Keener 13

50 years ago today, all seats were 75 cents at Detroit’s suburban theaters for a showing of “Thunderbirds are Go“. The 1966 British science-fiction adventure film was based on the 60’s TV series Thunderbirds,  starring marionette puppets. The plot focused on the futuristic spacecraft Zero-X and its manned mission to Mars. When Zero-X suffers a mechanical failure during re-entry, it is up to International Rescue, with the aid of the Thunderbird machines, to save the astronauts on board before the spacecraft is obliterated in a crash landing.

This January 16th article in the New Yorker features a conversation with Avi Loeb, the chair of Harvard’s astronomy department, who talks about the appearance of an unexplained object, speeding by us in space. Conversations about UFOs have been happening since the humanity first documented science. In America, it was the atomic age that sparked popular interest in the phoenominon.

The earliest known film about aliens was “Aelita“, a Russian made silent in 1924 and edited for American audiences as “Revolt of the Robots”. 1953’s telling of H.G. Wells’ “War of the Worlds”, the first starring role for Gene Barry with Anne Robinson as the love interest gained additional traction when it’s television distribution happened in parallel with the sales boom in color TV sets. Many like it followed, some really good, like Robert Wise’s “The Day The Earth Stood Still” and many more really bad, as noted on this exhaustive Wikipedia list.

During my own college years, we watched “2001 – A Space Odyssey” more than once, sometimes in altered states of consciousness. Later, Stephen Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” & “E.T. The Extraterrestrial” awakened a new generation to the genre. With the launch of the Star Wars franchise, “Space Opera” became a well worn word in the Hollywood lexicon. Continue reading “Today in Keenerland 2/1” →

50 Years Ago Today: Daylight Savings Time was headed for its second defeat in Michigan. With 55 Upper Peninsula Precincts yet to be tallied, the measure was failing by a 500 vote margin. Proponents asked for a recount after the proposal was defeated by 1,501 votes. In 1967, the Michigan Legislature adopted a statute, Act 6 of the Public Acts of 1967, exempting the state from the observance of DST. The exemption statute was submitted to the voters at the General Election held in November 1968, and, in a close vote, the exemption statute was sustained. Michigan did not observe DST from 1969 through 1972. Hence the classic CKLW time checks, “It’s 4:30 in Detroit and 5:30 in Windsor!” In November 1972, an initiative measure, repealing the exemption statute, was approved by voters. Michigan has observed Daylight Time ever since.

Up Front: What makes something go viral? We’ve all been talking about how cold it is up north. Yesterday, my buddy, Fred Jacobs had enough. Some would consider his tweet NSFW, or Not Safe for Work. But it instantly generated a ton of positive engagement. Interestingly, his friends in other southern markets asked him things like, “Can you include us Texas A$$wipes, too?” Fred told me later that the ultimate irony was that he was sitting in a Florida coffee shop when he tweeted it. I was on my treadmill up the way in Jacksonville, laughing out loud.

What constitutes engaging content? Naturally the Twitter Business Unit has some advice. Mining other content (retweet with your own context added to it), using visual assets, hashtags and referencing other Twitter handles are all part of Social Media 101. Social Pilot adds some sauce to the goose by suggesting that you engage influencers and popular brands active on the platform, always including a call to action and sharing a weblink. They also touch on selective use of humor, which is at the center of Fred’s tweet. Best in class companies engage super connector firms like Izea to help them amplify their messaging. Continue reading “Today in Keenerland 1/31” →

50 Years Ago Today, Detroit was feeling the effects of a 1965 German Measles epidemic. Mothers who developed Rubella while pregnant, many without knowing it, leading to an increase in birth defects. 5 years later, the number of children in need of special services due to hearing loss more than doubled in the Motor City. A vaccine was not developed until 1971 when Maurice Hilleman invented the MMR vaccine measles, mumps and rubella in a single shot followed by a booster.

When Talk Radio was truly entertainment. A generation has now grown up listening to the echo chamber of political opinion that passes for “talk radio” these days. But once upon a time, talk radio was enlightening, entertaining and attracted loyal followers in every market where it aired. Joe Pyne, John Nebel, Jean Shepherd, and Jerry Williams were among the first to explore the medium in the 1950s. KMOX, 1120 AM in St. Louis, Missouri, and KABC, 790 AM in Los Angeles— both claim to be the first to adopt an all-talk show format in 1960.

If you grew up in Boston, you stayed up with WBZ’s Larry Glick. In Miami, Larry King‘s act attracted the attention of the Mutual Broadcasting System where his show was broadcast from coast to coast. Many of my generation remember late nights listening to Larry interview the nation’s most notable personalities, interspersed with personal stories (Click the links to hear his classic Carvel Ice Cream and Incorrigibles tales) and inside radio bits that those of us who were chasing broadcasting careers totally understood. Continue reading “Today in Keenerland 1/30” →

50 Years Ago Today: You could buy an RCA 20′ Lowboy console color TV for $359.00  at Highland Appliance. By the 1966-67 season, all three major US networks had converted their prime time schedules to color and a majority of sets sold in ’69 were color. Interestingly, ABC and CBS didn’t convert their daytime broadcasts until later. Wonder what $359 would cost in todays dollars? Roughly $2440.00.

We are getting to the age where more and more of our friends are becoming “bionic”. Conversations among us baby boomers inevitably include organ recitals about what hurts and what we’re doing about it. The FDA’s Scott Gottlieb wrote that “2018 was a record year of approvals of novel medical devices for our agency; supported by new policies, processes and programs we’ve implemented over recent years to help efficiently promote safe and effective innovation in medical device development.” The debate about quantity vs quality is something those of us who have said goodbye to aging parents wrestle with. Many have bodies that are outlasting their cognitive capabilities. With an Alzheimers vaccine inching closer to reality, are our lifespans still increasing?  Isaac Azimov wrote about what the world would be like if we counted our time on this mortal coil in decades instead of years. How long will we live in 2069? Here’s some speculation. Continue reading “Today in Keenerland 1/29” →

50 Years Ago Today, Chrysler announced 32,000 layoffs at 6 of its 8 assembly plants due to slower than anticipated sales. The 1969 model year started off at a brisk sales pace, but dealers reported a 53 days supply of inventory as the calendar year began. Company president Virgil E. Boyd said Chrysler expected to sell as many cars in the 1969 model year as they had in 1968, 8.6 million units.

With a 50th anniversary celebration of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair set for the original upstate New York venue, we thought we’d take a look at two copycat events. One in Indiana was a disaster. Another in Michigan at a place called “Goose Lake” came off without many hitches, but the governor banned future events like it.

Know anyone who is trying to get into college?  The Wall Street Journal Reports that many universities, “are quietly tracking prospective students’ online interaction with the schools…” including how quickly they open email and whether they click links. “Enrollment officers at institutions including Seton Hall University, Quinnipiac University and Dickinson College know down to the second when prospective students opened an email from the school [and] how long they spent reading it.” Continue reading “Today in Keenerland 1/28” →

In the news on January 23, 1969: Ocala, FL (AP) – An itinerant male hairdresser was jailed in Ocala, Florida, after police said he staged an Aretha Franklin show by forcing a penniless Virginia singer to pose on stage as the $20,000 a week soul singer. Lavell Hardy, ’24, of New York was booked into Marion County Jail under $500 bond on false advertising charges after he bought radio ads and plastered Ocala with posters advertising “The Aretha Franklin Review” for Thursday night at hall here. The girl, Vickie James, 26, protective custody. Investigator Martin Stephens said Miss James and Hardy staged a show for 1,000 persons at $5.50 each last Saturday night at the High Hat Club in Fort Myers, the first of nine appearances arranged by Hardy. Prosecutor C. G. Musleh said police were kept by agents for Miss Franklin after the Fort Meyers show. Musleh said party brought Ms. Jones to Florida from her home in Petersburg, VA., promising to get her in to a show with Miss Franklin, currently writing high in pop music circles as “Soul Sister No. 1”.

Quick Takes:

We often forget that Mark Hamill had many TV appearances before his Star Wars fame. Our video link takes you to his title card in the series “Eight is Enough” A versatile guy and a great actor.

Baseball is the ultimate game of statistics. Here’s one surprising data point. In its entire history, nobody has made the Hall of Fame unanimously on the first ballot, until now.

As we process Oscar nominations today, a useful vid about how accurate our favorite film rating site, Rotten Tonatoes really is. Continue reading “Today in Keenerland 1/23” →

January 22, 1969: William G. Milliken puts his hand on a borrowed bible at the State Capitol takes the oath of office as Michigan’s 44th governor. He promises “public order, social justice” and will focus on welfare improvements, educational reform and pollution control. The former Lieutenant Governor inherits a $50 million dollar budget deficit.

What we’re talking about:

Comedian Robert Klein is touring again. He came through our town on Sunday and was just as funny as he was when I first saw him in… 1974. We were looking around the venue and commenting on “how many old people are here”. Then I realized that this guy has been touring almost nonstop for 44 years. His material has evolved to suit his aging audience. But it still works.

Marie Kondo. The Netflix phenomenon is inspiring people to pick up stuff they don’t use “thank it and throw it away”. My wife is folding things differently & throwing stuff out. This is good!

Conan O’Brien is returning to TBS tonight with a new, shorter format and no live band. He’s podcasting too. Continue reading “Today in Keenerland 1/22” →

A scan from the newspaper on this date in 1969. Plan to visit your Detroit Area Sears stores this week to see a demonstration of the Roberts line of reel to reel recorders, including the 778C, which can transfer your 3 3/4 inch per second 8 track tapes with ease!

It’s a tale right out of the Twilight Zone. The Internet increasingly controls everything.. including what goes on inside our heads. For the companies behind the apps we use, it’s all about the data. For our enemies, it is something to be weaponized. There’s a lot of Twitter talk today about these items.

A frightening story in the Wall Street Journal, details how Russian hackers are infiltrating the nation’s power grid. It’s a social engineering tale that Kevin Mitnick could have thought up. And it’s working. Nearly half of the country is vulnerable.

We’ve written before about how games like the super popular Fortnite can have a negative impact on our kids.

Is the data we share about our lives having a detrimental impact on our state of mind? Our cars share “telematic” info about how we drive, which may ultimately determine our insurance rates. Companies track our buying & browsing habits and serve us ads based on what we look at. Fitbits record our every move, inspiring some of us to take those extra steps to hit a goal. And the new Apple Watch can even track our heart health with an electrocardiogram app. This report says it’s all starting to get to us.  On a related note: Is “Big Brother” watching your Tweet Stream? The ACLU sues the FBI to find out. And how private is Google’s “ingocnito mode”? Not very. Even search firms who don’t track you warn that you have to do more to protect your internet privacy.

One last thing: Ever wonder what’s really behind Facebook’s “10 Year Challenge” then-and-now photo thing? Gathering more accurate facial recognition data. Continue reading “Today in Keenerland 1/21” →

My friend Ted Randall the other day. He’s recruiting air talent for his flame thrower shortwave station and wanted to know if I was game. It got me to thinking about what I liked best about being on the air.

It was the show prep.

Even before the Internet made it easy, I loved digging into backstories about the artists we featured. I scanned newspapers and magazines for show biz news and information about the things my audience was talking about.

Done right, the host’s role is to weave bits of curated cocktail conversation in between the other elements of the program, hopefully pulling together a seamless symphony of music, entertainment and information that would entice those ears to want to come back tomorrow for more. Continue reading “In Praise of Content Curators” →

Hello Americans! It’s Friday! Today’s highlights include Fred Jacobs on the life lessons learned from the Stephen Colbert Show, super short Hollywood marriages, 97 year old Prince Phillip totals his ride. Do we take away his keys? A name we heard often but never really knew, a Dick Van Dyke anniversary and the youngest performer to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Plus much more music from Glen Frey, Johnny Paycheck, Stevie Wonder and Paul Muriat.

How long does love last in show biz? The data shows that they don’t fare as well as the average partnership in the rest of the world. Today in 1996, Lisa Marie Presley filed for divorce from Michael Jackson. The marriage of two of the then biggest names in show business had lasted 19 months. We did a little research on short nuptials. Brittney Spears and Jason Alexander take the prize for the shortest in our un-scientific data.. Less than 3 days. The table at left documents other brief encounters featuring Michelle Phillips, Patty Duke, Eddie Murphy, Drew Barrymore and others. On the other hand, There are some marathon unions out there in Hollywood. Alan and Arlene Alda are in their 62nd year of marriage. Kirk Douglas and Anne Buydens are in their 65th. Chuck Berry, Bob Hope, Stan Lee, Monty Hall and Karl Malden all made it into year 70 with their spouses, until death did they part. The challenges for celebrity marriages are manifold, according to Glamour Magazine’s Andrea Syrtash. Separations due to touring and movie production, the inability to grow together as one person’s career takes off and the other’s declines, good old fashioned ego and the plethoras of temptations provided by loving fans and other enamored celebrities are the main contributors. The keys to relationship longevity? Real Simple Magazine says picking the right person in the first place and not settling for the least objectionable option is huge. Marriages that have the best chance at success happen when two people are committed for the long run. Life has its ups and downs. Riding them out with your partner can bring you closer together.

Remember the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band? From our “Names You Have Heard A Lot But May Not Know” department, Today is the 75th birthday of drummer Legs Larry Smith, immortalized as the first artist named by the announcer in the group’s surreal sleeper hit “The Intro and The Outro”. As a solo artist, Smith also toured with Eric Clapton and Elton John. Smith was a close friend of ex-Beatle George Harrison for many years and designed the cover for his 1982 Gone Troppo album. Let’s roll out “The Intro and The Outro” in honor of the birthday boy. (Video)

Tomorrow marks the 58th anniversary of the filming of the first episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show. The series, about a group of comedy writers, was conceived by Carl Reiner with Van Dyke leading a mini ensemble cast of pros including Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam. It was the vehicle that launched Mary Tyler Moore‘s star into the stratosphere. The show aired on CBS from October 3, 1961 to June 1, 1966, a total of 158 half-hour episodes. It was still a ratings hit when Carl Reiner pulled the plug. He wanted to turn out the lights before the audience did.

Quick Takes:

Coming up  Sunday night, the last total lunar eclipse of this decade. The next opportunity to see one? May 26, 2021.

Life lessons from Stephen Colbert, via Fred Jacobs.

What  all of us “dinks” (dual income – no kids.) need to know about parenting.

As 97 year old Prince Phillip totals his ride, when and how do we take the keys away from aging parents?

Americans are drinking less. What are the economic implications? Via The Wall Street Journal.

Most Personality Quizzes Are Junk Science. Here’s One That Isn’t. Via our friends at Five Thirty Eight.

Just because you get good grades doesn’t guarantee a good life. Look what happened to these valedictorians. Via the BostonGlobe

Today in History:

1965, Paul Simon drops out of law school to pursue music full-time.

1974, Former members from Free, (Paul Rodgers & Simon Kirke), Mott The Hoople(Mick Ralphs), and King Crimson, (Boz Burrell), formed Bad Company. The band went on to score a US No.1 album with their debut release.

1978, Johnny Paycheck‘s cover of David Allan Coe’s ode to workplace frustrations, “Take This Job and Shove It”, reached the top spot on the Billboard Country chart. Although the song failed to crack the Hot 100, it still seems to be one that we all know and can relate to. (Video)

Today: NBC invests in the Monkees, a classic Sue Ann Nivens bit on Betty White’s birthday, what we were watching the night Desert Storm began, a radio “meme”, “Becoming” beats “50 Shades of Grey” and remembering the man who brought the synthesizer into prime time.

Today in 1966, NBC bought The Monkees television series from Screen Gems. The Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night inspired Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider to create the program. 437 applicants auditioned for 4 roles, ending up with  Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and Davy Jones. Don Kirshner, produced the early sessions with help  from the songwriting duo, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. who plumbed the best of the Brill Building talent to come up with hit records for the group to record.  The show ran from September 12, 1966 to March 25, 1968, winning two Emmy Awards in 1967. The music segments are said to have inspired the progenitors of MTV, which, once upon a time, played music videos. Trivia: Many of the same sets and props from The Three Stooges short films made by Screen Gems were used in the series.

We talked about Memes on yesterday’s show. At left, one that our friend wsw1955 cooked up over at Instagram.

Quick Takes:

35 things that will make it feel like you’ve got your life together. (Via Buzzfeed)

Michelle Obama’s “Becoming” has now enjoyed the longest streak at No. 1 on Amazon since “Fifty Shades of Grey” came out in 2012. The all time best seller? Dickens’ “Tale of Two Cities”. (CNN)

If you thought that Moog was the biggest name in synthesizers, you may have never known about Alan R. Pearlman. His ARP units fueled hits for Edgar Winter ( “Frankenstein,”) Herbie Hancock (“Chameleon,”) and the early-1980s version of the theme to the television series “Doctor Who.” NYT notes that the five-note signature motif of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”was played on an ARP 2500 synthesizer, which is seen in the film. An ARP 2600, mixed with natural sounds, provided the voice of R2-D2 in the first “Star Wars” movie. Alan R. Pearlman passed away on Wednesday. Heres his full obit.

Today in History:

1972, A section of Bellevue Boulevard in Memphis was renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard. The remaining length of road kept its original name after protests from the Bellevue Baptist Church.

1976, Barry Manilow scored his second US No.1 single with ‘I Write The Songs‘, which was written by The Beach Boys Bruce Johnston. (Video)

Tonight in 1991, Operation Desert Storm begins, with US-led coalition forces bombing Iraq, during the Gulf War. I remember we were watching a Sinbad special on HBO. Here’s a clip where he talks Motown and music. (Video)

2011, American music publisher, talent manager, and songwriter Don Kirshner who helped launch the careers of Neil Diamond, Bobby Darin, Carole King, Neil Sedaka, The Monkees, The Archies and Kansas, died of heart failure at the age of 76. In addition to his contributions to The Monkees’ career, he also served as a music consultant for almost two dozen TV series between 1966 and 1977.

Happy Birthday to: Antonio Prohias (Spy vs Spy), 1921 (d. 1988); Betty White, 1922; Eartha Kitt, 1927 (d. 2008); James Earl Jones, 1931; Shari Lewis (Ventriloquist), 1934; Muhammad Ali, 1942 (d. 2016); Chris Montez, 1943; Mick Taylor, 1948; Kid Rock, 1971

Much More Music:

From this mornings playlist.. Robbie Dupree‘s 1981 hit, “Steal Away“. A nice mix of the original 45 with video from his performance on The Midnight Special.  (Video)

“Last Train to Clarksville“, The Monkees. Written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, and  recorded at RCA Victor Studio B in Hollywood on July 25, 1966, the tune was number one in the land just 4 months later. Mickey Dolenz was the only Monkee to perform on the single. Wikipedia notes that although LA’s “Wrecking Crew” provided the instrumental backing for many of the early Monkees’ songs, Boyce and Hart’s band Candy Store Prophets did the session work for this song. (Video)

Today’s Quote Worth Re-Quoting: “Everyone wants happiness. No one wants pain. But you can’t have a rainbow, without a little rain.”

We leave you with a classic clip featuring Birthday Girl Betty White. Here she is as Sue Ann Nivins, giving Ted Baxter his due on the Mary Tyler Moore Show.