Tom Clay began his radio career in Buffalo at WWOL in late 1954. After almost two years there, he eventually pursued a move for Cincinnati’s WSAI. Unfortunately, Clay’s time at WSAI was cut very short due to a format change. He was hosting the 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. nightly shift. Next stop, Detroit. Hired by WJBK, it was those same hours he occupied as “Jack the Bellboy” during the two years he was on Radio 1500 from 1957 to November of 1959.
Today we are presenting Tom Clay’s own WJBK show-opening theme. This one was from 1952 – CURTAIN TIME – by Tony Acquaviva and the New York Symphony Orchestra.
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Audio digitally remastered by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
A MCRFB Note: Audio newly remastered, this WQTE audio aircheck was previously featured on Motor City Radio Flashbacks four years ago.
TOM CLAY
A special THANK YOU to Robert Pratt, of Farmington Hills, MI.. for providing this rare WQTE Tom Clay audio gem he personally recorded, as dated, 62 years ago.
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Audio recording was digitally enhanced by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
WQTE Launches New Management, Format and New DJs On-Air Policies
WQTE ‘Fabulous 56‘ Survey, 1960
NEW YORK — The payola panic seemed to have abated but many stations across the country are still changing formats and/or deejays in search of higher audience ratings. Latest outlets to adopt new formats are KPOP and KABC, Los Angeles, and WQET, Detroit.
The Storer outlet, KPOP, is changing its call letters to KGBS – for obvious reasons – and switching from a Top-40-type format to an “adult music” policy, emphasizing show-music and semi-classical, beginning July I.
The ABC outlet, KABC, has put three spinners on notice and is adopting a non-deejay programming plan. Deejays put on four weeks’ notice at KABC were Jim Ameche, Don MacKinnon and John Trotter.
The station will launch a new non-deejay format July 4–details of which are still hush-hush. One trade rumor has it that the outlet might go on a news-only programming kick, a la a new San Francisco station operation.
Detroit Station WQET is dropping deejay-controlled disk programming in favor of a strictly supervised “Fabulous 56” format.
The format-switch at WQET is particularly interesting in view of Detroit’s hectic revolving-door situation in the deejay field over the last couple of years.
The station is headed by a team of veteran radio men – prexy Dick Jones and former top jock Ross Mulholland as general manager -and it went on the air last fall with a big-name deejay policy, featuring such top Detroit names as Ed McKenzie and Eddie Chase.
The Detroit Free Press March 27, 1960
Confronted by lagging time-share sales and ratings, Jones and Mulholland decided to adopt the new “Fabulous 56′ policy last week on advice from local distributors. Programming has been taken out of the hands of the deejays and placed in the hands of management.
A list of 56 current hits is made up from station surveys of local dealers, one stops and juke operators, and a list of “rising tunes” compiled from national trade papers.
Approximately 60 per cent of the station’s programming is based on the 56 disks. The remaining 40 per cent is culled from “old memory songs – two to three years old,” new releases, and four “hit of the week” platters selected by the station’s four deejays.
In the wake of the station’s announcement that “the day of big name jockeys is past,” Eddie Chase left WQTE last week. McKenzie left the station three months ago in a disagreement over music programming policies. At the same time, the station has hired a new program director, Harv Morgan, and deejay Tom Clay. Remaining with the station are spinners Ralph Binge and Danny Murphy.
WQTE Tom Clay circa 1960
Clay was fired from WJBK, Detroit, last November after he admitted receiving about $6,000 over a year and a half from small record companies. The jock, along with other WQET deejays, has signed an affidavit that he will not accept payola, said Morgan, who opined that under the station’s new system the jocks will not have any opportunity to accept payola.
Morgan himself will also handle a deejay segment, in addition to his programming duties.
The new format was launched with considerable promotion and fanfare, including a special mailing to time buyers. The copies of Mantovani LP’s and similar non Top-40 packages were sent to the buyers, along with a comment to the effect that this is the kind of music listeners will like, but it doesn’t sell to audiences. END.
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MCRFB Note: Click or tap (and stretch) over each image for largest detailed view.
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Information, credit and source (as published): Billboard, June 20, 1960
Note: This featured WHFI audio aircheck is courtesy of Bob Pratt, Farmington Hills, MI. Having been archived in our aircheck repository for several years, the aircheck audio was digitally restored yesterday.
You will note this (classic and rare!) WHFI Tom Clay aircheck now sounds better than it ever sounded before. It is today’s aircheck feature for the week.
DETROIT — The departure offeatured deejay Tom Clay from CKLW last week was as an “amiable termination” based on Clay’s decision to quit because he was not able to spin his own records, and was not based on any difference of programming, as reported elsewhere.
Clay felt he was not doing enough on his show when not allowed to play the records himself, but John Gordon, CKLW’s program director, told Billboard that present contracts with both the engineers and AFTRA prohibit this practice at the station.
(MCRFB note: Clay’s departure “last week”, as indicated in the article, actually, was not correct. Clay’s last show at the RKO-owned Canadian station (Windsor, Ontario) was on Friday, June 19, 1964).
Last week the Tom Clay show was replaced by the Terry Knight show, Monday through Friday, 7 to 11 p.m. and 1 to 6 p.m. on Sundays. Knight comes from WTRX, Flint, where he had a similar show and was formerly a deejay on WJBK. END
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Credit, information and news source: Billboard; July 11, 1964
Former Detroit Radio DJ Tom Clay Finds Home For Disk on West Coast Motown Label
TOM CLAY 1971 (Photo credit: Bonnie Dater Jay)
LOS ANGELES — Tom Clay, veteran radio personality now freelancing in this area, this week turned over his produced master, “Tom Clay’s ‘What the World Needs Now‘,” to Motown Records (MoWest), with Dick Sherman, West Coast sales director for the firm, promising Clay free records so Clay could satisfy a previously-made deal with listeners, who wrote in for free copies. Clay said that he had 17 thousand written requests for freebies disks, when he withdrew the offer June 1.
Clay prepared for his two-week vacation-fill slot over KGBS, local radio station here, by doing an eight -minute production, which he felt expressed his philosophy on the contemporary world situation. The recorded production in- interwove music and news events in Clay’s narration with special emphasis on Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, and John F. Kennedy.
Clay played the record production once on his first day at KGBS on May 22. He was off Sunday but when he returned on May 24, disk jockeys who had been on KGBS over the weekend told him of repeated requests. The deal is one of the label’s rare master purchases.
Dave Bell, Motown West Coast A&R chief, went into the studio June 1 and re-cut the entire production, cutting the time from over 8 minutes to 6 minutes and 20 seconds. Motown is rushing the record for national release.
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Information credit and news source: Billboard; June 12, 1971
In 1964, Tom Clay, the widely-popular radio personality heard on CKLW in Detroit, used to recite his composition, “What Ever Happened To,” heard more than occasionally during his evening shows while on the air, some 57-years ago.
Adapted from the 1962 motion picture soundtrack album, Mondo Cane, the background instrumental track Tom played, was titled, “More,” heard softly in the background while he recited his self-authored piece, “Whatever Happened . . .” to his large radio teen audience in the Motor City in 1963 and in 1964.
The legendary (and controversial) Detroit radio star was also heard on WJBK (’50s), WQTE (1960) and on WWWW FM (1970). Tom Clay passed away at the age of 66 from lung cancer in Los Angeles, California on November 22, 1995.
Soundtrack music conducted by Riz Ortolani and Nino Oliviero
I’ve had possession of this Tom Clay audition recording, along with his personally signed letter (as attached; see below), having first obtained this reeled tape while working for WNIC in 1983, some 36 years ago.
The Clay letter and reel tape was initially addressed to WNIC program director Paul Christy, sent 7 years earlier as dated, August 14, 1976.
In 1983, then WNIC music programmer Greg Kennedy did not know who Tom Clay was. While there, from time to time Kennedy would clear out tapes and other audition and production tape recordings having been submitted to the station at the time. I noticed this recording was one of the tapes he designated to be tossed out.
I recall having informed Greg Kennedy (age late-20s) who Tom Clay was to Detroit radio in the 1950s and 1960s. I asked him if I could instead have the tape. My request was immediately granted.
When Clay submitted this recording to WNIC, he was still at KRLA in Los Angeles. He was 45 years old.
Tom Clay died from lung cancer, in Los Angeles, on November 22, 1995 at the age of 66.
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Audio digitally remastered by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
