Anyone out there with recollections of Bill Todd AKA Cat Simon, who programmed WKRQ in 73. They played some tunes that no one else played at all. Had great jingles and a real progressive format. I remember turning on the radio in early January, 1974 and hearing Blue Swede sing Hooked On A Feeling. I knew The Cat had to be gone; and he was. Went to Chicago. His airchecks with the Moody Blues were great. Any memories from you folks that worked in the business?
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Cat Simon WKRQ Listen We Think We Have Found You
- Thread starter FRR
- Start date
http://wrko.org/talentpgs/williams.htm
Check out the above for more info on "the Todd Man" (aka Cat Simon or Johnny Williams.
I recall the station (if I've got the right period) as being a hybrid of progressive and top 40 if I've got the right year. Were they not "Super Q" at that point.
You are right ...great jingles. I think Dan Lundy and Dave Richards worked there about that time or thereabouts.
Check out the above for more info on "the Todd Man" (aka Cat Simon or Johnny Williams.
I recall the station (if I've got the right period) as being a hybrid of progressive and top 40 if I've got the right year. Were they not "Super Q" at that point.
You are right ...great jingles. I think Dan Lundy and Dave Richards worked there about that time or thereabouts.
FRR said:
I CRIED when "Cat" displaced Chris Baily in 1973... Any respectable ninth-grader would have! I'm in the process of reviewing nearly fifty old reels of 70s airchecks of Cincy-Indy-Dayton-Louisville radio from that era that have been boxed for nearly 20-years... Most have aged well... Including "Cat" and his "'KRQ"... Man--he was in heat with the "FM" thing. I guess I was a bit bitter about his KHJ-FM LA attitude, and felt that 'EBN was more than filling the need for that in Cincy at the time... Not to mention "Down on the Farm" WOXR which filled it VERY WELL--GOD was that ever a delight!
I will give him credit for that. 'KRQ was the first station I heard the the Moody Blue's "Conquistador" on... He really pushed that song as his "definition" of that format.
Rick Sellers once told me that if a 101.9 airstaff member dared utter the term "Super Q" during the "Cat era"--they were "history"... 1974 couldn't have arrived sooner despite Blue Swede
By 1975 the litter box was cleaned, and WKRQ was back to "normal"!
WKRQ "Back To Normal"? Nothing they've done since then can compare to the superb presentation of Chris Bailey's Super Q. The Super Q was given just a few months to prove itself before we top 40 junkies were placed kicking & screaming (and swearing) into Cat's litter pan...
Good 'ole WOXR. Ching Ching A Ling, Ching Ching A Ling, On 97 WOXR, The Hits Keep Happening, Ching Ching A Ling... Anybody remember that jingle from the Down On The Farm, WOXR days?
And then there was arguably the most unusual jingle of the 1960's on WCNW 1560..."Way Down Yonder In The Indian Nation, Everbody Listens To A Radio Station, Listening Is Their Full Time Occupation, They Listen To WCNW". That was a classic...never mind the fact that WCNW didn't reach any Indian nations...
Good 'ole WOXR. Ching Ching A Ling, Ching Ching A Ling, On 97 WOXR, The Hits Keep Happening, Ching Ching A Ling... Anybody remember that jingle from the Down On The Farm, WOXR days?
And then there was arguably the most unusual jingle of the 1960's on WCNW 1560..."Way Down Yonder In The Indian Nation, Everbody Listens To A Radio Station, Listening Is Their Full Time Occupation, They Listen To WCNW". That was a classic...never mind the fact that WCNW didn't reach any Indian nations...
BobOnTheJob said:
THANK YOU VERY MUCH Bob... Now I know I wasn’t “the only one”—and don’t require special psychological treatment!
As I type this, I’m listening to “Cat” on KRQ (via tape of course) and he’s plugging Procol Harum’s “Grand Hotel” and playing the title track (sorry—I wrongly credited “Conquistor” in my prior post). I swear—that was his favorite album back then—and he’s dogging 1360 for not having “the ‘nads to play it”.
A MUCH wiser radio guy than I would ever be (WOXR’s Rick Sellers) once told me that Bartell’s “Super Q” format was FM’s answer to Bill Drake and Rick Sklar (I apoligize for the misspell). It was Drake without a large jingle package (remember—Q had only one) and Sklar with more non-currents. I remember Chris Baily going “way back” with treats like “Time Won’t Let Me” (Outsiders), “Dance to the Music” (Sly and the Family Stone), and “Here Comes My Baby Again (Tremeloes) in the Fall of ’72. CB was first on my must do list after school let out!
I wanted to use Cat Simon as a dart board back then for robbing my Radio Shack STA-65B receiver of a really good FM station... Thank God—I still had WNAP, but they were catching a bit of that AOR hybrid affliction by that time also.
Thank goodness WOXR lives on today—courtesy of several reels of 30+ year-old Sony SLH-180 tape... And so does the famous “Down on the Farm” jingle! There was NOTHING like “Wonderful WOXer”—and there NEVER will be. They truly reserved their own little corner of radio history!
They reached INDIANA... Barely
I actually jocked on WOXR in Nov-Dec 1971...remember working with Bob Nave of the Lemon Pipers. I was so bummed...Bill Riley helped me get on there & by the time I started, they had stopped doing Top 40 & Rick Rainbow was doing his version of what Cat Simon did to the Super Q. Bill Riley has been in St Louis working for an airline for many years now.
Well I guess I'm one of the odd ones out, but I rather enjoyed the Cat Simon era of WKRQ. The hybrid Top 40 / AOR format was unique and well done, in my opinion. While WEBN had always leaned too folk, country, and Grateful Deadish for my tastes, "KRQ" played a more eclectic mix of album tracks. I'll never forget hearing them play the Moody Blues suite "The Dream / Have You Heard / The Voyage / Have You Heard, part 2." That was very WOXR of them to go that deep and that progressive.
And I can still hear the toh IDs using the Moody Blues "Dawning Is The Day." The refrain toward the end of the song "Listen we think we have found you" into some spoken words which contained the "WKRQ Cincinnati" ID, and then the refrain again "Listen we think we have found you." Very smooth and cool sounding to this teenager.
If I recall, they were evolving the station in phases and this era was called Phase 2. Contrary to what some posters have said, I don't believe they used jingles during this period. They referred to themselves simply as "KRQ" and the presentation was pretty AORish. Unlike you guys, I was disappointed when Phase 3 turned out to be a return to more straight ahead Top 40. But by that time during my teenage years I was pretty much into albums and AOR radio.
And I can still hear the toh IDs using the Moody Blues "Dawning Is The Day." The refrain toward the end of the song "Listen we think we have found you" into some spoken words which contained the "WKRQ Cincinnati" ID, and then the refrain again "Listen we think we have found you." Very smooth and cool sounding to this teenager.
If I recall, they were evolving the station in phases and this era was called Phase 2. Contrary to what some posters have said, I don't believe they used jingles during this period. They referred to themselves simply as "KRQ" and the presentation was pretty AORish. Unlike you guys, I was disappointed when Phase 3 turned out to be a return to more straight ahead Top 40. But by that time during my teenage years I was pretty much into albums and AOR radio.
I wasn't even old enough to remember any of that, but it sounds almost like what was going on at Q-102 around 1983. In the daytime I don't think they were really that unusual for a top 40, but at night they kept throwing in the long versions of decade-old AOR songs. (I'm pretty sure they even played the long version of "Roundabout" by Yes.) I think this is acceptable for a top 40 to do in moderation, but Q-102 did this so much that they actually sounded like an AOR station. I think they quit doing this by 1984 though.
Somehow I can't imagine Q-102 doing this now.
If you go on the Uncle Ricky Reel Radio Repository site, contrast the airchecks of Q-102 versus those of other big top 40 stations in 1983.
Somehow I can't imagine Q-102 doing this now.
If you go on the Uncle Ricky Reel Radio Repository site, contrast the airchecks of Q-102 versus those of other big top 40 stations in 1983.
The Q sure went through changes in its first few years. I remember reading a quote from Jack Chapman, the then GM of the WKRC radio stations stating "there is a void in this town waiting to be filled between WSAI and WEBN, and we intend to fill it". So, first it was the "Super Q" format, from September of 1972 until May of 1973 with Chris Bailey as PD. Next was the Cat Simon era from May of 1973 to March of 1974. Cat brought along some of his colleagues from Boston's WRKO, including Chip Hobart, Gary Martin, and Tom Kennedy. Towards the end of the Cat Simon era, the individual currently known as Ted McAllister on WDJO, had been working under his real name at WEBN, and was hired by Q, eventually succeeding Cat Simon as PD in March of 1974. Finally, in January of 1975, Randy Michaels was brought in from Buffalo, and the era of Q102 was born. Like Keys, I also enjoyed the Cat Simon era, a nice change of pace from WEBN. However, I never expected Taft Broadcasting to stay with the format. Then, in a two month period from March to May of 1974, the groundwork was laid for the Q102 era with the hiring of Chris O'Brien, Jim Fox, and Pat Barry.
keys2 said:
Honestly Keys... Had I been a couple years older, I would have been very into Cat’s format on ‘KRQ. I was just such a hopeless Top-40 kid in the Fall of 1972. Just when I got used to the hits in stereo on FM with all the AM “energy”—seems it was taken from us, and Cat was the perfect guy to blame. Plus, I really thought ‘EBN was cool, and saw the change in “Super Q” as some diabolical launch of a “gunboat” aimed at 102.7. By fall of 1973, Buddy Barron on WSAI had replaced my beloved Chris Baily as an after-school hit machine... A year later, I would drift over to WOXR. I would not revisit Top-40 again until about 1982 when WBBM-FM Chicago hit the air.
I heard that ID on tape the other night for the first time in nearly 34-years and it was rather haunting. I thought it clever at the time, but we used to mouth over the end of it—“Listen We Think You've Lost Us”.
They played a lot of uncharted rock during the “Phase 2” era. Do any of you folks remember a group called S.R.C. back then? I heard it on the tape with very limited dialogue—and no song title.
jcr said:
I remember that name also. My Dad called my attention to that statement in an Enquirer article he showed me about the station’s format change. I wanted to use Jack Chapman as a dart board also... After the Cat Simon one was full of holes
The many phases are not completely crystalized in my mind of "102 KRQ" , Super Q and Q102 but I do recall Dan Lundy introducing a Bill Wyman song:
" it's Lundy at 102 KRQ with a track from Bill Wyman off of Monkey Grip and "White Lightening...".
Many times the announcers were poetic in there presentation of songs.
BTW...Conquistador is by Procol Harum and WSAI actually did play the song so Cat Simon missed the mark with his "nads" comment.
I really don't recall a more interesting time in radio then listening to the Q during these transitions.
They went quad sometime during this metamophosis (does anyone know the year?) and I"m not sure if it was matrix or discreet quad.
" it's Lundy at 102 KRQ with a track from Bill Wyman off of Monkey Grip and "White Lightening...".
Many times the announcers were poetic in there presentation of songs.
BTW...Conquistador is by Procol Harum and WSAI actually did play the song so Cat Simon missed the mark with his "nads" comment.
I really don't recall a more interesting time in radio then listening to the Q during these transitions.
They went quad sometime during this metamophosis (does anyone know the year?) and I"m not sure if it was matrix or discreet quad.
RATCISDJ94 said:
I remember them just as jcr described in Reply#8... They began a slow drift back to something resembling a Top-40 format in Spring ’74. By ’75, they were Q102, but I was away at college and heard them only on occasion at that time.
I’m embarrassed about that “goof”... I prematurely hit “post” right after “quote” in Reply#2, so I was in a hurry to compose my reply before the editing time expired and messed up some details...
hipporadio said:
So let me try to clean this up... “Conquistador” charted Top-40 during the summer of 1972—a couple months before “Super Q” came on... And yes—I remember hearing it on WSAI. The song I should have pointed out was “Grand Hotel” (title track on the Procol Harum LP that featured “Conquistador”). Although that album was “over” by the time Cat Simon hit town—he latched hold of “Grand Hotel” (which never charted) and played it in nearly current rotation as a defining example of how he hoped to illustrate ‘KRQ’s “musical difference” from WSAI—hence the “nads” comment.
He did this with many songs by iconic album rock artists within that timeframe—and others that were less-than-iconic, which I guess he just thought added “hip factor”. ‘KRQ appeared to be Top-40 minus Daddy Dewdrops and Jim Stafford—but plus “top tracks” from current rock LPs.
Upon a more mature reflection, it was an interesting and pioneering concept at that time, and possibly should have been given a fair chance by Taft. I was too young to be in the know on just what lead to Cat’s demise and “Phase 3”, but I suspect two possibilities: (1) MANY Top-40 listeners were FURIOUS about the very limited run of “Super Q” and simply abandoned the station regardless of its altruistic qualities. I can’t imagine hordes of enthusiastic female teens turning on to Cat’s ‘KRQ either. (2) WEBN—plain and simple—an illusive nut to crack. 102.7 was more of a pioneer than was ‘KRQ and had a very unique local ownership perspective and flavorful nearly self-deprecating presentation that fit the attitude of their pop-culture audience well.
RATCISDJ94 said:
Unless my memory is shooting craps, I believe they broadcast in SQ matrix quad... But I never had a 4-channel system so I couldn’t hear it.
Here's one of those chicken or egg concepts. Does music/selection make the station (in general) or the other way around.
Personally, I think there was so much true variety in those days with regard to music. It seems to me that it would be impossible to recreate that "Q" feeling or concept if we were wanting to hear it again in todays radio environment given the lack of good music available today.
Just my opinion but when Don McClean talked about the day the music died there was a lot of wisdom there. To a large degree music, in my opinion, for the most part died with regard to real music by real people with any imbedded emotions.
Agree? Disagree?
Personally, I think there was so much true variety in those days with regard to music. It seems to me that it would be impossible to recreate that "Q" feeling or concept if we were wanting to hear it again in todays radio environment given the lack of good music available today.
Just my opinion but when Don McClean talked about the day the music died there was a lot of wisdom there. To a large degree music, in my opinion, for the most part died with regard to real music by real people with any imbedded emotions.
Agree? Disagree?
1. Bill Todd (Johnny Williams, Cat Simon) passed away in 1007.
2. Chris Bailey is NOT dead as reported earlier somewhere in this site. He is a friend of mine and we chatted on the phone twice recently.
3. Chris was fired at Q because - he says - his #1 ratings killed the ratings of the company's AM sister.
Have a great '08!
2. Chris Bailey is NOT dead as reported earlier somewhere in this site. He is a friend of mine and we chatted on the phone twice recently.
3. Chris was fired at Q because - he says - his #1 ratings killed the ratings of the company's AM sister.
Have a great '08!
I used to listen to Cat Simon when he was Johnny Williams on WRKO. Smooth delivery, clever content, and he loved to give "commentary" under commercials...really funny stuff (I'm sure the GM disagreed).
The few tapes I've heard of KRQ during his era sounded very similar to the Scotty Brink-era WRKO, when they had added a fair amount of album tracks along with the hits to counter the FM competition they were facing from progressive WBCN and Fairbanks' clone of WNAP, Framingham's WVBF (itself a Top-40/AOR hybrid that was some of Bill Todd's motivation, I'm sure). This was some of my personal all-time favorite music radio.
The few tapes I've heard of KRQ during his era sounded very similar to the Scotty Brink-era WRKO, when they had added a fair amount of album tracks along with the hits to counter the FM competition they were facing from progressive WBCN and Fairbanks' clone of WNAP, Framingham's WVBF (itself a Top-40/AOR hybrid that was some of Bill Todd's motivation, I'm sure). This was some of my personal all-time favorite music radio.
Amazing that with all of the on-target memories here, no one has mentioned the awful "Quad" experiment from the "Your Friends At The Wireless" days at KRQ. There wasn't a radio in town that could successfully decode THAT!
JCR had the evolution right. Don't forget Bruce Ryan in the morning with his wife, Carol McCormick doing the news. The only guy to not make the transition from 'KRQ tio Q102 was Dan Lundy, who as music director, just couldn't go that far toward Pop. He ended up at WEBN for a while after leaving the Q.
Jim Fox was overnights and when Lundy left, they hired Mark Elliott and ox became the music director.
Footnote on Fox: "They Only Come Out At Night" by Edgar Winter was a stiff album until Fox started playing "Frankenstein" overnights on WIFE in Indy. The audience LOVED it, made it number one on their request sheet and he talked to the Columbia record guy who talked the label into releasing it as a single. They hacked up some cheesy edit but Fox said, "No, you have to play the whole thing." They reissued the whole single, the album took off and they re-released "Hangin Around" and "Free Ride" and they both hit this time. Fox has a personal gold record for the effort.
Any comment on a radio guy trying to talk a record company into something like that today?
JCR had the evolution right. Don't forget Bruce Ryan in the morning with his wife, Carol McCormick doing the news. The only guy to not make the transition from 'KRQ tio Q102 was Dan Lundy, who as music director, just couldn't go that far toward Pop. He ended up at WEBN for a while after leaving the Q.
Jim Fox was overnights and when Lundy left, they hired Mark Elliott and ox became the music director.
Footnote on Fox: "They Only Come Out At Night" by Edgar Winter was a stiff album until Fox started playing "Frankenstein" overnights on WIFE in Indy. The audience LOVED it, made it number one on their request sheet and he talked to the Columbia record guy who talked the label into releasing it as a single. They hacked up some cheesy edit but Fox said, "No, you have to play the whole thing." They reissued the whole single, the album took off and they re-released "Hangin Around" and "Free Ride" and they both hit this time. Fox has a personal gold record for the effort.
Any comment on a radio guy trying to talk a record company into something like that today?
Arbitorn said:
...And do you recall the music Chris Bailey chose to use in the Super-Q TOH ID during automated hours after midnight? AT THAT SAME TIME [before “Frankenstein” charted], the descending synth played by Edgar Winter in that song at 3:16 served as ambience to WKRQ’s legal ID when it was on the former WKRC-FM reel-to-reel automation system overnights.
I guess Super-Q was playing that cut also... sort-of!
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