Fast Talkin’ Slow Walkin’ DJ Dude … It was June 1966 ...
WXYZ/Detroit – was BFYP DJ Joey Reynolds ahead of his time? This
guy can TALK and that he did – fast –
while grabbing records for the turntable and slapping down The Temptations’ “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.”
WXYZ was too proud to
give up the music biz through the highs and lows of the charts, but finally opened
the conversation for a talk format in 1984.
Back in 1966 the top 40 station followed the Rock & Roll crowd, beat
for formatted beat. Think Joey looks bored in his jock picture on WXYZ’s music chart? He was.
My 2008 interview with Joey
pinpointed when stringent
station formatting became unbearable. “I quit [radio] — in 1967-68. I
didn’t want any more of it, I hated it. I wasn’t going to be playing something
that someone thought the audience
wanted.” And there you have it! [Joey’s story and more in BFYP-Book 2, The Swinging
Sixties, coming this fall.] Ah, but did he stay retired ... ?
Of course, you who have reveled in
Joey’s fast patter over the decades since, know he became bored in “retirement”
too, and fortunately, rediscovered his love for radio. He was heard regularly
around the New York / East Coast into 2011, when his All Night with Joey
Reynolds airing on WNBC-DT2
ended.
You might recall the night in 1962,
though, while bopping to WPOP/Hartford,
Connecticut, that Joey locked himself in the studio for four hours and played
the Four Seasons’ “Sherry” until it HAD to be a hit … Sherry, Sherry baby … come, come
out tonight … ♪.
Or more recently, tried a few yummy
recipes from The Ultimate
Cheesecake Cookbook which he
co-authored with longtime assistant, Myra Chanin.
Either way, it’s worth a small
donation to Reel Radio, a
great non-profit that archives DJ airchecks,
to walk down Memory Lane with Joey Reynolds, from
Buffalo to San Francisco.
Featured Radio Survey: Joey Reynolds is a BFYP
pioneering DJ, with ties to both
coasts and a commanding host of studio microphones in between. Recall the tunes
Joey played for you at WXYZ/Hartford,
June 6, 1966! Enjoy the Moment … Again.
Celebrate this month 50 years
ago and … Rock On!
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