This has bugged me for 36 years now...maybe someone who worked at WSAI in the summer of 1971 could explain the logic in why WSAI did not play James Taylor - You've Got A Friend (which was #1), choosing instead to play the Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway version that peaked at #29? I heard the Flack/Hathaway version on XM's IT Countdown & it dredged up that strange musical curiousity. We could speculate about Payola, etc but maybe someone who was there at the time has some idea what influenced one of the more bizarre playlist decisions I've seen. What earthly reason would there be for not playing a #1 song by James Taylor? Talk about mass appeal...I know...I need to let it go. And I pretty well have, but figured one last attempt to understand wouldn't hurt anything...
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1971 WSAI Music Question
- Thread starter BobOnTheJob
- Start date
Here's the reason:
In late 1970 Jimi Hendrix died of an apparent drug overdose, and while Taylor was never charged, he was known to be with Hendrix at the time of his death. This was already coming on the heels of his earlier comments that, "James Taylor is bigger than God" and his controversial anti-war decision to go to North Vietnam where he was photographed on an NVA anti-aircraft gun.
For these reasons, Taylor's "You've got a friend" was not played in conservative Cincinnati.
Actually, the above is all false (but it sounded good to me), but I'm curious why 'SAI would make that decision too.
Also if anyone has any old 'SAI airchecks again from the late '60's--I'd love to hear them...
In late 1970 Jimi Hendrix died of an apparent drug overdose, and while Taylor was never charged, he was known to be with Hendrix at the time of his death. This was already coming on the heels of his earlier comments that, "James Taylor is bigger than God" and his controversial anti-war decision to go to North Vietnam where he was photographed on an NVA anti-aircraft gun.
For these reasons, Taylor's "You've got a friend" was not played in conservative Cincinnati.
Actually, the above is all false (but it sounded good to me), but I'm curious why 'SAI would make that decision too.
Also if anyone has any old 'SAI airchecks again from the late '60's--I'd love to hear them...
I think Jim Scott was there then in AM morning drive. Why not contact him? As you know, he's at WLW now and (still) in morning drive.
I doubt that Jim Scott had any say in music selection at WSAI. It was probably a PD/MD decision made locally...I'm hoping one of those guys or someone who worked with them might stumble by here & if nothing else, tell me they didn't understand the logic involved either...Cincinnati Kid said:
BobOnTheJob said:
Even if he wasn't involved in the decision, he may have heard of the reason behind it. So would the other DJ's who were there at that time.
I WAS on WSAI at the time. It was a long time ago and if I only had 3 more brain cells, I could paint a better picture. Here's what I do know. Pacific and Southern had the station and did the music out of Atlanta. I think the music directors' name was Sylvia??? We just plugged in what she said and played on.
I jocked at the time. There were 2 music categories... a ROCK and a LISTEN. We played a ROCK then a LISTEN - then a ROCK and A LISTEN. Moving the 45's (yes, 45's) to the back of the stack after they were played.
Honestly, at the time -I didn't know there was a James Tallor version AND I really didn't care. I do know we played First Time Ever so frequently that q burns covered the first 10-12 seconds of the durge.
IT was so strange that Marvin Gaye's That's the way Love is was a LISTEN and Heard it Through the Grapevine was a ROCK. It was the SAME TRACK with new vocals. I was very young and extremely fortunate to be on WSAI.
I remember Jim Scott would do his show, then go out to the recption area to meditate for an hour or so and was gone for the day. Amazing talent. I would wake up early to listen and have dreams of someday doing mornings...
I jocked at the time. There were 2 music categories... a ROCK and a LISTEN. We played a ROCK then a LISTEN - then a ROCK and A LISTEN. Moving the 45's (yes, 45's) to the back of the stack after they were played.
Honestly, at the time -I didn't know there was a James Tallor version AND I really didn't care. I do know we played First Time Ever so frequently that q burns covered the first 10-12 seconds of the durge.
IT was so strange that Marvin Gaye's That's the way Love is was a LISTEN and Heard it Through the Grapevine was a ROCK. It was the SAME TRACK with new vocals. I was very young and extremely fortunate to be on WSAI.
I remember Jim Scott would do his show, then go out to the recption area to meditate for an hour or so and was gone for the day. Amazing talent. I would wake up early to listen and have dreams of someday doing mornings...
Wow...corporate radio was doing it's thing even then. I never considered that possibility...Always assumed that some local person made that call. I guess that explains why no one ever answered my well thought out letter that I addressed to Music Director at WSAI that summer. There was no music director at WSAI!vegasBABY said:
What was your name on WSAI? I listened to 1360 a lot in that era...
let's see, back in 1971, the WSAI air talent was Jim Scott, Bob Goode, Roy Cooper, Bud Stagg, Larry Clark, Bobby Rivers, and Ted McAllister and Doug Silver doing weekends. Bobby Rivers mysteriously disappeared from WSAI, to later be replaced by Scott Kenyon, so it would be interesting to know the "air name" of the poster. We can rule out Larry Clark, because he is deceased, Roy Cooper, Bud Stagg, and Jim Scott were veteran air personalities by that time, so that would leave maybe Bobby Rivers, Scott Kenyon, Bob Goode, or Doug Silver, I know Doug Silver started at SAI in the summer of 1971
C
cklw800
Guest
That boggles the mind about James Taylor's "You've Got A Friend." Maybe that was a huge, huge oversight with so many other big hits out at the time. Maybe they didn't need the song. When I was a kid I always wondered about a radio station in my hometown that didn't play "WANT ADS" by the Honey Cone even though you could hear it every Sunday morning on AT40 on that same station. And it went to #1 I believe. Thanks to this thread it reminded me of that. I should go to that town's board and pose the question. About Q-102, they were an exciting station in the 70s and 80s. They played Klymaxx and other locally based groups. But they were real mainstream Top 40. A lot of other R&B didn't get through there. Only the hottest tracks made it. In the 80s I could count maybe 5 R&B tracks on their list. But they were hot. And at least Midnight Star and a couple of other R&B groups would get on early making them sound unique and more crossover than they really were. It was a great station! My handle suggests I'm from Detroit but I'm an Ohioan and lived close enough to Detroit to hear CKLW for a time back in the day.
A
audiodude
Guest
Roy Cooper was the PD who hired me way back when! I was a part time rookie, still wearing DJ diapers. I have no idea why James Taylor wasn't played & sure as hell wasn't going to ask anyone.
Vegas, you were right about the "R" and "L" and back wall of Gold...Don't forget the "MacKenzie" for the jingles that pre-dated cart machines.
I believe Kent Burkhart, out of Atlanta handled the music for Pacific Southern.
Later Big Jim Davis replaced Roy Cooper as PD. It was a real kick to be on the air & look out that window! God, what a memory.
Vegas, you were right about the "R" and "L" and back wall of Gold...Don't forget the "MacKenzie" for the jingles that pre-dated cart machines.
I believe Kent Burkhart, out of Atlanta handled the music for Pacific Southern.
Later Big Jim Davis replaced Roy Cooper as PD. It was a real kick to be on the air & look out that window! God, what a memory.
How about it Vegas...what was your radio name as you stared out that window at West 8th & Matson Place?FRR said:
K
kirkiefan
Guest
WSAI in its Top 40 era was a station I missed in my youth as its 5kw signal barely got into the areas north of Dayton with a typical hand held transistor radio....hence I grew up with WING,WIZE and CKLW during the day and WLS,WCFL,WABC and WLAC at night. Would love to see a bonafide tribute site with airchecks,logos,surveys,DJ pics and jingles (...not the Homestead.com tribute page to WSAI and WING) I'm talking a bonafide WSAI (and WING) interactive tribute site...similar to the tribute sites of The Big 8 and WIXY-1260.
Speaking of "Skinny Bobby Harper" wasn't he the same Bob Harper who was evenings at WING in 1963-early '64? (before they brought back Gene "By Golly" Barry that year)
Speaking of "Skinny Bobby Harper" wasn't he the same Bob Harper who was evenings at WING in 1963-early '64? (before they brought back Gene "By Golly" Barry that year)
I was geographically fortunate in that I lived between the WSAI towers and Boss Radio WUBE 1230's tower...single digit miles to each, so I had 24 hour reception of both of Cincinnati's great top 40 stations, as well as decent daytime reception of WING. What was Steve Kirk's dog's name? I saw him & his dog in a car as part of a parade 40 some odd years ago. WSAI and WING deserve a tribute site along the lines of what WAKY and WKLO/Louisville have. http://www.1080wklo.com/ . That site has broadcast quality jingles you can download (they make awesome ring tones) & much more. Hopefully someone someday will dedicate the effort to WSAI/WUBE/WING that WAKY/WKLO enjoys.
jcr said:
Does anybody know what happened to Bobby Rivers...or what his real name was? There's an aircheck of him on Reelradio.com at WPOP just prior to his departure for WSAI. A WPOP tribute site says he was also at KTKT, Tucson after WSAI, but the Bobby Rivers who was at KTKT appears to have been a different guy (now deceased).
Any help would be appreciated.
---Michael Hagerty, Phoenix
If I was going to hazard a guess, and it is only a guess, about the JT ommission, it was probably "one of those things" that have no real explanation. maybe the music folk in Atlanta just liked the other version better.
The Big Jim Davis that was referred to..are we talking the same one who became Big Jim Edwards on CKLW after a stint in Toledo?
CKLW often would sub the R&B cover for a hit...one that comes to mind is them playing a soul version of "Heaven on the Seventh Floor" instead of the Paul Nicholas version.
Didn't hear much of WSAI growing up as I lived quite a ways north. But I did listen while attending a Reds game once.
The Big Jim Davis that was referred to..are we talking the same one who became Big Jim Edwards on CKLW after a stint in Toledo?
CKLW often would sub the R&B cover for a hit...one that comes to mind is them playing a soul version of "Heaven on the Seventh Floor" instead of the Paul Nicholas version.
Didn't hear much of WSAI growing up as I lived quite a ways north. But I did listen while attending a Reds game once.
I used to notice this type of thing every now and than with various stations. By 1971, I was long gone from Cincinnati,
but I remember my local Top 40 station at the time, WEIM in central Mass, ignored "Chick A Boom" by "Daddy Dew Drop",
as well as the "Matthews Southern Comfort" version of "Woodstock". This was very apparent with access to the Boston AM and FM Top 40s that were receivable in that area. In the case of WSAI, they were in the unusally fortunate situation of having a virtual monopoly of Top 40 radio in Cincinnati with WUBE/WCPO long gone. Most cities, much smaller than Cincinnati at that time, had at least two major Top 40 outlets. I was always kind of amazed that WSAI never received competition from WCKY or some other decent signaled AM. If 1230 still rocked at the time, the James Taylor version would almost certainly have been exposed to the market and most likely forced upon WSAI...
but I remember my local Top 40 station at the time, WEIM in central Mass, ignored "Chick A Boom" by "Daddy Dew Drop",
as well as the "Matthews Southern Comfort" version of "Woodstock". This was very apparent with access to the Boston AM and FM Top 40s that were receivable in that area. In the case of WSAI, they were in the unusally fortunate situation of having a virtual monopoly of Top 40 radio in Cincinnati with WUBE/WCPO long gone. Most cities, much smaller than Cincinnati at that time, had at least two major Top 40 outlets. I was always kind of amazed that WSAI never received competition from WCKY or some other decent signaled AM. If 1230 still rocked at the time, the James Taylor version would almost certainly have been exposed to the market and most likely forced upon WSAI...
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