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Rock Radio Scrapbook
Airchecks: 1986
Subject:
NEW YORK, ROCK MY RADIO
Station: WCBS-FM New York
Date: 1986
Times: Various
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Listeners to the WCBS-FM "Radio Greats Reunion" over the years are no doubt familiar with this musical tribute to New York radio.
Co-written by Al Stark and Gerry Dieffenbach, "New York, Rock My Radio" was played during the 1989 Radio Greats Reunion and also appeared on subsequent WCBS-FM reunion weekends in the '90s.
Al Stark, who co-wrote "New York, Rock My Radio", tells Rock Radio Scrapbook about "New York, Rock My Radio":
"The song was an off shoot for a book proposal on the History of New York Rock 'n' Roll radio from the 50's to the then present (80's). I had a list of Dee Jays that I interviewed for the book proposal and the lyrics came to me as I was reading the names on the paper. I got together with Gerry Dieffenbach through a mutual friend and we collaborated on the tune. I wrote the lyrics and he did the music and vocals. I sent a copy to Joe McCoy at WCBS-FM and he featured it on their Dee Jay reunion weekend at that time. It was fun hearing the various Jocks talk about the song."A shorter version of "New York, Rock My Radio" can be heard here. (3:59)
The version that aired on WCBS-FM June 11, 1989 can be heard here. (3:49)
|
- Alan Freed In order, these are the radio stations mentioned
- WINS |
"New York,
Rock My Radio"
© 1986 Pomonok Records
Lyrics: Al Stark; Music: Gerry Dieffenbach
(The Al Stark Collection)
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here for technical help |
Talent: LARRY MAXWELL
Station: CKBB Barrie,
Ont./CKCB Collingwood, Ont.
Date: March 4, 1986
Time: 9:20
(Logos courtesy Bill Dulmage)
It seems like a long time ago, doesn't it? The days when a budding radio announcer could learn his trade by doing the all-night show on a small or medium market station, then move on to better things.
Larry Maxwell was such an announcer. He started his radio career by doing overnights at CKBB-CKCB Barrie-Collingwood from 1985 to 1986. In '86, he moved to country-formatted BX-93 in London, Ont., where he did a swing shift. Then, in 1988, Maxwell began a five-year stint as announcer and music director of The Coast to Coast Network. His Telemedia satellite show was carried on more than 50 stations across Canada.
In 1993 and 1994 Maxwell did middays at Magic 94.9 in Oshawa, Ont., then in '94 it was on to MIX 99.9 Toronto as a swing announcer covering evenings, weekends and overnights.
Maxwell left the Mix in 1999 for a six-year stint at one of Canada's highest-rated stations, CHFI. He was a swing announcer at CHFI, while also producing spots for the Rogers cluster that included CHFI, The Fan 590, Jack-FM and 680 News. Maxwell was also a promo voice for 680 News and was Music Assistant to the Music Director at CHFI.
Maxwell returned to the Mix in the winter of 2005-06 before moving to The Canadian Press in 2006 as National Audio Editor.
It has been quite a career for Maxwell, and it all started the old-fashioned way - with the all-night show.
This aircheck starts with the end of Jim Lundy show, then enjoy Larry Maxwell on CKBB-CKCB here.
(The Larry Maxwell Collection)
Talent: CANDI
CLARK
Station: WPXY-FM Rochester, N.Y.
Date: March or April 1986
Time: 7:05
(Logo courtesy Bill Dulmage)
Female voices are commonly heard on radio now, but it wasn't always so. Radio was very male dominated in the early years of the medium, including the fledgling years of rock 'n' roll radio in the 1950s and '60s.
The trend began to change in the '70s, with deejays like Yvonne Daniels, Raechel Donahue, Carol Miller and Ellie Dylan hitting the airwaves. But two stations of note were way ahead of the curve, experimenting with an all-female lineup in the late '60s. In 1966-67, New York's WNEW-FM put together a lineup that included Peggy Cass, Pam McKissick, Alison Steele, Nell Bassett, Dolly Holiday and Anne Clements. The only male hosts were in morning drive, with Gene Klaven and Dee Finch simulcast from WNEW-AM. Only Steele survived WNEW-FM's move to progressive rock in late 1967, and she went on to become one of the true legends of the album rock format.
CHIC-AM in Brampton, Ont., also had an all-female lineup in the late '60s, which tied in very neatly with the call-letters. It was one of many formats for the station that later became CKMW and is now known as CIAO.
One of the best female jocks we've heard is Candi Clark, who was at WPXY-FM in the 1980s.
Hear Clark here.
(The Stephen MacLeod Collection)
Subject:
LOOKIN' BACK AGAIN INTRO
with DON DAYNARD
Station: CKFM Toronto
Date:
June 21, 1986
Time: 0:55
It was one of Toronto's most popular oldies shows and a perfect showcase for the wit and wisdom of Don Daynard.
Dazzlin' Don tells us the story behind "Lookin' Back"...
"As far as the oldies show starting at CKFM, I was single at the time and would go to my place in Oliphant, on the Bruce Peninsula every weekend and driving home on Sunday night, across Highway 89 to the 400, I'd pick up a station in Buffalo that had an oldies show ... forget the name of the station, but either Craig Smith would likely remember. After a month or two, it came up in a conversation with the original Craig Smith who said he listened to the show too, and we both suggested that it was the kind of show we'd like to do. Craig has an incredible collection of oldies and that's what we used, rarely going into the station's material.
We approached Bill Ballentine and he said to do a one-hour pilot, which we did and they sat on it for two or three weeks and then said "let's do it" and to do a two-hour show every Saturday night from 7:00 'til 9:00. CKFM was getting clobbered by CHFI in that time period with something called "In Concert" where they ran an entire album with applause between each cut so it sounded live. Anyway, we edited the one hour pilot slightly ... I should say Craig edited it as he did all the work, programming, editing, all that .. and did a second hour and debuted the show and within weeks it took off and was huge for the rest of the run, eventually expanded to three hours. All done on tape, reel-to-reel, and Craig edited it and ran from that (there was a guy in Mississauga who had copies of every show we did ... I visited his place once and the entire back wall of his den was reel-to-reel tapes of "Lookin' Back"). Unfortunately, I don't recall his name. Would be interesting to know if he still has them and what shape they are in!) The theme for the show was "Kinda Easy Like" by Booker T and the Whatevers. Always called them Booker T and the Mugwumps!!
When I went to CHFI I took the show with me but we couldn't call it "Lookin' Back" as the Slaights had copyrighted the name before we could. I wanted them to hire both Craig Smith and Jeremy Brown but they passed on both of them. Anyway it started lamely with interviews and crap like that - we did do interviews on the original "Lookin' Back" show but I recall them being much more interesting. I mean, we once interviewed some ballet dancer who was an oldies fan! Jesus Murphy! Of course, we also interviewed Wolfman Jack about three days before he went back home and died in his driveway! I hope it wasn't our fault! But then we eventually settled into a pretty good run except for the past year or so when they cut back on the playlist. When I retired from the morning show in December of '99 I continued on doing the oldies show, even though they had cut back the playlist even more. It was terrible. In the fall of '03 I had cancer surgery and although I had agreed to come back, I got out of the contract and haven't had anything much to do about radio ever since..."
Don also tells us that it was Craig Smith who chose the introductory theme by Booker T and the MG's. "Kinda Easy Like" was on the album "Melting Pot", released in December, 1970.
Daynard's intro to Lookin' Back can be heard here.
(The Bill Dulmage Collection)
Talent:
DICK BARTLEY with SOLID GOLD SATURDAY NIGHT
Station: WBUF Buffalo, N.Y.
Date: June 7, 1986
Time: 16:34
Making the oldies sound alive and fresh is a tricky business. One deejay who keeps getting it right is Dick Bartley.
Bartley introduced "Solid Gold Saturday Night" to Chicago's WFYR in the late '70s or early '80s. But the show really took off when he went national via satellite on the RKO Radio Network in 1982 (later his show moved to United Stations, Westwood One and ABC).
Bartley's show was an instant hit and has been carried on many North American stations. His up-beat, personable style and his policy of playing some lesser-played hits made his show a Saturday night staple.
Bartley was named to the Radio Hall of Fame in 2000.
To hear Solid Gold Saturday Night - and "Summertime's Greatest Hits" with Dick Bartley in 1986 - click here.
(Scrapbook archives)
Talent: LIVE EARL JIVE
Station: CHOM-FM Montréal (15th anniversary special)
Date: October 19, 1986
Time: 12:57
Pour la description en français,
cliquez ici
On the evening of October 28, 1969, Montréal’s ‘Beautiful Music’ CKGM 97.7
underwent a complete metamorphosis as it got off the ‘elevators’ for good and
became 97.7 CKGM-FM, ‘Tribal Rock’. There was no mistaking the new format for
Frédéric Chopin, James Last or especially the Top 40 genre of the city’s AM big
sister station, 980 CKGM. Almost overnight and led by the company’s maverick
owner Geoff Stirling, CKGM-FM became rock album-oriented, spaced-out and
irreverent with an ‘anything-goes’ hippie attitude fueled by such on-air
luminaries as Doug Pringle, Angus MacKay, Tim Forsythe, David Marsden and the
Live Earl Jive, to name but a few.
It wasn’t until October of 1971 that the CKGM-FM moniker was finally dropped in
favour of the new call letters, CHOM-FM and the slogan ‘L’Esprit de Montréal’,
with a few years of controversial bilingual radio still ahead on the horizon.
With the later addition of French-speaking FM deejays such as Robert ‘’Bobby’’
Boulanger, Benoît Dufresne, Denis Grondin, Claude Rajotte and Bob Beauchamp in
the mid-seventies, the ‘bilingual commune’ at 1355 Greene Avenue in Westmount
Qc. was well on its merry way.
Enjoy Live Earl Jive (with a cameo appearance from colleague ‘Too Tall’) on CHOM,
‘L’Esprit de Montréal’, as Earl returned for CHOM’s 15th Anniversary Special on
October 19, 1986
here.
(The Brian Wolofsky Collection)
Aircheck editing & description:
Marc Denis
For more Montréal bilingual radio memories, visit the Mais Oui Files here on Rock Radio Scrapbook and Marc Denis’ 980 CKGM Super 70s Tribute Page
Talent:
BARRY ROGERS
Station:
CFCY Charlottetown
Date: Fall, 1986
Time: 8:30
Small in size, but long in entertainment value could be the radio motto of Canada's Island province, Prince Edward Island.
Enjoy Barry Rogers here.
(The Mark Young Collection)
