Rock Radio Scrapbook

Airchecks: 1964

Talent: MIKE PHILLIPS
Station: KJR Seattle
Date: January 11, 1964
Time: 12:08

Canadian visitors to Los Angeles have undoubtedly heard that city's major oldies station, K-EARTH. A major force behind that station's success, Mike Phillips, was also well-known to listeners in the westernmost parts of Canada back in the early '60s.

From 1962 to 1965, Phillips entertained at the legendary KJR Seattle, part of a remarkable lineup that included Lan Roberts, Pat O'Day and Larry Lujack.

After KJR, Phillips had numerous radio addresses, including KFRC San Francisco in the early '70s and WXLO New York later than same decade. His impressive resume also includes stops at KYUU and KNBR San Francisco and KGW and KISN Portland, Ore.

As program director at K-EARTH in the 1990s, Phillips tightened the playlist and hired legendary Boss Jocks Robert W. Morgan and the Real Don Steele. While both Morgan and Steele have passed on, the tight sound Phillips introduced to K-EARTH continues to this day.

Phillips died October 16, 2006 of pancreatic cancer in Los Angeles. He was 64.

Hear Mike Phillips at KJR here.

(Scrapbook archives)

Talent: JOEY REYNOLDS
Station: WKBW Buffalo, N.Y.
Date: February 22, 1964
Time: 9:19

To borrow a phrase from WHTT-FM deejay deejay Craig Matthews, WKBW was "fun time in the nighttime."

Few stations have been known as much for its nighttime deejays alone as 'KB. Fans of the Cruisin' series will remember Dick Biondi, circa 1960. Tom Shannon and Ted Hackett followed. After Reynolds, there was also Bud Ballou in the late '60s, followed by Sandy Beach, Tom Kelly and - moving into the '70s - Jackson Armstrong, Shane, Jim Quinn, Super Shannon, Al Bandiero and Jay Fredericks. Chuck Lakefield held down the spot in the '80s before 'KB went talk at night. And we must not forget the man who preceded them all in the '50s - George "Hound Dog" Lorenz.

But perhaps the most remembered 'KB evening personality is Joey Reynolds, who held down the 7 p.m.-12 midnight spot in the mid-'60s.

Enjoy Joey Reynolds here.

(Scrapbook archives)

Talent: BOB DIAMOND
Station: WKBW Buffalo, N.Y.
Date: February 23, 1964
Time: 15:34

The Beatles with Ed Sullivan

Excitement was in the air - and on the air - in February, 1964, on a level not seen musically since Elvis burst on the scene in the mid-1950s. Beatlemania had exploded, and every rock 'n' roll station was jumping on the bandwagon fueled by the arrival of the Fab Four in North America.

One of those stations was WKBW. With a killer lineup that included Stan Roberts, Fred Klestine, Dan Neaverth and Joey Reynolds, the station blasted out the Beatles and the other Top 40 stars 24 hours a day. 'KB's powerful nighttime signal carried up and down the Eastern seaboard and into Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes and was even heard in Scandinavia.

Bob Diamond hosted the all-night "House Party" show on WKBW during this exciting time. But as you'll find out when you hear this aircheck, the playlist wasn't all Beatles. Hardly. You'll hear Allan Sherman, Brenda Lee, Ruby and the Romantics and others on this aircheck, which includes two full "Instant News from Action Central" newscasts and even an ad for an oldies compilation ($1.25 for 26 songs - same price for Americans and Canadians!). Those really were the days.

Hear Bob Diamond here.

(The Bill Dulmage Collection)

Talent: TED BROWN
Station: WNEW New York
Date: June 10, 1964
Time: 34:27

"Am I blue? No, I'm Brown.
Got a smile on my puss, not a frown
Every morn from seven 'til nine
We play discs and commit general crime."

That ditty - sung to the tune of "Am I Blue" - was Ted Brown's theme song for part of his legendary four-decade career in radio. Back in the days when what was said between the records mattered as much (or more) than the music itself, Ted Brown was one of the leading deejays in the U.S. As fellow announcer and musician Jim Lowe put it "he was a major talent, with a keen sense of the ridiculous."

A native of Collingwood, N.J., Theodore David Brown got his first experience behind a mike at a dance at Roanoke College in Salem, Va., when he filled in for a master of ceremonies who had failed to show up. After college, he fought for the U.S. in the Second World War as an Air Force tail-gunner in a B-17 bomber. He was shot down over Germany and spent 18 months as a prisoner of war before being released and returning to New York.

Brown's first taste of the big time in radio came in 1950, when he took over the morning show at WMGM from another broadcast legend, Robert Q. Lewis. Teamed with his wife Rhoda Brown and later actress and second wife Sylvia Miles - both of whom were known on-air as "The Redhead" - Brown delivered a highly-popular show that continued into the station's foray into rock 'n' roll music in the late '50s.

By 1962, he was off to the legendary WNEW, joining a staff that included such broadcast greats as William B. Williams, Gene Klaven and Dee Finch. Brown held down the afternoon drive spot at 'NEW until 1970, when he left for a couple of years at WNBC. He returned to WNEW in 1972 before leaving the station in 1989. In later years, he worked at WRIV Riverhead, N.Y., and WVNJ Oakland, N.J.

Brown was incapacitated in 1996 from a stroke, complications from which he died March 20, 2005. He was believed to be in his 80s - he never revealed his age.

Ted Brown, described by his newsman Mike Prelee as "a tough guy with a soft heart", can he heard here.

(Scrapbook archives)

Talent: DICK WILLIAMS
Station: CFPL London, Ont.
Date: July 6, 1964
Time: 17:53

Dick Williams chose Canada.

Williams - one of southwestern Ontario's legendary deejays - could have spent his career in the more lucrative U.S. market. In fact, he did a stint in mornings at KDEO in San Diego in the early 1960s (he also worked at WING Dayton, Ohio and WSAI Cincinnati). But he fell in love with London, Ont., after arriving there at CFPL after his San Diego stint. He remained in London into the 21st century.

Williams' clever, fast-paced, humour-driven show could easily have been a morning show. But it wasn't - it was at night. At that time, evening shows were prime time in radio and that's where the stars were. And Dick Williams was certainly a star.

To hear Dick Williams, click here.

(The Don Shuttleworth and Charlie Ritenburg Collections)

Talent: DAVE MICKIE
Station: CHIQ Hamilton, Ont.
Date: July, 1964
Time: 17:11

He was called the Dick Biondi of Canadian radio, the "Fastest Tongue in the North." But above all, he was radio's greatest chameleon.

Dave Mickie earned a legion of fans from his days in the early '60s as an incredibly energetic nighttime deejay at CKEY Toronto. By 1964, however, he had moved down the QEW to CHIQ (now CHAM) in Hamilton. He was still screaming and talking faster than most people - especially parents - could listen.

It was an entirely different Mickie that Toronto listeners would hear in the 1970s. First, he was now known as Dave Marsden. After a stop at Montreal's CHOM-FM in the late '60s, Marsden  joined CHUM-FM in Toronto in the early '70s and if anything was the SLOWEST talker in the North (well, Jim Bauer could give him competition).

In six years at CHUM-FM, Marsden established himself as one of the country's top FM rock announcers. In 1977, he brought his considerable talents to what was the new CFNY-FM in Brampton, Ont., which had just changed its call letters from CHIC-FM. With Marsden as PD and program host, CFNY became a force to be reckoned with in Toronto radio.

Marsden left the station in the late '80s for the Vancouver radio scene. After blazing a trail with the then-new medium of Internet radio in the '90s, Marsden returned to the terrestial airwaves at "The Rock" in Oshawa, Ont., in the 2000s.

Enjoy Dave Mickie on CHIQ here.

(Scrapbook archives)

Talent: DICK BIONDI
Station: WCFL Chicago (via the Mutual Radio Network)
Date: August 16, 1964
Time: 27:03

He was known as "The Screamer", "The Wild I-tralian", "The Big Mouth" and "The Supersonic Spaghetti Slurper". He was wild, loud, unconventional, fast-talking and possessed with enough energy to light up a small city. And while he caused his bosses to pull out their hair at times, the kids just loved him. He was Dick Biondi, one of Top 40 radio's most beloved and versatile talents and a true radio rebel.

Biondi got his start in 1951 at WCBA Cornell, N.Y., working a split shift. After a few other radio stops, he made it to the big time at the 50,000-watt WKBW in 1958. The shrieking, high-octane, rebellious Biondi was an instant hit and did much to cultivate his bad boy image. He invited listeners to throw rocks at his boss's car, fought with program directors and while ignoring formats and rules at his own whim.  And while that won him listeners, it cost him jobs. According to "The Pied Pipers of Rock 'n' Roll" by Wes Smith, by one count he was fired 22 times in 32 years.

In 1960, Biondi helped launch the WLS Top 40 format with a highly-rated 9 p.m.-midnight show that was heard in 40 states and in Canada. By 1963, it was on to another legendary station, KRLA Los Angeles. The following year Biondi went national with a show on the Mutual Broadcasting System. More than 125 stations carried the show, including the station he would work at from 1967 to 1973 - WCFL Chicago.

Biondi spent a decade at WNMB Myrtle Beach, S.C., beginning in 1973 before returning to Chicago in 1984 to launch the oldies format at WJMK-FM. He was on the air there for 21 years before WJMK dumped oldies in 2005. He continued as the nighttime jock at WJMK-FM's high-definition station (WJMK-FM HD-2), also carried on the Internet. He was released from that station in June, 2006 before resurfacing at WZZN Chicago "True Oldies 94.7" in November of that year (the call letters were changed to WLS-FM in 2008.)

Enjoy Dick Biondi on WCFL - via the Mutual Broadcasting System - here.

(The Don Shuttleworth Collection)

Talent: BILL STURRUP
Station: CHML Hamilton
Date: September 7, 1964
Time: 1:33

Long-time CHML morning man Paul Hanover called Bill Sturrup "Mr. Everywhere and Mr. Everything." Said Hanover: "there wasn't a job he couldn't do or didn't want to do at the station or in the community."

Sturrup left us a legacy that included 45 years at Hamilton's CHML - reporting on virtually every major news event in the city - a half-century of public address announcing at Hamilton sporting events and too many friends and admirers to count. A lifelong Hamiltonian, Sturrup joined Hanover, Tom Darling, Lee Dunbar and others in the CHML Hall of Fame in 2004. He died January 16, 2007, aged 68.

One of the many events Sturrup covered was the Beatles arrival in Toronto in September, 1964.

Hear Sturrup cover Beatlemania here.

(The Mark Panopoulos Collection)

Talent: JOCKO HENDERSON
Station: WADO New York
Date: December 27, 1964
Time: 20:31

Jocko Henderson was part of an amazing cast at WADO that at one time included doo-wop king Alan Fredericks, jazz deejay "Symphony Sid" Torin along gospel announcers Joe Crane and Charles Gibbs, Jr., and Herman Amis, a veteran of WADO's predecessor WOV. There was also Happy Hare (Harry Martin), Kenny Garland, Jack Walker and Johnny Holiday (a.k.a. Mort Crowley.)

WADO went to mostly Spanish programming in 1964 but Jocko remained.

Jocko Henderson died July 15, 2000 after a prolonged illness in Philadelphia. He was 82.

Enjoy Henderson on WADO here.

(Scrapbook archives)

Talent: CHARLIE GREER
Station: WABC New York
Date: December 30, 1964
Time: 25:41

Any discussion of the great all-night jocks in Top 40 radio history should certainly include one of the greatest of them all - Charlie Greer.

While he also worked middays at WABC for several years, Greer is best identified with the all-night show at the legendary New York station. Greer was in fact the first midday voice when WABC debuted as a Top 40
station on December 7, 1960. He moved to midnights in 1963, then went back to middays in 1965, before returning to the all-night show in 1966. He stayed there until he left the station in August, 1969.

Greer's easy-going friendly style was perfect for WABC, a station that emphasized personality. His live reads of the famous Dennison's commercials (Route 22, Union, N.J.) are part of New York radio lore. And while several others did the all-night show at WABC, he's probably the best remembered.

Greer jocked at WAKR in Akron, Ohio, before moving to WABC in 1960. After leaving WABC, he moved to WIP Philadelphia in 1969 and in the 1970s returned to New York at WCBS-FM (he also participated in that station's radio reunions in the '80s and '90s.) Greer also worked at WRKL New York and WHAM Rochester, N.Y.

Greer died September 30, 1996 of lung cancer in Akron, Ohio. He was 73.

Enjoy Greer on WABC here.

(The Bill Dulmage Collection)

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