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"American Graffitti" begat Oldies format?

Re: No, it did not.

American Graffitti was out before summer vacation. Probably in April or more likely May.

> > Most markets had one, right down to markets the size of
> > Birmingham... LA, and all the biggies had them before the
> > movie.
> > >
> >
> I wasn't living here in SoCal back in 1973 when the movie
> was released (couldn't find out the exact date or month of
> '73 when it debuted). What LA station was an oldies
> station? Was it K-Earth back then? And I don't remember
> exactly when WCBS-FM became an oldies station but I seem to
> remember it sometime in 1972. At that time, I don't
> remember any oldies station in Philadelphia yet.
>
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American Graffitti got Wolfman Jack out of border radio and into 66 WNBC New York. He took the show over from the legendary Murray The K.

Wolfman also got to host Midnight Special on NBC TV.

But he was the hero of the movie.



> I was watching a program on AMC during Thanksgiving weekend.
> They had a 30 minute show on the impact of the movie
> "American Graffitti." In one segment, they credited George
> Lucas with being among the first film directors to make use
> of hit songs to create the bulk of the soundtrack. This
> movie did, in fact, break new ground in terms of style, plot
> development, multiple storylines and characters, so that's
> believable. But one claim that I had never heard was that
> "American Graffitti" spawned the creation of the Oldies
> format. Can that be true? The program did quote Mike Love
> of the Beach Boys as saying the film helped fuel a
> resurgence in the popularity of that group. And they also
> had "Bowzer" from Sha Na Na saying much the same thing. It
> also claimed that the careers of acts such as Bill Haley and
> the Comets and other 50s acts got a boost. I can buy all
> that. And I can buy that "Happy Days" owes its existence to
> "American Graffitti", but does the entire Oldies format owe
> the movie the same debt of gratitude?
>
<P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>
 
Re: Remember these stations and this guy named:

WOR-FM

Charlie O' Donnell 6-9AM
Sabatstion Stone 9-Noon
Tony Taylor Noon-4PM
Jim O'Brien 4-8PM
Bob Elliott 8-Midnight
Steve Clark Midnight-6AM
Bill Brown Sunday 9AM-3PM

I know where some of them have gone especially Bill.

Steven Green




> Uncle Ricky's Reel Radio site has some very good recordings
> of WOR's Big Town Sound Format.
>
<P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>
 
Re: More markets than you think

> Do you remember Paul Henderson doing The Music Museum Sunday
> nights on WFUN (Miami) in 1970?
>
> Paul was a newsguy and I think it was probably a thrill for
> him to play discjockey and do all oldies on Sunday night.

I had forgotten that until you mentioned it. Paul later went to WIOD to do news and wound up at The Mutual Network in Washington.

He sounded good whatever he did!

Mike
 
Re: Hit Parade '71 WAXY Ft. Lauderdale (Audio)

http://f6.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/EM-RQ6...sYqZdeivLFKf5ICMuIj9Tn0cWI5EI/Hitparade71.mp3

These are promotions and jingles from 1971 on WAXY Solid Gold in Ft. Lauderdale.


> > I was watching a program on AMC during Thanksgiving
> weekend.
> > They had a 30 minute show on the impact of the movie
> > "American Graffitti." In one segment, they credited
> George
> > Lucas with being among the first film directors to make
> use
> > of hit songs to create the bulk of the soundtrack. This
> > movie did, in fact, break new ground in terms of style,
> plot
> > development, multiple storylines and characters, so that's
>
> > believable. But one claim that I had never heard was that
>
> > "American Graffitti" spawned the creation of the Oldies
> > format. Can that be true? The program did quote Mike
> Love
> > of the Beach Boys as saying the film helped fuel a
> > resurgence in the popularity of that group. And they also
>
> > had "Bowzer" from Sha Na Na saying much the same thing.
> It
> > also claimed that the careers of acts such as Bill Haley
> and
> > the Comets and other 50s acts got a boost. I can buy all
> > that. And I can buy that "Happy Days" owes its existence
> to
> > "American Graffitti", but does the entire Oldies format
> owe
> > the movie the same debt of gratitude?
> >
> In a word: No, it didn't! Once upon a time in the Golden
> year 1968 A radio
> programer by the name of Bill Drake working for a company by
> the name of
> RKO General came up with a radio format called Hit Parade 68
> which aired on
> both KHJ-FM 101.1 Los Angeles and KFRC-FM 106.1 San
> Francisco and I suspect also heard on KYNO-FM Fresno too.
> The format was a mix of 1968's top hits, 50's, & 60's Oldies
> and
> was called "The Parade of Hits of Yesterday and Today" and
> "The Greatest Hits of
> All-Time." The format was aimed at the 18 to 49 year old age
> group. This format also ran here in Sacramento on KXOA-FM
> 107.9 but not until around the beginning of the 70's but was
> not called Hit Parade it was called "Solid Gold" and used
> many of the same formatics. So what other stations
> nationwide had an Oldies format prior to 1968? I bet there
> weren't many of them around other than the top-40 stations.
>
<P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>
 
Re: More markets than you think

That was the first place I ever heard "Please Don't Talk To The Lifeguard" by Diane Ray. He loved to play that song.

> > Do you remember Paul Henderson doing The Music Museum
> Sunday
> > nights on WFUN (Miami) in 1970?
> >
> > Paul was a newsguy and I think it was probably a thrill
> for
> > him to play discjockey and do all oldies on Sunday night.
>
> I had forgotten that until you mentioned it. Paul later
> went to WIOD to do news and wound up at The Mutual Network
> in Washington.
>
> He sounded good whatever he did!
>
> Mike
>
<P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>
 
Re: Remember these stations and this guy named:

> WOR-FM
>
> Charlie O' Donnell 6-9AM
> Sebastion Stone 9-Noon
> Tony Taylor Noon-4PM
> Jim O'Brien 4-8PM
> Bob Elliott 8-Midnight
> Steve Clark Midnight-6AM
> Bill Brown Sunday 9AM-3PM
>
> I know where some of them have gone especially Bill.
>
> Steven Green
>

I remember very well Sebastion Stone... He used to end his show with the phrase "Keep It Outta Sight!"
I also remember Jim O'Brien who later went on to WFIL and also was on Philadelphia TV (Channel 6 ?) as a weather guy (?). His daughter Peri Gilpin went on to fame as 'Roz' on the "Frazier" TV show. Peri also did the voiceover in recent years for Wells Fargo radio commercials on the west coast in recent years. Jim O'Brien perished in a helicopter (or was it a plane) accident sometime in the 70s. Stone passed away some years ago as well.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by SuperRadioFan on 12/03/05 06:48 PM.</FONT></P>
 
The page cannot be found?

However the original 20 minute demos from Drake Chenault can still be heard on line. I had them mail me the demo record when I was younger. Still trying to figure out why they had no problem sending their materials to a 10 year old?



http://f6.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/EM-RQ6Fe7AqQXr0zkeDWyuELuzGbU_J07IRwhxBeEHy6xV9aX5IwZq8LAZC> X0pGlYsykNWpbaCsYqZdeivLFKf5ICMuIj9Tn0cWI5EI/Hitparade71.mp3
>
>
> These are promotions and jingles from 1971 on WAXY Solid
> Gold in Ft. Lauderdale.
>
 
Re: Yes I Believe It Did

> I disagree...the exposure of the movie to a vast audience
> certainly brought in a resurgence of new interest of music
> from that era. I find it hard to believe that anyone could
> dispute that fact. Yes there were stations scattered about
> doing oldies prior to this, but not on the scale the oldies
> format developed into after the movie.
>
> booger!
>

I think it may not have caused the creation of the oldies format, but certainly gave it a great shot in the arm.
 
"American Graffitti" didn't play Oldies.

I did want to mention it was Bill Haley & HIS Comets.

>And I can buy that "Happy Days" owes its existence to
>"American Graffitti", but does the entire Oldies format owe
>the movie the same debt of gratitude?

No, it was Happy Day's that helped out the Oldies Radio format much than we think. Radio programmers are sometimes slow to react to new ideas?.

**Seasons 1 and 2 of the series used an edited version of "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and His Comets as the opening theme song. This edited recording, as of summer 2004, has never been commercially released, although the original 1954 recording returned to the American Billboard charts in 1974 as a result of its use on the show. Eventually, the show's closing theme song, "Happy Days," became a major hit in its own right and replaced "Rock Around the Clock" at the beginning of the show.**



>
 
> American Graffitti got Wolfman Jack out of border radio and
> into 66 WNBC New York. He took the show over from the
> legendary Murray The K.
>
> Wolfman also got to host Midnight Special on NBC TV.
>
> But he was the hero of the movie.

So did this movie spawn the Oldie movement or not on the Radio?
 
Art Laboe coined the phrase "oldies but goodies", not "Oldies".

> Art Laboe (Los Angeles)was the creator of the term oldies
> dating back to 1960. Even though the station he was on
> wasn't an oldies station.... when the songs turned around 5
> years old..... he refered or phrased them as oldies. he
> developed a show Oldies but Goodies, and it wasn't far later
> that same year...Little Ceaser & the Romans remind them as
> You.
> And that's probably why he has a wide volume of Oldies But
> Goodies record/cd series. He coined the phrase "oldies".

Art Laboe Fact Sheet

1955 Art Laboe was the first person to play Rock n Roll music on the air in the Western United States. Art Laboe holds the record for the highest rated show in Los Angeles Radio History, a 33 share in 1956 on KPOP. The record still stands today. Art Laboe coined the phrase “Oldies but Goodies”.
 
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