The above charted country singles (notably the top 10) were some of the most popular radio plays heard on Detroit’s only country station 1340 on the AM dial at the time, WEXL.
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This presented WDEE 03/19/1979 chart was digitally restored by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
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A sincere thank you, Mrs. Patti Griggs. This featured presentation would have not been possible without your generosity, dedication, and your continuous support.
Above WDEE music chart courtesy of Mrs. Patti Griggs and the George L. Griggs estate.
For over 30 years, legendary morning radio personality Joseph Priestley McCarthy broadcast his #1 rated show on WJR-760 in Detroit. “J.P.” regularly interviewed heads of states, world leaders, government officials, corporate figures, champions of sports, entertainment luminaries, and dedicated listeners, highlighting his storied broadcasting career in the Motor City.
One day short of 51 months having passed after this broadcast first aired, J.P. passed away on August 16, 1995.
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NEW! A special THANK YOU to our friend, Jim Nuznoff, of Port Charlotte, Florida, for this recent contribution to our Motor City Radio Flashbacks airchecks repository. Thanks again, Jim, we are grateful for your generosity and your support for this site, always.
Jim writes (January 9, 2024) — “March 17, 1993. J. P. McCarthy Show featuring a remote broadcast on St. Patrick’s Day, live, from the Pegasus Restaurant in Detroit. This was a somewhat, somber show, according to the news you will hear in the audio. For it was also the time when Detroit area restaurant owner Chuck Muir (along with his wife) was reported missing aboard his sailboat during a storm in the Bahamas. And auto dealership owner and long-time friends, George and Lynn Drummey (of Drummey Olds) were also on board as well. I don’t think they were ever found.”
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Newly restored! This selected audio recording was digitally restored by Motor City Radio Flashbacks.
NEW!A special THANK YOU to Roy Stephens for another WKQI aircheck contribution for the Motor City Radio Flashbacks repository. Thanks for sharing your Q955 memories!
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Newly restored! This audio recording was digitally enhanced by Motor City Radio Flashbacks.
Above Thursday Radio courtesy freep.com newspapers archives. Copyright 2024; Newspapers.com
The above featured Detroit radio guide was clipped, saved, and digitally re-imaged from the credited source by Motor City Radio Flashbacks.
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This article/advertisement courtesy freep.com newspaper archive. Copyright 2024. Newspapers.com
Printed in black and white, the featured Detroit Free Press ad was digitally re-imaged, colorized, and was entirely restored by Motor City Radio Flashbacks.
Missed any of our previous ‘Detroit Radio Back-Pages‘ features? GO HERE
MCRFB Note: Special THANKS to our friend, John Bartony (a.k.a. Jukebox John) St. Clair Shores, Michigan, for providing the above Detroit Free Press WXYZ 1270 ad (November 1960) for this site, as featured today.
A special thank you to senior MCRFB consultant Greg Innis, of Livonia, MI., for contributing the Newspapers.com archives (Detroit radio related) articles, ads, and images we have provide for this site since 2016.
Thank you, Greg Innis, for making these historic Detroit radio features possible. 🙂
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These article/advertisement courtesy freep.com newspaper archive. Copyright 2024. Newspapers.com
Printed in black and white, the two featured Detroit Free Press ads was digitally re-imaged, colorized, and was entirely restored by Motor City Radio Flashbacks.
Missed any of our previous ‘Detroit Radio Back-Pages‘ features?GO HERE
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Hey do you remember the Think Summer campaign Keener launched in Detroit in the winter of 1965?
Well, let’s see . . . . I can still see those Think Summer newspaper ads. And there were those Think Summer button giveaways. There was also a Think Summer contest as well. Recall seeing a few of those Think Summer billboards WKNR posted around town. And then there was that one Think Summer song, yeah . . . that was playing on the radio, on Keener 13!
According to the WKNR music guides posted on Keener13.com, Think Summer by Susan Wayne debuted during the week of February 18, 1965. But by the time Think Summer peaked at the No. 25 spot on WKNR, March 3, 1965, thereafter, that would be it . . . just three weeks on the Keener 13 playlists in short order.
But that was enough for WKNR to generate an imaginary kind of ‘mirage,’ if you will, a brief winter’s thaw we must have felt, at least momentarily, during the station’s contest they off-loaded with that one, huge “summertime” give-a-way at the time. If all else, the Think Summer event became the ultimate radio event during that cold winter here in Detroit, 59-years ago.
Straight from the Keener vaults, and courtesy of WKNR legend, Bob Green. We are showcasing two of those WKNR Think Summer promos (audio under each ad). All from that memorable winter’s brief “summer-time fun” contestants cashed in on while listening to Keener 13 during those two winter months in early-1965.
And at date, we are just nine days away from spring, so . . . .
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A MCRFB Note: This attached post was previously published on this site on January 29, 2012.
All audio featured on this page was digitally remastered by Motor City Radio Flashbacks.
Audio digitally enhanced by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
Detroit Free Press Thursday, January 28, 1965
A special THANK YOU to WKNR’s Bob Green, of Austin, TX., for having contributing the featured WKNR promos presented today, on this page.
Thanks again, Bob Green, for sharing with us these wonderful, Keener 13 memories!
A special thank you to senior MCRFB consultant Greg Innis, of Livonia, MI., for contributing the Newspapers.com archives (Detroit radio related) articles, ads, and images we have provide for this site since 2016.
Thank you, Greg Innis, for making these historic Detroit radio features possible. 🙂
ON YOUR PC? You can read this entire newsprint article/ad — the fine print — ENLARGED. For a larger detailed view click above image 2x and open to second window. Click image anytime to return to NORMAL image size.
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Hot Popularity Fuels Monkees’ Recordings Across Europe and Beyond
NEW YORK — The Monkees are swinging to the top on a global scale. Their Colgems releases, which are distributed by RCA Victor, are following the phenomenal sales pattern set in the U. S. in such foreign countries as England, Holland, Sweden, Belgium, Norway, Germany Canada, Japan, Australia and the Philippines.
In the U.S., the Monkees’ two album releases, “More Of The Monkees” and “The Monkees,” which holds the one and two spots in Billboard’s best-selling popular LP chart this week, have sold in excess of three million copies. Their two single releases, “Last Train To Clarksville” and “I’m A Believer,” have sold more than 5,000,000 copies.
In England, “I’m A Believer,” has passed the 600,000 sales mark, and their first album, “Monkees,” is selling at a fast-sales clip. The first single release, “Last Train To Clarksville,” which failed to stimulate much interest in its initial round, is now beginning to perk up in sales.
“I’m A Believer” is No. 1 in Holland and Sweden; in the Top 10 in Belgium and Norway; a run-away seller in Canada; in the Top 10 in Japan and Australia, and starting to move up in Germany and the Philippines.
Victor also reports that the Stereo-8 version of the Monkees LP is a fast moving item, and that “More Of The Monkees” is scheduled for Stereo-8 cartridge release later this month. END
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Information, credit, and news source: Billboard; February 11, 1967
There’s a brand new music radio station streaming on the internet. And you will note immediately it’s a little different from those others stations you might have heard. Take a listen here. It’s a refreshingly new sound. And now streaming, 24/7!
Oh, would you like to hear some of the very best in ’80s music? Look no further, thanks to the all-new LIVE Boston Rob Show. Beginning at 6:00 p.m., Eastern Time, every Sunday night. Something special from that decade for great top 40 music you’d like to hear? No problem. Let Rob know and he’ll do his best to get it on for you. Boston Rob also can also be heard on late-Monday nights, 11:00 p.m. Two great shows, by the way!
That’s Hugger Radio. Created and produced by our very good friend, Kevin Willett. Another fabulous Key Man of Music Radio Production. Go there. And give it a good, tuning in . . . today!
Radio Veteran No Longer Finds Place Nor Pleasure on the Dial at 1270
DETROIT — Veteran deejay Ed McKenzie resigned from station WXYZ here last week in protest of the station’s “formula radio” programming policy.
Detroit radio’s two biggest names, Ed McKenzie, Robin Seymour in the late-1950s.
Rallying to McKenzie’s side was his long-time competitor and another veteran Detroit spinner, Robin Seymour, of WKMH who came out strongly last week for McKenzie and against “formula radio.” Seymour stated: “It’s a crime and a shame when one of the true deejays – one of the men who made the jockey a major factor in broadcasting – has to bow to the dictates of a program director.”
Although Seymour and McKenzie – two of Detroit’s key deejays – have vied for audience ratings for the past 11 years (they occupied the same afternoon time slot) Seymour said they have remained friends — their friendship dating back to the time McKenzie gave Seymour his first radio job at WJBK here.
Seymour has asked McKenzie to appear on his WKMH show this week to discuss the whole formula radio situation and his reasons for leaving WXYZ. Seymour said they will explore the jockey’s need for freedom of programming and speculate on whether the advent of “formula radio” has anything to do with the fact that no new name deejay (other than Dick Clark) has come up from the ranks in recent years.
Seymour said his station, WKMH, is now the only major Detroit station operating on a non-formula programming policy. The outlet did adopt a non – rock and roll format last year, but Seymour said the management dropped the policy last January, and pert record programming back in the deejays’ hands. As a result, the jock said WKMH’s ratings are already showing a small rating climb – the first rating increase for the station in some time.
The WXYZ “formula,” (featuring the Top 40 singles) was adopted by the station about a year ago, and WXYZ vice president in charge of radio, Hal Neal opined “Our interpretation of formula radio is that it is a step forward.”
Ed McKenzie on WXYZ circa 1955
McKenzie on the other hand expressed his opinion that this “formula” did not jibe with his interpretation of radio as “being intimate and friendly.” He stated that his ratings were dropping since the “formula policy” has gone into effect and that he would sooner “dig ditches or sell hot dogs” than go back to formula radio because “I can’t do something I don’t believe in.”
The radio station disagreed with McKenzie’s use of bird calls on the air and his “on the air” comment on office typing and the programming. The station also found themselves in disagreement with McKenzie about their new policy to boost the station on his programs, which the jockey termed `unnecessary.”
McKenzie’s 3 p.m. to 6.15 p.m. spot is being taken over by Mickey Shorr, who will have another replacement for his own Night Train program. Reportedly making between $60,000 and $80,000 a year in his 29th year with radio. McKenzie was Jack the Bellboy at WJBK before he changed to WXYZ radio in 1952. END
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Information, credit and news source: Billboard, March 16, 1959
Ella Fitzgerald guests on WXYZ with Ed McKenzie, circa 1954.
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The above charted country singles (notably the top 10) were some of the most popular radio plays heard on Detroit’s only country station 1340 on the AM dial at the time, WEXL.
A MCRFB Viewing Tip: On your PC? For a larger detailed view of the above featured Billboard Hot Country Singles Survey click image 2x and open to second window. Click image anytime to return to NORMAL image size.
