Mid-to-late 1970s music was Pop Rock and Disco at its best. Which is to say, according to many “true” Rock & Roll fans, the music was mellowing … at least for a time. Disco tunes began filling up the Top 10, but we’re still heating up Summer with a lighter side of unrest … 50 Years Ago this Month … and away we go …
º JULY 1975 Radio News & Muse ♪
Radio stations flipping formats is an inherent trait of the trade. This month 50 Years Ago, KRRV—K-Red River Valley—in the heart of Texas (Dallas) did the unthinkable. It switched from Country music (go figure, in Texas) to Top 40 and became KIKM for several years. Yeehaw. And ...
Unfortunately, their final tour performance on this date two months before its official release, was less than stellar at the Knebworth music festival in the UK. Hoping for rave reviews, pyrotechnics and plane flyovers and all, they received lukewarm comments, due mostly to technical difficulties. It has, however, stood the test of time. As one music lover said, Wish You Were Here is … one of the most emotionally resonant albums in Rock history.
Personal comment: I would never disparage Pink Floyd. They’re phenomenal. However, about stage performances in general, after many years of escalating theatrics and especially dangerous ones, I’m still at a loss as to why that’s a part of concerts at all. In my humble opinion, it detracts from enjoying a truly talented performance for its merit.
July 20th: It's reported that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were strapped for dollars to complete their Born to Run album, so they played concerts like crazy from 1974-‘77. Smack dab in the middle, they kicked off the “official” tour a month prior to its release date, on THIS date at the Palace Theatre in Providence, Rhode Island. Were you there? Then you also saw that Steven Van Zandt energized the band as a full-fledged member. ♪ … In the day we sweat it out on the streets | Of a runaway American dream … We gotta get out while we’re young | ‘Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run … ♪
Where were you bein’ silly in the Summer of ’75? Was it your coming-of-age year or another year of cool pool parties and hot Rockin’ Radio sounds in Bakersfield, California, or maybe Chi-ca-go? Here’s a sample of what and who you were listening to …
Dynamite DJs spun our top tunes with career highlight years, and one of the decade’s few female DJs, making her mark in broadcasting. We’re talkin’ Rockin’ love, a little Country & Disco!
If the Plum was your go-to DJ pal while you partied the night away, you’ll be glad to know she danced through the decades honing her broadcast skills, and wrote all about ‘em in her rompin’ book, Do Not Air: Radio Stories and "Other Stuff”. “What's really awesome is that today, Nancy Plum continues to be one of America's most popular disc jockeys, heard nationwide on Passport Radio on the web,” says her blurb. Now, her tunes are “5 at 5 Jukebox Jams” and the “60’s at 6.”
At KAFY, you’d swear she turned the station Country, as she crouches in boots and cowboy hat, next to a race car proudly sporting her name. The survey says, “You’ve Gotta be Plum Crazy!” Well, it’s a known fact that most DJs of the day were a little on the wild side … though Nancy sat behind a mic for work, she had a love for aviation that landed her in later years as an airborne reporter for KFWB News 980 in L.A. She musta been good, as in 2000 she claimed a Golden Mic award from the Southern California Radio and Television News Association.
What top tunes was Nancy spinning at KAFY in July 1975? #1 – “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” asked WAR; #2 – “The Hustle,” heated up Disco by Van McCoy; and #3 – “Please Mr. Please,” begging for another song, by Olivia Newton-John.
Though highly popular for years in Chicago, the guys, transplanted from Portland, Oregon, didn’t make a career to retire from in the Windy City. It was easy to struggle with all that was the Psychedelic ‘70s, and by all accounts, ‘CFL was their career highlight. Obviously frustrated about the station changing formats in 1976, they didn’t help matters any (or themselves), by bad-mouthing all things WCFL in the weeks leading up to its switch to elevator music. This account of Dick and Doug’s final show by pioneering DJ Jim Bartlett, is an interesting take by a jock who had experienced his first full-time station send-off in a rare, congenial manner.
Dick and Doug’s mics were finally cut about a half-hour before the show’s scheduled sign-off, marking “the end” of their ‘CFL gig, March 12, 1976. Sadly for their fans, they couldn’t get work together again after, and though going their own ways, both eventually migrated back to the Pacific Northwest. Dick Sainte passed away at the age of 67 (12/10/2005), and Doug Dahlgren joined him in Rock & Roll Heaven just last year (11/30/2024), at the age of 82.
While it’s frustrating to recount only a fraction of extraordinary lives lived, we are generally defined by one or two memorable moments from our full spectrum of fun in the sun. WCFL was that for both Dick and Doug.
So, ‘CFL/Chicago fans, what were you listening to with the incomparable Dick and Doug? Spinning the 3 top spots of the chart: #1 – ironically, “Love Will Keep Us Together” by The Captain & Tennille; #2 – Paul McCartney reminding you, “Listen to What the Man Said”; and #3 – “One of These Nights,” promised the Eagles.
♪ JULY ’75 Song of Note ♪
This month’s Song of Note struck a note with listeners in 1975, peaking
at #1 on KAFY/Bakersfield charts and still rising at #9 for WCFL/Chicago
fans. The band’s name is markedly incongruous to the song’s title, and yet
offers a simple solution for … WAR, “Why
Can’t We Be Friends?”
Founding member of the popular funk/soul/jazz/Rock group, Leroy “Lonnie” Jordan and the band, used songwriter/producer, Jerry Goldstein’s influence to offer harmony with all their music, in troubled times. The song was even chosen by NASA, beaming the hopeful tune up to space to bond U.S. astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts in their space journey, this same month, for Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.
I rarely quote more than a line or two from sources, but WAR drummer, Harold Brown told Songfacts a philosophy about “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” origin that bears repeating … over and over and over: The band got the idea for this song when they were traveling in Japan in the early '70s …”We're all connected by language, and by our food, and by our culture. Most racists don't know why they're racist. But you pick them up and take them over and drop them in a country, like India or Pakistan, guess what? 'Why can't we be friends?' Because all of a sudden you find out we're more alike inside than we are on the outside. We started realizing that that's really important. You travel all over the world, you can't speak a lot of their language. But one thing they do know, they know your body language, how you may react."
With July 2025 still in the throes of discontent, the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, felt the need to honor WAR and their optimistic messages of peace, with a star (June 5, 2025) to commemorate their 50th anniversary of the song’s same titled album. Are the song’s lyrics still relevant? You be the judge …
♪ … I'd kinda like to be the President | So I can show you how your money's spent | Why can't we be friends? … ♪
♪ July 2025 Music Events & More ♪
Monday ~
July 7th: Although
the National Day of Rock ’n’ ‘Roll is listed
on some holiday calendars, there is
no definitive link to a supporting site. So let’s just roll with it! It’s
described as a day to celebrate the climb of emerging Rock Radio up the charts
as it gained popularity in mid-1950s through 1960s. And we’re all about that! The
legends, the culture, the music and the Radio that urged us to dance,
people, dance! Now would be a great day to watch Dirty
Dancing (again).
And yes, there is an International
Day of Rock ‘n’ Roll on July 13th, but is apparently only
supported in Brazil and Ireland. Really? Never would’ve thunk it …
July 26, 1975 ~ WCFL/Chicago, Illinois, turned up the Summer heat with a Top 40 lineup that had something everyone. Feeling funky? Hankerin’ for Country? Want to jive to a Jazzy tune? Sure, it’s all there, but iconic ‘70s Rock & Roll is dominant. When it comes to big-time Rock Radio stations, ‘CFL had it all and many of the best pioneering Radio DJs. What’s your music flavor … 50 Years Ago this Month? Where were you that groovy day when your radio played …
Let’s Enjoy JULY 1975 and … Rockin’ Hot Memories!
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LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and author by way of Rock & Roll. Two books (of three planned) are published in her Blast from Your PastTM series, available on Amazon: Book 1 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959TM (eBook only; coming soon in updated print edition) and Book 2 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging SixtiesTM (eBook & print). Coming soon-ish … Book 3 – The Psychedelic Seventies!TM
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