Jim Hampton (L) with Dave Prince (R), photographed while doing a live Barry Manilow Coast to Coast for CBS Radio Network, Los Angeles, in the 1970s.
I was sadden to learn that my friend, mentor and broadcaster, Dave Prince, passed away (last week). He was 91.
Dave was one of the legends of Detroit radio, 45 years in broadcasting. Having worked at WKMH, WXYZ, WCAR, WCZY, CKLW. For a short time, he was also TV host of Club 1270 on Channel 7.
In the mid-1970s, Dave moved to LA to partner with me consulting radio stations, creating 100s of syndicated radio specials featuring interviews with Olivia Newton-John, Michael Jackson, Rod Stewart and more.
He narrated ‘One Solitary Life’, a 1971 Christmas release on one of the Motown labels, Rare Earth. Plus, he narrated and produced countless radio and television commercials in Los Angeles and also in the Motor City.
He was a big influence in my life, my broadcasting career. And I will miss him, dearly.
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Photo courtesy of Jim Hampton | Facebook
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NEW YORK — When BMW (Billboard Music World) goofed twice in succession and switched captions on photos on disk jockeys Bill Williams (WNEW, here in New York) and Jerry Marshall (WMGM, here) appearing in the paper’s Programming Panel feature, it was facetiously suggested that the jocks be good sports and consider exchanging names.
Michigan deejay David Pringle took us at our word and is doing just that. The jock was also a victim of a BMW goof, when his photo appeared in a panel feature identifying him as “David Prince.”
Pringle, who moved from WPAG, Ann Arbor, Mi., to WKMH, Detroit, (in the 7-11:30 p.m. time-slot), August 2, writes: Because of a goof in Billboard, I will be using the air name Dave Prince. They gave me a tag a while back in a misprint and it sounded so much better than Pringle — more adaptable to jingles, etc., that I’ve decided to use it!”END
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Information, credit and source, as published: BillboardAugust 14, 1961
NEW!A rare find! This will be our first WJBK Robert E. Lee inclusion for the Motor City Radio Flashbacks aircheck repository.
A special THANK YOU to the anonymous donor (from Allen Park, MI.) who expressed he remain as, ‘unnamed’. Thanks again for providing this rare Robert E. Lee audio gem recorded on WJBK Radio 15, as dated, 60 years ago.
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Audio recording was digitally enhanced by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
This WDEE chart was digitally restored by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
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A sincere thank you, Mrs. Patti Griggs. This featured presentation would have not been possible without your generosity, dedication, and your continuous support.
Above WDEE music chart courtesy of Mrs. Patti Griggs and the George L. Griggs estate.
Gary Stevens, Top-Rated Deejay From Detroit, Has Become the Fifth Good Guy on New York’s WMCA. This Is What It’s Like
THE NEW SCENE. What’s it like for an out-of-town deejay to move into New York and try to become part of a team of Good Guys on a highly rated station in the big town? How does he react to the change of climate, change of scene, change of audience and a change of hours? How does he feel about four -sheets posted all over town reading “Is Gary Stevens really a good guy? No. He’s a great guy!”
WKNR MUSIC GUIDE featuring Gary Stevens (3-7 p.m.) April, 1964
Gary Stevens is the new Good Guy in New York. He comes from Detroit, from station WKNR where he was a top-rated disc jockey. He is now with Station WMCA in the 7 to 11 p.m. slot, the big slot, make or break slot.
He came into New York after the biggest radio night time shakeup in Gotham in the memory of most record and station people. The big guns, the big names who used to hold down the top posts and who made New York still seem like the swinging rock town it was when Alan Freed was creating all kinds of excitement at WINS in the mid -1950’s, have vanished.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW. Murray the K is no longer on WINS. WMCA’s B. Mitchell Reed, who had captured a big segment of the kid audience, has left to return to his old post at KFWB in Los Angeles. Scott Muni has been long gone from WABC. Only Bruce Morrow, the cousin Brucie of the laughs and the gimmicks is still swinging at night. The other big night names have fled, and the kids get their sounds via TV.
WINS has turned to news. WMCA let its night time slot be filled by swing-shifting its other good guys for almost two months. WNEW’s new policy of playing slightly more raucous records has led some radio-record people to intimate that the station might go rock all the way, a possibility that seems as distant as the moon landings.
The Good Guys at WMCA give away sweatshirts, appear in funny costumes, play baseball with the Playboy Bunnies, make all trade functions and are probably the closest group of guys working together since the Harlem Globetrotters.
Gary Stevens has been through all this before. He was a Good Guy at WFUN in Miami, which helped to originate the Goody Guy format. So he knows.
NEW YORK KIDS. What has surprised him is the New York kids. “They’re more hip than the kids in Detroit,” he said a while back at a luncheon at Sardi.” A lot of the things I used to do in Detroit have not made out here. I guess it’s because the kids are more sophisticated.
“It’s all part of being in New York, I think,” continued Gary Stevens. “In other cities you look for things that are happening–here anyone or anything that happens comes to you.
“I get calls from kids who want to talk to me about my show. They use words like gimmick and format, words you wouldn’t hear used in Detroit by anyone except radio people. One youngster called me up a few days after I started at WMCA and said “Man, you need more gimmicks.”
WKNR Gary Stevens, early-1965
NEED TO BE TALKED TO. “Yet, in spite of all this, New York kids still need to be talked to, like normal youngsters anywhere. I’m willing to alter my style to fit the market, but I still want to be myself.
I’ll use my own gimmicks, the Wooleyburger, a ferocious animal that doesn’t talk, only growls. I have to interpret what he says. I’ll also introduce the Frog. He growls too, and I’ll have to explain what he is saying.
“And I won’t play Joe Nice-Guy, just because I’m in New York. Some jockeys come to the big city and try to please everybody. Not me. I’ll be me.
“Even though the New York kids are more sophisticated about things, they are not more hip musically. In fact they are not as aware of many of the new records as the youngsters in Detroit. That could be because they have so many radio stations in New York with all kinds of different formats. It also could be because there are so many things here to distract them from records.”
SHOW A MIXTURE. Stevens’ show is a mixture of up-to-date and on the way up rock discs, a mixture of rock and rhythm and blues that lies more in the old Alan Freed tradition than that of his predecessor B. Mitchell Reed. He intersperses his commercials and straight announcements with gags and sort-of-one line put-ons. He doesn’t sound like anyone else in town, so he has to make it on his own.
With the help of the Good Guy image that is.
Is Gary Stevens a Good Guy? Can he bring to his shows that mixture of freshness and audience appeal that WMCA wants to make that night time slot the top-rated of the pop music stations? He’s trying hard, with the Wooleyburger, one-liners, and smartly paced programming.
He’ll probably learn a lot from those smart New York kids. And they might learn a lot from him. If they like him he’ll be a Good Guy for a long, long time to come. END
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Information, credit and news source: Music Business, May 15, 1965
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The above WKNR chart was digitally restored by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICE? Tap over WKNR chart image. Open to second window. “Stretch” image across your device screen to magnify for largest print view.
A sincere thank you, Mrs. Patti Griggs. This featured presentation would have not been possible without your generosity, dedication, and your continuous support.
Above WKNR music chart courtesy of Mrs. Patti Griggs and the George L. Griggs estate.
TIGER NOTES: On Saturday afternoon, May 15, the Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, final score 6-2, before 6,514 fans at Tiger Stadium. Winning pitcher: Mickey Lolich. Losing Pitcher: Jim Lonborg. This was game #27 in the early season, and the Tigers were in third place in the AL standings. Tiger reliever, Larry Sherry, takes the save. The game took 2 hours and 50 minutes to complete.
The above featured Detroit Free Press article was digitally re-imaged by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
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Missed any of our previous ‘Detroit Radio Back-Pages‘ features?GO HERE
A special thank you to senior MCRFB consultant Greg Innis, of Livonia, MI., for contributing the Newspapers.com archives (Detroit radio related) articles, ads, and images we have featured on this site since 2016.
Thank you, Greg Innis, for making these historic Detroit radio features possible. 🙂
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Missed any of our previous ‘Detroit Radio Back-Pages‘ features? GO HERE
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[Audio produced by Jim Davis a.k.a. Big Jim Edwards]
THE CKLW TOP 100 1967! Make plans to tune in Memorial Day Weekend for The CKLW Top 100 of 1967 Countdown. This Big 8 Radio special holiday presentation begins on Saturday, May 27, at 3pm eastern / Monday May 29 at Noon eastern time.
The only place on the web you will find great audio recordings of legendary Motor City disk jockeys, great Detroit radio stations and radio personalities — spanning over six decades — archived here in one place.
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Newly-added to the Aircheck Library repository (as listed below): 05/12/2023
01. CKLW-AM – Dave Shafer – May 25-June 7 1967.mp3
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NEW YORK — When BMW (Billboard Music World) goofed twice in succession and switched captions on photos on disk jockeys Bill Williams (WNEW, here in New York) and Jerry Marshall (WMGM, here) appearing in the paper’s Programming Panel feature, it was facetiously suggested that the jocks be good sports and consider exchanging names.
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