An
Over-the-Shoulder Peek at April 1967
50 Years
Ago this Month
saw Psychedelic Rock
force its swirling climb up the charts, gaining heat as we moved closer to the
torrid Summer of Love.
We
began the month on a high note, at the top of WABC/NY’s All American Survey April 8, 1967, “Happy Together” with The Turtles.
Not
all DJs were happy together however, with radio broadcasting formats. FM
stations began playing follow-the-leader, finding their footing outside the
Jazz genre, in AOR and other diverse areas. Especially after DJ Tom Donahue
signed on at KMPX/San Francisco, Friday,
April 7, 1967. Always a rebel, Tom
began his push for Freeform Rock, combined with an all-female engineering
staff. It worked.
Need
more to celebrate April 1967? Party
on, for “Louie Louie” Day, April 11th;
and have you hugged your vinyl record store owner lately? The tenth annual Record Store Day, spins off April 22nd. (Though you can
start as early as the 15th for some.)
By
month’s end in the Top 40, frustrated and disillusioned, we lamented toiling at
our jobs with The Easybeat’s “Friday on My Mind” at
#12, on WABC’s April 29 survey. Following
on its heels, we protested with Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth”* at
#13. Although the tune took two weeks to climb its way to the middle of the
pack, that didn’t reflect on its emotional impact.
The
mood of the moment is capsulized in a nice long
excerpt from the newly released BFYP
(e)Book 2 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties! Like many of his listeners, DJ Neale Blase, objected to the Vietnam War.
Doing
so on the radio though, generally didn’t sit well with station management. One
night, as Neale broadcast live in a special airing with Armed Forces Radio on KOMA/Oklahoma City …
“Here’s a song for
Private Bob Smith from his wife in Montana … she’s hoping that you’ll be home
soon, safe and sound … and by the way, Bob, we all want you guys home soon, because you shouldn’t even be there. So
for all of you guys over there … listen very
closely to the lyrics of this song.” KOMA listeners heard Buffalo Springfield warn,
“There’s a man with a gun over there …” *
Aware of his
opportunity as a DJ to comment on news of the day, Neale said, “I can’t tell
you how many times we would talk over the intro of a song and express our views
in a very compatible tone of voice, with the tempo of the song. Never underestimate
the power of subtlety.” Read the rest of Neale’s Swinging Sixties story, here.
Featured Radio Survey: In
view of this lengthy post, and the lamentable fact I don’t have an April ’67 vintage
radio survey in the BFYP Collection, we’ll continue to enjoy the March KFRC/San Francisco survey, and bounce
back with more than enough May ’67 surveys next month. Top 30 station, KFRC, tipped the iceberg of our music
revolution. But the depth of its love came from the base of FM underground
music that would soon emanate from KMPX
and DJ Tom Donahue. Check out the
eclectic mix in the March 1, 1967 KFRC Big 30 chart.
Celebrate APRIL 1967: 50 Years Ago
… Rock On!
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