1955: Ray Charles breaks through with his first No. 1 R&B hit, “I’ve Got A Woman,” a revamped version from a gospel standard called, “It Must Be Jesus.”
1958: The Champs appear on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand and perform their No. 1 instrumental hit, “Tequila.”
The incredibly shrinking-Paul in Help! (Click on image for another view).
1965: At London’s Twickenham Studios, the Beatles film scene in Help! entitled “The Exciting Adventure of Paul On The Floor,” where a suddenly-shrunken Paul McCartney tries to hide his newly-naked body.
1966: Simon & Garfunkel’s “I Am A Rock” enters the charts.
1966: The Mamas and The Papas “Monday Monday” hits No. 1 on the Billboard chart.
1967: During Moscow’s May Day celebrations, several teens dance the twist in outright violation of the Ministry Of Culture’s orders against Western decadence.
1967: Breaking his self-imposed exile after a motorcycle accident the previous year, Bob Dylan gives his first post-crash interview to the New York Daily News.
1968: Singer-songwriter Reginald Dwight changes his name legally to Elton Hercules John, the first and last names taken from his former bandmates in Bluesology, Elton Dean and Long John Baldry.
1972: Tom Jones’ Special London Bridge Special, featuring the Carpenters and Engelbert Humperdinck and celebrities alike including Kirk Douglas to Charlton Heston, airs on the BBC.
1978: Bob Dylan’s upcoming series of concerts at London’s Wembley Empire sells out all 90,000 tickets in just under eight hours.
1982: Diana Ross is awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame at 6712 Hollywood Blvd.
The Wicked Mr. Pickett lived up to his name with several drunken-driving arrests, as booked in his hometown Englewood, NJ, police dossier.
1991, In his hometown of Englewood, NJ, Wilson Pickett is arrested for insisting on driving over the lawn of his neighbor, Donald Aronson, who just happens to be the town’s mayor. After finding a knife and a baseball bat in his vehicle, attempted murder is added to the charges. Pickett is inexplicably let off with a charity concert and a years’ probation.
1991: Rolling Stone bassist Bill Wyman, 54, ends his two-year marriage to Mandy Smith, 21, whom he had begun dating at age 13. Despite in only spending two months total with Wyman during their marriage, she receives a settlement of $6.5 million.
2002: London authorities wrap up their four-month investigation of Who guitarist Pete Townsend, charged with downloading child-pornography in 1999. Townsend, who claimed he was researching a book he was writing about his own childhood sexual abuses, was not jailed but was placed on a national sex offender registry.
Deaths: Ron Wilson (The Surfaris), 1989; Eddie Rabbitt, 1998; Alphonso Howell (The Sensations), 1998; Rudy Maugeri (The Crew Cuts), 2004; Dave Fisher (The Highwaymen), 2004.
And that’s just a few of the events which took place in pop music history, on this day…. MAY 7.
CKLW HIRES DREW, IN STEPS TO TUMBLE DETROIT LEADER WKNR
DETROIT — CKLW, the 50,000-watt RKO General operation here, has brought in Paul Drew as program director and will soon launch an all-out campaign against market-leader WKNR. Drew, former program director at WQXI in Atlanta, has slated May 1 as the day to bow with the station’s new sound — “Fun Radio.”
Paul Drew, the legendary program-director at CKLW in 1967
“Fun Radio” will include a jingles package that was custom made for the station’s and “for the sound I’m looking for,” Drew said.
Prior, there has been talk that Bill Drake, a programming consultant, was going to the station. Drake has set the program for RKO’s KHJ in Los Angeles and also revamped entirely San Francisco’s KFRC — both highly successful today in their markets. Though Drew would not commit himself, every indication is that he’ll use the same template/model that had been programmed at the two leading West Coast stations.
What will be in use will be the same playlist, rule-of-play with a shortened record format. “We’ll play whatever is necessary to play the hits, but the playlist will fluctuate.” This will not eliminate the playing of new records by new artists, evidently, as the station had played on the air about a week ago with “Sunshine Girl” by the Parade, a new record which had been introduced to the station by A&M Records promotion man Don Graham.
Already, CKLW has begun a sort of sneaky promotion campaign, in wake of their intent in placing the station at the top in the Detroit market with no holds barred. WJR, the easy listening outlet in Detroit, as long billed itself as “The Great Voice of the Great Lakes.” CKLW has aired the slogan: “The Choice of the Great Lakes.” WKNR, the leading Hot 100-formatted station in the market, is promoting a concert with Paul Revere & The Raiders on April 8. CKLW had bought a large section of front-row seats to the show and will be giving them away for free to listeners on the air, a ploy in part of the station’s ongoing blitz from the station’s promotion department.
(Information and news source: Billboard; April 8, 1967).
1956: England’s New Musical Express erroneously reports that ‘Elvin’ Presley will be performing in an upcoming gig at the Palladium in London. Elvis Presley never did Europe.
1957: ABC-TV premiers Alan Freed’s Rock and Roll Revue show, an attempt to replicate the success of their own American Bandstand. The first show features performances by the Clovers, The Del-Vikings, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Sal Mineo and Guy Mitchell.
The first Grammy Award winner Domenico Modugno in 1959.
1959: The very first Grammy Awards are held in Los Angeles, with Record Of The Year honors going out to Domenico Modugno’s “Volare (Nel Blu Depinto De Blu)” and Henry Mancini’s The Music Of Peter Gunn soundtrack winning Record Album Of The Year. The Champs’ “Tequila,” for some reason, takes home Best Rhythm and Blues Performance honors.
1964: British musicians Ray Thomas and Mike Pinder form an R&B group, naming themselves the Moody Blues. The group’s name comes as a derivative from Dukes Ellington’s “Mood Indigo.”
1967: The Turtles’ hit “Happy Together” is certified gold by RIAA.
1968: Twiggy, one of England’s first supermodels, catches an 18 year-old singer named Mark Hopkins on the BBC-TV talent show Opportunity Knocks and calls friend Paul McCartney, who eventually signs her to Apple Records and gives her one of his songs, “Those Were The Days,” to record.
1968: Steppenwolf makes its U.S. television debut, performing “Born To Be Wild” on ABC-TV Dick Clark’s American Bandstand.
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s “OHIO” single; released in 1970.
1970: The US National Guard opens fire on Vietnam war protesters at Kent State University in Ohio, killing four unarmed students and wounding eleven more. After seeing photos of the shooting later in the week in LIFE magazine, Neil Young immediately writes the song, “Ohio,” which Crosby, Stills and Nash will record the next day. Twenty-five years later to the day, Peter Paul and Mary play a commemorative concert at the university, performing Dylan’s “Blowin’ In The Wind.”
1977: The Beatles long-anticipated and only live LP, The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl is released.
1985: The legendary Apollo Theater re-opens in Harlem after a massive $10,000,000 dollar makeover.
David Bowie’s ex, Angie. (Click on image for larger view).
1990: In an interview, David Bowie’s ex-wife, Angie (she was of whom the Stones penned and sang of in their hit), claims for the first time in how she walked in on her ex, and Mick Jagger — caught — having sex with each other.
1992: Baltimore mayor Kurt Schmoke declares today “KISS Day” and presents the band with an honorary key to the city.
2008: Martha Reeves’ home in Detroit is burglarized and $1,000,000 worth of recording equipment is stolen. In just a few hours, the perpetrator is captured while attempting to hock the stolen-merchandise for a bargained steal — $400.00.
And that’s just a few of the events which took place in pop music history, on this day….
1958: One of the first major rock and roll riots breaks out during Alan Freed’s “Big Beat Spring 1958” show at the Boston Arena, with Boston police threatening to shut the show down because of the overly-crowd dancing and Alan Freed telling the crowd from the stage, “The police doesn’t want you to have fun.” He is arrested for inciting a riot.
Gerry & The Pacemakers circa 1965. (Click on image for larger view).
1964: Gerry and the Pacemakers make their first US television debut, singing “Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying” on CBS’ Ed Sullivan Show.”
1965: Motown’s Supremes release their new hit, “Back In My Arms Again.”
1967: The Walker Brothers announce their split. Scott Walker would go on to be a highly influential solo artist in the late Sixties.
1968: Having just returned from studying the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in India, the Beach Boys make him the opening lecture act on their new tour. About half the dates are eventually cancelled.
1971: Grand Funk Railroad holds their sparsely-attended first press conference at the Gotham Hotel in New York City.
Led Zeppelin concert billing, Copenhagen, Denmark; May 3, 1971.
1971: Led Zeppelin play their song “Four Sticks” for the first and only time in a concert during a show in Denmark.
1976: Paul Simon, Phoebe Snow, Jimmy Cliff and others perform a benefit concert to raise funds for the financially-strapped New York Public Library.
1976: Paul McCartney opens hid first tour with his new band as the massively successful Wings Over America tour begins in Ft. Worth, Texas.
1978: The movie FM, a flop comedy about a radio station, opens in Los Angeles. However, the title track and the name of their LP, performed by Steely Dan, becomes a huge hit for the band.
1991: Texas Governor Ann Richards officially declares today ZZ Top Day in the Lone Star State.
1991: Andy Williams marries his second wife, Debbie Haas, in New York City.
2006: Bob Dylan’s first hosted radio show airs on XM Satellite Radio, with the folk-rock legend playing his favorite hits by Prince, Wilco, Blur, LL Cool J, and Billy Braggs, among others.
And that’s just a few of the events which took place in pop music history, on this day….
1956: In a definite sign of the times, five records — Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel,” Little Richard’s “Long Talll Sally,” Carl Perkin’s “Blue Sued Shoes,” The Platters’s “(You’ve Got) The Magic Touch,” and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers’ “Why Do Fools Fall In Love” — occupy Billboard’s R&B and Pop Top 10, the first time so many records had “crossed-over” at the same time.
1958: Chuck Berry hits the Chess Records studio to record “Carol.”
A young 22 year-old Ben E. King in 1960.
1960: Ben E. King, the Drifters second lead-singer, also leaves the group to pursue a solo career with Atco Records.
1960: Ray Peterson records “Tell Laura I Love Her.”
1960: Elvis Presley begins filming on his fifth movie, G.I. Blues.
1964: After 51 weeks at the top, the Beatles finally relinquish the No. 1 album position in the UK — to the Rolling Stones’ self-titled debut LP.
1964: The Rolling Stones enters the charts with their single, “Not Fade Away.”
1964: The Beatles Second Album hits No.1 on the Billboard album charts.
1965: Ed Sullivan breaks a vow he made the year before and books the Rolling Stones back on his long-running CBS-TV variety show — but not before keeping the band in the studio all day, in order to keep from inciting the fans. The Stones perform four songs on the show: “The Last Time,” “Little Red Rooster,” “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love” and the Stones album instrumental “2120 South Michigan Avenue.”
Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys’ “SMiLE” album was intended for release in early 1967.
1967: The Beach Boys announce they are scrapping their anticipated Pet Sounds followup album, Smile. After decades of imagined Smile albums, assembled from bootlegs and released recordings, founder and resident genius Brian Wilson finally releases a finished version of the project in 2005.
1968: The Box Tops’ “Cry Like A Baby” is certified gold by RIAA.
1969: The Who debut their much-discussed rock opera Tommy by playing the finished album for the press at London’s Ronnie’s Jazz Club. Ten years later to the day, they would premiere their new film, Quadrophenia, in New York City.
1969: Elvis Presley finishes filming on his 31st and final motion picture, Change Of Habit.
1972: In New York City, Bruce Springsteen auditions for Columbia Records A&R head John Hammond, who is so impressed he immediately arranges a set that night at the Gaslight Club for his fellow execs.
1975: Apple Records officially ends its life as a record label, though it will be revived as a Beatles-only label in 2004.
2009: Motown’s rarest 45, Frank Wilson’s “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do),” set a world’s record by selling for nearly $40,000 at a London auction house. The unreleased single is one of only two copies known to exist.
Frank Wilson’s rare “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)” on the Soul record label, a subsidiary of Motown Records.
2009: Bob Dylan takes a day off from his UK-European tour and, along with 13 other tourists, takes a bus trip to visit John Lennon’s childhood home in Liverpool, newly opened for the public. His presence was not recognized during the entire bus entourage and visit.
Deaths: Benny Benjamin (famed-Motown drummer), 1969; Les Harvey (Stone The Crows); 1972.
And that’s just a few of the events which took place in pop music history, on this day…. MAY 2.
1953: Frank Sinatra begins working with his new arranger, Nelson Riddle.
1955: Perez Prado’s “Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White” hits No. 1 on the charts.
1962: The Orlons records “Wah-Watusi” in the Parkway Records studio.
1965: Bob Dylan begins the tour immortalized in the documentary Don’t Look Back, performing at the City Hall in Sheffield, England.
1965: Herman’s Hermits make their U.S. stage debut, with the Zombies as the opening act.
Well, Twiggs looks happy he got away with that one…. (1975 photo).
1966: The Young Rascals hits No. 1 on the national charts with their single, “Good Lovin’.”
1968: Organist Al Kooper announces that he’s leaving Blood, Sweat and Tears.
1968: The Cilla Black Show, featuring the theme song “Step Inside Love” written by Paul McCartney, debuts on the BBC, making Cilla the first English woman with her own TV show.
1969: “Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In” by the Fifth Dimension is certified gold.
1970: Allman Brothers tour manager Twiggs Lyndon is arrested for stabbing a club manager over a contract dispute. Incredibly, in a strange turn of justice, Lyndon gets off by pleading temporary insanity caused by being the tour manager for the Allman Brothers. At one point Lyndon’s lawyers declared that touring with the Allman Brothers alone would have been enough to drive anyone insane. (Twiggs died nine years later in a freak sky-diving accident).
1976: Bruce Springsteen, fresh from a Memphis concert, attempts to vault a fence at Graceland to see his idol, Elvis Presley, but was unsuccessful and was escorted away by security.
1976: The Who’s Keith Moon pays $100.00 to nine different New York City cab drivers to completely block off a city street end-to-end, allowing the drummer to throw all his furniture through the hotel room high-rise window while watching them literally smash below onto the street.
Led Zeppelin jamming before 77,000 fans at the Pontiac Silverdome in 1977. (Click on image for larger view).
1977: Led Zeppelin break the single-act attendance record for a concert when 76,229 fans pay to see them perform at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, breaking the previous record set by the Who, who also had performed at the Silverdome as well.
1983: To celebrate the 25th anniversary of London’s legendary Marquee Club, Manfred Mann reforms in their original sixties incarnation to play the venue they (they and so many others) started in.
Michael Jackson is booked on child molestation charges in 2003. (Click on image for larger view).
1988: For the first time since since its release 11 years earlier, Pink Floyd’s landmark LP Dark Side Of The Moon leaves the Billboard Charts, only to return a few months later.
2003: Sixties blues man and soul-icon Earl King is buried in his hometown of New Orleans with an authentic jazz funeral. Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton send their condolence.
2004: Michael Jackson is arraigned on his child molestation charges, pleading not guilty to ten different counts, also including extortion and false imprisonment.
2004: Ray Charles appears at his Los Angeles recording studio to attend a ceremony marking it as an historic landmark.It will be the last public appearance he will ever make.
And that’s just a few of the events which took place in pop music history, on this day….
Folk Swinging Wave On – Courtesy of Rock Groups and Artists
Hollywood –With Bob Dylan as the stimulus and the Byrds as the disciples, a wave of folk rock is developing in contemporary pop music.
The Byrds in New York City in 1965(click on image for larger view)
British groups, such as the Animals and the Nashville Teens, have on occasions used pure country-folk materials. But their identity has been really in the Beatles vein. The Byrds, on the other hand, with a similar driving sound, are the first American rock group to obtain the majority of its material from the folk field and make a success out of it. Their Columbia single release, “Mr. Tambourine Man,” is the No. 6 record in the “Hot 100” survey this week.
The five folk singers switched over to rock and roll when the Beatles made it fashionable to wear long hair and play amplified guitars.
Since the Byrds single was released, with San Francisco and Los Angeles were the first two markets accepting the Dylan-authored song, a host of other rock groups have caught the message. And the race is on the get on the folk-rock bandwagon.
Such acts as Billy J. Kramer, Jackie DeShannon and Sonny and Cher have all begun using folk-oriented materials on their singles. A new group, the Rising Sons, displayed a folk-rock style at their Ash Grove bow in Los Angeles recently. Joe and Eddie, Crescendo Records top folk artists, are now reportedly switching over to blend of folk-rock. An act billing itself as the Lovin’ Spoonful, reportedly is working in the New York area with a folk-rock sound.
Byrds’ Gene Clark and Bob Dylan at Ciros in Los Angeles, 1965(click on image for larger view)
When the Byrds played their first engagement at Ciros in Los Angeles, many folk artists attended. The boys rubbed elbows with Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary and, with Bob Dylan as well, who attended the Byrds’ L. A. venue. It was reported that several disk-men brought portable tape recorders to the club to catch their sound. The Byrds’ sound combines falsetto voicing with blaring guitar chords along with a rock bottom drum beat, songs already applicable for dancing with the current pop scene.
Their repertoire is heavily Dylan influenced, espousing his causes just above their din of their own playing. Their new album has four Dylan tunes and one by Pete Seeger. For some, the blending of folk lyrics with a rock beat becomes a natural extension for the current new folk sound. For the Byrds, this sound has become their key to their success.
They have already played dates with Britain’s own Rolling Stones, and a tie-in with the Beatles on their planned forthcoming United States tour has been mentioned. For the Byrds, TV appearances have already been in the making, giving more exposure to the new folk-rock sound.
If the folk-rock movement takes hold, a song’s lyrical contents could become as influential as the dominating beat that has always been the pride of rock and roll at best. With the Beatles in the mainstream as one from the old rock-and-roll-school, and the Rolling Stones along with the Righteous Brothers, with their white R&B acts infused with euphoric soul, the Byrds are in flight towards a new plateau, combining the imagery of folk lyrics along with the wave the group is now riding with their newly-acclaimed sound. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; June 12, 1965)
BILLBOARD HOT 100 JUNE 12, 1965
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Rock, Folk, and Protest Equals An Erupting New Sound
New York — Call it folk-rock, urban folk, protest music or rock with a message. It’s so new the trade lexicographers haven’t yet agreed on a name. But whatever it’s called, the new sound is selling — and selling big.
Here’s what’s happening. The traditional folk music and the folk-oriented pop product are still selling, but not nearly as much as a few years ago. The hard rock product is still the core of the singles market, but again, it’s not selling as well as it did a year ago. And the sound is not quite as hard today as it has been in recent past.
Fresh Urban Lyric
A hybrid, combining the best and instrumentation of rock music with the folk lyric — usually a fresh urban lyric, and combined with a lyric of protestation — is selling across the board.
Sonny and Cher with Bob Dylan in 1965 (click on image for larger view)
Among the leading exponents of this new form of music are Sonny and Cher, whose Atco record, “I Got You Babe,” hit the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for the second week in a row. “All I Really Want To Do,” another single in the same vein, is on the charts with versions by Cher on Imperial and by the Byrds on Columbia. Two weeks ago, Sonny and Cher’s “Look At Us” album was released on Atco Records.
Also released were singles by Sonny on Atco, and Cher on Reprise. Bob Dylan, the Columbia artist influential in spearheading the “new” folk-rock sound, is also back on the charts with his latest single, “Like A Rolling Stone.”
Elektra, a traditional folk label, announced last week that its fall program would include a heavy dose of the rocking urban-folk product. This Week, Verve-Folkways, another traditional folk label, said it would branch into the folk-rock field this coming fall.
Sound And Message
Barry McGuire folk-rocked the charts with “Eve Of Destruction” in 1965
With many notable exceptions, folk music has been more concerned with the message and narration with the new sound. And rock music has been more concerned with the sound than the message.
The latest development has been is to take the rock sound and instrumentation and use folk-oriented lyrics. The singer or group has something to say. Until recently, the message would be delivered with a guitar with a plaintive voice. Now it’s delivered, often by a group, by hard rock instrumentation behind their lyrics, what they seem in trying to convey of their message.
A case in point is Barry McGuire’s “Eve Of Destruction,” released last week on Dunhill Records. The beat is solid, but the lyrics, aimed at teenagers (are adults listening?), deals with social disarrays at the present, such as the possibility of dropping a nuclear bomb somewhere on the planet, maybe during this lifetime.
Capitol Records recording artist Jody Miller circa 1964
Jody Miller’s “Home Of The Brave” on Capitol, which defends the rights of youngsters to dress as they see fit, is another of the protest genre that is served up with a rock-influenced beat.
Donovan, the British artist on Hickory Records with his current release on the charts, “Colours,” falls in that same category, along with a message of protestation.
The reconstituted Highwaymen, making their first ABC-Paramount album, have come out with a Bob Crewe produced rock sound, but the message remain in the traditional folk idiom.
The songs are plain enough. Traditional folk, while it will continue to serve it’s specialized market, and what has come to be considered rock music, is being influenced to a major degree by the wave of the new folk sound, evidently heard in lyric and in message with today’s ever-expanding music scene. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; August 21, 1965)
WKNR, WJR Hitting Pay Dirt in Detroit, Thanks to Two Air Personalities
DETROIT — Two deejays — one in the Top 40 field and the other from a ‘middle-of-the-road’ easy music station, are basically responsible for the tremendous success of radio stations WKNR and WJR here in influencing the sales of records…. and may be largely responsible for the success of their respective radio stations in reaching a large audience.
J. P. McCarthy WJR circa 1965
WJR station manager James H. Quello, said that his good music station was proud of J. P. McCarthy. “He’s the number one radio personality in town. Everybody knows him and he’s in good part responsible… a major factor… in influencing the sale of LP’s in Detroit.”
According to Billboard’s Radio Response Rating Survey last week of the Detroit radio market — ranked the country’s fifth radio market — McCarthy was rated No. 1 in influencing radio listeners to purchase popular LPs. The station was rated first in the same category, but what makes it a unique situation is that the station gained strength to capture the top position since a similar Billboard survey of May 16, 1964, had placed WJR in second-place behind WCAR.
And the reason, according to Quello, is the power of McCarthy. McCarthy had been with the station at one time, then left WJR in Detroit to work for another radio station in San Francisco. He returned back to Detroit since the last Billboard survey. He’s so effective that WJR placed him on mornings in their 6:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. time-frame, and he returns for the 3:15 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. drive time. “After all, this is the motor city of the world… a big car place,” Quello went on to say. McCarthy features mostly MOR records, Quello said, “but we’re programming more contemporary music now, anything short of rock and roll.”
In influencing the sale of popular LP recordings, the major stations, in order, are WJR, WCAR, WWJ, and WJBK. WJR and WCAR has most of the power; in fact, WJR’s McCarthy had 52 per cent of the total points in Billboard’s survey, followed by WCAR deejay Joe Bacarella with 36 per cent overall.
WJR, incidentally, tied for second-place with WWJ in influencing the sale of conservative type records, was No. 1 in influencing the sale of classical records, and showed up fairly well as a power in influencing the sale of folk records as well.
Both Gain
Bob Green WKNR circa 1965
The top position in the sale of popular record singles was again captured by radio station WKNR and its popular disk-jockey, Bob Green. In fact, both station and deejay gained in strength. WKNR radio was rated at 33 per cent in May 16, 1964, but increased its influence to 44 per cent as of last week. Green increased two points to 30 per cent.
WKNR radio station manager Walter Patterson said the Top 40 station isn’t doing anything different, “but we are fortunate in accumulating listeners.” A recent Pulse study showed that the 24-hour Detroit station as reaching 292,900 separate households during a given day.
“We’re not cocky, but we watch our position closely and never let up,” Patterson said. While the station does believe in strong air-personalities, — “some are and some are not” — it also practices “playing more music and keeping talk to a minimum.” The station’s “sound” is very important,” Patterson said.
WKMH the former, now WKNR, featured a “middle-of-the-road” music format until November 1, 1963, when it went Top 40. “We’ve pulled the fastest turnaround of any station in the country,” Patterson said. “What’s happening is the more we go, the more we get.” The station plays the top 31 records and distributes 99,000 copies of the station’s own survey guide of featured songs and hits. Patterson also said the station has a “refrigerator full” of promotions and uses them as the need arises.
Also in the Top 40 market, radio station CKLW has increased its power in influencing the sales of records since the last Billboard survey. The market saw WJBK change format from Top 40, where it ranked No. 2 last May, to good music. In May 1964, it was No. 4; now it ranks second. Dave Shafer and Tom Shannon of CKLW now rank second and third behind WKNR’s Bob Green.
John Gordon, the program director of CKLW, received the Billboard nod as most co-operative in exposing new records.
Close in R&B Field
In the R&B field in the Detroit market, it was a close race, but WCHB radio came out on top in influencing record sales. WCHB had 49 per cent, WJLB had 44 per cent and FM station WGPR had 7 per cent. WJLB ranked first last May.
Ernie Durham WCHB
Bill Williams, program director at WCHB, attributed the station’s increase in influence to a “much tighter format that was launched in January.” The station also went 24-hours in April. Williams said deejays on WCHB are now faster with delivery than before. “We play 35 of the top-selling R&B records, interspersed with every third record with one we think is a good prospect for a potential hit-maker to climb-up the chart.” This has made the station very important in getting listeners to go out and buy more into the R&B product,” Williams said.
“This is a good R&B market, its the home of the Motown sound,” he said, adding that he liked to think of his market as the entire population of Detroit. WJLB, however, scored with the top disc-jockey — Ernie Durham — in the power of influencing record sales. In fact, Durham almost captured the whole thing with a 44 per cent influence in the Detroit R&B market. The second-place honors goes out to Le Baron Taylor of WCHB, who held the No. 2 spot at 27 per cent.
Interesting to note is that an FM station, WBRB-FM is now showing muscles in influencing the sales of country music records. The field is still dominated by country powerhouse WEXL, which still came up with 86 per cent of the total points, but it’s no longer a one-station field. WBRB showed up with a 14 per cent; it’s a new station since the last Billboard survey. Bill Samples, of WEXL, is still the No. 1 deejay in the motor town getting country music records sold. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; July 24, 1965)
1956: Capitol Records signs Gene Vincent, intending to market him as the next Elvis.
1957: Elvis makes his second and last appearance outside the United States, wearing his classic gold lame suit for the last time as he plays Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
1963: Little Peggy March’s “I Will Follow Him” hits No. 1 on the charts.
1963: Martha Reeves and The Vandellas’ “Come And Get These Memories” enters the charts.
1964: John Lennon’s first book of prose and poetry, In His Own Write, is published in the United States.
1969: Joe Cocker makes his television debut, singing “Feelin’ Alright” on tonight’s CBS-TV’s the Ed Sullivan Show.
Glen Campbell and Jose Feliciano perform together on the 1969 NBC-TV special, “Very Special.”
1969: Jose Feliciano’s TV special, Very Special, guest starring Glen Campbell and Dionne Warwick, airs on NBC-TV.
1970: John Lennon’s explicit “Bag One” are returned to the London Arts Gallery exhibition after a high courts judge ruled them “Unlikely to deprave or corrupt.”
1975: 511 audience members are in custody in Los Angeles for smoking marijuana during Pink Floyd’s recent five nights at the arena.
1979: At a Duke Ellington concert held at UCLA, Stevie Wonder makes a surprise appearance to sing his hit tribute, “Sir Duke” and also Ellington’s own “C-Jam Blues.”
Studio 54 co-owners Ian Schrager (center) and Steve Rubell (right) reads on raid by Feds. Lawyer Roy Cohen on left. (Click on image for larger view).
1980: The legendary New York disco of discos, Studio 54, closes it’s doors after exactly three years and a day due to violations of city liquor licenses.
1981: Ringo Starr marries his second wife, actress Barbara Bach, a former “Bond girl” and model he met when filming the flop comedy Caveman. The two are married at the Marylbone Registrar’s Office in London with the other two surviving Beatles attending.
1990: David Bowie plays his 1970s’ hits for the last time as he begins his latest American tour, “Sound Plus Vision.”
2003: Iggy Pop reunites with the Stooges for the first time in three decades at the close of this year’s Coachellas Festival.
2004: Elton John publicly responds to American Idol’s snub of Jennifer Hudson by declaring the call-in voters “incredibly racists.”
Richards, released from a Fuji hospital on May 11, 2006, stated to the press, “I hope I wasn’t too much of a pain in the arse. After all, it was my head they fixed. Thanks, Kiwis.”
2006: 63 year-old Keith Richards falls from a palm tree while vacationing in Fiji, landing on his head and causing a hemorrhage that required doctors to drain his skull. He makes a full recovery.
And that’s just a few of the events which took place in pop music history, on this day….
From the MCRFB music calendar:
