For two short spurts, hours apart, I was listening to Classic Rock on WNCX. Both times, I heard Northeastern Ohio-centric tunes. First was "Funk 49" by The James Gang. who formed in Cleveland in 1966, and then "Midwest Midnight" by The Michael Stanley Band.
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The local touch
- Thread starter johnbasalla
- Start date
Good tunes! I never realized Michael Stanley Band was from Cleveland. Joe Walsh have a part on the Drew Carry show where they turned him down for their garage band. LOL.
Not only was Michael Stanley/The Michael Stanley Band (MSB)from Cleveland, they, easily, sold out very large venues, the size of Cleveland Stadium where the Cleveland Browns and Indians played in Northeast Ohio. Tracks from their LPs and single releases were played on local radio with the urgency and heavy rotation of other big-name stars. There is an interview out there with one of his album producers. He relates how hard he tried to break the Michael Stanley Band nationally, like Bob Seger from Detroit was able to do. MSB's final major label album was "You Can't Fight Fashion" in 1983. Their next album was self-released, and cleverly, but cryptically, entitled "Fourth and Ten" in 1984.
I don't know who's calling the shots since Bill Louis left but they have greater music variety than competitors and I am listening more to them despite the long commercial breaks and the often sterile presentation of the day. I listen less to the similiar sirius xm channels as they are sounding more like easy listening than rock, except for the underground garage. Long live Kid Leo!
I support over-the-air broadcasting which is one of the reasons I don't have sirius xm or any other pay services.
There was one song by Michael Stanley that did get some national airplay [or maybe just regional]. Early 80s around Thanksgiving a friend and I decided on a whim to go on a road trip to Hampton, VA. area to visit some of his relatives. Since I was "on the beach" at that time I kept dialing around radio stations on the way and several times heard a Michael Stanley song being played [I think it was "He Can't Love You"] on a number of stations. I was jotting down station call letters and hoped to send off some tapes in an attempt to get hired. Nothing came of it except losing some money on postage stamps.
I believe the WV turnpike was under construction then and pretty scary to drive. Orange barrels, no guardrails and basically inches from looking over the edge of a mountain to a drop of several hundred miles [at least that's what it looked like to me, a flat earther from Florida who got nosebleeds climbing to the top of a sand dune] Since we had a CB [remember them?] in the car and were looking for directions some nice semi driver took pity on us said to follow him-told us what he was driving-and got us through that mess and told us what roads to take to get where we were going. I can't remember the trucking firms name.
I believe the WV turnpike was under construction then and pretty scary to drive. Orange barrels, no guardrails and basically inches from looking over the edge of a mountain to a drop of several hundred miles [at least that's what it looked like to me, a flat earther from Florida who got nosebleeds climbing to the top of a sand dune] Since we had a CB [remember them?] in the car and were looking for directions some nice semi driver took pity on us said to follow him-told us what he was driving-and got us through that mess and told us what roads to take to get where we were going. I can't remember the trucking firms name.
"He Can't Love You" was the MSB band's first, and biggest, Billboard "Hot 100" hit making it onto the charts in late 1980. It, eventually, peaked at #33. Their other Top 40 hit, "My Town", squeaked in at #39 in 1983. MSB had a total of 7 hits on the Billboard "Hot 100" between 1980 and 1983. All of them were on EMI America Records (subsidiary of Capitol Records) which is too bad considering the quality of their music recorded for Columbia and then Arista Records in the 1970s. His earliest records were one album on ABC (1969), one on Tumbleweed Records (1973) and one on MCA Records in 1973 that may have been on Tumbleweed first. Also of note, Michael Stanley continued to consistently record new albums/CDs right up to his passing. He spent a long time as the afternoon drive DJ on WNCX.
Yeah, knew he was at WNCX. I wasn't a "fanatic" of his music, like everything I thought some were good, others "meh". I guess maybe you had to grow up with his stuff from the beginning, I don't think I ever heard anything by him till I was in high school in the early 70s. I was the "weird kid" that liked the 50s and 60s music.
VintageMac
Banned
Also, the song "Lover" was one of their better known hits which didn't chart as high as others but was/is a local favorite.
I was not a big fan of his music for some reason. Not sure why.
When he was DJing at WNCX, my buddy and I saw him doing a remote broadcast at Shooters. He was just sitting there smoking a cigarette and reading a book while the music was playing, not making any attempt to interact with the patrons. That seemed kind of odd.
When he was DJing at WNCX, my buddy and I saw him doing a remote broadcast at Shooters. He was just sitting there smoking a cigarette and reading a book while the music was playing, not making any attempt to interact with the patrons. That seemed kind of odd.
Michael was a talented musician and a great asset to the Cleveland music scene. But, to me anyway, his deejaying on WNCX seemed to be just a way for him to have some steady money coming in. His on-air breaks always seemed like mechanical throwaways.
Working at NCX paid the bills - he clocked in, did what he had to do, clocked out, and went home.
He always thought of himself as a musician first and foremost, and that's where his energy went.
His niche was no frills, blue collar, Springsteen-style heartland rock...you're either into it or you're not
He was there because it was his job to be there. He arrived, clocked in, fulfilled the obligation, passed the time, clocked out, and went home.
NCX paid the bills, but what got his juices flowing was his music.
True. It made me wonder if some or all of his time slot was voice tracked.
Having a Cleveland Rock music legend on during either one of the drive-times was a "feather-in-the-cap" for WNCX. Even with him not doing much with his on-air shift, he could still see success thanks to his name.
"Lover" actually gets played on WAKR, along with "He Can't Love You" and "My Town." Those songs have become even more popular since Michael's family.
Since Michael’s family what?
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