Dave Prince, WXYZ radio personality, passed away on May 24, this year. He was 91.
This list is selected each week by WXYZ Radio from reports of record sales gathered from leading record outlets in the Detroit area and other sources available to WXYZ.
_______________
The above WXYZ chart was digitally restored by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
In Memory of Jim Heddle
We are saddened having recently been informed that Jim Heddle, of Tuscon, AZ., passed away in 2018.
ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICE? Tap over WXYZ chart image. Open to second window. “Stretch” chart across your device screen to magnify for largest detailed view.
ON YOUR PC? Click on chart image 2x for largest detailed print view.
RECORD WORLD became one of three weekly music trade magazines (Billboard; 1894, Cash Box; 1942, being the other two) when it began its publication in 1946 as Music Vendor. The MV title was changed to Record World, April 1964, and so remained under that banner until it ceased publication, April 1982.
The featured singles and LP’s charts are courtesy of Record World, as issued, for this week in June, 1964.
_______________
The featured Record World charts were digitally re-imaged and restored by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
ON YOUR PC? You can read the above Record World charts ENLARGED. For a larger detailed view click above images 2x and open to second window. Click image anytime to return to NORMAL image size.
Click your server’s back button to return to MCRFB.COM home page.
ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICE? Tap over chart image. Open to second window. “Stretch” across your device screen to magnify for larger print view.
DETROIT FREE PRESS | Wednesday, June 1, 1977 — If John Hiller isn’t careful, manager Ralph Houk isn’t going to let him back in the bullpen.
The Tigers’ lefthanded relief ace certainly didn’t make it any easier for Houk to remove him from the starting rotation Tuesday night at Tiger Stadium as he put a stop to their six-game losing streak with an impressive 5-2 triumph over the Oakland A’s.
Mickey Stanley and Milt May helped him out with home runs, of course, as the Tigers’ dormant offense finally made it’s presence felt again, and Steve Foulcault stepped in when Hiller faltered in the ninth.
Tigers 5. A’s 2. (Click on box score for largest detailed view)
But there was no minimizing Hiller’s contributions to the cause as the 34-year old pitcher struck out nine while holding the A’s to nine hits in his second outstanding effort in a row as a starter — this time outpitching Oakland ace lefty Vida Blue.
Hiller now returns to the bullpen, where he and Foucault continue to compliment one another until Houk needs a fifth starting pitcher again.
However, after the way Hiller has pitched in the last two starts, Houk definitely won’t hesitate to call on him again. (See article below for more; click on, tap or stretch article for larger detailed read).
Detroit Free Press, 06/01/1977 | Copyright 2023. Newspapers.com
BASEBALL REFERENCE: For the complete Oakland Athletics vs Detroit Tigers May 31, 1977 game-day box score and stats — click HERE
Detroit Free Press June 1, 1977 [A]
Detroit Free Press June 1, 1977 [B]
The voice of the Detroit Tigers, Ernie Harwell, with Paul Carey.
Surrounded by his two daughters and members of his family, Dave Prince passed away peacefully on May 24, 2023. He was 91. Dave Prince leaves behind three daughters and a son.
________________
Audio recording was digitally enhanced by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
In Remembrance of Dave Prince
NEW!A special THANK YOU to Motor City Radio Flashbacks’ senior contributor, Greg Innis, of Livonia, MI., for providing this CKLW Dave Prince audio gem for the archives. From his collection, Greg personally recorded this aircheck in February 1987. Thirty-six years ago.
Jim Hampton (L) with Dave Prince (R), photographed while doing a live Barry Manilow Coast to Coast for CBS Radio Network, Los Angeles, in the 1970s.
I was sadden to learn that my friend, mentor and broadcaster, Dave Prince, passed away (last week). He was 91.
Dave was one of the legends of Detroit radio, 45 years in broadcasting. Having worked at WKMH, WXYZ, WCAR, WCZY, CKLW. For a short time, he was also TV host of Club 1270 on Channel 7.
In the mid-1970s, Dave moved to LA to partner with me consulting radio stations, creating 100s of syndicated radio specials featuring interviews with Olivia Newton-John, Michael Jackson, Rod Stewart and more.
He narrated ‘One Solitary Life’, a 1971 Christmas release on one of the Motown labels, Rare Earth. Plus, he narrated and produced countless radio and television commercials in Los Angeles and also in the Motor City.
He was a big influence in my life, my broadcasting career. And I will miss him, dearly.
_______________
Photo courtesy of Jim Hampton | Facebook
(Tap, then stretch image, or click on image for largest detailed read.)
_______________
NEW YORK — When BMW (Billboard Music World) goofed twice in succession and switched captions on photos on disk jockeys Bill Williams (WNEW, here in New York) and Jerry Marshall (WMGM, here) appearing in the paper’s Programming Panel feature, it was facetiously suggested that the jocks be good sports and consider exchanging names.
Michigan deejay David Pringle took us at our word and is doing just that. The jock was also a victim of a BMW goof, when his photo appeared in a panel feature identifying him as “David Prince.”
Pringle, who moved from WPAG, Ann Arbor, Mi., to WKMH, Detroit, (in the 7-11:30 p.m. time-slot), August 2, writes: Because of a goof in Billboard, I will be using the air name Dave Prince. They gave me a tag a while back in a misprint and it sounded so much better than Pringle — more adaptable to jingles, etc., that I’ve decided to use it!”END
_______________
Information, credit and source, as published: BillboardAugust 14, 1961
NEW!A rare find! This will be our first WJBK Robert E. Lee inclusion for the Motor City Radio Flashbacks aircheck repository.
A special THANK YOU to the anonymous donor (from Allen Park, MI.) who expressed he remain as, ‘unnamed’. Thanks again for providing this rare Robert E. Lee audio gem recorded on WJBK Radio 15, as dated, 60 years ago.
_______________
Audio recording was digitally enhanced by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
This WDEE chart was digitally restored by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
ON YOUR PC? To fully appreciate this WDEE May21, 1979 chart feature click on images 2x and open to second window. Click image anytime to return to NORMAL image size.
Click your server’s back button to return to MCRFB home page.
ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICE? Tap on chart image. Open to second window. “Stretch” across the featured survey to magnify largest print view.
_______________
A sincere thank you, Mrs. Patti Griggs. This featured presentation would have not been possible without your generosity, dedication, and your continuous support.
Above WDEE music chart courtesy of Mrs. Patti Griggs and the George L. Griggs estate.
Gary Stevens, Top-Rated Deejay From Detroit, Has Become the Fifth Good Guy on New York’s WMCA. This Is What It’s Like
THE NEW SCENE. What’s it like for an out-of-town deejay to move into New York and try to become part of a team of Good Guys on a highly rated station in the big town? How does he react to the change of climate, change of scene, change of audience and a change of hours? How does he feel about four -sheets posted all over town reading “Is Gary Stevens really a good guy? No. He’s a great guy!”
WKNR MUSIC GUIDE featuring Gary Stevens (3-7 p.m.) April, 1964
Gary Stevens is the new Good Guy in New York. He comes from Detroit, from station WKNR where he was a top-rated disc jockey. He is now with Station WMCA in the 7 to 11 p.m. slot, the big slot, make or break slot.
He came into New York after the biggest radio night time shakeup in Gotham in the memory of most record and station people. The big guns, the big names who used to hold down the top posts and who made New York still seem like the swinging rock town it was when Alan Freed was creating all kinds of excitement at WINS in the mid -1950’s, have vanished.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW. Murray the K is no longer on WINS. WMCA’s B. Mitchell Reed, who had captured a big segment of the kid audience, has left to return to his old post at KFWB in Los Angeles. Scott Muni has been long gone from WABC. Only Bruce Morrow, the cousin Brucie of the laughs and the gimmicks is still swinging at night. The other big night names have fled, and the kids get their sounds via TV.
WINS has turned to news. WMCA let its night time slot be filled by swing-shifting its other good guys for almost two months. WNEW’s new policy of playing slightly more raucous records has led some radio-record people to intimate that the station might go rock all the way, a possibility that seems as distant as the moon landings.
The Good Guys at WMCA give away sweatshirts, appear in funny costumes, play baseball with the Playboy Bunnies, make all trade functions and are probably the closest group of guys working together since the Harlem Globetrotters.
Gary Stevens has been through all this before. He was a Good Guy at WFUN in Miami, which helped to originate the Goody Guy format. So he knows.
NEW YORK KIDS. What has surprised him is the New York kids. “They’re more hip than the kids in Detroit,” he said a while back at a luncheon at Sardi.” A lot of the things I used to do in Detroit have not made out here. I guess it’s because the kids are more sophisticated.
“It’s all part of being in New York, I think,” continued Gary Stevens. “In other cities you look for things that are happening–here anyone or anything that happens comes to you.
“I get calls from kids who want to talk to me about my show. They use words like gimmick and format, words you wouldn’t hear used in Detroit by anyone except radio people. One youngster called me up a few days after I started at WMCA and said “Man, you need more gimmicks.”
WKNR Gary Stevens, early-1965
NEED TO BE TALKED TO. “Yet, in spite of all this, New York kids still need to be talked to, like normal youngsters anywhere. I’m willing to alter my style to fit the market, but I still want to be myself.
I’ll use my own gimmicks, the Wooleyburger, a ferocious animal that doesn’t talk, only growls. I have to interpret what he says. I’ll also introduce the Frog. He growls too, and I’ll have to explain what he is saying.
“And I won’t play Joe Nice-Guy, just because I’m in New York. Some jockeys come to the big city and try to please everybody. Not me. I’ll be me.
“Even though the New York kids are more sophisticated about things, they are not more hip musically. In fact they are not as aware of many of the new records as the youngsters in Detroit. That could be because they have so many radio stations in New York with all kinds of different formats. It also could be because there are so many things here to distract them from records.”
SHOW A MIXTURE. Stevens’ show is a mixture of up-to-date and on the way up rock discs, a mixture of rock and rhythm and blues that lies more in the old Alan Freed tradition than that of his predecessor B. Mitchell Reed. He intersperses his commercials and straight announcements with gags and sort-of-one line put-ons. He doesn’t sound like anyone else in town, so he has to make it on his own.
With the help of the Good Guy image that is.
Is Gary Stevens a Good Guy? Can he bring to his shows that mixture of freshness and audience appeal that WMCA wants to make that night time slot the top-rated of the pop music stations? He’s trying hard, with the Wooleyburger, one-liners, and smartly paced programming.
He’ll probably learn a lot from those smart New York kids. And they might learn a lot from him. If they like him he’ll be a Good Guy for a long, long time to come. END
_______________
Information, credit and news source: Music Business, May 15, 1965
