Our thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by the massive tornadoes on May 20, 2013. KFOR-TV Channel 4 in Oklahoma City is providing continuing live coverage of the tornadoes and the aftermath of the storms. Two elementary schools in Moore, Oklahoma took a direct hit from this devastating twister, estimated to be possible EF5 strength:
Sad news out of Western Wisconsin and the Twin Cities: Michael W. Wegner of Osceola, also known as Michael J. ‘Donuts’ Douglas has left us. His was a household name in Minneapolis/St. Paul radio during the 1970s and 80s. I first heard Michael J. when I was about 9 or 10 years old. He was doing news for KDWB-AM 630 (‘KDWB/63.’) Later, he was part of the infamous U-100 (WYOO), “the Boogie Station.” At U-100, Michael J. did news and co-hosted mornings: first with Jerry St. James, then with Rob Sherwood. However, Michael J. Douglas was best known as “Donuts”, half of the incredibly successful “Knapp and Donuts” morning show on KSTP-FM 94.5 (KS95) in the early and mid-1980s.
Obituary and funeral service information can be found here. Visitation will be held from 3:00-7:00PM on Sunday, April 28th at the Grandstrand Funeral Home in Osceola, Wisconin.
The initial death announcement to the Twin Cities broadcasting community and many comments from friends/coworkers can be seen on Chuck Knapp’s Facebook page:
Several airchecks of Michael J. Douglas can be heard on my friend Tom Gavaras’ excellent website RadioTapes.com:
I was never fortunate enough to work with Michael J. But everyone who has says he was one of the “good guys” with a big heart. R.I.P, Michael J. Douglas. Radio Heaven has just gained another fine broadcaster.
I’ve always been a big fan of Bismarck, North Dakota’s KFYR. Since my maternal grandparents lived near Devils Lake, I became familiar with this station at an early age. With the largest daytime coverage in the United States, KFYR’s massive signal footprint covered parts of 6 states and 2 Canadian provinces. The station boasted of 5 state coverage, but they were being modest by not counting Iowa. Having lived in Sioux City during the 1980s, I can tell you that KFYR was easily receivable in northwest Iowa. This amazing range was due to the combination of the incredible soil conductivity in the region plus the low dial position. Those AM radio waves have very long legs at 550Khz!
It wasn’t just the big signal that made KFYR special. More than anything else, it was the people and the personalities! KFYR sounded much larger than Bismarck, a city with a population of around 35,000 at the time. The talent and caliber of programming on this station would have been competitive in any large market. I grew up in Minneapolis, and I would rate KFYR as an equal with any of our four Top 40 outlets of the day: KDWB, WYOO, WDGY, and KSTP.
1975 marked the 50th anniversary of KFYR. R. David Adams held down the evening shift from 8:00PM-1:00AM. A few days ago, I stumbled across some YouTube videos which he had produced. The audio consists of airchecks which were made during the time of the anniversary celebration. The video features photos, newspaper clippings, and sales literature which was distributed by the station. As evidenced by the music being played, there are also a few segments from 1976. These videos offer a rare look/listen at KFYR’s glory days of the 1970s, so I wanted to include them here on RadioGeekHeaven.
Featured on this collection of KFYR aircheck videos:
Orly Knutson aka “The Happy Norwegian”: Mornings
Al Gustin: Farm/Ag News
Dan Brannan: Program Director & Middays
Sid Hardt: Afternoons
R. David Adams aka “The Dakota Mother”: Evenings
Black Jack Dave Novak: Overnights
Smokin’ Joe: Weekends
Finally, a big “THANK YOU” to R. David Adams for preserving these classic North Dakota radio history artifacts and making them available for us to enjoy!
I read an article over the weekend and it’s taken a few days to sink in. Radio Ink Magazine has reported on three automotive industry representatives who appeared at a conference last week. One of their statements attracted immediate attention, followed by shock waves throughout the broadcasting industry:
“AM and FM are being eliminated from the dash of two car companies within two years and will be eliminated from the dash of all cars within five years.”
Think about this for a minute: the car radio…that faithful friend, essential to every ride most of us have ever owned, is being DISCONTINUED. Eliminated from the dashboard. No longer available. Extinct. No longer relevant. There really isn’t any “nice” way to put this. Radio as we know it will not be offered in new vehicles, beginning in just two years.
In fairness, you can’t really blame the car companies. Their research has shown that younger people just don’t use radio anymore. If they want to hear music, they have Pandora and Spotify. “Radio” to them means online streaming services such as iHeart Radio or TuneIn. There’s an app for that. We’re not just talking about misguided kids here. The harsh reality is this: most people under 40 no longer consider radio to be a primary entertainment or information source.
This is a big deal, friends. Many consider in-car listening to be radio’s last stand for dominance. Once it’s gone, then what? Does the industry survive, or does analog terrestrial radio go the way of the telegraph keys and spark-gap transmitters that came before it?
Your thoughts?
Rich Hawk, legendary PD of KILO-FM 94.3 (originally on 93.9) in Colorado Springs has died. This follows his lapse into a coma, back on February 19. His career with the station spanned 30 years, beginning in 1976 when it was known as KPIK. Rich retired in 2006. During his tenure, KILO became known as one of the premiere Active Rock stations in the U.S. He served as Program Director of KILO for 27 years.
I never had the pleasure to meet Rich. However, I very much admired his work and listened to his radio station whenever I was within range. My first radio job was in Burlington, Colorado, back in 1983. Although this was outside KILO’s coverage range, the station was available via the local cable TV system. I always thought KILO’s “sound” was superior to all three of Denver’s AOR outlets: KAZY, KBCO, and KBPI.
KILO was and is a very special radio station, as evidenced by it’s long heritage and track record of success in the Colorado Springs/Pueblo market. Much of this is directly attributable to Rich and his programming skills.
Richard D. Hawk was 59 years old.
These past few weeks, I’ve been listening to a new online station: K-ROB. The station promotes itself as “Non Stop 70s and 80s Hits” and they certainly deliver on that promise! KROB is currently running commercial-free. Broadcasting from the Delmarva Peninsula, K-ROB is the creation of veteran radio programmer Rob Walker.
If you’re wanting to hear the same 400 or so “carefully selected and researched” classic hits as dictated by corporate consultants and focus groups, do NOT listen to Rob’s new station. You will no doubt be disappointed. But if you enjoy hearing such lost 45s as Oxo’s “Whirly Girl”, Roger Vodouris’ “Get Used To It”, Andrew Gold’s “Lonely Boy”, and even “Soul City” by the Partland Brothers, you will LOVE KROB!
Of course, all the big Top 40 radio hits of the 1970s & 80s play here, too. The presentation is very professional and the audio quality is excellent. Give K-ROB a listen and let us know what you think!
Another piece of radio history came crashing down today (literally.) The legendary KHJ towers in Los Angeles were demolished on February 27, 2013. Although only one tower is pictured here, there were actually two. The second tower was used to pull in the signal during nighttime directional operation. Tower #2 was taken down a short time later. The towers had stood since 1938.
KHJ became a legendary Top 40 station during the 1960s. 930 AM was the home of Boss Radio in Los Angeles. Or, as the Real Don Steele and other KHJ disc-jockeys used to say, “BOSS Angeles.” It remained one of the most popular stations in Southern California throughout the 1970s, lasting until FM radio began to dominate the airwaves. Although the station has undergone several format changes and is currently broadcasting in Spanish, the heritage KHJ call letters remain intact to this day.
KHJ will now broadcast from a new transmitter site which it shares with KYPA-AM 1230 and KBLA-AM 1580.
Another 4-hour show and another “dual offering” to the Premiere Radio Networks’ affiliates of “American Top 40, The 70s.” This weekend, some stations received the October 24, 1970 show. Others received the October 20, 1979 edition. My local station aired the latter, so this is what we will review here:
1. RISE-Herb Alpert
2. DON’T STOP ‘TIL YOU GET ENOUGH-Michael Jackson
3. POP MUZIK-M
4. SAIL ON-Commodores
5. I’LL NEVER LOVE THIS WAY AGAIN-Dionne Warwick
6. DIM ALL THE LIGHTS-Donna Summer
7. SAD EYES-Robert John
8. MY SHARONA-The Knack
9. HEARTACHE TONIGHT-Eagles
10. STILL-Commodores
11. HEAVEN MUST HAVE SENT YOU-Bonnie Pointer
12. YOU DECORATED MY LIFE-Kenny Rogers
13. LONESOME LOSER-Little River Band
14. DIRTY WHITE BOY-Foreigner
15. TUSK-Fleetwood Mac
16. PLEASE DON’T GO-KC & the Sunshine Band
17. SPOOKY-Atlanta Rhythm Section
18. LOVIN’, TOUCHIN’, SQUEEZIN-Journey
19. GOOD GIRLS DON’T-The Knack
20. HOLD ON-ian Gomm
21. GET IT RIGHT NEXT TIME-Gerry Rafferty
22. COME TO ME-France Joli
23. WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I WAS FALLING IN LOVE-Lobo
24. I KNOW A HEARTACHE WHEN I SEE ONE-Jennifer Warnes
25. THIS NIGHT WON’T LAST FOREVER-Michael Johnson
26. BABE-Styx
27. GOTTA SERVE SOMEBODY-Bob Dylan
28. MIDNIGHT WIND-John Stewart
29. CRUEL TO BE KIND-Nick Lowe
30. AFTER THE LOVE HAS GONE-Earth, Wind & Fire
31. DEPENDIN’ ON YOU-Doobie Brothers
32. IF YOU REMEMBER ME-Chris Thompson
33. SO GOOD, SO RIGHT-Brenda Russell
34, BROKEN-HEARTED ME-Anne Murray
35. SHIPS-Barry Manilow
36. FOUND A CURE-Ashford & Simpson
37. YOU’RE ONLY LONELY-J.D. Souther
38. FINS-Jimmy Buffett
39. DON’T BRING ME DOWN-Electric Light Orchestra
40. RAINBOW CONNECTION-Kermit the Frog
This show kicks off with Kermit the Frong from Sesame Street. Who doesn’t love Kermit the Frog? It was from the “The Muppet Movie” which had recently debuted in theaters. I’ll spare you all those sick old Miss Piggy jokes 
Two of the best early New Wave songs are featured on this countdown: Nick Lowe’s “Cruel to be Kind” at #29 and Ian Gomm’s “Hold On” at #20. Taken collectively, these songs provided a futuristic look at what “new” music would sound like during the next few years.
Love or hate ‘em, the Knack was the hottest band in the land this week. They have two songs in this week’s survey. Still holding at #8 after it’s recent 6 week run at #1 is “My Sharona.” This tune went on to become Billboard’s #1 song of 1979. Racing up the charts and stopping at #19, we find “Good Girls Don’t.” By this time, a backlast movement called “Nuke the Knack” had sprung up. Casey talks about it on this week’s show, prior to playing “My Sharona.”
Even with 2 songs in the Top 20, The Knack is NOT the hottest act on this week’s program. That honor belongs to the Commodores. They have 2 songs in the Top 10. “Still” takes a massive move from #38 to #10 in only it’s second week on AT40. Meanwhile, “Sail On” holds at it’s peak position of #4.
The most unlikely record on this week’s show just might be the #1 song. Herb Alpert hadn’t had a Top 40 hit since 1968′s “This Guy’s in Love With You” which hit #1. As Casey mentions during the program, Herb had basically given up on performing, deciding instead to concentrate on his duties as president of A&M Records. Twelve years later, an infectious disco beat behind that famous trumpet brings Herb back to the top of the pops! Herb Alpert would hit the Top 5 one more time: in 1987, at age 52, he teamed up with Janet Jackson and Lisa Keith for the surprise spring hit “Diamonds.”
Okay, that’s my two cents’ worth. Please add your comments and memories via the “comments” section below. Or, e-mail me if this works better. Until next week, “Keep your feet in the ground and keep reaching for the stars.”
An interesting turn of events with this weekend’s American Top 40 The 70s show: Apparently, Premiere Radio Networks released TWO shows to stations. Some stations ran the October 16, 1971 program while others aired AT40 from October 13, 1973. In Minneapolis, my hometown station KQQL-FM 107.9 “Kool 108″ ran the 1973 show, so that’s what we will review here. First, the chart:
1. HALF BREED-Cher
2. RAMBLIN’ MAN-Allman Brothers Band
3. LET’S GET IT ON-Marvin Gaye
4. HIGHER GROUND-Stevie Wonder
5. ANGIE-Rolling Stones
6. THAT LADY-Isley Brothers
7. LOVES ME LIKE A ROCK-Paul Simon
8. MIDNIGHT TRAIN TO GEORGIA-Gladys Knight & the Pips
9. KEEP ON TRUCKIN’-Eddie Kendricks
10. WE’RE AN AMERICAN BAND-Grand Funk Railroad
11. YES WE CAN CAN-Pointer Sisters
12. HEARTBEAT, IT’S A LOVEBEAT-DeFranco Family
13. PAPER ROSES-Marie Osmond
14. FREE RIDE-Edgar Winter Group
15. CHINA GROVE-Doobie Brothers
16. MY MARIA-B.W. Stevenson
17. BASKETBALL JONES-Cheech & Chong featuring Tyrone Shoelaces
18. DELTA DAWN-Helen Reddy
19. ALL I KNOW-Art Garfunkel
20. KNOCKIN’ ON HEAVEN’S DOOR-Bob Dylan
21. SAY HAS ANYBODY SEEN MY SWEET GYPSY ROSE-Dawn featuring Tony Orlando
22. BROTHER LOUIE-The Stories
23. WHY ME-Kris Kristofferson
24. ROCKY MOUNTAIN WAY-Joe Walsh
25. TOUCH ME IN THE MORNING-Diana Ross
26. SPACE RACE-Billy Preston
27. YOU’VE NEVER BEEN THIS FAR BEFORE-Conway Twitty
28. GET IT TOGETHER-Jackson Five
29. HURTS SO GOOD-Millie Jackson
30. IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR-Cross Country
31. WE MAY NEVER PASS THIS WAY AGAIN-Seals & Crofts
32. FUNKY STUFF-Kool & the Gang
33. SUMMER (THE 1ST TIME)-Bobby Goldsboro
34. ECSTASY-Ohio Players
35. YOU’RE A SPECIAL PART OF ME-Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye
36. LET ME IN-Osmonds
37. THEME FROM “CLEOPATRA JONES”-Joe Simon & the Mainstream
38. JESSE-Roberta Flack
39. JIMMY LOVES MARY ANNE-Looking Glass
40. I GOT A NAME-Jim Croce
This was the first American Top 40 show I ever heard! I discovered the magical wisdom of Casey Kasem at age 9 during a visit to my grandparents’ house in North Dakota. Scanning the radio dial one night, I found the show on KNOX-AM 1310 from Grand Forks. I thought the idea of counting DOWN the top songs from #40 to #1 was one of the coolest things I had ever heard. Instantly, I was hooked! This began a love and dedication to AT40 which lasted over 3 decades.
One month after the tragic plane crash which took his life, Jim Croce debuts at #40 with the first of 4 songs to chart after his death. In January, 1974, he scored a posthumous #1 with “Time in A Bottle”, a feat that very few artists have achieved.
Most people think the Looking Glass was a “one hit wonder”, disappearing after their huge #1 hit “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” in 1972. Not so. “Jimmy Loves Mary Anne” was the followup hit single, released the following year. It wasn’t nearly as big as “Brandy”, however. “Jimmy” only spent a few weeks on American Top 40, peaking at #33. This week, it comes in at #39.
According to American Top 40′s Year End Survey for 1973, the biggest song on this week’s countdown is…believe it or not…”Why Me” by Kris Kristofferson. This is amazing because “Why Me” never reached higher than #16 on the weekly countdown. But it stayed on the chart FOREVER! I don’t remember the exact total, but I think it was somewhere around 30 weeks on the Top 40. Because of this, Casey ranked as the second biggest single of 1973. The Billboard Top 100 Hits of 1973 (which used a slightly different methodology to determine placement) has “Why Me” at #6 for the year. That’s pretty amazing!
The Osmonds are well represented this week. The boys are at #36 with “Let Me In.” Little sister Marie is all the way up to #13 with “Paper Roses.” She would eventually peak at #5. Not bad for a girl who celebrated her 14th birthday on the day this AT40 show originally aired!
That’s what I have for this week. As always, your comments and insights on these classic American Top 40 shows from the 1970s are welcome and greatly appreciated!
My review of last week’s show seems to have received some pretty good traffic, so let’s do it again! This weekend’s American Top 40 1970s “retro” show is from October 7, 1978. This is a significant date in the history of AT40 because it marked the first FOUR hour show. From it’s inception on July 3, 1970, Casey Kasem’s program had always lasted 3 hours. While this was a perfect length in the beginning, it became a problem as the length of hit records gradually increased during the 1970s. The American Top 40 production team compensated for this by editing songs in order to make the show fit into it’s 3 hour time slot. As time went on, more and more of the songs had to be edited in order to keep the show at 3 hours in length. By the summer of 1978, some of the edits were so short and choppy as to be laughable.
The solution was to expand American Top 40 to a 4 hour format. In addition to restoring all the songs to full “45″ single length, the extra time allowed for AT40′s popular Long Distance Dedications, “the AT40 Archives” (chronological count-ups of all the #1 songs of the 1960s and 70s), and other special features. Most American Top 40 affiliate stations kept the show in the same time slot and simply started an hour earlier or ended an hour later. My home town station, KDWB-AM 630 and FM 101.3, now ran the show from 7:00-11:00PM on Sunday evenings, as opposed to the previous time of 7:00-10:00PM.
Unfortunately, not all stations choose to play all 4 hours of the four hour retro AT40 shows. This is a BIG pet peeve of mine and it occurs whenever a 4 hour show is presented. Here in Minneapolis, KQQL-FM 107.9 (“Kool 108″) started the show at #30, the beginning of the second hour. No explanation was given prior to the start of the program. In fact, this week was particularly problematic because Casey introduces the second hour as being in “our new 4 hour format.” Yet, only 3 hours are presented! The show is “American Top 40″, not “American Top 30.” When Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds, and Ron Jacobs created this show, there was a reason they chose a 40 song playlist vs some other arbitrary number. Hopefully, the stations who lop off the first hour can find a way to air all FOUR hours of the October, 1978 – December, 1979 AT40 programs.
Okay, enough of my soapbox. Let’s get to this weekend’s chart:
1. KISS YOU ALL OVER-Exile
2. BOOGIE OOGIE OOGIE-A Taste Of Honey
3. HOT CHILD IN THE CITY-Nick Gilder
4. DON’T LOOK BACK-Boston
5. SUMMER NIGHTS-John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John
6. REMINISCING-Little River Band
7. HOPELESSLY DEVOTED TO YOU-Olivia Newton-John
8. LOVE IS IN THE AIR-John Paul Young
9. YOU NEEDED ME-Anne Murray
10. WHENEVER I CALL YOU “FRIEND”-Kenny Loggins (with Stevie Nicks)
11. THREE TIMES A LADY-Commodores
12. HOLLYWOOD NIGHTS-Bob Seger
13. AN EVERLASTING LOVE-Andy Gibb
14. RIGHT DOWN THE LINE-Gerry Rafferty
15. OH DARLIN’-Robin Gibb
16. HOW MUCH I FEEL-Ambrosia
17. GET OFF-Foxy
18. BACK IN THE U.S.A.-Linda Ronstadt
19. SHE’S ALWAYS A WOMAN-Billy Joel
20. YOU NEVER DONE IT LIKE THAT-Captain & Tennille
21. MAC ARTHUR PARK-Donna Summer
22. WHO ARE YOU-Who
23. COME TOGETHER-Aerosmith
24. I LOVE THE NIGHT LIFE-Alicia Bridges
25. TALKING IN YOUR SLEEP-Crystal Gayle
26. DOUBLE VISION-Foreigner
27. BEAST OF BURDEN-Rolling Stones
28. 5-7-0-5-City Boy
29. JOSIE-Steely Dan
30. IT’S A LAUGH-Daryl Hall & John Oates
31. YOU AND I-Rick James
32. HOT BLOODED-Foreigner
33. ALMOST LIKE BEING IN LOVE-Michael Johnson
34. DANCE, DISCO HEAT-Sylvester
35. I WILL STILL LOVE YOU-Stonebolt
36. DEVOTED TO YOU-Carly Simon & James Taylor
37. HEARTBREAKER-Dolly Parton
38. TOOK THE LAST TRAIN-David Gates
39. READY TO TAKE A CHANCE AGAIN-Barry Manilow
40. SWEET LIFE-Paul Davis
There are two GREAT “lost 45s” in the bottom 10 this week: David Gates’ “Took the Last Train” which debuts at #38 and Michael Johnson’s “Almost Like Being in Love” which takes a modest jump from #35 to #33. Both are followup singles to hits from the previous spring and summer. Earlier in 1978, David Gates had his first solo hit outside of Bread with the title song from the movie “The Goodbye Girl.” (The title of the song was actually just “Goodbye Girl”, but we’re being nit-picky here.) In the summer, Michael Johnson hit for the first time with “Bluer Than Blue.” Neither of this week’s followups were as big as their predecessors, but both are worthy tunes nonetheless.
Foreigner scores two hits on this week’s countdown: “Hot Blooded” spends it’s final week on AT40 at #32 while “Double Vision” surges 12 notches to #26 in just it’s second week on the survey.
Olivia Newton-John also puts two songs onto the chart this week. Not surprisingly, both are from the movie “Grease.” You can hear her solo at #7 with “Hopelessly Devoted to You” and again at #5, in a duet with John Travolta on “Summer Nights.”
Speaking of movies, the big one at the time of this show was “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, starring the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton. My personal opinion as well as most of the critics’ is that this movie was horrible! But it did produce no fewer than 3 hit singles, all of which are on this week’s countdown: Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Got to Get You into My Life” at #34, Aerosmith’s “Come Together” at #24, and Robin Gibb’s “Oh! Darling” at position #16.
Best “one hit wonder” on this week’s show can be found at #28: “5-7-0-5″ by City Boy. They haven’t been heard from since.
Spending it’s third of 4 total weeks at #1 was Exile’s “Kiss You All Over.” It would go on to become Billboard’s 5th biggest single of 1978. This was THE song you heard all over the radio and at every school homecoming dance during the fall of 1978. I thought it was a particularly classy move for Casey to wind up his first 4 hour show with the long album version of this song instead of the usual 45 edit. The album version includes an extra second verse and chorus.
Okay, your turn to comment, critique, and add some classic American Top 40 trivia…