It’s What’s Going On In And Around The Music Scene In Detroit….
Tommy Boyce (left) and Bobby Hart.
DETROIT — Robin Seymour, CKLW-TV personality here, is running an “Out And About” contest on his daily television show to tie in with the promotion visit of A&M recording artists Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart on Wednesday, July 26. The contest winner will spend the day with Boyce and Hart, who in addition, will appear on the Robin Seymour television show and will also set up an interview for the Scott Regen show for a later date broadcast on WKNR. The composer/singing team will also stop by and chat with J. P. McCarthy on his “Focus” show on WJR . . . . Terry Knight is writing the music for the movie “The Incident” which will star Ed McMahon. . . . WABX jazz disk jockey Jim Rockwell took the photograph which will appear on the cover of the RCA Father Vaughn jazz album. . . . Trini Lopez and the Dukes Of Dixieland will appear in concert at Cobo Arena Friday evening, August 4. . . . George Wein brings his Jazz Festival ’67 into Cobo Arena for Sunday night, August 13. Nina Simone, Miles Davis, Woody Herman, Herbie Mann, Dizzy Gillespie and Cannonball Adderley will perform. END.
Addendum: You can listen to Cannonball Adderley’s great jazz rendition of “Willow Weep For Me,” courtesy vimeo.com, here.
Capitol recording artist and jazz great Cannonball Adderley performed here, in Detroit, at the Cobo Hall Arena August 13, 1967.
(Information and news source: Billboard; July 22, 1967).
DETROIT — The No. 1 topic among record and radio executives continues to be “formula radio,” with the local press, jocks, distributors and broadcasting brass taking aggressive stands — both pro and con — on the subject.
The furor, of course, was sparked by the recent resignations of veteran deejays Ed McKenzie from WXYZ radio here, and Eddie Chase from CKLW radio in Windsor, across from the Detroit river. Both jocks blamed “formula radio” for their departure.
The local newspapers had a field day after the Chase resignation, with CKLW radio making public charges of prevarication on Chase’s part for reasons of his leaving. CKLW president J. E. Campeau issued statements to the Detroit Times that Chase designed his statements “to cash in on the subject of (the) so-called formula broadcasting.”
Campeau added in the Hearst publication story that, “the truth is, we insisted that Chase, whose ratings were sagging badly, return to live broadcasting from the studios…. instead of doing taped shows from the lobby of a local theater…. services such as time signals. weather reports, traffic conditions and other public services he could not provide on a taped show. In six months, his ratings became the highest in Detroit for most of the afternoon time segments.”
The station president claimed that Chase continued to view giving the public added station services as unnecessary. Chase refused to comment on Campeau’s statement and charges until he officially leaves the station.
WXYZ’s Fred Wolf broadcasting ‘live’ during a mobile remote in Detroit in 1955
Fred Wolf, disk-jockey star of WXYZ radio and television, however did not hesitate in an end-of-the-week climax denouncement of opposition to “formula radio” to label it as “”live, live, live!” Castigating “old-timers” for not wanting to move, Wolf explained “formula” as “fast-paced production, station identification, less talk, more music.” Admitting he couldn’t sincerely endorse straight formula, Wolf said identification is the big thing…. “It takes a good man with personality, get-up-and-go and a live program to get away with formula.”
Wolf and station officials’ opinion on “formula” were clearly not shared by some others in the industry here. Decca branch manager John Schlee, Columbia’s Russ Yerge, Mercury and Dot distributors John Kaplan expressed themselves vigorously in the local press against “formula.” They frowned because their sales staff must spend more time with record dealers in order to get their records on the listings which the dealers give the disk jockeys as weekly hit tunes. They also dislike the “wearing-out” of a disk on radio DJ shows because they fear the public may lose some interest in buying their disk product, therefore possibly affecting any potential high volume return in sales. END.
Detroit radio veteran Fred Wolf broadcasting his morning show “live” from the WXYZ remote studio-trailer circa 1955
(Information and news source: Billboard; March 30, 1959).
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