Keener 13

By Susan Whitall – From her Blog at DetNews.com
As much as I read online, there’s always something I discover I can’t quite live without. This week it’s Bill Bentley’s Sonic Boomers website.

I found out about Sonic Boomers from a fellow Creem editor who had an old story picked up and republished in the “Past Print” section (this week Jaan Uhelszki’s story on the Allman Brothers is featured); then an interview I did with Frankie Miller for Creem was bought and posted there so I had to check it out.

There’s a great story by Harvey Kubernik on Motown 50 and the Funk Brothers, various music and music book reviews and an eye-opening account by “Miss Vicki” of her brief marriage to Tiny Tim. Who knew that years after their odd marriage was done they still would have screaming arguments over the phone, although three days before he died, they made peace.

Younger generations haven’t a clue what “Tiny Tim” or “Miss Vicki” is all about, but that’s why Bentley calls it “Sonic Boomers.”

Susan Whitall writes about music, books, pop culture, radio and more for The Detroit News. You can reach her at swhitall@detnews.com.

By Scott Westerman – Curator
May 6th, 1945. The Second World War in Europe ends as the Germans announce that they will sign surrender documents. While most eyes are focused overseas, life goes on in Detroit. At Henry Ford Hospital, Robert Seger is born. By the time he was six the family had relocated to Ann Arbor, Michigan. Seger’s father left the family when Bob was ten and the young man made his way through the Ann Arbor Public Schools, attending Tappan Junior High and graduating from what was then called Ann Arbor High School in 1963.

His classmates remember him as an athlete, one of the best runners in the State, and as a man on a mission… to make music. Continue reading “In Praise of Bob Seger” →

By Scott Westerman

From the Keener emailbag – Q: I read something in the Free Press about Aretha’s Respect being number one on the Billboard charts the week of June 2, 1967. How popular was it in Detroit and didn’t some other band also have a hit with Respect?

A: Detroit was always ahead of Billboard in recognizing R&B talent and Aretha Franklin is a classic example. By 1967, CKLW was ascending in popularity in Motown.

Comparing music guides in June of ’67 you sense that the Bit 8’s music mix was a tad more soulful than what was playing on Keener. Aretha hit number one on CK the week of May 9th, 1967, nearly a month before she peaked on the national charts, and held the top spot for 3 weeks. The song entered the WKNR Music Guide that same week. It had a 5 week run, with one of the biggest jumps in Keener history, a move from number 26 to number 5, during the week of May 15th.

Otis Redding had the first national success with Respect, climbing as high as number 35 on Billboard in 1965. But 9 months before Aretha’s version exploded on the scene, an Ann Arbor band, spent 6 weeks on the Keener charts with the same tune, topping out at number 6 the week of September 26th, 1966.

The Rationals, shown here during an appearance on Robin Seymour’s Swingin Time TV show, recorded for Cameo Parkway records. The label that launched Bob Seger’s career was also home to Dee Dee Sharp, Eddie Holman and Chubby Checker. It was a perfect vehicle for Scott Morgan’s bluesy wail, and in the day, the Rationals sound was favorably compared to early Beatles and Rolling Stones recordings. The band charted again in 1968 with I Need You but never enjoyed Aretha’s success. She was featured 22 times on WKNR, hitting number one with Don’t Play That Song and Spanish Harlem.

On May 3rd, Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, Eddie Vedder, John Mellencamp, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez and Emmylou Harris joined dozens of others on the stage at Madison Square Garden to celebrate Pete Seeger’s 90th birthday. Although he never charted on the WKNR Music Guide, his influence on the minds and hearts of those who listened to Keener in the 60s is indisputable.

Sunny 105.9’s Bob Berry sent us this link to an article that scratches the surface of the man who’s distinctive voice continues to inspire.

By Scott Westerman
In the days before automation, a rite of passage for many a young disk jockey was running the local control board for Paul Harvey News and Comment. My own experience came in 1971 at Ann Arbor’s WPAG. As the agricultural station for southeastern Michigan and northern Ohio, our noon-time Farm and Home Hour was punctuated with Paul Harvey’s “conversation across the back fence.”

Like the best radio communicators, he understood that he was talking to one person. His writing juxtaposed the small town story with international events, reminding us that what happened in our back yard was just as important as what was happening half way around the world. He knew his listeners well put the events of the day into a perspective that they could understand. His delivery took us through the emotional highs and lows of the news, at times approaching the poetic. Continue reading “Remebering Paul Harvey” →

On January 12, 1959, Berry Gordy, Jr. decided to try his hand at making records. He borrowed 800 dollars from his family and started a business that would change the face of American music. Motown’s emergence was perfectly timed. Radio was evolving into a music-centered medium. Elvis Presley had opened the door to bring R&B into the mainstream. And in the industrial Midwest, where tens of thousands of African Americans had migrated to take advantage of auto industry jobs, there was a glut of talented young people with talent, dreams and tenacity.

When WKMH made the switch to WKNR on Halloween night in 1963, the first WKNR Music Guide featured Marvin Gaye’s “Can I Get a Witness” at number 3. Even thought the station’s playlist still contained more conservative middle of the road artists like Lloyd Price, Vickie Carroll and Lenny Welsh, the fact that the Kingsmen held the number 1 spot made a statement to the audience that things were changing. A year later, four of the top 31 songs of the year were from the Motown family of artists (The Four Tops were at number 1 with “I Can’t Help Myself”). And by the time WKNR left the air in April of 1972, 258 Motown records had charted and nearly one out of every ten WKNR Music Guide artists were connected with the label. Continue reading “Motown at 50” →

Jerry Martin, the longtime chief engineer for WKMH/WKNR/WNIC passed away on New Year’s Eve, two days after his 92nd birthday.

Jerry began his career as a radio engineer in 1946, assisting in the construction of Keener’s predecessor, WKMH and holds the distinction of being the second employee hired by Fred Knorr at the station. His many accomplishments through the years include supervising the installation and construction of the present day transmitting facilities of WNIC-FM. Since retiring in 1985, Jerry worked as a consultant and co-authored the operating information for what is now known as the Emergency Action System (EAS). He was a life member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers and Certified Senior Broadcast Engineer. Earlier this year, The Michigan Association of Broadcasters Honored Jerry with the Carl Lee Broadcast Engineering Excellence Award.

And.. He built that incredible reverb unit that gave WKNR its distinctive sound. Continue reading “Jerry Martin 1916-2008” →

A gem from Saga’s Steve Goldstein:

By now you have seen all of the salutes in the trades about Bill Drake and “Boss Radio.”  But what did it sound like?  Why did it win in market after market? 

I asked our resident broadcast historian, Ed Brouder to assemble a little taste.  In addition to co-hosting the morning show on WZID, Manchester, Ed has his own production company.  “Man From Mars” has a  remarkable library of radio history- some 4800 airchecks –all searchable at his website www.manfrommars.com and he was kind enough to share  the enclosed montage.  It is 6 minutes of radio heaven.  Enjoy.

Listen Here

In 2004 we produced a podcast on radio’s coverage of the Kennedy assassination, including air checks from KLIF in Dallas and Keener’s documentary on the 1st anniversary of the event. By request, here’s a link to that podcast.

Ken R. Deutsch is THE jingle authority. We met back in 1970 when we were both trying our hand at being disk jockeys at Ann Arbor’s WPAG. Even then, his jingle collection was mouth watering. He was kind enough to take pity on a kid with a passion and made me several 7″ reels filled with nuggets from his treasure trove.

Later, Ken would single-handedly rescue the PAMS jingle masters from certain destruction, write two classic books about the jingle art, and contribute the defining piece on WKNR’s jingles to our website. For many years, his company was licensed to re-sing the PAMS catalog, and he became the quintessential aggregator of classic jingles, selling CDs filled with pristine copies lifted from original masters.

But in the beginning, he was a wide-eyed jingle fan, who dreamed of having the famed PAMS singers cut a custom, just for him. Here’s the tale of how it happened.

Link: Jingles from the USA, No longer a big export.

Philip T. Yarbrough died on November 29, 2008 at age 71. When he worked as a DJ at Atlanta’s WAKE, he chose the air-name Bill Drake since it rhymed with the station’s call letters. From 1965 until 2006, he was a prominent radio programming consultant. As the 60s decade came to a close, his Drake formats dominated the airwaves and became the model for much of what radio has today become.

Those of us hard-core Keenerfans like to blame Bill Drake for WKNR’s demise.

It wasn’t his fault. Continue reading “Remembering Bill Drake” →

Just when we think we’ve totally mined all the existing WKNR memorabilia, more treasures appear. This picture of Keener’s mellifluous Ted Clark came to us from  John Maher, WKNR’s superlative newsman during the glory years. John discovered some photos he took the height of Keener’s popularity. We took advantage of his generous contributions as an opportunity to migrate much of the Keener13.com photo gallery to Flickr. Head over to http://www.flickr.com/photos/keener13/ and you’ll discover pictures from the WKNR best high school principal contest, along with shots of Erik Smith, Mike Wilton and Tom Ryan.