We are pleased to announce on this page we added a brand new link to former WJR producer Kevin Collard and his current podcast show, ‘A Soul Encountered‘ to the site’s blogroll.
Kevin Collard was first hired at WJR in 1993. According to Kevin, he worked with over 30 hosts at WJR (not to mention Mike Whorf) including: Paul W Smith, Ken Calvert, David Newman and wrapping up his career there working with Frank Beckmann in 2009. Kevin also stated he did production work for Larry Patton, John McCullough, Kevin Joyce, Mitch Albom and other luminaries affiliated with Detroit radio as well.
Kevin Collard’s ‘A Soul Encountered‘ podcast page best describes what his podcasts is all about:
“A Soul encountered is a bi-weekly interview program focusing on spiritual matters, what has worked? what hasn’t? people of all kinds of backgrounds sit down and explain what they believe and why.
Hosted by radio veteran Kevin Collard and originating near Detroit, Michigan this broadcast strives to be high quality, compelling and thought provoking.”
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‘A SOUL ENCOUNTERED’ REMEMBERS CHUCK YEAGER
Featured on his podcast page today — and you may go HERE — in wake of Chuck Yeager’s passing just three days ago, Kevin Collard shares a brief WJR interview with the legendary record-setting jet pilot, conducted by the late J. P. McCarthy.
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— NOTES —
We are grateful and thankful as well, with his blessings, we will shortly be featuring on this site a two-hour tribute Kevin Collard created and produced in memory of WJR legend Mike Whorf, who recently passed away in November.
Good news! Kevin will be soon be donating his extensive WJR radio archive to this site as well. Many of his WJR memories and moments will be featured in future posts, here and to his credit, courtesy of Kevin’s generosity.
Detroit Dealers Frown on Detroit Radio Music Chart Value; Not Used as ‘Guides’
DETROIT – While local record merchandisers claim that area radio “Top 40 charts” are highly inaccurate, they say that they are able to live with the situation because no one in the Motor City market uses radio charts as a buying guide.
This lack of direct chart influence on record sales, according to dealers, is due to the relatively high number of competing Big Beat radio stations in the area – all offering slightly different formats and none having a clearly dominant influence as taste-maker in the Detroit pop market.
WKNR MUSIC GUIDE August 22, 1966
Sam Press, co-owner of the Ross Music Shops in Detroit, said that “There are actually three influential rock stations – two here and one in Windsor, Canada, competing for the kids’ attention, plus two very strong R&B stations. You have to remember that because of Motown, R&B is a stronger product here than it might be in other markets. So what you have is kids constantly switching dials between all these stations and not being dominated by any of them. A ‘Keener’ (WKNR) chart might have some of the most popular songs in the area on it but it will invariably be late in listing a big English hit which the kids have been hearing on CKLW of Windsor, and will likewise be late in listing a hot R&B number that has been exposed by one of the other stations.”
“What this means,” he said, “is that teenagers choose the best of several stations. For this reason we don’t have to buy according to anybody’s chart. The independent dealers in this town wait until they start getting requests before they will order anything – except something by a very hot artist.”
Asked if his customers would not seek out a competitor who already had the hits in stock, Press said: “The racks are even slower in getting current singles out – we can move faster than our competition.”
Not Used as Guide
Lou Salesin, a 35-year veteran of the business who owns Mumford Music Shop, said that he also does not use “radio charts as buying guides. I must ignore WKNR and the other lists; they are inaccurate for a number of reasons. Some of these inaccuracies could he eliminated -and I would like to see that happen, just for the principle of the thing.”
Sol Margolis, owner of the Ross Music Stores, told Billboard: “I only order what I get calls for, plus a minimum of new releases by established artists. To my knowledge, no Detroit dealer uses radio charts as any kind of a buying guide. We know better than to trust what those sheets say.”
Another dealer, who did not wish to be identified, said that “you simply cannot believe what the radio charts list. The trouble is that there are too many pop records being released. I think the manufacturers are working on some sort of percentage planning. They just keep churning the records out, hoping that 5 per cent or so will make money for them.
WXYZ SOUND SURVEY August 29, 1966
“As far as local charts are concerned,” he added, “we often see a record that hasn’t been shipped already on the sheet. Other times, we see stations keeping numbers on the charts long after they have stopped selling. They do this, apparently because they got on a record too late, and then refuse to admit that their influence hasn’t been able to keep it a hot seller. There are many complicating factors, but the end result is inaccurate charts. All the dealers know this, and they depend on requests and their own experience in the business to tell them how to buy.”
Chet Kajeski, of Martin and Snyder, a one-stop in Detroit, told Billboard: “I find frequent discrepancies on the radio charts. As far as I am concerned, they hurt jukebox operators in the area. By failing to list, and expose on the air, what is a legitimate ‘adult’ hit, they can cut down play on the boxes. This happens with a record that sells very well in the area, deserves to be listed on the charts, but doesn’t get listed because the stations don’t feel it is in their format.” Because such a record does not get the additional push of air play, its life on a jukebox is sometimes shortened.
“I don’t believe,” Kajeski added, “that many record dealers are affected by the charts in the Detroit area. By being inaccurate, these charts defeat their own purpose.” END
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Information and news source: Billboard; September 3, 1966
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‘THE REGULAR RECORD REVIEW WAS NOT PUBLISHED THIS WEEK OUT OF RESPECT FOR OUR LATE PRESIDENT’
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NOVEMBER 29, 1963
The above WJBK chart was digitally restored by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
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On the 55th anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination, Motor City Radio Flashbacks covered those tragic four days in November 2018.
You can view and listen to our Detroit radio coverage of those four days — November 22-23-24-25, 1963 — archivedHERE.
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— A SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT —
THANK YOU
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A special THANKS to Ray Tessier, of Allen Park, MI., for recently contributing this 1963 WJBK November 29 survey chart with Motor City Radio Flashbacks.
Detroit Public Television Friday, November 27, 2020 ( DPTV page screenshot)
ROCKIN’ ROBIN: A TRIBUTE TO ROBIN SEYMOUR
STREAMING TONIGHT ON DETROIT PUBLIC TELEVISION
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To view the DPTV program stream: click on the highlighted link just below the Scott Morgan photo.
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— DPTV.ORG * MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30 * 8:00 PM —
Robin Seymour September 2019 (Photo credit: Kevin Willett)
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Scott Morgan of The Rationals remembers Robin Seymour on DPTV. (Photo credit: William Kubota; WTVS)
ALBERT ANDRUS: Hard to fathom in today’s super high tech world. Looks like WordPress 5.0 hasn’t been a worthwhile upgrade. Should have come with a money back guarantee. 🙁
GENE R. KONSTANT: I am proud the program my dad started in 1930 is still on the air 90 years later . . . AND in a foreign language (Polish). Would love anything with his voice on it . . . Gene in Palm Desert @ aol . . . .
RODNEY BALLARD: I listened to Mike almost every evening on KOMA in Moore, OK. We often spoke on the phone. As I remembered it, we were talking on the phone one night when the station lost power. After getting back on the air, he said Rodney the Rodent chewed through the wires. And he often spoke with Rodney on his shows.
I almost went to Elkins DJ school because of J Michael Wilson. I hope he is doing well.
DIANE STEINBERG-LEWIS: It was so good to see the song George Clinton wrote for Funkadelics, “I’ll Bet You”, which was one of two versions he wrote and named after Martha Jean “The Queen’s” well known ending slogan, “I BETCHA“! He wrote two in case she didn’t like one or the other! Makes me laugh!
VICTOR LUTES: Jim Paolucci used to dodge past each other in those cramped little hallways at the former WMJC-95 FM/ WHND-Honey radio outlet around 1985. Did we ever work, Jim? Vic Lutes, Radio Personality
VICTOR LUTZ: Jerry St James used to be Jim’s radio morning partner in 1976, WDRQ. Then one day Jerry went to Chicago radio and the rest is Legendary Radio History, folks. Did this idiot voice, “Quedo”.
2020/10/23 at 11:55 pm
— ABOUT YOUR COMMENTS —
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With all due apology, as of this writing, it appears there will be no resolution at all to repair the WordPress 5.0 upgrade after having removed all of your comments — through a technical glitch after the new upgrade — off the pages of this website.
They are still added automatically to our comments section on the site — once approved they are all archived — just no longer visible as before, through no fault of our own, unfortunately.
For my previous comments having posted regarding the above GO HERE.
We appreciate and welcome your comments. Keep them coming. If all else, They will be read. For the moment, I will feature them in a separate post, every month.
Your comments for October 2020 are featured today on Motor City Radio Flashbacks.
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Thanks again . . . always enjoy hearing from each and everyone of you! 🙂
WDRQ-FM Top 22 singles for the week-ending November 4-10, 1975
The above WDRQ music chart was digitally restored by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
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— In MemoryofGeorge Griggs —
A SPECIAL THANK YOU
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A sincere, thank you, Mrs. Patti Griggs. This featured presentation would have not been possible without your generosity and your continuous support.
Above WDRQ music chart courtesy of Mrs. Patti Griggs and the George L. Griggs estate.
Above article is courtesy freep.com newspaper archive. Copyright 2020. Newspapers.com.
This featured Tom Dean article (by Howie Buten) was ‘clipped,’ saved, and was digitally imaged from the credited source by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
Detroit Free Press March 9, 1975
Detroit Free Press March 9, 1975
Detroit Free Press March 9, 1975
Detroit Free Press March 9, 1975
Detroit Free Press March 9, 1975
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Detroit Free Press January 12, 1974
Missed any of our previous ‘Detroit Radio Back-Pages‘ features?GO HERE.
SAN FRANCISCO — The music director at a top 40 station in a large city holds his job largely by continuing to demonstrate his ability to select the new records that eventually become hits. Every week, when he makes his top pick or discovery, he puts his reputation on the line.
It occasionally happens that even after his station has been playing his pick of the week once an hour for a week, none of the local stores can report any significant sales on it. Should such a thing happen with any degree of regularity. his boss will start looking for a new music director.
One annoying circumstance arises occasionally: a few weeks after a pick has been heavily played and yet has sold little or nothing in the market, it looms up in other cities and becomes a national hit. This is pretty frustrating. Why can’t the first station to spot a record’s potential break it for a hit?
BECAUSE, IN MOST CASES, the record isn’t in the stores. The dealers get customer calls but don’t have it. Sometimes they’ll try to order it from the distributor and find that he hasn’t stocked it. By the time it finally reaches its destination at the retailer point of sale, there may be no further demand for it. The station may have dropped it entirely, figuring that it was a bomb.
This kicks back at the station, too, in the form of listener displeasure. Those who have tried to buy the record, in the belief that it must be important, have their enthusiasm dampened when they find that it isn’t available in the stores. Their confidence in the station is shaken. It’s unfortunate all the way around. Everybody loses. Who gets blamed? Everybody.
The retailer should keep up with what is being picked for air play, and he should have the new items in stock. The distributor should have stock on the floor, ready to move it out to the stores at the first sign of action. The music director should make certain of the record’s immediate availability before he picks it. At least, that’s the way everyone involved tries to evade the responsibility by blaming someone else.
A closer liaison between the station and the distributor can avoid such situations. Some of the nation’s most successful music directors always check with the distributor before picking a record. When will stock he available? If the station goes on the record, will the distributor order it? Will he guarantee an initial allocation to key retailers?
IT HAPPENS OCCASIONALLY that two or three versions of a record will appear almost simultaneously. Which label gets the pick? It is not always the version with the better sound. It is often the version whose distributor is known to be alert and aggressive, and who can be depended upon to get it on the dealers’ shelves.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that the distributor must guarantee 100 per cent. It should be enough – and usually is – that he will back up the station’s confidence in his product by making it quickly available to the dealers if they need it.
Most important distributors follow this kind of a policy. It is hard to understand why all do not. It is a weakness more often encountered in factory owned or controlled branches, where stock is controlled by the national brass, who estimate which of their weekly releases are most likely to be in demand. In such cases, the decision of an important station to pick a left field possibility – something that is not considered by the bosses to be a top plug item – is occasionally ignored by the local branch manager.
Station music directors are becoming more discriminating with picks in relations to practical sales prospects in a local market. It is a trend that merits serious consideration by record people, in improving their co-ordination between promotion and sales. END
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Information and news source: Billboard; October 19, 1963
Many of the charted Billboard ‘Top 50’ R&B albums were also the most popular LP’s which were selected and featured on Detroit’s soul stations 1400WJLB and 1440 WCHB on the AM dial, November 1970.
The featured R&B Top 50 albums listing was the nation’s most popular R&B LP’s, as tabulated by Billboard, 50 years ago.
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 1-7, 1970
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We are pleased to announce on this page we added a brand new link to former WJR producer Kevin Collard and his current podcast show, ‘A Soul Encountered‘ to the site’s blogroll.
