(Feel free to add your own caption.) A few random thoughts as we close out 2018: The year-end retrospectives have begun from mass media, and social media is no different. My various feeds are inundated with looks-back, best-ofs, and various videos. I'm not sharing any of them. Here's why: -I'm afraid that my Instagram "top … Continue reading Fast away the old year passes: Barry Manilow, “It’s Just Another New Year’s Eve” (1977)
Month: December 2018
40 Christmases ago in Chicago: The WLS Top Forty-Fives, December 23, 1978
(Above: Clearly, someone was keeping score at home.) Christmas 1978 would have placed me in the fifth grade at Helen Keller Elementary School in Tinley Park, Illinois. The upcoming year would see me start to pretend that I was on a radio station for a class assignment; this career aptitude (or ineptitude) would not be … Continue reading 40 Christmases ago in Chicago: The WLS Top Forty-Fives, December 23, 1978
Christmastime at the Voice of Labor: WCFL’s All Hit Music Chart, December 23, 1972
It occurred to me that we've never looked at a WCFL chart on this site, and it's high time we fix that. Let's travel back 46 years to the day before Christmas, 1972. What's big in the Windy City? 40. Joni Mitchell - "You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio." Back in 1991 when WYTZ/Chicago … Continue reading Christmastime at the Voice of Labor: WCFL’s All Hit Music Chart, December 23, 1972
Rest in peace, Galt McDermot: Oliver, “Good Morning Starshine” (1969)
(Above: My parents had the LP. I have the 8-track.) Composer Galt McDermot passed away today, one day short of his 90th birthday. McDermot was responsible for setting the words of James Radio and Gerome Ragni to music for inclusion in a stage show the two had written - Hair: The American Tribal Love Rock … Continue reading Rest in peace, Galt McDermot: Oliver, “Good Morning Starshine” (1969)
Rest in peace, Joe Osborn: The Association, “Windy” (1967)
(Above: Trust me, you have heard this man at work.) In many walks of life there are those that receive the credit, the adulation, and the recognition while a lot of the actual heavy lifting is done by others. Rock and roll is no exception. Yesterday I got word that bass player Joe Osborn passed … Continue reading Rest in peace, Joe Osborn: The Association, “Windy” (1967)
School’s out for winter: The Billboard Hot 100 for December 15, 1984 (and what we probably listened to instead)
(Above: I was clearly enjoying my junior year of high school and in no hurry to go on break.) Friday, December 14, 1984 was the last day of school before the Christmas break began. If I remember correctly, we got out early from school that day, and a bunch of us went to Dave-we-called-Fritz's house, … Continue reading School’s out for winter: The Billboard Hot 100 for December 15, 1984 (and what we probably listened to instead)
Elvis comes back: “If I Can Dream” (1968)
The most-watched television show of the 1968-1969 television season aired fifty years ago tonight. Singer Presents... Elvis was assembled from performance footage that had been taped earlier that summer, edited down to a 50-minute special, and aired on NBC. It gathered 42 per cent of the television audience on December 3, 1968. Perhaps more importantly, … Continue reading Elvis comes back: “If I Can Dream” (1968)
Bedrock and roll: The Beau Brummels, “Laugh Laugh” (1965)
(Above: Hitting the prehistoric big time.) Back in the day when we had a broadcasting major at GVSU, we had a course called "Life on Television." (Remind me to bring one or both of those things back one of these days.) In the end days of the course, I evolved it into a television history … Continue reading Bedrock and roll: The Beau Brummels, “Laugh Laugh” (1965)
45 Ruminations Per Megabyte 