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 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“.