Post by Jonel on May 21, 2002 20:53:50 GMT -5
Golden age of Detroit radio still spins at reelradio.com
By Susan Whitall / The Detroit News
Longtime Detroiters lamenting the decline of commercial radio inevitably talk about the way it used to be. Was it really that good? You don't have to take it on faith anymore thanks to reelradio.com, an "authentic aircheck museum of Top 40 radio."
Reelradio posts airchecks online of disc jockeys from the golden age of Top 40, so you can hear through your computer the voice of Alan Freed on WJW in Cleveland in 1954, the Real Don Steele from Los Angeles and of course Detroit/ Windsor greats of the 1960s like Dave "Sangoo" Prince, Lee "the Horn" Alan and Scott Regen.
The site concentrates on Top 40, so Detroit's R&B greats like "Frantic" Ernie Durham aren't included, but it proves how even the most commercial of radio forms -- Top 40 AM radio -- were looser and more free-form than anything going today.
Dave "Sangoo" Prince can be heard on WKMH (1300, the predecessor to WKNR) in 1962 singing, throwing his trash can for effect, crooning his nickname and performing the kind of lively show that was intended for a teen-aged, drive-in audience. After he decamped to WXYZ (1270) and lost the rights to his "Sangoo" name, Prince went on to host Club 1270 on TV.
There are plenty of WKNR airchecks, including Regen, Green, Gary Stevens and Paul Cannon, because Green, who doubled as program director, contributed tapes from his collection. Most remarkable is the variety of music played and the fairly wide-open formats.
To today's ears, after the deregulation of the '90s and national control of playlists, even the slick, high energy CKLW format sounds quaint and free-form.
The pre-CKLW stuff is even looser. In a Dave Shafer aircheck from 1962, he plays a whole set of songs that didn't come close to being hits, including a pre-Temptations David Ruffin record.
An aircheck of K.O. Bailey's 1969 show on WJBK (1500 -- "Radio 15!") proves that Detroit Top 40 combined R&B and pop with reckless abandon. In between Stroh's ads (with the factory whistle and the man sighing "Time to pick up a six pack of Stroh's"), the basso-voiced "your sweet" K.O. played a 20-minute set you'd hear only in Detroit: Jerry Butler, Savoy Brown, Gladys Knight, Johnny Rivers, the Temptations and Cream.
The strangest clip has to be an aircheck from a lesser-known CKLW (800) name, Chuck McKay. McKay goes on an inexplicable, spacey rant and, as he predicts, gets himself fired on the overnight shift one feverish night in 1975.
Reelradio.com, a nonprofit organization, posts new airchecks every week and is funded by donations from listeners.
You can reach Susan Whitall at (313) 222-2156 or swhitall@ detnews.com.
detnews.com/2002/entertainment/0203/11/d01-436234.htm
By Susan Whitall / The Detroit News
Longtime Detroiters lamenting the decline of commercial radio inevitably talk about the way it used to be. Was it really that good? You don't have to take it on faith anymore thanks to reelradio.com, an "authentic aircheck museum of Top 40 radio."
Reelradio posts airchecks online of disc jockeys from the golden age of Top 40, so you can hear through your computer the voice of Alan Freed on WJW in Cleveland in 1954, the Real Don Steele from Los Angeles and of course Detroit/ Windsor greats of the 1960s like Dave "Sangoo" Prince, Lee "the Horn" Alan and Scott Regen.
The site concentrates on Top 40, so Detroit's R&B greats like "Frantic" Ernie Durham aren't included, but it proves how even the most commercial of radio forms -- Top 40 AM radio -- were looser and more free-form than anything going today.
Dave "Sangoo" Prince can be heard on WKMH (1300, the predecessor to WKNR) in 1962 singing, throwing his trash can for effect, crooning his nickname and performing the kind of lively show that was intended for a teen-aged, drive-in audience. After he decamped to WXYZ (1270) and lost the rights to his "Sangoo" name, Prince went on to host Club 1270 on TV.
There are plenty of WKNR airchecks, including Regen, Green, Gary Stevens and Paul Cannon, because Green, who doubled as program director, contributed tapes from his collection. Most remarkable is the variety of music played and the fairly wide-open formats.
To today's ears, after the deregulation of the '90s and national control of playlists, even the slick, high energy CKLW format sounds quaint and free-form.
The pre-CKLW stuff is even looser. In a Dave Shafer aircheck from 1962, he plays a whole set of songs that didn't come close to being hits, including a pre-Temptations David Ruffin record.
An aircheck of K.O. Bailey's 1969 show on WJBK (1500 -- "Radio 15!") proves that Detroit Top 40 combined R&B and pop with reckless abandon. In between Stroh's ads (with the factory whistle and the man sighing "Time to pick up a six pack of Stroh's"), the basso-voiced "your sweet" K.O. played a 20-minute set you'd hear only in Detroit: Jerry Butler, Savoy Brown, Gladys Knight, Johnny Rivers, the Temptations and Cream.
The strangest clip has to be an aircheck from a lesser-known CKLW (800) name, Chuck McKay. McKay goes on an inexplicable, spacey rant and, as he predicts, gets himself fired on the overnight shift one feverish night in 1975.
Reelradio.com, a nonprofit organization, posts new airchecks every week and is funded by donations from listeners.
You can reach Susan Whitall at (313) 222-2156 or swhitall@ detnews.com.
detnews.com/2002/entertainment/0203/11/d01-436234.htm
