An artifact from yesteryear: Michael Audia shared this late 60s Detroit FM Radio line up on Facebook this week. We can date the find based on the inclusion of WXYZ-FM. The ABC O&O took on it’s famous moniker, WRIF, on February 14 1971. Progressive rock was germinating at the center of the dial in Detroit, with WABX, WKNR and WXYZ leading the way. Jerry Goodwin, Russ Gibb, Dan Carlisle and John Small were among the trailblazers at Keener, which evolved from a simulcast of the AM signal, to progressive/underground, to “Stereo Island” before the stations were sold in 1972.

Via the Detroit Tigers, this stunning shot of a rainbow over Comerica Park this past week as the crowd honored Aretha Franklin with a moment of silence.A public visitation will be held for “The Queen of Soul” on Aug. 28 and 29 at Charles H. Wright Museum for African American History. Franklin, who’s net worth is estimated at $80 million, died intestate (without a will).

And then there were two. Funk Brother guitarist Eddie Willis passed away this week at his home in Gore Springs, MA, at the age of 82. Guitarist Joe Messina and percussionist Jack Ashford are the last surviving members of the group of Detroit-based session musicians who backed nearly every major Motown smash from 1959 until Berry Gordy moved the company to Los Angeles in 1972.

Our cartoon this week is a “rock ‘n’ roll weather map”  from the pen of Ottawa, Ontario artist, John Atkinson. You can find more of his fascinating work at his WrongHands website. See if you can connect the references with the artists who inspired them. Click on the image to enlarge it. Several have direct connections with the Keener era.

This week in Keener History: The Marvelettes earned Motown it’s first number one with “Please Mr. Postman” (Video) in 1961. Three years later, almost to the day, Martha and the Vandellas released “Dancing in the Street” (Video). On August 16, 1962, Ringo Starr made his first appearance as a Beatle at the 17th annual celebration for the Birkenhead, England Horticultural Society. He rehearsed with the band for two hours before the show. This week in 1963, James Meredith became the first African-American to graduate from the University of Mississippi. He was the first African-American to be admitted to the segregated university, an event that was a flashpoint in the civil rights movement. This week in 1965, Tina Turner, Bo Diddley, Jackie DeShannon, and Eddie Hodges appeared on Shindig on ABC and WXYZ-TV. And in 1968, “Fire” by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (Video) enters the Keener chart at 28. It would peak at number 6 six weeks later.

Keener on Spotify: Some great listening! Here’s our playlist of The Top 13 Hits from this week in 1965. The only one not in the spotify library is Chuck Jackson’s “If I Didn’t Love You”. Here’s a link to a YouTube Video of the tune. 

Keener birthdays include Barbara Eden, who became an icon of our generation when she won the lead role in the television series “I Dream of Jeannie” (Video). The show ran for 139 episodes on NBC and WWJ-TV between 1965 and 1970. Her early screen tests began in 1957, but she earned broader recognition as Lt. Cathy Connors in Irwin Allen’s Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Prior to Jeannie, Eden starred in the Cinerama film, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, and another Irwin Allen production, Five Weeks in a Balloon. After Jeannie, she co-starred in a Dallas story arc with her former “master”, Larry Hagman. Barbara Eden turned 87 on August 23.

Were you a member of Scott Regen‘s Burger Club? Scott picked up the phone one night and heard a listener declare, “How are ya doing Burger?” It turned out that at this young man’s school, everything cool had the word “burger” tagged on the end of it. The next time he cracked the mic, Keener’s evening entertainer said, “This is Scott Burger”. And the snowball started rolling from there. Eileen Shapiro, from Clinton Jr. High School, helped form “The Royal Order of Burgers” and ended up on the air. Hear the full story of the birth of the Burger Club in Scott’s own words here.

Keener Number Ones for this week include:

(1964) House of the Rising Sun, Animals
(1965) Unchained Melody, Righteous Brothers
(1966) You Can’t Hurry Love, Supremes
(1967) Brown Eyed Girl, Van Morrison
(1968) Harper Valley PTA, Jeannie C Riley
(1969) Sugar Sugar, Archies
(1970) Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Diana Ross
(1971) Go Away Little Girl, Donny Osmond

This week’s deep dive into the WKNR Music Guide centers on August 24, 1970. It was an eclectic mix representative of the wide swath that was pop music in the day, with Diana Ross at Number 1 with “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” (We prefer the Marvin and Tammi interpretation of Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson‘s composition – Video). Detroit Dragway, promoted on the back of the guide, was still in its heyday. Here’s a link to classic Detroit Dragway commercial from 1964. Jim Tate was Keener’s morning man that year (Air Check). Bob Green remembers , “Jim came to WKNR in an Orange El Dorado with a big ‘JT’ emblazoned on the front. I was PD, and thought, ‘Oh boy, what kind of prima donna do we have here?’ This is the best example of ‘looks can be deceiving’. Jim was one of the most sincere, gentle, kind and fine individuals I ever had the luck to work with. Add to it the talent and work ethic he had… and Jim was a ‘star’ in the true sense of the word. I will always miss him.” We lost Jim to cancer in 1989.

We’ leave you with the Number 25 song from this week in 1970; a live version of Three Dog Night‘s “Out in the Country“.

During Keener’s prime, the station released a four albums of “Oldies But Goodies”; collections of hits from the recent past that continued to find their way onto the hitlines and the WKNR playlist. You can enjoy these, along with curated playlists of other Keener faves by visiting our Spotify page. Here are direct links to each of the LPs. Only two of the tunes (marked with an *) are not currently in the Spotify library. Click on the album covers to go directly to the playlist.

Sandy Nelson – Teen Beat
Gene Chandler – Duke Of Earl
Dee Dee Sharp – Mashed Potato Time
Bobby Rydell – Kissin’ Time
Hollywood Argyles – Alley-Oop
Bobby Day – Rockin’ Robin
The Skyliners – Since I Don’t Have You
Jerry Butler – He Will Break Your Heart
The Paris Sisters – I Love How You Love Me
Dee Clark – Raindrops
Rosie & The Originals – Angel Baby
Ritchie Valens – Donna

Chris Montez – Let’s Dance
The Shirelles – Soldier Boy
Del Shannon – Runaway
Kathy Young – A Thousand Stars
The Volumes – I Love You
J. Frank Wilson – Last Kiss
Ritchie Valens – La Bamba
Gary U.S. Bonds – New Orleans
Bobby Darin – Mack The Knife
The Jarmels – A Little Bit Of Soap
Maurice Williams – Stay
The Drifters On – Broadway
Dion – Run Around Sue
The Champs – Tequila

The Castaways – Liar, Liar
The Blue Jays – Lovers’ Island
The Dixie Cups – Chapel Of Love
The Tymes – So Much In Love
Jewel Akens – The Birds And The Bees
Terry Stafford – Suspicion
Little Caesar & The Romans – Those Oldies But Goodies
The Chiffons – He’s So Fine
Ronnie Dove – Say You
Barbara George – I Know
Dale & Grace – I’m Leaving It Up To You
Joey Dee & The Starliters – Peppermint Twist
The Essex – Easier Said Than Done*
The Adlibs – The Boy From New York City

The Association – Along Comes Mary
Fontella Bass – Rescue Me
Don & Juan – What’s Your Name
Bob Lind – Elusive Butterfly
The Newbeats – Bread And Butter
The Casinos – Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye
The Jaynetts – Sally, Go ‘Round The Roses
Curtis Lee – Pretty Little angel Eyes
The Five Americans – Western Union
Syndicate Of Sound – Little Girl
The Lovin’ Spoonful – Summer In The City
Count Five – Psychotic Reaction
James & Bobby Purify – I’m Your Puppet
Bobby Lewis – Tossin’ And Turnin’
The Bobby Fuller Four – I Fought The Law
B.J. Thomas – I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
Billy Stewart – Summertime
? & The Mysterians – 96 Tears
Del Shannon – Hat’s Off To Larry*
The Isley Brothers – Twist And Shout

Keenerfans everywhere are mourning the passing of the true “Queen of Soul”. Although Aretha Franklin never sang for the Motown label, her brand was inextricably connected to the Motor City. Like the town she called home, Aretha endured life’s ups and downs, resiliently introducing each new generation to her unique musical gifts. She charted 22 times on the WKNR Music Guide, beginning in March of 1967 with “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” (Video). Her final Keener hit was “Daydreaming” (Video) in February of 1972, but she would continue to be heard on our radios well into the new millennium. President Obama may have captured Aretha’s essence in his Facebook eulogy: “In her voice, we could feel our history, all of it and in every shade—our power and our pain, our darkness and our light, our quest for redemption and our hard-won respect. She helped us feel more connected to each other, more hopeful, more human. And sometimes she helped us just forget about everything else and dance.” As we’ll see later, Aretha was at number one on Keener, this week in both 1970 and 1971.

The day Aretha died also marked the 41st anniversary of the passing of Elvis Presley. That event, like the Kennedy Assassination and the day the ’68 Tigers clinched the World Series became a milepost where we stopped to remember where we were and what we were doing. “The King” was just 42 when he left us, but his brand continues to permeate every platform, including identities on both Facebook and Twitter. His estate earned $35 million dollars in 2017 alone. Of the 25 Elvis hits that made their way to the WKNR Music Guide, only “Suspicious Minds” (Video) reached number one.

This week is the 49th anniversary of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, shortened to simply “Woodstock” by the nearly half million music fans who invaded Max Yasgur’s farm in upstate New York. The event and the movie that documented it, amplified a number of musical careers, including Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Joe Cocker, Richie Havens and The Who. In 1969, WKNR-FM was at the height of it’s “Underground” glory, competing with WABX and what was then called WXYZ-FM as the Progressive Rock Genre was born. Here is a rare 90 minute clip of WKNR-FM, recorded on April 27th, 1969.

It was Woodward Dream Cruise week in Detroit and the 15th anniversary of Keener’s brief rebirth on the original 1310 AM frequency in August of 2003. Despite a power blackout that blanked much of the east coast, including Detroit, we were on the air with Bob Green, Pat St. John, Michael Stevens, Scott Regen and the other great voices who made radio history in Detroit. Recordings of that historic broadcast are collectors’ items.

In August of 1973, George Lucas came to our attention as the director of American Graffiti, a film that set him up to create the Star Wars franchise and polished the stardom of it’s ensemble cast: Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Cindy Williams, Paul LeMat, Charlie Martin Smith, Harrison Ford, Mackenzie Phillips and Candy Clark. It also introduced a new audience to Robert Weston Smith and his broadcasting altar ego, Wolfman Jack.

Keener #1 hits for the week ending August 18 include:
(1964) House of the Rising Sun, Animals
(1965) You Were On My Mind, We Five
(1966) You Can’t Hurry Love, Supremes
(1967) Society’s Child, Janis Ian
(1968) 1-2-3 Red Light, 1910 Fruit Gum Co
(1969) A Boy Named Sue, Johnny Cash
(1970) Don’t Play That Song, Aretha Franklin
(1971) Spanish Harlem, Aretha Franklin

Our WKNR Music Guide this week comes from the Summer of 1967. It shows Keener at the zenith of its popularity with the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band LP leading the pack and a Top 13 list that celebrated some great Michigan Music from the likes of Bob Seger, The Temptations and The Fantastic Four. Janis Ian‘s “Society’s Child” had just slipped from the top spot. Janis was 16 years old when Society’s Child became a hit. Here’s video of her performing the tune on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

We’ll leave you with a rare live Aretha Franklin performance, recorded in Amsterdam in 1968. Godspeed, Aretha. Your legacy lives on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFN6-O1NHeM

Lots of ground to cover this week in Keenerland!

It was a big day in Detroit automotive history on Wednesday: the 10 millionth Ford Mustang rolled off the assembly line. There was a parade of Mustangs from every year of production: 1964-2018 from Ford World HQ in Dearborn to the Flat Rock Assembly Plant (where Mustangs are assembled) It’s been the best selling sports car in America over the past 50 years. The Mustang was first revealed to the public on April 17, 1964, at the New York World’s Fair.

With the highest primary turnout in Michigan history, we celebrated by remembering Pat Paulesn‘s 1968 presidential run. Paulsen gained fame on the CBS-TV “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour”. His presidential run became a perennial event during his prime. Here’s a link to several of Pat’s Smothers Brothers “Editorials”, which lead Tom and Dick to suggest the notion of running for Commander in Chief. According to Wikipedia, “Paulsen’s name appeared on the ballot in New Hampshire for the Democratic primary several times. In 1996, he received 921 votes (1%) to finish second to President Bill Clinton (76,754 votes); this was actually ahead of real politicians such as Buffalo mayor James D. Griffin. In 1992, he came in second to George Bush in the North Dakota Republican Primary. In the 1992 Republican Party primaries, he received 10,984 votes total.”

48 years ago this week, The Goose Lake International Music Festival was held near Jackson. While Woodstock got the movie and the forever fame, Goose Lake wasn’t far behind. Construction company owner Richard Songer teamed up with WKNR-FM’s Russ Gibb to put on the show. And what a show it was. Over 200,000 people were on hand to hear performances by The Faces featuring Rod Stewart, Jethro Tull, Chicago, Ten Years After, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Mountain, John Sebastian, the James Gang featuring Joe Walsh, The Flock and The Litter. Local heroes on the revolving stage included: Bob Seger, the MC5, The Stooges, Detroit featuring Mitch Ryder, Brownsville Station, Savage Grace, Third Power and SRC. Masters of ceremonies were Teegarden & Van Winkle, who also performed. After over 150 drug arrests were made, Michigan attorney general Frank J. Kelley said, “I think we have seen the first and last rock concert of that size in Michigan”. And he was right. And speaking of John Sebastian, here’s a NYT Tale about how The Lovin’ Spoonful‘s “Summer in the City” became the sound track for every city’s summer.

Turtle Trivia: On August 7, 1965, The Turtles released what would become their first hit record, the Bob Dylan penned, “It Ain’t Me Babe” (Video). The former “Crossfires” would hit 11 times on Keener, their biggest being 1967’s “Happy Together” (Video). Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan would continue to perform in many incarnations, as members of Frank Zappa‘s band and as the duo “Flo and Eddie”.

This week in 1964, The Animals released “House of the Rising Sun” (Video). Legend has it that they recorded the tune in just one take, in less than 10 minutes. Clocking in at 4:29, the record was deemed a little too long for Keener’s tight formatics, so Paul Cannon made a special 2:58 edit that MGM records latched onto. It became the most ubiquitous version played on Top 40 stations across the country.

This was also the week when the iconic Abbey Road album cover was shot by photographer Iain MacMillan. “Paul Is Dead” conspiracy theorists believe that his barefoot stride was an indicator that he was, in fact, a corpse. Other iterations of the 6 photos MacMillian took while balanced on a step ladder show Paul in flip-flops. McCartney, who ultimately selected the iconic cover photo, later claimed that he went barefoot because it was simply a hot day. Although “Let It Be” was released later, “Abbey Road” was the final Beatles studio collaboration. BTW, The most well researched book on the Paul Is Dead phoenominon is “Turn Me On, Dead Man: The Beatles and the Paul McCartney Death Hoax“, written by Andru Reeve. It’s great reading for any Keenerfan.

In 1969, Sly and the Family Stone released “Hot Fun in the Summertime” (Video), one of 10 WKNR chart appearances for the former San Francisco disc Jockey and Denton, Texas native, Sylvester Stewart and his band. It was released in the wake of their appearance at Woodstock, an event that greatly expanded their fanbase. It’s also one of three hit singles that were never released on an LP, until Sly’s Greatest Hits collection came out in 1970.

The Keener Question of the Week: What album had the biggest impact on you as a teenager? Here is what a number of Keener Facebook Fans told us.

Did you know.. that this week in 1957 American Bandstand debuted on ABC-TV with Dick Clark as the host? Clark had been doing the show at WFIL Philadelphia, where it had been a mainstay since Bob Horn originated it in 1954. Clark’s first ABC guest: Buddy Holly. In a 1965 concert this week in Chicago, Mike Smith, lead singer of the Dave Clark Five, had two ribs broken when he was pulled off the stage by overzealous fans. Meanwhile, at the Columbia Recording Studio in Nashville, Roger Miller jumped on the British Invasion bandwagon, recording “England Swings.” From the “who discovered who” department, this week in 1969, Diana Ross hosted a party At the Beverly Hills Daisy Club for 350 special guests to announce “her discovery,” a singing group called the Jackson 5. It was actually the mercurial Bobby Taylor who discovered them and Gladys Knight who recommended them to Motown label boss Berry Gordy, Jr. Taylor passed away last year at age 83.

Keener birthdays this week include:
August 7 B.J. Thomas – 75
August 8 Connie Stevens – 79
August 9 Barbara Mason – 70
August 10 Ian Anderson – 70
August 11 Eric Carmen – 68
August 12 Buck Owens would have been 88. He passed away at age 76 in March of 2006.

Hard to believe it’s been 13 years since Jerry Garcia left us. Like too many of the great musical talents of the Keener age, Jerry struggled with addiction and health problems. And yet, he was a central personality in the founding and the 3 decade career of the prolific and continually touring Grateful Dead. While the Dead never charted on WKNR-AM, they were prominently featured on Keener FM.

Keener #1 hits for the week ending August 12 include:

(1964) Bread & Butter, New Beats
(1965) You Were On My Mind, We Five
(1966) See You in September, Happenings
(1967) Society’s Child, Janis Ian
(1968) People Got To Be Free, Rascals
(1969) A Boy Named Sue, Johnny Cash
(1970) In The Summertime, Mungo Jerry
(1971) How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, Bee Gees

This week’s deep dive into the WKNR Music Guide comes from the week of August 14, 1969. Johnny Cash was at number 1 with Shel Silverstein‘s, “A Boy Named Sue” (Video). We’re pretty sure that Keener bleeped the SOB line near the end. Ed Busch came to WKNR from CKLW and worked at W4 after his Keener service. Here’s a Freep story about his time across the river, courtesy of our good friends at Motor City Radio Flashbacks. Columnist Loraine Alterman is the “Loraine” you see Frankie Valli talking with in Jersey Boys. She went on to marry Young Frankenstein actor Peter Boyle. That Oakland Mall concert featuring Bob Seger, Savage Grace, The Third Power and The Sky ended up drawing north of 20,000 attendees.

Dave Mason posted this New Yorker comic on his Facebook Page. So many from our generation can relate to both the story and the way we’re telling it these days…

And finally, in celebration of last week’s National Oyster Day, we featured this classic Curly Howard video on the Keener FB page. Brings back memories of watching the boys on Channel 7 with Johnny Ginger!

Surfer Girl turns 55. On August 3, 1963, Brian Wilson got his first producer credit as this Capitol Records release cracked the Billboard Hot 100. It stayed on the charts for 56 weeks, peaking at number 7. Keener’s debut was still a little over two months away when this quintessential summer song was released but The Beach Boys would become Motor City Favorites, charting 21 times on the WKNR Music Guide, making them the 7th most popular artists in the Keener era. Here’s a link to a live “Surfer Girl” performance from 1964. You get a great sense for the power of the boys’ harmonies and their ability to recreate the Wrecking Crew’s studio work on stage.

It’s been 26 years since a Detroit Tiger entered the baseball hall of fame. That error was rectified as Alan Trammell and Jack Morris were inducted at Cooperstown. The last tiger to enter the hall was Hal “Prince” Newhouser. Sparky Anderson made it back in 2000. But although his longest big league gig was in Detroit, his induction was associated with his leadership of the Cincinnati Reds. Even though, most of us Keenerfans identify with the ’68 tigers, Trammell and Morris brought the pennant home to Detroit as  members of the 1984 World Championship team.

From the Bob Seger trivia department, there is now a bar honoring one of Seger’s biggest hits. According to MLive, Cat Man Do celebrated a grand opening in Unionville on July 27. Owner Dennis Collon first encountered Seger when he and “The Last Heard” played the American Legion Hall in Unionville in 1967. The Cat Man Do menu includes a “Silver Bullet” burger, “Katmandu” burger and “Bob Seger” grilled ham and cheese.

Monkee fans got a scare when Mike Nesmith collapsed during a sound check at a recent concert at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, PA. When doctors took a look they recommended quadruple bypass surgery, leading to cancellation of the last 4 dates of “The Mike and Mickey Show”. Nesmith told Rolling Stone Magazine, “I think, candidly, I’m back to 80 percent.. I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. It all feels like a natural healing process.” Monkee Davy Jones died of a heart attack in February of 2012.

Paul McCartney returned to “where it all began” with a surprise concert at the Cavern Club. It’s a departure from Paul’s usual venues, stadiums holding 180,000 plus; The Cavern Club’s fire capacity is just 350 people. NBC remembered that the Beatles played at the Cavern, before finding fame, in 1961. The original club closed 12 years later and was eventually demolished. Some entrepreneurial soul saved bricks, which were used to build a new venue on the same spot. For those keeping score, The Fab Four had the most chart appearances on Keener, 47 during WKNR’s lifetime. McCartney himself did pretty well, too. He hit on the WKNR Music Guide 7 times as a solo act.

Keener #1s for the week ending August 4th include:

(1964) Bread & Butter, New Beats
(1965) I Got You Babe, Sonny & Cher
(1966) See You in September, Happenings
(1967) Society’s Child, Janis Ian
(1968) People Got To Be Free, Rascals
(1969) A Boy Named Sue, Johnny Cash
(1970) Close to You, Carpenters
(1971) How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, Bee Gees

And this week’s deep dive into the WKNR Music Guide comes from the week of August 4, 1965. Remember the Keener Lucky License Number contest? Extra credit if you also remembered the brand of gasoline that sponsored it. The Sinclair Oil Corporation was gobbled up by Atlantic Richfield in 1969.

And finally, from a Bob Hope special, two years before NBC became “The Full Color Network”, here are The We Five singing their one hit wonder, “You Were On My Mind”. It was at #2 this week in 1965.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-7QHWJOzbE