Rock Radio JANUARY 1974 Time in Continuum

2024 Rock Enshrines Time in Continuum 

Happy New Year Rockers and welcome to another twelve months of Rock & Roll memories! Join me as we continue our journey through the Psychedelic Seventies^TM with the radio stations and dynamic DJs who brought you the music 50 Years Ago this Month^TM … enjoy a New Year’s trip down Memory Lane! Rock On …

JANUARY 1974 Radio Muse & News ♪ 
“By the mid-1970s, it was impossible to tell a Republican from a Democrat from a hippie. Everyone wore their hair long and their jeans flared,” says one dedicated ‘70s site. In turmoil, much like today, 1974 began with leftover lies from the Watergate investigation that would culminate in President Nixon’s resignation by mid-year. Fittingly, protest songs and flamboyant, vibrant attitudes were in, hippies and the laid-back culture were out. In Your Heart | You Know | He Knew …

We’re looking at music chart list toppers like “The Joker” (Steve Miller Band) and Coven’s third remake of 1969’s “One Tin Soldier.” It’s worth learning the lyrics of this one. ♪ … Now, they stood beside the treasure | On the mountain dark and red | Turned the stone and looked beneath it... | "Peace on Earth" was all it said … ♪     

If you know much about California radio stations, you’ll know where long-time DJ, Al Anthony, spent most of his career, and our January 1974 Song of Note will urge you to think about the times of your life. A little about life back in the day …

January 3^rd: Bob Dylan stepped up his rhetoric with the The Band, opening their massive concert tour at Chicago Stadium—his first since 1966. Always the acoustic guru, the tour was also his first backed by an electric band. Guess the political atmosphere sent him out again, into the loud, tempestuous world …

January 17^th: Court and Spark, Joni Mitchell’s first album release in two years, is a mixture of love and angst, with a little jazz infused into her folk-rock style. It was destined to become her all-time best album, with the March release of “Help Me,” a first top-ten for her, reaching out to us in lyrics audiences identified with ♪ … Help me | I think I'm falling | In love again | When I get that crazy feeling | I know I'm in trouble again … ♪     

January 18^th: Shhhh, maybe if we say this quietly, it won’t make us wig out like we did in the last half of the 1970s … Eddie Kendricks’ (co-founder of The Temptations) “Boogie Down,” released in December 1973, began climbing the charts. It showed up at #33 on WCFL/Chicago’s chart January 18, 1974. Not so unusual, except it’s notable for ushering in the Disco era. The infectious dance pop music forever changed radio charts (and dare I say, Radio DJs) by the time it classically ended in 1979.

On Your Tinny Transistor Radio ♪  

Where were you bein’ rowdy and Rockin’ in January 1974? Philly, Denver, SoCal? Here’s a sample of what and who you were listening to …

This month we feature a survey provided by an oft-posting contributor on the incredible data collection site of ARSA (Airheads Radio Survey Archive).

I was going to settle for yet another WCFL vintage survey—they’re plentiful—but yes, you can have too much of a good thing when trying to write a relevant blog. Finally found the fun January 18, 1974, survey for KFXM, in my home state of California, that boasts a “Jock Talk” report on the back, by none other than longtime DJ boss, Al Anthony. 

KFXM/San Bernardino, California, is a frequent mention in my BFYP book series, with many a DJ honing their skills early on, at the small, but influential station in the San Bernardino mountains. Even, Chicago’s own Larry Lujack (1963). It’s true! Larry is never far from our 1970s ruminations of the good ol’ days of Rock Radio! Other notable DJs who kissed the mic at KFXM include Gary Marshall (1966), Bruce Chandler (1971), and of course, Al Anthony (better known to family as Almondo Antonio Vincenzo Fiori) who made a career of it from 1965 to 1984.

Monthly Song of Note ♪ 
It’s time to turn another page of life as we celebrate the end of the old and on with the new … a musical illustration of time in continuum. January 1974’s Song of Note enshrines time as a fitting tribute to the New Year …

Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle” climbed steadily in December to arrive at #11 on KFXM’s January music chart. By contrast, Chicago’s WCFL fans had already pushed it up to #6 and still climbing. The sentimental song transcended and suspended time, space, and even Croce’s life. Released posthumously after his September 20, 1973, plane crash, its lyrics echo an eerie truth that cut short an incredible career at its peak.

Give it a listen as we end a tumultuous year and slide into the beginning of a new unknown … ♪ … But there never seems to be enough time | To do the things you want to do | Once you find them … ♪ See more tuneful tidbits to manifest your memories or enjoy the ambience of 1974 and keep the Rock Rockin’ from 50 Years Ago this Month!

Quirky Band Names ♪
Quirky Band Names dwindle amongst self-titled artists, leaving only one band of interest this month. Black Oak Arkansas sounds more Country than Rock, but this was also a major decade of crossover tunes. Considered “Southern Rock,” which is a genre that fostered Rock & Roll, their name is a not-so-subtle tribute to their hometown. The band members gravitated toward off-the-wall monikers from the first, “The Knowbody Else.”

Not only was the group name a backyard creation, but original member nicknames came in with: Rickie Lee—or Risky or Ricochet—Reynolds on guitar, Ronnie—Chicky Hawk—Smith handling vocals, Wayne—Squeezebox—Evans banging the drums, Harvey—Burley—Jett another guitarman, Pat—Dirty—Daugherty bringing up the bass, and Stanley—Goober Grin—Knight also strumming guitar. Ah, and then they decided another front man needed to replace Ronnie so he could focus on stage production management. In saunters James—Jim Dandy—Mangrum. Hence their #27 and climbing hit at KFXM, “Jim Dandy”! ♪ … I'm Dandy, the kind of guy | Who can't stand to see a little girl cry | Jim Dandy to the rescue! … ♪   

January 2024 Music Events & More ♪    
There are a few January events we feature every year that keep the Oldies Rockin’. 

January 5^th – 8^th: Still riding on June 2022’s highly regarded Elvis movie popularity, Graceland added even more guests to the 2024 Elvis Birthday Celebration. Although most of it is accessed through a visit to Graceland, their website also offers fun and frolic for the occasion. Perennial radio and television personality, Wink Martindale, will be appearing, along with others who were there in the beginning of Elvis’s historic career.

January 20^th: It’s National Disc Jockey Day! Yes, it’s a thing. The primary sponsoring link, however, is a Wikipedia tribute to Alan Freed, so we’ll just celebrate it in our own way … with an appreciative nod to the 40+ Disc Jockeys I interviewed for the Blast From Your Past book series, and the consummate DJ it’s dedicated to …

January 21^st: Wolfman Jack’s birthday!! He’d be 86 today (1938-1995) and if you’re an avid radio fan and haven’t read his book yet, what are you waiting for? Have Mercy! Confessions of the Original Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal needs to be on your book list. Its timeline is a bit jumbled and a few facts may be blurred with fiction, but it’s in his voice and what a voice that was! (Image: Wolfman Jack & San Diego’s own celeb DJ, Shotgun Tom Kelly!)   

BFYP Featured Radio Survey ♪♪
JANUARY 18, 1974 ~  KFXM/San Bernardino, California ~ Smart promotions with “Jock Talk” on back of their music chart. Al Anthony not only previewed local DJ events, but crammed in a how to host your own DJ Record Hop, what tunes were Future Hits, and even that Elvis had his 39^th birthday! Fun stuff … 50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio! Where were you that groovy day when your radio played …

Let’s Celebrate JANUARY 1974 and … Cheers to Your New Year!

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 Twitter: @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! 

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Rock Radio DECEMBER 1973 Strawberry Holiday

 We’re Rockin’ Strawberry Ornaments  

As always—OK, usually—there’s a method to my Christmas decorating madness. Take a look at our December Song of Note and you’ll know where my festive strawberry spirit originated, 50 Years Ago this month.

Of course, you don’t need to be old enough to remember December 1973 tunes on the radio to enjoy our monthly tribute to Oldies Rock & Roll and the fun and zany DJs who brought it to you. All you need is a love for pioneering Rock music and a curiosity of its amazing, enduring history on the radio. Let’s get Rockin’ …

DECEMBER 1973 Radio Muse & News ♪   

What was happening in Rock music as we decorated our trees this month 50 Years Ago? Well, let me tell you …

December 5^th: Paul McCartney—no longer a Beatles member, released Wings’ best and most enduring album, Band on the Run. What was your favorite tune from the album—same name “Band on the Run” or the puppy name turned into a silly love song, “Jet”? For a pure romantic romp though, I enjoy “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five.” UK DJ Paul Gambaccini quoted Paul in a 1976 book that told of Paul’s penchant for 1^st-line creativity, “'No one ever left alive in nineteen hundred and eighty-five.' That's all I had of that song for months. 'No one ever left alive in nineteen hundred and eighty... six?' It wouldn't have worked!" ♪ … no one left alive in 1985 | will ever do | She may be right | She may be fine | She may get love but she won't get mine | Cause I got you … ♪ Not the lyrics you would expect from a futuristic first line …

December 23^rd: Sliding down the East Coast in December 1973, we find WKKO/Cocoa Beach, Florida, struttin’ their stuff on a music survey for  week ending December 23^rd, with the "Keep on Truckin’" hippie cartoon art that we talked about last month. The station didn’t stop there, however, giving their cover the obligatory Florida psychedelic sun and a version of recently minted Rolling Stones’ salacious tongue.

December 31^st: Of course, it’s New Year’s Eve 1973! Likely one of the most memorable nights of the decade for Young brothers, Malcolm and Angus as they debut AC/DC on the New Year’s Eve stage for former Syndney, Australia’s, Chequers nightclub. Although purportedly closed in 1970, the once-popular venue obviously limped on for a few more years. From the outset, AC/DC band members displayed a glam penchant for flashy costumes. Angus even tried out Zorro and lampooned a Superman costume. Known for their hard rock/heavy metal/blues-rock music, they began their career covering tunes of the Beatles, Chuck Berry and some of the old blues. Fun place and night to begin anew …

On Your Tinny Transistor Radio ♪  
Where were you celebrating the holidays December 1973? New York, Houston, or Cocoa Beach, Florida? Here’s a sample of what and who you were listening to …

WKKO/Cocoa Beach, Florida’s, radio survey for week ending December 23, 1973, like the state itself, is a little different. It’s comprised of a Top 35 music chart … yep, you read it right—not Top 20 or Top 40—eccentric or creative, your choice.

It wasn’t easy to find history on the station, for all its apparent historical popularity. A surf community favorite, the station served it well, with afternoon wave forecasts by champion surfer, Bob Freeman. His job at Canaveral Pier’s Ron Jon Surf Shop gave Bob the perfect view with a penchant for the waves. A Florida Today site recalls a 2019 conversation with Freeman, "The disc jockeys still remember they were outrageous," Freeman said. "All the guys would come into the shop and I'd be doing this live feed, and they'd all be yelling in the background, like, 'Hey, Miami boys, go home, we got no waves here,' or, 'Stay away, this guy knows nothing,' but I'd be looking out the window of the shop at the wave breaks." 

DJ Bryan Norcross recalls living on the Florida coast as a kid during WKKO’s heyday, “… KO-860 was a daytimer. When the sun went down, they went off the air, and the AM radio dial exploded with the royalty of radio. Fifty-thousand-watt radio stations from big cities in the North and Midwest came booming in … the big one, WABC, lit up my radio from New York City …” 

Speaking of WABC … in its legendary 1970s era the New York City radio station compiled a year-end Top 100 music chart. I’ve always felt bad for the songs that debuted on the radio in November and December … aren’t
they kinda getting the short end of the year-end survey stick? You can probably argue that they may have made the top of the next year’s list … but did anyone even check? Prob’ly not.  

#1 on WABC’s colorful “MusicRadio 77 100 Top Hits 1973” was Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” hitting top of charts in February & March. With a flood of now-iconic tunes throughout, the bottom #100 tune was by the compelling artist already tagged as The Divine Miss M, Bette Midler, with “Do You Want to Dance.” The tune was an April big hit.

But did “Time In a Bottle” by Jim Croce truly deserve the year’s third-to-last spot at #97, while WABC’s own surveys shot him up from #28 on 12/03 to #5 by month’s end? Luck of the draw, I suppose. “Time” finally landed at #1 on their January 14, 1974, survey. Sadly, the song was released posthumously. Jim died in a plane crash on September 20, 1973.

Monthly Song of Note ♪   
Have you sung along to any of the songs mentioned so far? If none of the above struck your year-end fancy for December 1973, let’s have a showdown for the Song of Note.

Contender: “Show and Tell” by Al Wilson is not your science project or day-after-Christmas kinda show-and-tell … he’s in loooove at #10 on WKKO’s music chart ladder, leaping seven rungs up from the previous week. Go ahead, I won’t watch while you warble ♪ … Just a game I play | When I wanna say "I love you" | Girl, so show me and tell me |That you feel the same way too … ♪    

Winner: It’s Dawn’s juicy, ragtime-style “Strawberry Patch” however, up from #14 at WKKO last week to #6 that takes the Song of Note trophy this month. It’s a great example of how radio station surveys can be misleading if you 1) weren’t there back in the day; or 2) don’t know radio station surveys often altered song titles for space … the song’s full title: “Who's In The Strawberry Patch With Sally” … now that’s a far cry from just thinking about a strawberry patch! Inquiring minds wanted to know ♪ … Who's in the strawberry patch with Sally | Now that she's not picking them with me? | Oh no, I don't care what they're doing there | 'Neath the shade of the old apple tree … ♪  

And why was it chosen as our December song? Because strawberries are the perfect bright red December ornament for a green Christmas tree!

Quirky Band Names ♪  

I looked at El Chicano for this category and found the Los Angeles brown-eyed soul group had a great varietal style with “Tell Her She’s Lovely,” jumping quickly from #33 on WKKO’s chart to #23 this month. However, it was a beacon of light from Canada that caught my full Quirky Band Names attention …  

How could I pass it by with a name like Lighthouse? And, their lighthearted tribute to the ladies, “Pretty Lady,” also jumped ten spots on the chart in a week, up from #21 to #11. According to reports, the auspicious rise of the original 13-member band began in 1969 in Toronto, Ontario. It came with a performance introduction by none other than the illustrious Duke Ellington, “I'm beginning to see the Light...house." Unfortunately, by 1976, their light began to dim and the members disbanded. Reunited in 1992, a version of Lighthouse has remained on stage, since. 

December 2023 Music Events & More ♪   

December 2^nd:  And 50 Years from THIS day … make that December 2073 … KISS will be in the news again, with diehard metal fans remembering when, as a young’un, mom and dad took them to see the very last on-stage KISS performance at Madison Square Garden (New York). More astounding, as AP reporter Maria Sherman titled her article, “Kiss say farewell to live touring, become first US band to go virtual and become digital avatars.” Celebrated founders, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons were joined by Eric Singer (drummer) and Tommy Thayer (guitarist) leaving the stage to delight fans with their immortal avatars in their final statement, “God Gave Rock 'n' Roll to You II.” (KISS 1991; Argent [original] 1973) Proving once again, Rock & Roll will never diiiiieeeee …

December 21^st: Looking for a way to honor 1973 during Christmas? Go Caroling Day doesn’t have an official link, but it’s a great time to remember and/or learn the many great Rockin’ Christmas tunes of the 1970s. Why not take the ‘70s songs caroling with you?

Beyond the 1970s there is a full 50-tune list for the past 50 years, but according to popularity, these ten 1970s songs were the best of the best December 2020:

“This Christmas” (1970) – Donny Hathaway
“Feliz Navidad” (1970) - José Feliciano
“River” (1971) – Joni Mitchell
“If We Make It Through December” (1973) – Merle Haggard
“Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy” (1977) – Bing Crosby & David Bowie
“Pretty Paper” (1979) – Willie Nelson
“Aires de Navidad” (“Christmas Spirit”) (1970) - Willie Colón
“I Want to Come Home for Christmas” (1972) – Marvin Gaye
“Christmas in Prison” (1973) – John Prine
“Christmas Eve Can Kill You” (1972) – The Everly Brothers  

BFYP Featured Radio Survey ♪♪  
DECEMBER 16-23, 1973 ~ WKKO/Cocoa Beach, Florida’s “860 Radio Hot Rocks” survey is pure psychedelic ‘70s. From its oversized, expressive artwork to its hip text style, there’s no doubt of its origin. Although WABC published a commendable 1973 year-end list, I had to give the FRS to WKKO. “Brevard County’s coverage giant wishes you a good day” … 50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio! Where were you that groovy day when your radio played …   

Let’s Celebrate DECEMBER 1973 and … Cheers to Your Holiday Happiness!

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 Twitter: @BlastFromPastBk 

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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 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 … Book 3 – 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! 

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