Retro said:
I remember that...
Also WHTT played the 12" extended version of Never Ending Story, which was much better IMO (The single version faded in at the beginning, not much of an intro at all and also the extended version had a much better mix)
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Top 40 Radio Back in the Day, circa 1985
- Thread starter Retro
- Start date
I remember that...
Also WHTT played the 12" extended version of Never Ending Story, which was much better IMO (The single version faded in at the beginning, not much of an intro at all and also the extended version had a much better mix)
H
hothitsdx
Guest
http://qantum.zftp.com/airchecks/WKKT-Lee%20Gillette%201985.mp3"]As promised here is an aircheck of WKKT in 1985 featuring the late Lee Gillette (WGCL-Cleveland, WHTT-Boston)
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hothitsdx
Guest
Oops try this link again:
WKKT-Lee Gillette
Very little production.
Lots of segues
Lots of recurrents and even 60s gold
Lee Gillette had one of the deepest voices of all time.
WKKT-Lee Gillette
Very little production.
Lots of segues
Lots of recurrents and even 60s gold
Lee Gillette had one of the deepest voices of all time.
hothitsdx said:
Never quite understood what WKKT was trying to do. There were already 3 high-energy CHRs in town, and here they were cold-segueing 4 in a row and had an almost AOR-ish presentation. IIRC they didn't last long before going classic rock (with some oldies thrown in, I recall hearing a fair amount of Motown) as WZLX.
Oldbones said:
There was no full-power FM oldies station in Boston when 100.7 flipped to WZLX, so they were going for a combination of both the "hipper" oldies and classic rock audience at their start.
There was Greater Media's 1150 WMEX playing oldies at that time, but that was a 5kW AM with a very retro '60s AM sounding presentation (emulating the original WMEX), and still included '50s and early '60s oldies in their format. WZLX focused on music from at least a few years later.
Remember WZLX's original slogan was "Classic Hits 100.7" (not classic rock), and they briefly had liners that said "Music of the 'Big Chill' generation", referring to the then very popular '60s nostalgia movie "The Big Chill", which featured both classic rock and soul (Motown) hits.
By when WODS came on as Boston's full-power FM oldies station in 1987, WZLX dropped the last of their pop and soul oldies from their format and went straight Classic Rock.
Retro said:
For WZLX's first couple of years in 1985-1987, there were also number of popular Motown and other late '60s/early '70s R&B hits in their rotation. Marvin Gaye's version of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" was played frequently due to its brief resurgence of popularity from its use in "The Big Chill" movie.
I still have a cassette tape of a "guest DJ hour" I did there (with Bill Smith) in early 1987, where "What You See Is What You Get" by The Dramatics came up on the playlist, an R&B hit from 1972.
Buffalo Springfield was hardly a one-hit wonder....
They had lots of great songs!
They had lots of great songs!
WLYNgm said:
They sure did, and I play many of them often on my show on WMBR... However, only one of their songs, "For What It's Worth", made the Billboard Top 40 (top ten - #7 - March, 1967) and that's the only one still played on commercial classic rock/hits/oldies stations.
They had four other songs in the Top 100, but even those are no longer played on commercial radio. Those songs and many of their album tracks used to be played on AOR stations, but that was decades ago.
So, unfortunately, to people who have been listening to only commercial radio for the past 30 years or so, Buffalo Springfield are a "one-hit wonder", as are many other bands and artists who may have had a number of great albums, but only one hit that managed to filter in to today's narrow playlists.
Retro said:
Well, some of the members certainly went on to have more hits... Neil Young and Stephen Stills went on to many hits with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and lucrative solo careers. Neil is still as big as ever, selling out arenas... Jim Messina had a few Top 40 hits in the '70s with Kenny Loggins (Loggins & Messina) that are still played on oldies stations... Richie Furay's country-rock band Poco (also with Messina) never quite cracked the Top 40, but got a lot of AOR airplay in the early '70s, and he still plays around occasionally...
Then maybe you need a new catEgory... 
Runrigger said:
You're right, but the founding members from Buffalo Springfield, Richie Furay and Jim Messina, had left Poco by then. It was a different band except for one other original member. The early '70s lineup with Furay and Messina never cracked the Top 40 (though they had a few in the Top 100 and got some album airplay).
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