Keener 13

The former WLS and WMMS programming ace speaks his mind. He’s right on.

Digital Video Recorders are impacting the way we consume content. And we’re fast forwarding through the commercials. Advertisers are seeking new ways to make impressions, including the now multi-billion dollar “product placement” business. MORE

After more than three years, the Keener Podcast has faded into history. Why? 1) The day jobs that Steve and Scott have are keeping us pretty busy and time has been at a premium. Both of us won’t do anything Keener related unless we’re certain it will live up to Keener standards. 2) It costs us around $1,000.00 per year in copyright fees to ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. While we heartily support the new podcast licensing structures that these visionary agencies have created, we do all of our Keener projects with our lunch money and the women who manage our finances are telling us to get underwriters or “cut it out”. 3) While several groups of music podcasters continue to work with the RIAA on a mechanical license fee scenario and the association has been kind enough to allow our mentors at places like Coverville to continue to podcast while discussions continue, a mechanism does not currently exist to allow us to use the great Keener music effectively. Everything about Keener13.com is above board and legal and we intend to keep it that way. Our hope is that the RIAA will come to understand the value of podcasting as an effective vehicle for promoting and selling the great music of the Keener era. It’s truly timeless and should be exposed to new generations. Thanks again to Jon Wolfert at Jingles.com for allowing us to use the great PAMS Keener jingles. What may become of the Keener Podcast library? Who knows, WKNR is the most featured radio station on XM’s 60s on 6 channel. Maybe you’ll hear them over there some day soon!

Ahh Socialism. Holland is one of those countries where all you have to do is petition the government and you may just get your documentary project funded. That’s what Wouter van Opdorp did. Last fall Wouter wrote us in search of the Paul McCartney Death Hoax story, and the WKNR-FM jock who amplified the most famous Beatle urban legend to the international stage. Russ Gibb agreed to a rare interview on the subject and thanks to the largesse of the Dutch Government, Wouter and his team descended on Dearborn to get the scoop. (Click the image to enlarge)

The co-founder of Keener13.com has a three decade love affair with broadcasting and was a key contributor to WNIC’s (Keener’s successor) return to glory in Detroit. He’s now the Director of Michigan Public Media, the umbrella organization that guides the fortunes of University of Michigan WUOM, WVGR and WFUM. In a wide ranging Spartan Podcast interview, he talks about the increasing popularity of public broadcasting, how IPods satellite radio, HD broadcasting and streaming are impacting terrestrial broadcasting, and his formative years in Detroit radio and at Michigan State University.

Steve Schram on the Spartan Podcast

Updated with a special podcast tribute by Scott Regen: Nellie Knorr, the visionary woman who created WKNR, passed away on August 10th, four months shy of her 90th birthday. She would have been the first to share the credit for WKNR’s groundbreaking success with the many men and women who were part of the Keener team. But in the end, it was she who took the risk that October night in 1963 and transformed Detroit radio forever.

We take it for granted today, but in the 1960s, it was still unusual for a woman to be a the helm of a major broadcasting organization. It was a role that was thrust upon Nellie after the untimely passing of her husband and she took to the challenge with an energy and grace that was an inspiration to her coworkers, her family and the industry at large.

As is the case today, broadcasters in the 60s were reluctant to break with tradition. The industry was trying to find its way as the long-form programming of the Golden Age migrated to television. There were many who still felt that “playing it safe” was the best way to preserve cash flow. Fred Knorr was aware of the groundbreaking work being done by the likes of Todd Storz and Gordon MacLendon, but even he was uncomfortable with what seemed like a radical departure from conventional wisdom. After his death, it fell to Nellie to make the decision.

She knew that her choices would profoundly impact her family and the many WKMH employees who depended on the organization for their daily bread. And after careful consideration, she decided to reinvent the definition of radio in Detroit.

Beyond her broadcasting career, she was a loving mother, grandmother, aunt and friend. In her later years, it was often hard for her youngest relatives to believe that this gentle, smiling personage was one of the most powerful forces in the history of telecommunications in Detroit. When she made her final public appearance at last year’s Detroit radio reunion, the family entourage that accompanied her were stunned at the prolonged ovation she received. “I never realized that Aunt Nellie had this other life,” said one. But to the hundreds of broadcast professionals who were there that night, Nellie was a living legend, a symbol of broadcast professionalism and class at its best.

For those who worked there, WKNR still remains the highlight of their careers. For the tens of thousands who listened, Keener was embroidered indelibly into the fabric of their existence. Even today, four decades after the last Keener broadcast has faded into history, our email boxes continue to be filled with grateful expressions of how WKNR was the central pivot of listeners lives.

All of this happened because of one woman’s courage.

Her passing is a profoundly personal loss. Yet we gratefully celebrate her extraordinary life… a life that lives on wherever broadcast excellence still exists.

Steve Schram Scott Westerman

Scott Regen recorded a special memorial Podcast tribute.
Hear the show 9 minutes 8MB MP3

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

Hear the show 31 minutes 30MB MP3

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

Hear the show 35 minutes 33MB MP3

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.

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

Hear the show 43 minutes 25MB MP3

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

Hear the show 37 minutes 34MB MP3

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

Hear the show 24 minutes 23MB MP3