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Above 1968 AIWA Electronics ad was digitally restored by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
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Above 1968 General Electric ad was digitally restored by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
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This list is selected each week by WXYZ Radio from reports of record sales gathered from leading record outlets in the Detroit area and other sources available to WXYZ.
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The above WXYZ chart was digitally restored by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
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A special thank you to Jim Heddle of Tuscon, Arizona, for having provided this WXYZ 1270 playlist chart from 1966 to the Motor City Radio Flashbacks archives.
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Canadian Government Drops Gavel; RKO Owned CKLW Must Change Hands to Canadian Ownership Or Must Dispose Station’s Assets
TORONTO — The Canadian Radio Television Commission has ruled that radio station CKLW in Windsor, Ont., will receive its license renewal until Sept. 1, 1970. But within that period of time, the station must divest itself of its U. S. ownership or lose its broadcasting license altogether.
The CRTC said that, according to its records, the issued shares in Western Ontario Broadcasting are now owned by RKO Distributing Co. of Canada, which is owned by RKO General Inc. in the U. S.
These shares must change hands to a Canadian-owned company within a year and a half or the station will lose its license. This decision was based on a Canadian government order of Sept. 20, 1968, which ruled that any Canadian broadcasting outlet must be “effectively owned and controlled by Canadians.”
CKLW applied for an exemption from this order based on its geographic and economic situation – the Detroit area which adjoins Windsor directly across the river. The CRTC could have recommended such an exemption if it had so chosen but in so doing it would have had to satisfy both itself and the federal cabinet that this action would not be contrary to public interests.
The commission said that after careful consideration of the petition of CKLW, it could not make such a recommendation.
The commission noted that it was granting the temporary license renewal to “give the licensee an opportunity to comply with its provisions or to dispose of the assets of the station.” END
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Information, credit and news source: Billboard; April 19, 1969
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The CKLW BIG 50 (plus) hits in Windsor/Detroit. This survey was tabulated overall by record popularity appeal, sales, listener requests and record airplays based on the judgement of CKLW Radio (April 1964).
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The above CKLW chart was digitally restored by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
A SPECIAL THANK YOU
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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 CKLW music chart courtesy of Mrs. Patti Griggs and the George L. Griggs estate.
This Is the Biggest Tour Ever
Nothing has ever happened like it before. This is the opinion of astute tradesters about the forthcoming Beatles tour.
Five months before the (Beatles) tour hits the road in August, promoters are selling out their one night stands to the armies of Beatles fans.
In Toronto, The Maple Gardens sold out its tickets to the Beatles September show in just a few hours. In New Orleans mail orders only in five days amounted to a $12,000 advance.
In Detroit, promoter Art Sheridan sold out the Liverpool Lads first show, has half sold the second (Sept 4), and is trying to convince the boys and manager Brian Epstein and GAC to let them do a third show. (P.S. They won’t).
Promoters are finding The Beatles the most saleable item since Elvis Presley. According to GAC spokesmen who are booking the four Liverpool lads, even Elvis didn’t sell out this far in advance.
The way the promoters are pushing the concerts are via a radio spot or two or a newspaper ad or two. And it works. Beatles fans apparently can’t get rid of their money fast enough, and the orders are pouring in.
In New York, where Bill Grumann of Limelight Productions is promoting the show at the Forest Hills L.I. Tennis Stadium August 28-29, reports are that both shows are already sold out too.
Promoters are paying a guarantee of $20,000 for weekday nights and $25,000 for weekend nights or 60 per cent of the net receipts, whichever is greater. These figures mean that a promoter has to gross close to $50,000 to break even.
At first this scared a lot of veteran promoters, who were trepidatious about The Beatles and concerned as to whether they would be as hot in August-September as they have been in January–February–March.
However, now that the lads are proving they can sell out the box office months before they come to town, many vet promoters are screaming for another chance. They are calling GAC and begging for dates. It’s too late for some of them, for most of the dates are filled, from California to New York and including Canada.
There appears to be little doubt today that The Beatles tour will gross over $2 million. For their end The Beatles stand a chance to take out $1 million. Seats are scaled at $3, $4, $5, with most of the orders for the $4 variety.
The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein arrived in New York from London last Friday to look over the tour scene, and to watch another act of his, Gerry and The Pacemakers, on CBS television’s The Ed Sullivan Show. All bookings for The Beatles tour are okayed by him, wherever he is. END
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Information, credit and news source: Music Business; May 9, 1964
WKNR TURNED OFF ON THE DIAL. WNIC TURNS ON. THIS DAY, APRIL 25, 1972
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DETROIT (April 25, 2022) — WKNR-AM, once the dominate radio station in Detroit in the 1960s, signed-off the 1310 AM frequency for the last time on this day, April 25, 1972.
Formerly WKMH-AM, the station made the switch to “the new Radio 13” on October 31, 1963. By early 1964, WKNR was by then the most popular radio station in Detroit and remained No. 1 in the market, still holding that status throughout the first six months through 1967.
WKNR, affectionately known as “Keener 13,” began it’s eventual slide from Detroit radio dominance in April, 1967. It was during this time WKNR saw their challenge met head-on by their other rival located across the Detroit river, CKLW.
CKLW, during that time, was totally being restructured into a formidable radio powerhouse the Canadian station would become by year’s end.
RKO radio consultant Bill Drake and Paul Drew were the two people responsible for the major changes at the “Big 8.” Paul Drew, the newly-appointed program director at CKLW, patterned the same “Boss Radio” format Bill Drake and Ron Jacobs had programmed on 93 KHJ in Los Angeles. By 1965’s end, Jacob’s KHJ was by then the No. 1 radio station in L.A.
But WKNR would not easily go down without a fight. While going against the “Big 8” giant, the legendary Detroit radio station’s ratings were found inside a downward decline, all the while battling against two major fronts.
CKLW officially became the No. 1 radio station in Detroit by November, 1967, according to a Radio Response Survey published in Billboard on November 4.
CKLW, with it’s massive 50,000-watts of transmitted radio power covered 3 Canadian provinces and at times, their night-time signal spanned across 28 States. In contrast, after sundown, WKNR’s 5,000-watt signal was commonly known to be absent from the radio dial in areas east of Detroit and, more so, deficient in night-time coverage and strength.
By now, major changes had begun at WKNR both in the management and personnel level. In January of 1968, J. Michael Wilson was by then doing mornings on Keener. Dick Purtan had left WKNR for Baltimore. By the first week of April 1968, WKNR radio greats Bob Green, Jerry Goodwin, Ted Clark and Scott Regen were no longer there. Sean Conrad, Edward Alan Busch, Tony Randolph, Ron Sherwood, and Dan Henderson were to be the new voices on Keener 13.
Despite the many changes in the Detroit radio market scene at the time, WKNR’s battle for survival against CKLW and FM’s “free-form” radio would drag on for five years.
Near the end of 1971, according to a Detroit Arbitron radio rating for the period Oct./Nov., WKNR-AM had a 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. cume of 377,300 in total listenership during a given broadcast day. For WKNR, those numbers represented a reduction down to a 15 to 12 total market share. In comparison, WABX-FM ranked just under in total rank, with a cume of 330,000 during those same hours.
WKNR, who by then revamped its playlist to include some album-oriented tracks, also made much of their attempt to pull away from the “same as” CKLW all-pop music format. No longer were the top 31 songs part of the playlist rotation. Slashed in half, WKNR’s new playlist focused primarily on the top 15 hits instead, while “previewing” the other 16 songs or so for the week.
By late 1971 and early 1972, WKNR now was promoting itself as the new “American Rock and Roll” radio station. An obvious affront towards the dominance that was CKLW located in Windsor, Ontario.
On the 100.3 FM side, the album rock-oriented ‘underground” format that was WKNR-FM was dropped after an unsuccessful run against WABX-FM. In it’s place, Stereo Island, an easy-listening music format, now found it’s place competing against WLDM-FM in Detroit.
But the changes were not enough, and ultimately, it was not to be.
In the end, WKNR became the former on a brisk, chilly but sunny morning that was Tuesday, April 25, 1972. Just before 8:00 a.m., WKNR deejay John McCrae’s voice breaks but regains composure as he announced the inevitable —
“…This is John McCrae, I’d like to take it upon my, myself to speak on behalf of all the people who made Keener what it, was and is. You know, Pete Seeger, with a little help from his cosmic friend, wrote it much better than I could, and the Byrds sing it, much better than I, could ever say it. So this time Detroit, we’d like to thank you, for making nearly a decade — a Keener season.”
As the last few bars of the Byrd’s “Turn, Turn, Turn” began to fade, the magic that was once WKNR faded away with the song. But the memories, the events, the music, the great names, the faces and voices who crafted the Keener legacy a long time ago, remain in many a hearts and minds yet even still, to this day.
In 2002, thirty years since WKNR was last on the air, Scott Westerman and Steve Schram decided it was time someone gave WKNR it’s long due, with honors. Working together they packaged an incredibly amazing WKNR tribute site, aptly named, keener13.com.
This coming June, 2022, will mark two decades since the website’s creation. And the phenomenal story about this great Detroit radio legacy is still being told, remembered, and celebrated there on the world-wide web.
“Keener” was a radio station that went on to impact nearly a decade the many lives of a community it once served. It knew its listeners. And if only but for a short time, WKNR also was the station that, in all essence, knew the city of Detroit well by way of its prestigious award-winning news department. Informing and staying “on top of the news” during the station’s Top 40 reign here during the 1960s and early-1970s.
As WKNR legend Bob Green previously commented on Scott Westerman’s keener13.com tribute page, quote, “The WKNR experience provided some of my happiest radio memories.”
We agree.
To a generation who grew up listening to top 40 radio in Detroit during the 1960s, one may actually say many of those “happiest radio memories” we recall having heard on Keener 13 belongs to many of us today, just the same.
WKNR. Those call letters would come to embody a sensational story. Of a Detroit radio station’s historic top 40 rise to number one status — within 9 weeks — after having first signed on, October 31, 1963.
And it was a phenomenal Detroit radio story. Its legacy reverberates — again — still remembered and recalled, incredibly, to this day. Fifty years after having signed-off into Detroit radio history. April 25, 1972.
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Audio digitally enhanced by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
This article was initially published on Motor City Radio Flashbacks, ten years ago, April 25, 2012. View it HERE
Compiled by the Music Popularity Chart Dept. of Billboard, from national retail store and one-stop sales reports, and radio airplay reports.
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FOURTEEN WEEKS overall on the singles pop charts, “I Will Follow Him” by Little Peggy March peaks this week at #1 (3 weeks) on the Billboard Hot 100. Beginning April 21 through week-ending, May 11, 1963. (Source: Joel Whitburn’s Pop Annual)
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For our previous Billboard Number One 1963 U.S.A. Hits go HERE
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This WDEE chart was digitally restored by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
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A SPECIAL THANK YOU
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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.
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