Trivia(l) Question

[KBland]

I don't know the answer to this, but am modestly curious.

It's well remembered by other readers that are also 119 years old that both Wibbage and FIL played "Sooner or Later" by the Grass Roots with the Roots singing the calls over the open. How widespread was that same deal around the country. I don't suppose that was unique to Philly.

 

[amfmsw]

i thought i was the only one who remembered those. i've
the been trying to get my hands on the wibg version for years. i was there 74-76, and scoured the building, but turned up bupkis. i was told it was delivered on a 5" reel @ 15ips, and well, we know what happens to those after it they're carted up.

they were recorded for the major markets, and some were quite awkward, especially with 3 letter calls (WLS), some K calls, or too many syllables (double W's). but it was clever, and gained traction for the song quickly.

the tradewinds did someting similar with 'new york's a lonely town'. cue to the :50 second mark: www.youtube.com/watch?v=USzKI23v1ig BUT, i don't know if the group did this, or a creative jock in the wee hours of the morning with too much time on his hands. a lot of edits were also done on 'we built this city' by starship and sugarloaf's 'don't call us, we'll call you', removing the 'stereo 92'. don cannon said 'we'll play the record, but i'll be damned if i'm gonna promote wifi92 on wibg!', so he had gary brooks tinker with it removing the verse.

 

[hal douglas]

"a lot of edits were also done on ... sugarloaf's 'don't call us, we'll call you', removing the 'stereo 92'. don cannon said 'we'll play the record, but i'll be damned if i'm gonna promote wifi92 on wibg!', so he had gary brooks tinker with it removing the verse."

meanwhile, WIFI92 had a version of the song with "WIFI92" replacing the "stereo 92." I don't know if it was homemade or sent to them that way, but it was in both places in the song -- "...do you remember the All-Night Creature from WIFI92..." and "...now he calls and begs and crawls, it's WIFI92..." I always thought it didn't make sense for the second one to be in there, but I guess an impression is an impression...

 

[OldNumber7]

I don't know the answer to this, but am modestly curious.

It's well remembered by other readers that are also 119 years old that both Wibbage and FIL played "Sooner or Later" by the Grass Roots with the Roots singing the calls over the open. How widespread was that same deal around the country. I don't suppose that was unique to Philly.

I believe these, or something like them, were called "Pop Tops." The station's calls were put into a custom vocalized semi-verse that fit over the intro. They were recorded by sound-alike artists and were pretty popular at Top 40 stations around the country from around 1970-72. Where I grew up (Rochester, NY), I remember the local station using them for "Don't Pull Your Love" by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds and "Draggin' a Line" by Tommy James and several other songs on the charts around the same time in 71.

Of course, customized station lyrics done by the actual artist for a few big stations had been done before then and has been done since. "Fire" by the Pointer Sisters was a good example -- "I'm ridin in your car, you turn on CKLW.."

 

[rtetro]

We had some up at WPTR in Albany back in the 70s. For some reason I remember the opening to Redbone's "Come and Get your Love" being sung as "W-P-T-R, Music 1540."

 

[DToTheJ]

...a lot of edits were also done on 'we built this city' by starship and sugarloaf's 'don't call us, we'll call you', removing the 'stereo 92'...

"I Wanna Be Rich" by Calloway... "Tim McGraw" by Taylor Swift... "Party In The U.S.A." by Miley Cyrus... rinse, lather, repeat...

 

[Big Jay]

Hiya. I KNOW from experience that one person who was a master at doing what he called "MINGLES" was Joey Reynolds. I too remember the WIBG/WFIL war with "Sooner Or Later", but I don't know who actually STARTED the fad of singing call letters over the intro to SOUND like the group. I think Joey MAY have had a hand in the idea originally...or not.
Either way, when I was working for Joey the FIRST time (back in '73-'75-'75) on Eleven-Seven Jersey Shore (WHLW 1170) we had MANY songs with "Eleven-Seven" intros... Many were SO damned good, that I can't hear the songs from that era today without "hearing" the intro with the name of the station in there... One was "Piano Man"...where a guy who sounded like Billy sang, "Play me a song on the radio...Eleven-Seven for shore", then Billy did his part. Another was "The Show Must Go On", where a very close approximation of 3 Dog Night sang, 'Eleven-Seven, New Jersey--The Greatest Shore on Earth...aaaahhhhhh"...then 3 Dog sang, "BABY"....amazing. I still hear it today. Other songs were "Band On The Run", and a host of others. I even had one that a FRIEND sang, sounding like Peter Cetera over the intro of "I've Been Searching So Long"...where just before Cetera sings "As my life goes on I believe," my pal sang "Jay the Joooocccckkkkk" and it WORKED. People STILL refer to that when they contact me about those early to mid '70s days down the Jersey Shore. Amazing. I am surprised stations don't do it NOW...or perhaps they do and I just don't listen to the pablum that is today's CHR. BE BIG!

 

[Starbucks]

No...today the artist intro their names on the of their records. Jason Derulo/ Kat Deluna (horrble product) pretty much started that trend. Which means even less need for disc-jockeys.

 

[L.A. Tarone]

The classic for this kind of thing was "Life Is A Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)" by the studio band Reunion in 1974. Significant stations around the country has "their" versions of it. WFIL's went, "Life is a rock, but FIL rolled me..." We used to get WCFL from Chicago very clearly up here in NEPA, and theirs went, "...but CFL rolled me...," etc. I also remember WIFI-92 having 'its' version of Sugarloaf's "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You." There was a line in it mentioning "stereo 92." On WIFI, that drop-in was accompanied by loud, large reverb. I doubt that was done by the band or label; it was probably done in the production room when the record was carted-up, but it made it unique.