Rock Radio 50 Years Ago ~ February 1975

When Beauty & Rock are in Eye of the Beholder  

Happy Love Month Rockers! You know, the more I dive into the music, artists, and DJs that brought us the dynamic music of the 1970s, the more I realize I truly had not been paying attention back in the day. When it came to music, if I could dance to it, I loved it. If it had cool lyrics, that was a bonus. But rarely did I question their meanings.

My quest this month for a simple love song to honor February’s status as the “love month,” turned into an “I didn’t know that!” moment. Hint: you’ll love the vintage Song of Note. And so much more, as I give you a loving peek at the past, with much more to come soon … 50 Years Ago this Month …   

º FEBRUARY 1975 Radio News & Muse ♪ 

February 17^th: There wasn’t much music news-of-the-day, but I found an endearing album released on this day that went even further back in time, to the 1950s and ‘60s. John Lennon (1940-1970) released the album, Rock ‘n’ Roll, on this day 1975, giving his personally preferred Oldies tunes another life.
       John enjoyed tweaking and tuning them to his style, and included some well-known tracks, like “Be-Bop-a-Lula” (Gene Vincent, 1956), “Ain’t That a Shame” (Fats Domino, 1955) and “Do You Want to Dance” (Bobby Freeman, 1958).
       But when it came to a love song, I picked up on “Stand By Me” (Ben E. King; this version by John Lennon), a longtime favorite since 1961. Fun radio trivia fact: John hooked into a slew of radio stations simultaneously, to turn them on to his new release.

♪ On Your Tinny Transistor Radio ♪  
Where were you braving the winter with Rock & Roll in February 1975? Eugene, Oregon, Louisville, Kentucky, San Antonio, Texas, or were you ridin’ high in El Paso? Here’s a sample of what and who you were listening to …

Starting with the Pacific Northwest, you might not think Oregon was a hoppin’ place to be 50 Years Ago … but where do you think all the hippies went when their craze faded? Just kidding (sort of). For the most part of the 1970s, KZEL/Eugene, Oregon, operated as a progressive free-form album station and boasted a full schedule of charismatic DJs like Stan “Harry ‘Til 6” Garrett, Gary “The Wasted Potato” Palmatier, and Magic Mike. What’s #1 on their February 15^th chart? David Essex’s self-titled album hit the top with the theme song to his movie, Stardust, which likely spawned the biggest same-name hit from the album, for the handsome UK artist.

Moving down and over to WAKY/Louisville, Kentucky, “The Big 79,” listeners are jammin’ with its Top 40 format and bouncy DJs. Do you recall Dude Walker, Gary Burbank, or our own BFYP, saucy Bill Bailey (born Bill Boahn), better known at WAKY as “The Duke of Louisville”? I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Bill for the BFYP series (available on Amazon), who had this to say about being a Radio DJ and marriage, “My best days on the radio was in the Seventies (WAKY). All of the Seventies—right on up to ’81. I had a good time, ‘cause I always had a good life. I should be ashamed of that, but I’m not. Married three times-did I say three? Make it four! Oh, my last one was unbelievable—I’m trying hard to forget that one.” (1930-2012)
       WAKY was known for being wild an’ crazy—largely due to the country’s top DJs they attracted, astutely recognized by program director, Johnny Randolph. He made the station a force to be reckoned with. And what tune were Bill’s fans pushing to #1 this month? Freddy Fender’s “Before the Next Teardrop.”

Strolling into San Antonio, Texas, KTSA “550 AM” wowed its fans with Top 40 hits, and I know this, despite a lack of current history about the station, in the 1970s. Apparently Gordon McLendon transformed the sleepy station with hip hits in the ‘60s, but except for music charts, it’s left to our imaginations for a decade, until it switched to adult contemporary in the 1980s. We’re in February 1975 though … so, were you there when the Doobie Brothers’ “Black Water” topped it off at #1? KTSA wasn’t the only radio station in Texas …

Finally, I’ve reached our destination station … boot-scootin’ on over from San Antonio 550 miles west, to El Paso, Texas, we mix it up with border blaster, X-ROC 80! Technically transmitting from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua (Mexico), it entertained as a triple-threat, serving Chihuahua, Las Cruces, New Mexico, and El Paso. Much like Wolfman Jack’s XERB south of the California border, the station’s format for years was Spanish-language and religious programs by day, and targeting U.S. Rockin’ listeners by night. But by 1972, it flip-flopped the format and became X-Rock 80, “The Sun City Rocker” (referencing El Paso), or as its 1975 survey says, X-ROC 80.

♪ February ’75 Song of Note ♪
You would think, with February 1975 radio chart lists full of “love titles” … “My Eyes Adored You,” “Best of My Love” and “Lovin’ You,” among others, that it would be easy to find a love song to honor with our February Vintage Song of Note. Ha!

There is so much more coming, Rock & Roll friends, but this will have to do for now. The rest, plus links and images for the above will come very soon. Thank you (as always) for your patience! Please check back for more Rockin’ love floating on the airwaves …

Let’s Celebrate FEBRUARY 1975 with Love … Rock On!  

BFYP Book 1 (1954-1959) on Amazon         
BFYP Book 2 (Swinging ‘60s) on Amazon 
Blast from Your Past Gifts 
Share your Golden Oldies R&R fun on “X”: @BlastFromPastBk 

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Rock Radio 50 Years Ago ~ JANUARY 1975

Rockin’ the New Year in a Sky Full of Diamonds  

I wish! But like many lyricists, we can take poetic license and turn the night-sky stars into sparkling diamonds to begin 2025 with musical magic.

Welcome to another 50 Years Ago this Month series behind the mic, with Rock Radio DJs and the music they helped make great in “the good ol’ days”! Hopefully, you’ll forgive me for being late with this article—again. After all, it’s tough to concentrate on writing when everyone around is partying! But before we get into it, a word from our sponsor … well, from me …

This is your official “AI” notice for the New Year: The Blast from Your Past site has never and will never (knowingly) be written or assisted, by Artificial Intelligence. It’s just stupid ol’ “I” and I enjoy writing these articles. They soothe my soul. So why would I hand that indulgence over to an artificial, soulless entity that can’t feel pleasure?!

That said, let’s Rock On, into 1975 … 50 Years Ago this Month … 

º JANUARY 1975 Radio News & Muse ♪ 

While Watergate convictions rolled on and Wheel of Fortune debuted on NBC, January 1975 music began to shift toward the right with more Heavy Metal music. We watched the left bounce around to Disco coming up to its peak, and Pop music kept us middlin’ around in relative sanity.

We’re still relaxing in Hawai’i with the January KPOI radio survey, after December’s Holiday frenzy, and find that not much has yet changed in the Top Ten. Even Wolfman Jack is again on the cover! This time in festive spirits to Rock you into the New Year …

January 1: Pioneering Rock Radio DJ, Joey Reynolds, is one of the most recognized East Coast personalities in the biz. He is also one of the most controversial, who, at WKBW/Buffalo, New York, famously rejected the idea of sponsoring The Beatles in their first US concert (1964), the night after their famed Ed Sullivan Show debut. But on this day in 1975, KQV/Pittsburgh hired Joey as program director.

       Um, that didn’t go so well either. He apparently dumped the Top 40 format to broadcast a skewed mix of jumbled music played by irreverent DJs, with inane advertising jingles sprinkled between DJ stunts. Not unexpectedly, Joey was fired by May and later in the year, KQV gave up music altogether, switching to 24-hour news. As we well know, though, Joey is a resilient kinda guy and truly a much-admired broadcaster. You can read a brief story of his 1960s rise behind the mic, in Blast from Your Past’s Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties.  [Image: Joey, Bill Gardner & Shotgun Tom Kelly. Three of my fave DJs at a fairly recent CES show in Las Vegas.]

January 6^th: Were you there when the hottest concert ticket in Boston by a band not even on the charts, caused a riot? ‘Tis true—a thousand or so fans got antsy while waiting to buy Led Zeppelin tickets in Boston Garden’s lobby. As usual, rioters’ angry stupidity came at a cost for all Boston fans, when the mayor cancelled the concert.

January 8^th: New York’s Madison Square Garden took advantage of Zeppelin’s canceled tour and booked them for this day—the tickets sold out in a then-record of four hours. The notoriety got “Stairway to Heaven” back on the bottom of San Francisco’s KCBQ January 20^th radio chart for a week.

January 31^st: It didn’t take long for Barry Manilow’s now-iconic love song, “Mandy” to go gold. It debuted on KPOI’s January 3, 1975, chart at #26 and became his first gold single three weeks later. Do you know it started out as a #1 hit on UK Pop charts in 1972, then known as “Brandy,” by Scott English (written by English and Richard Kerr)? With a little arrangement revision and title change, Manilow made it his own and a hit is reborn.

♪ On Your Tinny Transistor Radio ♪  
Where were you bein’ fun and feisty in the New Year 1975? L.A., New York, Hawai’i? Here’s a sample of what and who you were listening to …

“Laughter in the Rain” by Neil Sedaka hit the #1 spot for KHJ/Los Angeles on their January 7^th chart. What was the other side of the country voting to the top? Fighting to keep its #1 status the first week of January, with New York listeners at WABC, is Carl Douglas’s “Kung Fu Fighting.”

But we’re still in Hawai’i for this month, listening to KPOI and asking, “When Will I See You Again”? Sparkly trio, The Three Degrees, finally grabbed the #1 spot on January 3^rd’s “Records of Hawaii” chart. 

KPOI listeners were mainly content with up-and-comers released back in the Fall of 1974, jockeying their faves up the ranks. The Top Ten didn’t change much, with the top tunes hanging on by the edge of their claws, just in a little different order.

And we’re still swayin’ with the palm trees, in sync with Wolfman Jack! He rang in the New Year with a festive cover for KPOI, party hat and all! 

January’s top three tunes, basically shuffled around from December’s chart list (previous chart #s in parentheses): #1) “When Will I See You Again” (3); #2) “Please Mr. Postman” (5); and #3) “Kung Fu Fighting” (1).  

♪ January ’75 Song of Note ♪   
Up for consideration was KPOI’s #5 tune, “Laughter in the Rain” by Neil Sedaka, for its pure happiness shining through the clouds and stormy weather. But looking for something even more fantastically hopeful to start the New Year, January’s Song of Note is … 

       In the beginning of a New Year when anything is possible, can’t you just visualize a trip with “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” (Elton John). Released in November ‘74, it made steady progress up the chart, settling the first week of January at #11 before skipping into the Top Ten.   
       A Lennon/McCartney tune from 1967, it was inspired by Lennon’s son, Julian’s, nursery school drawing for a classmate. Lennon gave a poetic nod to Lewis Carroll’s literary style (Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass) for his creative lyrics.
       Some of you may have noticed the initialized reference of the title to the hallucinogenic drug, LSD. Personally, I had never visualized that allusion, but some people will find an intentional or unintentional double meaning in just about everything. Lennon was appalled and firmly denied that “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” is an acid song. Do you believe him? Jus’ askin’ … 
       Elton John’s version certified Gold on January 29^th, but Elton would rarely-if-ever sing it in a concert after Lennon’s death. Its connection to Lennon was simply too personal. ♪ … Picture yourself in a boat on a river | With tangerine trees and marmalade skies … ♪    

♪ Quirky Band Name Award ♪
As promised in December, I simply could not pass by this farcical opportunity for the quirkiest band name we’ve had in a while … Disco Tex & the Sex-o-Lettes … fronted by a colorful character with dancing babes, wins our first 2025 Quirky Band Name Award.

       In spite of their sexist name—not an oddity in the day—the group from the Bronx was serious about making a name for themselves in the burgeoning Disco era. Bubbling under on KPOI’s “New Music” list, their first hit, “Get Dancin’,” cashed in on the dance craze’s high energy fervor. It stalled at #21 over the next few weeks, followed in April with release of hit number two, "I Wanna Dance Wit' Choo (Doo Dat Dance)," both becoming Disco anthems—even scoring frontman, Monti Rock III (born Joseph Montanez, Jr.) a gig as DJ in the iconic movie, Saturday Night Fever (1977).  
       Despite over-the-top theatrics, and marginal singing talent, Disco Tex & the Sex-o-Lettes’ tunes were bona fide early Disco hits, riding a high that took them through the best of it. But things were sketchy with the group through 1982 when they permanently disbanded. As of last reports, frontman, Rock, is still performing at 82 years young.  

♪ JANUARY 2025 Music Events & More ♪    

Monday ~ January 20^th: Today’s National Disc Jockey Day, and though the official sponsor is noted as Wikipedia, without Radio and the pioneering Rock Radio Disc Jockeys behind the mic, this monthly odyssey wouldn’t exist!  
       An assigned article about Rock & Roll memorabilia inspired two books (a third coming eventually) and this monthly sojourn into Oldies Rock Radio with its dynamic on-air personalities. I am especially appreciative of Disc Jockeys and their contributions to my life “back in the day” (I was a frequent winner of station giveaways!) and current lifestyle of music and fun. 
       Interviewing more than forty DJs for my books was not only essential, but extremely entertaining. Cousin Brucie/NY, Shotgun Tom Kelly/SoCal (who just published his own book), Ron Riley/Chicago, and my fave DJ friend, Bill Gardner/Philly+, all gave me the lowdown and high points of

their lives behind the mic (1950s-1970s). In January 1975, Bill wowed his KVIL/Dallas, Texas, listeners, and the station’s billboard advertising reflects the flamboyant flavor of the ‘70s!
       Largely overlooked and underrated in today’s podcast/iTunes/playlists era, DJs still deserve our love. As one calendar’s historical commentary notes, “On this day, we celebrate the talents of all the disc jockeys, from those playing the ‘Chicken Dance’ for the millionth time at a wedding to the radio personalities who help you get through the morning commute.” 

Tuesday ~ January 21^st: And on this date every year, at BFYP we commemorate Wolfman Jack’s birthday! After all, those books I talk about are dedicated to the “Original Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal.” Not only an entertainer, Wolfman Jack (Robert Weston Smith, 1938-1995) was also a consummate marketer, popularizing and selling his syndicated shows at a time when DJs just didn’t do that. Do you recall his memorable performance in the American Graffiti movie? If you want an evening of pure entertainment, buy/rent/view the film. It’s still a hoot! (Image: Wolfman Jack & San Diego’s own celeb DJ, Shotgun Tom Kelly!) 

Tuesday ~ January 28^th: Okay, granted, I stretch a tad seeking relevant music-related blurbs, but seriously, it’s National Kazoo Day! And yes, Kazoos are maybe not popular in Rock tunes, but it has been used—the Beatles turned to it now and again—like McCartney in “Uncle Albert” and Ringo in “You’re Sixteen.” The simple little instrument has been accompanying musical knee-slapping and harmony humming since its patent by Warren Herbert Frost on January 9, 1883. So why celebrate on January 28^th? For no particular reason, says its sponsoring site.

♪♪ BFYP Featured Radio Survey ♪♪  
JANUARY 3, 1975 ~ KPOI/Honolulu, Hawai’i. Wolfman Jack just couldn’t resist having fun for the 1^st, in full party hat and horn regalia on the survey’s cover. One can’t help but wonder … did KPOI keep its New Year resolution to make winners of more than 10,000 listeners in 1975?! … 50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio! Where were you that groovy day when your radio played … 

Let’s Celebrate JANUARY & a Happy New Year 1975 … Rock On!    

BFYP Book 1 (1954-1959) on Amazon         
BFYP Book 2 (Swinging ‘60s) on Amazon 
Blast from Your Past Gifts 
Share your Golden Oldies R&R fun on “X”: @BlastFromPastBk 

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LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and author by way of Rock & Roll. Two books (of three planned) are published in her Blast from Your Past^TM series, available on Amazon: Book 1 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959^TM (eBook only; coming soon in updated print edition) and Book 2 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties^TM (eBook & print). Coming soon-ish … Book 3 – The Psychedelic Seventies!^TM 

Note: FYI – All links in the BFYP site are personally visited, verified, and vetted. Most are linked to commonly accessed sites of reputable note. Occasionally, since I often feature real people and/or singular sources there may be an unsecured link. As with everything cyber-security, use at your own discretion and risk. This site is wholly owned by LinDee Rochelle & sponsored by PenchantForPenning.com^TM. No compensation is received for any mentions of businesses, products, or other commercial interests. *All holiday and special event days are found at Brownielocks.com’s calendar site. Enjoy! 
            01/01/25: The Blast from Your Past site has never and will never (knowingly) be written or assisted, by Artificial Intelligence. It’s just stupid ol’ “I” and I enjoy writing these articles. They soothe my soul. So why would I hand that indulgence over to an artificial, soulless entity that can’t feel pleasure?!

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