Geoff Larcom’s sister dated Iggy way before he was famous. From the WSJ, how “Reach Out and I’ll Be There” came to be.

If you loved Keener, you might have listened to WABC on the skywaves after dark. Here’s a montage of their PAMS/JAM jingles over the years.

We’re old enough to remember how to use a record player. But for those who never had one.. Here are some instructions.

Keener trivia: Remember Tim Tam and the Turn-Ons? They hit twice on the WKNR Music Guide with “Wait a Minute” and “Cheryl Ann”. But you might not know that there were once apartment buildings in Allen Park named “Tim Tam” and “Turn Ons”.

Greenfield Village (The Henry Ford) is open.. so it must be Spring.

Phil Collins and Martha Reeves on “Heatwave”. Shouts to Susan Whitall.

God Speed Richie Havens

And some cool Keener images backing up Reunion’s 1974 classic.

How did you spend your Saturday mornings growing up in the Keener era? For many of us, weekend TV was allowed. Roy Rodgers, Superman and the Lone Ranger mixed with cocoa puffs, sugar jets or sugar pops. (remember when “sugar” was a word that the cereal people put into the names of their products?)
Keener listeners always knew it was Saturday because that’s when the mellifluous voice of Paul Cannon was heard on the radio. Behind the scenes, Paul served as WKNR Music Director during much of Keener’s prime. Record reps remember the egg timer that Paul kept on his desk. When the sand ran out, that was the abrupt end of their appointment.

Here’s a piece of WKNR Music Guide Trivia. There was only one song with “Saturday” in the title that ever charted on Keener: The Drifters’ Saturday Night at the Movies made the survey in 1964.

Here’s an historic shot from one of the famous Detroit Radio Reunions. From left to right: Scott Westerman, Curator of Keener13.com and executive producer of WKNR’s two Woodward Dream Cruise Weekend broadcasts. Steve Schram, on-air talent during Keener’s brief return in the 80s and market general manager of the cluster that included Keener’s successor, WNIC. Steve’s dream came true when the WKNR-FM property again became the number one station in Detroit. New York radio legend, Pat St. John, perhaps the youngest DJ to ever have a full time shift on Keener during it’s final prime. And Bob Berry, who’s most notable Michigan radio credits included WVIC, CKLW, and WDRQ. All four were voices heard on WKNR at one time or another. Where are they now? Bob and Pat are celebrating 40 decades in broadcasting and are still on the air. Steve is the director of Michigan Radio (WUOM, WVGR, WFUM, MichiganRadio.org), one of the nation’s premiere public radio clusters. Scott is Executive Director of the Michigan State University Alumni Association, an institution that spawned some great radio talent, including Chicago institution, John “Records” Landecker.

We’re remembering Annette Funicello this week. You might not know that our favorite Mousekateer sang what became one of the most recognizable TV theme songs of all time Here’s a classic Keener13 Podcast from January of 2005 with the back story and some rare audio clips from Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, juxtaposed with Harry Shearer’s dead on imitation during his time with The Credibility Gap.

Remember the classic Faygo commercials of the early 70s? What series did the actor who played the frustrated shop keeper star in during radio’s golden age?

Another classic from 1965. Former Limeliters front man Glenn Yarbrough on the Danny Kaye show singing his Keener hit, “Baby the Rain Must Fall”. What may be lesser known is that the song is also the title of a 1965 film starring Steve McQueen and Lee Remick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o_MtK5QVVk

Did you know… That the Tigers flagship station used to be 1310? Back before Keener, WKMH was the Detroit home for Tiger Baseball play by play with Ernie Harwell and George Kell at the microphone. Fred Knorr, the managing partner of the group that owned WKMH, WKHM in Jackson and WKNX in Flint, was part owner of the Tigers and was heavily involved with the team until his untimely death. After the Bengals moved to WJR, George Kell turned his talents to television, providing play-by-play there for many years. But the Keener generation, Ernie Harwell will always be the voice of summerHere’s the page from the 1968 Tiger yearbook featuring the names we remember best. (Click the picture to see a full size version.) Remember the biblical quote that Ernie would always read at the start of each season?

“For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.”
– Ernie Harwell quoting the Bible’s Song of Solomon 2:11-12

With shouts to Facebook’s Rock and Roll Orphanage, here’s a shot of of John Lennon’s 65 Rolls Royce Phantom V. Wonder if he did the spray work himself?

.. on what would have been his 74th birthday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFcY_ArJ9X8

Happy Birthday from the Keener13.com team!