DETROIT RADIO WARS: CKLW HIRES BILL DRAKE AND PAUL DREW . . . APRIL 8, 1967
From the MCRFB news archives:
CKLW HIRES DREW, IN STEPS TO TUMBLE DETROIT LEADER WKNR
DETROIT — CKLW, the 50,000-watt RKO General operation here, has brought in Paul Drew as program director and will soon launch an all-out campaign against market-leader WKNR. Drew, former program director at WQXI in Atlanta, has slated May 1 as the day to bow with the station’s new sound — “Fun Radio.”
“Fun Radio” will include a jingles package that was custom made for the station’s and “for the sound I’m looking for,” Drew said.
Prior, there has been talk that Bill Drake, a programming consultant, was going to the station. Drake has set the program for RKO’s KHJ in Los Angeles and also revamped entirely San Francisco’s KFRC — both highly successful today in their markets. Though Drew would not commit himself, every indication is that he’ll use the same template/model that had been programmed at the two leading West Coast stations.
What will be in use will be the same playlist, rule-of-play with a shortened record format. “We’ll play whatever is necessary to play the hits, but the playlist will fluctuate.” This will not eliminate the playing of new records by new artists, evidently, as the station had played on the air about a week ago with “Sunshine Girl” by the Parade, a new record which had been introduced to the station by A&M Records promotion man Don Graham.
Already, CKLW has begun a sort of sneaky promotion campaign, in wake of their intent in placing the station at the top in the Detroit market with no holds barred. WJR, the easy listening outlet in Detroit, as long billed itself as “The Great Voice of the Great Lakes.” CKLW has aired the slogan: “The Choice of the Great Lakes.” WKNR, the leading Hot 100-formatted station in the market, is promoting a concert with Paul Revere & The Raiders on April 8. CKLW had bought a large section of front-row seats to the show and will be giving them away for free to listeners on the air, a ploy in part of the station’s ongoing blitz from the station’s promotion department.
(Information and news source: Billboard; April 8, 1967).
FLASHBACK POP MUSIC HISTORY: MAY 4
From the MCRFB music calendar:
Events on this date: MAY 4
1956: England’s New Musical Express erroneously reports that ‘Elvin’ Presley will be performing in an upcoming gig at the Palladium in London. Elvis Presley never did Europe.
1957: ABC-TV premiers Alan Freed’s Rock and Roll Revue show, an attempt to replicate the success of their own American Bandstand. The first show features performances by the Clovers, The Del-Vikings, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Sal Mineo and Guy Mitchell.
1959: The very first Grammy Awards are held in Los Angeles, with Record Of The Year honors going out to Domenico Modugno’s “Volare (Nel Blu Depinto De Blu)” and Henry Mancini’s The Music Of Peter Gunn soundtrack winning Record Album Of The Year. The Champs’ “Tequila,” for some reason, takes home Best Rhythm and Blues Performance honors.
1964: British musicians Ray Thomas and Mike Pinder form an R&B group, naming themselves the Moody Blues. The group’s name comes as a derivative from Dukes Ellington’s “Mood Indigo.”
1967: The Turtles’ hit “Happy Together” is certified gold by RIAA.
1968: Twiggy, one of England’s first supermodels, catches an 18 year-old singer named Mark Hopkins on the BBC-TV talent show Opportunity Knocks and calls friend Paul McCartney, who eventually signs her to Apple Records and gives her one of his songs, “Those Were The Days,” to record.
1968: Steppenwolf makes its U.S. television debut, performing “Born To Be Wild” on ABC-TV Dick Clark’s American Bandstand.
1970: The US National Guard opens fire on Vietnam war protesters at Kent State University in Ohio, killing four unarmed students and wounding eleven more. After seeing photos of the shooting later in the week in LIFE magazine, Neil Young immediately writes the song, “Ohio,” which Crosby, Stills and Nash will record the next day. Twenty-five years later to the day, Peter Paul and Mary play a commemorative concert at the university, performing Dylan’s “Blowin’ In The Wind.”
1977: The Beatles long-anticipated and only live LP, The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl is released.
1985: The legendary Apollo Theater re-opens in Harlem after a massive $10,000,000 dollar makeover.
1990: In an interview, David Bowie’s ex-wife, Angie (she was of whom the Stones penned and sang of in their hit), claims for the first time in how she walked in on her ex, and Mick Jagger — caught — having sex with each other.
1992: Baltimore mayor Kurt Schmoke declares today “KISS Day” and presents the band with an honorary key to the city.
2008: Martha Reeves’ home in Detroit is burglarized and $1,000,000 worth of recording equipment is stolen. In just a few hours, the perpetrator is captured while attempting to hock the stolen-merchandise for a bargained steal — $400.00.
And that’s just a few of the events which took place in pop music history, on this day…. 
TOMMY SHANNON’S BEARSKIN RUG MUSIC
Here’s another cut from the Bearskin Rug L.P.
Thanks to Tommy Shannon for this forgotten photo
Tommy Shannon – Love (To A Friend).mp3
FLASHBACK POP MUSIC HISTORY: MAY 3
From the MCRFB music calendar:
Events on this date: MAY 3
1958: One of the first major rock and roll riots breaks out during Alan Freed’s “Big Beat Spring 1958” show at the Boston Arena, with Boston police threatening to shut the show down because of the overly-crowd dancing and Alan Freed telling the crowd from the stage, “The police doesn’t want you to have fun.” He is arrested for inciting a riot.
1964: Gerry and the Pacemakers make their first US television debut, singing “Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying” on CBS’ Ed Sullivan Show.”
1965: Motown’s Supremes release their new hit, “Back In My Arms Again.”
1967: The Walker Brothers announce their split. Scott Walker would go on to be a highly influential solo artist in the late Sixties.
1968: Having just returned from studying the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in India, the Beach Boys make him the opening lecture act on their new tour. About half the dates are eventually cancelled.
1971: Grand Funk Railroad holds their sparsely-attended first press conference at the Gotham Hotel in New York City.
1971: Led Zeppelin play their song “Four Sticks” for the first and only time in a concert during a show in Denmark.
1976: Paul Simon, Phoebe Snow, Jimmy Cliff and others perform a benefit concert to raise funds for the financially-strapped New York Public Library.
1976: Paul McCartney opens hid first tour with his new band as the massively successful Wings Over America tour begins in Ft. Worth, Texas.
1978: The movie FM, a flop comedy about a radio station, opens in Los Angeles. However, the title track and the name of their LP, performed by Steely Dan, becomes a huge hit for the band.
1991: Texas Governor Ann Richards officially declares today ZZ Top Day in the Lone Star State.
1991: Andy Williams marries his second wife, Debbie Haas, in New York City.
2006: Bob Dylan’s first hosted radio show airs on XM Satellite Radio, with the folk-rock legend playing his favorite hits by Prince, Wilco, Blur, LL Cool J, and Billy Braggs, among others.
And that’s just a few of the events which took place in pop music history, on this day…. 
WWWW 106.7 FM * ED BUSCH * 1972
Big Thanks to Larry Mischel for this great Ed Busch airchex
Ed Busch (Mr. Music) today lives in Texas and has retired from radio.
This airchex is of WWWW, WTRX, CKLW, WLIN, WKNR, WCAR, WTRX
LINCOLN PARK HIGH SCHOOL 50th CLASS REUNION
FLASHBACK POP MUSIC HISTORY: MAY 2
From the MCRFB music calendar:
Events on this date: MAY 2
1956: In a definite sign of the times, five records — Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel,” Little Richard’s “Long Talll Sally,” Carl Perkin’s “Blue Sued Shoes,” The Platters’s “(You’ve Got) The Magic Touch,” and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers’ “Why Do Fools Fall In Love” — occupy Billboard’s R&B and Pop Top 10, the first time so many records had “crossed-over” at the same time.
1958: Chuck Berry hits the Chess Records studio to record “Carol.”
1960: Ben E. King, the Drifters second lead-singer, also leaves the group to pursue a solo career with Atco Records.
1960: Ray Peterson records “Tell Laura I Love Her.”
1960: Elvis Presley begins filming on his fifth movie, G.I. Blues.
1964: After 51 weeks at the top, the Beatles finally relinquish the No. 1 album position in the UK — to the Rolling Stones’ self-titled debut LP.
1964: The Rolling Stones enters the charts with their single, “Not Fade Away.”
1964: The Beatles Second Album hits No.1 on the Billboard album charts.
1965: Ed Sullivan breaks a vow he made the year before and books the Rolling Stones back on his long-running CBS-TV variety show — but not before keeping the band in the studio all day, in order to keep from inciting the fans. The Stones perform four songs on the show: “The Last Time,” “Little Red Rooster,” “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love” and the Stones album instrumental “2120 South Michigan Avenue.”
1967: The Beach Boys announce they are scrapping their anticipated Pet Sounds followup album, Smile. After decades of imagined Smile albums, assembled from bootlegs and released recordings, founder and resident genius Brian Wilson finally releases a finished version of the project in 2005.
1968: The Box Tops’ “Cry Like A Baby” is certified gold by RIAA.
1969: The Who debut their much-discussed rock opera Tommy by playing the finished album for the press at London’s Ronnie’s Jazz Club. Ten years later to the day, they would premiere their new film, Quadrophenia, in New York City.
1969: Elvis Presley finishes filming on his 31st and final motion picture, Change Of Habit.
1972: In New York City, Bruce Springsteen auditions for Columbia Records A&R head John Hammond, who is so impressed he immediately arranges a set that night at the Gaslight Club for his fellow execs.
1975: Apple Records officially ends its life as a record label, though it will be revived as a Beatles-only label in 2004.
2009: Motown’s rarest 45, Frank Wilson’s “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do),” set a world’s record by selling for nearly $40,000 at a London auction house. The unreleased single is one of only two copies known to exist.
2009: Bob Dylan takes a day off from his UK-European tour and, along with 13 other tourists, takes a bus trip to visit John Lennon’s childhood home in Liverpool, newly opened for the public. His presence was not recognized during the entire bus entourage and visit.
Deaths: Benny Benjamin (famed-Motown drummer), 1969; Les Harvey (Stone The Crows); 1972.
And that’s just a few of the events which took place in pop music history, on this day…. MAY 2.
TONY MACK AT THE LEGEND CKLW 93.9 FM
BUMPER STICKER OF THE WEEK
