DETROIT (April 28, 1979) — WLBS-FM (Formerly WBRB-FM) in Detroit’s suburban Mt. Clemens, is planning to increase power from 17 kw to 45 kw for its new disco format. The station was recently acquired by New York-based Inner City Broadcasting, which also operates WBLS-FM New York. Billboard’s man in Detroit John Battaglia reports it has the following new on-air lineup: Keith Bell, from ABC’s WRIF-FM Detroit, from 6-10 a.m.; Pat Edwards, from WKLR-FM Toledo, from 10-2 a.m.; Brent Wilson, from WJZZ-FM Detroit, 2-7 p.m.; Jim Siciliano, from CJOM-FM Windsor, Ont., 7-midnight; and Tom Duggan, from WJZZ, midnight-6 a.m. Working weekends is Dennis Rice, from WWWW-FM Detroit. Edwards is also the music director and Wilson is the station’s program director. END
DETROIT (September 20, 1980) — WLBS-FM, Detroit’s Inner City Broadcasting outlet, collected well over 100,000 signatures for a giant get-well card to ailing comic Richard Pryor. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard Magazine. All excerpts culled as was first published from the dated editions as noted above)
Stars Pays Homage to Chuck Berry On Film in Celebrating His 60th
(SEE ALSO:Flashback Pop Music History 1986: October 16)
LOS ANGELES — Feature film director Taylor Hackford has agreed to shoot “Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock-n-Roll,” a tribute concert that originally planned as a music video and has now escalated into a major Universal Studios theatrical project for release next year.
Taylor Hackford
MCA Home Entertainment will fund the project, which will be produced in association with Connecticut-based Delilah Films. Delilah president Stephanie Bennett will produce. Rolling Stone Keith Richards will act as musical director and put the back-up band together, and former Band member Robbie Robertson will be creative consultant.
MCA will have pay-cable and home video rights, and MCA Records will issue the soundtrack.
Bennett produced “The Compleat Beatles,” “The Everly Brothers Reunion Concert,” “Girl Groups: The Story Of A Sound,” and “Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session With Carl Perkins And Friends.” She has just wrapped an MCA Home Video original called “Women In Rock,” and, after the Berry film project is completed, plans are in the working stages to develop a feature film on the life of Janis Joplin.
Bennett says the project was first discussed as a home video and pay cable special but that the interest shown in it by major rock names and the involvement of Taylor Hackford made it feature film material.
The role model for the movie, Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Waltz,” the Band’s star-studded farewell concert. It won’t be strictly a concert film, though, says Bennett.
“Taylor Hackford believes Chuck Berry has never been properly shown on film doing anything other than his music,” she says.
Chuck Berry on stage in Taylor Hackford’s 1987 release, ‘Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll.’(Click on image for largest view).
“Everyone involved,” adds Bennett, “will be networking with artists who may appear.” Like Hackford, she is hoping that the concert will include the participation of major musical figures. “But the idea is not to solicit rock figures for name value. All the artists, such as Keith Richards, were strongly influenced by Chuck Berry. Fortunately, the lack of a Stones tour freed Richards to get involved.”
Hackford says, “This will be a complex film, a lot more than a concert film. Chuck Berry has the attributes of an actor. He’s moody. He has phenomenal presence. I want to get that on film.”
Hackford says the concert itself, with Berry the principal performer, will be shot in a stylized, brightly lit fashion.” He hopes to film on a concert stage in the Midwest as well as on location at Berry’s Missouri farm.
“I’d like to have five superstar guitarists and five major vocalists,” says Hackford. “I envision scenes of Chuck rehearsing with them at his farm and then cutting away to the concert. There will be vocal duets. One other element I’m planning is is visual dramatizations of Chuck’s songs interwoven into the film. I’d like to do it in a non-documentary style and break the cinema verite mold.”
Bennett says the concert will be shot sometime in the fall, possibly in September or October. Details on a venue is still being negotiated. Bennett surmise the film will be released to theaters possibly sometime in April 1987. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; August 23, 1986)
A young Chuck Berry circa 1954For more on Chuck Berry, today, visit here: chuckberry.com/ (click on image for larger view).
THE RADIO RESPONSE RATINGS of stations and individual radio personalities have been determined by survey of local and national record promotion personnel, distributors and record manufacturers. Not a popularity poll, the ratings are based strictly on the comparative ability of the stations and air personalities to influence their listeners to purchase the singles and albums played on the air. The ratings likewise point up the music of all types in building audiences and creating the framework conducive to influencing the listener to purchase other products and services advertised on radio stations.
FORMAT GLOSSARY: “Contemporary” — Stations that play primarily singles and LP’s of a “rock-n-roll” and rhythm and blues nature. “Pop Contemporary” — Stations that feature “rock-n-roll” programming current and stock singles and LP’s, excluding rock-n-roll and rhythm and blues in nature. “Standard-Pop” — Same as “Pop-Standard” with stations emphasizing standards to current pop singles. “Standard” — Stations programming current or stock versions of the old standards culled primarily from LP’s. Rock-n-roll and “teen sound” excluded. “Conservative” — station featuring primarily LP of a subdued nature in tone and performance. Background instrumental music. “Classical,” Country and Western,” Jazz,” “Rhythm and Blues,” “Ethnic” — Stations programming more than 50 per cent of their music in the above mentioned particular categories. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; May 16, 1964)
From the Desk of Bill Gavin Billboard Contributing Editor
J O B S E C U R I T Y I S O F just as much concern in radio these days as it is in any other big business. Union staff contracts covering staff air personnel usually provided for seniority rights and severance pay, designed to discourage employers from making staff replacements. Most stations within AFTRA jurisdiction hire their disk jockeys on a contract basis. This means while the money is above scale, there are few, if any, security guarantees.
Outside of the major cities, comparatively few disk jockeys are covered by union contracts. Their job tenure depends on performance, and sometimes a managerial whim or prejudice will move a jock out of a job that he has been filling competently.
H I S T O R I C A L L Y T H E R O U T I N E worker has sought his job security in a union contract, designed to protect him from capricious or discriminatory firing as long as he performed his required functions in a satisfactory manner. The performing artist, on the other hand, holds his position on the basis of that mysterious rapport that he creates with his audience. His continued value to his employer depends on the demonstrated approval of the audience as well.
The disk jockey, while he may not be a performing artist in a true sense, still comes under the general classification as “talent.” He seldom asks, or receive, any contract guarantees as to his job duration. His own ability is his only job security.
Under such circumstances, it is rather amazing to note how few disk jockeys concern themselves with their own “job security” status. Only a small minority of the DJ’s with whom I have talked have faced up to the fact that theirs is a young man’s calling, with vastly diminishing opportunities for those over the age of 50. They make comparatively good money, and it seldom occurs to them that it may be otherwise in another 10 or 15 years.
A P E R S O N N E L E X P E R T O N C E observed that the job of the radio announcer (or disk jockey) is the highest paid “blind alley job” in the world. Most jobs in business and industry offer promotion opportunities to capable employees. In radio, this might also apply to disk jockeys, were it not for the fact that the DJ not infrequently makes as much money as the station manager — what with his hops and concerts. Small wonder, then, that the deejay’s ambitions is usually just to be a bigger and better DJ, rather than to move up toward administrative and managerial levels.
Billboard, July 11, 1964
Radio, as everybody knows, is show business. To the average deejay, however it is mostly show and not much business. All too often, the business with which the deejay concerns himself is the record business rather than the radio business. This is not too surprising. Since he deals with records, the deejay learns a great deal about them. He is sought after and flattered by record people connected with the industry. He derives himself a sense of accomplishment from the knowledge of his own importance in the recording world. For making hits he receives applause. For making ratings, he receives only money. Human nature being what it is, the DJ is apt to take the money for granted and to orient his interests in the direction of the applause.
I H A V E M A N Y D E E J A Y F R I E N D S who are old men in a young man’s world. Their track record for their skills speak well for their skills and for themselves. They have all had 20 or more years of radio experience, but they have learned no skills other than the use of their voices on a live microphone. They have never bothered to learn about sales, personnel direction, advertising, research, taxes, accounting and all of the many other things that form an integral part of radio operation.
Radio offers worthwhile opportunities to everyone who works at it. It seems unfortunate that so few deejays recognize and accepts the opportunities for continued growth in and with their chosen field. It may be that the personality type that does well as a deejay does not readily lend itself to the required discipline of training and learning in the less exciting phases of his craft.
I S U B M I T T H A T P A R T of the failures to utilize DJ skills and experience more widely in a radio operation can be laid at the door of management. One or two large chain operations actually do follow a policy of encouraging and training their program personnel so that their value to the organization increases with the years. Unfortunately, most stations do not.
In the final analysis, however, it is up to each individual DJ. The opportunities for continued growth and value in his mature years are there. If he wants to build for his future, he can. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; July 11, 1964)
Detroit WCHB1440 Line-Up 1967(Click on image 2x for largest PC view).
DETROIT — “WCHB-FM “sells the hell out of jazz,” said Jack Millman, of Music Merchants, a leading distributor. WCHB-FM’s play of the “Groovin’ ” cut from the “Hip Hugger” album by Booker T. & The M.G.s. on Stax Records sold more than 20,000 albums in a month, Millman said, “and forced out the single. The first day the single was released, we moved 18,000 copies.”
Jack Springer is one of the most powerful air personalities on the station, “but all contribute. All go their own way,” said Millman. “That station made Hugh Masekela in Detroit. When Masekela appeared at the Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, you couldn’t get near the place. I went by the club on a Sunday afternoon and there was a huge line outside.”
The station is now breaking a Cadet Records album called ‘Groovin’ With The Soulful Strings,’ he said. “Burning Spear” will likely be released as a single as a result of airplay of this album. The station is also giving Marlena Shaw, a Cadet artist, a big push with her “Go Away Little Boy,” has sold extremely well in the market because of WCHB-FM.
“The station does so well because the deejays are individuals playing good music,” Millman said. “The station may not show up on audience surveys, but I couldn’t care less. They sell products, and that’s all what counts.”
He said that Music Merchants advertises records on the station because of it’s tremendous impact on the public. “We don’t have to advertise, but we’re doing very successfully with it. Our accounts are now asking what we’re going to advertise next so they could get it in stock.” The radio advertising is followed by displays and personal contacts with retailers. Music Merchants has advertised product on radio for some time and has long-term contracts with CKLW calling for 30 spots a week and WCHB-FM. The distributing firm has its own advertising agency. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; November 11, 1967)
N E W Y O R K D I S T R I C T A T T O R N E Y Hogan and the Oren Harris Committee are boldly pursuing their investigations of the payola mess. This is all for the good, and may ultimately mean a better record and broadcasting industry — with cleaner business ethics and a fairer shake for the consumer.
Let us, however, urge the investigators to use utmost care in examining the evidence — in sifting the wheat from the chaff.
Many frustrated music men — out of step with current song and recording trends, see in the present goings-on a chance to a position of eminence. The ranks of the frustrated include artists, songwriters, publishers and record manufacturers — many of whom sigh for the good old days, blame their plight on rock and roll and construe that “rock ‘ n’ roll” is an outgrowth of payola.
Billboard November 30, 1959
T H E C A N C E R O F P A Y O L A cannot be pinned on rock and roll. Payola was rampart in the music business during the vaudeville era of the 1920s and the band era of the 1930s and 1940s. It did not affect major song trends then, and likewise, it is seen to have little effect in the 1950s.
The trend-setters are the Elvis Presleys, the Johnny Cashes, the Fats Dominoes, the Johnny Mathises, the Bobby Darins, etc. Artists of this stature make their mark despite payola. They make it because they reach kids with 98 cents in their pockets. They are the better arbiter.
Typical of the wild “evidence” being bandied about currently is the daily newspaper story about singer Don Anthony “whose record of ‘Careless’ became a hit on his own label, Barbizon Records . . . .”
Anthony made need police protection, as he claims, but his recording of ‘Careless’ never became a hit. Quite the contrary, all evidence indicates it was a complete bomb.
O T H E R S I M I L A R L Y W I L DA N D irresponsible pieces of “evidence” are lightly to come to light.
It would be highly unfair, and would do the record industry a great disservice, if irresponsible allegations by embittered has-beens were taken seriously by the investigators or the press.
There are many talented, creative peoplein the music business; there are many who are incompetent or no longer attuned; there are many who are, simply stated, evil.
The probers should aim carefully. A buckshot blast may do general and irreparable damage while missing the specific target: PAYOLA. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; November 30, 1959)
Concept Top 40 Music Geared ‘For Only Youngsters’ Generally Program Misread
From the Desk of Bill Gavin Billboard Contributing Editor
SAN FRANCISCO — The acid test of music policy is competition. A station will grow fat on its ratings as long as its competitors are fumbling. Sooner or later another station or two in the market is bound to sharpen up its operation, and the ratings picture begins to change.
F o r r e a s o n s n o t c l e a r l y understood, top 40 revenues are considerably more vulnerable to rating declines than are the comfortable monthly billings of their more conservative colleagues. Advertisers appear to believe that on a good music station they are buying prestige, whereas on a top 40 station they are buying a predictable number of ears. The attitude apparently prevails that most of the modern sounds of today’s popular records are somehow disreputable, connoting cheapness and inferiority. Irrational as it may seem, this advertiser attitude exists, and because of it, top 40 music must deliver those ratings — or else!
To many thoughtful radio people, this advertiser antipathy towards today’s popular music makes little sense. Popular records are not the exclusive province of the teenager. Agency media buyers know, from impartial research studies, that most top 40 audiences contains a majority of adults. In spite of this, agency people are still prone to evaluate top 40 as “kid’s music.”
I n m y o p i n i o n , this confused image is mainly the fault of top 40 personnel themselves, aided to be sure by the caustic critics of the press and of the competition. Far too many top 40 stations emphasize teen appeal out of all proportion to their audience potential. “Dedication” shows are a case in point. Bulletins audibly flashed about how seventh grade Lucy isn’t mad at Joe any more, or how all the girls in the eighth grade think that Tom is a “darling” can be pretty nauseating to listeners who are over 18 years of age. It is not necessary for a station to sound juvenile in order to please its younger listeners.
Billboard, September 28, 1963
From time to time we hear of a top 40 station that is changing its music policy because its revenues are inadequate. Others change because of ratings inroads by the competition are in place within their own respective market. Such changes, either in a smooth sound or hard rock direction, run the risk of lower ratings without compensating revenue gains.
It is possible that the doctors who have proscribed the change have incorrectly diagnosed the illness. Radio “experts” make music policy their favorite whipping boy. In many cases a re-orientation of the station’s air presentation, or of its community image, can solve the problem without tinkering with the music.
M u s i c p o l i c y d o e s o c a i s s i o n a l l y require modifications to meet changed conditions. In the event of a competitive challenge, however, it’s a good idea to take a long, hard look at the many other factors involved in a station’s public acceptance.
When music policy does need revision, it is well to consider the changes most carefully. Amateur tinkering is worse than useless. The wise manager has a specific objective and then makes certain that the people making the changes are moving intelligently in the right direction. Change should be made with a purpose, not out of panic. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; September 28, 1963)
Los Angeles Group Hottest Commodity For New York Based Record Label
HOLLYWOOD — TheDoors have emerged as the leading Coast rock group for Elektra, a New York-based label. The quartet’s LP bearing its name has been moving out of the label’s local distributor at a brisk rate. Since January 1, some 50,000 copies have been sold, according to the company.
THE DOORS photographed in Los Angeles, posing in front of a billboard promoting their debut album, 1967.(Click image for larger view)
The rising popularity for the group, who have been together over a year, has sparked a Manhattan concert and a club engagement in mid-June. They will perform at a June 11 concert at the Village Theater with Janis Joplin and work the Scene for three weeks following the concert. Locally, the group has worked every major rock club on a percentage basis, usually$1,000 against 25 per cent. Their Scene booking engagement will be set for a reportedly marked straight salary pay.
Their New York engagements are the group’s second East Coast appearances. The first time around they were not as active on the charts as they are now. Their current single, “Light My Fire,” and their debut LP from which the single had been adapted from, both are chart climbers. This sales reaction, which began in the band’s hometown Los Angeles, is now spreading Eastward.
Elektra has also snared enthusiasm for Love, to obtain a strong one-two punch among Coast contemporary and progressive music buffs, an added respective momentum employed by the label’s increase both in sales (Doors and Love) in current singles and LP charts. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; June 10, 1967)
LIGHT MY FIRE (Single) * The Doors * ELEKTRA (1967)
A MCRFB NEWS brief: 1967
DOORS STRIKE GOLD ON ITS DEBUT ALBUM
NEW YORK — The Doors’ album, ‘The Doors’ on Elektra, has been awarded the RIAA Gold Record for sales in excess of 1,000,000. The group is the only one this year to win a Gold Record with their first album. The Doors’ second album, ‘Strange Days’ will be released late this month. END
(Information and news source: Billboard; September 23, 1967)
LIGHT MY FIRE (Instrumental) * The Doors * ELEKTRA (1967)
FM Radio Sales On Rise; Boom Forecast for ’66 – ’67
WILL FM BE TO RADIO what color is to TV?
Sales of FM radio has risen about 20 per cent each year in the last few years, while total radio sales have remained more or less “static” overall. There is now reason to believe that FM’s sales curve will increase more sharply in coming years, and it’s possible that by 1966 or 1967 we’ll be talking about the “FM boom” the way we talk about the “color boom.”
A stereo console consumer price guide from 1965 (click on 2x for large PC view)
The FM radio production figures released by the Electronics Industries Association tell only about one-third of the story of FM’s rise, since they only include domestic brand table models, portables and clock radios. for the past five years it has been common practice to try to establish a reasonably accurate estimate of the total sales of “FM receiving devices” in the United States. This includes, in addition to simple radios, the number of component tuners, automobile FM sets, TV and phonograph-radio combinations and imports not included in domestic-label output.
In a Billboard column last August 15, it was estimated that FM sales for 1964 should hit about 6 million units, a 20 percent increase from the 5.1 million units of 1963. This is just about the way it turned out.
For 1965 it now appears that an increase of more than 25 percent — over 7.5 million units — is in prospect. Here are the estimates of 1964 sales of FM receiving devices, along with projected forecasts for 1965:
1964: Table, Clock and Portable – 2,100,000
1965: Table, Clock and Portable – 2,700,000
1964: Phono-radio combinations – 1,400,000
1965: Phono-radio combinations – 1,600,000
1964: Component tuners – 200,000
1965: Component tuners – 250,000
1964: Auto FM tuners – 460,000
1965: Auto FM tuners – 900,000
These figures are estimates, but they are currently the best available data where the FM trend is heading today. The forecasts for 1965 are based on where the radio medium is so far this year, along with some very solid indications of a further increase in FM’s share of the radio market.
The increase in the number of FM stations, the FCC edict calling for for separate large city FM-AM combinations (which, in effect, creates many new stations) the increased efforts by manufacturers and importers to merchandise FM radios because of higher profit margins — these all will have their effects. Taking up the various categories separately:
30 Per Cent Hike
There has been a 30 per cent increase in the table-clock portable (which also includes imports sold under domestic manufacturer’s names). This means that more than 25 per cent of all such radios sold this year will include FM.
1963 Arvin AM-FM table top radio ad (click on image 2x for large PC view)
The phono-radio combination field will see an increase of about 14 per cent in FM-equipped units. This is a continuation of the trend, spawned by the introduction of FM-stereo, to include AM-FM stereo tuners or at least AM-FM mono tuners in all but the low-end combinations. More that 80 per cent of all console phonographs should have FM this year. Some major manufacturers no longer offer stereo console players without FM.
The component tuner category is an estimated guess, based on Census Bureau figures allocated for 1963 and numbers provided by manufacturers. It is estimated there will be a 25 per cent increase overall projected in this market.
In the automotive sector, the numbers have vastly increased in the automobile FM figures because of evidence that sales actually approached a half million last year. Most luxury cars — including Cadillac,Continental, Imperial and Corvette — were sold with FM radios, and FM became an accessory for most makes last year. Many Volkswagen and other German cars were sold with Blaupunkt FM-AM radios, and a sizeable after-market is developing. The number should double this year, due to the influence of enthusiastic home FM owners, a steady push by auto makers and continuing development of after-market sales.
The import portable, table-top model, clock-radio, transistor radio category consist mainly of Japanese-brand portables. Japanese manufacturers and American importers are pushing FM portables in an attempt to put profit back in transistor radios. It’s a reliable estimate that more than 15 per cent of Japan to U. S. radio shipments last year were FM sets. This year both importers and officials of the EIA of Japan predict that the total figure will be closer to 20 per cent increase in the number of FM radio imports.
The increasing proportion of FM sales can mean increased profit margins for dealers. And another known indicator is that FM radios resell themselves. The family with one FM set usually wants another.
As the FM boom gathers steam, it’s not only conceivable, but probable, that the majority of radio sales will be in the FM category — probably some time within the next five years. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; May 1, 1965)
A Motorola AM-FM car radio ad from 1964(click image for largest view)
Berkowitz Transits Cap Cities Sister FM Over to AM 760 WJR
DETROIT — GARY BERKOWITZ will soon be putting all of his energies into Cap Cities/ABC News/talker/WJR Detroit. He will be leaving the operation of sister hit outlet WHYT to a yet-unamed PD. “It was a difficult decision to make,” say Berkowitz. “I love WHYT and it’s format and I’m very proud that we’ve set it up so it can run all by itself.” With regard to leaving the operations manager post at WHYT to concentrate on the same responsibility for WJR, Berkowitz says, “I will be nice to have just one job, and the WJR post will put me in a better position to get closer to a GM spot.“
In the meantime, Berkowitz will be helping WHYT’s newly named GM, John Cravens (Billboard reference below), find a suitable PD for the top 40 station. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; October 18, 1986)
NEW GM NAMED FOR WHYT
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“John Cravens is named president/general manager of hit outlet WHYT Detroit. Craven joins the Cap Cities/ABC outlet from the VP/GM post at Malrite’s KSRR Houston.”
(Billboard; October 11, 1986)
WJR-AM Gary Berkowitz (second from right) poses with WJR-AM management and on-air notables Warren Pierce and J. P. McCarthy, 1986. (Photo property of Gary Berkowitz; click over image for larger size).
From the MCRFB RADIO notebook: 1979
