AT40 on KJR

[Mack Daddy]

Listening to Sunday's countdown from February 1975 reminded me of listening to KOL-FM - kind of the precursor to today's KCMQ. All music, no personality. "That was 'Lovin' You', Minnie Riperton. Before that, the Bachman-Turner Overdrive, 'Roll on Down That Highway'". "KOL has the sound". A lot of the songs on this countdown were songs I heard on KOL.

I really liked KOL. I liked how they usually played the songs in two's, and announced them. I don't remember exactly when that station disappeared, but there was a station in Bellingham, 104.3 KNWR, they are KAFE now. But back in the 80's they were still running a KOL type format. I lost interest in the station when they switched to KAFE, and I don't remember when that was either.

 

[Grindlfan]

Listening to Sunday's countdown from February 1975 reminded me of listening to KOL-FM - kind of the precursor to today's KCMQ. All music, no personality. "That was 'Lovin' You', Minnie Riperton. Before that, the Bachman-Turner Overdrive, 'Roll on Down That Highway'". "KOL has the sound". A lot of the songs on this countdown were songs I heard on KOL.

I really liked KOL. I liked how they usually played the songs in two's, and announced them. I don't remember exactly when that station disappeared, but there was a station in Bellingham, 104.3 KNWR, they are KAFE now. But back in the 80's they were still running a KOL type format. I lost interest in the station when they switched to KAFE, and I don't remember when that was either.

All I remember about KOL when I was just a little tike was my oldest brother winning a case of Hires rootbeer and a transistor radio through a call-in contest on the station. It was big news in our house at the time.

 

[Mack Daddy]

Listening to Sunday's countdown from February 1975 reminded me of listening to KOL-FM - kind of the precursor to today's KCMQ. All music, no personality. "That was 'Lovin' You', Minnie Riperton. Before that, the Bachman-Turner Overdrive, 'Roll on Down That Highway'". "KOL has the sound". A lot of the songs on this countdown were songs I heard on KOL.

I really liked KOL. I liked how they usually played the songs in two's, and announced them. I don't remember exactly when that station disappeared, but there was a station in Bellingham, 104.3 KNWR, they are KAFE now. But back in the 80's they were still running a KOL type format. I lost interest in the station when they switched to KAFE, and I don't remember when that was either.

All I remember about KOL when I was just a little tike was my oldest brother winning a case of Hires rootbeer and a transistor radio through a call-in contest on the station. It was big news in our house at the time.

Was that radio preset to, uh, 94.1 KOL? I knew a guy who won a radio from 96.5 KXRX, and it was preset to 96.5. That's a tricky way to get listeners, git git git git git!

 

[corporat]

In this Sunday's replay Casey welcomes some new stations, including KMEL, Wenatchee, the station I listened to AT40 on with my little Penncrest transistor radio that I got that Christmas. 1971 - what a year for music. Nowadays KMEL is a station in San Francisco, and the station in Wenatchee is Spanish.

 

[Lonely Summer]

In this Sunday's replay Casey welcomes some new stations, including KMEL, Wenatchee, the station I listened to AT40 on with my little Penncrest transistor radio that I got that Christmas. 1971 - what a year for music. Nowadays KMEL is a station in San Francisco, and the station in Wenatchee is Spanish.

Yeah, it's always cool to hear Casey give a shout out to a station you remember listening to. One week he even mentioned KJR. I always had my radio tuned to KJR Seattle Channel 95 on Sunday nights for Casey's countdown. IIRC, KJR also did their own countdown at the end of each year for the 50 top tunes locally.

 

[corporat]

In this Sunday's replay Casey welcomes some new stations, including KMEL, Wenatchee, the station I listened to AT40 on with my little Penncrest transistor radio that I got that Christmas. 1971 - what a year for music. Nowadays KMEL is a station in San Francisco, and the station in Wenatchee is Spanish.

Yeah, it's always cool to hear Casey give a shout out to a station you remember listening to. One week he even mentioned KJR. I always had my radio tuned to KJR Seattle Channel 95 on Sunday nights for Casey's countdown. IIRC, KJR also did their own countdown at the end of each year for the 50 top tunes locally.

One thing I discovered with my first radio is that you can actually listen to a lot more stations at night, like KJR. I caught the end of their 1971 New Year's Eve countdown, which I recorded on my new cassette player that I got for that Christmas (Indian Reservation was #2 and Joy to the World #1). During the deejays' countdown to midnight, one chimed in with "Goodbye, 1971!" and another one added "Yeah, goodbye, 1971, you've been a trip!" followed with howls of laughter. After an abridged version of the Beach Boys' Auld Lang Syne and a replay of Joy to the World, they headed straight into Casey's year-end countdown on AT40. I wish I still had that tape.

 

[Lonely Summer]

I am recording these AT40 countdowns now. I wish I had recorded more of this stuff back then. AT40 is fun, but there are a lot of songs that made the national charts that weren't all that popular up here, and of course songs that were top 10 or top 20 in the NW that barely registered on the national charts. Those songs are pretty much lost now, as all radio today reflects a national mentality. And of those songs that were big nationally, only a select few get into the rotations of KJR and KZOK.

 

[Jay F]

I noticed there were three different versions of the Theme from "Love Story" in this weeks 1971 countdown. I wonder if stations typically played all 3 or if they picked just one version.

Speaking of regional hits. does anybody here know if "Seattle" by Perry Como was a bigger hit in Seattle than the U.S average. It was a #38 hit in 1969.

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

...does anybody here know if "Seattle" by Perry Como was a bigger hit in Seattle than the U.S average. It was a #38 hit in 1969.

To me it wasn't regional. It got a bunch of airplay when I was in Houston in 1969. Kept making me HOMESICK for Seattle even though I knew the lyrics were blatant lies!!!

 

[dlm1129]

I noticed there were three different versions of the Theme from "Love Story" in this weeks 1971 countdown. I wonder if stations typically played all 3 or if they picked just one version.

Speaking of regional hits. does anybody here know if "Seattle" by Perry Como was a bigger hit in Seattle than the U.S average. It was a #38 hit in 1969.

That's an amazingly timely question. I have a PDF of the KJR Fab 50 from 3/14/69. (I'm not sure of the best way to share the file or I'd post it for all to see!) On that particular week "Seattle" was #6, having fallen from #4 the week before. I don't know if it got any higher but at least we all now know that it was certainly a bigger hit here in Seattle than nationally.

I won't transcribe the whole 50 out but here are the Top 10 from that 3/14/69 chart:
1) Dizzy - Tommy Roe
2) Time Of The Season - The Zombies
3) Rock Me - Steppenwolf
4) Things I'd Like to Say - New Colony Six
5) Crimson & Clover - Tommy James & the Shondells
6) SEATTLE - Perry Como
7) Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon - Paul Revere & The Raiders
8) Tunesmith - The Bards (not to be confused with The Byrds, this band The Bards were from Moses Lake!)
9) Galveston - Glen Campbell
10) Brother Loves Travelling Salvation Show - Neil Diamond

That's a pretty good glimpse at what happened exactly forty years ago this week!

 

[Grindlfan]

I noticed there were three different versions of the Theme from "Love Story" in this weeks 1971 countdown. I wonder if stations typically played all 3 or if they picked just one version.

Speaking of regional hits. does anybody here know if "Seattle" by Perry Como was a bigger hit in Seattle than the U.S average. It was a #38 hit in 1969.

That's an amazingly timely question. I have a PDF of the KJR Fab 50 from 3/14/69. (I'm not sure of the best way to share the file or I'd post it for all to see!) On that particular week "Seattle" was #6, having fallen from #4 the week before. I don't know if it got any higher but at least we all now know that it was certainly a bigger hit here in Seattle than nationally.

I won't transcribe the whole 50 out but here are the Top 10 from that 3/14/69 chart:
1) Dizzy - Tommy Roe
2) Time Of The Season - The Zombies
3) Rock Me - Steppenwolf
4) Things I'd Like to Say - New Colony Six
5) Crimson & Clover - Tommy James & the Shondells
6) SEATTLE - Perry Como
7) Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon - Paul Revere & The Raiders
8) Tunesmith - The Bards (not to be confused with The Byrds, this band The Bards were from Moses Lake!)
9) Galveston - Glen Campbell
10) Brother Loves Travelling Salvation Show - Neil Diamond

That's a pretty good glimpse at what happened exactly forty years ago this week!

I think The Zombies Time Of The Season is about the only song on this list that KJR even plays today...and that is rare. I'd love to hear any or all of them. Speaking of Seattle by Perry Como, I wonder why RCA is so reluctant to include that track on any of his hits compilation CDs, other than a box set? I would enjoy seeing the pdf of that KJR Fab 50!

 

[radioman148]

I noticed there were three different versions of the Theme from "Love Story" in this weeks 1971 countdown. I wonder if stations typically played all 3 or if they picked just one version.

Speaking of regional hits. does anybody here know if "Seattle" by Perry Como was a bigger hit in Seattle than the U.S average. It was a #38 hit in 1969.

That's an amazingly timely question. I have a PDF of the KJR Fab 50 from 3/14/69. (I'm not sure of the best way to share the file or I'd post it for all to see!) On that particular week "Seattle" was #6, having fallen from #4 the week before. I don't know if it got any higher but at least we all now know that it was certainly a bigger hit here in Seattle than nationally.

I won't transcribe the whole 50 out but here are the Top 10 from that 3/14/69 chart:
1) Dizzy - Tommy Roe
2) Time Of The Season - The Zombies
3) Rock Me - Steppenwolf
4) Things I'd Like to Say - New Colony Six
5) Crimson & Clover - Tommy James & the Shondells
6) SEATTLE - Perry Como
7) Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon - Paul Revere & The Raiders
8) Tunesmith - The Bards (not to be confused with The Byrds, this band The Bards were from Moses Lake!)
9) Galveston - Glen Campbell
10) Brother Loves Travelling Salvation Show - Neil Diamond

That's a pretty good glimpse at what happened exactly forty years ago this week!

I think The Zombies Time Of The Season is about the only song on this list that KJR even plays today...and that is rare. I'd love to hear any or all of them. Speaking of Seattle by Perry Como, I wonder why RCA is so reluctant to include that track on any of his hits compilation CDs, other than a box set? I would enjoy seeing the pdf of that KJR Fab 50!

I can tell you that SEATTLE didn't even get played in Chicago until the summer of 69.

 

[Lonely Summer]

Cool list. I've seen the Bards records in used record stores, can't say I ever heard them, though. Seems the Raiders records always did well here in the NW. That was back when local stations supported local talent.

 

[Grindlfan]

Cool list. I've seen the Bards records in used record stores, can't say I ever heard them, though. Seems the Raiders records always did well here in the NW. That was back when local stations supported local talent.

Yep, that was back when a local act could walk in with a record and give it to a Pat O'Day and if he liked it he'd put it on the air. Now it seems you've got coporate clowns in places like San Antonio and consultant bozos from God knows where dictating playlists for Seattle and other markets. There has defnititely been a sterilization and a standardization in radio since the golden years.

 

[TVradioguru]

Yes indeed! It was all about the music wasn't it?? When a record promoter could walk into the PD's office with a couple new records and a couple grams of coke. Or the band invites the GM and PD out for "dinner" accompanied by some lovely ladies of the night. Or that new TV set that arrives at the music directors home. What a coincidence!

Who needs to research what listeners want! Who needs rules or laws! Research, rules and laws are for corporate suckers!

And maybe if music could be chosen for play on the radio like it was back in the 50's through the 70's, things like the Internet, MP3 players, or cell phones would have never been invented!

 

[Grindlfan]

Yes indeed! It was all about the music wasn't it?? When a record promoter could walk into the PD's office with a couple new records and a couple grams of coke. Or the band invites the GM and PD out for "dinner" accompanied by some lovely ladies of the night. Or that new TV set that arrives at the music directors home. What a coincidence!

Are you speaking of personal experience Guru? Sounds good to me! Whatever they did they sure mader radio better than it is now.

 

[Lonely Summer]

I'm sure some of the old practices are still in place, but now instead of doing a few PD's and jocks some favors, you gotta deal with some corporate heads. "We'll slip you a few hundred grand if you spin __________'s new cd on all your stations." It WAS a lot better the way it was in the old days, stations had more personality, more diversity in the programming, and dj's got to take home free records

 

[radioman148]

Yes indeed! It was all about the music wasn't it?? When a record promoter could walk into the PD's office with a couple new records and a couple grams of coke. Or the band invites the GM and PD out for "dinner" accompanied by some lovely ladies of the night. Or that new TV set that arrives at the music directors home. What a coincidence!

Ahh for the good ole days.

 

[Mack Daddy]

Yes indeed! It was all about the music wasn't it?? When a record promoter could walk into the PD's office with a couple new records and a couple grams of coke. Or the band invites the GM and PD out for "dinner" accompanied by some lovely ladies of the night. Or that new TV set that arrives at the music directors home. What a coincidence!

Who needs to research what listeners want! Who needs rules or laws! Research, rules and laws are for corporate suckers!

And maybe if music could be chosen for play on the radio like it was back in the 50's through the 70's, things like the Internet, MP3 players, or cell phones would have never been invented!

That would be your corporate suckup opinion! Actually I think we could have modern stuff like MP3, and still have good radio with local flavor, and not just all this bullcrap programmed by a bozo in San Antonio, or New York City for the whole country.