Keener 13

It was the winter of 1964 and an alchemy of music, talent and timing were coalescing in suburban Detroit to take a small 5000 watt station in Dearborn to the top of the Motor City radio ziggurat. WKNR had arrived. And Mrs. Knorr began to think about how Keener’s success might be duplicated across the Knorr Broadcasting portfolio.

Besides the obvious financial benefits, having Keener clones in the family could provide a built-in farm team, where talent could marinate until they might be ready to move up to the majors. The programming concept of “intelligent flexibility” could test new ideas in multiple markets, bubbling up best practices with the speed of a Beatle record climbing the WKNR Music Guide.

Across the state in Battle Creek, station WELL made the transformation. It became WKFR, Keener 14. PAMS cut jingles identical in nearly every way to those that were winning the battle in Motown, and a group of Battle Creek Keener Keymen emerged as the most popular personalities in West Michigan.

Knorr Broadcasting sold the station in 1967, but the Keener legend is still alive in Battle Creek. A local weblog helped initiate a recent reunion of WKFR personalities that was chronicled in the local paper, along with another story about Keener 14s glory days.

Read the list of WKNR personalities and you’ll recognize some very familiar Detroit radio names.

Thanks to Tom Ryan for sharing the links!

Hear the WBCK WKFR Tribute here.

Otis Williams talks with Susan Whitall about tonight’s Temps n Tops show at the DTE center.

In November of 1966, WKNR was still riding the wave as the dominant Top 40 radio station in the Motor City. It was a time when Keener bumper stickers were available at all Detroit area Sinclair stations, the film Endless Summer was playing at better theaters and listeners could win a 1967 Pontiac GTO. Stop sets on the weekends consisted of a single commercial unit, you were never more than 60 seconds away from the music.

Keenerfan Jim Feliciano shares this gem from November 26th, 1966. Paul Cannon spent most of his work week as Keener’s music director, but during the weekends, he got to exercise his on-air chops. Our 10 minute segment features deep tracks from Hermans Hermits and BJ Thomas, oldies from the Sherry’s and the Edsels, and WKNR Music Guide entries from Jackie Wilson, Nancy Sinatra, Jimmy Ruffin.

By Scott Westerman – Curator, Keener13.com
Michigan had its share of great garage bands. The Unrelated Segments, The Wanted, The Tidal Waves, ? and the Mysterians, the Frost and Silverhawk all come to mind. But none were better than the Rationals. For those of us who grew up with electric guitars in our hands in mid-60s Ann Arbor, Scott Morgan‘s band was our role model.

They had a lean, tight sound that was a mixture of early Beatles and Stones with a Blues edge and attitude that Bob Seger was parallel processing across town, and Iggy Pop would further distill into what would become punk rock.

Their brief prime generated two singles that found their way onto the WKNR Music Guide. Otis Redding was first to market with “Respect” and many remember Aretha’s 1967 version as the biggest seller, but it was the Rationals who peaked at number 6 one year earlier on Keener with what many feel is the ultimate incarnation of the song.

“I Need You” was their second Keener hit. The plaintive tome became a slow dance favorite during the ice cold winter of 1968, reaching number 4 the same week that Paul Muriat’s “Love is Blue” was number 1.

When the band broke up in 1970, there were the usual hassles with the record company and it’s only now that a definitive collection of Rational gems is coming to market. “Think Rational” features 34 tracks, including pristine remasters of the hits and audio insight into the band’s influences and a look behind the scenes with rehearsal tracks and demos that never saw the light of day, until now.

Brian McCollum writes in detail about the new Rationals collection over at Freep.com.

LINK: The Official Rationals Website

By Susan Whitall – From her Blog at DetNews.com

That’ll be Wednesday, July 15. Macca will sit down for an interview with Dave, and he’ll perform.

The former Beatle is launching a series of concerts in the U.S. starting July 17 at CitiField in New York City, and then heading to Washington, D.C., Boston, Atlanta, Tulsa and winding up in Dallas on Aug. 19.

Detroit? Please?

By Eileen Trombley Glick
Keener Correspondent at DetroitMemories.com

Harry Jarkey, a Detroit TV personality and nightclub entertainer in the late ’50s and ’60s, was best known for a morning variety program called Our Friend Harry, which ran from 1957-59, as well as The Fun Club, a children’s show with Soupy Sales. He continued his career at places like The Roostertail and Bay City’s Wenona Beach Amusement Park’s casino, where he worked for 30 years, until his retirement at age 75. He moved to southern California in the ’70s to live near another former Detroiter and friend, Danny Thomas.

Ed Golick, webmaster of www.detroitkidshow.com has put together a Happy Birthday Harry Jarkey! email campaign. If you remember Harry, please take a minute to send an email (include your memories of him if you’d like) to happybirthdayharry@gmail.com. And even if you don’t remember him, send an email anyway! After all, how often does one of Detroit’s former celebrity icons turn 96?! Ed, who will gather the emails and send them on to Harry, tells me that he’s really a great guy and will be elated with all of the attention. (But then, have you ever known a performer who wasn’t?)

Over the years, a number of folks have written to me asking if there were any existing Swingin’ Time shows. As luck would have it, L.A. resident Dave Fisher, Cass Tech ’63, who was a ‘regular’ on Swingin’ Time, home-taped six shows back then and has now burned them to DVD. They are dated: 8-27-66, 9-3-66, 9-10-66, 9-17-66, 12-24-66 and 3-11-67.

If you’re interested in these DVDs, contact me at info@detroitmemories.com I’ll send you a PDF that lists the shows and artists who appeared along with information on how you can obtain these disks.

Don Coles chronicles the demolition of Tiger Stadium here. Not for the faint of heart Tiger Stadium fans, this webpage provides 77 aerial views from July 5, 2008 through June 22, 2009. Sadly, more of Detroit’s history lost forever.

A poster of the final day of baseball at Tiger Stadium September 29, 1999 is available through AllPosters.com When you use this link to make your purchase, Detroit Memories is credited.

Another one bites the dust – On June 25, 2009, Detroit’s Downtown Development Authority voted unanimously to demolish the historic Lafayette Building that sits on a triangular lot at Michigan Avenue, West Lafayette Blvd and Shelby Street.

PROFILE: MARSHAL CRENSHAW Berkley HS ’71

Marshall Crenshaw is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and rock music historian. He was born in Detroit, Michigan on November 11, 1953 and grew up in the suburb of Berkley. Crenshaw began playing guitar at age 10. From 1968 to 1973 he led the band Astigafa, an acronym for “a splendid time is guaranteed for all.” Although he came along too later to have a hit record on the WKNR Music Guide, he scored a top 40 hit in 1982 with “Someday, Someway” from the film Night Shift (1982). Retro rocker Robert Gordon took “Someday, Someway” to #76 in 1981, and Crenshaw’s version made #36 the next year. In the 2000s, Crenshaw played guitar as a special guest with the reunited members of the MC5. Crenshaw’s latest CD, Jaggedland, was released on June 2, 2009.

Do you remember – Native Detroiter and actor Curtis Armstrong? He graduated from Berkley HS in 1972, one year after Crenshaw. You may remember him as ‘Booger’ in Revenge of the Nerds and as Miss Depesto’s love interest in the Cybil Shepherd / Bruce Willis TV series “Moonlighting“.

SAVE THE DATE: ARIZONA-DETROITERS DINNER Saturday, October 10, 2009 5-10 pm, Fiesta Resort Conference Center, 2100 South Priest Drive, Tempe, AZ 85282. Our speaker will be Vic Caputo. Former Channel 2 News Anchor ~ 1968-1980. Also speaking will be Theresa (Terry) Livingston daughter of Toby David/”Captain Jolly” who’ll be bringing along a bunch of her dad’s memorabilia.

From the Mailbag: I grew up in Detroit and lived in the area until 1995 when I moved to Arizona. During the ’50s and early ’60s, I sang with a Detroit group called “Make Way for Youth,” a Don Large Chorus. We practiced every Tuesday and Thursday evening in the WJR studios and were on the radio every Saturday. It would be fun to see how many folks are still out there who participated in this group and where they are today… Joanne Blues

Well, Joanne, ‘Make Way for Youth’ produced a wealth of talent, not the least of whom was Maureen Bailey, better known as Christmas Carol. You may also be surprised to know that DJ Lee Alan was also part of this Chorus, too. Next month, I’ll feature some of the MWFY participants. In particular, we’ll take a look at the careers of Jim Beasley and his friend, the late Barry Kinder. We sorely miss Barry’s contributions to the Detroit Memories Discussion Group.

Upcoming Class Reunions

Assumption Grotto Grade School – All years | Detroit St. Thomas – All years | St. Ambrose – All classes | Cooley – Class of ’59 | Detroit Redford – Class of ’59 | Lowrey – Class of ’59 | Walled Lake Central – Class of ’59 | Mother Of Our Savior – 60’s Grade School Reunion | Fordson – Class of ’64 | Highland Park – Class of ’64 | Finney-Class of ’64, ’65 and ’66 | Lakeview (St. Clair Shores)-Class of ’67 | Waterford Township-Class of ’68 | East Catholic-Class of ’69 | Henry Ford-Class of ’69 | Lakeview (St. Clair Shores)-Class of ’69 | Livonia Franklin-Class of ’69 | Marine City-Class of ’69 | Pickney-Class of ’69 | Southfield-Class of ’69 | St. Brigid-Class of ’69 | St. David-Class of ’69 | St. Florian-Class of ’69 | St. Mary Mt. | lemens-Class of ’69 | Waterford Kettering-Class of ’69 | Wyandotte Roosevelt-Class of ’69 | Madison-Class of ’74 | Anchor Bay-Class of ’74 | Clintondale-Class of ’77 | Walled Lake Central-Class of ’77 | Lincoln Park-Class Of ’78 | Airport (Carleton, MI)-Class of ’79 | Crestwood-Class of | 79 | Romulus-Class of ’79 (also ’77-’81) | Roosevelt-Class of ’79 | St. Clement-Class of ’79. Details on all Detroit area class reunions can be found here.

For more Detroit Memories, visit the website: DetroitMemories.com

(Eileen Trombley Glick keeps Detroit Memories alive from her home base in Phoenix AZ. Click here to subscribe to the FREE Detroit Memories Newsletter.)

By Susan Whitall – From her Blog at DetNews.com

Happy news, the Rationals are playing a CD release party July 24 at the Magic Bag.

The death of TV pitchman Billy Mays, jogged memories of some of the more notable on-sit sales people of the Keener era.

Marilyn Turner was the weather person at WJBK when she began her run as the spokesmodel for Carpet Center. We remember her flying through the warehouse on a Persian rug. And who can forget the inspired series of radio commercials for Merollis Chevrolet where salesman Ernie was constantly getting advice from the owner who “made a friend for life with each car sold”.

Perhaps the most famous Detroit advertising icon was Mr. Belvedere. The man behind the president’s desk who ended each commercial with the phrase “we do good work” was actually Maurice Lezell. A Detroit native and graduate of Central High school, Lezell named his construction company after the Clifton Webb character that first garnered attention in the 1948 film Sitting Pretty. According to Detroit’s most knowledgeable TV historian, Ed Golick, proprietor of the quintessential Motor City television memory site DetroitKidShow.com, by the 1970s Belvedere Construction became one of the biggest local advertisers in Detroit, spending a reported $750,000 a year.

Many of us remember Mr. Belvedere’s repartee with CKLW-TV’s Conrad Patrick and Lezell’s scowling “Conrad, I’m not happy!” statements. Lezell told Ed Golick that the commercials were an incredible two minutes in length and were recorded extemporaneously.

For more on Lezell’s life as Mr. Belevedere, visit the DetroitKidShow Belevedere page.

By Susan Whitall – From her Blog at DetNews.com

Everybody talks about celebrity deaths coming in threes — in this case it would be Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett then Michael Jackson — but it’s also a truism that many notable deaths get lost in the shuffle.

Sky Saxon died Thursday as well, cause of death not yet official. He didn’t have the fame of Michael Jackson, but he led the Seeds, who, with “Pushin’ Too Hard” were one of the key garage bands of the late ’60s. The Seeds on the surface were one-hit wonders, but that hit had so much impact on generations of bands, and fans that it’s hard to measure.

Saxon had recently moved to Austin and was set to be a part of the California ’66 tour along with remnants of Love and the Electric Prunes.

Curator’s note: The Video link in Susan’s blog post came from an episode of “The Mothers In Law” an NBC TV series, starring Eve Arden and Kay Ballard, that ran on WWJ (now WDIV) TV from 1967-1969. Rock groups were often featured on TV series in the 60s. Perhaps the strangest appearance was when the Beau Brummels traveled back in time to sing “Laugh Laugh” on The Flintstones.