Rock Radio 50 Years Ago ♪ MAY 1976

Happy Days Are Hopin’ the Music Never Ends!  

Some of us remember the days when TV sitcoms might have had an underlying seriousness but were still funny. Much like our radios played protest tunes, but they were still excellent music. And Radio and TV often fed off each other to emphasize great entertainment. Ahhhh, the good ol’ days!

If you’re looking for controversy, you won’t find it in our MAY 1976 Featured Radio Survey. No, this month it’s 99% lovin’ and 1% nostalgic Radio/TV crossovers. If you’re curious and impatient to know why, scroll on down toward the end. However, it’ll be a lot more fun if you just grab a cuppa something, relax, take your time and savor the news and muse from … 50 Years Ago this Month … 

 º MAY 1976 Radio News & Muse ♪  
What was your fave DJ playing when you turned on your tinny transistor radio 50 Years Ago? Off and on through Radio and TV history, popular TV shows saw their theme song hit the top of the charts. I’m sure the producers didn’t mind the extra attention for their shows. Enjoy the memories of what and who you were listening to … May 1976! 

Who recalls the scruffy “Welcome Back Kotter,” which gave us an irreverent teen, played by a preening John Travolta as Vinnie Barbarino? Or were you more nostalgic for “Happy Days” with goody-two-shoes, Richie Cunningham, in full teen angst mode, played by squeaky-clean, Ron Howard … who secretly wanted to be Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli, the motorcycle riding bad boy, made infamous by Henry Winkler?
       Both shows were wildly popular, boosted by their #4 & #6 music chart status (respectively) on MAY 1976’s KTLK/Denver survey, with their musical namesakes. “Welcome Back Kotter” asked, ♪ … And what could ever lead you | Back here where we need you … ♪  while we hummed along with “Happy Days,” ♪ … Rock-n-roll with all my friends | Hopin’ the music never ends | … These Happy Days are yours and mine …  ♪ Yes, they are. 

Speaking of KTLK, you may recall a short blurb about the station back in February, with DJ John Edwards. We learned then, it became KTLK with a format flip from KBNO. It’s back this month with popular DJ Dan Alexander Rockin’ the Rockies morning show. We know Dan was there for at least a year, but not much more. For the MAY 24, 1976 Featured Radio Survey, it’s now up to Collector’s Issue No. 297, but they musta been in a hurry to print, as Dan didn’t get a cover image this time.  
       What were the Denver listeners’ top three tunes? We hit the stores with Captain & Tennille’s “Shop Around” at #3; then we “Fooled Around and Fell In Love” in Elvin Bishop’s tune crowding the top at #2; and while we’re feeling affectionate, Paul McCartney & Wings finally grabbed #1 with “Silly Love Songs.” ♪ … Love doesn't come in a minute | Sometimes it doesn't come at all | I only know that when I'm in it | Love isn't silly at all …  ♪    

May 3^rd: And if you were in love with love, you likely already knew that this date in 1976 Paul McCartney & Wings began their Wings over America Tour in Ft. Worth, Texas. It was also the first time Paul had been on a US stage since the Beatles’ 1966 SF/Candlestick Park concert.

May 19^th: Since I generally keep things light, I hesitated to remind Rolling Stones fans of the horrendous Keith Richards auto accident on this date. He apparently had family and friends in the car and it likely could have been avoided, if he hadn’t been the Stones’ bad boy that he was—being caught with drugs in the car. I mention it here, not only because he is remarkably, still alive, at a spunky 82, but by several accounts, he’s finally (nearly) rid himself of the “mad, bad, and dangerous to know” label that’s plagued him for most of the past 50 Years. Persistence pays off.  

May 31^st: Although The Who is often credited with the record for loudest Rockin’ concert of all time on this date in 1976, as with most things over time, that record is now debatable. At an ear-blowing 120 decibels, does anyone from Charlton, London, still have their hearing?! However, they haven’t lost favor with their most dedicated metalheads. Their dubious feat is still right up there in the top four according to Records Trivia.  

♪ MAY 1976 Song of Note ♪  
Who, reading this article, knows what Happy Days, the TV show was all about? 1974 may have been the first year it aired, but our youth of the 1950s and ‘60s was its core. Nostalgic and fun, we reveled in its ostensible simplicity and danced to all of its reminiscing hit tunes. But it was the MAY 1976 hit song, “Happy Days” by Pratt & McClain that endeared the show to other age groups. And the show’s originators couldn’t have chosen a more apt title.
       While the show had more than one theme song, only this one climbed the music charts to become our Song of Note, 50 Years later. At KTLK/Denver, their May 24^th survey shows “Happy Days” at #6. It also has the distinction, however, as a one-hit wonder for the songwriting duo ♪ … Sunday, Monday, Happy Days | Tuesday, Wednesday, Happy Days | Thursday, Friday, Happy Days | Saturday, what a day | Rockin’ all week with you … ♪ You betcha!   

♪ Quirky Band Name Award ♪  
I haven’t seen much to draw from on the charts for this section lately. But who could resist checking out a band name like Thin Lizzy for May’s Quirky Band Name Award? Of course, I knew of them from back in the day. Their global hit, “The Boys Are Back In Town” hit the charts this month, slowly climbing to #31 at KTLK.
       For this hard rock/blues/heavy metal Irish band, it’s all in the accent. Eric Bell, TL’s first guitarist, suggested it in 1970, playing off, “Tin Lizzie,” a robot character in a youth magazine, The Dandy. The band settled on Thin Lizzy, but acknowledged the locals’ Dublin accent which often left off the “h” anyway, in early promos.

♪ May 2026 Music Events & More ♪    
I don’t claim to be a drum solo aficionado, but some of you may be. MAY used to be National Drum Month. Nowadays, there is no link for it, and it claims the status of “International Drum Month” on some calendars. Whatever. Let’s make it fun anyway. Take a look at this month’s Featured Radio Survey and see if you can spot a great tune with an outstanding drum solo. Enjoy!

♪♪ BFYP Featured Radio Survey ♪♪   
MAY 24, 1976 ~ KTLK/Denver, Colorado. As 1970s radio music charts go, this one is disappointingly plain. But it’s all about the music, anyway, right? Love dominates all the way from Wings’ #1 “Silly Love Songs” to #40’s “Come On Over” by Olivia Newton-John. No doubt about it … Love makes the world go ‘round. Now … and then … 50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio! Where were you that groovy day when your radio played … 

Rock MAY 1976 and … make every day a Happy Rock & Roll Day!  

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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 Past^TM series, available on Amazon: Book 1 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959^TM (eBook only; coming soon in updated print edition) and Book 2 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties^TM (eBook & print). Coming soon-ish … Book 3 – The Psychedelic Seventies!^TM 

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