Keener 13

41 years ago this week, Keener was making it’s final stab at competitiveness. With a rejuvenated air staff and the PAMS “Motor City Music” station imaging, WKNR’s execution never sounded better.

But it was hard for a station with low power and a deficient nighttime coverage pattern to compete with CKLW’s 50,000 constantly cooking watts of power and the growing popularity of the FM band.

That didn’t stop the team from giving it all they had and that included a playlist that mirrored a lot of what was on the Big 30 across the Detroit River in Windsor.

The Canadian content influence is definitely there with the Guess Who’s Albert Flasher starting a downward slide after peaking at number 5. Bubble gum artists abounded with Donny Osmond and the Partridge Family at the height of their popularity, while new acts were enjoying their first Keener chart successes. The Five Man Electrical Band could be heard wafting out of car radios across the motor city. And Earth, Wind and Fire was peaking with their first Keener hit, Love is Life.

Rock legends like Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and the Rolling Stones were still at it. There were one hit wonders like Seatrain and Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds (Falling in Love would be released after WKNR had signed off). And new legends were bubbling up. Harry Nillson’s album The Point was getting traction and Ringo Starr was celebrating his first post-Beatles hit with the George Harrison penned It Don’t Come Easy.

At number one for the week was the third single release for  Carolyn Willis, Shelly Clark and Edna Wright. As the Honey Cone, their biggest hit, Want Ads, struck gold for Holland-Dozier -Holland’s Hot Wax label. Just two years later the group would fade into history, with Willis making a brief comeback singing backup on Seals and Crofts’ Get Closer in 1976.

http://youtu.be/g9ryNyPEyqA

While hard core CK fans may remember Jim Jackson, who had the mid-day gig at the Big 8, his name recognition was dwarfed by Keener’s Ron Sherwood. WKNR proved once again to be a career launching pad helping Ron sharpen the chops that would serve him well over a long post-Keener 13 career.

Our launch of the Keener 13 Facebook page prompted Scott Regen to share some photos from his collection.

His first professional acting gig happened when he was eleven. He was a star on the BBC’s Coronation Street at age 16. And when he was 20, Davy Jones was picked from a casting call of thousands to be part of a made-for-television rock band that became one of the most popular acts of the decade.

After seeing the film  A Hard Day’s Night, Bob Rafelsonand Bert Schneider decided to create a TV show that would feature what they hoped would be America’s answer to the Beatles. Their first choice was to sign John Sebastian’s  Lovin’ Spoonful, but that group already had a record contract. So they ran an ad in  Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter in the fall of 1965 to find their musicians. Continue reading “Remembering Davy Jones” →

From 1965 through 1968 Detroit could challenge Dick Clark’s American Bandstand dominance. The two local dance programs we remember are Club 1270 and Swingin Time. Channel 7 was home to the program named after the frequency of their sister station. Club 1270 was hosted by Lee Alan, Joel Sebastian and Dave Prince and during it’s brief run it showcased the talents of everyone from local boy Jamie Coe to mega-stars like Leslie Gore and the Rolling Stones. Continue reading “Bob Seger on Swingin Time” →

In December, 1963, Jerry Lewis‘ first solo foray into a television variety show was in trouble. ABC executives were scrambling to find a replacement for his Saturday night slot and decided to keep the variety without regular host. On January 4th, The Hollywood Palace made it’s debut and for the next six years, it was one of the most watched variety shows on television. Across 192 episodes, literally every major entertainer walked across it’s stage. Continue reading “The Hollywood Palace” →

From the Beatle Bible – “All four Beatles gathered at EMI Studios on the morning of Friday, August 8, 1969, for one of the most famous photo shoots of their career. Photographer Iain Macmillan took the famous image that adorned their last-recorded album, Abbey Road.

“A policeman held up the traffic as Macmillan, from a stepladder positioned in the middle of the road, took six shots as the group walked across the zebra crossing just outside the studio.

“Iain Macmillan was a freelance photographer and a friend to John Lennon and Yoko Ono. He used a Hasselblad camera with a 50mm wide-angle lens, aperture f22, at 1/500 seconds.

“Prior to the shoot, Paul McCartney had sketched his ideas for the cover, to which Macmillan added a more detailed illustration.

“As the group waited outside the studio for the shoot to begin, Linda McCartney took a number of extra photographs. Continue reading “The Abbey Road Photo Shoot” →

Back before national programmers and record company marketing money decided which records got airplay, local stations could be true hit makers. WKNR helped rocket a ton of Detroit area talent onto the national stage, including Bob Seger, Deon Jackson, Mitch Ryder and the Rationals. Keener was also the key proving ground for Motown acts. Berry Gordy, Jr.’s special relationship with Scott Regen made it possible for Keener to have unique on-air access to artists and the WKNR Music Guide became a leading indicator of potential national success.

How did the WKNR Music Guide compare to the industry standard Billboard Hot 100? Visit the Motor City Radio Flashback site to see a 1964 example.

For those who came of age in Detroit anytime before the 1970s, the phrase “TYler 8-7100” likely resonates in memory. That was the phone number for the “We do good work” folks at Belvedere Construction. The use of “Exchange Names” as a way to help remember telephone numbers had its genesis in England in the 20s. By the 50s we were using the 2 Letter – 5 number format to delineate phone numbers across the Detroit area. Continue reading ““Exchanging” Telephone Numbers” →

If Mrs. Knorr thought that Tommy James’ “I Think We’re Alone Now” was a little too much for the Keener airwaves, then “Jungle Fever” by the Chakachas was well over the edge of the envelope. That it became a hit at all is one of those improbable stories that seem to proliferate in the music business.

Listen to the record, or look at any of the promotional material and you’d be certain that the band was African American, or Afro-Cuban. In fact, they were a bunch of white guys from Belgium, who first got together in the 1950s. By 1965 they had gone their separate ways and it wasn’t until 1970 that producer Roland Kluger pulled the bulk of the group back into studio to record one of the most infamous records of the Keener era. Continue reading “Jungle Fever” →

In 1964, America’s musical tastes had not yet fully polarized. While the wave of British hits washed over us, there was still an eclecticism to the WKNR play list that made it possible for a jazz legend to link up with a Brazilian samba singer and have a hit record.

Such was the unique story of the Stan Getz / Astrud Gilberto partnership. Getz came into the spotlight in the 1940s as the silky smooth tenor sax player in Woody Herman’s Thundering Herd big band. He was introducing bosa nova to American ears when he teamed up with Gilberto, who was a last minute choice to record the vocals for “The Girl From Ipanema”. Continue reading “Keener Bosa Nova” →

Here’s a trivia question: What blue-eyed soul band refused to sign with Motown but found fame thanks to three of Motown’s greatest contributors?

Of course we’re talking about Detroit’s own Flaming Ember. They first recorded for Ric Tic Records in 1967, but when Berry Gordy, Jr. folded Ric Tic into Motown, The Flaming Embers, as they were then known, decided to explore other options.

The label that they ultimately chose was Hot Wax, the brain child of Motown creative geniuses  Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland, Jr.. They charted six times on Keener with “Mind, Body and Soul”, “Not My Brother’s Keeper”, “Westbound Number 9″,”Shades of Green” and  “Sunshine”. Many remember “Westbound Number 9” as their favorite Flaming Ember tune, but it was “Mind, Body and Soul” that was their only Keener Number 1. Continue reading “The Flaming Ember” →