Happy New Year! You Still Living in the Past?
Hello,
World! I’m still alive an’ kickin’! However, I can’t kick as high or often as I
used to; at least that’s what my senior physical therapist says. Fortunately, I
don’t need to kick to finish January’s article—which, last day of the month or
not, I was determined to do.
You
know in any sport with a ball, there’s a smart coach somewhere who reminds you
that the most important action on the field or court, is your follow-through.
Sometimes, though, while necessary, that follow-through tweak can be cause for
pain … that’s a fitting metaphor for my life in the past month.
In
reflection, this once tree-climbing tomboy in a ballet tutu is reminded of my
dad teaching me how to play “boys’” hardball (baseball). He’d bellow from the
catcher’s mound, “Don’t forget your follow-through!” Great advice for sports …
and life. So let’s get on with it and Rock your world 50 Years Ago
this Month …
♪ Then & Now Rockin’ News & Views
Some of what I’d planned for this month’s “Now” section has come and gone.
What’s below, is news I thought you could still use.
However,
“Then” is obviously still relevant any time, so enjoy! Have I mentioned lately
how much I love perusing old radio station surveys from yesteryear? My vintage collection
spans a little more than three decades, with the 1970s closing out the assortment—a
few ‘80s managed to sneak in, but only if they included DJs I adore, like
Wolfman Jack. Since the 21st of January is his birthday, don’t
forget to check out the mini-tribute below.
Now,
however, we have a special tribute to another pioneering Rock Radio DJ,
our very own Bill Gardner! He reminded me that he once called San Diego
home (as do I) and helped give the legendary KCBQ its stellar
reputation, 50 Years Ago this Month!
“Yep, I started as 6-9AM guy on KCBQ/San
Diego in January 1973. Still a wonderful memory of a great
time; and you
know between Shotgun Tom [Kelly], the late David London, and Gene
Knight (still in San Diego), I made some great friends.
As you know, the former studio site on Mission
Gorge Road … is now a Lowes and an In-And-Out Burger. Come to think of it,
the same thing has happened to KOOL 94.5 in Phoenix :-).
Bill and I first met in Phoenix in the early
2000s; after he moved on and I moved back “home” to San Diego, we joined up
again with more than 400 fans to celebrate KCBQ’s monument dedication in
2010.
Its plaque reads in
part: “… For many years, KCBQ AM 1170 was San Diego's only 50,000 watt AM
radio station. From this location, between 1958 and 1978 many legendary radio
personalities broadcast the best ‘Top 40’ music, news, and entertainment to all
of San Diego County.” Besides many DJs returning to the scene
of their cryin’ out loud days of music and mayhem, they gave “old-timer,” DJ
Jack Vincent a special tribute. Why? Glad you asked …
“Jack is the Daddy-O of the late-night show. ‘I
worked twenty-seven years there (1955-1982), during their “glory days,”’ said
Jack, ‘and on air most of that time (1955-1967).’ Jack’s tenure at KCBQ
is still an unbroken record.” As of 2017—more
on debonair Jack.
DJ Extraordinaire Bill Gardner, however, was 1973's premier morning guy at KCBQ and loves bringing back the memories for all of us, of his days behind the mic, on his website, like this one posted 01/13/23: “So cool to be the Morning Personality
on rock and roll San Diego radio station legend KCBQ! Maybe
you saw in previous posts here, they put my name on the sides of San Diego city
busses, thousands of KCBQ music surveys distributed all over town,
and this [image].....every five gallon jug of the widespread Arrowhead Water
for home and work water coolers. Wow, can it really [be] exactly fifty years
ago???” Yes, Bill, but … we never age in our memories, do we?
As our article title suggests,
for your Song of Note this month, I chose a Jethro Tull tune that
generally hit in the top ten across the country. It sports an apropos title for
the beginning of the New Year—Then and Now—“Living in the Past.”
Some would say I’m living a bit too much in the past.
While that may be true to some extent, my pure joy in writing these Blast
from Your Past articles began with my
books about our pioneering Rock Radio DJs, rooted in the musical
memories they brought to us.
Admittedly, I am no expert about any of it, like our fave
DJ Bill Gardner; like many of you, I imagine, I am a simple fan of the
music and those wild-and-crazy DJs who Rocked our radio stations back in the
day.
Today, while returning to the past for these articles, I’ve
found myself discovering the music all over again—this time, savoring the
often-quixotic history and angst, fantasy or love behind it. So yes, I’m living
in the music of the past and learning more than expected about the era
and its similarities to the present. Did you know ... 50 Years Ago this
Month ...
> Then JANUARY 1973 Rockin’ News
…
1973 is no less musically exciting than the previous two years of the
decade, and some radio stations continued illustrating the psychedelic years
with fantastic pop-art surveys swirling around with their DJs!
We’re celebrating the DJs
this month with a mention for Don Stewart, who made your weekends fun at
KRIZ/Phoenix. However, even after scouring a few research and DJ sites,
there was no info to be found on him. Is “Don Stewart” one of the infamous
radio station monikers portrayed by many? If anyone knows ... think you might?
See his cover on Featured Radio
Survey page.
On the other hand,
WCFL/Chicago,
with a fun cover image, proudly offered their guys to top off your mornings.
Bob
Dearborn and
Tom Murphy were both prolific jocks over the decades
before
WCFL. Bob began in Canada, working his way into the US as Bud
Roberts or Mark Allen. He arrived at
WCFL with the Dearborn name around
1970. Bob kept everyone up to date on his
life
and times in a blog for several
years, but retired it in 2018. After a comprehensive Eastern radio career, last
I heard Bob is still enjoying retirement back in Canada.
Fellow
DJ, Tom, also kept his listeners happy before and after their Chicago
gig. The “World Famous” Tom Murphy last told, resides in California’s
San Fernando Valley, after a lengthy radio career from Portland to Cleveland
and back. He and Bob spent a couple of years at WCFL, but Tom was making a name
for himself first, at what he calls KJR/Seattle’s
“Golden Years” (around 1966).
What else was happening to
ring in 1973? The things we do for fame ...
January 14th: Elvis Presley donned a grass skirt (figuratively
speaking) and made television history as his satellite-broadcast special, “Elvis
Presley’s Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite” shook up the most-ever countries at once! At that time, over forty
countries boasted watching the experience of Elvis-the Pelvis.
Um, yeah, I know that’s no big deal
now, but it sure was then, as it proclaimed to entertain the biggest audience ever,
by a solo artist!
January 30th: Did you catch a bit of history on this day as heavy
metal glam-band, KIϟϟ,
began their meteoric climb to stardom on stage at Queens, New York’s Popcorn
Club (soon to become the Coventry Club)? Wow! Then you’re a legend too—it’s
reported that less than ten music lovers saw that show.
> On Your
Tinny Transistor Radio ♪
Looks
like
1973 radio
raced into the New Year wherever you
listened—literally! Well, except in San Francisco.
While
KRIZ/Phoenix’s “Music Guide” featured the Phoenix Dragway on the back of
DJ Don Stewart’s survey cover, DJs Bob Dearborn and Tom Murphy
mugged for WCFL/Chicago’s survey cover, presenting a cool International
Speed Auto Show ad.
But on the
far left at KSAN/San Francisco, Tom & Raechel Donahue were
radio DJs of a different color, as they partnered with Playboy magazine
for an iconic caricature ad, by Norman Orr. Artwork includes the Donahues, many
tiny headshots of iconic musicians, like The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa,
and Joni Mitchell.
The truly fun part for this radio fan are the great caricatures of
KSAN’s radio
personalities who were 1960s and ‘70s icons. Besides Tom and Rachel Donahue,
who remembers Thom O’Hair, Dave McQueen, Richard Gossett, Bonnie Simmons, the
pioneering Dusty Street, and soon-to-be Rolling Stone Magazine’s Ben Fong
Torres?
What
were listeners clamoring for this month? “
You’re So Vain” by Carly
Simon scrambled to #1 on KRIZ. ¯You prob’ly
think this song is about you … ¯
Monthly Song of Note ♪ ...
I have the quintessential 1970s “far out” tune to start the year(s)—1973 AND
2023! 50 Years Ago this Month ... UK audiences heard it first in
1969, but we only received a promotional release of Jethro
Tull’s “Living in the Past.” It didn’t hit big
here until its US-release in October 1972, when it scrambled our psyche enough
to ring in the New Year for ’73. January 13th’s KRIZ/Phoenix
chart saw it at #7, while Chicago fans boosted it #2 on WCFL’s January
27 Super Survey. “Living” was the band’s first song to
hit the Top 20 here, and its composer/band front man, Ian Anderson, later
reflected on its lament of the naïve hippie lifestyle and era. Obviously a
heartfelt statement, his passion in it only took an hour or so to write while
staying in a Boston Holiday Inn.
The British band could easily slip into the Quirky
Band Name category—did you know after nondescript names like Navy Blue and Candy
Coloured Rain, Jethro Tull’s booking agent, who
was a history buff, bestowed the name of the 18th-century agriculturist on them—and
it stuck! ¯ ... Now there's
revolution, but they don't know | What they're fighting ... Oh, we
won't give in | Let's go living in the past ... ¯
Quirky Band Names ...
Although more bands were using their front-person’s name and more artists went
“solo” with no formal credit for their backup band, a few notable Quirky Band Names still crop up. 
Creating a weather break, Hurricane Smith—a solo Brit—came up strong and could almost qualify
as a one-hit wonder, with his 1972 production of “Oh Babe,
What Would You Say?”
But it’s King Harvest who
adapted their name from "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)" a song recorded by Bob
Dylan’s early backup band, The Band, that catches our eye this month.
Their “Dancing in
the Moonlight” is one of the most intimate
songs to hit the charts and begin the new year … They keep things loose
| They keep things light … written by Sherman Kelly and recorded by his
band, Boffalongo, is more profound that its light, hopeful
lyrics suggest. He wrote them as a beacon of hope for humanity in 1969 after
suffering a vicious beating by a St. Croix gang who went on to murder eight
American tourists.
In the
“Wow, I never knew that back then,” manner, did you? That backstory gives so
much more depth to the song. Take a look at the lyrics.
One last 1972 music note ♪: “Canada’s Super Hits” [top ten] for
January 27th, according to WCFL/Chicago, listed “Rockin’ Pneumonia” by Johnny Rivers, at #1. Canada’s
own, Edward Bear, clawed his way to #2 with “The Last Song.” Sitting at #10 was
Cat Stevens’ “Sitting.”
Now JANUARY 2023 Rockin’ Today …
[01/31/23]
Yes, I know we missed Wolfman Jack’s birthday—proof that the absence
from my blogs was, indeed, necessary and significant. Especially since this is
the extraordinary DJ to whom is dedicated all of the Blast from Your Past
writings! I’ll try to never let it happen again. In the meantime, please enjoy
the belated mini-tribute (largely republished from January 2022):
January 21st: Our tribute page to Wolfman Jack credits the Rock
Radio pioneer on what would have been his 85th birthday! Awwwwoooo!
How’s your boogaloo, baby?
What did the Wolfman think of being
a DJ? Well, he wasn’t your ordinary disc jockey ... he didn’t just bend rules
... he shattered them. And yet, he kept getting hired!
Like Wolfman's gig at
WNBC: "Maybe the humor was a little juvenile, but for the audience, we were a stand-in for all their desires to be naughty, and to slip loose from the rules that everybody else has to go by. It was like we were getting away with what they wanted to get away with. And that's kind of what people want from a rock ‘n’ roll disc
jockey.” (
Have Mercy! Confessions of the Original Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal.)
January 28th: Whoohoo! It’s National
Kazoo Day! Although the official link is for their main site page, the fun
history begins with their About
Page.
Now, we’ve celebrated the Kazoo in
past years, but perhaps never really explained its importance to music. This
isn’t just a silly American’s pastime, as evidenced by a page on the National
Kazoo Day site, All About The Kazoo: The text of
a speech by Michael Fink of Denmark.
Fink repeats the dubious Kazoo’s creation by Macon, Georgia’s
Alabama Vest, sometime in the 1840s. Although nothing in other histories
mention Thaddeus Von Klegg, the German clock maker said to have constructed it.
Vague histories swirl around its official documentation and patents. If you’re
truly into it, I’ll help you start your search for “the truth.” History
1; History 2.
It did, however, grab the skirt hems
of traditional music and made its way into pop melodies, featured in such tunes
as 1962’s hit, “Johnny
Get Angry” and 1973’s “You’re
Sixteen” cover by Ringo Starr. Even Frank Zappa grabbed a Kazoo in 1966 for
fun sounds in his debut album, Freak Out! So grab yourself a Kazoo and
have a party!
♪ BFYP Featured Radio Survey
JANUARY 13-19, 1973 ~ KRIZ/Phoenix, Arizona, takes our FRS
top honor this month, as Carly Simon’s "You're So Vain," jumped quickly up the Music Guide to #1. Billy Paul's "Me and Mrs. Jones" at #2, was hot on its heels. What was your favorite in their top ten? … 50 Years Ago this Month in Rock &
Roll Radio! Where were you that groovy day when your radio played …
Final note LR 01/31/23: Yes, this is January’s article—finally—and we all
know, tomorrow begins another month. I’m workin’ on it … but obviously, it may
be a few days. Certainly, not as long as this one took. So glad you came back …
cheers to your Rockin’ New Year!
Let’s Celebrate JANUARY 1973
and … Rock On! ♪
BFYP Book 1 (
1954-1959) on
Amazon
BFYP Book 2 (Swinging ‘60s) on
Amazon
Blast
from Your Past Gifts Share your 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!
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
ORIGINAL POST ~ LR / BFYP
LATE NOTE ♪ 01/01/2023: My plan, dear readers, was to be ready for the New Year with
a spectacular article that would lead into another year of discovery and fun, in
the life and times of Rock Radio DJs and their music, for
1973.
Have you heard the old adage, “The best laid plans of mice
and men”—to which I add, and women trying to accomplish something—often go awry?
Well, December found me gasping for deep breaths as my life took a major twist
from which I am still reeling. All good, though.
So bear with me, please, while we dive into 1973 in
bits and pieces, still “Living in the Past,” stepping hesitantly forward into a
New Year. It isn’t complete yet, with lots more images and text to come, but hopefully, we’ll whet your appetite for
more, and Rock your memories to bring you a smile!
♪
Then
& Now Rockin’ News & Views
Have I mentioned lately how much I love perusing the old radio station surveys
from yesteryear? My collection spans a little more than three decades, with the
1970s closing out the assortment—a few ‘80s managed to sneak in, but only if
they included DJs I adore, like Wolfman Jack.
As I
mentioned above, for your Song of Note this month, I chose a Jethro Tull
tune that generally hit in the top ten across the country. It sports an apropos
title for the beginning of the New Year—Then and Now—“Living in the Past.”
Some would
say I’m living a bit too much in the past. While that may be true to some
extent, my pure joy in writing these Blast from Your Past articles began
with my books about our pioneering Rock Radio DJs, and is rooted in the musical
memories they brought to us.
Admittedly,
I am no expert about any of it; like many of you, I imagine, I am a fan of the
music and back in the day, my faves were nearly all “danceable” tunes, whether
I bothered to learn the lyrics or not.
Today, I’ve
found that while returning to the past for these articles, I am discovering the
music all over again—this time, savoring the often-quixotic history and angst, fantasy
or love behind it. So yes, I’m living in the music of the past and learning
more about the era and its similarities to the present, than I ever knew
existed. Let’s Rock On ... 50 Years Ago this Month ...
> Then MONTH 1973 Rockin’
News …
1973 is no less musically exciting than the previous two years of
the decade, and some radio stations continued the psychedelic years with
fantastic pop-art and some wild-and-crazy DJs!
We’re celebrating the DJs this month with a mention
for Don Stewart, who made your weekends fun at KRIZ/Phoenix.
However, even after scouring a few research and DJ sites, there was no info to
be found on him. Is “Don Stewart” one of the infamous radio station monikers
portrayed by many? If anyone knows ...
On the other hand, WCFL/Chicago, with a fun cover
image, proudly offered their guys to top off your mornings. Bob Dearborn
and Tom Murphy were both prolific jocks over the decades before WCFL.
Bob began in Canada, working his way into the US as Bud Roberts or Mark Allen.
He arrived at WCFL with the Dearborn name around 1970. Bob kept everyone
up to date on his life and times in
a blog for several years, but retired it in 2018. After a comprehensive Eastern
radio career, last I heard Bob is still enjoying retirement back in Canada.
Fellow
DJ, Tom, also kept his listeners happy before and after their Chicago
gig. We found the “World Famous” Tom Murphy last told, residing in
California’s San Fernando Valley, after a lengthy radio career from Portland to
Cleveland and back. He and Bob spent a couple of years at WCFL, but Tom was
making a name for himself first, at what he calls KJR/Seattle’s
“Golden Years” (around 1966).
What else was happening to ring in 1973? So glad you
asked ...
January 14th: Elvis Presley donned a
grass skirt and made television history as his satellite-broadcast special, “Elvis Presley’s Aloha from
Hawaii via Satellite” shook up the most-ever countries at once! At that
time, over forty countries boasted watching the experience of Elvis-the Pelvis.
Um, yeah, I know that's no big deal now, but it sure was
then, as it proclaimed to entertain the biggest audience ever, by a solo
artist!
January 30th: Did you catch a bit of
history on this day as heavy metal glam-band, KIϟϟ, began their meteoric
climb to stardom on stage at Queens, New York’s Popcorn Club (soon to become
the Coventry Club)? Wow! Then you’re a legend too—it’s reported that less than
ten music lovers saw that show.
Monthly
Song of Note
♪ ...
I have the quintessential 1970s “far out” tune to start the year(s)—1973 AND
2023! 50 Years Ago this Month ... UK audiences heard it first in
1969, but we only received a promotional release of Jethro Tull’s “Living in the Past.” It
didn’t hit big here until its US-release in October 1972, when it scrambled our
psyche enough to ring in the New Year for ’73. January 13th’s KRIZ/Phoenix
chart saw it at #7, while Chicago fans boosted it #2 on WCFL’s January
27 Super Survey.
“Living” was the band’s first song
to hit the Top 20 here, and its composer/band front man, Ian Anderson, later
reflected on its lament of the naïve hippie lifestyle and era. Obviously a
heartfelt statement, his passion in it only took an hour or so to write while
staying in a Holiday Inn in Boston.
The British band could easily slip into the Quirky Band Name
category—did you know after nondescript names like Navy Blue and Candy Coloured
Rain, Jethro Tull’s booking agent
who was a history buff, bestowed the name of the 18th-century agriculturist on
them—and it stuck!
♪ ... Now there's revolution, but they don't
know | What they're
fighting ... Oh, we won't give in | Let's go living in the past
... ♪
Oh, so much
MORE to come! January 1973 was a dynamite year and we have yet to add great
images, plus Today Rockin’ News + a tribute to Wolfman Jack
to commemorate his January 21st birthday!
So c’mon back
soon—it’s a Holiday weekend (again) so there won’t be more ‘til end of next
week, but it’ll be worth the wait! Rock on ...
===========================
Monthly Song of Note ♪ 
