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Missed any previous ‘Detroit Radio Back-Pages’ features?GO HERE.
Ad photo L-R: Dave Prince, Lee Alan, Joel Sebastian, Paul Winter, Don Zee.
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DETROIT FREE PRESS: WXYZ-AM
Missed any of our previous ‘Detroit Radio Back-Pages‘ features on MCRFB.COM?GO HERE.
(Above WXYZ ad image is courtesy freep.com newspaper archive. Copyright 2017. Newspapers.com).
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A rip from the Billboard pages. THE BILLBOARD TOP LP’S chart March 18, 1967 (click on image 2x for largest detailed view) Q: What second album still holds the longest weeks in the Billboard Top LP’s, this week, in 1967?
THIS WEEK’S TOP LP’s. 50 YEARS AGO
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This week in 1967, and still after an astounding 97 weeks on the LP chart, Herb Alpert’s album holds the number 11 spot (for the second week) on Billboard, week-ending March 18. The album, “Whipped Cream And Other Delights,” debuted on the Billboard Top LP chart at number 113, May 15, 1965.
A ‘RADIO’ AD * “Take A Lively Companion Wherever You Go” * 1964
A PHILIPS RADIOtrade advertisement, 1964.
A ‘RADIO’ AD * “You Can Swing The Blues…” * 1964
A PHILIPS RADIOtrade advertisement, 1964.
A ‘RADIO’ AD * “Wherever You Go We’re Your Musical Host” * 1964
RADIO ADS. ENDORSEMENTS
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The above classic ‘radio’ endorsement ads, featured today on Motor City Radio Flashbacks, was sponsored and distributed for radio by theNational Association of Broadcasters, 1964.
TEN WEEKS on the singles chart, “Penny Lane” by The Beatles peaked this week at No. 01 (1 week) on the Billboard Hot 100, week March 12 through March 18, 1967. (source: Billboard)
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MCRFB Link: For the previous No. 1 record in the U.S.A. 1967 GO HERE.
PENNY LANE * 101 STRINGS(ALBUM EXT. VERSION; 1968)
THE ‘101 STRINGS’ ORCHESTRA
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In the 1960s and the 1970s, the101 Strings Orchestrawas essentially ‘instrumental’ having introduced many, many of the mainstream popular hits they would come to record at the time, such as The Beatles’ hit, “Penny Lane,” so on and so forth, as just one example.
During those two decades the 101 Strings Orchestra albums, consequently, one could say, won over many our parents’ and our grand-parents’ hearts. They would come to accept, in part, the same ‘strings’ hit titles the older generations otherwise came to primary dislike coming from top 40 radio stations at the time.
Now ask yourself. How many of these 101 Strings LP’s you can recall having been played in your households during your younger years? I’m almost sure you probably seen a few of these ‘101 Strings’ album covers laying somewhere around the house. Their orchestra ‘sound’ was not just melodic, pleasant and smooth.
Let’s just say the younger set more than likely did not care much listening to 101 Strings albums in general. But in hindsight, as we listen today, some may agree these classic Beatles “strings” still actually sounds just as “cool” today as when we first heard them a long time ago. Agreed.
CRUISIN’ 1956 * The Four Lads * ROBIN SEYMOUR WKMH THEME
CRUISIN’ 1956 * Robin Seymour * WKMH REFLECTIONS
CRUISIN’ 1956 * Robin Seymour * DETROIT MEMORIES (2008)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
TO A DETROIT BROADCASTING LEGEND, ROBIN SEYMOUR
In celebration on the occasion of Robin Seymour‘s recent 91st birthday this week, Wednesday, March 8, 2017, Motor City Radio Flashbacks presents today,“Cruisin’ 1956.”Motor City Radio Flashbacks is showcasing some of Robin Seymour’s greatest Detroit radio memories, reflections he shared from his illustrious broadcasting career on the Detroit radio dial spanning over three decades from the 1940s – 1970s.
Happy Birthday, Robin Seymour
A ROBIN SEYMOURMotor City Radio Flashbacks photo collage. Photo created by Motor City Radio Flashbacks; 2017 (click on over image for largest view)
CRUISIN’ 1956 Original LP Cover Notes
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By Jerry Hopkins
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The CRUISIN’ history of rock and roll radio begins in 1956, one of the most exciting years in “pop” history, and to take us down this memory lane (with a beat) is Robin Seymour of WKMH, which was, when he joined it, a little-known station In Dearborn, Michigan. Robin came to the suburban Detroit station from the Armed Forces Radio Network and he brought with him a voice that mixed the warm, confidential tone of an intimate friend with the slick disc jockey rap we all know today, a blend which made him a natural for housewives and teenagers alike.
WKMH’s Robin Seymour
Robin never had any particular ethnic identification or allegiance but the “Bobbin’ with Robin Show” quickly found its audience, as he constructed a bright, orderly program that featured (almost exclusively) the records listed on the sales charts printed by the music press. He also was among the first of the nation’s deejays to ask his listeners what they thought about new records, and hosted some of the earliest sock hops and commercial tie-ins with local record stores. In 1953 he was named “Disc Jockey of the Year” by Billboard, the music trade magazine. The following year he was given the same title by another publication, Hit Parader.
1956: President Eisenhower underwent an operation to relieve blockage of the small intestine due to ileitis, but physicians said he would be physically fit to run for re-election. Scientists said radiation was a peril to the future of humanity, Egypt seized the Suez Canal and the United Nations established the first international police force on the Sinai Peninsula. The first trans-Atlantic telephone cable system went into effect. The Hungarians revolted. Six Marine recruits were marched into a stream at Paris Island and drowned. The Andrea Doria sank off the coast of Massachusetts. And Elvis Presley and the spread of rock and roll nearly pushed everything else in this list of news stories right out of the conversation.
This was the year Elvis recorded Heartbreak Hotel, Don’t Be Cruel, Hound Dog and perhaps half a dozen other million-selling songs . The first of these (Hotel) appeared in the number one position the end of April and that song or another by Elvis occupied the same lofty spot twenty-five of the year’s remaining thirty-six weeks.
1956 was the year “rock ‘n’ roll” became an angry epithet, blamed by psychiatrists and religious leaders (not to mention thousands of parents) for the rise in juvenile delinquency; some even said it was all a part of some Communist plot. Elvis and his pack of noisy imitators were called obscene and there were real riots at dozens of concerts. There were non-rockers on the record charts, to be sure, but it was Carl Perkins’ Blue Suede Shoes and Bill Haley’s Alligator that became a part of the New Culture, not Gogi Grant’s Wayward Wind and Morris Stoloff’s Picnic. The war babies had come to teen-age.
Most adults in ’56 thought it was a fad and that “it” would go away. Most radio listeners believed otherwise. There were a number of rock giants on the popular music charts in 1956 and many had made their abrupt and rhythmic appearances there after serving an apprenticeship in the ghetto called rhythm and blues.
That’s what 1956 was: the teen-age 1776. There’d been rumblings earlier, but this year all the lines were drawn.
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Jerry Hopkins
47 YEARS AGO. A WORD FROM RON JACOBS
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“Recreating one of his old radio shows from 1956 is Robin Seymour, who then was with WKMH in Dearborn, Michigan. He had come to this suburban Detroit station from Armed Forces Radio and soon his warm, confidential tone had won him teenagers and housewives alike. His BOBBIN’ WITH ROBIN show was the reason BILLBOARD named him Disc Jockey of the Year in 1953, and HIT PARADER magazine did the same in 1954. Today he’s in television and concert promotion in Detroit. For this album, Robin Seymour was the first of the seven disc jockeys in the CRUISIN’ series selected as the best living representatives of Fifties and Sixties radio from seven top American radio cities.”
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The “Cruisin'” series was conceived, created and was produced by Ron Jacobs. The “Cruisin’ 1956” album was released by Increase Records, June 1970.
IT’S ROBIN SEYMOUR behind the microphone spinning the hits inside the WKMH-AM studio, Dearborn, MI., 1956. The long-time Detroit radio broadcast legend just observed his 91st birthday, this week, Wednesday, March 8, 2017. Happy Birthday, Robin Seymour!
