The Keener 13 Podcast – Summer of 69
Where were you in the Summer of 1969? If you listened to WKNR, you heard the eclectic mix of pop, rock and soul that was Keener’s late 60s trademark. We have some of each in this week’s podcast including Keener one-hits from Clarence Reid, Shannon, The Electric Indian, Duke Baxter and the Winstons. We remember the movies of that summer and Philip Nye covers Woodstock and Neal Armstrong’s first steps on the moon. Danny Mullins of St. Johns in Wyandotte was just 18 when he entered Keeners Motor City Music Search. We have a pristine recording of his performance along with tunes that Bob Seger and Savage Grace played at an outdoor Oakland Mall concert Keener sponsored 37 years ago. For you Woodward Dream Cruisers, we have details on how you can stick an authentic WKNR Bumper Magnet on your vehicle, and we count down the top 13 Keener hits for the week ending July 24th, 1969.
Hosted by Scott Westerman
The Keener 13 Podcast – Class of 66 Reunion Special
It’s our Detroit area Class of 66 Reunion Special featuring the sights, sounds, fads, foods and music from your unforgettable senior year. Philip Nye has the news headlines, we hear a classic 66 air check from Bob Green, along with Keener commercials for Ford Mustang, Wink and Detroit Dragway. There’s a 1966 Keener contest winner, plus great senior year tunes as requested by our Keener Podcast listeners along with a countdown of the Top 13 Songs of the year. Play this one at your Class of 1966 High Shool Reunion gathering and come back with us to the 60s.
Hosted by Scott Westerman
The Keener 13 Podcast – All Request #4
Time to clear out the Keener mailbag with a program chock full of your requests. We dig into the ATCO library for a listener in Canada, play some psychedellia for Brooklyn, NY, navigate the deepest reaches of the WKNR Music Guide for the likes of Julie Monday and Flavor. In honor of Ed Wingate’s passing, we play a rare Reflections tune from the Golden World Records stable. We update you on the upcoming Can’t Forget The Motor City Reunion, and seek your input for our Class of 66 reunion special.
Hosted by Scott Westerman
Hear the show 34 minutes 35MB MP3
Note: Thanks to those of you who wrote about the error in the filename. It’s fixed now and the right show should play.
The Keener Podcast – The Instrumentals
It’s an all instrumental extravaganza, crammed full of themes from TV, the movies and songs without words from every corner of the WKNR Music Guide. We’ve got your favorites along with some rarities from Booker T. and the MGs, the Ventures, Paul Mauriat, Young Holt Unlimited, Bob Crewe, The Brass Ring and Nini Rosso. We’ll tell you the unlikely story of Whistling Jack Smith and play a double-shot that includes a 1992 cover of a 1960s instrumental hit. Test your memory with two “name that tune” tests and take a taste of your favorite orange soda, too.
Hosted by Scott Westerman
The Keener Podcast – Gene Pitney
Gene Pitney’s passing was a fitting final chapter to the legend. He died, at age 65, just hours after performing to a standing ovation in the Welsh capital, Cardiff. His four decade career included 20 chart singles (10 on WKNR) and writing credits that were amplified by the likes of Phil Spector Bobby Vee and Rick Nelson. From Bob Green’s Keener archives, we present a fascinating 1965 interview first broadcast on the Scott Regen show, along with some of the best Gene Pitney music from height of the WKNR era.
Hosted by Scott Westerman
The Keener Podcast – Classic Commercials
As much as we’d like to deny it, those commericials we saw and heard in the 60s are as much a part of our consciousness as are the rock acts we listened to on WKNR. This week we bring back some of the most memorable ad themes of the Keener era. We also answer your requests for the Radiants, the Raiders and some 1970 reflections.
Hosted by Scott Westerman
Steve Schram to lead Michigan Public Media
Congrats to Keener13.com co-founder Steve Schram on being named Interim Director of Michigan Public Media, the umbrella organization that manages the television, radio and new-media properties at the University of Michigan.
Steve is an ideal choice for this assignment. His three decade career as a well regarded leader in radio, television and the Internet is a perfect fit for the organization in this time of transition.
We at Keener13.com are big fans of Steve’s predecessor, Donovan Reynolds. It was Donovan who had the courage and the vision to guide Michigan Public Media’s rise to become one of the most respected public broadcasting organizations in the nation. Steve’s track record of achievement in the public sector, his programming expertise and his outstanding interpersonal skills are the right combination to help continue the organization’s tradition of excellence.
If you’re currently on the team at MPM, ask anybody who as ever worked with Steve about his character and you’ll soon agree with our highly biased assessment that he’s one of the finest media minds in the business today.
Scott Westerman
Curator-Keener13.com
The Keener 13 Podcast – All Request #3
Wow! Has it really been three months? Thanks to Radar at the Podcast Bunker for rattling our cages. The result is another all request show where we feature a pair of top ten national hits that never charted, but were often played on WKNR. We celebrate the bubblegum legacy of the Cowsills and dig deep into the Paul is Dead story with a rarity from Terry Knight. Bob Green provides us with a bunch of WKNR contest winners and count down the top 13 hits of 1967. Throw in Teegarden and Van Winkle and OC Smith and you have 34 minutes of non-stop Keener memories.
The Keener 13 Podcast – New Years Special with Bob Green
It’s a Keener 13 New Year’s Day Special with our special guest host, WKNR’s legendary Bob Green. We hear out-takes, call-ins, promos, radiothons and a rare Beatles interview, along with every Keener New Years Day Number One Song from 1964 through 1972.
Hosted by Bob Green and Scott Westerman.
The Keener Podcast – Best of volume 3 – The Kennedy Assassination
On this best-of Keener podcast, we replay our November 20th, 2004 study of how radio reported the Kennedy Assassination. We begin with a rare logger tape from KLIF in Dallas. Keener fan and Kennedy scholar Jim Feliciano connected us with this one-of-a-kind historical record which can be heard in its entirety on the ReelRadio.com website. Rex Jones, Gary DeLaune, Joe Long and Gordon McLendon (yep, that Gordon McLendon – one of the fathers of Top 40 radio) described the rapidly unfolding events. Then we fast-forward one year later to the WKNR documentary about that day, produced by Bob Green and Philip Nye for WKNR News. It is said that television news came of age on that day, 41 years ago. But for many, radio was still a trusted source of timely, if not always accurate information. The Keener podcast is hosted by Scott Westerman, Curator of Keener13.com.
The Keener 13 Podcast – Detroit Radio Reunion – Part 1
Part 1 of our Detroit Radio Reuion Special featuring Bob Green, Gary Stevens, Jerry Goodwin, Paul Cannon and Pat St. John, recorded during the WOMC reunion broadcast. The Keener podcast is hosted by Scott Westerman, Curator of Keener13.com.
The Keener Podcast – Best of Vol 2 – The Paul McCartney Death Rumor
One of the most famous Keener moments was the Sunday afternoon in 1969 when WKNR-FM’s Russ Gibb amplified the rumor that Paul McCartney was dead. In this second “Best of” Podcast, we celebrate our interview with Andru Reeve, the man who wrote the definitive book “Turn Me On Dead Man: The Beatles and the Paul McCartney Death Hoax.” It became our most downloaded program. While the story had been well worn before Tom Zarski called Uncle Russ that October day, it was WKNR-FM’s coverage that rocketed the tale to the front of the nation’s consciousness.
