(Congrats on that High School Hall of Fame induction, BCHS!)

Back in the early 1990s I worked at 97X, legally known as WXLP-FM in Davenport, Iowa. The station was safely tucked away in the former funeral home we called the Rock and Roll Mansion. WXLP had a sister station, KSTT, that was a legendary Top 40 AM in its day. One night, with too little to do, I browsed through a pile of old station memorabilia and came upon a pile of old playlists. Ironically, this was almost exactly 25 years before I’d defend a doctoral dissertation based on the analysis of these things. I thought “huh, cool,” found the one with the date closest to the day I was born, left the rest, and took it to my desk to hang up. A few months later, when I left the station, I took the survey with me among my personal effects. It’s the only KSTT survey that I have, and I really wish I’d have just grabbed the whole pile. WXLP/KSTT was sold a few times since then, and modern radio operators tend to have little if any interest in the histories of their stations. (After I defended, I reached out to the station manager of Townsquare Media in Davenport to ask if the surveys still existed. I wanted to get copies for further research. My e-mails and voice mails were unreturned.)

So, I’ve got one piece of the station’s history, and it turns 50 years old today. Let’s see what was big in the Quint Cities (East Moline used to fare better, I guess)….

At the top – it’s “Galveston“ from Glen Campbell, which moves up seven places from #8 last week.

2. “Traces” – The Classics IV (2 last week)

3. “The Letter” – The Arbors (5)

4. “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” – Blood, Sweat and Tears (18)

5. “Time of the Season” – The Zombies (3)

6. “Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon” – Paul Revere & the Raiders (4)

7. “Proud Mary” – Creedence Clearwater Revival (1)

8. “This Girl’s In Love With You” – Dionne Warwick (6)

9. “Aquarius/Sunshine” – The 5th Dimension (21)

10. “Mendocino” – Sir Douglas Quintet (14)

11. “Dizzy” – Tommy Roe (9)

12. “Games People Play” – Joe South (10)

13. “No Not Much” – The Vogues (15)

14. “Tear Drop City” – The Monkees (11)

15. “The Weight/Tracks Of My Tears” – Aretha Franklin (7)

16. “These Are Not My People” – Johnny Rivers (13)

17. “Rock Me” – Steppenwolf (29)

18. “You Gave Me a Mountain” – Frankie Laine (12)

19. “Don’t Give In To Him” – Gary Puckett & the Union Gap (28)

20. “Indian Giver” – 1910 Fruitgum Co. (16)

21. “Don’t Forget About Me” – Dusty Springfield (26)

22. “Build Me Up Buttercup” – The Foundations (19)

23. “Atlantis/To Susan On the West Coast Waiting” – Donovan (20)

24. “Hot Smoke and Sasafrass” – Bubble Puppy (new this week)

25. “Johnny One Time” – Brenda Lee (24)

26. “Brother Love’s Travelin’ Salvation Show” – Neil Diamond (25)

27. “Goodbye Columbus” – The Association (27)

28. “Only the Strong Survive” – Jerry Butler (new this week)

29. “But You Know I Love You” – The First Edition (23)

30. “Back Door Man” – Derek (33)

31. “Lovin’ Things” – The Grass Roots (34)

32. “Crossroads” – Cream (36)

33. “The Way It Used To Be” – Englebert Humperdinck (new this week)

34. “My Whole World Ended” – David Ruffin (37)

35. “Long Green” – Fireballs (39)

36. “Sweet Cherry Wine” – Tommy James & the Shondells (new this week)

37. “Day After Day” – Shango (40)

38. “I’ll Try Something New” – Supremes/Temptations (new)

39. “Playgirl” – Thee Prophets (new)

40. “I Can Hear Music” – Beach Boys (new)

In addition, the list features six “Good Guy Klimbers.” These are likely on the survey next week; since I don’t have next week’s chart, we can only guess.  They are:

“Hair” – The Cowsills

“L.U.V.” – Boyce and Hart – This one won’t make the Billboard 100, so it’s a bit of an “oh, wow” for you to enjoy. There’s just not enough music advocating for 18-year-olds to get the right to vote.

“Hawaii Five-O” – The Ventures

“Blessed Is the Rain” – Brooklyn Bridge

“Idaho/Something’s On Her Mind” – The Four Seasons

“Time Is Tight” – Booker T. and the M.G.’s

Most of these records either have been (or will be) written about on the various weekly “new adds” charts, so I won’t do that here. I do notice that in some ways the KSTT survey seems ahead of the game: note that they’re already tired of “Dizzy” the same week the rest of the country has it at #1. In other cases, they seem to be adding things a little later on the draw, and overall the list is pretty safe. (I’d love to hear Bubble Puppy next to Brenda Lee, though.)

I’m really glad I pulled this chart from the pile. I’m sort of sad that the rest of them were probably carted to a Dumpster by some intern in the early 2000s.