A special THANK YOU to Gary Hunt for sharing this special Jimmy Hampton memory with Motor City Radio Flashbacks.
A MCRFB Note: Motor City Radio Flashbacks pulled up the WXYZ Detroit Sound Survey guides for the week of *August 22, 1966. It appears the numbered song hits on this one WXYZ Jimmy Hampton aircheck verifies it was recorded sometime during that particular week, as was noted in this aircheck presentation.
H E L L O A G A I N, J I M H A M P T O N H E R E . You know, after working as an air personality at WXYZ, WJBK and WCAR in Detroit, I moved to WLS as Production Director. One of my assignments was to create a 12-hour Christmas special that the station could play and give the entire staff the Holiday off.
After I moved to Los Angeles to work in radio syndication, among the thousands of programs I produced were numerous Christmas specials. There were short-form features, long-form specials and 24 hour formats.
In addition to great Christmas music, all of the programs I produced were filled with special features, stories, comedy, the amazing comments of little children, and, of course, interviews with everyday people and superstar celebrities.
The program content includes Contemporary and Classic Christmas songs. From Mathis to Crosby, from Whitney to Barbra, and from The Ronettes to Jose Feliciano.
Plus, there are numerous vignettes about how Christmas customs came about, lots of celebrity drop-ins (Clint Eastwood, Natalie Cole, Johnny Mathis and many more), Tom Murphy (otherwise known as “world-famous” Tom Murphy offers his Holiday anecdotes, there are old radio clips from classic performers of the 40’s (Jack Benny, Bob Hope, George Burns & Gracie Allen, to name a few), and the delightful, heartwarming and honest voices of little children reflecting on their favorite day of the year.
All in all, for 2016, it is an extended 18-hour Holiday celebration for the whole family. It just may become the soundtrack of Christmas get togethers from now on. Hope you will join me this Saturday, Christmas Eve, through midnight into Sunday, Christmas Day for this special 2016 holiday event on Detroit’s 760-AM WJR. (For dates and hours please see the above Original Christmas 2017 ad).
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Written, produced and hosted by Jim Hampton, ‘AN ORIGINAL CHRISTMAS’ can be heard from anywhere in the world. Listen Live over iHeart Radio,wjr.com,and of course throughout the Midwest onNews/Talk 760 WJR.
