MEMORIAL DAY * Lee Alan * Lee Alan Creative Productions (2015)
Category: Lee Alan
WXYZ 1270 DETROIT SOUND TOP 35! THIS WEEK IN 1966
WIXIE DETROIT SOUND No. 8 * Terry Knight & The Pack * WXYZ (4/18/66)
WIXIE DETROIT SOUND No. 18 * Johnny Rivers * WXYZ (4/18/66)
WIXIE DETROIT SOUND No. 27 * Dave Clark Five * WXYZ (4/18/66)
EASTER SUNDAY: THE BIBLICAL ACCOUNT BY LEE ALAN
WHY DO YOU LOOK FOR THE LIVING AMONG THE DEAD?
The Final Chapters from the Book Of Luke * (LINKED HERE) * Lee Alan
WXYZ & YMCA: ‘THIS HORN IS LIKE TO SET ME FREE’ ’63!
“SET ME FREE” * Lee Alan with the Vandellas * Recorded at Motown Records (1963)
A M C R F B P O S T S C R I P T
___
THE YMCA, once vibrant in popularity as it was in the greater Detroit metropolitan area, this organization has seen better years prior the 1980’s and 1990’s decades. Once scattered throughout Detroit and its surrounding suburbs, many YMCA began closing their local branches, for the most part, prior the year 2000. Many of these YMCA buildings were enormous, as these structures were intended by design for supporting temporary lodging and housing as well.
By the end of the 1970s, many of the YMCA buildings were either too old in structure or were no longer found adequately sustainable as “living” quarters. Thereby many were forced to close — due to lack of funding, high maintenance costs, and primarily due to lack of charities once sustained and supported by local communities the “Y” once had served.
Later up in years, many of the YMCA abandoned buildings were either purchased by local counties or were left vacant, only to be razed. Today, several of the former YMCA buildings left in Detroit now stand in urban blight, ruin and decay, such as the one pictured below in SW Detroit. Only a few YMCA locations exist dotting the Detroit map to date.
AND NOW. For the REAL story behind Lee Alan’s Motown’s single, “Set Me Free,” as only Lee Alan could personally re-tell it, please GO HERE.
___
WHFI-FM BACK ON THE RADIO W/: ALAN AND AVERY!
WHFI HEARD HERE 24/7 ON MOTOR CITY RADIO FLASHBACKS
From the MCRFB aircheck archives featuring: WHFI-FM (’71) w/ LEE ALAN
DANLEY MAKES DETROIT WHFI-FM SING . . . OCTOBER 3, 1970
From the MCRFB news archive: 1970
Station Air Talents Control Shows: Avails Audience Appeal via Telephone
DETROIT — Personal contact blended with a consistent music policy directed at adults is paying off for WHFI-FM, a stereo station. Tom Danley, in slightly over a year at the station, has taken it from billings of only $20,000 per year to approximately $250,000 this fiscal year and by next year expects to be far above those figures.
The first thing Danley did upon arriving at the station, which is located in the suburbs of Detroit in Birmingham, was raid-local AM stations for top-flight personalities. Then he gave them not only control of their show, but made them available to the listeners not only through radio, but through the telephone.
There are three direct phone lines into the studio “and the phones are constantly ringing . . . sometimes all three at once,” said Danley.
He confessed that once a phone call received by evening Don Alcorn was a wrong number. “Turned out she’d never heard of WHFI-FM or Alcorn and thought she was kidding her when he told her she was on the air. He convinced her into getting an FM radio and then helped her dial it to 94.7, chatting with her all the time. ‘Is that me,’ she yelled, after she got the station. I think she’s now a confirmed WHFI-FM fan.”
Danley said it would be difficult to find at least 60 seconds when those phones are not ringing . . . even on the all-night show. The air personalities — which includes music director Marc Avery, Lee Alan, Joey Ryan, program director Don Zee, Alcorn, and all-night man Bob Bereten — can talk when they want to . . . segue when they want to . . . “they’re in complete control of their show,” said Danley.
The air personalities operate from a playlist of about 100 records, plus a huge volume of albums from which oldies are taken. The oldies are records that were previous Top 40 hits which fit the uptempo easy-listening format of the station. The only restriction is that is that no more than three oldies can be played per show, although the air personality doesn’t have to play any if he doesn’t want to.
Chain Planned
WHFI-FM is on an upgrading drive and the company plans to grow into a chain of stations . . . all of them strictly FM. The station is building a new station and will move into completely new facilities in October.
“FM radio has arrived,” said Danley, “especially in regards to being a profit vehicle for advertisers. I have never received so many call-ins from potential clients . . . listeners who operates businesses and want us to come out and talk to them about an advertising schedule on the station. And I’ve worked for some major stations.”
To spur further call-ins, WHFI-FM has a series of brief promotions on the air asking: “Mr. Businessman, are you listening to WHFI right now? So are a lot of other people.” WHFI-FM is also very promotional-minded off the air. “I tell potential clients there’s no such thing as ‘one’ place to advertise. It’s a valid rule for us to follow, too. So, we’re involved in everything, including bumper stickers.”
The music policy that Danley installed when he first came to the station in August, 1969, was consistency.” Previously, the music format was in the right direction (Tom Jones and Pet Clark), he felt, but occasionally heavier records were thrown in. Danley set a more consistent policy on record. “The sound is hard to describe, but you can more or less tell when you turn on the station now.” END
(Information and news source: Billboard; October 3, 1970).
MEMORIAL DAY SPECIAL WITH LEE ALAN
Big Thanks To Our Friend
Lee Alan For This Memorial Day Special
WKMH-AM BACK ON THE RADIO WITH: LEE ALAN!
WKMH LIVES HERE 24/7 ON MOTOR CITY RADIO FLASHBACKS
From our MCRFB aircheck archives, featuring: WKMH-AM (’61) w/ LEE ALAN
DETROIT RADIO SIDEBAR: WKMH-AM BILLBOARD NOTES
From the MCRFB RADIO NOTEBOOK: 1957, 1959, 1961 and 1962
WKMH-AM
DETROIT (October 28, 1957) — DETROIT DISK BIZ SLOW: Echoing a national complaint of recording distributors in the industry, Robin Seymour, deejay-program director of WKMH, Detroit, reports that in recent weeks the best selling lists around the Motor City has been static, with fewer and fewer new records making their way onto the charts. Seymour opined that that poor economic conditions locally are to blame, but added the optimistic prediction that things should change soon, since Detroit record sales during fall and Christmas have topped each previous year for the past several holiday yule seasons. END.
DETROIT (July 20, 1959) — Robin Seymour, WKMH, Detroit, has launched a daily 15-minute segment (6:15 – 6:30 p.m.) featuring musical highlights from a different year each day, along with commentary about news events of each date. The segment is produced by Arlene Schubert, who is currently the Dearborn-based WKMH music librarian. END.
DETROIT (August 28, 1961) — Two new jocks have joined WKMH, Detroit. Bob Green, formerly with WGVA, Geneva, New York, has moved into the 8-10:45 p.m. time slot on WKMH. Ray Otis, ex-WHK, Cleveland, has taken over the outlet’s 12 noon to 3:00 p.m. across the-board-time slot and its Sunday noon to 4:00 p.m. time-frame. Bob Green will also act as WKMH’s production director. END.
DETROIT (September 11, 1961) — Plans are now on the drawing boards for deejay record hops to be run direct by local arenas, with evening jocks doing their shows direct from the spot and featuring guest recording talents. Records by the artists would be available for purchase as well by recording distributors’ rack-jobbers. The idea of deejay broadcasts from rink locations is not new. Only in recent weeks, Lee Alan, WKMH, Detroit, staged a successful teen dance at the Riverside Roller Arena in that city with such acts as Bob Beckham, Little Caesar and the Romans, also the Marvelettes and the Edsels present. END.
DETROIT (March 10, 1962) — A flock of stations around the country last August supported city drives to encourage teenagers to return to high school and reduce “drop-outs” which result when youngsters find summer employment and don’t want to go back to school in the fall. For example, Dave Prince, WKMH in Detroit, sponsored a “back to school” contest, asking teenagers to complete in 25 words or less the statement: “I’m going back to school this fall because . . . ” Winners received wrist watches and transistor radios. The response was so great that the Michigan Education Association plans to stage similar contests next year with WKMH and other Michigan radio stations. END.
DETROIT (March 31, 1962) — (Billboard Programming Panel) — Question: “Do you have special promotions or programming ideas which are designed to build better relationships with local schools and students?”
(Dave Prince, WKMH, Detroit) — ANSWER:
“Station WKMH deejays lead yells at the high schools each fall. We have our own WKMH cheerleader sweaters, megaphones, and a special series of school chants and yells, using the deejays’ names, station call-letters, etc. I also sponsor a “Back To School” contest at the radio station during the fall in co-operation with the Michigan Education Association, giving away 10 wrist watches to the best ten letters. The MEA will incorporate the idea throughout Michigan next fall.” END.
___
A MCRFB Note: Information and news source: Billboard Magazine. All excerpts culled as was first published from the dated editions as noted above.
LEE ALAN REFLECTS ON BOYHOOD RADIO HERO: ‘THE LONE RANGER’
The Detroit News: ‘Horn’ Trumpets Praise of Radio’s ‘Lone Ranger’
Tom Greenwood, Detroit News
On 1/28/2014, Lee Alan wrote to us here at Motor City Radio Flashbacks:
Thank you for your note regarding my boyhood hero, “The Lone Ranger.”
Over these many fortunate years I have been privileged to meet a number of those whose voices and genius brought the legendary masked rider of the plains to life for millions of us “kids.”
So I thought I would pass along an audio excerpt from my book (audio linked below) where I recall a very special story or two which you have my full permission to add to your growing collection.
The Tom Greenwood article appeared in The Detroit News a number of years ago and was included in the photo section of my book.
Kindest Regards. And keep up your most valued work.
LEE ALAN
TURN YOUR RADIO ON * Lee Alan Remembers * THE LONE RANGER
By Tom Greenwood
(News article below was provided by Lee Alan) —
R E C E N T L Y I P E N N E D A C O L U M N about some childhood heroes, including Clayton Moore (TV’s Lone Ranger) and former WXYZ Radio disk jockey Lee Alan. I said how I’d always had this secret dream that some day I’d grow up and be the Lone Ranger. I also said I’d spent many an evening cruising Woodward in the ’60s, listening to “Brother” Joel Sebastian and Lee “The Horn” Alan and his “fine toned ashtray.”
I must have stirred up a lot of memories, because readers wrote and called to say they admired the very same people. In the batch was a note from Lee Alan Reicheld, founder of the Reicheld Corp. ad agency. Drop the last name and you’ll know who wrote it:
Dear Tom: My childhood hero was also the Lone Ranger, but before Clayton Moore. As a boy growing up in Detroit I listened to The Lone Ranger as it was done live from WXYZ on the radio. My Lone Ranger in those days (actually the name was Brace) was Bruce Beemer. His deep, resonant voice created a vivid mental picture of my hero. In 1965, I shared an office at WXYZ with my dear and recently deceased friend, Joel Sebastian. I heard a voice from the hallway. And there he stood… 60 plus years of age — looking just like I always thought he would. I nervously introduced myself. He shook my hand, and with the other… he gave me a silver bullet. Five days later he died.
“Last year at the national convention of the ‘Friends Of Old-Time Radio,’ the Lone Ranger was recreated by the original cast. They asked me to go and play Brace Beemer’s part. For 30 minutes I was surrounded by all the thundering hoofbeats from out of the past and realized my boyhood dream. I was the Lone Ranger…”
Shortly thereafter, I received a call from “The Horn” himself, and let me tell you “Wixie Pixies” out there that the man sounds exactly the same. “I retired from radio and opened my ad agency about 16 years ago,” said Alan. “The horn and ashtray are locked up in a vault, along with photos and film clips of my radio days. But nothing means more to me than that silver bullet. That and the fact that I actually became the Lone Ranger… if only for a little while.”
Alan also added, “The cast members, when I had the wonderful opportunity to play Brace Beemer’s part as the Lone Ranger before a live audience of a thousand people, included Fred Foy who was the show’s announcer, Dick Osgood, Rube Weiss as Tonto and, the show’s actual director on WXYZ, Chuck Livingstone.
When it was over a small elderly lady approached me and said: “I closed my eyes and it was him… I heard his voice. It was him.”
The lady was Leta Beemer, widow of Brace Beemer. My “Lone Ranger.” She saw the “pictures” that only radio can produce. END
Addendum: Where can I buy Lee Alan’s book, “Turn Your Radio On!”? It is available at http://www.detroitradiolegends.com/ The article and audio excerpt linked above is used with expressed permission by the author. Thank you, Lee Alan, for sharing with us on Motor City Radio Flashbacks.
ALSO: NPR’s splendid take on ‘The Lone Ranger: Justice Outside The Law’ (with Lone Ranger audio in “All Things Considered”) dated January 14, 2008 (in commemorating 75 years), can be read, and heard here.
