Blast from Your Past

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Rock Radio APRIL 1969 Trumpeting Chicago

Horns Blaring in Chicago!

Do you remember what you were doing 50 Years Ago this Month? Whether you were dancing to what are now the “Oldies” or protesting on a local college campus, chances are you owned a transistor radio.

New Yorkers may even have been a fan of Warren Garling (aka Chris Warren), better known in ‘69 as DJ “Jesse James” on WSNY/Albany, NY. Want to boogie down Memory Lane with him? You’re in luck! Laugh, reminisce, and hum the Oldies tunes with Warren in his recently published memoirs celebrating 50 Years of Rock & Roll Radio! Remember when we used to say, I’ll Have to ask My Mom”?

Now a BFYP Book 2 jock, eleven-year-old Warren visited WBNR/Beacon, New York studios, came home and declared, “Mom, Dad, I don’t want to be Roy Rogers anymore. I want to be a Radio DJ!” Go now & remember …

50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio

APRIL 11^th: Although there truly is an *International "Louie Louie" Day on the official Brownielocks April calendar of events, it celebrates a 1963 happening. So obviously more than 50

Years Ago this Month. But at BFYP we have a vested interest in joining drunk partiers every year on this day. After all, BFYP DJ “Ken Chase”* aka Mike Korgan, produced The Kingsmen’s decades-enduring and endearing version of the iconic party song. A sketchy conflict of interest while working at KISN/Portland, Oregon.

Apparently in a hurry, Mike and the band recorded in it one crazy session, sans any super-professional equipment. Want to learn more? Excerpt from BFYP Book 2 – Ken Chase. And get the whole book on Amazon! Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Louie Louie, oh no / We gotta go … ♪

APRIL 13^th: What goes with “Louie Louie” and Old Time Rock ‘n’ Roll*? Record Store Day of course! Known for new releases and vintage vinyls spanning the decades, record stores across the country revel in the day with all sorts of entertainment, goodies, specials and discounts. Enter your zip code here to find your local participating stores! (*Spanning 1979-2019, nobody does this song better than Bob Seger.)

April 28^th: 50 Years Ago this Month Chicago Transit Authority burst on the Rockin’ scene with a trumpeting blare of horns in their self-titled debut album, garnering a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist of the Year. Their first three top singles, “Questions 67 & 68,” “Beginnings,” and “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” solidified the beginning of their powerful jazzy-Rock sound.

Featured Radio Survey: *Although by 1969 Mike/Ken Chase was long gone from KISN/Portland, we found an April 1969 “Good Guy Survey for the Northwest” at ARSA to tease your memory … 50 Years Ago This Month in Rock & Roll Radio. That awesome day when …

Celebrate APRIL 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!

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Saturday, March 2, 2019

Rock Radio MARCH 1969 Vintage & Timeless

BFYP BULLETIN 03/24/19: BFYP featured pioneering R&R DJ, Warren Garling, expanded on my short story of his early DJ years in Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties, and wrote his memoir of his “journey into radio as a teenager.” As nearly all my DJs interviewed said, “not for fame or fortune, but for below minimum wage,” yet they wouldn’t have traded the experience for anything. Do you remember “Jesse James” at WSNY/Albany NY in 1969? Read Warren’s warm memoir of life behind the mic in the good ol’ days of R&R, “I’ll Have to Ask my Mom” on sale now!

BFYP BULLETIN 03/18/19: Millions of Surf Music fans are sad today, with the passing of Dick Dale, King of the Surf Guitar. Those of us fortunate to see him in person in a small venue like The Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, California, will never forget Dick Dale’s crashing crescendos only he could truly master on a guitar. The surf and music communities were blessed when Dale blended his two loves … music and the ocean. RIP dude. | Benztown audio tribute.

And now, flip on the mic, let’s Rock On back to 1969 …

Radio Loves Vintage and Timeless Tunes

Some songs, new and old, can be played backward and forward in time. Others will see future generations scratch their heads and wonder, what were they talking about? It’s the tunes that transcend time and play solely to our emotions that become immortal.

Those with a vintage vibe, if allowed, will offer a nostalgic lesson in history, and entertain us. Radio is the conduit—then and now—for a song’s impact on our souls …

Still have your 1963 Cadillac transistor radio??

50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio

March 7^th: Hint - ♪ He plays by intuition | The digit counters fall ♪… The Who released their Rock opera album tribute to Tommy, the king of everyone’s favorite arcade game, “Pinball Wizard.” It hit the bottom of KHJ/L.A.’s Boss 30 chart on April 2^nd and peaked at #13 on April 16^th.

Meanwhile, in the East, it was a no-show on WABC/New York’s March/April/May charts, but finally showed up on WQAM/Florida’s Fabulous 56 list April 12^th at no. 47.

“Pinball Wizard” was a catchy, marketable tune with a rather odd, transcendental message that puts it in both the song categories: vintage—what’s a pinball?—and timeless—empathy for the boy’s isolation.

This positioned it perfectly for the Psychedelic Seventies when “Pinball Wizard” enjoyed an energetic resurrection in the film that visualized the band’s album. Elton John gave Tommy renewed vigor in Ken Russell's 1975 big screen adaptation.

March 8^th: What did hit the top of the radio charts this month? Speaking for the East is WQAM 560 ~ “South Florida’s FIRST and Only OFFICIAL Music Survey” where “Proud Mary” by Creedence Clearwater Revival hugged the #1 spot.

Jay & The Americans, a BFYP featured band, struggled to reach #9 with an old favorite, “This Magic Moment.” At the same time, WABC/NY fans gave them a little more love, pushing it up to #5.

Featured Radio Survey: Another ARSA radio chart—WQAM/Florida 560—check out the songs for March 8, 1969 that joined “Proud Mary” and “This Magic Moment” in the top ten, and clambered through the ranks, like “Games People Play” (Joe South) shooting up the chart to debut at #19 … 50 Years Ago This Month in Rock & Roll Radio. That awesome day when …

Celebrate MARCH 1969 and … Rock On!