WWWW-FM ON THE RADIO: EDWARD ALAN BUSCH!

**WWWW RECALLED ON MOTOR CITY RADIO FLASHBACKS**

WWWW-FM 106 * 1972 * ED BUSCH

Ed Busch WWWW aircheck date: Sunday, December 31, 1972

CLASSIC ‘TM PROD.,’ RADIO JINGLES HEARD: W4 106!

**WWWW ‘TM’ Customs ON MOTOR CITY RADIO FLASHBACKS**

WWWW-FM * “W4 Stereo” * 1970-1971

WKNR TOP 31 DETROIT KEENER HITS: THIS WEEK 09/1964

**WKNR MUSIC GUIDE** *September 24, 1964 (click on chart image for largest view)*

**WKNR ‘KEENER 13’** *September 24, 1964*

53 YEARS AGO. SEPTEMBER 1964

A SPECIAL THANK YOU

In Memory of George Griggs

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Above WKNR music chart courtesy of Mrs. Patty Griggs and the George L. Griggs estate.

MOTOWN SNAPSHOT FLASHBACK: SHORTY LONG 1969

“**DEVIL WITH THE BLUE DRESS**,” was a song that was written by *William “Mickey” Stevenson* and *Shorty Long* in 1964. The song would be the very first single Motown Records inaugurated for their new subsidiary label, *SOUL*, that same year. Shorty Long’s tenure while at Motown produced 8 singles and two albums, *‘Here Comes Da Judge’* and *‘The Prime Of Shorty Long,’* the latter LP posthumously released after his death in 1969. Long’s two biggest singles were *“Function At The Junction,”* having reached the #4 position on the R&B chart in 1966. His biggest hit was in 1968, when his single, *“Here Comes Da Judge,”* peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at #8 and also hit #4 on the national R&B chart. Incidently, *“Devil With The Blue Dress”* never made the Billboard chart. Tragically, Shorty Long died on June 29, 1969. He was 29. *(Source: Wikipedia; All Music)*

**DETROIT FREE PRESS** *Monday, June 30, 1969*

DETROIT MOTOWN MONDAY RECORD FLASHBACK ’64!

**SHORTY LONG * 1964**

THE MAGIC BEHIND THE DETROIT MOTOWN SOUND! ’64

“WHEN I’M GONE” (INSTRUMENTAL w/DSO) * BRENDA HOLLOWAY * 1964

DETROIT MOTOWN MONDAY: BEATLES FLASHBACK, ’64

**THE BEATLES SECOND ALBUM** *(U.S.)* *1964*

MONEY * The Beatles * THE BEATLES’ SECOND ALBUM

3 of 3. For our 2nd. of 3 Beatles’ Motown songs ‘SECOND ALBUM’ feature GO HERE.

THE WXYZ ‘BROTHER JOHN’ MYSTERY VOICE IS SOLVED

THE WXYZ ‘BROTHER JOHN’ MYSTERY CLARIFIED

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Was ‘Brother John‘ actually the voice of Alan Almond?

That was the question Motor City Radio Flashbacks could not ascertain with an answer.

We had received word from a frequent visitor to the website who stated it was he (without any given 100% degree of certainty implied) after hearing our aircheck feature this website posted here on September 7, 2017.

In all due fairness, the voice does sound very much extraordinarily as similar — one may think that could be Alan Almond.

We received the final answer to this question.

Thank you, Jim Heddle, of Phoenix, Arizona, for your (September 11) email response.

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Hi Jim,

Brother John’s show was not local, it was syndicated nationally and was carried in Detroit by WXYZ-FM. Here is some information about him from allmusicguide.com:

Born February 14, 1932, John Rydgren (or Brother John, as he came to be known as an on-air DJ and radio personality) was an ordained minister in the American Lutheran Church, and for a time was a director of the American Lutheran Church’s radio and television films division. His claim to pop history fame came in the 1960s and early ’70s when his early syndicated FM radio shows, most notably the show called Silhouettes, which was broadcast across the U.S. (and in Vietnam) between 1966 and 1968, reached a wide-ranging audience. Positioning himself as a sort of “hip preacher” between Christianity on one hand and the emerging “Flower Power” generation on the other, Rydgren interspersed progressive and psychedelic rock tracks with his thoughts on spirituality, philosophy, and the changing times, all in a deep, sincere, and affecting baritone. He also released three LPs of his thoughts and musings laid over a backdrop of fuzz guitars, heavenly choirs, and sitar drones, Worlds of Youth (1966), Cantata for New Life (1967), and Silhouette Segments (1968), during this time period. He died on December 26, 1988, from a heart attack at the age of 56. Omni Records reissued remastered versions of Rydgren‘s three LPs, along with bonus tracks and an additional LP, They Say, in a two-disc set in 2012.

According to the Detroit News, Alan Almond died in 2015 at the age of 67. You might also be interested to know that before Alan landed his job at WNIC, he briefly did the morning show on WPAG in Ann Arbor.

Take care, Jim Heddle

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We have our answer.

And a special thank you to Mike Landry and Andrew Wagonner for your added confirmations in regards (same as above) having shared as well.

MICHIGAN RADIO: A ‘JACK THOMAS’ WLEW MEMORY

**WLEW** (Bad Axe, MI) **JACK THOMAS** *1975*

**WLEW** (Bad Axe, MI) **JACK THOMAS** *1993*

WLEW * Jack Thomas * 1975

JACK THOMAS on WLEW REMEMBERED

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Motor City Radio Flashbacks would like to extend our thanks to Frederick Vobbe for sharing this Michigan broadcasting memory in behalf of his brother, Jack Thomas. Fred Vobbe was chief engineer for Detroit radio stations WHNE-FM, WMJC-FM and WHND-AM, Birmingham, Michigan, in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Today, Fred resides in Lima, Ohio, still doing what he does best as chief engineer for major media outlets (radio and TV) in the Buckeye state. We present Fred’s own words he shared of his brother’s broadcasting career, verbatim, below.

Audio and photos courtesy of Fred Vobbe.

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My brother Jack Thomas started broadcasting in 1958 at McKinley School’s educational radio station, WTDS-FM, while a student. In his spare time he recorded radio shows with his friends in his parent’s basement, and collected the latest rock & roll 45s while imitating the sounds of WJBK AM and other stations in Detroit.

In high school he jocked “sock hops” for private and company parties. His first “big time” job in radio was with WATH AM/FM in Athens, Ohio, serving as a Staff Announcer and Chief Engineer. He took the name “Jack Thomas” when on the air. After a decade in Athens he moved to WLEW AM/FM in Bad Axe, Michigan, in 1973 in a similar role.

Being a small market station he set up remotes, assisted in news broadcasts, assembled music libraries, and repaired the station’s broadcast equipment. Jack was proud that he entertained his audience with clean humor, “On This Day in History“and “Jack’s Birthday Book” where he kept a list of area listener’s birthdays and mentioned them on the air while reading entertaining stories and trivia.

While at both stations he produced automation tapes, first for WATH-FM 105.5, and later for both WLEW AM and FM. After retiring from WLEW in 2006, Jack worked part-time briefly for WCPT-FM, and was on the air as “Brother Jack.”

Thomas’ career in broadcasting in the thumb area comprised well over thirty years in radio, where his name is still remembered today.

Jack Thomas passed away in February 2017 at the age of 76.

Frederick Vobbe, August 19