Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

54 - overcast at 10:51am

Good Morning. I've been revisiting progressive rock radio's past.

Listening late last night - and again this morning to airchecks of KCAC/Phoenix - progressive rock in 1971 on a then-500 watt daytimer at 1010 on the dial. Audio found after discovering this great blog. The KCAC "progressive rock" era lasted just a few short years.

On an aircheck of the last hour hour of the station's format - August 14, 1971 (before it disappeared forever), the late Bill Compton had some words about his radio career that I'm just betting others in the industry (and some who have left) can relate to:

"...its been sort of my life - and my enemy and my friend and everything all rolled into one."

"....I've been more involved in it than anything else I've ever done in my life. And at times I've probably hated it more than anything else in my own life, depending on how things were going, etc. Its been something thats really meant a lot of me and something I felt strongly about. I guess thats really the only way describe it."

Compton and most of his staff went on to sign on the legendary KDKB AM & FM a little over a week later. Read more and listen at the KCAC blog here. A story about Compton and KDKB here.

Compton passed away in a 1977 car accident; the Phoenix concert venue "Compton Terrace" named after him.

KDKB signed on at noon August 23, 1971. Station owner - the late Dwight Tindle - quoted as recalling:

"I shut the door to the studio and placed “On The Way Home” on the turntable. I said a little prayer and turned off the ocean sounds. The Buffalo Springfield sang, “When the dream came, I held my breath with my eyes closed. I went insane like a smoke ring ay when the wind blows.” KDKB was born. And I was the luckiest person on the face of the Earth.

Read C. Dwight Tindle's story behind KDKB here. A great read!

There needs to be a blog about the early progressive rock stations...there's got to be a lot of great stories - great audio out there. I wish I had the time. It was a special time for radio, especially FM, music and culture. I found one such blog here (where I first found the above quote from C. Dwight Tindle).

Back to the present tomorrow. Have a great Sunday.

Reminiscing In Denver

Today (6/21) - Denver's AAA KCUV celebrates the first day of summer with a "Summer of Love" special - and they're doing it with not only music - but with a reunion of voices from the early days of Denver free-form underground radio - the 60s and 70s.

Very local and so cool. Listening right now. This is similar to what we wrote about doing here.

On the air is former staff of long-defunct Denver stations KLZ-FM and KFML AM & FM - including Bill Clarke, Max Floyd, Jay Cooper, Thom Trunnell and Bill Ashford.

From the KCUV website:

The Summer Of Love, a tribute to radio pioneers who dared to challenge the radio listener to experience a new vision for rock music on the radio, because in 1967, it truly was…. “About the Music”.

Great stories - great tunes - recreating part of Denver radio's past. Even commercials from that era. Congrats to NRC Broadcasting's KCUV for putting this day together.

Listen online here.

Peace.

Added: Recreating the sound of free-form FM in 1967, KCUV's Summer of Love special lacks all the polished, slick production and execution found on radio today.

With much respect for those involved, I'm not certain I'd do this special the same way; preferring more of a "rock-u-mentry" produced-type approach. That said - what KCUV is doing today is fairly close to what FM was back then.

Live tracks & a rewind weekend

Partly Cloudy/61° at 8:20am

Good Morning.

I wrote yesterday that I did some listening while on the road over the weekend. Caught WDRV/Chicago's "Live Drive" Weekend. Pink Floyd's live version of "Run Like Hell" was the right song at the right time on I-80!

Doing "live track" weekends in the past, its been nice to throw in some surprises. I've got a collection of radio concert broadcasts and pulled individual tracks from it the past (promoted on-air as "live bootlegs"); including gems such as The Police performing "Message In A Bottle" live for the first time.

Add the proper staging and it makes a great classic rock radio experience.

Also listened a bit to the WLS/Chicago "Big 89 Rewind" special; a Top 500 Countdown on WRKR/Kalamazoo - and A to Z on WRCC/Battle Creek.

The WLS/Chicago "Big 89 Rewind" - which was a one-day revisit to its Top 40 past complete with much of its legendary air talent (though missing a few names as Dave Martin pointed out last week) - got me thinking how classic rock radio could pull off something similar.

Imagine bringing together a market's legendary AOR talent together to revisit the past - complete with old airchecks of stations that have come and gone.

In my head I hear the veteran air talent sharing stories of meeting the bands that now make up classic rock; great concerts that took place in the market - and perhaps remembering some great promotions. Disco demolition is one that comes to mind.

Apologies if you're from outside the Windy City - but having grown up there - I could imagine a station bringing together talent from the early days of WXRT, likewise with WLUP; perhaps the Bob Pittman AOR era of WKQX - the long-defunct WDAI, WGLD and WMET.

Perhaps add talent from the soft AOR days of WBBM-FM - or even Saul Smaizys - who had the long running "Triad" prog rock show on brokered WXFM (along with Triad Magazine).

There's so many names that come to mind between all the stations; maybe more than practical - but more than enough to make it work.

If your market has a cool AOR history - what could you do? And when its all over - what could you recycle for future use - either on-air or on your website - to enhance your image as the classic rock station in your market? All just a thought.

Later this week:

Wednesday (5/30) Ozzy Osbourne on ABC-TV's Jimmy Kimmel
Friday (6/1) Lindsey Buckingham on NBC-TV's Conan O'Brien