Remembering Brian Wilson
There was always a peculiar geometry to the music of Brian Wilson, a sense of vast, sun-bleached space being meticulously organized inside the four walls of a recording studio. To hear of his passing at eighty-two is to imagine the door to that studio finally closing, a quiet click after decades of miraculous, agonizing noise. The news itself felt like one of his compositions: arriving with a surface simplicity that belied a profound, underlying ache. The architect of the California myth, the man who gave the American summer its official soundtrack, has fallen silent. But the structures he built—those towering cathedrals of harmony—remain, shimmering and permanent on the horizon of our memory.
He was, from the start, a paradox: the homesick traveler in the land of fun. The early Beach Boys hits were brilliant feats of cultural cartography, mapping a nation’s idyllic fantasy of itself with two-minute bursts of genius. “I Get Around,” “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” “Fun, Fun, Fun”— a few of the 21 Beach Boy tunes which charted on Keener were not mere songs but destinations, delivered with a falsetto so pure it felt like an aspiration. Yet the cartographer himself was an indoor kid, a troubled soul with a damaged ear who found the crashing surf less inspiring than the intricate harmonies of the Four Freshmen. He was building a paradise he felt unfit to inhabit, and the tension between the joyful product and the anxious creator was the engine of his art.
That tension became the text with Pet Sounds. Spurred by the artistic leap of The Beatles’ Rubber Soul, Wilson turned his gaze inward, and the music followed. The album, released in 1966, was a pivot from declarative joy to interrogative vulnerability. He traded the certainties of the boardwalk for the deep ambiguities of the human heart. Using the session musicians of the Wrecking Crew as his orchestra, he composed with an alchemist’s touch, turning the base metals of pop into something golden, fragile, and deeply strange. On “God Only Knows,” he crafted what Paul McCartney would call the most perfect song ever written, a piece of music that holds a lover’s devotion and a spiritual seeker’s doubt in the same beautiful, trembling hand. He had created, as he famously said, “a teenage symphony to God,” and in its poignant silences, you could hear the sound of his own isolation.
If Pet Sounds was a prayer, Smile was a schism. The legendary unfinished album was an attempt to deconstruct pop music and reassemble it as a sprawling, kaleidoscopic vision of Americana. It was modular, mischievous, and so far ahead of its time that it broke time itself. The project’s collapse under the weight of its own ambition, coupled with Wilson’s deteriorating mental health and the incomprehension of his bandmates, is the central tragedy of his story. He flew too close to the sun, and for the next twenty years, he lived in the shadow of his own fall, a recluse haunted by the very music that was supposed to set him free.
The long wilderness that followed was a grim chapter, marked by stories of debilitating illness, immense weight gain, and the exploitative control of his therapist, Eugene Landy. Wilson became a byword for genius undone, a cautionary tale whispered in recording studios and rock-and-roll biographies. But what was mistaken for an ending was merely a protracted intermission. The slow, heroic climb back into the light, facilitated by the love and fierce protection of his wife, Melinda Ledbetter, is the testament to his life’s true meaning: survival.
His return to the stage was a thing of quiet bravery. He would sit at his piano, a fragile, almost translucent figure, surrounded by a band of brilliant young musicians who helped him carry the weight of his own creations. And then, in 2004, came the miracle. He revisited, reconstructed, and finally released Smile. It was more than a record; it was an act of reconciliation with his own ghost. To see him perform it was to witness a man turning his greatest trauma into a shared, cathartic triumph. The symphony was complete.
The tributes from his peers—McCartney, Elton John, Springsteen, Questlove—all circle the same essential truth: Brian Wilson was a harmonic pioneer who wrote the feelings that others could only grope for. He composed joy from a place of profound pain, built monuments to togetherness out of his own solitude. He was the lonely boy in the room who invited the whole world in to listen. Now that he is gone, we are left with that invitation, still echoing. He has left the studio, but the sound—his sound, that impossible blend of sunshine and sorrow—plays on, a chord that resolves into eternity.
Keener Today – June 3
It was a rare moment in time when Steve Schram and I were in the same place without anyone demanding our time. We were both independent agents with a lot more resume paragraphs ahead of us. As was our practice during the days when we roomed together in college, we were sifting through my collection of 45s and reel to reel tapes. Around 3am on June 3, 2002, I threaded the PAMS Clyde jingle demo into the machine and turned up the volume.
I designed the house for this sort of thing, with my work suite on the opposite side of the master bedroom where my wife had long ago retreated. We leaned back in our chairs, inhaling the aroma of vinyl and Mylar. The PAMS boys sang “WKNR,” and the “Cool Logos You Didn’t Expect” blasted the Motor City Music moniker over and over for the millionth time. We shook our heads and exclaimed how lucky we were to have walked into 15001 Michigan Avenue to fall under the Keener 13 spell.
Keener sealed what became a five-decade friendship. And at that moment in the early June morning, one of us said, “We ought to create a tribute website to the station.”
Being the digital nerd, I had one up and running almost instantly. We contacted our radio heroes, the legendary Keener Keymen for recollections and contributions to the archives. Fans came out of the woodwork with a snowstorm of WKNR Music Guides, promotional materials, the Keener Gold record albums and the annual LPs Phil Nye and the Contact Newsmen created to commemorate the year in sound.
That first website was written in raw HTML code. I was able to convince a web host to give us the immense data storage we needed for hours of airchecks, and megabytes of scans. We were able to sit down with Bob Green, Pat St. John, Scott Regen and Russ Gibb for extended conversations about their Keener memories and the extraordinary careers that followed.
Somewhere along the way, I discovered a plug-in for the Winamp MP3 player that did a pretty good job of segueing the Keener music and imaging. Shoutcast was still brand new, and with a rudimentary compression feature between the two programs, I fed Steve the 24 hour program stream we tweaked to give us our Keener fix whenever and wherever we wanted it.
That same year, the good people at Clear Channel gave us access to the 1310 Khz frequency that was Keener’s home base during the Woodward Dream Cruise. Through the generosity of a number of Keener originals, we brought back the WKNR sound that summer and the next. Steve had his own Keener on-air experience when the company briefly branded the AM signal as WWKR. For me, the Dream Cruise broadcast would be the only time my voice passed through Jerry Martin’s home-brew audio processors and into the ether via the antenna farm just south of I-94.
We’ve lived in many places and done many different things since then, but the Keener project was always percolating in the background. Just when we thought we had found every last morsel of history, I would receive a message from another devoted Keenerfan with some new addition to the archives.
In the fall of 2019, I published Motor City Music – Keener 13 and the Soundtrack of Detroit with scans of every WKNR Music Guide, a history of the station and facts about Detroit and the world for every year of the Keener era.
A highlight of our lives was to be included when Frank “Swingin” Sweeney organized an anniversary gathering of the Keener originals in New York. Bob Green engaged Jon Wolfert to fire up the Sonovox to create fresh Jock Shouts for all of us.
Steve’s dedication to the Keener properties was stellar. He was in charge of the cluster during WNIC’s glory years, setting a record for the highest billing and most profitable performance in the group’s history. During his tenure, Detroit Radio Reunions included an on-air gathering at 15001. Yes, CKLW ultimately put WKNR out of business. But for the generation who grew up in Detroit in the mid 1960s, Keener remained the gold standard.
By 2023, I had transitioned from Winamp to a broadcast automation system for our private audio stream. Live365 found a business model that made wider distribution both legal and within our financial reach. Keener13.com became to home of Keener 2.0, mixing the best of the Keener spirit with an expanded playlist that featured music from the soundtrack of our lives. I added a digital request function, found a 313 area coded phone number for text-in dedications and wrote code to deliver the weather and short features automatically to “every device, everywhere.” Smart phones, Alexa devices and browsers from coast to coast and around the world could now hear the little station that had trouble reaching Roseville after dark during its brief broadcast prime.
As of today, over 100,000 unique listeners have found Keener again. We don’t promote it beyond the website and have been stunned and delighted by the support we’ve received from Keenerfans, old and new, some of whom were yet to be born when the radio station was on the air.
At one time, we thought about investing in an underwriting effort to pump money into local promotion in Detroit, including that classic billboard next to the I94 tower site, and personally engaging locally to promote the station that champions the Motor City and the State of Michigan.
We ultimately decided to fund the project while we can, as it is, knowing that all good things, including our vision of our favorite radio station ultimately pass into history.
The Keener philosophy of intelligent flexibility, creativity and a commitment to excellence shaped our careers, contributed to many memorable experiences and fostered friendships we treasure to this day. “What would Bob Green or Frank Maruca do?” are questions we asked ourselves again and again. Authenticity, accessibility and a commitment to quality has guided every phase of this project. It became the secret sauce for whatever career success we may have enjoyed.
Keener13.com has outlived the original by over two decades. As broadcast radio has homogenized, Keener has tried to “keep it real,” an idea you all helped create and breathe fresh life into with every digital request.
We now know when and where each listener listens, on what device and for how long, data that was once a dice-roll based on the authenticity of ratings diary entries. Our weather forecasts are now often nationwide, and Keener is still “first to care” about the turning pages in the lives of the artists and listeners who helped define a lifetime.
During our days behind a Top 40 microphone, the highlights were the personal connections we felt with the audience. It is something I still feel whenever I see a familiar name pop up on the request queue or notice a city, state, province or country that has self-identified as a regular Keener13.com listener.
Keener is a reminder that what we share in common far outweighs what may divide us, how the universal language of music can still inspire, and the important burden of accountability Steve and I feel for having the honor of carrying the WKNR mantle forward into the 21st Century.
We thank Jon and Mary at JAM Creative Productions for allowing us access to the imaging, to Ken Deutsche for rescuing the PAMS jingle masters from erasure, to Radio’s Best Fried, Art Vuolo, Jr. for his constant cheerleading, and to the men and women who worked for Knorr Broadcasting during Keener’s heyday, many of whom went on to become broadcasting legends in their own right.
And we thank you, whoever you are, wherever you are, for always keeping it Keener. May the hits just keep on comin!
Scott Westerman and Steve Schram
Keener Today – May 24
Today in History:
- 1844 – Samuel F.B. Morse gave the first public demonstration of his telegraph by sending a message from the Supreme Court Chamber in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. to the B&O Railroad “outer depot” (now the B&O Railroad Museum) in Baltimore. The famous message was, “What hath God wrought?”
- 1883 – After 14 years of construction, the Brooklyn Bridge opened, connecting the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River.
- 1956 – At Chess Studios in Chicago, Bo Diddley recorded his composition “Who Do You Love?”
- 1969 – The Guess Who made their U.S. television debut, lip-syncing “These Eyes” and “Laughing,” on ABC’s “American Bandstand.”
- 1969 – The Who peaked at No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart with “Pinball Wizard,” their fourth Top 40 single in the U.S.
- 1976 – France and Britain began trans-Atlantic Concorde service to Washington, DC. The supersonic transport also flew from London to New York during its 27 years of commercial operation, flying these routes at record speeds, in less than half the time of other airliners. The Concorde’s last flight was on November 26, 2003.
- 1978 – Van Halen’s self-titled debut album was certified gold by the RIAA. It later went on to sell 10 million copies in the U.S.
- 1986 – Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz, and Peter Tork reunited as the Monkees and began a successful tour at the Concord Hotel, in the Catskill Mountains of New York state.
- 1989 – “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” starring Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Alison Doody, John Rhys-Davies, and River Phoenix, opened in U.S. and Canadian movie theaters.
- 1991 – After a limited release in major cities (starting with Los Angeles), Madonna’s concert documentary Truth or Dare opened in theaters.
Today’s Birthdays:
- Queen Victoria was born in 1819. (d. 1901) – Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 until her death; the Victorian era is named after her.
- Tommy Chong is 86 – Born in 1936. Canadian-American comedian, actor, and musician best known as half of the comedy duo Cheech & Chong.
- Bob Dylan is 86 – Born in 1941. Influential American singer-songwriter, Nobel laureate in literature, known for songs like “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Like a Rolling Stone.”
- Patti LaBelle is 81 – Born in 1944. American singer and actress, often called the “Godmother of Soul.”
- Priscilla Presley is 80 – Born in 1945. American actress and businesswoman, former wife of Elvis Presley, and co-founder of Elvis Presley Enterprises.
- Alfred Molina is 72 – Born in 1953. English actor known for roles in Spider-Man 2, Frida, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- Rosanne Cash is 70 – Born in 1955. American singer-songwriter and author, daughter of country legend Johnny Cash.
Happening in Metro Detroit:
District 4 Shred Day at 5th Precinct Parking Lot, Detroit, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM – Safely dispose of confidential documents during this community shredding event. https://detroitmi.gov/events/district-4-shred-day
Community Hours at Mobility Town: Out of Our Cars and Into the World at Newlab at Michigan Central, Detroit, 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM – Explore interactive exhibits on urban mobility and technology. https://michigancentral.com/events/
African Liberation Weekend at Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, All Day – Celebrate African heritage with music, panel discussions, and family activities. https://www.thewright.org/african-liberation-weekend
Kensington Art Fair at Kensington Metropark, Milford, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM – Browse artworks from local artists in a scenic outdoor setting. https://www.kensingtonartfair.com/
Lincoln Street Art Park at 5962 Lincoln Street, Detroit, Open All Day – Visit this outdoor sculpture garden featuring murals and installations made from salvaged materials. https://www.facebook.com/lincolnstreetartpark/
Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) at 5200 Woodward Ave, Detroit, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM – Residents of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties enjoy free admission; currently featuring the 88th Annual Detroit Public Schools Community District Student Art Exhibition. https://dia.org/events/exhibitions/88th-annual-detroit-public-schools-community-district-student-art-exhibition
Super Smash Bros Tournament at Detroit Public Library Main Branch, Detroit, 2:00 PM – Compete in or watch this gaming tournament open to the public. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/super-smash-bros-tournment-tickets-1273011895849
This Week on Keener in 1970:
Keener Today – May 23
What’s happening:
Billy Joel has canceled all upcoming concerts, including a major stadium tour, due to a brain condition called normal pressure hydrocephalus, which has affected his hearing, vision, and balance. The 76-year-old singer is undergoing physical therapy and says he’s “sincerely sorry” to disappoint fans. More. Continue reading “Keener Today – May 23”
Keener Today – May 22
Did You Know:
The Stanley Hotel — famous for inspiring Stephen King’s The Shining — is set to undergo a change in management as Sage Hospitality Group partners with the Colorado Educational and Cultural Facilities Authority to oversee the historic property. The collaboration aims to preserve the landmark’s legacy while generating $45 million over 36 years to support cultural initiatives. Continue reading “Keener Today – May 22”
Keener Today – May 21
Did You Know:
Memory can start to decline as early as your 30s, but simple, science-backed techniques can help keep your mind sharp. From paying closer attention and saying things out loud to creating associations and challenging your brain daily, there are effective ways to strengthen recall and boost long-term memory. Here are some more helpful tips. Continue reading “Keener Today – May 21”
Keener Today – May 20
Did You Know:
How your new ID can make the Airport TSA Line move faster: Some U.S. airports now use Credential Authentication Technology (CAT), allowing travelers to pass through TSA checkpoints with just a photo ID instead of a boarding pass. While this streamlines security, you’ll still need your boarding pass at the gate since airlines don’t have access to CAT systems. https://dailypassport.com/you-no-longer-have-to-show-tsa-your-boarding-pass-at-some-airports/ Continue reading “Keener Today – May 20”
Keener Today – May 19
Did you know:
Zak Starkey, is out again. The Who proves once more that they are the most dysfunctional family in Rock and Role, firing their longtime drummer and son of Ringo Starr for a second time, just two weeks after being reinstated by the band. Though asked to claim he quit voluntarily, Starkey refused, saying he would never walk away from a band he loves. Pete Townshend confirmed the change via Instagram, announcing Scott Devours as the new drummer for The Who’s farewell tour. Continue reading “Keener Today – May 19”
Keener Today – May 18
Forget your algorithmically curated playlists, your anodyne audio streams. Let’s rewind the psychic tape to a time when the WKNR Music Guide chronicled something raw, something immediate, something that felt like the whole damn world was shifting on its axis. The week ending May 16, 1966 wasn’t just a list of songs; it was a cultural seismograph. Continue reading “Keener Today – May 18”
Keener Today – May 15
The Detroit Public Schools will invest over $32 million in major upgrades, including turning the long-abandoned Cooley High into a community sports complex and moving Davis Aerospace High back to Detroit City Airport. Projects wrap by 2027. The move back to City Airport will expand the aviation and engineering curriculum to include hands-on training and double the school’s enrollment to 200 students. The project is spearheaded by Launched the Detroit Public Schools Community District Foundation, Michigan’s largest public school foundation. For more information, visit dpscdfoundation.org. Continue reading “Keener Today – May 15”
Keener Today – May 14
Rugs for men are cool again: Toupees, now called “hair systems,” are making a comeback among millennial men due to advancements in materials and craftsmanship. Social media platforms showcase the transformative power of hair systems, leading to an increase in demand for non-surgical hair loss solutions. While some men choose to keep their hair systems a secret, others advocate for transparency, viewing them as a confidence-boosting accessory akin to hair extensions for women
More: https://www.gq.com/story/toupee-comeback-trend-hair-system Continue reading “Keener Today – May 14”
Keener Today – May 13
Belle Isle’s 100-year-old fountain is closing until 2027 for $6 million in renovations, starting this week. The upgrades include removing the lower section’s marble and fixing its 510 foot lower bowl. Federal pandemic relief funds will pay for the work.If you spend lots of WiFi tine at local Detroit coffee shops, you may soon be rethinking your habit. Some bistros are limiting laptop use to reduce remote work and boost customer turnover. Owners say it protects their business and encourages more face to face interaction. Continue reading “Keener Today – May 13”
