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A special THANK YOU to Scott Westerman for providing Motor City Radio Flashbacks his featured Vimeo video tribute to Rosalie Trombley.
This special ‘Rock and Roll Revisited’ segment was created and was produced by Scott Westerman.
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— KEENER 13 AND THE SOUNDTRACK OF DETROIT —
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The long anticipated WKNR book by Scott Westerman in print and available!
At long last, the Keener legend is available and in print (published in 2019). It’s a tale 56 years in the making and 4 years in production, with biographical sketches of many of the original WKNR personalities, popular culture highlights from each year of the Keener era and scans of 9 years of WKNR Music Guides.
Motor City Music – Keener13 and the Soundtrack of Detroit tells the story of Keener’s birth and how Bob Green, Dick Purtan, Jerry Goodwin, Robin Seymour and others found their way to the Detroit airwaves. There are classic tales of Keener and the Beatles, a contest that almost landed WKNR in court and the station’s power to raise a half million dollars for charity during a newspaper strike.
We meet two of the men behind the scenes, program director, Frank Maruca and chief engineer Jerry Martin, a duo who help craft both the sound and the vibe that made WKNR jump out of your radio and into your heart.
Music guide buffs will love watching their favorite hits ride up and down the charts, watching how the promotional pictures of the announcers morphed over the years and remembering some of the products that Keener helped sell to thousands of fans across the Motor City.
Motor City Music is a true trip down memory lane, a required reference for those of us who followed the music and a loving tribute to the talent that transformed a 5,000 watt AM station that barely covered the market into a powerhouse that became the soundtrack of our lives.
Grab your copy of Motor City Music – Keener13 and the Soundtrack of Detroit in either print or digital form at Amazon.com.
And to one and to all . . . Merry Christmas!
–Scott Westerman
THE KEENER PODCAST * 04/06/06 * SCOTT W. RECALLS ’60s CLASSIC COMMERCIALS!
As much as we’d like to deny it, those commercials we saw and heard in the 60s are as much a part of our consciousness as are the rock acts we listened to on WKNR. This week we bring back some of the most memorable ad themes of the Keener era. We also answer your requests for the Radiants, the Raiders and some 1970 reflections.
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‘MOTOR CITY MUSIC KEENER 13 AND THE SOUNDTRACK OF DETROIT’
The long anticipated WKNR tome by Scott Westerman is now available!
At long last, the Keener legend is in print. It’s a tale 56 years in the making and 4 years in production, with biographical sketches of many of the original WKNR personalities, popular culture highlights from each year of the Keener era and scans of 9 years of WKNR Music Guides.
Motor City Music – Keener13 and the Soundtrack of Detroit tells the story of Keener’s birth and how Bob Green, Dick Purtan, Jerry Goodwin, Robin Seymour and others found their way to the Detroit airwaves. There are classic tales of Keener and the Beatles, a contest that almost landed WKNR in court and the station’s power to raise a half million dollars for charity during a newspaper strike.
We meet two of the men behind the scenes, program director, Frank Maruca and chief engineer Jerry Martin, a duo who help craft both the sound and the vibe that made WKNR jump out of your radio and into your heart.
Music guide buffs will love watching their favorite hits ride up and down the charts, watching how the promotional pictures of the announcers morphed over the years and remembering some of the products that Keener helped sell to thousands of fans across the Motor City.
Motor City Music is a true trip down memory lane, a required reference for those of us who followed the music and a loving tribute to the talent that transformed a 5,000 watt AM station that barely covered the market into a powerhouse that became the soundtrack of our lives.
Grab your copy of Motor City Music – Keener13 and the Soundtrack of Detroit in either print or digital form at Amazon.com.
And to one and to all . . . Merry Christmas!
Scott Westerman
BRAND NEW! 4 YEARS IN THE MAKING . . . .
AVAILABLE NOW IN DIGITAL AND BOOK FORM!
Hey, we have great news shared from our friend, Scott Westerman, over at Keener13.com —
At long last, the Keener legend is in print. It’s a tale 56 years in the making and 4 years in production, with biographical sketches of many of the original WKNR personalities, popular culture highlights from each year of the Keener era and scans of 9 years of WKNR Music Guides.
Motor City Music – Keener13 and the Soundtrack of Detroit tells the story of Keener’s birth and how Bob Green, Dick Purtan, Jerry Goodwin, Robin Seymour and others found their way to the Detroit airwaves. There are classic tales of Keener and the Beatles, a contest that almost landed WKNR in court and the station’s power to raise a half million dollars for charity during a newspaper strike.
We meet two of the men behind the scenes, program director, Frank Maruca and chief engineer Jerry Martin, a duo who help craft both the sound and the vibe that made WKNR jump out of your radio and into your heart.
Music guide buffs will love watching their favorite hits ride up and down the charts, watching how the promotional pictures of the announcers morphed over the years and remembering some of the products that Keener helped sell to thousands of fans across the Motor City.
Motor City Music is a true trip down memory lane, a required reference for those of us who followed the music and a loving tribute to the talent that transformed a 5,000 watt AM station that barely covered the market into a powerhouse that became the soundtrack of our lives.
Grab your copy of Motor City Music – Keener13 and the Soundtrack of Detroit in either print or digital form at Amazon.com.
Scott Westerman
October 1, 2019
WE CELEBRATE THE 2005 WOODWARD DREAM CRUISE with air checks from past broadcasts featuring Bob Green and Scott Regen and Bob Berry’s interview with Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits, a piece that never aired due to the historic black out of 2003.
We highlight some of the 2004 Dream Cruise events and showcase a trunk load of music for cruising from Jan and Dean, Ronnie and the Daytonas, the Beach Boys and more. Scott Westerman hosts our 34th Keener Podcast.
This year commemorates the 25th anniversary of the Woodward Dream Cruise.
In celebration, Motor City Radio Flashbacks highlights the 2019 Woodward Dream Cruise (today; Saturday, August 17) with this special Keener WDC podcast — hosted by Scott Westerman — initially featured on Keener13.com on August 13, 2005 . . . 14 years ago!
(Above 2019 WDC logo courtesy the official woodwarddreamcruise.com website).
We celebrate radio’s coverage of the D-Day invasion with excerpts from Robert Trout’s remarkable live coverage, including Richard C. Hottelet’s riveting account of the first moments of the invasion.
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This special Scott Westerman podcast initially aired on Keener 13.com on June 5, 2005, in commemorating the 61st anniversary of the Allied Invasion on D-Day, fourteen years ago.
In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of D-Day tomorrow — and courtesy of the Keener podcast archive — exclusively featured on this site — we present this keener13.com podcast today.
Where were you in the Summer of 1969? If you listened to WKNR, you heard the eclectic mix of pop, rock and soul that was Keener’s late 60s trademark.
We have some of each in this week’s podcast including Keener one-hits from Clarence Reid, Shannon, The Electric Indian, Duke Baxter and the Winstons. We remember the movies of that summer and Philip Nye covers Woodstock and Neal Armstrong’s first steps on the moon.
Danny Mullins of St. Johns in Wyandotte was just 18 when he entered Keener’s Motor City Music Search. We have a pristine recording of his performance along with tunes that Bob Seger and Savage Grace played at an outdoor Oakland Mall concert Keener sponsored 37 years ago.
For you Woodward Dream Cruisers, we have details on how you can stick an authentic WKNR Bumper Magnet on your vehicle, and we count down the top 13 Keener hits for the week ending July 24th, 1969. — Scott W.
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Hosted by Scott Westerman, keener13.com
Special THANKS to Scott Westerman for sharing his KEENER13.COM WDC 2005 Keener podcast with Motor City Radio Flashbacks!
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WE CELEBRATE THE 2005 WOODWARD DREAM CRUISE with air checks from past broadcasts featuring Bob Green and Scott Regen and Bob Berry’s interview with Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits, a piece that never aired due to the historic black out of 2003. We highlight some of the 2004 Dream Cruise events and showcase a trunk load of music for cruising from Jan and Dean, Ronnie and the Daytonas, the Beach Boys and more. Scott Westerman hosts our 34th Keener Podcast. — c. SCOTT WESTERMAN, KEENER13.COM
ONE OF THE MOST analyzed records of all time is Don McLean’s “American Pie.” While it’s commonly agreed that the song is an ode to the deaths of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper, it’s nuances are still debated.
The closest McLean came to explaining it’s meaning was in his 2000 video, Starry Starry Night. “I’m very proud of the song,” he said. “It is biographical in nature and I don’t think anyone has ever picked up on that. The song starts off with my memories of the death of Buddy Holly. But it moves on to describe America as I was seeing it and how I was fantasizing it might become, so it’s part reality and part fantasy but I’m always in the song as a witness or as even the subject sometimes in some of the verses.”
While Don McLean never fully discussed it’s meaning, many of us have tried. The best analysis I’ve read was written by WKNR and WCFL veteran, Bob Dearborn.
Here is my breakdown of American Pie as broadcast on KRKE and XM/Sirius in 2010.
— Scott Westerman February 1, 2012
American Pie. Revisited.
A special THANK YOU to Scott Westerman for sharing his special Sirius XM ‘American Pie: Deciphered’ (2010) with Motor City Radio Flashbacks.
For more on the events of February 3, 1959, on this website, GO HERE.