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.

THE VOICE OF MORNINGS REMEMBERED. J.P., WJR 760

A TRIBUTE TO J. P. McCARTHY

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J. P. McCarthy passed away, on this day, August 16, 1995. 22 years ago.

Today, Motor City Radio Flashbacks reflects on the broadcasting career of this great Detroit radio legend. J. P. McCarthy. See our previous feature, February 12, 2012 (LINKED HERE).

CONSUMERS STEREO ELECTRONICS, ’67: RADIO SHACK

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS 1967

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50 YEARS AGO

Tape recorders. Home stereo components. Portable record players. Transistor radios.

A look back at some of the ’60s electronics American consumers were buying from the Radio Shack chain, 1967. These four product pages were taken from the Radio Shack catalog, from that year.

Motor City Radio Flashbacks found an amazing website online where you can view the entire archived Radio Shack publications — where you can view page-to-page — every single catalog from 1936 to 2005.

It’s a decades’ electronic blast from the past you’ll enjoy viewing. Check it out! 🙂

radioshackcatalogs.com

A MCRFB viewing tip: On your PC? For a larger detailed view click above image 2x and open to second window. Click image anytime to return to NORMAL image size.

Click your server’s back button to return to MCRFB.COM home page.

On your mobile device? Tap on image. Open to second window. “Stretch” image across your device screen to magnify for largest print view.

A DETROIT ROCK RADIO GREAT. BOB BAUER DIES AT 63

**WLLZ-FM BOB BAUER** *1989* *(Press Photo)*

**WLLZ-FM BOB BAUER**, PD Director Jay Clark and WLLZ station promotions director Mike Isabella *1990 (Press Photo)*

BOB BAUER. R.I.P.

Bob Bauer, longtime decades Detroit radio personality at radio stations WLLZ-FM, WCSX-FM, WABX-FM and others, has passed away, as reported by the Detroit Free Press, today.

Bob Bauer was 63.

HAVE YOU HEARD? JIM HARPER! BACK ON THE RADIO!

**JIM HARPER * LISTEN LIVE HERE 12 NOON – 6 P.M.**

Former Detroit radio morning great, Jim Harper, is back on the air! Jim’s return on the FM radio dial began last Saturday, June 3.

Click on the above link above. Take a listen. This Saturday. Every Saturday. Jim Harper on Lite 96.3 FM. From beautiful Petoskey, MI., 12 noon to 6:00 p.m.

Congratulations, Jim Harper!

UPDATE! MORE WITH SCOTT REGEN ON THE ‘FAB FOUR’!

UPDATED: 50TH! WHEN THE BEATLES SECOND-TOURED DETROIT: 66

Update! Scott Regen recently shared more of his personal thoughts on the Beatles with Motor City Radio Flashbacks. Read what he had to say HERE.

Scott Regen. His own words. About the Beatles. Their influence in music, society and Eastern spirituality in Western culture. — **SCOTT REGEN**. Talking *Beatles.* Their influence in music, society and the group’s impact on Eastern spirituality in Western culture. *Today on Motor City Radio Flashbacks.*

NEW! 2015 EDITION! LEE ALAN: ‘TURN YOUR RADIO ON’

‘TURN YOUR RADIO ON’ | Narrated by LEE ALAN | 2015 Book /Audio Book EDITION

WANT YOUR COPY? YOU’D BETTER HURRY

Motor City Radio Flashbacks highly recommends this wonderful book feature. The book and the audiobook, “TURN YOUR RADIO ON,’ are both MOVING FAST. For more information contact Lee Alan, by going to the link the author has provided. GO HERE.

‘PILLOW TALK’ 100.3 WNIC HOST, ALAN ALMOND, DIES

DETROIT RADIO MOURNS PASSING OF NIGHT-TIME RADIO LEGEND ALAN ALMOND

(Click the name ALAN ALMOND for the Detroit Free Press 10/10/1993 article)

‘HOW DETROIT SWOONED FOR ALAN ALMOND’S “PILLOW TALK” ‘

FOR THE ABOVE STORY PLEASE VISIT FREEP.COM. FOR MORE ON ALAN ALMOND, ARCHIVED HERE ON MOTOR CITY RADIO FLASHBACKS, PLEASE GO HERE.

50 YEARS AGO: SCOTT REGEN SIGNED ON ‘KEENER 13’!

This month marks 50 years, when Scott Regen came to WKNR, June, 1965. For more on the phenomenal Scott Regen WKNR story, visit keener13.com. For more on Scott Regen cataloged on Motor City Radio Flashbacks, go here. — This month marks 50 years when Scott Regen came to WKNR, June, 1965. *For more on the phenomenal Scott Regen WKNR story visit keener13.com. For more on Scott Regen cataloged on Motor City Radio Flashbacks, go here.*

Scott Regen, thank you for those WONDERFUL ’60s WKNR memories you gave us all in Detroit. More than just a phenomenon . . . you took all of us “along for the ride” during those years when you were on the radio, here, in Motown — “Keener 13.”

A MCRFB Note: I heard from WKNR great Paul Cannon, who kindly pointed out (June 6) the Scott Regen photo first published here was “displayed” incorrectly. Per Paul’s suggestion, I flipped the photo over to reflect the true positioning of Scott Regen, inside the WKNR AM studio, as it actually was looking from where the picture was taken initially. Thank you, Paul Cannon, I have made the proper correction now shown above. –J.F.

B. B. KING, WHO INSPIRED A GENERATION, DIES AT 89

OBITUARIES

BLUES LEGEND B. B. KING, INSPIRATION TO GENERATIONS OF MUSICIANS, DIES AT 89

By Randy Lewis | LA TIMES Staff Writer | May 15, 2015, 12:04 AM

B.B. King, the singer and guitarist who put the blues in a three-piece suit and took the musical genre from the barrooms and back porches of the Mississippi Delta to Carnegie Hall and the world’s toniest concert stages with a signature style emulated by generations of blues and rock musicians, has died. He was 89..

The 15-time Grammy Award winner died Thursday night in his Las Vegas home, said Angela Moore, representative for his youngest daughter, Claudette. He had struggled in recent years with diabetes.

King died peacefully in his sleep, Claudette King told The Times.

Early on, King transcended his musical shortcomings — an inability to play guitar leads while he sang and a failure to master the use of a bottleneck or slide favored by many of his guitar-playing peers — and created a unique style that made him one of the most respected and influential blues musicians ever.

“B.B. King taps into something universal,” Eric Clapton told The Times in 2005. “He can’t be confined to any one genre. That’s why I’ve called him a ‘global musician.'”

Because King couldn’t figure out how to play and sing simultaneously, he separated the two functions, laying the blueprint for the sung verse followed by the extended solo passage that would become a crucial element in blues as well as in rock music rooted in the blues. That template was exploited by subsequent generations of players, from Clapton and Jimi Hendrix on through to John Mayer and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Finding that he couldn’t make his elegantly long but thick fingers work the beer bottlenecks and metal slides used by so many other blues guitarists, he discovered that he could emulate that effect by rocking the fingers of his left hand rapidly on the guitar’s frets similar to the way a classical violinist creates vibrato, establishing a ringing tremolo that became his hallmark.

MCRFB Note: For the rest of this Los Angeles Times B. B. King Obituary article (May 15, 2015) please GO HERE.

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