1960s Radio: More Than Music

[admin]

I did not listen to radio much before 1964 and in the beginning was swept away by the music of the British Invasion along with a few others my age. Rather than sitting around the "family radio" which was becoming a distant memory, most of us carried around a transitor radio.

This device would become a window into our world in which we were kept up to date by the information relayed by our favourite radio host. Surely you must remember your favourite, you know the "adult" on the radio who joined with us in embracing the latest music while our parents winced with each new rocking tune. Who knew that the ipod and iphone would one day be on the horizon.

The radio, however, would become far more to us than a vehicle for music. It was a social planner, a sounding board, an update on the news and weather and let us not forget the dedication line that allowed us to show shower the love of our week with a special announcement for all to hear.

I am interested in what 1960s radio was for you. And Stan, was it as exciting on the inside?

[Scastles]

When I entered radio in the late '60s, it was exciting and changing rapidly. Stations were finding themselves caught up in change they weren't quite sure how to deal with. It was more than just Top 40. There was a mix coming on of rock and pop. AM radio was still the avenue for artists because FM's rise was still a few years off, but AM was finding it difficult fitting round pegged artists into square pegged holes.
There were so many new artists along with so many new sounds. It was overwhelming.
Basic on air presentations didn't change much, at first. However, as time went on during that period, certain staples of AM radio changed. Newscasts became more precise and shorter. Weather was a quick blurb. Public service presentations were all but eliminated, except on Sunday mornings. Music was the focal point. Jocks were to be a natural extention of the music. What was said, was to be said over the lip/intro of the song. Chatter became more limited, other than over the music. Get in, get out. The pace was increased and you stopped for nothing. These were the guidelines then, but this too evolved.
When FM came along in the early '70's all the rules were out the window.
There hasn't been a time like that in radio before or since. It was certainly some of the more innovative times. It was fun without a doubt.

[xpitt]

The sweetest memories ! What comes straight into my mind is the wonderful Van Morrison song from his "Enlightenment" album: "In The Days Before Rock'n'Roll" . Everything about those radio days is in there ! I don't know how old I was when I got that "Radio Man" radio construction kit but it was phantastic ! Medium wave , well, AM of course - goin through all that stations here in germany - the BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service) , I was raised near Hannover, North Germany, Radio Hilversum, a dutch station and of course Radio Luxembourg. This Radioman - kit came with those old bakelite headphones, when everybody was already sleeping I listened to those bangers " A Hard Day's Night" the Stones' "It's All Over Now", "Hippy Hippy Shake from the Swinging Blue Jeans, Dave Clark Five , The Mersey Beats,Them, and all the others, too many to mention all - remember Gene Pitney ? Well, this was music from another planet for us ! And the sound never heard before with such an overwhelming power ! Of course we tried to put on those stations on our parents radios - but my brother and I had no chance, this music was far beyond their possibilities, whereas my father liked Satchmo and Paul Anka stuff. Yeah, I like to remeber these times of analog radio and later the scratching records

[shamustwin]

Los Angeles AM & FM

Having a slightly older sister, as a kid I started getting interested in rock and roll just pre-Brit Invasion. Growing up in So. Cal, the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean were early faves. My first record was Surf City by Jan And Dean. Surf and car culture was dominant in our neck of the woods, I suscribed to Surfer Magazine when I was eleven.

I remember the pre-invasion hype, then of course the invasion. We had the great radio station - KRLA, with Bob Eubanks, Dave Hull, Emperor Hudson, as well as KFWB. Humble Harv, a late night jock on KRLA, went home early and found his wife with another man. Bang bang, Humble Harv's off the air, doing time elsewhere.

Slightly later came KHJ, which some say invented top 40 radio. Sam Riddle, Robert W. Morgan were a few of KHJ's jocks. The melody of their call station jingle is being used at countless radio stations to this day. Then there was XERB from Tijuana, where late at night you could hear Wolfman Jack spinning hard-core soul. The weak signal just enhanced the mystery.

KRLA and KHJ were heavily into All Things Brit Invasion, as well as major promoters for our local bands including the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Spirit, the aforementioned Beach Boys and the Doors. Of course we got all the Motown and East coast rock as well.

KFWB had a jock who actually ended up collaborationg with Brian Wilson, IIRC.

I'll often read this band or that band didn't make in-roads until such and such record, and I'll be surprised, for these stations had been playing their records all along.

As they do, good things get show-biz-ed out, so by the end of the '60's those pop radio stations were losing listeners and my interest. Turning teen-aged as the decade ended played a part, no doubt.

KABC-FM was the first FM station I was aware of, and they were way cool to my ears. Non-edited long album cuts by the likes of Hendrix, Zepplin now filled my headphones, while the jocks spoke in druggy codes I pretended to undertand. KABC became KLOS, Eliot Mintz being one jock. KMET started at this time, a clone to KLOS. It went on into the '80's and '90's as a Spandex and Hair band bastion, gone now but for many, not forgotten.

KPPC in Pasadena took KLOS's cool a mile further, once having a jock (claim) to have taken acid on the air, for our amusement.

KLOS still exists as a classic rock station endlessly playing Freebird and L.A. Woman (yawn). KPPC went off the air for a bit, IIRC for being bad boys and girls to the FCC, came back on the air as KROQ, hitting it's stride in the New Wavey days of the '80's. Anyone around in those days can still remember the reverential tones in which Richard Blade would pronounce 'Duran Duran'. KROQ still exists, playing mostly pop-punk and hardcore stragglers (bigger yawn).

For a while though, AM was super cool, and FM was as free-form as it could get.

[xpitt]

Then there was XERB from Tijuana, where late at night you could hear Wolfman Jack spinning hard-core soul. The weak signal just enhanced the mystery.

Yeah, Wolfman Jack ! When my family moved to Munich in '67 I'd use to listen to AFN, American Forces Network, as in the name - a station run by the servicemen. They used to kind of "import" radio shows and Wolfman Jack was just the coolest among them
http://www.radiohof.org/discjockey/wolfmanjack.html
http://www.wolfmanjack.org/wolfman1.htm

When I grew up in northern germany there were these "pirate" radio stations, they were broadcasting from offshore somewhere in the north sea. In these days the laws concerning broadcasting were quite strict, no private radio was allowed. These stations really rocked and were too subversive for the narrow-minded and bourgois establishment these days. The British government then enacted the "Marine Broadcasting Offences Act" and in August '67 most of them gave up
Radio Caroline, the most famous, is said to be still active....from wheresoever .. Here are some links :

http://neuerdings.com/2009/04/07/radio- ... r-titanic/ (german site, some nice pics !)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Nort ... ernational
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/au ... .musicnews
http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/news/Bri ... ticle.html

Those were the days may friend, we thought they'd never end.....

[wmthor]

When I grew up in northern germany there were these "pirate" radio stations, they were broadcasting from offshore somewhere in the north sea. ... The British government then enacted the "Marine Broadcasting Offences Act" and in August '67 most of them gave up ... Those were the days may friend, we thought they'd never end.....

Alex, you just might be interested in this movie. I understand that it has already been released in Europe, and will be released in the US later this summer.

[xpitt]

Cooool !! Richard , thank you for this link . I'm gonna keep my eyes and ears open to get the chance to watch this movie. One of the actors - the bearded one - in this clip even looks a little like Wolfman Jack. In the seventies there even was a bomb attack on one of those ships with fire breaking out afterwards . The roots of terrorisms are always in fuggy minds ....mmmh , but Rock'n'Roll didn't bring peace to the world either....

[shamustwin]

I used to run to record store every week to pick up one of these song charts. Wish I would have saved them!

http://93khj.blogspot.com/

[rictified]

I listened to AM radio all though the 60's until "underground" FM came on the scene. My ears were glued to the radio from 1964 until the early 80's when "underground" and AOR gave way to hmm, what was that? The mid 60's were an especially exciting time in radio for me as were the late 70's. I find the free form spirit of the 70's on XM on certain stations although nothing can capture the feeling on a progressive rock station from 1975. I listened to WORC AM when I was a kid, heard every new Beatle, Rolling Stone, Gerry and The Pacemakers, etc. single on that station. I then listened to WBCN, a well known Boston FM station all though the 70's, it was my friend and I felt I knew the jocks personally. I could not wait to turn on the radio and listen to WBCN "The American Revolution" The station was bought somewhere near the end of the 70's, they went on strike (right around the time of the movie FM) basically won their strike and were still good for a time afterwards but eventually lost the free spirit they had once had. I was still loyal to BCN until I moved to and back from another state in 1995 to 1998 and was shocked to find that they had changed their format and fired all my favorite jocks who migrated to a Boston Classic Rock station.
Radio right now is a sad story of greed and bean counters.

[wmthor]

My ears were glued to the radio from 1964 ...

When I was in jr. high & high school, I use to go to sleep at night with a little transistor radio under my pillow.