX-FM

 

 

 

 

 

 

99 WABX-FM vintage poster ad from the late-1960s. (Click on image for larger view).

Detroit — Last Monday, on August 14, 1967, WABX-FM began a new all-girl deejay policy and the ladies will be playing jazz oriented pop music and humor. The girls will be featured 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. daily, and noon to midnights on Sundays. Jim Rockwell remains to do his daily 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. jazz show. John Small is the WABX station manager.

The man responsible for the station’s new image is Mickey Shorr, program manager and creative director of Century Broadcasting Corp., which owns WABX-FM. Shorr is originally from Detroit,  where he once was a Top 40 disc jockey with WJBK, WXYZ, CKLW and the former WKMH, now presently WKNR.

Shorr first used the all-girl formula on WSDM-FM in Chicago where it became very successful. Instead of calling his WABX-FM girls “disc jockeys,” Shorr labels them as “Mickey’s Collection.”

The girls will tape lead-outs from records, commercials, and humorous bits rather than actually broadcasting live from the studio. They represent different nationalities and have names like Curry, Halavah, Supersport and Lo-Cal. END.

 

(Information and news source: Billboard; August 19, 1967).

 

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