Kevin Metheny “On the Air” Above … RIP

It’s always a great loss when one of our pioneering radio greats leaves us for Heavenly airwaves. 

At BFYP, by the very nature of its vintage roots, we often report loss due to age that claims one of our once-best and brightest in the radio industry.

With heavy heart, today we offer our condolences to BFYP DJ/PD, Terrell Metheny, for the loss of his son, Kevin Metheny, who went on the air in Heaven, Friday, October 3, 2014.

Kevin Metheny (60) followed in his dad’s industry footsteps to become a highly respected programmer, focusing on talk radio. Obviously, Terrell taught him well, and is immensely proud.

“He was first on the radio at six weeks old,” Terrell commented in a 2009 interview for the BFYP book. “Sitting in the back of the studio, he let out a yell while the mic was open.” The radio bug bit young Kevin when Terrell “put him on the radio in a commercial when he was about three.”

Kevin’s forty-four year radio career began in high school and included stints with the biggies like KJR/Seattle, WGH/Chicago, WNBC/New York on the Howard Stern Show, and most recently, as Operations Manager of Cumulus News-Talk KGO & KSFO/San Francisco. “He jumped over me real fast,” said Terrell.

Please join me in heartfelt prayers for Terrell and his family as Kevin leaves terrestrial radio to sign on in broadcasting’s heavenly realm. 

Blast from Your Past – Book 1, Excerpt 2: DJ Dr. Don Rose

Dr. Don Rose – Excerpt #2 from Blast from YourPast! Book 1 - Rock & Roll Radio DJs: the First Five Years 1954-1959 

BFYP-FM is helpin’ you rise ‘n’ shine! We see the big ol’ sun peeking over the hill, playing hide an’ seek with fluffy clouds … it’s so bea-u-ti-ful. But wait, wait … ‘Hey, hey you! Get offa my cloud!’

“This is your old fuddy-duddy buddy, Dr. Don at the yawn of a new day!” (A DDR oft-repeated wake-up greeting.)

Dr. Don Rose (a.k.a. Donald Rosenberg)

Best known at KFRC/San Francisco, California

1934 ~ 2005 (Interview with son, Jay Rosenberg.)

While Jeff Prescott’s dad, Norm [coming up in another excerpt], carved out his platter-spinning niche in Boston, another kid in Philly cocked his head quizzically at his dad’s voice coaxing him awake.

“My earliest memory was of listening to him from a clock radio next to my bed,” said Jay Rosenberg, “and wondering how he got inside the box. My mom kind of explained how it worked. But I don’t think I got it.”

Jay recalls this fond memory of his dad, Donald Rosenberg. Before all was said and done, Donald became endeared to thousands of fans on both sides of the country as “Dr. Don Rose.”

Don Rose’s radio star was already on the rise before Jay, the second youngest of five Rosenberg siblings, marveled at his dad’s voice bouncing out from the radio.

Blast from Your Past - Book 1, Excerpt 1: DJ Ron Riley

Beginning with this article I'll periodically post excerpts from Book 1 (1954-1959) of the Blast from Your Past series. I'm hoping this will inspire me (more) to finish Book 2 and inspire you to read and relive the best days of Rock & Roll Radio. ~ Enjoy the moment ... again! LR 

Chapter 1 excerpt from Blast from Your Past! Book 1

Rock & RollRadio DJs: the First Five Years 1954-1959

Oh, my papa, to me he was so wonderful

Oh, my papa, to me he was so good

                “Oh, My Pa-Pa,” Eddie Fisher’s #1 hit, January 1954

Not quite Rockin’ & Rollin’ yet!

(Read this fast and loud!) I’m Rockin’ Rochelle coming to you from BFYP-FM (Blast from Your Past-Full Moon), broadcasting to the world from sunny Cal-i-forn-i-A!

We’re spreading music and mayhem throughout the land, with lively behind-the-mic tales of your favorite Rock & Roll Radio DJs from yesteryear!

Poodle skirts, saddle shoes, bobby sox and ducktail hair, hiphuggers and peace signs – we’re ready to ROCK!

Let’s go trippin’ down mem’ry lane and check out those wild-n-crazy guys and gals who kissed your ears with Rock & Roll music for the souuulllll!

First up for your platter-spinning pleasure … a real Midwest Rock & Roll DJ treasure.

Ron Riley

Best known at WLS/Chicago, Illinois

Ron Riley … or did you know him as “Ron ‘Ringo’ Riley”? How about “Smiley Riley”? With stints at WLS-Chicago, Milwaukee’s WOKY (pronounced “walky”), and even his own Bowling for Dollars TV show, Ron never wanted to be anything other than a deejay.

“Come on-a My House,” Rosie Clooney crooned to the impressionable, adolescent teen. It was the early 1950s and Ron Riley headed to downtown Chicago often, eager to watch the guys in the fishbowl radio studios spin Rosie’s platters.

“I just knew that was what I wanted to do,” Riley said, reminiscing. A child of the ‘40s, “there wasn’t a lot … well, not really any, Rock & Roll music then, so I grew up appreciating all types of music – big band, mostly. When not selling insurance, dad’s greatest fun was playing sax and clarinet with local dance bands on weekends. There was always music in our house.”

Young Ron realized that even the disc jockeys didn’t know what to do with Rock & Roll. How do you introduce something so feisty and unpredictable to a radio world previously ruled by big bands, boozy ballads and smooth talkin’ gentleman announcers?

Casey Kasem's "Soul Train" No Quiet Ride

Care to comment? Leave your remarks below - what do you think of Casey's suspended burial?

Young DJ Casey at KEWB
San Francisco 02/24/1962

With a heavy heart, I post an update to Casey Kasem’s rise to Rock& Roll Heaven. His family simply will not allow him to take a peaceful journey on the “Soul Train.”

Recent reports raise the question of the whereabouts of his remains. Seriously?! The "Father" of American Top 40 spirited away on Father's Day (06/15/14). Let the poor man Rest In Peace, for cryin' out loud.

We cannot judge his wife without firsthand knowledge. However, she has apparently defied what his children claim are “his wishes” – and who can argue that none of us would want our bodies to linger in limbo.

While my personal belief is that the soul moves on when our Earthly bodies expire, few of us would deny it is simply unethical not to care for our "released" bodies in a humane way.

We can only hope that this ridiculous travesty will soon be remedied and Mr. Kasem can ultimately, truly, Rest In Peace.

“You don't have to hurry | On a soul train ride | You don't have to worry | Let your troubles slide”

(1968, Classics IV)

Rock On, Casey!

Casey Kasem – Peace, Love, and #1 on our American Top 40

This is not the article I had intended to post next. The Universe, however, has its own plans for us as we learned again recently, when it welcomed another American icon into its Rock & Roll Heaven.

Casey Kasem, 82, the "Father of American Top 40" found his peace last Sunday – Father’s Day, a fitting tribute for his ascent – finally escaping the spectacle of family squabbles that dogged his final year(s) on Earth. 

Casey’s “guy next door” voice served him well from his start in Armed Forces Radio Network in 1950s’ Korea, to finish, as co-creator of the perpetual American Top 40 — which has endured for decades and leaves a fitting legacy for the man behind the microphone.

There was a lot of living in between. Let's celebrate Mr. Kasem's accomplishments, dedication, and contributions to Rock & Roll music!

In the mid-1950s that blasphemous, new-fangled boob-tube was taking the world by storm. Radio simply did not know what to do next.

A vital part of the early Pop and Rock music scene, Casey and other DJs of the era helped shape the genre, as a wave of technology enveloped our world.

Television threatened to drown radio in its salty wake. But Rock & Roll rescued radio …

Feeling the Beat – Is it Getting Fainter?

Classic, Oldies Rock & Roll take hits as stations disappear from your radio dial and we lose key pioneer artists. (Rushed? Skip the diatribe to scroll below for lists of terrestrial and Internet Oldies and Classic Rock radio!)

I vividly remember when The Beatles essentially took over the Earth without firing a shot. Do you? We chanted, “Long live Rock & Roll!” and “It’s gotta be Rock & Roll music if ya wanna dance with me!”! 1964 was pure magic in music.

Well, it may not die, but it’s definitely headed for an old folks’ home …

In the early Sixties one or two radio stations persisted in a Big Band format to placate the “old folks.”  I listened to my dance instructor mother, Florence, lament the loss of variety to enjoy strains of Swing and Strings.

We teens cared not. The powerhouse stations picked up on the popular wave of Rock & Roll and the world would never be the same.

Our once youthful exuberance and lack of fear is no match for Father Time, though. Rock & Roll, however mighty, is apparently not invincible.

At the time, my offhand attitude about the trend irritated and frustrated my mother. “Really, mom, no one listens to that anymore!” No one – meaning no one my age.