From the Desk of Bill Gavin Billboard Contributing Editor
” H O W T O B R E A K I N T O B R O A D C A S T I N G ” is the title of a recently published pamphlet written by Jim Hawthorne, vice-president and national program manager of the Crowell-Collier Broadcast Corporation. Jim has written his pamphlet partly in self defense. A man in his position is inevitably pestered with applications for employment. Few know how to go about it. Most applicants do not. The majority of job seekers in the broadcasting field, it would appear, have had little or no contact with, except for hearing the end product on their radios.
Some people shouldn’t even bother to apply. Basic minimums include a high school education — preferably college, willingness to move from one town to another, willingness to start at a small job for very small wages and, above all, (with) intense and enduring desire. The main ingredient, says Jim, is hard work, above and beyond the call of a 40-hour week.
It often does not occur to the job applicant that his talent and experience do not automatically speak for themselves. The must be effectively presented. The careful preparation of a presentation is important. It indicates to the prospective employer the type of care and thoroughness that he can expect from the applicant in performing his assigned tasks.
Jim Hawthorne will not accept telephone applications, even if they come from highly qualified people. It is his feeling that a serious application deserves to be put in writing.
A U D I T I O N T A P E S A R E E S S E N T I A L accompaniments to all applications for air work. Some DJ’s send air checks of their actual performance. Jim advises against it. The whole idea of a tape is to show how original and creative a deejay can be of the restrictions of a particular station policy. The careful preparation of such an audition tape is critical. A perfunctory approach indicates a lack of interest on the part of the applicant and results in a lack of interest on the part of the employer.
Billboard, August 24, 1963
A S P E C I A L O P P O R T U N I T Y W H I C H sometimes is not accepted as such, come when the tape is returned with the request to try it again and do it better. Too many applicants regard such a response as a form of polite rejection and are never heard from again. Actually, it means that the applicant has passed many of the tests already and is being considered as a good possibility, provided that he can come up with something more distinctive.
Jim touches a point of show business psychology here which, in my own observation, has stood in the way of talent development. The “ham” in all of us wants applause — approval. Too often the man with talent prefers not to expose himself to continued objections or corrections. It wounds his own self esteem to find that others may not share his high opinion of his ability. Such a hollow ego finds it difficult, if not impossible, to confess his need for further improvement. A realistic and humble of one’s own talent as a growth potential rather than a summit achievement is something Jim does not mention, but I am sure he would agree.
Our author hammers repeatedly on his basic themes: intense desire and hard work. To which any successful radio man would have to say, “Amen.”
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(Information and news source: Billboard; August 24, 1963)
DETROIT — WABX-FM, a stereo station owned by Century Broadcasting, has been slowly moving into a progressive rock format, says John Small, station general manager. The station has been programming Vanilla Fudge, Ravi Shankar, Cream, Tim Hardin, Jefferson Airplane and John Hammond, among others. This is good news to record men, who’ve long needed radio exposure for some of the groups who are scoring better in album sales than singles sales.
There seems to be a trend in shaping in the FM field for this type of station. WOR-FM has the college-age crowd sewn up in New York, but dropped the ball, and alert management at WNEW-FM picked it up and will be dipping more and more into the progressive rock bag. Already, Bill (Rosko) Mercer is playing progressive rock and blues on WNEW-FM 7 until midnights. In Los Angeles, KMPX-FM, guided under program director Tom Donahue, has been making an impact on album sales in the rock field. KPPC-FM is slated to go on the air soon with a progressive rock format in Los Angeles. Back in New York, there are also two additional radio shows that give exposure to good rock groups.
WBAI-FM, the non-commercial station in New York, beams a good broadcast after midnight hosted by Bob Fast;this show plays everything from gutty blues to progressive rock to folk (Arlo Guthrie got good exposure via tapes on this station before Reprise signed him). Also, Phil Morris is now hosting a show on a Newark, New Jersey radio station — WHBI-FM — in the wee hours of the morning that gives exposure to good rock groups like the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Joan Baez and the Blues Project. His show is expanding to the time of 3-5 a.m. in January and Morris hopes to further expand it midnight-5 a.m. soon.
WABX-FM in Detroit started out a year and a half ago playing instrumentals and “Easy Listening” versions of rock hits. Then the station began programming a few of the smoother rock hits and eventually shifted into block programming devoted to folk and jazz. Folk and rock tunes then were integrated into the daytime programming. Small said the Animals and the Bee Gees, and the Beatles had made an impact on the daytime audiences. The station is now receiving 25-40 letters (from their listeners) a day.
“There’s a lot of meaningful music being produced today in the rock field . . . tunes that are absolutely beautiful. They’re timeless. These are the records I’m trying to sneak into our programming. I’m sure we’re going to be extending this type of thing.” Small said he waited to achieve a “happy medium without trying to sound too bluesy.” There is a possibility that the station may obtain a folk-rock act to emcee a radio show — the Misty Wizards of Reprise Records. The act, composed of Dick Keelan and Ted Lucas, were featured on live remote broadcast from the Detroit Auto Show this past weekend and will also have a two-hour show scheduled for next weekend. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; November 25, 1967)
Newest Distrib-Paid LP Spin Plan Spark Solid Local Dealer Aids
WKMH Radio logo circa 1959-1960
DETROIT — A new trend is evincing itself in the broadcast field, which — if adopted on a national scale — could conceivably lessen the evils of deejay payola. It’s the official pay-for-play plan, whereby stations sell record distributors time to spin and plug a specific recorded disk.
Pay-for-plays programs of various types have been conducted successfully by such key stations as WITH, Baltimore and KDAY, Los Angeles, with considerable success, and one of the most elaborate pay-for-spins operations is currently shaping up in Detroit, where station WJBK has been conducting a “Sound Special” promotion on singles (offering one play per-hour per week for $300.00) for the past few months, and now WKMH is preparing a similar promotion showcase for albums.
Album Of The Week
The WKMH promotion, tagged “Album Of The Week,” guarantees distributors 114 plays per week at a cost of $350 per week for six weeks. The plan will be set up with eight local disk distributors on a rotating basis, covering a period of 48 weeks. Each distributor will have one of his albums featured every eight weeks. Distributor must purchase the plan for the entire 48-week period.
Choice of album featured each week will be left to the distributors. However, L.P.’s must “meet the requirements of WKMH’s ‘Good Music Policy’.”
Each “Album Of The Week” will receive one play per hour from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. (excluding DickBuller’s show) for a total of 18 plays per day Monday through Saturday. On Sundays the LP will receive six plays for a guaranteed weekly total of 114 spins by WKMH deejays.
Each time a selection from the featured LP is played, the WKMH jocks will recommend the album and give the name and the address of a record shop where the LP may be purchased. A list of recommended record shops will be submitted to the station by each participating record distributor and these names will be featured on the air on a rotating basis.
In addition to the 114 plays per week, dee-jay program director Robin Seymour will spotlight two best-selling albums of each participating distributor during his Saturday afternoon program and will “pitch” each best-selling album he plays.
Build For Dealers
The plan is designed to help distributors cement dealer relationships, since each record store (recommended by a distributor) will be mentioned at least once each week on WKMH. The station, which is paying all costs for the rack-displays, notes that they “can be taken out of any record shop that does not co-operate with the participating record distributors.”
Each week, WKMH’s deejays will appear at a different record shop (designated by a participating distributor) in Detroit to visit with customers, sign autographs and “promote the sales of albums and records.”
At the same time, WKMH will mail to the list of recommended record shops a list of the top 10 albums of each participating distributor. The station will also inform the recommended record shops a week in advance about forthcoming “Album of the Week” selections, so that the dealers will have it in stock and on display.
Although by its own definition the fee is a hefty one, a record shop where the LP is mentioned (“better than $2 dollars a play” according to one record manufacturer’s estimation), more than 90 per cent of Detroit’s disk distributors reportedly have agreed to go along with the WKMH promotion.
Leo Cheslak, of Cadet Distributors, for instance, opines that the plan sounds like a feasible one for building local album sales, on the basis of his experiences with the WJBK singles promotion. Under the WJBK plan, which Cheslak terms a successful sales-builder, distributors pays $300 per week to have a single record played every hour for one week. The featured disks are also made available at the special price of 75 cents by recommended dealer stores during the promotion week. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; February 2, 1959)
WKMHRobin Seymour, as he appeared in 1956. By 1959 Seymour was the appointed PD for the station, having held that position for a number of years. (Photo courtesy of MCRFB senior contributor Greg Innis)
The Chambers Brothers at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit. September 1 and 2 1967 (click image for larger view)
DETROIT — Presented by “Uncle Russ,” the Chambers Brothers played to good-sized crowds at the Grande Ballroom here on Friday and Saturday, September 1 and 2.
Throughout their two shows on Saturday night the brothers, who record for Columbia, completely captivated the audience with their powerful harmonizing and fine musicianship.
The four brothers, with drummer Brian Keenan, play and sing with a fervor that comes from their gospel music background. Their sound combines rhythm and blues and psychedelic in a unique style that comes with tremendous impact on record and more so performing live on stage.
Whether the Chambers Brothers played “People Get Ready,” “Mustang Sally,” or their own composition like “Time Has Come Today,” the excitement they create has few equals in the present pop/rock music scene. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; September 16, 1967)
The Chambers Brothers: The band’s rendition of “People Get Ready.” And what it might have sounded like when they sang it live on stage at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, September 1 and 2, 1967.
Blue-Eyed Soul Artists Herald Musical Integration on Airways
NEW YORK — Hot 100 radio stations have been “borrowing” the most popular tunes of its R&B sister stations for the past few years and the trend, if anything, is increasing. Some rock ‘n’ roll outlets have, in fact, gone so far as to hire Negro air personalities and the reason has been two-fold. For one thing, these particular personalities were top flight: Chuck Leonard at New York’s WABC and Larry McCormick at Los Angeles KFWB. Second, there was the feeling that they could appeal to a wider audience.
But this past year marked a turnabout for R&B stations. It happened quite by accident; some of the news artists being programmed by program directors at the nation’s major R&B stations such as WWRL, New York; WDAS, Philadelphia; WOL, Washington; and WLAC, Nashville, turned out to be white.
Frank Ward, general manager of WWRL, puts it this way: “You should have seen the face of Rocky G when he found out who the Righteous Brothers were!” Rocky Groose is program director at the New York outlet. Many other R&B outlets were also fooled by the “soul” sound of the two artists.
“Blue-eyed Soul” Roy Head in 1965 (click image for larger view)
Georgie Woods, an air personality with WDAS, Philadelphia, came up with the term “blue-eyed soul” to cover these white artists now receiving airplay on R&B stations. Besides the Righteous Brothers, once the barriers were down, R&B stations began spinning any white artist — the big name ones — who could be said to have “soul.” In other words, sound like a Negro. These “soul” artists were many and the term became quite loosely used; for example: Sonny & Cher, the Beatles, Tom Jones, Sam the Sham, Barry McGuire, Roy Head.
What it actually meant was that R&B stations were trying to give rock ‘n’ roll outlets a run for their money . . . to hold on to their audiences. To get involved in the action, many British groups are appearing now — American groups, too — with the R&B sound.
The next step?
Some R&B stations decided to concentrate on appealing to both white and Negro audiences. Instead of aiming at an ethnic group, these stations began to realize that R&B music had a basic appeal. So, they integrated their air personality rosters, once almost almost a private domain of the Negro. There were some white deejays in the field — John Richbourg at WLAC, Nashville, and Porky Chedwick at WAMO, Pittsburgh. But they were rare. Then, KYOK, Houston, hired Al Gardner as program director; KGFJ in Los Angeles has two white deejays, WCIN, Cincinnati, not only went with an integrated staff, but plays such artists as Bob Dylan, Brenda Lee, Billy Joe Royal, and the Rolling Stones . . . . anyone that has “a little bit of soul.” WAKE, Atlanta, which changed its call letters to WIGO, has an integrated staff. WLOU, Louisville, has had an integrated staff. So does WLTH, Gary, Indiana.
It is the integration of music that has contributed to the integration of staffs, believes George Woods of WDAS, Philadelphia. Rudy Runnells of WOL, Washington, feels that the Negro audience is no longer a specialized “in” group. “Musically, they’ve grown out of the strictly heavy-accented R&B field limited only to Negro artists.”
KGFJ, Los Angeles, keeps as pure “soul”as possible, but program director Cal Milner says high general market audience ratings indicate the station is being listened to “by the white kids in order to hear R&B records early . . . we’re playing them about 10 days earlier than the rock stations.” Hunter Hancock and Jim Woods are the blue-eyed soul deejays at KGFJ; Hancock is currently rated the No. 3 air-personality in the market influencing R&B record sales. Milner says Hancock sounds “ethnic” on the air.
James Whittington, operations manager and program director at Atlanta’s WIGO, said his station had a different situation that brought about its integrated air staff. When the station changed formats recently to R&B, it kept on a white deejay, Tommy Goodwin, because of his tremendous following. Goodwin is the drive time personality and Whittington says, “he’s worrying heck out of rock ‘n’ roll personalities by playing R&B records.”
WLTH, Gary, Indiana, set out deliberately to aim at both white and Negro teenagers with an integrated play list as well as an integrated staff. The station manager, George Corwin, previously worked with WSID, Baltimore, an R&B outlet. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; October 22, 1966)
WCHB SOUL RADIO, Detroit 1966. Note that Nat Keller, a Caucasian deejay, was also on WCHB 1440 (click on image for larger view)
MCRFB Addendum: In covering 1966 Detroit R&B radio stations, WJLB-AM and WCHB-AM were the two premier soul stations on the radio dial. But these two R&B stations seemed always well ahead in playing the newest soul records and albums before they would hit the charts, at times weeks before other local popular Detroit Top 40 stations would find those selected R&B hits on their respective radio playlists.
In was known also that during the 1960s, WJLB and WCHB also held a respectable Detroit (non-black) radio audience. And one reason was due in part that by 1966, both stations tended to first introduce and promote at the earliest local R&B hits, the newest soul hits and albums produced by many independent and major record labels. And of course, there was Motown Records and Stax as well. By 1966, soul music, or R&B, would comprise as much as up to one-third of the singles played in mainstream top 40 radio stations around the country.
From the Desk of Bill Gavin Billboard Contributing Editor
I D E A S A B O U T R A D I O P R O D U C T I O N have changed considerably during the past decade. The traditional concept about the producer, with his script and stopwatch, has given way to new techniques in the production of record shows in the field about.
A few deejays, in competition with big budget live programs, were forerunners of modern day production (Buffalo Bob) Smith at WNBC, Martin Block at WNEW, and Bill Randle at WERE were among the small band of pioneers in the field about adding new dimensions of sound, color, illusion and suspense to the pedestrian routine of broadcasting phonograph records.
Today, when music and news stations are competing primarily against each other, rather than against star-studded network shows, it is through production ideas and techniques that stations attain the degree of individuality that differentiates then from their competitors. Formula radio pretty generally combines hourly five-minute news, periodic temperature reports and weather forecasts, frequent (and seemingly incessant) references to the station call letters, and upward of a dozen records each hour. From 10 to 15 minutes per hour are devoted to commercials.
B Y F A R T H E L A R G E S T amount of today’s radio production is devoted to the presentation of these ingredients. Station identifications is made musically by jingles. News is introduced by fanfares or jingles, and is occasionally interspersed with code or ticker sound effects, to create the illusion of world-wide and instantaneous coverage. Such features as the “discovery,” and even time and weather, also have their own special themes and sound effects.
Production Outfits
Billboard, December 7, 1963
M AN Y O F T H E S E P R O D U C T I O N aids are prepackaged by large production outfits that specialize in such things. New York and Hollywood, with their huge reservoirs of talents, provide the main sources of production packages, but non-unionized areas such as Texas offer lower costs plus frequently good results. In a few cases, the program director deserves much credit for creative ideas that go into the jingle package, but generally the production company originates the ideas and syndicates them in noncompeting areas.
Packaged production aids have been standard for quite some time. More recently, the emphasis has been on local station production. A number of important stations now assign a full-time individual to direct production. In addition, more emphasis is being placed on making individual disks jockeys responsible for production gimmicks on their shows.
The station’s production director is mostly occupied with recording station promotions and special features. He submits original ideas to his program director for handling contests, phone interviews, on-the-spot tapes, and so on. More and more, the production director is being made responsible for what is loosely called, for want of a better name, the station’s “public image.”
Challenge In Future
T H E D I S K J O C K E Y , as his own production man, faces the biggest challenge in the years immediately ahead. It is impossible to speak of deejay production skills without mentioning the legendary Frank Ward, now station manager of WVON, Chicago. Stories are still told of Frank’s console of four or five turntables, his chest mike, his flawless cuing and timing, and how he scorned a chair — always working on his feet. Several deejays of more recent vintage learned their trade by watching and listening to him.
One program director recently told me: “I don’t want my jocks to ad lib a good new idea. If they think of it during today’s show, I tell them to hold it off and work on it for tomorrow’s show. That way, they always know how to handle it and whether it will really fit it.”
This statement illustrates today’s growing emphasis on the disk jockey ‘s advance preparation for each show. The trend in today’s radio, regardless of station music policy, is toward a greater accent on showmanship. The success of tomorrow’s disk jockey is likely to be determined not by his voice or his selection of music, but how he plans and presents each show. This medium, with tape cartridges, wild tracks, transcribed bridges and sound effects, offers him a wider range of flexibility and choice. How he selects and uses his materials will have much to do with his ability to attract a sizable audience.
Music and news are still, and will continue to be, radio’s main ingredient. Production offers the plus values that can make the difference. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; December 7, 1963)
From the Desk of Bill Gavin Billboard Contributing Editor
D U R I N G T H E D A Y S T H A T followed President Kennedy’s death, I was privileged to have talked with many people in radio, from many different cities. Without exception, they expressed shock, grief and even shame that such a thing could happen in the United States of America. Many spoke with pride of the manner in which their respective stations responded to the tragic events and of the loyal, unselfish co-operation of their program staff.
All stations, of course, abandoned their regular formats of popular records, substituting different kinds of serious music. All advertising was canceled until the morning of Tuesday, November 26. Even after that date, many stations were cautiously slow in returning to their full compliment of current hit records. In a few cases, it was reported that even though the regular playlist was once more in effect, disk jockeys simply would not program the more raucous sounds.
The entire response of American radio during those difficult days was a mark of innate good taste and respect for listeners’ feelings on the part of radio people.
T H E Q U E S T I O N has been asked by many — and answered by none: will the sobering reflections of our national tragedy bring about a new trend in programming?
Some things are fairly certain: shock wears off; memories of sorrow grow dim; time erodes the sharp edges of a newly aroused national conscience. It is a part of living there should be music and laughter and entertainment. No one would want it otherwise.
Billboard December 21, 1963
Radio Influences Youth
Network television and radio do an excellent job of presenting and explaining the world’s problems and our concerns with them. Unfortunately, very little of the networks’ news and commentaries ever reach the school-age population. The majority of the teens and pre-teens prefer listening to pop radio. Pop records are its entertainment and disk jockeys are its heroes.
T H E R E A R E D I S K J O C K E Y S who claim to “identify” with teenagers. What some of them mean is that they accept and condone teen attitudes and behavior. What is implied is often the deejay’s approval of the lowest common denominator of juvenile morality. The deejay is the acknowledged leader in the field of records for youth; he too often neglects his opportunities to lead in the direction of more enduring values.
Many radio stations, with their well-publicized “personalities,” are held in far higher esteem by their young listeners than are their schools, their churches, and even their homes. It is time, I think, for such prestige to be used to reinforce, rather than to ignore, the basic values of human living.
Isn’t it time radio stood for something beside competition and profit? END
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(Information and news source: Billboard, December 21, 1963)
NEW YORK — The record and radio industries were caught up in a hot controversy last week over the propriety recording and broadcasting the song “In The Summer Of His Years,” the John F. Kennedy tribute which was first sung on the BBC program, “That Was The Week That Was. NBC rebroadcast the BBC program.
The BBC’s Tribute to John Fitzgerald Kennedy – THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS– Saturday, November 23, 1963.
At press time, some seven single recordings of the song had been issued, and more were scheduled. In addition, Decca Records acquired the rights to release the soundtrack of the BBC show — originally broadcast on November 23 — and rushed out the album (see separate story).
Millicent Martin, the EMI artist who sang the song on the BBC show and whose performance is included in the Decca album, was also represented on a single released here by ABC-Paramount. Other singles as of press time were Kate Smith on RCA Records, Connie Francis on M-G-M, Mahalia Jackson on Columbia, Tony Arden on Decca, Hettie London on Palance Records.
Despite the fact that some of the royalties accruing from the song are to be given to charities or various causes, some stations refused to expose the disks. However, the diskeries involved felt in the main that their records were in good taste and indications were that they would not be withdrawn. Several of the labels involved said that they had already seen considerable action on the disk as a result of airplay on out-town-stations.
‘BLATANT’ SAYS PAULSEN
In New York, Varner Paulsen, Program Director of WNEW, said: “The records are a blatant attempt to try to commercialize on a national tragedy. The song as sung in the BBC-TV show of ‘This Was The Week That Was’ was a heart-rendering and sincere performance. Taken out of the context of the show it becomes something different.”
Mark Olds, general manager of WINS, stated: “The song was part of an almost extemporaneous serious program tribute to the late President of the United States with no thought of commercialization of material. Station policy forbids capitalizing commercially on such a tragic event.”
Ruth Myer, WMCA program director, said: “WMCA does not believe in banning records. We played the original version from the BBC program the day it was released. We felt it was of some interest to our audience. It isn’t anymore . . . so we stopped playing it.”
BRITISH PRODUCT
Meanwhile, an astute observer noted the curious fact that the controversy was not an outgrowth of Tin Pan Alley activity. Two Brits wrote the song as part of the BBC tribute. Herbert Kretzmer wrote the words and David Lee the music. Lou Levy, president of Leeds Music, happened to be in a London apartment when the program was performed over the BBC.
He felt the song was a great piece of material and he acquired the copyright. Several artists, according to Levy — among them Connie Francis, queried the BBC to ascertain the publisher — and in this way the initial disks were cut. Levy notes he made no effort to promote the song — he merely urged that artists bear in mind the dignity of the material and exercise care care in their choice of material for the flip side. Even if the publisher wished to stop the flood of records, this was impossible owing to the compulsory or automatic license provision of the Copyright Act.
Levy stated in part: “No one has ever been able to explain the creative process. Whatever magic is involved . . . touched two young songwriters in London . . . when the news about President Kennedy came to them over the air it was part of the BBC’s tribute . . . “
“But songs are not made just to be sung and heard; they are created to be sung over again and again. And so many fine artists have recorded this song: Connie Francis, Mahalia Jackson, Tony Arden, Kate Smith, Millicent Martin. Translations are being made in many languages; it is a song to be heard ’round the world . . . it will be part of every remembrance . . . royalties are being donated by many of those involved. Our part in making this song is small, but we feel well rewarded.”
As the week closed, discussions reached a high point, centered around the theme of what was the proper role of the music-record industry — and the radio industry — with regards to “event songs,” in this specific instance a song dealing with one of the most tragic events in the nation’s history. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; December 14, 1963)
THE BBC JFK TRIBUTE SONG — A CHICAGO VIEW
CHICAGO — “In The Summer Of His Years,” taken from the BBC-televised tribute to the late President Kennedy on the program “That Was The Week That Was,” will have a tough time getting airplay here, a check by Billboard indicated here last week.
Though many local stations still haven’t had time to review the numerous versions of the tune, those that did turned thumbs down.
At WIND, a Westinghouse Group W station, Guy Harris termed the disk “lousy and mauldin.” He said it was “hard to get specific . . . we reject a lot of records each week, this is one of them.”
Gene Taylor, at WLS, the ABC powerhouse, said he had heard only the Connie Francis version and that he just “wouldn’t touch it.”
At WGN, Bob Bradford said he hadn’t heard the record and would have to listen before making up his mind. He said the original was “beautifully done,” but felt the record might be “out of context” on a commercial radio station.
Floyd Brown at WYNR, the big McLendon corporation rocker, said he though it in “poor taste to capitalize on such a tragic situation.”
At WBBM, the CBS outlet, Len Schlosser said the records haven’t been screened as yet. At WVON, the city’s biggest R&B outlet, Lloyd Webb said the station had not made up its mind yet, though he did feel it was a good tune. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; December 14, 1963)
Detroit Record Distributors Play Down Chart Value in Sound-Alike Market
DETROIT — While local record merchandisers claim that area radio “Top 40 Charts” are highly inaccurate, they say 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 in effect in the Detroit pop market.
WKNR-AM radio survey, Detroit, September, 1966 (click image for larger view)
Sam Press, co-owner of Ross Music Shops in Detroit, said that “There are actually three influential rock stations — WKNR and WXYZ here (Detroit) and one, CKLW, in Windsor, Canada, competing for the kids’ attention, plus two very strong R&B stations, WCHB and WJLB (Detroit). You have to remember that because of Motown, R&B (or Soul music) 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 dominate by any of them. A (WKNR) ‘Keener’ chart might have some of the most popular songs in the area on it but it will be invariably late in listing a big English hit which the kids have been hearing on CKLW of Windsor, and will likewise be late in list a hot R&B number that has been exposed by one of the other stations.”
“What this means,” he said, “is that teen-agers choose the best of several stations. For this reason we don’t have to buy according to any one station’s charts. 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
WXYZ-AM radio survey, Detroit, September, 1966 (click image for larger view)
Lou Salesin, a 35-year veteran of the business who owns Munford Music Shop, said 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 be 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 dealers uses radio charts as any kind of a buying guide. We know better than to trust what these sheets say.”
Another dealer, who did not wish to be identified, said that “you simply cannot believe what the radio charts list. The problem is 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 4 per cent or more will make money for them.”
“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 the how to buy.”
CKLW-AM radio survey, Windsor, October 1966 (click on image for larger view).
Chet Kajeski, of Martin and Snyder, 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 when a record sells very well in the area, deserves to be listed on the charts, but doesn’t get listed because such a record does not get the additional push of air play, its life on the jukebox is sometime 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)
Joseph Also Recalls Radio History In Detroit 20 Years Ago — WKNR ‘Keener 13’
Second of two articles profiling consultant Mike Joseph, the man behind the “Hot Hits” format.
NEW YORK — In March, 1960, WABC was not a factor in New York radio. “They had tried Top 40 two years earlier in 1958,” recalls Mike Joseph. Their night man was Alan Freed. But it didn’t take. It wasn’t believable against WINS, WMGM and WMCA, so they went middle of the road opposite WNEW. That didn’t work either, so they had gone right out of the book.
“I went in and started working with Hal Neal, who had just come in from WXYZ in Detroit. From March on, he and I used to spend our weekends together, coming up with our promotion, marketing and sales brochure, our format, techniques, contests, jingles, staff connections. When I finally got into the station, we put everything together and hit with that sound on December 7.”
The original WABC lineup included Herb Oscar Anderson from WMCA doing mornings, WAKR Akron’s Charlie Greer and WHK Cleveland’s Farrell Smith in mid-days, St. Louis legend Jack Carney in afternoons, Chuck Dunaway in early evenings, and Scott Muni doing nights.
“Six months later there were three very important changes. Sam Holman came in a mid-morning man he became the first program director — there had been no program director when I was on the scene. And in afternoon drive and early-evening, two legends. Dan Ingram and Cousin Brucie.”
Joseph’s WABC success led to his consulting the rest of the ABC chain, which became one of his greatest challenges. “It was extremely difficult for an ABC owned station to do top 40 at that time because of all the network commitments you had, bringing you one inconsistency right after the other, like ‘Don McNeil’s Breakfast Club’ for an hour every morning, or an hour’s news block at night between six and seven. It was really contrary to top 40. And the ABC-owned stations in San Francisco and Los Angeles not only had the ABC national network, they also had ABC West. The Western network was completely different from the rest of the country, and they had to carry them both.
So there was no way that either KGO of KABC could make it as a legit 100% music operation. They found this out both in top 40 and in middle of the road. And so the Ben Hoberman decision to go talk turned out to be extremely smart, and of course you see where KABC is today.”
From there, Joseph dealt with beautiful music in St. Louis, top 40 in his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, and then he met the challenge at WLAV Grand Rapids, which led to his success at WKNR ‘Keener 13’ in Detroit.
“It was the worst signal in the market, literally, an AM at 1310 down the dial, station was situated in suburb, Dearborn, 12 miles from downtown Detroit,” Joseph recalls. “You couldn’t hear the station in downtown Detroit. There were three major rockers at that time, all owned by major corporations, and here was this little company owned by Mrs. Nellie Knorr, this little tin can going up against these three giants.”
Joseph describes his WKNR game plan in two words: “Hot Hits.” “Young, ambitious jocks, another legendary team. It was the freshness, the vibrancy, the promotion, 31 hits over and over again. Strong countdowns at the right times. That’s a very important part of this thing: where I place the countdowns. At that particular time I did a top 30 countdown opposite the breakfast club, I did countdowns whenever CKLW was in a long newscast, and at that time they had half-hour news blocks because of their Canadian commitments.
“Detroit was at that time into the same disease that is afflicting the broadcast industry today: a lot of laid-back radio. They were afraid to play black music, they were very cluttered, uncontrolled, everybody doing his own thing. One of the key things I emphasize in my formatics is discipline. That’s one of the reasons that this sound takes over. It’s extremely disciplined and structured, and with everybody doing what they’re suppose to do, when they’re suppose to do it, it works. And that was the case in Detroit. We we were all on target, everything was right, and the station was unbeatable for seven years.”
Beating the unbeatable is one of Joseph’s specialties. Case in point: WFIL Philadelphia, where Joseph put together another legendary staff which instantly succeeded. “Jim Hillard was my first program director and I believe we won because WIBG got trapped in their own ego. They used to tell me they couldn’t be beaten. Whenever that happens they turn out to be their own worst enemies.”
From there Joseph went to all-news in Denver, all-talk in Minneapolis and Spanish “Hot Hits” in Puerto Rico. “Musically, the elements are the same. Going back to the ingredients and success of ‘Hot Hits,’ the two things you must have are the constant beat and the melody.” Then came mellow rock in Sioux Falls, and, in 1972, “the beginning of the current phase of ‘Hot Hits’ on FM, which started with ‘Super Hits’ on the Malrite station in Milwaukee, WZUU.
“WZUU was really the station that broke the hold of WOKY and WRIT, and I feel the same things that are beating our competitors today are the things that beat those two stations back then. They were all deep in all the no-no’s at that time. George Wilson was program director and Jack McCoy was involved in Bartell radio, which was totally into gold research, and the young maverick, WZUU came along and knocked them off.”
“WZUU was strictly current, 29 currents. The only mistake was running with such a tight playlist and still dayparting with 30 records. My playlists are much more loose and bring in a lot more new material and turn over much faster than ten years ago.”
One element that has not changed is Joseph’s strong belief in dayparting. “It’s very important. And this is a knack that’s very difficult to master, because you got to know the audience flow and the comings and goings of every single person in that territory. You’ve got to know the start and end times of all the schools and the factories. You’ve got to know the lunch breaks, the traffic patterns, and the exact age of who is where at what time.
“The audience flow changes from hour to hour, market to market, and I’ve got not one clock for a station, I’ve got 24 clocks, and it takes me one week to figure out the clocks for a market. And every market is different, but they all add up and determine the energy of the sound, the music, what I play when, combined with the counter-programming I do from my monitor sheets, monitoring each major station for 20 hours a day.”
A Mike Joseph ‘Hot Hits’ (Billboard) two-part article. First published in Billboard, weeks February 19 – 26, 1983.
While Joseph admits “Hot Hits” is primarily targeting ages 12 to 24, he maintains it is truly a 12-plus format. ” ‘Hot Hits’ appeals to everybody. It’s the mix, and obviously the more mass appeal an artist is, the better I like it and the higher my ratings are going to be. Give me the Diana Rosses and the Kenny Rogerses and the Dionne Warwicks and I’ll put them on a fast rotation any time of the day or night. But I will not put a Joan Jett on a fast rotation because I know that she appeals to a narrow age group.”
Unlike most broadcasters today, Joseph is quite vocal about that narrow age group. “One of the worst things that has happened to the future of our industry is the withdrawal of ages 12 to 24 from the radio dial. Reps, agencies, owners, research people are dictating that the only buys out there are 25 to 54. They see 12 to 24 listeners in radio as absolutely useless. If the movie industry would say the same thing, there would be no movie business today.
“Take away the teenagers from television, what would happen to your all your nighttime sitcoms, your afternoon drive shows, your weekend programming? Let’s put up a rule in the baseball parks that nobody 12 to 24 is to see the Los Angeles Dodgers or the San Francisco Giants. Where would they be?
“How many millions are we throwing away because we’ve outlawed youth programming on radio? No other business would do this. And they are our future. You have got to constantly bring in the growth population.
“So what I do with ‘Hot Hits’ is to keep recycling the teenagers into those stations year after year, and at the same time, we keep the adults. It’s no different than it was 25 years ago. The audience will always be there. The only ‘Hot Hits’ type stations that has disappeared over the years gave their audience away. They threw off their teens, and as a result, they gave their future to someone else.”END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; February 26, 1983)
From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1963
Some people shouldn’t even bother to apply. Basic minimums include a high school education — preferably college, willingness to move from one town to another, willingness to start at a small job for very small wages and, above all, (with) intense and enduring desire. The main ingredient, says Jim, is hard work, above and beyond the call of a 40-hour week.
