WATH (Athens, OH) JACK THOMASWLEW (Bad Axe, MI) JACK THOMAS1975WLEW (Bad Axe, MI) JACK THOMAS1993
WLEW * Jack Thomas * 1975
JACK THOMAS on WLEW REMEMBERED
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Motor City Radio Flashbacks would like to extend our thanks to Frederick Vobbe for sharing this Michigan broadcasting memory in behalf of his brother, Jack Thomas. Fred Vobbe was chief engineer for Detroit radio stations WHNE-FM, WMJC-FM and WHND-AM, Birmingham, Michigan, in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Today, Fred resides in Lima, Ohio, still doing what he does best as chief engineer for major media outlets (radio and TV) in the Buckeye state. We present Fred’s own words he shared of his brother’s broadcasting career, verbatim, below.
Audio and photos courtesy of Fred Vobbe.
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My brother Jack Thomas started broadcasting in 1958 at McKinley School’s educational radio station, WTDS-FM, while a student. In his spare time he recorded radio shows with his friends in his parent’s basement, and collected the latest rock & roll 45s while imitating the sounds of WJBK AM and other stations in Detroit.
In high school he jocked “sock hops” for private and company parties. His first “big time” job in radio was with WATH AM/FM in Athens, Ohio, serving as a Staff Announcer and Chief Engineer. He took the name “Jack Thomas” when on the air. After a decade in Athens he moved to WLEW AM/FM in Bad Axe, Michigan, in 1973 in a similar role.
Being a small market station he set up remotes, assisted in news broadcasts, assembled music libraries, and repaired the station’s broadcast equipment. Jack was proud that he entertained his audience with clean humor, “On This Day in History“and “Jack’s Birthday Book” where he kept a list of area listener’s birthdays and mentioned them on the air while reading entertaining stories and trivia.
While at both stations he produced automation tapes, first for WATH-FM 105.5, and later for both WLEW AM and FM. After retiring from WLEW in 2006, Jack worked part-time briefly for WCPT-FM, and was on the air as “Brother Jack.”
Thomas’ career in broadcasting in the thumb area comprised well over thirty years in radio, where his name is still remembered today.
Jack Thomas passed away in February 2017 at the age of 76.
DETROIT FREE PRESSSunday, January 2, 1955WJR (‘DINNER DATE‘) JAN WYNN 1959(Press Photo)
JAN WYNN on WJR
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Jan Wynn’s real name was Janet Marie Winkler Iagulli (1935-2008).
In the 1950s and in the early 1960s, Jan Wynn was a local Detroit vocalist/singer who was the prime feature on WJR’s evening programming called ‘Dinner Date,’ a 15 minute daily show accompanied by WJR’s house band The Jimmy Clark Quartet (see above ad). The program was aired live, from 6:15 to 6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday on the “Goodwill Station.” Wynn’s vocal talents also was heard on other WJR programming. She also made frequent appearances on WJR’s day-timer, “Open House,” hosted by Jack Harris.
In the post-war era, WJR was known as a prestigious radio station which featured local musicians, vocalists, talents, and personalities throughout their regular scheduled daily programming at the time, in most cases performing live musical shows in the studio while on the air.
In this special WJR aircheck, the performances by Jan Wynn presented here date from 1958-1960 and actually this audio is a compilation from more than one ‘Dinner Date’ broadcast which was recorded during that time.
LONDON — The fifth Beatle is gone. Brian Epstein was found dead in bed Aug. 27, and was buried at Long Lane, Liverpool, Aug. 30. An inquest opened on that date was adjourned. Epstein, 32, was at the center of the Liverpool /Mersey sound that swept pop music here, then spread around the world at the beginning of this decade. He took the Beatles to fame, and founded his NEMS Enterprises pop music empire that gave the industry stars like Gerry and the Pacemakers, Cilla Black and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas.
Epstein, the son of a successful furniture retailer in Liverpool, left school at 16 and became a salesman in the family business. That was in 1950. Six years later, Epstein enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art here in pursuit of his acting ambitions, but left after a year, disillusioned by the thespian atmosphere and characters.
Back With Firm
He returned to the family company in Liverpool, called North End Music Stores, and took charge of the disk department in a newly opened branch in Great Charlotte Street, aided by one assistant. His motto was to locate and provide any record anybody wanted, and his methods prospered to the extent of expanding the department to three stories and 30 staff members in two years.
Epstein’s motto also led him to the Beatles. A customer query about a record, “My Bonnie,” by a group of that name resulted in tracing the foursome to the dank dungeon known as the Cavern, and a friendship that made him their manager. Epstein reckoned the Beatles had more potential than Elvis Presley, and tried to instill his enthusiasm beyond the Liverpool city limits. He got rejections in most record company quarters except one – George Martin, Parlophone disk producer at EMI. Martin liked what he heard, and “Love Me Do” was released in October, 1962, followed by the Beatles’ first No. I success, “Please Please Me.”
The Beginning
That was the beginning of an unprecedented era which introduced new interest in pop music in the western world and even infiltrated the East. John Lennon and Paul McCartney, svengalied by George Martin, developed into major song – writing talents, contributing a whole new pop balladry. Epstein was dedicated to their interests and to those of his other artists. He worked long hours, and spared no effort in their behalf. For a naturally quiet, retiring personality, he could be surprisingly ruthless and uncompromising if he deemed circumstance warranted it.
His continuing theatrical interest and inclination manifested itself again when he took over London’s Saville Theater for a mixture of dance troupe shows and pop presentations. He was on the verge of other moves to broaden the base of NEMS when he died.
Unhappily, the tremendous success of his artists and himself brought less than a fair share of personal happiness. Epstein was prone to extreme depression, and a pervading restlessness and discontent. No matter what the triumph of the moment, he forever sought something else without clearly knowing what it was.
Took LSD
He freely admitted taking marijuana and LSD, and was a signatory to the Times advertisement seeking a relaxation of the British drug laws. At the time of his death he was due to join the Beatles in Wales to participate in their latest interest, transcendental meditation, with an Indian exponent.
Clive Epstein, 30, was unanimously elected NEMS chairman, succeeding his brother at a board meeting Aug. 30. Robert Stigwood will continue as managing director, and Vic Lewis will remain a director.
The Beatles will conduct their own affairs in conjunction with NEMS. Brian Epstein’s mother, Queenie, inherits as his next of kin. Epstein’s estate is believed to be worth on paper approximately $21 million, and death duties on this amount will be huge. What arrangements will be made in this direction have not yet been disclosed. Some quarters believe that NEMS will be vulnerable to a takeover bid here or from the States, and that it might involve Northern Songs passing to different co-publishing Beatle copyrights, but Dick James has strenuously denied any possibility of Northern Songs passing to different controls. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; September 9, 1967)
BRIAN EPSTEIN with the Beatles 1966 (click on image for largest view)
NEW YORK — Britian’s hottest record act in history, the Beatles, only a source of speculation a week ago (in the U.S.), has kicked off the industry’s new year with a classic shot in the arm–with not one, but two labels jarring their way into Billboard’s Hot 100.
The Capitol Records’ single, “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” has bolted into the No. 3 slot in just two weeks. Shipments on the single are reportedly past the million mark, and an album “Meet The Beatles,” has already been released.
Swan Records single by the group, “She Loves You” (which sold over a million copies on EMI’s Parlophone label) is No. 69 on this week’s Hot 100, in it’s first week on the chart.
Advanced reports have it that the Beatles are carriers of a harmless, but contagious “bug“–Beatlemania–and it, too, has arrived in epidemic proportions.
Beatle Fever
BEATLEMANIA!Nation Record News for February 25, 1964.
For the past year, the quartet, which hails from the Mersey River district of Liverpool, has captured the imagination of the British, and has spread Beatlemania like a fever through the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, and now Norway. Their first single effort on Parlophone, “Love Me Do,” sold a “modest” 100,000 copies. No subsequent single released have sold more that half a million.
When “I Want To Hold Your Hand” was released in England on November 29, 1963, advance orders had already exceeded the million mark. Their two LP’s have already sold more than 300,000 copies.
One of the most efficient and effective promotional campaigns in recent memory presaged the arrival of the Beatles. Newsweek, Time, Life, UPI and AP have avidly chronicled Beatlemania from the boys’ mushroom-shaped mops to their classic exchanges with the Royal family. Jack Parr offered a taped preview of the boys in early January, and their official debut is set for the Ed Sullivan show on February 9, with two more Sullivan spots in short order.
Radio Fans Like
As expected, Beatlemania has hit the radio scene with a tremendous impact. WEEL, Fairfax, Va., inaugurated what is perhaps the first series in the country revolving around the Beatles. Throughout the cooperation of Giant Music and Capitol Records, a weekly one-hour program entitled “Beatles Bonanza” is offered on Saturday night. The Beatles past hits, interviews with visiting Britons, and future merchandising of Beatle jewelry, wigs and other promotional items fill out the hour.
The BEATLES on stage in the U. K., October 28, 1963.
WABC, New York, initiated a Scott Muni Beatles Fan Club on Friday which has resulted in a tide of mail averaging 2,000 to 3,000 pieces daily. All Munci asks is a self-addressed envelope in which their membership card is returned to them. WABC reported that requests have been for “anything” by the Beatles.
WMCA, New York, is running a Beatles wig contest. The “Good Guys” are seeking listeners to take photos of their friends or from newspaper and paint on Beatle wigs. The station is awarding $57 to the first two most original entries with another 998 winners receiving a 45 r.p.m. disk, featuring photos of the group and the “Good Guys” on specially made record jackets.
English-Style Promo
The station is also airing Beatles promos cut by such legit theater artists as Margaret Leighton, a star in Broadway’s “Chinese Prime Minister,” and cast members from “Chips With Everything.” The artists all stated, “I would like to thank WMCA for bringing the Beatles to America.”
… WMCA reports that the most popular subjects painted with Beatle wigs thus far are: Khruschev, Mayor Wagner, Alfred E. Neuman (of MAD Magazine), Brigitte Bardot, and the Jolly Green Giant.
The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr), until a year ago were but one of more than 300 rock and roll groups that populated the Liverpool musical scene. Together since 1958, the boys have worked under a variety of names, such as the Quarrymen, Moon Dogs, Moonshiners, and the Silver Beatles. When they accepted an engagement in Hamburg the “Silver” was dropped as being too cumbersome and they have kept the Beatles tag ever since.
Brian Epstein, whom the boys affectionately refer to as the “fifth member” of the group, was responsible for mentoring the Beatles into distinction. He acts as their manager.
Another young group featuring the so-called “Liverpool Sound,” which has recently entered the race and could possibly emulate the success of their forerunner, goes by the name of the Dave Clark Five. They are currently battling the Beatles for first place in England, with their Columbia single “Glad All Over.” The single has been released in the U.S. on the Epic record label. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; January 25, 1964)
The BEATLES, 1963
A MCRFB Note
Here below a RARE 1963 CBS News clip believed to be the first major news report in the U.S. regarding the Beatles. According to the You Tube source, this CBS feature actually aired nationally here, on Thursday evening, November 21, 1963 and also the following morning, Friday November 22, 1963.
THE MARVELETTESGREATEST HITS album, Tamla 353, was released in 1966. The album peaked at #84 on the Billboard (Pop) LP chart that year. “Please Mr. Postman,” included in this Marvelettes compilation album, was the first single to hit #1 for Motown (Tamla) on the Billboard singles pop chart in 1961. The 1966 “hits” album made top 10 on the national R&B LP chart, peaking #4.Katherine Anderson, Wanda Young and Gladys Horton. The Marvelettes, 1966
Atlantic Records Gold Strikes Authorized; 5 Singles, 2 LPs; Another Single Due
NEW YORK — The Atlantic Records’ family of labels made a run on gold disk market last week. The labels received authorization from the RIAA for five singles and two albums, and there’s still another single up for gold disk certification.
The Atlantic and Atco single records that earned the RIAA seal includes Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” and “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)” on Atlantic; Mr. Acker Bilk’s “Stranger On The Shore” on Atco, and Booker T. and the MG’s “Green Onions” on Stax Records, a subsidiary of the Atlantic record group. The last two records were originally released about five years ago and have continued to sell steadily since they were first issued. The single record disk up for certification is Arthur Conley’s “Sweet Soul Music” on Atco records.
Aretha Franklin’s gold certified 1967 million-selling LP on AtlanticAcker Bilk’s gold certified 1967 million-selling LP on Atco
Aretha’s Atlantic album ‘I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)’ and Bilk’s ‘Stranger On The Shore’ on Atco were the two albums receiving the gold disk award. Miss Franklin’s LP record was one of the fastest selling albums of this year, and Bilk’s LP hit won the award five years after its original release in 1962.
Jerry Wexler, Atlantic’s executive vice-president, supervised all of Miss Franklin’s recordings. “Groovin'” marks the first RIAA award for the Young Rascals, as does “Green Onions” for Booker T. and the MG’s, and “Stranger On The Shore” for Mr. Acker Bilk.
The RIAA single record certification is for sales of one million copies; the RIAA LP certification is for sales of $1 million overall. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; June 24, 1967)
Playlist shortened to 40 Top R&B Playlist; New Jingles by Quincy Jones Added; Quick-paced Delivery Will Be Central Theme
DETROIT — WJLB, Booth Broadcasting’s 1,000-watt R&B operation here, has just launched a new programming policy centering around tighter production, faster-pacing transitions, and has added a new set of custom-jingles by Quincy Jones.
Wash Allen, former 1967 WJLB program director in 2011.
Wash Allen, who just recently took over WJLB programming director duties after being transferred from Booth’s WABQ in Cleveland, said the Detroit station “would be running with a full-blast, exciting young sound.” Play list will be 40 records, to which he will add as necessity demands. “You can never tell how many good tunes will come out in a good week,” he said.
The aim will be to add consistency in programming, Allen said. He felt that his philosophy was the same as Bill Drake, consultant to RKO General stations, and Paul Drew, program director at CKLW in Detroit. “Certain top tunes must be played consistently and deejays must be consistent on their shows. One deejay can’t make a radio station; it has to be a total operation and this is a new concept in R&B radio. In the old days, one guy could make a radio station; he could make a record. It can no longer be like that today.”
WJLB 1440 AM radio deejay lineup; late 1967.(Click on image for larger view)
Things are changing so fast in radio, especially in R&B radio, that Allen felt that many older deejays were finding it difficult to grasp what was happening. “To some extent,” Allen said, “it was necessary to teach radio to these people. It wasn’t anybody’s fault that this situation developed. It’s just that times are changing and a radio station has to move with the times.”
Allen begin his radio career with WVOL in Nashville while attending Tennessee State University. He had been with WABQ for about two-and-a-half years before moving to WJLB. He considers himself “a derivative of Ed Wright,” who’s been program director at WABQ prior to joining Liberty Records as head of its Minit label. Allen wrote the lyrics and produced the Quincy Jones jingle custom package. Future plan calls for psychedelic-themed jingles as well.
Station WJLB has brought in new equipment and is building up its news department. In Martha Jean Steinberg and Ernie Durham, Allen felt he had two of the top air personalities of any station in the nation on board. “Now, with the new equipment, we have everything to work with.” END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; September 23, 1967)
Keener’s Swingin’ Sweeney may have had more that his fill when he quit in August 1965. Bob Green, left, looks on.
DETROIT — Frank Sweeney, music director and morning air personality on WKNR “Keener 13” radio, resigned Saturday, August 14, after completing his morning show.
Frank Maruca, program director at the station, said that Paul Cannon, former all-night talent at the Top 40 station, has been named music director. Jim Jeffries of sister station WKFR in Battle Creek, Michigan, has been brought in to handle chores on a temporary basis.
Maruca said Sweeney had been planning to give up his air time on August 23 to devote himself strictly to music director duties. He did not give any reason for Sweeney’s abrupt resignation from the Detroit station. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; August 21, 1965)
NEW YORK — CKLW, 50,000-watt Hot 100 format station in Detroit, has taken over as the leading influence on sales of singles records in the market, according to a Radio Response Survey just released by Billboard for publication.
WKNR lead last year by a wide margin. This year, CKLW had 55-per cent of the votes of record dealers, distributors, one-stop operators, and local and national record company executives — all whose business depends on record sales. The survey depicts not only a leading ability to influence sales of products, but a large teen and young adult audience. WKNR had 45 per cent of the votes.
Tom Shannon of CKLW was the leading deejay influencing singles sales, according to a Billboard survey dated October 2. WJR lead WXYZ by a thin margin in ability to influence sales of albums, indicative of a large younger adult and adult audience combined, as well as an ability to influence them to buy product. Bill Drake, RKO radio consultant, was hired by CKLW earlier in the year. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; November 4, 1967)
A MCRFB Note
Besides playing the national Hot 100 hits, CKLW also was playing some of the greatest hit records that ever came out of Detroit (including Bob Seger) besides Motown — here’s just 4 from the CKLW BIG 30:
For the week of August 29, 1967, “Heavy Music” by Bob Seger is at the #4 spot, after just two weeks on the guide… “To Share Your Love” by the Fantastic Four is at #6, only three weeks after its debut on the BIG 30 survey… “You Gotta Pay The Price,” the instrumental by Ric-Tic’s own Al Kent, is just below at #7, another fast-climber after just three weeks… “If This Is Love” by Detroit’s very own Precisions, climbed to the #13 spot overall, after just two weeks on CKLW…
On the national pop and R&B music scene: “Some Kind Of Wonderful” by the Soul Brothers Six was on the CKLW playlist for eight-consecutive weeks… “Little ‘Ole Man,” by Bill Cosby, and “Never My Love,” by the Association, had just debuted a week earlier on the CKLW BIG 30 guide…
“Ode To Billy Joe” by Bobbi Gentry was the No. 1 song for the second-week in a row… and that’s just some of the BIG 30 hits that were played on CKLW 800 during the week of August 29, 1967.
CKLWAugust 29, 1967(click on image 2x for largest chart view)
