WAKY as an Oldies Station

[1240WINN]

John Quincy made a commentary about WAKY as an oldies station under the thread about WHAS. I wanted to start a separate thread to discuss the topic.

John was right--there was a lot of depth to the playlist. I remember listening to Leonard Yates on "4th Street" and hearing these "Louisville Hit-- National Bombs". I would then try to locate some of these songs for my own collection. It was quite an education.

An then it was always great to hear a slice of Louisville history and relating the songs to a priod of time, such as when my parents were married or when I started grade school.

It is unfortunate that the oldies stations today, which I listen to on the weekend (a habit from the "4th street" days), do not wish to respect the history of Top 40 in Louisville or be more adventuresome than what the consultants pick for them.

One station recently conducted a listener poll by playing ten second snippets of their existing library. While the intent was commendable, a better question would have been: "Tell us a song (over 20 years old) that you would like to hear that we don't play"

Oldies are more than Elvis, Motown, The Beatles, and the big name artists. When was the last time you heard Carl Perkins or Brenda Lee or Brook Benton played on one of the local oldies stations?

And, no disrespect intended to the Monarchs, there are other local hits beside "Look Homeward Angel". Why can't the local stations work these songs into the rotation?

Since Clear Channel owns both 790 and 1080, wouldn't it be great if they would actually use one of these legendary frequencies to broadcast the history of Top 40 music in Louisville?

Maybe these two websites, along with David Inman's book and a lot of word of mouth, will convince Clear Channel that they are not addressing the public interest.

I'm off my soapbox now.

.

[TRAVELINDAVE2]

I AGREE WITH 1240 WINN,IT WOULD BE NICE. 1530 WSAI IN CINCINNATI DID IT A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO. THE FORMAT WAS CALLED REAL OLDIES. THEY BROUGHT BACK THE ORIGINAL DISC JOCKEY'S, PLAYED MUSIC FROM THE MID 50'S TO MID 60'S. THERE RATINGS AVG. 1.5 OR SO. IT WAS GREAT WHILE IT LASTED,BUT MUSIC ON AM IS ALL BUT DEAD,SO DO IT ON FM! HEY, ACCORDING TO THE CORPRATE GIANTS PEOPLE IN THERE 50'S AND 60'S ARE NOT "ECONOMICALLY VIABLE". THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED TO NOSTALGIA MUSIC WKJK PLAYED ON AM 1080,EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE IN THE TOP 10 OF LOUISVILLE'S MARKET. IT SUCKS!

[Chad]

I couldn't agree more. That is why I loved Joe Donovan's show so much on WHAS. I remember when he started he had one hour of "Odd and Obscure" oldies, when he wrapped up in August 1997 he was playing about two hours worth on every show as that was the kind of music people were requesting. Most were just obscure and not odd.

Radio today just makes me sick with the same 300 song playlist all the time. I always take cd's of music with me. I have many cd's of Louisville Artists and songs that were big around here that I have made and when I play them for people I usually get a "Hey, I haven't heard that in years but I remember they used to play it on the radio quite a bit".

103.5 does sneak in "This Old Heart" by the Monarchs and also some of the Grass Roots hits that were not real big but got played alot in Louisville. Mostly these are heard overnight though. They never play any Bobby Goldsboro, Dickey Lee, or Tommy Roe though it seems and they were all very popular here.

Chad

[RJC]

Not that it has anything to do with the topic at hand, but just a few short years ago(before they went to all sports)790 used to always slip a "WAKY" shout in their station ID, back when they were known as WWKY. I don't know who's idea that was, but it was always neat to hear that "WAKY" shout . They were doing this back in 2000(that's how recent it was).

[RJC]

Sorry for the double post gang.

[Max]

Have you ever noticed 103.5 will announce a 'lost oldie' and proceed to play something they play daily once or twice. I guess their idea of 'lost' means it doesn get played 3 or 4 times a day

[Travis]

Weird Beard's neice delivered some airchecks to John Quincy and he already has a few of them on the site. Talk about music that hasn't been heard in years, check out the airchecks for snippets of such tunes as 1910 Fruitgum Company's 'Indian Giver' and several others. Of course, the greatest hits are also featured.

Also, listen to the difference in volume levels when jingles, records, spots and even Weird's voice alternate on 2 of the airchecks from 1969. These are "off the board" recordings, meaning the tapes were recorded off the output of the control board before going through any audio compression. What a difference.

[RJC]

Max said:

Have you ever noticed 103.5 will announce a 'lost oldie' and proceed to play something they play daily once or twice. I guess their idea of 'lost' means it doesn get played 3 or 4 times a day

Max, it's funny that you'd mention "lost oldies", because WRKA is having a "lost oldies" weekend. It appears that they have lost most of their oldies library , as it seems they cut their playlist in half, during the last month or so. In my opinion a "lost oldie" would be Crackerbox palace by George Harrison(bet all of you have forgotten that song, eh? ;D ) or Way down by Elvis.

[Max]

RJC, you are SO right! The only way I hear those two songs is on my CD's. Or how about Sammy Johns' "Chevy Van" or "Shannon" by Henry Gross? Now the 4 songs we've mentioned are INDEED lost oldies...lost by the radio stations. And by the way, I've been drilling in Louisville this week and had a chance to listen to WRKA. The first two songs? "Sound of Silence" and some Supremes song...both of which are played relentlessly on 103.5! I saw NO reason to stay tuned.

[RJC]

I got Crakerbox Palace and Chevy Van off the net, I couldn't find Way down by Elvis. I hadn't heard Crackerbox Palace in over 30 years, and was searching a file sharing site, and there it was, I had to have it. Sirius sattlite radio is great place to find "lost oldies" as well.

[GilHerbigJr]

Here's another one I'll bet no one remembers, and it was on the same album as Crackerback Palace, and that is "This Song" that George Harrison wrote in response to being sued for when he wrote "My Sweet Lord". Now I'm drawing a blank though on the song he was accused of copying.

[GilHerbigJr]

Ok...It was "He's So Fine" and soon the girl group will come to me...

[bruiser]

GilHerbigJr said:

Ok...It was "He's So Fine" and soon the girl group will come to me...

The Chiffons.


I could come up with hundreds of lost oldies. They're only lost because the stations won't find them.

[Max]

True. True. In fact, I was going to mention "This Song" in my post, but wasn't sure if I had heard that recently on the radio or when I listened to "33 1/3"...so I played it safe.

And RJC, I found "Way Down" on Elvis Presley's "Greatest Jukebox Hits" CD. I believe that was on his last album, "Moody Blue" that my sister has. I've got the "Chevy Van" 45.

At one time, some double sided 45 hits were being manufactured and appeared in places like Musicland, FYI, On Cue, etc. When I used to be on active duty, I wrote down a list of virtually every song I grew up listening to, but never had enough allowance money to buy to a local distributor and he found most of them...talk about a bill, too! So between LP's, CD's, and cassettes I have most every hit I have ever liked.

It's eerie how it's as if my subconcious back in the 80's foresaw that there would come a day when alot of these songs would cease to exist on the airwaves .

[bruiser]

Here's a site that has a lot of lost oldies.

dapatchy.com/oldies/

[bruiser]

Fer those of ya with a hankerin' fer some REAL country oldies, here is the best site I've found:http://recordlady.webgcs.com/main2.htm

[RJC]

Max said:

And RJC, I found "Way Down" on Elvis Presley's "Greatest Jukebox Hits" CD. I believe that was on his last album, "Moody Blue" that my sister has. I've got the "Chevy Van" 45.
.

Everyone loves Hound dog and Jailhouse Rock, but I think Elvis's stuff from the 70's is pure gold. He did a great job of adapting to 70's music, imo, and Way Down is as good as anything out there. That may have been his last hit.

[1240WINN]

And don't forget Burning Love, Promised Land, and Kentucky Rain--all great 70's hits by Elvis.

If I want lost oldies, I go to the basement and pull out the 45's (and a few CDs). The oldies stations today just play it safe and use maybe the top 2 or 3 hits of a lot of artists from the 60's. I like the Supremes and Simon & Garfunkel, too, but there are a lot more things by these folks that the stations could play.

On the other hand, these stations do at least expose the youngsters to the music of that era and, perhaps, will lead them to appreciate some of the same songs we do.

[Max]

Yes, Elvis did have some good music from the 70's, although I thought the 60's was his best era, but Burnin' Love was fantastic and you are correct, RJC, Way Down WAS his last hit. Some of his 70's catalog, I thought, was a little lame, i.e., Don't Cry Daddy, My Boy, and In the Ghetto (written by Mac Davis)(...and his momma cried...) ;D

[bruiser]

I suspect some of Elvis' catalog in the seventies was based on his deteriorating relationship with Priscilla.

[jslone]

For those of you wanting to find "Crackerbox Palace' by George Harrison ya might also find it on the CD i think its called "Best Of George Harrison Dark Horse
Years" Also talking about selections of oldies heck ive heard more Classic Rock Oldies on WQMF & WSFR than
some of the other oldies stations in the reigon. If fact if ya like the late 70's/early 80's oldies the problem is even the oldies stations will play very little of them. That is what i liked about WAKY they played the hard rock as well as the soft rock.

[Max]

Yeah, I have THAT one. It also has This Song and everything else from My Sweet Lord to Got My Mind Set on You. You better buy all you can that's in print, because one day your chance will be gone and there won't be any radio stations to help you...they'll all be on satellite or voice track, like most of them are now.

Incidentally, last night I watched the Bill Bailey film from 1977 where he and Reed did a broadcast from a listener's home. Legendary, indeed!! I'd have loved for them to have come to my house. Between his breakfast at their bar he'd run back to the dining room table to go on the air...then BACK to breakfast! If you have an older RealPlayer, you may need to update like I did.

[jslone]

Im wondering if anyone would have the WAKY soundclips or tapes from August 16th,1977 & December 8th,1980. These were the days that Elvis & John Lennon died

[bruiser]

Incidentally, last night I watched the Bill Bailey film from 1977 where he and Reed did a broadcast from a listener's home. Legendary, indeed!! I'd have loved for them to have come to my house. Between his breakfast at their bar he'd run back to the dining room table to go on the air...then BACK to breakfast! If you have an older RealPlayer, you may need to update like I did.

Max, I've watched that video, and it was a real pleasure to watch a couple of pros at work.