In cooperation with Motown Records Corporation, WKNR is offering $1000
for the best set of lyrics that can be set to music.
Here are a couple of promos and contest airchecks from
Bill Garcia, Dan Henderson, Jim Tate, Mac Owens, Ron Sherwood & Bob Green.
The winner ended up having her words put to music with
Motown’s Funk Brothers and Stevie Wonder.
A special WKNR Promo record was the winner, it was entitled:
I’ve Got To Find Him
From the MCRFB news archives:
RCA Victor Sneaks In Rita Pavone
NEW YORK — Under wraps of secrecy, RCA Victor brought its Italian and world-wide singing star Rita Pavone into the country for clandestine recording sessions.
Miss Pavone recorded her first album and some singles in English for release later this year, when the young lady makes her official performance debut and an extensive stay in either May or September. She was assisted at the recording date by Dorio Soria, international director for RCA Victor.
The recording will include special English material for the young lady and a drive will be mounted to help push Rita Pavone’s recordings in this country. She has steadily widened her sphere of influence on the Continent, where she has sold something like three million single records and albums in a little more than a year in her native Italy. In addition, she has currently established a 
breakthrough singing in German, while in Germany with the title, “Wenn Ich Ein Junge Waer” (I Wish I Were A Boy). Plans have also been implemented to push the lass into the Benelux countries and Scandinavia.
Pavone returns to Italy this week for dates all over the European continent and will star in a musical film, which she will start filming upon her immediate return to her native country. END
Addendum: Rita Pavone first debuted here on the WKNR playlist on May 28, 1964, when RCA released her one and only two-sided hit, “Remember Me,” along with “Just Once More” on the B-side. “Remember Me” was on the WKNR music guides for five consecutive weeks from the end of May throughout the month of June, peaking at the #7 spot on “Keener 13” on June 18, 1964, while dropping down to the #9 spot altogether from the WKNR playlist on June 25, 1964.
(Information and news source: Billboard magazine; January 18, 1964).
From the MCRFB Aircheck Library: WKNR
Steve Robbins on 1310 AM WKNR “Keener 13” 1967
“In Detroit for the first time. You heard their records. You seen them on TV. Now see them in person! The Monkees in person at Olympia Stadium 7:30 Saturday. KEENER presents the MONKEES!” — Paul Cannon, WKNR
THE MONKEES ARE COMING! KEENER 13 Brings the Monkees to Olympia, January 14, 1967
….The Monkees are coming, right?…
On Saturday, January 14, 1967, WKNR “Keener 13,” in conjuction with Dick Clark Productions, sponsored the biggest Detroit concert event since WKNR brought the Beatles to Olympia Stadium on August 13, 1966.
…. No. 1., what a perfect song by the perfect group, the Monkees on Keener 13…
When this classic WKNR aircheck was recorded on Friday, January 13, 1967, you can sense the exuberance and euphoria for the anticipated arrival, then, of the band’s arrival here in the Motor City for the very first time.
There was a “lot of excitement around here,” at the station at the time, said Keener deejay Steve Robbins on his show just twenty-four hours before the Monkees would take to the stage at the Olympia, Saturday night, January 14, 1967. The Olympia Monkees event eventually sold out.
Moving swiftly from city to city across the country, the Monkees 1966-1967 North American Tour was such a success that it was extended further into late-August of that year by popular demand. WKNR would again sponsor the Monkees return back to Detroit at the Olympia once again, this time it was scheduled for Saturday, July 29, 1967.
But in the early hours of Sunday, July 23, 1967 Detroit erupted in flames. Due to the civil unrest and local and federal curfews imposed during the riots, the pre-scheduled show was immediately canceled.
Keener deejay J. Michael Wilson issued this WKNR-released statement on Wednesday, July 26 during his 10 PM show:
“Here’s an important announcement regarding the Monkees appearance in Detroit. In case you missed it, the concert at Olympia Stadium scheduled Saturday, July 29 has been postponed. The new date has not been determined at this time. Please hold on to your Monkees tickets. When a new date has been set it will be announced on WKNR. Do not call WKNR or Olympia. Stay tuned to Keener for information regarding the Monkees concert — repeating — the Monkees concert sheduled for July 29 has been postponed. No new date has been set at this point. Hold on to your Monkees tickets and stay tuned to Keener for further information. Do Not call WKNR or Olympia.”
Ultimately, the Detroit-canceled July 29 Monkees concert was rescheduled for Sunday, August 13, 1967 — a year to the day WKNR brought the Beatles back to Olympia in August 1966.
In January of 1967, Keener “fill-in” Steve Robbins was sharing on-air duties on a part-time basis at the WKNR-FM studios, while sharing some air-time there with Keener FM deejay Bob Harper. Just the same, at the time Robbins was still doing his full-time show during the week at WKFR in Battle Creek’s “Keener 14” under the name Steve Clark. When Jim Jeffries left WKNR the latter-part of 1967 for WQXI in Atlanta, Steve left WKFR to become the new overnight deejay on Keener 13.
This week, unexpected news came that Davy Jones, formerly of the Monkees, passed away suddenly at the age of 66 on February 29. But for a just brief moment in time, MCRFB will take you back in 1967 when “Monkeesmania” was widespread and prevalent here in the Motor City and the Monkees and WKNR was at the top at No. 1. “THE MONKEES ARE COMING!”
From the MCRFB Aircheck Library, featuring:
___
WKNR-AM * Steve Robbins * (Monkeesmania!) January 13, 1967
Bob Green talks to Davy Jones of the Monkees, 1967
WKNR-AM * Bob Green * Davey Jones Interview (Monkees) 1967
(Keener deejays 1967 photograph, top, courtesy the Art Vuolo collection)
Canadian Girl Singer Hails from Richmond Hill, Ontario
S A N D Y S E L S I E .
IF YOU WERE TO DO A SEARCH on the world-wide web, not much information can be found on the Internet today regarding, Sandy Selsie.
All that has been primarily known about Sandy Selsie was that she had several country/pop singles in the early-1960s on the Columbia record label. And that she originally was from Canada. And that’s just about it.
But there was a detailed mention about this female Canadian artist on a Yahoo message board, which I recently found on the Spectropop blog site message forum.
A poster there, who goes by the name of “Boris” laid claims he resides in Ottawa, Ontario in Canada. An avid record collector on “girl/girl groups” since the early-nineties, and in researching Canadian recording artists, he stated he once had gone to the Canadian National Archives library and came across a newspaper article on Sandy Selsie, which appeared in the local Richmond Hill, Ottawa newspaper called The Liberal.
Accordingly, the article first appeared in 1963. The article had stated Sandy Selsie hailed from Richmond Hill, Ontario, now a large suburb outside of Toronto.
Back in 1963, according to The Liberal article, Sandy Selsie was a grade 10 student who attended Bayview High School in Richmond Hill, at the age of 15. Her father, Fred Selsie was her talent-manager during that time. Mr. Selsie was instrumental in signing a 5-year contract for Sandy with Columbia Records earlier in 1961. Her first recording for the label was, “A Date With Loneliness” which was released in November of that year.
The article quoted Sandy Selsie as stating how her career came into prominence early-on. “I started out singing in the area shows. And gradually branched over to radio and television. I’ve had guest spots on the Country Hoedown television show as well as appearances on the Tommy Hunter radio show.”
The article also stated her big break happened when the family took a vacation down to Nashville, Tennessee, early in 1961.
“We were down there on our vacation. And we decided I should drop in to Columbia Studios for an audition.” She was signed immediately. “I was really surprised, because it’s unusual for a big recording studio to sign you just like that.”
In closing the article, Sandy Selsie expressed her desires in pursuing a Major in Performing Arts.
On a small note, as it were, Columbia Records initially released Sandy Selsie’s “When Jimmy Comes Home” in November, 1963. The song debuted on the CHUM playlist early-on in November in Sandy Selsie’s own home-town. Just the same, the song would find it’s way over to CKEY 580 AM in Toronto about the same time-frame.
Locally, the Selsie song made it’s way over here on Detroit radio, “When Jimmy Comes Home” debuted first on WJBK Radio 1500 on Friday, November 15, 1963.
Six days later, it debuted at the #30 spot on the WKNR Keener 13 playlist for Thursday, November 21, 1963. On a local level, the song didn’t stay long on the charts here in Detroit. But after having first heard it played on WKNR late in 1963, personally, this Sandy Selsie classic will always be a great Keener song memory from that year.
While certainly there weren’t too many, this long forgotten, obscure song as was recorded by Sandy Selsie, arguably, may well have been the greatest “Jimmy” song that was ever recorded in the Top 40 era.
— M O T O R C I T Y R A D I O F L A S H B A C K S
From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1965
WKNR Finds Way to Beat Old Man Winter in ’65
DETROIT — WKNR has found a way to help take the severe bite out of Old Man Winter with it’s “Think Summer” campaign.
The station has distributed some 77,000 “Think Summer“ buttons in conjunction with extensive newspaper ads and billboard displays. On-the-air, WKNR is conducting a contest and awarding barbeque grills, badminton sets, and other summertime items. To keep things psychologically warm, weather forecasts include the more desirable temperatures of Hawaii, Florida, Southern California and other southern resort areas.
As a result of the promotion, Russ Yerge, Columbia Records promotion director for Detroit, suggested his record label cut a record on the theme. Clyde Otis obliged and the label has released a single by Susan Wayne entitled “Think Summer.” A Special tie-in promotion has been arranged by Columbia Records with 65 radio stations using the “Think Summer” theme by endorsing the Wayne single. END
ADDENDUM: for more on WKNR’s “Think Summer” radio contest and station promotions, see our previous “Think Summer” exhibit post (January 29, 2012) with mp3 audio, archived here on Motor City Radio Flashbacks.
(Information and news source: Billboard; February 20, 1965)
From Keener13.com: In December, 1963, Jerry Lewis‘ first solo foray into a television variety show was in trouble. ABC executives were scrambling to find a replacement for his Saturday night slot and decided to keep the variety without regular host. On January 4th, The Hollywood Palace made it’s debut and for the next six years, it was one of the most watched variety shows on television. Visit Keener13.com for more of the Hollywood Palace backstory and see the Supremes performance on the program from 1966.
On October 12, 1969, WKNR killed Paul McCartney. Russ Gibb, working on WKNR-FM, heard from an Eastern Michigan University student about a series of clues that seemed to point to Paul McCartney’s death. The story took on a life of its own, both on Keener and WKNR-FM and Russ received credit for making the tale of McCartney’s supposed demise a national story. In the Spring of 2007, Dutch documentarians came to Dearborn to ask Russ to recount the adventure for posterity. Read the full story at Keener13.com. And watch the full documentary here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqBf6iNPVOg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB8oeNvPuds
