First All Oldies Station - Drake Automated Formats
Jim Burgan
> would have an oldie at the top of the hour coming out of the news as
> far back as the late 50s. They were called KFWB Flashbacks.
Many stations at which I worked in the early to mid 70's had "Solid
Gold Weekends", featuring "every-other-song solid gold all weekend
long!". I distinctly remember WLS and WCFL both with Solid Gold
Weekends, as well as WIFE in Indianapolis.
The first all oldies station I remember was Indy's WFBQ (today's home
of Bob & Tom). In the late 60's and early 70's they were automated
with Drake/Chenault's Solid Gold (I believe) as was WDIZ-FM Orlando.
David Mark wrote:
> Hit Parade 69 (and its other years) had some oldies, but featured current
> hits.
> Solid Gold was Drake's oldies format for automation. We ran Hit Parade
> from 6am-6pm and Solid Gold 6pm-6am at WGCL in Cleveland in 1970.
That's right ... The Hit Parade format was strictly MOR (a blend of
contemporary soft rock and oldies) and was a pretty good indication of
what Soft AC would become in later years. Solid Gold was THE Drake
Oldies format.
I remember loading those four reel machines and two IGM carousels. It
always came out of a stop set playing reel #4 because each song was
preceded by a jingle and they had at least six second nitrous for the
time-announce unit to play. Does anyone know who voiced the
nitrous/buckles on the Drake/Tenant formats? It was the same voice on
both Solid Gold and Hit Parade. I have some rather interesting
jingles from the Johnny Mann Singers (I believe) who sang the Hit
Parade and Solid Gold jingles. On one of them, the singers sing "$hit
Parade" ... pretty funny stuff.
John Pratt
> The Hit Parade format was strictly MOR (a blend of
> contemporary soft rock and oldies) and was a pretty good indication of
> what Soft AC would become in later years.
Here's one song that the Hit Parade format played that no one else
touched in Mpls/St. Paul: "I Still Believe In Tomorrow" by John & Anne
Ryder. A great, hopelessly oscure record.
Hit Parade came to town in August '69 with the sign-on of Malrite's
KEEY-FM. As a student at the University of Minnesota at the time, I
was surprised by the number of fellow students who'd split their
listening time between KEEY and "underground" KQRS. Granted, they WERE
both FMs, but still ... strange bedfellows, indeed.
As the year drew to a close, I wondered how the "Hit Parade '69"
jingle would resurface. Never liked the '70 version, but in hindsight,
it was probably as good as it was going to be.
> I have some rather interesting
> jingles from the Johnny Mann Singers (I believe) who sang the Hit
> Parade and Solid Gold jingles. On one of them, the singers sing "$hit
> Parade"
Maybe if they'd gone with those, the format would still be alive today! ;)
-John Pratt
David Mark
> Here's one song that the Hit Parade format played that no one else
> touched in Mpls/St. Paul: "I Still Believe In Tomorrow" by John & Anne
> Ryder. A great, hopelessly oscure record.
"And I still believe in tomorrow,
though my life seems nothing today
I will live again without sorrow
if you'll just come back to stay..."
That was a good one. IIRC, the Ryders were brother and sister.
There was a song out of England in 1973 called, "Don't Stay Away Too
Long" that had the same melody as Bobby Vinton's "Melody of Love." In
fact, they were in the same key at the same tempo, and I remember playing
around by cutting back and forth between them. I can't remember the
group that recorded the song. I want to say Peters & Lee of "Welcome
Home" fame, but I'm not sure. Anybody have the answer out there?
DAVID MARK
When You Need A Voice, You Need David Mark...A Sound Investment
John Pratt
>> "I Still Believe In Tomorrow" by John & Ann Ryder.
> That was a good one. IIRC, the Ryders were brother and sister.
The liner notes on their "ISBIT" LP on Decca state that their turning
point came "when they abandoned their solo careers and married. They
haven't looked back."
Perhaps they should have; it's a horrible album. Glad I only paid 77
cents for a cutout copy. Found a cutout stereo 45 later of the
song. You can never have too much (or too many) of a good thing!
(If they were also brother and sister, their "Jerry Lee Lewis" bit
cost them THEIR carreer, too.) :)
> There was a song out of England in 1973 called, "Don't Stay Away Too
> Long" that had the same melody as Bobby Vinton's "Melody of Love." In
> fact, they were in the same key at the same tempo, and I remember playing
> around by cutting back and forth between them. I can't remember the
> group that recorded the song. I want to say Peters & Lee of "Welcome
> Home" fame, but I'm not sure.
It was indeed Peters And Lee (Philips 40732.) I recall upon hearing
the Vinton song for the first time, "look what he's done with their
song, ma!"
"Welcome Home" was a favorite of mine. (Whichever one of Peters & Lee
was the guy, he died some years ago of a heart attack.) The "Hit
Parade" format had vanished from the Twin Cities by about 1971, so
we'd get our fill of the MOR goodies overnights on WLW. I can't
remember the jock's name -- was it Nick something-or-other?
I've been rummaging through my collection for a few years in order to
do some CD compilations of the songs that had been hits on - and ONLY
on - the college radio station at the University of Minnesota. We
played a heckuva lot of MOR in the early '70s for a college
station. Many no-names got airplay, like Renee Armand, Cheryl Dilcher,
Gary And Dave (oops! They actually charted), and Dennis Lambert.
What was a revelation to my 1999 ears was:
1) That hearing loss makes clicks and pops go away faster than the
speediest click reduction program.
2) How very *MOR* this MOR stuff sounded! It didn't strike me as a
"dated" sound as much as it struck me that it was a kind of music that
had not been made for a long time.
It's fun to rediscover it all over again. Your mention of "Welcome
Home" led me to pop it on the turntable for the first time in
years. And I can listen to this MOR now without that whole peer group
thing that made listening to even The Raspberries uncool to the hip
masses back then.
Can anyone else come up with more of the "Hit Parade" titles?
-John Pratt