50 Years Ago: 1969

Welcome to your memories! We’re rockin' through 1969, slow walkin' and cool talkin' in an era of iconic radio, music, mayhem, and life, that blew our minds. Join us as we explore the final decade of the 1960s and watch history unfold. Remember when ...

DECEMBER 1969 … Enjoy the Moment ... Again!  

Rockin’ into the New Year ~ New Decade!  

50 Years Ago this Month we faced a not-so-different New Year and New Decade. Our country struggled with the beginning of the first military draft “peacetime” lottery since 1942, and today, the wars still wage. Hardly a Holiday traditional for the countdown to Christmas. All the while, the music plays on.

No different than other industries, radio stations revel in change before the New Year, with format flips and staff severances. December can be a lot of fun or a lot of heartache. That choice is up to you. Every change is opportunity! My choice? Let’s keep Rockin’ …

Your Tinny Transistor Radio News ~ DECEMBER 1969          
December 6th: With a lead singer still of middle school age, The Jackson 5 released their debut album on this date, bolstered by the incomparable Diana Ross. From Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5, “I Want You Back” shot up the December 30th chart at *KGB/San Diego to #9, forging up to #2 before starting a downward slide.

December 17th – In the early 1960s, falsetto singing could be heard from beach to shining beach; although now waning, one musical anomaly showed it wasn’t dead yet. After a dainty “Tiptoe Through The Tulips” in 1968, on this date in 1969, peculiarly falsetto, Tiny Tim (Herbert Butros Khaury), was flanked by yellow tulips for for his marriage to “Miss Vicki” (twenty years his junior) on Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show.

December 30th: While it didn’t make a huge chart splash, The Archies’ “Jingle Jangle” made it to *KGB/San Diego’s “Boss 30” (barely, at #27). Filmation Associates produced The Archie Show animated television series on which the title-named fictional band’s antics delighted fans. BFYP DJ, Norm Prescott, a Filmation co-founder, had transitioned away from the DJ mic and into animated TV in the early 1960s, but his heart was never far away from popular music’s tinny transistor radios.

Rockin’ Retro Radio
December 1969, Blast from Your Past Rockin’ DJs were scattered across the country. Mitch Michael, aka Ron Terrell / Terrell Metheny, spent the mid-Sixties at WOKY/Milwaukee, then grabbed his buddy, Lee Gray, and skipped over to WMCA/New York in 1968, to become a popular program director.
            In BFYP’s The Swinging Sixties, by December ‘69 “Mitch” finally switched to his real name, Terrell, and had this to say about WMCA: We switched from DJs playing Rock & Roll to half Rock & Roll and half talk. Some sort of nightmare that the owner had … it was such a horrible nightmare.
            Of course, switching formats willy-nilly and literally overnight, was/is common for stations, but often a career disappointment at best, for DJs and staff, and job loss, at worst. The only constant is change.
 
*Featured Radio Survey: KGB/San Diego, California, Boss Jocks were all the rage in ’69 and at KGB, they were giving away up to $15,000 per day! “The good ol’ days.” Poke your memory as you reminisce over their “Boss 30” Issue No. 166, December 30, 1969, heading into the 1970s … ♪ Well, I’m your Venus ♪ … 50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio! Where were you that groovy day when …

Celebrate DECEMBER 1969 and … Rock On!

Share on Twitter: @BlastFromPastBk
LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books (of three) in her Blast from Your Past series, available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!

Note: FYI – All links in the BFYP site are personally visited, verified, and vetted. Most are linked to commonly accessed sites of reputable note. However, as with everything cyber-security, use at your own discretion. 

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November 1969 ~ Thank You … Thank You Very Much … 


November and December are months devoted to food, don’t you think? What’s for Thanksgiving … who’s bringing the eggnog for Christmas … and where’s the next potluck Holiday party? Sound familiar?

Food was certainly on Dave Thomas’s mind when he opened his first Wendy's Hamburgers in Columbus, Ohio, November 15, 1969. Yep – 50 Years Ago this Month!

So while we were munching on the new American fast food delicacy, Thanksgiving was just around the corner. Although certainly worthy and debatably the most celebrated meal, it isn’t the only event in November. After we give thanks for the food and family memories, let’s take a walk and work off our big-T-dinner with more fun. Rockin’ on down Memory Lane …

Your Tinny Transistor Radio News ~ NOVEMBER 1969         
November 1st: Without any recent records from Elvis, by 1969 everyone wondered if we would ever hear his sexy sounds on the radio again. Oh ye of little faith. After a seven-year hiatus, he hit Billboard’s #1 in ratings again on this date, following the popularity of “Suspicious Minds” during the Halloween season. Thank you ... thank you very much.
KHJ/Los Angeles fans bounced it to the top as early as October 8th, and by November 3rd, it still rallied at #5 on *WLS/Chicago. California wearied of it finally, kicking it off KHJ’s chart by November 5th, to replace it with The Beatles’ dynamic duo, **Something” and “Come Together.” Got to be a joke he just do what he please  

November 7th: Where were you this date in 1969? If you called Fort Collins, Colorado, home, or Colorado State University your alma mater, it’s likely you favored stones over boulders, to attend The Rolling Stones’ concert on this date. Rock critics dubbed it a Rock and Roll legend. What made this American warm-up show of their long-awaited tour so memorable?
            It was the first major outing for “Little Mick” Taylor having recently replaced guitarist Brian Jones. From “Honky Tonk Women” to "All Down the Line" andIt’s Only Rock ‘n Roll,” Taylor contributed to many of the Stones’ early best works, 1969-1974. But I like it

**November 29th: Was it fair that “Something” and “Come Together” kicked other songs off the top of charts 50 Years Ago this Month? I’m sure The Beatles thought so. Revising charting policies for A and B songs on this date, Billboard gave the two songs a push by combining each song’s accrued points to create “one” #1 hit. It wasn’t long before other artists cashed in as well, like Creedence Clearwater Revival with “Fortunate Son” and “Down On The Corner.” Cool. Willie and the Poor Boys were playin’

Rockin’ Retro Radio
Buy, sell, trade. The mechanics of business plays out in radio ownership, and 1969 saw significant changes, like the National Science Network’s acquisition of KMPX-FM/San Francisco, along with KPPC-AM & FM stations/Pasadena.
     BFYP DJs Tom and Raechel Donahue had already reprogrammed KMPX to a successful album-oriented Rock format before exiting in 1968. As 1969 came to a close, KPPC was about to follow suit headed by PD Doug Cox, who begged (BFYP) DJ, William F. Williams, to join him.
            Says Raechel of the long-play format growing ever more popular in that era, “… it was really fun to be able to create the show when you could weave a musical topic and tell the story.” (BFYP, Book 2.)
It appears about two years was the average length of time for conservative owners NSN to tolerate KPPC’s Rockin’ rebellious staff. Case in point—William dubbed it, the “PP”. Williams left late in 1972.  

WLS/Chicago captures this month’s Featured Survey honors, as their “Radio 89 Hit Parade” holds former #1 comeback hit for Elvis’ “Suspicious Minds” at #5 on the November 3, 1969 chart.And we can’t build our dreams | on Suspicious Minds 50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio! Where were you that groovy day when …

Celebrate NOVEMBER 1969 and … Rock On!
Share on Twitter: @BlastFromPastBk

LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books (of three) in her Blast from Your Past series, available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!

Note: FYI – All links in the BFYP site are personally visited, verified, and vetted. Most are linked to commonly accessed sites of reputable note. However, as with everything cyber-security, use at your own discretion. 

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♪ Whole Lotta Love ♪ & an Outhouse! 


1969 began its metamorphosis into a new decade with Richard Nixon president. In my writings I have often compared the ‘60s politics, lifestyles, and societal ills, to the present decade.

            The primary difference between this decade and the 1960s is high-tech “progress.” In its infancy then, it now rules our lives. On October 29, 1969 we witnessed the first message sent through ARPANET. The baby Internet was born. Eventually hailed as a lifestyle savior, it has eroded our lives in its child-like self-serving demands for attention.
Is it coincidence or providence that we ended the ‘60s like we’re ending the twenty-teens … unable to establish peace in the country or within our neighborhoods, and with a president who emphatically declares, “I am not a crook!”
At least we had … and have … our Rock & Roll for comfort. And with that … we Rock On to the forerunner of fake news … 50 Years Ago this Month.

Your Tinny Transistor Radio News ~ OCTOBER 1969
Throughout the month we experienced fake news long before it became a maliciously insidious Internet disease. It ambled down the “Long and Winding Road” of rumors about Paul McCartney.
Even the most popular radio stations perpetuated the possibility of McCartney’s untimely demise nearly three years prior, to entertain their listeners and up those all-mighty ratings. There is always an angle … money, politics, or publicity …
Per Wiki: Lennon was interviewed in London by New York's WMCA, and he ridiculed the rumour but conceded that it was invaluable publicity for the album.
It took a November (1969) Life magazine interview with Paul McCartney to set the world straight again. ♪ You left me standing here a long, long time ago
Now, they call the story a “legend.” And yet, how does it differ from today’s “fake news”? Just askin’ …

October 14th:Someday We’ll Be Together,” Diana Ross & The Supremes’ final single together, is released. But the story goes, that song did not include Supremes Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong in the recording. It was Diana’s first solo song in anticipation of her January 1970 departure from the group. Ironic song in view of their split. The Supremes’ consolation prize was the B-Side, “He’s My Sunny Boy.”

October 22nd: One of my all-time favorite bands—Led Zeppelin—released their iconic second album on this date. Led Zeppelin II is considered by many, the most prominent and powerful
collection of quintessential English Rock era songs. Talk about “influencers”—Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were a solid force to reckon with; though classified as Heavy Metal, Zeppelin’s many followers can attest to their incorporation of Blues, Psychedelic Rock and Folk Music.
While most everyone knows and loves their “Stairway to Heaven” (1971) my all-time favorite song came from this album. “Whole Lotta Love” is the first tune I ever heard through headphones. Oh … my. I was never the same.
Not only the lyrics rattled this impressionable teen psyche, but headphones carried its palpable reverberation through my brain as it wrapped itself around and through my mind. ♪ Way down inside honey, you need it … ♪ The only way to listen to Zeppelin is through headphones.

Rockin’ Retro Radio      
*Featured Radio Stations for this month are a double-whammy pair of San Diego heavy hitters—KCBQ/San Diego (10/03/69), with artful cover sketch of BFYP DJ Neil Ross, and KGB (10/15/69) with BFYP DJ Rich Bro Robbin starting off the football season with a fun original caricature.
            But it’s KQWB/Fargo, North Dakota that gives us a chuckle and makes October ’69 a hit.
Yep, this IS a transistor radio in the BFYP Collection.
The ‘60s were famous for over-the-top radio station contests and outlandish antics. KQWB takes the cake this month with an outhouse contest and boasting an “exclusive story ‘The Mystery of Paul McCartney’.” Anyone know if the outhouse prize was a transistor radio? Cute! >>>>>>>>>>>>

*“Double” Featured Radio Survey(s): KCBQ and KGB, both popular San Diego radio stations ignored the McCartney mystery—at least on their surveys—and even differed with each other on fans’ favored #1 songs.
     KCBQ fans kept the Archies’ “Sugar, Sugar” at the top of their “Heavy 30 Hits” a little longer than some pockets of the country (10/03/69); but “Sugar, Sugar” already slipped to #13 on KGB’s “Boss 30” with The Beatles’ “Something” and ”Come Together” boosted up to tie at the top of their chart (10/15/69) … 50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio! Where were you that groovy day when …

Celebrate OCTOBER 1969 and … Rock On!
Share on Twitter: @BlastFromPastBk

LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books (of three) in her Blast from Your Past series, available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!

Note: FYI – All links in the BFYP site are personally visited, verified, and vetted. Most are linked to commonly accessed sites of reputable note. However, as with everything cyber-security, use at your own discretion. 

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September 1969 ~ Get Together … ♪ for September 1969 

Come on people now | smile on your brother | everybody get together | try to love one another right now. Is it too late? The Youngbloods (and songwriter Chet Powers) had the right idea 50 Years Ago this Month when “Get Together” hit radio’s top ten … we just didn’t listen to the words.

Bell bottom Jeans and tie-dye shirts flooded campuses and punctuated protests as schools opened across the country. A carefree flair that is still fringe fashion today, it belied our angst, as the style persisted throughout most of the 1970s. Musically speaking …

50 Years Ago this Month in Rockin’ News      
September 11th: Janis Joplin (1943-1970) had a life … albeit short one … after leaving her trademark group, Big Brother and the Holding Company (1968) to strike out on her own. I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! released on this day in 1969.
            Janis performed the album at Woodstock and though never considered a knockout set, Kozmic Blues which she wrote, became a fan favorite from the album. ♪ I keep trying to make it right | Through another lonely day …♪ A melancholy apology to someone special?
Pete Townshend of the Who reportedly reminisced about Janis’ Woodstock performance in his memoir (Who I Am, 2012), “… even Janis on an off-night was incredible.” Absolutely.

September 19th: You Midwest Rockin’ fans, put on your Memory caps and stroll down the lane to the “new” Jim Tarbell’s Ludlow Garage in Clifton/Cincinnati, Ohio, for a jolly 50th Anniversary show! Do you recall the short-lived Rock venue’s first show on this date in 1969? Revel in memories of the Grand Funk Railroad, Lonnie Mack and Balderdash! Though a jive-Rockin’ with top of the line artists, its first run lasted only until 1970.
            This year’s anniversary tribute to the renovated and re-established music venue is sure to be just as invigorating as the first one, with headliner, Dweezil Zappa. (However, if you didn’t score tickets already to the sold-out event, you may need to stick with memories … or find a seat on the street? Details.)

September 20th: The date on which On This Day pronounces “Sugar, Sugar,” virtual band the Archies’ popular pop-single, #1 on radio charts. It didn’t take some stations that long, however, to boost the sexy pseudo-sweet song to the top.
            KFRC/San Francisco “Big 30 Hits” for August 30th hoisted it to their top spot a full month earlier. And WCFL/Cleveland followed shortly with “Sugar, Sugar” sitting comfortably at the top of their “Big 10” by September 3rd.
The Archies starred in a Saturday morning TV show based on the Archie comic book series, with a significant attachment to Pop radio. Former Boston DJ, Norm Prescott (and a BFYP pioneering Rock jock, 1950s & ‘60s), was one of three founding owners of Filmation Associates which produced the show for CBS.

Rockin’ Retro Radio
Our featured survey station this week is from WIFE in Indianapolis, Indiana. They did something at the time that would have been cool if they all did—tell us the most requested song of the week!
            September 1969 began with Indianapolis fans head-over-heels in love with Bobby Sherman’s “Little Women.*” It took a phenomenal leap from #46 to shake up their September 3rd survey at #6! ♪ You've got to come into my world | Leave your world behind … ♪ Male-dominated society or drugs? Either/or.
By the following week it hit #3 and would take another week to push Three Dog Night’s “Easy to Be Hard” out of the #1 slot. (*Another radio chart misprint in “Little Woman.”)

Featured Radio Survey: WIFE/Indianapolis, Indiana’s “Good Guy Survey for the Midwest” week of September 10-17, 1969, takes us into early Fall … 50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio! Where were you that groovy day when …

Celebrate SEPTEMBER 1969 and … Rock On!
 
Share on Twitter: @BlastFromPastBk

LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books (of three) in her Blast from Your Past series, available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!

Note: FYI – All links in the BFYP site are personally visited, verified, and vetted. Most are linked to commonly accessed sites of reputable note. However, as with everything cyber-security, use at your own discretion. 

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August 1969 ~ Peace & Love in a Field of Mud  

After studying moon Rock and watching Apollo 11 Roll back through the heavens to Earth in July, how can we possibly top that for August?

Slip-sliding through the month at WOODSTOCK of course!

50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio 
August 5th: We were still feeling a little spacey, as NASA’s Mariner probe 7 completed the first dual mission flyby to Mars, following Mariner 6’s close encounter a week after the Moon Landing, July 31. Their observations inspired a heightened interest in Mars knowledge and further exploration.

AUGUST 15-18th: Woodstock! This was a spacey event with a whole new meaning of the term. The grandfather of legendary “happenings” celebrates its 50th anniversary this month, to little fanfare except as a legend in our own minds.
The muddy, wet, and joyous “Woodstock Music and Art Fair” phenomenon in Bethel / White Lake, New York, is part of our lives today, whether we attended or not. “… you got high on just being there with your friends and all the beautiful people who came to sit in peace and listen to the music.” (Woodstock 69 Summer Pop Festivals; Joseph J. Sia, February 1970; BFYP Collection.)
As an icon of the ‘60s era, Woodstock climaxed the decade in what became classic Rock & Roll style … with a crash of guitar rifts, a bang of rainy lightening (today’s fireworks), and a glassy, lopsided smile on 400-500,000 people who can’t all be crazy … right?!

August 17th: Baby Boomer Recognition Day just happens to coincide with what was originally to be the last day of Woodstock  … coincidence? I think not. Great day to see if your tie-dyed Levi’s still fit or how bent up your wire, rose-colored glasses are; if all else fails, tie a bandana around your head and Rock Out to Jimi Hendrix’s best vintage tunes … Peace and Love, Baby!
Peace & Love transistor radios 1970 BFYP collection

August 30th: Although not the blockbuster of upstate New York’s legendary event, a copycat Texas International Pop Festival was no slouch, drawing an estimated 120,000 to 150,000 to its open field near Lewisville.
            The Labor Day weekend hippie and happy music happening in the south contained all the same Peace and Love elements of Woodstock, without the enduring prominence. With some grand names like Grand Funk Railroad, Janis Joplin, B.B. King, Led Zeppelin, and a bunch more, I’m sure it still made for happy memories 50 Years later.

Featured Radio Survey: BFYP featured DJ, Bill Bailey watched The Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Woman” Rock the top of WLS/Chicago’s “Radio 89 Hit Parade” August 11, 1969, although they weren’t partying at Woodstock the following weekend. However, Featured Survey, KFXM/San Bernardino, California, cheered for Credence Clearwater Revival and Tim Hardin appearing at Woodstock, and both in their top five of the August 15th “Tiger Thirty.” Were you there … 50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio? That groovy day when … 

Celebrate AUGUST 1969 and … Rock On!
Blast from Your Past Gifts
Share on Twitter: @BlastFromPastBk

LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books (of three) in her Blast from Your Past series, available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!

Note: FYI – All links in the BFYP site are personally visited, verified, and vetted. Most are linked to commonly accessed sites of reputable note. However, as with everything cyber-security, use at your own discretion. 

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July 1969 ~ Anything was Possible … In Mind, Music & the Moon 

There’s no denying we were a spacey lot in the late 1960s. No month confirms that description more than JULY 1969. Let’s ROCKet into space …

50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio 
July 11th:Take your protein pills and put your helmet on … ♪ we’re in for a bumpy ride! David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” was odd, indeed. Though the 7-inch single did well in his native UK after its July release, it caused nary a ripple on US charts, even with the country’s space travel hype in a frenzy.
Its re-release in 1973 however, shot it up to spacey heights for Bowie’s first big hit in the US. Speculation is the ’69 melancholy tune’s rise was stunted in the US until after Apollo 11 touched down safely on the moon …

July 20th: The United States created worldwide news when Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle landed two men, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, on the silvery moon. Well, that’s what it looks like to us. The dusty sphere might have popped some eons-old romanticized bubbles, but it promoted global unity that summer, like we (sadly) haven’t known since.

Let’s add a couple more memories to our out-of-this-world month!
In The Year 2525” is an ethereally depressing tune not directly related to space travel but perhaps its eventual rise to the top twenty was a runoff from spacey thinking, to futuristic fears …
In the Year 2525 | If man is still alive The one-hit-wonder by Zager & Evans released in May, but took a while to work its way up the musical ladder to July 1969 radio charts. It hung ominously at the top for six weeks.

On W’R-IT/Milwaukee, Wisconsin “Pop Power” top 40 for July 7, 1969, while Zager & Evans held the top star, #5 was no slouch for Oliver’sGood Morning Starshine.” The Earth says hello which is about the most intelligent line in the song. And there’s gloomy Earth talk with Credence hit, “Bad Moon Rising,” at #15.
            But my lunar loony favorite is a silly, knee-slapping spoof on the moon landing craze that must have caught the fancy of many, to land on the W’R-IT chart at a lofty #8. How about the astronaut on the ceiling | what’s your name? Moonflight” by Vik Venus, “Alias: Your Main Moon Man,” is a must-listen memory! Even more fascinating is popular WMCA/New York City DJ, Jack Spector (1928-1994), was Vik Venus. (“Moonflight” debuted at #28 on WMCA.)
Mixing faux-media news interview questions with answers from real lines in previous song hits … Let’s talk to the astronaut who just finished eating | How’s the food? …[reply] Yummy, yummy, yummy, I got love in my tummy. ♪ Heehee.

Featured Radio Survey: W’R-IT/Milwaukee’s Pop Power chart of top 40 tunes ran the gamut from moody to moonbeams … and we tagged along for the ride. 50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio. That awesome day when … 

Celebrate JULY 1969 and … Rock On!

Share on Twitter: @BlastFromPastBk

LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books (of three) in her Blast from Your Past series, available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!

Note: FYI – All links in the BFYP site are personally visited, verified, and vetted. Most are linked to commonly accessed sites of reputable note. However, as with everything cyber-security, use at your own discretion. 

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JUNE 1969 ~ Vintage Rock Radio Gauntlet Hits & Misses

 From down-home iconic music to a haunting tune of ancient world apocalypse, June 1969 moved our souls and our imaginations as artists moved up and down the radio survey ladders.

Without iPods and online streaming songs, what did you listen to, “back in the day”? What energetic DJs blared your favorite music through the airwaves? Cousin Brucie on the East Coast? The Real Don Steele in the West? Or Wolfman Jack, who could be heard practically everywhere, even before his American Graffiti fame?

In this middle month of the final year in a turbulent decade, Elvis reminded us of hardships, taking us across the tracks, “In the Ghetto”; Henry Mancini and his Orchestra kept the big band era alive with “Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet”; and Tom Jones swiveled his hips to rival Elvis, as he pleaded, “Love Me Tonight.”

50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio
June 7th: Johnny Cash moved from radio to TV when his self-titled show debuted on ABC. It was a big day for Johnny; teamed with Bob Dylan, their Grand Ole Opry Special aired on the same day. Yeehaw!

Jun 11th: "The Ballad of John & Yoko" by The Beatles hits #1 in UK. In the US, the controversial song found us oddly restricted in our rebellion of the era; "The Ballad of John and Yoko" never appeared on WABC/New York or WLS/Chicago radio music charts. After a diligent search (of large market stations), I found it languishing at #26, in WCFL/Chicago’s “Big 10 Count Down” for June 11, 1969. It peaked at #8 before losing power and slipping down the musical ladder.

Jun 21st: Zager & Evans release "In the Year 2525." Best song to ever come out of a cow pasture. Though it moved up quickly, it hadn’t quite made the top ten on WABC/New York’s “Music Power Survey” by June 28th (Featured Survey). Their “Big Bonus” section listed it with other “bubbling under”* tunes. The one-hit wonder hit it big in July, grabbing the top spot by the July 19th survey—c’mon by again next month for an expanded look at this errant humanity song, in 50 Years Ago this Month!
            *A music survey term for those tunes that are scaling the chart ladder, but not quite made it into the ranks—yet, or—maybe never.

Featured Radio Survey: In 1969 were you listening to legendary DJ Cousin Brucie on WABC/New York?  The June 28, 1969 survey featured Bruce “Cousin Brucie” Morrow as “All American of the Week.” He is an honored BFYP Rock & Roll DJ and one of few in all three books, spanning 1950s, ‘60s & ‘70s! … 50 Years Ago This Month in Rock & Roll Radio. That awesome day when … 

Celebrate JUNE 1969 and … Rock On!
  
Share on Twitter: @BlastFromPastBk

LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books (of three) in her Blast from Your Past series, available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!


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MAY 1969 ~ Behind-the-Mic Scenes of Music & Mayhem 

On the radio in 1969, we heard the DJs rave about a new song, as they slapped it on the turntable and talked over the first few seconds of its spinning, slick vinyl grooves.

“Flamethrower” stations (the big guys) may have transitioned to reel-to-reel tapes, but either way, musicians’ studio recordings personified the best of the bands’ musical prowess … then we began to hear rumors of what went on behind studio mics, or we scored tickets to see them in concert … LIVE … a whole different experience.

50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio
May 10th: By 1969, we were used to hearing about the bad-boy antics of boy bands, and learned of the many real or imagined concert mishaps. But none so prestigious as this one …
Reported by 95.9 The River’s “Today’s Rock History,” “The Turtles and The Temptations performed at the White House for a ball given by President Richard Nixon’s daughter, Tricia. Mark Volman of The Turtles was reported to have fallen off the stage several times.”
Most reports set it as FIVE times. That musta hurt. Or not … until the next day.

May 24th: We were told to “Get Back,” and we didn’t mind a bit! On nationwide average, The Beatles' single clawed its way to #1 on Rock Radio charts, where it stayed for most of another month.
DJ Don Bombard at WOLF/Syracuse, New York, is featured on the cover of their “Hot 30 in the Salt City” survey for May 14, 1969. At that point, “Get Back” cruised to #2; but a week later, peaked in the #1 spot.
Meantime, WABC/New York fans & most Rock stations of the nation, also boosted The Beatles’ “Get Back” to #1 in mid-May, where it stayed on WABC until late June when knocked off the top by the Henry Mancini Orchestra and “Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet.” Talk about night and day. From lyrical admonishment to silent amour.
Fun fact or fiction? Per Wiki on “Get Back”: “Lennon also said that ‘there's some underlying thing about Yoko in there,’ saying that McCartney looked at Yoko Ono in the studio every time he sang ‘Get back to where you once belonged.’” Oh my.

Featured Radio Survey: Just before “Get Back” stepped forward on the music scene, WOLF/Syracuse, New York, listed a mighty mixed bag of songs in their top 30 tunes. Who remembers dreamy “Atlantis” at #10 (Donovan – who by the way, celebrates his 73rd birthday May 10th); and at #20, hilariously skewed lyrics of “Bad Moon Rising” (Creedence) … ♪There’s a bathroom on the right! ♪ Check out all the charted hits on WOLF50 Years Ago This Month in Rock & Roll Radio. That awesome day when … 

Celebrate MAY 1969 and … Rock On!

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LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books (of three) in her Blast from Your Past series, available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!

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APRIL 1969 ~ Horns Blaring in Chicago! 



Do you remember what you were doing 50 Years Ago this Month? Whether you were dancing to what are now the “Oldies” or protesting on a local college campus, chances are you owned a transistor radio.




New Yorkers may even have been a fan of Warren Garling (aka Chris Warren), better known in ‘69 as DJ “Jesse James” on WSNY/Albany, NY. Want to boogie down Memory Lane with him? You’re in luck! Laugh, reminisce, and hum the Oldies tunes with Warren in his recently published memoirs celebrating 50 Years of Rock & Roll Radio! Remember when we used to say, I’ll Have to ask My Mom”?



Now a BFYP Book 2 jock, eleven-year-old Warren visited WBNR/Beacon, New York studios, came home and declared, “Mom, Dad, I don’t want to be Roy Rogers anymore. I want to be a Radio DJ!” Go now & remember …



50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio

APRIL 11th: Although there truly is an *International "Louie Louie" Day on the official Brownielocks April calendar of events, it celebrates a 1963 happening. So obviously more than 50 Years Ago this Month. But at BFYP we have a vested interest in joining drunk partiers every year on this day. After all, BFYP DJ “Ken Chase”* aka Mike Korgan, produced The Kingsmen’s decades-enduring and endearing version of the iconic party song. A sketchy conflict of interest while working at KISN/Portland, Oregon.

Apparently in a hurry, Mike and the band recorded in it one crazy session, sans any super-professional equipment. Want to learn more? Excerpt from BFYP Book 2 – Ken Chase. And get the whole book on Amazon! Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Louie Louie, oh no / We gotta go … ♪

APRIL 13th: What goes with “Louie Louie” and Old Time Rock ‘n’ Roll*? Record Store Day of course! Known for new releases and vintage vinyls spanning the decades, record stores across the country revel in the day with all sorts of entertainment, goodies, specials and discounts. Enter your zip code here to find your local participating stores! (*Spanning 1979-2019, nobody does this song better than Bob Seger.)

April 28th: 50 Years Ago this Month Chicago Transit Authority burst on the Rockin’ scene with a trumpeting blare of horns in their self-titled debut album, garnering a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist of the Year. Their first three top singles, “Questions 67 & 68,” “Beginnings,” and “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” solidified the beginning of their powerful jazzy-Rock sound.

Featured Radio Survey: *Although by 1969 Mike/Ken Chase was long gone from KISN/Portland, we found an April 1969 “Good Guy Survey for the Northwest” at ARSA to tease your memory … 50 Years Ago This Month in Rock & Roll Radio. That awesome day when …

Celebrate APRIL 1969 and … Rock On!

Share on Twitter: @BlastFromPastBk

LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books (of three) in her Blast from Your Past series, available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!

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March 1969 ~ Radio Loves Vintage and Timeless Tunes

Some songs, new and old, can be played backward and forward in time. Others will see future generations scratch their heads and wonder, what were they talking about? It’s the one that does both which becomes immortal.

Tunes that transcend time and play solely to our emotions will always endure. Those with a vintage vibe, if allowed, will offer a nostalgic lesson in history, and entertain us. Radio is the conduit—then and now—for a song’s impact on our souls. 

50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio
March 7th: Hint - ♪ He plays by intuition | The digit counters fall ♪… The Who released their Rock opera album tribute to Tommy, the king of everyone’s favorite arcade game, “Pinball Wizard.” It hit the bottom of KHJ/L.A.’s Boss 30 chart on April 2nd and peaked at #13 on April 16th.
            Meanwhile, in the East, it was a no-show on WABC/New York’s March/April/May charts,
but finally showed up on WQAM/Florida’s Fabulous 56 list April 12th at #47.
            “Pinball Wizard” was a catchy, marketable tune with a rather odd, transcendental message that puts it in both the song categories: vintage—what’s a pinball?—and timeless—empathy for the boy’s isolation.
            This positioned it perfectly for the Psychedelic Seventies when “Pinball Wizard” enjoyed an energetic resurrection in the film that visualized the band’s album. Elton John gave Tommy renewed vigor in Ken Russell's 1975 big screen adaptation.

March 8th: What did hit the top of the radio charts this month? Speaking for the East is WQAM 560 ~ “South Florida’s FIRST and Only OFFICIAL Music Survey” where “Proud Mary” by Creedence Clearwater Revival hugged the #1 spot.
Jay & The Americans, a BFYP featured band, struggled to reach #9 with an old favorite, “This Magic Moment.” At the same time, WABC/NY fans gave them a little more love, pushing it up to #5.

Featured Radio Survey: Another ARSA radio chart—WQAM/Florida 560—check out the songs for that joined “Proud Mary” and “This Magic Moment” in the top ten, and clambered through the ranks, like “Games People Play” (Joe South) shooting up the chart to debut at #19 … 50 Years Ago This Month in Rock & Roll Radio. That awesome day when …
March 8, 1969

Celebrate FEBRUARY 1969 and … Rock On!
 
Share on Twitter: @BlastFromPastBk

LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books (of three) in her Blast from Your Past series, available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!

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February 1969 ~ Rockumentary History in the Making
With The Beatles fresh off their rooftop concert in their final live gig together (January 30th), and The Shondells’ “Crimson & Clover” still topping the radio charts—with Beatles’ songs nowhere in sight—we head into February 1969 asking, what’s next?
 
What came next is actually what came first—and who’s on 2nd, right?

If you listen to Rock and Roll radio stations, you’ve likely heard some version of “The History of Rock and Roll.” Did you know the original debuted at a time when Rock history was still cranking out groundbreaking tunes? And purportedly, “Rockumentary” originated for the occasion …

50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio:
February 21-23rd: KHJ/Los Angeles aired what’s billed as the first history of Rock and Roll. Even then, we realized the music we listened to was history in the making. Time to begin the look back to is Blues and Jazz roots.
Robert W. Morgan was the lucky DJ who debuted the energetic
Rockumentary (later, a version aired with Humble Harve Miller), hosted by venerable Rock radio pioneer, Bill Drake.
Reportedly syndicated (but research not finding its syndication home), the scope of the original History of Rock and Roll begins in the early 1950s and sweeps through the decades to 1981. A mini-“Timesweep” of the Rockumentary’s songs in medley, is broadcast in three parts on YouTube, for the early years, 1954 – 1977 … memory teasers …
            January 1956 – January 1964 History of Rock & Roll Timesweep
            February 1964 – December 1969 History of Rock & Roll Timesweep
            January 1970 – December 1977 History of Rock & Roll Timesweep

Featured Radio Survey: This month, we showcase an infrequent off-site vintage radio survey, to bring you the KHJ/Los Angeles February 5, 1969 edition, hosted on ARSA (Airheads Radio Survey Archive). KHJ of course, advertised prior to the Rockumentary’s debut. Their “Boss 30” chart featured the ad and told us “Mendocino” (Sir Douglas Quintet) topped in at #1 50 Years Ago This Month in Rock & Roll Radio. That awesome day when …

Celebrate FEBRUARY 1969 and … Rock On!
  
Share on Twitter: @BlastFromPastBk

LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books (of three) in her Blast from Your Past series, available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!

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January 1969 ~ Rise ‘n’ Shine and Rock & Roll in 2019!



Whoohoo! We made it! If you’re reading this, 2018 was a GOOD year. Perils are many in our convoluted world, so New Year’s Eve is more significant every time its glittery night comes around, and we awaken on New Year’s Day.



If you’re eagerly seeking another clean slate, remember there is benefit in looking back—not just over the past year, but reflecting on life as a whole. It helps us take advantage of the road ahead … may it be a golden one for you! Happy New Year!



Looking back at Blast from Your Past, we like to romanticize the “good ol’ days,” and tout early Rock & Roll as the best ever; but from payola to hijacking record labels, we know it wasn’t without its crime and punishment.



Sadly, many labels treated their artists badly and it’s no secret that royalties for some artists were decades—if ever—in the making. Hopefully, the music industry is kinder these days.



Some performers have since written about their fun but frustrating experiences. One such, is an icon

who waited until all the nefarious parties had headed to Hades before cluing us fans in on what he had to endure to bring his music to our wild-‘n’-crazy transistor radios



Tommy James of The Shondells first caught our attention with a little “Hanky Panky” (1966) and followed up with the dreamy “Crimson and Clover”* (1969).


According to his book Me, The Mob, and The Music (2011), Tommy “… tells the incredible story, revealing his complex and sometimes terrifying relationship with Roulette Records and Morris Levy, the legendary Godfather of the music business.”
 
But in 1969 we were oblivious to the shenanigans behind the scenes. With barely fifty words to its name, we sent the wistful *“Crimson and Clover” shooting to the top of the charts just before Christmas 1968, where it stayed through most of January 1969. ♪ Now, I don't hardly know her | But I think I could love her ♪

Reportedly, an early song recorded on 16-track equipment, Crimson was hijacked by WLS/Chicago when Tommy played a rough cut off-the-record (yep, that’s a pun!) and the station secretly recorded it, releasing it as a “world exclusive.” Shame, shame.

All was forgiven, however, as the WLS DJs helped Crimson debut on the Hit Parade” chart at #22 on December 16, 1968. It didn’t stop ‘til reaching #1 on January 13, 1969.

Featured Radio Survey: WKNR/Detroit fans loved “Crimson & Clover” too. Their “Music Guide” floated it up to #1 for the January 2, 1969 chart, keeping it there through the end of the month .50 Years Ago This Month. That awesome day when …

Celebrate JANUARY 1969 and … Rock On!

Share on Twitter: @BlastFromPastBk

LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books (of three) in her Blast from Your Past series, available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!

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