WXYZ ‘FUTURESONIC’ Jingles on MOTOR CITY RADIO FLASHBACKS
WXYZ-AM | “Action Radio” | 1963-1964
FUTURESONIC PRODUCTIONS, DALLAS, TX
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According to renown radio historian and master jinglecologist Ken R., Futuresonic “rivaled PAMS for creative output in the late 1950s and early 1960s.” In this featured presentation you will hear a Futuresonic sampler for WXYZ 1270, Detroit, circa 1963-1964.
Futuresonic also created jingle packages for Detroit’s WWJ in the early 1960s.
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The featured Futuresonic WXYZ jingle package was audio remastered by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
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Note: On our site’s Facebook page, according to WXYZ’s Lee Alan, this featured Futuresonic jingle sampler was not used on WXYZ in 1963 nor in 1964.
JIM HAMPTON (Last Show) | DATE:FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 1967
— SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT —
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NEW! A special THANK YOU to Jimmy Hampton, of Cathedral City, California, for recently donating his 1967 (very last show) WXYZ radio aircheck to the Motor City Radio Flashbacks archives.
A word to just inform our friends of the site . . . the reason this page has been “dormant” it is only due to certain notable PC issues having flared up, suddenly, this week. We were able to post our last feature this past Tuesday, barely, as had a difficult time in doing so in the process. It is our PC.
Essentially, at 11 years old, it is beginning to struggle a little bit. Having been inspected, it is going in for a needed fix (Monday, February 15) and it will be upgraded with two new drivers (as I was told it is much needed as “the current driver is old and beginning to slow down”). So, we will be back here on Motor City Radio Flashbacks as soon as we can.
In the meantime — as we pause — there is much you can view here in your Detroit radio repository. We’ve amassed 596 total pages thus far (times 10 posts per page!). Nearly 6,000 total posts to date. And there is much more you can peruse from the site’s face-page menus on the left. Also, having been archived, check out and see what our Categories contains with a simple ‘scroll down and click‘ of the mouse as well.
Thank you, for your continuous show of support. It is much appreciated, always. We will now stand by . . . 🙂 be back soon!
Jim Feliciano
Motor City Radio Flashbacks
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UPDATE 2/18/21: We are now ready to go on Motor City Radio Flashbacks! Look for our newest posts, beginning on Monday, February 22
“The listing of 30 records herein is the opinion of CKLW based on its survey of record sales, listener requests and CKLW’s judgement of the record’s appeal.”
PREVIEWED FOR THE WEEK OF FEBRUARY 6-13, 1967
The above CKLW chart was digitally restored by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
** A MCRFB VIEWING TIP **
ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICE? Tap over CKLW chart image. Open to second window. “Stretch” image across your device screen to magnify for largest print view.
ON YOUR PC? Click on all chart images 2x for largest print view.
— In MemoryofGeorge Griggs —
A SPECIAL THANK YOU
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A sincere, thank you, Mrs. Patti Griggs. This featured presentation would have not been possible without your generosity, dedication, and your continuous support.
Above CKLW music chart courtesy of Mrs. Patti Griggs and the George L. Griggs estate.
WABX FM-Air AcesChuck Santoni, Jerry Lubin, John O’Leary and Karen Savelly, circa 1979 (Photo credit: John O’Leary; Facebook)
JERRY LUBIN
— 1940-2021 —
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WABX Air Ace Jerry Lubin passed away from Covid 19 yesterday. He was a friend of mine and so much more.
My condolences to his sons Adam and Ethan Lubin and their families and also Beverly Lubin. Also my condolences to everyone who heard him on WABX or WLLZ or W4 and thought of him as an old friend when they heard his voice . . . that unmistakable voice.
Dan Carlisle mentioned to me that with Jerry’s passing all the original (day 1) WABX Air Aces are gone except for Dan.
September 21, 1940 – February 4, 2021
R.I.P. Jerry
John O’Leary (Facebook)
WABX
(Photo credit: John O’Leary; Facebook)
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For more on Jerry Lubin’s passing, published February 5, 2021 in the Detroit Free Press, GO HERE
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Motor City Radio Flashbacks expresses heartfelt condolences to the Lubin Family
‘Godspeed, Jerry Lubin. Take up your wings and soar high’
Vinton Laments Chart-toppers Not As Demanded Today As Previous Years
Bobby Vinton 1963
HOLLYWOOD — The power of havingthe No. 1 record in the nation seems to have diminished, claims Bobby Vinton, whose disk of “There! I Said It Again” and before that “Blue Velvet” haven’t opened as many magic doors as would have been the case five years ago.
“I’ve talked to several other young performers,” Bobby told Billboard, “and they’ve come to the same conclusion. Times have changed and having the No. 1 record in the country just doesn’t excite television producers and night club owners anymore.”
Vinton, who has been with Epic three years, is currently developing his night club act but finds it frustrating not being able to crack prime time television as easily as the disk artists of five years ago were able to do.
Vinton says he’s been told that TV producers think of him as a rock and roll artist mainly because he’s hit the No. 1 position. “They don’t listen to radio stations which play my records so they have no idea what I sound like and they’ve got me pegged as a strictly teen artist.”
The 25-year -old vocalist theorizes that perhaps one of the reasons for the decline of the disk artist in importance to the TV producer is that the producers had enough of fast rising disk names who only had a sound on record and did not come across effectively on the screen. “These people probably feel they’ve learned a lesson and are staying away from record people.”
During Vinton’s career with Epic he has had three No.1 disks and three more in the top 20. Yet his national TV work has been limited to the Dick Clark, Steve Allen and Lawrence Welk shows.
Besides emphasizing that talent buyers aren’t listening to top 40 stations, Vinton says people in the music industry feel that when an artist has the No.1 record “he’s home.”
“You’re not,” he claims. In Vinton’s case he knows he has to change his teenage image if he wants to crack the few variety format shows available on TV.
Citing Jack Jones and Wayne Newton as two new performers who don’t have a teen image, Vinton wonders whether they too might have been pegged as rock and rollers had they hit the glamorous top spot on the charts. END
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Information and news source: Billboard; February 8, 1964
The Dick Clark Beech-Nut Show debuts on ABC-TV, February 15, 1958
The Dick Clark Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show was Dick Clark’s second attempt at a prime time show. His first, a prime-time version of American Bandstand, ran only 13 weeks.The Beechnut Show was much more successful lasting almost 3 years.
The Dick Clark Saturday Night Beechnut Show was broadcast live, on ABC-TV, Saturday nights from the Little Theatre in New York City. Every weekend, Dick Clark commuted from Philadelphia to NYC to do the “Beechnut” show.
There was actually two shows done each Saturday. The first was a rehearsal show where the artists could sketch out their performances and Clark could line everything up. This would have a different audience then the second show which was the one that was televised.
Beechnut Gum was actually picked up as a sponsor for the third episode to the conclusion of the show’s run. The artists that appeared usually “lip-synched” to their records. Very few actually performed live.
This is the only show to be able to make the claim of having Buddy Holly,Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper as guests (though on different episodes). All three were killed together in a plane crash on February 3, 1959.
Amazingly, Elvis Presley and Ricky Nelson, two of the biggest stars of the period, never appeared on the show. The first show aired on February 2, 1958 with guests Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Willis, Johnny Ray and the Royal Teens. The final show aired on September 10, 1960.MORE . . . .
Beech Nut Chewing Gum was the sponsor of this short-lived Dick Clark production three-years on ABC-TV from February, 1958 through September, 1960(Click image for larger view)
FLAVOR-I-F-I-C!
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For our previous fourth installment four-video posting of ‘Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show with Dick Clark,’ published on MCRFB on November 4, 2015GO HERE.
Above information provided by TV.com. For the complete 1958-1960 Dick Clark Beech Nut Show summary and artist-appearance listing for every showgo over here to TVdb.com.
About the IFIC button seen worn by attendees in the Beech-Nut show audience? Well, it stands for ‘FLAVOR-I-F-I-C.’ As in Beech-Nut chewing gum! Special thanks to Edward Bowman for sharing that ‘trivia’ bit of information with Motor City Radio Flashbacks.
Motor City Radio Flashbacks will be showcasing these rare Dick Clark video presentations here on this website from time to time.
In this fifth installment, we present four video classics (below) from the Dick Clark Beech-Nut show as was first broadcast on national television during that memorable late-’50s rock and roll era, featured below.
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FEATURING
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THE CHAMPS (May 3, 1958) SAM COOKE (March 14, 1959) JACKIE WILSON (March 21, 1959) SANTO & JOHNNY (August 1, 1959)
Beech-Nut Chewing Gum: sole sponsor for Dick Clark’s Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show over ABC Television 1958-1960
Released October 26, “What’s Easy For Two Is So Hard For One” peaked at #8 (charted 21 total weeks R&B overall) on the Billboard R&B chart in 1963 into 1964. B-side: “You Lost The Sweetest Boy”
The station began broadcasting on May 4, 1960, as WABX, beginning as a classical music station before adopting the MOR format in 1964. For a short period beginning in August 1967, the station adopted an all-girl jock policy during the day, playing jazz-oriented pop music and humorous bits. The idea came from Mickey Shorr, who was program manager and creative director of Century Broadcasting Corp., the station’s then-owner.
During the Fall of 1967, WABX began airing a new music show called “Troubadour” from seven to eight in the evening, hosted by station manager John Small. The show featured blues, folk, and rock music. During this time, WABX was still airing an MOR format, with an emphasis on up-tempo music from artists like Mel Tormé, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Wilson, and Joe Williams.
The strong, positive response generated by “Troubadour” was enough to convince the station’s owners to adopt a full-time progressive rock format. On February 1, 1968, “play lists” of acceptable tunes went out: the DJs picked their own music, and Century Broadcasting Corporation bit its tongue. With a free form progressive rock format, WABX became a springboard for the new music that no other station in the market (least of all CKLW and the other Top 40 stations) would touch.
The format, once having been branded in the media as an “aural absurdity”, the ABX revolution was one of style as well as sound. The station made itself a community catalyst for fun: free concerts and movies, kite-flys, bike-ins, and conferences.
Also, the station played a role in giving many artists the recognition that they did not have at the time, including The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Iron Butterfly, and The J. Geils Band. The success of WABX inspired other Detroit stations such as WKNR-FM and WXYZ-FM to adopt the progressive-rock approach. “Air Ace” Dave Dixon was a musician himself who co-wrote the Peter, Paul and Mary hit “I Dig Rock and Roll Music.”
During the 1970s, WABX evolved into a more mainstream album oriented rock station, albeit one that took a softer, more laid-back approach than its competitors.
The station was branded as “WABX 99” during this era with a logo similar to the one used by the current WABX in Evansville, Indiana, featuring yellow lettering on a black background. The station’s studio also moved from its original location in the David Stott Building in downtown Detroit to a new facility in suburban Oak Park during this period.
By 1982, WABX was third-ranked out of three AOR stations in Detroit (behind WRIF and WLLZ). Century Broadcasting sold the station to Liggett Broadcasting that year. Under new program director Paul Christy, WABX shifted from AOR to “Hot Rock,” a Top 40/rock hybrid (known on the air as “Detroit’s New Music“), playing a wide variety of new wave, pop, rock and urban product with a slick, CHR-style presentation.
However, the station’s market share continued to decline throughout 1983, and a little over a year after WABX debuted “Hot Rock,” Liggett decided to change the station’s format and calls.
On January 9, 1984, WABX’s long-term reign as a high-rolling rock station came to an end with the song “When the Music’s Over” by The Doors, after which the station became “Class FM“, WCLS, with a soft rock format. However, the adult contemporary field in Detroit was as crowded as the rock format had become, and “Class FM” was not successful. At this same time, the station was sold to Metropolis Broadcasting.
