Rock & Roll Lives for Love!
Whether
we are “in” Love or not, there is no dodging this month made for Love. And apparently,
Love music stretches back to the oldest of “Oldies” tunes. Says a 2024 article
from The Harvard Crimson, “In fact,
the oldest known love song is that of Shu-Sin, which was discovered in the
library of Ashurbanipal in Mesopotamia and dates back to 2000 BCE.”
BFYP’s 1970s Oldies, contrary to what some
younger generations may think, are as enduring and endearing, so we’re giving
love a capital “L” all month. In our February
Featured
Radio Survey, there are no less than a dozen Love-themed songs in the
Top 30, and half of those tout the word “Love” in their titles. So, Rock &
Roll fans, you can’t escape the LOVE we feel for our top Oldies tunes … 50
Years Ago this Month …
FEBRUARY 1976 Radio News & Muse ♪
What was your fave DJ
playing when you turned on your tinny transistor radio 50 Years Ago? What top artists of
the day make the news? Read on and enjoy the memories of what and who you were listening to … 50
Years Ago this Month!
February 7th: So, remember in December 2025
when I told you about the Brooklyn, New York, pirate radio station WCPR
that snuck onto the airwaves? It was a brief escapade—and it was today in 1976
that the FCC raided the station and shut them down. Never fear, the operators,
John Calabro and Perry Cavalieri were persistent, if not legal. It didn’t take
‘em long to find another, more elusive wayward station, in WFAT … and when that
was raided in 1979 … WFOT. All were short-lived, but talk about tenacious!
February 20th: Stomped in Love! On this date 50 Years Ago,
Kiss added their big ol’ bootprints to the sidewalk
outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. They didn’t have anything on
the charts this month, but hit the bottom of Radio lists by end of March with “Shout It Out Loud” to become Kiss’s second song to break the Top 40. Think it isn’t about
Love? Au contraire mon chéri, Kiss made self-Love a thing with this tune! ♪ … It doesn't matter what you do or say | Just
forget the things that you've been told | We can't do it any other way
| Everybody's got to rock and roll, whoo, oh, oh … ♪
February 28th: And what, pray tell, was Record of the Year at the
Grammy Awards this day in 1976? Of course: “Love Will Keep Us Together." Although
co-writers, Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield thought it would be a hit for
them in 1973, as did brother/sister team, Mac and Katie Kissoon, it was another
duo, Captain & Tennille (Daryl Dragon
& Toni Tennille) who found the
groove with it. The tune gave them their first of many #1 hits. Though
ultimately divorced, Ms. Tennille was by the Captain’s side when he passed in
2019. Love, did indeed, keep them together.
Although I don’t have an
original February 1976 music survey in my BFYP Collection, I
found a couple of fun ones at ARSA (not
a secure site). From music artists to the Radio stations who played their hits
and misses, where were you spinning the dial 50 Years Ago?
Were you flyin' high in Love or the sky, in mile-high Denver, Colorado? KTLK (not a secure site at ARSA) had recently surpassed popular KIMN in ratings
and DJ John Edwards loved taking you to new heights in KTLK’s
10p.m. to 2a.m. slot. Believe it or not, in 1969 when KTLN changed its call
letters to K-TALK / KTLK, they thought engaging the local teens in
chit-chat and music would be fun and innovative. Not in the ‘70s! Just the
music, please …
Listeners loved the music, not so
much the talk. With a new top tunes format, KTLK eventually surpassed
then-dominant Top 40 station KIMN, especially when KTLK took on
the Disco format of the late 1970s. “Denver’s Double K-1280” published a full
Top 40 for its listeners—and nevermind that their two Ks were not doubled
together.
Let’s shiver
our way over to the Northeast for our Featured
Radio Survey, WTAC (ARSA
survey, not a secure site) in Flint, Michigan. I had to laugh when I noticed
one of their
Hit Bound tunes, “Deep Purple” by “The Lovely Donny & Marie
Osmond.” Someone at the station was obviously enamored of them (or at least,
Marie)! And with good reason. “Deep Purple” ultimately became the 42nd-biggest
hit of 1976 in the U.S.
DJ Peter Cavanaugh (1941-2021)
was just getting started behind the mic and made a name for himself by striking
up friendships with AC/DC (Australia) and The Who (England),
premiering them in the U.S. They were connections that followed him as he moved
up the Radio ladder, to serve in management, even though he’d scored a BA in
political science … let’s face it, Radio is more fun!
WTAC thrived throughout the
decade as "The Big 600." That lasted 'til 1981 when Top 40s petered
out and it flipped to Country.
Having
some fun with research, I found that in the first month, (January) 2026,
there may have been current songs about Love, but you can’t tell from their
titles. Not a one with Love
in the title … kinda sad, don’t you think? Since Love dominates our
lives in mates, family and friends, check out the two tantalizing Love
tunes below, for your February 1976 musical memories …
♪ February 1976
Song of Note ♪
Wow. Every year in the 1970s gets more and more difficult to choose a Song
of Note—there are so many iconic classics in every Top 20! This month, from
“Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover” (Paul Simon) at #1 on our Featured Radio Survey, to “Theme From
S.W.A.T.” (Rhythm Heritage) rounding out the top 20 (of 30) tunes, it was a
daunting jaunt through time.
I try to take into account the
general mood of the month, so Valentine Y Love rules February,
and I finally settled on two, absolute opposites … from the
pain of love in Nazareth’s “Love Hurts,” sitting
at #5 on the chart, to the Miracles exclaiming love’s exuberant joy in “Love Machine,” at #6, we’ve
got ya covered.
Scottish band, Nazareth, struck a
painful chord with “Love Hurts” that
resonated with so many, and still does! By far, theirs is the most popular
version of the song, originally recorded by The Everly
Brothers
in 1960 and covered by others before Nazareth gave it a hard Rock vibe. From
the lead singer to the lead guitarist, you can feel their pain. ♪ … Love is
like a flame | It burns you when it's hot | Love hurts...... ooh, ooh love
hurts …♪ Oh, yes, sometimes it does …
On the other end of the Love
spectrum, however, following right on its heels on the WTAC music chart,
“Love Machine,
” by the Miracles, expressed the
other side of Love—pure joy! And I gotta say, my pure joy came when I pulled up
the YouTube video and found the Miracles dominating the stage flaunting
extravagant, 1970s Disco style, in matching “Pepto Bismal”-pink suits!
Our resident DJ Extraordinaire,
Bill Gardner, shared this tidbit, “Made me think of my KOOL [Phoenix]
interview with Bobby
Rogers of the Miracles. Among the cool things he told me was he's [the] voice
behind ‘woo hoo hoo hoooooo yeah’ on ‘Love
Machine.’ In that video in the Pepto pinks you mentioned, Bobby's
the tall guy with the glasses. Many times that video is [played] back to
back with their killer song "Do It," as well.” As we’ve said many
times, the 1970s were all about Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll!
Oh, the memories! ♪ … I'm
just a love machine | And I won't work for nobody but you | A
hugging kissing fiend … ♪
♪ February 2026 Music Events
& More ♪
Miscellaneous news and notes of music and Radio today …
February 13th: I generally regale World Radio Day as a
terrific, global way to thank our Radio broadcasters for all the pleasure they
have brought their listeners, in so many areas of our lives.
While I applaud the sponsor of
this day (UNESCO) and have for years, I was disappointed to find their site prominently
displaying a message for the broad use of AI in Radio—and beyond.
Directly below this line on their
site, “It is a Day to thank broadcasters for the news they deliver, the voices
they amplify and the stories they share,” comes THIS: “Today Artificial
Intelligence (AI) opens a new chapter: not just for innovation but for
deepening their bond with listeners.”
Granted, they follow it with the
admonition of, “When used ethically and responsibly to support
professional judgement, creativity and public service values …” and “AI is
a tool, not a voice.” And therein lies the problem. Just like any “tool” with
the potential to do harm, it depends on who’s holding it.
I’m absolutely, more than a bit
biased—not only as an “old school” Radio fan—but as a writer and author
battling AI’s hijacking of creative works—I cannot condone UNESCO’s stance. AI
has been unleashed on us without the moral boundaries that should have
been required to monitor and police its use. Now, like the latest provocative,
addictive drug, it’s too late to stop.
I’ll be the first to admit I have
not performed in-depth research into the extensive pros and cons of its
use—and though it has its benign uses to make some aspects of life
easier—it still feels like the rape of all human creativity. I have and will
continue for the foreseeable future, refrain from using even the most basic AI
in my writings. I have a mind—I know things—and while the research I must do to
augment, is now AI-powered, it is not by my choice. It is already
holding us against our will.
February 14th: Today as in yesteryear, Valentine's Day naturally comes with Love and music ... okay, and with chocolate and flowers. But especially if your diet doesn't allow sweets and you're allergic to flora,
there’s always romance in silly little Love Songs. What were some of those
dozen or so amorous—and I use the term loosely, as we were very superficial—“Love”
songs in the vintage February 1976 Top 30? “Sweet
Thing” (Rufus), “Love
Rollercoaster” (Ohio Players & still on the charts from January) and
since it’s the ‘70s, “You
Sexy Thing” by Hot Chocolate, of course! ♪ … I believe in miracles | Where you from,
you sexy thing? … ♪
February 27th: Turn up the nostalgia volume, it’s National Retro Day! Although
we’d like to think this day was created just for Boomers, especially our stylin’
music and hip Disco dance moves, according to the sponsor’s Facebook page, it
doesn’t matter what generation you’re in … or which decade or two from which your
fondest reminiscences burst forth. The point is to enjoy the
memories …
♪♪BFYPFeatured Radio Survey♪♪
February 13, 1976 ~ WTAC/Flint, Michigan … Imagine that—a
Rock Radio DJ with a sense of humor—said with tongue-in-cheek, of
course. DJ Peter Cavanaugh graces “The Big 6 Music Guide” cover … as a
cute little chimp with a kiss-this face for Valentine’s Day! Irresistible. See what
else is special about this survey … 50
Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio! Where were
you that groovy day when your Radio played …
Rock February
1976 and … Let’s Rock the Love!
BFYP Book 1 (1954-1959)
on Amazon
BFYP Book 2 (Swinging
‘60s) on Amazon
Blast from Your Past Gifts
Share your Golden Oldies
R&R fun on X: @BlastFromPastBk
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
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
Note: FYI – All links in the BFYP site are personally
visited, verified, and vetted. Most are linked to commonly accessed
sites of reputable note. Occasionally, since I often feature real people and/or
singular sources there may be an unsecured link. As with everything
cyber-security, use at your own discretion and risk. This site is wholly owned
by LinDee Rochelle & sponsored by PenchantForPenning.comTM.
No compensation is received for any mentions of businesses, products, or other
commercial interests. *All holiday and special event days are found at Brownielocks.com’s calendar site.
Enjoy!
RE: AI – The Blast from Your Past site has
never and will never (knowingly) be written or assisted, by Artificial
Intelligence. It’s just stupid ol’ “I” and I enjoy
writing these articles. They soothe my soul. So why would I hand that
indulgence over to an artificial, soulless entity that can’t feel pleasure?!
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