Blast from Your Past

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Rock Radio NOVEMBER 1969 Thanks for Memories

Thank You … Thank You Very Much …

November and December are months devoted to food, don’t you think? What’s for Thanksgiving … who’s bringing the eggnog for Christmas … and where’s the next potluck Holiday party? Sound familiar?

Food was certainly on Dave Thomas’s mind when he opened his first Wendy's Hamburgers in Columbus, Ohio, November 15, 1969. Yep – 50 Years Ago this Month!

So while we were munching on the new American fast food delicacy, Thanksgiving was just around the corner. Although certainly worthy and debatably the most celebrated meal, it isn’t the only event in November. So after we give thanks for the food and family memories, let’s take a walk and work off our big-T-dinner with more fun. Rockin’ on down Memory Lane …

Your Tinny Transistor Radio News ~ NOVEMBER 1969

November 1^st: Without any recent records from Elvis, by 1969 everyone wondered if we would ever hear his sexy sounds on the radio again. Oh ye of little faith. After a seven-year hiatus, he hit Billboard’s #1 in ratings again on this date, following the popularity of “Suspicious Minds” during the Halloween season. Thank you ... thank you very much.

KHJ/Los Angeles fans bounced it to the top as early as October 8^th, and by November 3^rd, it still rallied at #5 on *WLS/Chicago. California wearied of it finally, kicking it off KHJ’s chart by November 5^th, to replace it with The Beatles’ dynamic duo, **“Something” and “Come Together.” ♪ Got to be a joke he just do what he please ♪ …

November 7^th: Where were you this date in 1969? If you called Fort Collins, Colorado, home, or Colorado State University your alma mater, it’s likely you favored stones over boulders, to attend The Rolling Stones’ concert on this date. Rock critics dubbed it a Rock and Roll legend. What made this American warm-up show of their long-awaited tour so memorable?

It was the first major outing for “Little Mick” Taylor having recently replaced guitarist Brian Jones. From “Honky Tonk Women” to "All Down the Line" and “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll,” Taylor contributed to many of the Stones’ early best works, 1969-1974. ♪ But I like it … ♪

**November 29^th: Was it fair that “Something” and “Come Together” kicked other songs off the top of charts 50 Years Ago this Month? I’m sure The Beatles thought so. Revising charting policies for A and B songs on this date, Billboard gave the two songs a push by combining each song’s accrued points to create “one” #1 hit. It wasn’t long before other artists cashed in as well, like Creedence Clearwater Revival with “Fortunate Son” and “Down On The Corner.” Cool. ♪ Willie and the Poor Boys were playin’ … ♪

Rockin’ Retro Radio

Buy, sell, trade. The mechanics of business plays out in radio ownership, and 1969 saw significant changes, like the National Science Network’s acquisition of KMPX-FM/San Francisco, along with KPPC-AM & FM stations/Pasadena.

BFYP DJs Tom and Raechel Donahue had already reprogrammed KMPX to a successful album-oriented Rock format before exiting in 1968. As 1969 came to a close, KPPC was about to follow suit headed by PD Doug Cox, who begged (BFYP) DJ, William F. Williams, to join him.

Says Raechel of the long-play format growing ever more popular in that era, “… it was really fun to be able to create the show when you could weave a musical topic and tell the story.” (BFYP, Book 2.)

It appears about two years was the average length of time for conservative owners NSN to tolerate KPPC’s Rockin’ rebellious staff. Case in point—William dubbed it, the “PP”. Williams left late in 1972.

*Featured Radio Survey

WLS/Chicago captures this month’s Featured Survey honors, as their “Radio 89 Hit Parade” holds former #1 comeback hit for Elvis’ “Suspicious Minds” at #5 on the November 3, 1969 chart. ♪ And we can’t build our dreams | on Suspicious Minds ♪ … 50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio! Where were you that groovy day when …

Celebrate NOVEMBER 1969 and … Rock On!

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

Note: FYI – All links in the BFYP site are personally visited, verified, and vetted. Most are linked to commonly accessed sites of reputable note. However, as with everything cyber-security, use at your own discretion.

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Monday, September 30, 2019

Rock Radio OCT 1969 Winding Road to Outhouse

♪ Whole Lotta Love ♪ & an Outhouse!

1969 began its metamorphosis into a new decade with Richard Nixon president. In my writings I have often compared the ‘60s politics, lifestyles, and societal ills, to the present decade.

The primary difference between this decade and the 1960s is high-tech “progress.” In its infancy then, it now rules our lives. On October 29, 1969 we witnessed the first message sent through ARPANET. The baby Internet was born. Eventually hailed as a lifestyle savior, it has eroded our lives in its child-like self-serving demands for attention.

Is it coincidence or providence that we ended the ‘60s like we’re ending the twenty-teens … unable to establish peace in the country or within our neighborhoods, and with a president who emphatically declares, “I am not a crook!”

At least we had … and have … our Rock & Roll for comfort. And with that … we Rock On to the forerunner of fake news … 50 Years Ago this Month.

Your Tinny Transistor Radio News ~ OCTOBER 1969

Throughout the month we experienced fake news long before it became a maliciously insidious Internet disease. It ambled down the “Long and Winding Road” of rumors about Paul McCartney.

Even the most popular radio stations perpetuated the possibility of McCartney’s untimely demise nearly three years prior, to entertain their listeners and up those all-mighty ratings. There is always an angle … money, politics, or publicity …

Per Wiki: Lennon was interviewed in London by New York's WMCA, and he ridiculed the rumour but conceded that it was invaluable publicity for the album.

It took a November (1969) Life magazine interview with Paul McCartney to set the world straight again. ♪ You left me standing here a long, long time ago ♪

Now, they call the story a “legend.” And yet, how does it differ from today’s “fake news”? Just askin’ …

October 14^th: “Someday We’ll Be Together,” Diana Ross & The Supremes’ final single together, is released. But the story goes, that song did not include Supremes Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong in the recording. It was Diana’s first solo song in anticipation of her January 1970 departure from the group. Ironic song in view of their split. The Supremes’ consolation prize was the B-Side, “He’s My Sunny Boy.”

October 22^nd: One of my all-time favorite bands—Led Zeppelin—released their iconic second album, Led Zeppelin II, on this date. Considered by many, the most prominent and powerful collection of quintessential English Rock era songs. Talk about “influencers”—Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were a solid force to reckon with; though classified as Heavy Metal, Zeppelin’s many followers can attest to their incorporation of Blues, Psychedelic Rock and Folk Music.

While most everyone knows and loves their “Stairway to Heaven” (1971) my all-time favorite song came from this album. “Whole Lotta Love” is the first tune I ever heard through headphones. Oh … my. I was never the same.

Not only the lyrics rattled this impressionable teen psyche, but headphones carried its palpable reverberation through my brain as it wrapped itself around and through my mind. ♪ Way down inside honey, you need it … ♪ The only way to listen to Zeppelin is through headphones.

Rockin’ Retro Radio

*Featured Radio Stations for this month are a double-whammy pair of San Diego heavy hitters—KCBQ/San Diego (10/03/69), with artful cover sketch of BFYP DJ Neil Ross, and KGB

(10/15/69) with BFYP DJ Rich Bro Robbin starting off the football season in a fun original caricature.

But it’s KQWB/Fargo, North Dakota that gives us a chuckle and makes October ’69 a hit.

Yep - this IS a transistor radio in the BFYP Collection.

The ‘60s were famous for over-the-top radio station contests and outlandish antics. KQWB takes the cake this month with an outhouse contest and boasting an “exclusive story ‘The Mystery of Paul McCartney’.” Anyone know if the outhouse prize was a transistor radio? <<<<<<<<< Cute!

*“Double” Featured Radio Survey(s): KCBQ and KGB, both popular San Diego radio stations ignored the McCartney mystery—at least on their surveys—and even differed with each other on fans’ favored #1 songs.

KCBQ fans kept the Archies’ “Sugar, Sugar” at the top of their “Heavy 30 Hits” a little longer than some pockets of the country (10/03/69); but “Sugar, Sugar” already slipped to #13 on KGB’s “Boss 30” with The Beatles’ “Something” and ”Come Together” boosted up to tie at the top of their chart (10/15/69) … 50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio! Where were you that groovy day when …

Celebrate OCTOBER 1969 and … Rock On!