End of Night Shift Music

[jabba17]

Here's a fun topic for the weekend:

Back in the 1980s, my alarm went off at about 5:45 AM, tuned to 96 Rock. I always noticed that the last song played before Mark McCain's Wake Up Crew came in at 6 was often something unusual. These unusual songs all seem to fit in one of the following categories:

--Long songs, such as "Free Bird", "Layla" (which, oddly, wasn't in rotation on WKLS at the time), "Blinded By The Light", "Hey Jude", or "Love Is Like Oxygen" (which could also fit in the second category, which is...)
--Songs that weren't part of the usual playlist, like "Body Talk" by Kix or "Telephone Operator" by Pete Shelley
--Novelty songs, such as "Shaving Cream" by Benny Bell or "There Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" by Napoleon XIII

I assume the long song was to cover the shift change and perhaps a bio break. And I assume the unusual song was probably to satisfy some indie. And the novelty songs were just for fun.

Any comments?

 

[grmf]

I think you're on the right track with shift change. Back in the record days there was a lot more going on and you had to start every song.

The extra time for staff switch makes a lot of sense.

 

[BIGSTICK]

Here's a fun topic for the weekend:

Back in the 1980s, my alarm went off at about 5:45 AM, tuned to 96 Rock. I always noticed that the last song played before Mark McCain's Wake Up Crew came in at 6 was often something unusual. These unusual songs all seem to fit in one of the following categories:

--Long songs, such as "Free Bird", "Layla" (which, oddly, wasn't in rotation on WKLS at the time), "Blinded By The Light", "Hey Jude", or "Love Is Like Oxygen" (which could also fit in the second category, which is...)
--Songs that weren't part of the usual playlist, like "Body Talk" by Kix or "Telephone Operator" by Pete Shelley
--Novelty songs, such as "Shaving Cream" by Benny Bell or "There Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" by Napoleon XIII

I assume the long song was to cover the shift change and perhaps a bio break. And I assume the unusual song was probably to satisfy some indie. And the novelty songs were just for fun.

Any comments?

I long for the good ole days........

 

[CompleteGame]

Particularly when the morning guy had a list of 23 things you needed to do for him before he strolled in at 6:07 ;D

 

[X-14]

And don't forget the album cuts to cover bathroom breaks and smoke breaks "in the good old days" (uh, yeah, the days of turntables breaking, botched open-reel splices, jammed 4-track commercial carts...). I worked many years at a Big Band station and my bathroom-break cover song was often "Sing, Sing, Sing" (either version; Krupa or Goodman).

 

[littlejohn]

4 track commercial carts? Who made them? I've never seen one. (Seen 4 track home music, but it was quickly replaced by 8 - tracks)

 

[IndigoCoyote]

Other end of the country from you guys, but I knew it was about 454am on a Saturday morning, without fail for many months, when I heard Supertramp's "Take the Long Way Home" on our AOR formatted KZOK. And I knew it was 500am when they played their long TOH legal ID that included all of their translators. Then it was Led Zep's "Kashmir" Great way to tie up about 14 minutes for signing logs, putting away records, etc. Every Saturday morning for all spring and summer 1980.

 

[DToTheJ]

Then, there's the eclectic mix of bits and things that aired on K-Rock between 5:45 AM and 6 AM before the Howard Stern show started...