Rock Radio JANUARY 1971 Outasight!

♪ Have you ever seen the rain …

Comin’ down on a sunny day ♪* … Just think … we have a whole New Year of grand opportunities waiting to be discovered, if you can see them through the rain. As we learned in 2020, good … even great … can come from extreme adversity. Like the sun peeking out from behind the clouds and its beauty, opportunities are in the eyes of the beholder. Find your sun …

I really need to stop making promises. Tried not to take another day, but life these days is too erratic for promises. Blast from Your Past’s 50 Years Ago this Month is (finally) ready (a day late and a dollar short … literally) to bring you another year of music and mayhem behind the microphone of those wild-and-crazy Rock & Roll Radio DJs. Happy New Year 2021 and let’s flip the switch to ...  

JANUARY 1971 News & Notes …  
For all of my BFYP writings, from books to blogs, the most fun is researching radio station histories.

Not always an easy task, as memories dwindle and ill-kept records on numerous format flips disappear over the years. What’s left can be a skewed timeline that’s as fuzzy as those dice hanging from the rear view mirror of a 1965 Chevy Impala. 
      Case in point is this month’s Featured Radio Survey: KADI/St. Louis. It had so many incarnations that 1971 kind of got lost in the shuffle and sandwiched between its progressive Rock in 1969 and a move down the dial in 1972, from 96.5 (96-FM) to 96.3, where it stayed. But through the decades KADI’s personality eventually morphed into the current WFUN-FM Adult R&B.
      If you ask me, it was just as “fun” back in ’71, with its “Outasight Record Report” boasting, “Under 1 Billion Listeners” on its groovy survey #40.

January 2^nd:  The 1970s continued the ‘60s’ society reformation efforts with a ban on radio and television cigarette advertisements. Ummmm, I don’t see that it has done much to help quash smoking in the past fifty years.

January 21^st:

Every year in January on his birthday, we honor the guy who loved playing wolfman with his nephews long before he became the infamous DJ Wolfman Jack (Robert Weston Smith, 1938-1995). His salacious microphone style and over-the-top personality endeared him to fans and set him on a path to fame and fortune, and all the fun and not-so-fun stuff that comes with it.
      Wolfman’s book title says it all: Have Mercy! Confessions of the Original Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal. The Blast from Your Past book series is dedicated to the DJ who introduced syndicated radio shows and turned his captivating persona into a business brand. Awwwwoooo! You diggin’ the Wolfman Jack Show!

On Your Tinny Transistor Radio 

KADI/St. Louis vacillated between album-oriented Rock, top 40, and progressive formats, throughout 1971. Their surveys reflected the muddled music lineup. Makes ya wonder how the program director kept track of what music to schedule and when!
      While KADI’s January album survey features Creedence Clearwater (*Pendulum), Grateful Dead (American Beauty), Ten Years After (Watt), and John Lennon (Lennon / Ono Band) in the top ten, at Cincinnati’s WSAI, the top 40s format listed none of those artists in the top ten. The Osmonds’ “One Bad Apple” topped WSAI’s hit list, with “Precious Precious” (Jackie Moore) coming in at #10.
      What makes the WSAI survey unique is its top ten songs include two by George Harrison—“Isn’t It a Pity” and “My Sweet Lord” tying at #3—and two by the inimitable Elvis Presley—“There Goes My Everything” and “I Really Don’t Want to Know” doubling up at #4. Nice goin’ guys! ♪ There goes the one of my dreams … ♪ No, no … I’m right here … sigh.

BFYP Featured Radio Survey  
♪ Meet Me in St. Louis!* ♪ at KADI/St. Louis, Missouri, January 8, 1971 to see a brooding Elton John on the cover. He had just enjoyed a great run with “Your Song” and his new Tumbleweed Connection album still held on at #26 of the KADI album survey … 50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio! Where were you that groovy day when your radio played …

Celebrate JANUARY 1971 and … Rock On!  

Blast from Your Past Gifts

Share on Twitter: @BlastFromPastBk

LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and author by way of Rock & Roll. Two books (of three) are published 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. 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. 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! 

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

 

 

Rock Radio DECEMBER 1970 Spiritual Song of Season

December 31, 2020, 9:22p.m. ... working on it!
Happy New Year!
Well, I truly did try to have the January 1st blog ready for early publication, but the Holidays are so jumbled ... just couldn't finish it in time to greet you with the dawn of 2021. It shall be published by the end of the day. CHEERS!! ... LinDee

Note from your blog host:
Yes, dear Oldies lovers and followers, you were promised the publication and availability of BFYP’s Book 3 – R&R Radio DJs: The Psychedelic Seventies, in time for 2020 Holiday shopping. And that didn’t happen. I’m sure, in your lives too, a lot didn’t happen that had been airily planned months, or even a year earlier. Yep, I’m blaming it on C-19, even though as of this writing, I am fortunate not to be directly afflicted. But the whole ordeal of it kinda took the wind out of a lot of sails, mine included, as we worry and navigate a new world. Not a very good reason? You’re right. But as we age, everything takes a little (or a lot) longer. And there you have it.   

      Progress is continuing on the badly belated Book 3, but I’ll never make “timely” promises again. Let me just say as I have many times, Timing is Everything … Trust the Timing. I do promise, I won’t give up until Book 3 is published and completes the music and mayhem trilogy of BFYP’s personally selected pioneering Rock Radio DJs 1954-1979! Comments? Feel free to make ‘em (below) … Cheers to your Holiday Season … stay safe, stay well, and let’s Rock On! Yours in patience and peace … LinDee Rochelle
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, from BFYP and DECEMBER 1970!

50 Years Ago this Month
December 12^th: Powerhouse singer, Jim Morrison, had a tough time with the pressures of fame and following The Doors’ New Orleans appearance at The Warehouse, band members decided they’d had enough of his volatile on-stage antics. No more live shows for Morrison. A prelude to his ultimate downfall in 1971.
      December 1970 music charts didn’t reflect any Doors music, but there was plenty of action up and down the charts:
      BFYP DJ Neilson Ross, made the KCBQ/San Diego survey (BFYP Collection) cover this month (12/04/70) with a striking artful image that I’m sure fans loved. It may be December and the Christmas Season, but a sunglasses-clad smiley face sun at top of the survey, reminded fans it caters to no-snow, sunny San Diego year-round.
      KPOI in another sunny state just a bouncy hop across the ocean, gave listeners a syndicated show ad for Wolfman Jack the week of December 8^th in its “Action 20 Records of Hawaii” survey.
      But finally, the West Coast acknowledges Christmas with BFYP’s *Featured Radio Survey, KHJ/Los Angeles’ “Boss 30” music chart. Dressed as Santa, afternoon DJ Bill Wade, promises to grant some readers’ Christmas wishes!
      What song topped the chart of all three surveys? Read on …

 On Your Tinny Transistor Radio ~ DECEMBER 1970

“My Sweet Lord” (George Harrison) topped the charts for KCBQ, KPOI and KHJ, which reflected much of the country. Quite a coup for George Harrison’s first solo tune (sans the official Beatles). Although not affiliated with any one religious organization, after dabbling in many devout areas, Harrison’s inspiration for a song to the Lord apparently reflected his desire to know God better, without an affiliation.
      Appropriately during the Christmas Season, it resonated with many faiths and a legion of fans who loved the “quiet” Beatle. ♪

Really want to show you, Lord, that it won't take long, my Lord … ♪
      It wasn’t just the “left coast” in the Holiday spirit with this spiritual song … WCFL/Chicago fans also boosted it to #1 in their 12/14/70 “Big Ten Countdown.” But New Yorkers were more enthralled with Dawn’s “Knock Three Times,” on WABC’s “Music Power Survey,” allowing Harrison’s tune a high of #2, though even that didn’t happen until January ‘71. ♪ Twice on the pipe means you ain't gonna show … ♪  

BFYP Featured Radio Survey
*DECEMBER 16, 1970  KHJ/Los Angeles ~ DJ Bill Wade brought Santa Claus to life with a bagful of good deeds for wishful fans … 50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio! Where were you that groovy day when your radio played …   

 Celebrate DECEMBER 1970 and … Rock On!  

Blast from Your Past Gifts
Share on Twitter: @BlastFromPastBk

LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and author by way of Rock & Roll. Two books (of three) are published 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. 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. 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! 

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪