From the MCRFB archived files:
THE TOP 35 HITS ON WXYZ ON THIS DATE IN 1966
WXYZ 1270 Detroit Sound Survey; Week no. 35 issued December 12, 1966 under Lee Alan, Program Director; WXYZ
(WXYZ 1270 Detroit Sound Survey for December 12, this date 1966; survey courtesy the Jim Heddle Collection. For the previous weekly WXYZ December 5, 1966 survey click here).
From the MCRFB news archives: 1963
World Tour Will Launch in Japan, April 1964
NEW YORK — Connie Francis will undertake an around-the-world tour next spring which will feature a series of one-hour TV shows in each of the 11-countries. Each show will be different and in each case the singer will perform material in various languages, including that of the country in which she is performing.
The tour will commence in Japan the latter part of April and will include visits to Hong Kong, Australia, Denmark, France, Italy, Germany Spain, Belgium, Holland and England. Its expected that a show will also be done in Mexico, but details on this have not yet been completed.
The singer will be accompanied by a party of eight, including her manager, George Scheck; conductor, George Mazzu, and drummer, Bobby Grosso. Portions of the tapes of the various foreign shows are expected to be put together to form the basis of a TV outing for viewing in the United States.
(Information and news source: Billboard; December 14, 1963).
From the MCRFB news archives: 1963
BROADWAY, THEATERS, ENTERTAINMENT PLACES SILENT ACROSS NATION
NEW YORK — The sudden and stunning events of Friday, November 22, and the aftermath of the assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas, left this city’s music and entertainment business virtually paralyzed and sorrowing.
Record shops, Broadway theaters, moving picture houses and night clubs closed for one, two or three days of mourning. Some disk dealers are known to have closed their shops in Brooklyn and Queens Friday afternoon after the President’s death was confirmed and did not reopen until Tuesday, November 26.
Weekend entertainment business and establishment losses were estimated at about 35 to 50 percent, but few store keepers and Broadway producers complained about the loss of business in the light of the tragic events.
Many record dealers reached this week were still recovering from the shock those four days, and they noticed a sudden upsurge in consumers buying of patriotic and religious-themed records. A number of requests were noted for recordings of the late President’s speeches. It is understood that at least two albums has been produced and are on the way (see separate story).
Dark Nights
The assassination caused the cancelling of all sorts of entertainment programs, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and on Monday, November 25. Broadway darkened its houses on two nights. At least 24 legitimate theaters cancelled performances on Friday night and then again on Monday night, the official day of mourning.
Out of town, three incoming shows canceled Monday night performances. Two of them are musicals, the highly-rated Noel Coward musical, “The Girl Who Came To Supper,” in Philadelphia and the Broadway play, “Hello Dolly,” starring Carroll Channing performing at the Fisher Theater in Detroit.
Those classical concerts that were held offered subdued musical performances. A jazz concert for the Student Non-Violent Co-Ordinating Committee at Carnegie Hall Saturday, November 23 became, at least in part, a memorial concert for the late President.
Subdued Tone
Disk Jockey Mort Gega and Lutheran minister Reverend John Gemsel, who shared emceeing chores for the shows, kept things on a fairly subdued level. Shelley Berman read a tribute to the late President he had written called “The Coatless Man.” Bruce Gordon, an officer in the organization that benefited from the concert, also spoke of the fallen leader.
Many concert performances were canceled and those that were not were altered dramatically in programattic fashion. The tone for almost all entertainment during the tragic weekend was exemplified by Mary Martin who spoke briefly before a matinee performance of “Jennie” Saturday, November 23. In what she called her first pre-curtain address to an audience, Miss Martin said: “We in show business are schooled in the discipline that ‘the show must go on.’ But, having seen the First Lady of our land, the new President and the new First Lady showing their courage and their sense of duty to carry on, we have all learned a great lesson. I cannot ask you to forget, but perhaps we can help each other for the next few hours.” END.
(Information and news source: Billboard; December 7, 1963).
From the MCRFB archived files:
THE TOP 35 HITS ON WXYZ ON THIS DATE IN 1966
WXYZ 1270 Detroit Sound Survey; Week no. 34 issued December 5, 1966 under Lee Alan, Program Director; WXYZ
(WXYZ 1270 Detroit Sound Survey for December 5, this date 1966; survey courtesy the Jim Heddle Collection. For the previous weekly WXYZ November 28, 1966 survey click here).
Steve Dahl, after having left WABX-FM in Detroit for the Windy City in 1978, Dahl made a name for himself nationally while at WLUP in Chicago with his memorable (and most disastrous) “Disco Demolition Night” at Comiskey Park on July 12, 1979. For more on this story and Steve Dahl’s early-career in Detroit radio on WABX, go here. Steve Dahl WLUP promotion photo; 1979. (This image offered on eBay in 2012).
From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1963
GAVIN PROGRAMMING NEWSLETTER
From the Desk of Bill Gavin Billboard Contributing Editor
D U R I N G T H E D A Y S T H A T followed President Kennedy’s death, I was privileged to have talked with many people in radio, from many different cities. Without exception, they expressed shock, grief and even shame that such a thing could happen in the United States of America. Many spoke with pride of the manner in which their respective stations responded to the tragic events and of the loyal, unselfish co-operation of their program staff.
All stations, of course, abandoned their regular formats of popular records, substituting different kinds of serious music. All advertising was canceled until the morning of Tuesday, November 26. Even after that date, many stations were cautiously slow in returning to their full compliment of current hit records. In a few cases, it was reported that even though the regular playlist was once more in effect, disk jockeys simply would not program the more raucous sounds.
The entire response of American radio during those difficult days was a mark of innate good taste and respect for listeners’ feelings on the part of radio people.
T H E Q U E S T I O N has been asked by many — and answered by none: will the sobering reflections of our national tragedy bring about a new trend in programming?
Some things are fairly certain: shock wears off; memories of sorrow grow dim; time erodes the sharp edges of a newly aroused national conscience. It is a part of living there should be music and laughter and entertainment. No one would want it otherwise.
Radio Influences Youth
Network television and radio do an excellent job of presenting and explaining the world’s problems and our concerns with them. Unfortunately, very little of the networks’ news and commentaries ever reach the school-age population. The majority of the teens and pre-teens prefer listening to pop radio. Pop records are its entertainment and disk jockeys are its heroes.
T H E R E A R E D I S K J O C K E Y S who claim to “identify” with teenagers. What some of them mean is that they accept and condone teen attitudes and behavior. What is implied is often the deejay’s approval of the lowest common denominator of juvenile morality. The deejay is the acknowledged leader in the field of records for youth; he too often neglects his opportunities to lead in the direction of more enduring values.
Many radio stations, with their well-publicized “personalities,” are held in far higher esteem by their young listeners than are their schools, their churches, and even their homes. It is time, I think, for such prestige to be used to reinforce, rather than to ignore, the basic values of human living.
Isn’t it time radio stood for something beside competition and profit? END
___
(Information and news source: Billboard, December 21, 1963)
SILVER BEATLES: Members of the Beatles, hottest British group, receive their two silver LP awards from EMI chairman Sir Joseph Lockwood for sales well over the 250,000 mark on each of their albums “Please, Please Me” and “With The Beatles.” The latter was given two weeks ahead of the release of the LP. Advance orders stood at an unprecedented 345,000. At the same ceremony the group was given a miniature silver EP to mark sales of 400,000 for their first EP “Twist And Shout.” The boys have racked up a total sale of over four million on the sum total of all singles, EP’s and LP’s. (Billboard photo; December 7, 1963).
From the MCRFB news archive: 1963
One Million Pre-Sales Prior November 29 in England
HOLLYWOOD — Capitol Records here in the United States has completed negotiations with EMI for exclusive distribution of future recordings by the Beatles, internationally known (Europe) British rock and roll group.
The British band is coming to the U.S. for television appearances in 1964 and Capitol will release the single, “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” in mid-January. This single was originally released in England on November 29 and had over one million pre-sales orders, EMI Music claims. END.
(Information and news source: Billboard; December 14, 1963).