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GR Radio in 1967

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Scratchy45LP
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GR Radio in 1967

Post by Scratchy45LP » Thu Mar 03, 2022 4:55 pm

My first post on the board! I was 14 years old in 1967. I lived in Grandville. We rode our bikes to WERX, which was on 52nd street and chatted with the deejays. I remember chatting with John Landecker. 52nd street was a gravel road back then.I have a modest music guide collection 1965 to 1983. I'd post the pic, but haven't figured out how to upload it to the board.


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originalzzmfmjock
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Re: GR Radio in 1967

Post by originalzzmfmjock » Fri Mar 04, 2022 10:51 pm

I was 15 in 1967 and remember radio in Grand Rapids during this time period. Some great radio to listen to back in the day. Grand Rapids had 3 Top 40 stations in 1967. WERX/1530, WGRD/1410 and WLAV/1340. Plus the FM band was starting to come to life with 2 stations WJFM/93.7 and WZZM 95.7 starting to play some contemporary music. I did music research for both Greg Fabos and Steve McGowan at WERX in 1966 and when Steve was hired in 1967 to program WJFM and "The Modern Sound", he took me along with him. After about 9 months management threw us out the door because we were playing "TOO MUCH ROCK AND ROLL". Grand Rapids also had a dominant MOR station WOOD/1300 and a country station WJEF/1230. WOOD and WLAV pretty much dominated the ratings in Grand Rapids, but WGRD beat WLAV in the ratings in the summer of 1967, causing WLAV to make some big changes. They cut way back on the commercial load and played a lot more music starting in the fall of 1967.

Some really good talent on the air in Grand Rapids in 1967. At WERX you had the already mentioned John Landecker, John Leader (before he went to work for GRD in the summer of '67), Tom Ambrose, Jackson Ross, Bill Adams, John O'Day, Bruce Michaels, Lee Lyons and several others. WGRD had Jim Francis, John Shannon, Wayne Thomas, and John Alan. Over at WLAV you could listen to people like Bill Merchant, Dick McKay, Jay Collins, George "The Fine Baby" Arthur, Michael Jay, and Tom Roberts. I've got some air checks of some of these guys from the 1965-69 range, but wish I had more. Also still have all of the music lists from WERX, WGRD, WLAV and WMAX. Fun things to pull out and look at from time to time. Definitely some fun times in Grand Rapids radio.

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Ben Zonia
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Re: GR Radio in 1967

Post by Ben Zonia » Sat Mar 05, 2022 4:14 am

One confusing thing its that many DJs used their real first name and middle name as surname in their stage name. There are only so many common given names. So sometimes there may be two people with the same name. Most of the surnames that were dropped are the multisyllabic Germanic/Yiddish names, and Polish surnames. Occasionally Italian surnames. There are at least two Mike Kellys in Michigan, and at least two Dusty Rhodes. One Dusty, first name Clarence, Rhodes, ended up as a H*** MSU benefactor, MSU stadium and venue announcer, and Lansing Area Restaurateur. Clarence is probably the most often given name changed or dropped, such as Clarence "Clark" Weber at various Chicago stations heard and listened to in Grand Rapids in the 1960s.

Tom Roberts, real name Thomas Lawcock, was at a number of Flint and Phoenix stations. Seems like Pete Cavanugh had two different people named Tom Roberts at WTAC. Not sure which Tom Roberts was at WLAV, one of those two or a third. Jackson Ross and John Landecker (as Dow Jones) were also both at WTRX. Tom Ambrose was another that worked for Pete at WTAC and or WWCK, I forget the stage name.

I guess Tom Ambrose was the stage name, and legal name after he changed it. Sadly, Obits are often the source of the most accurate biographies.

https://obits.mlive.com/us/obituaries/g ... id=9684279

Check out 440 Satisfaction to connect some of the stage name dots. Valuable but VERY incomplete and VERY inaccurate as to time frame at various stations. Some of the more famous DJs drop all their early small market stops. You would think they started at the top markets from those timelines.

You should also check out the Remember WTAC Big 600 Facebook Page for people who passed through.

Also, sign up for ARSA for accurate DJ timelines on the various station Surveys at various stations, Also, the overwhelming but useful information at worldradiohistory.com.
Last edited by Ben Zonia on Sat Mar 05, 2022 10:25 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Scratchy45LP
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Re: GR Radio in 1967

Post by Scratchy45LP » Sat Mar 05, 2022 12:18 pm

originalzzmfmjock wrote:
Fri Mar 04, 2022 10:51 pm
I've got some air checks of some of these guys from the 1965-69 range, but wish I had more. Also still have all of the music lists from WERX, WGRD, WLAV and WMAX. Fun things to pull out and look at from time to time. Definitely some fun times in Grand Rapids radio.
I have plenty of WLAV, WERX, WGRD and WZZM music guides. I have zero WMAX. I've been in a nostalgic mood lately. The most impressive GR music guide I have is the WZZM SOUVENIR issue dated Dec 20, 1968. It's a trifold with a cat playing a guitar on the front. The back has the names of the super jocks playing 18 hours of rock 'n' roll. Dave Alexander, Bill Holen, and John Alan.
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Scratchy45LP
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Re: GR Radio in 1967

Post by Scratchy45LP » Sat Mar 05, 2022 12:48 pm

Ben Zonia wrote:
Sat Mar 05, 2022 4:14 am
Tom Roberts, real name Thomas Lawcock, was at a number of Flint and Phoenix stations. Seems like Pete Cavanugh had two different people named Tom Roberts at WTAC. Not sure which Tom Roberts was at WLAV, one of those two or a third. Jackson Ross and John Landecker (as Dow Jones) were also both at WTRX. Tom Ambrose was another that worked for Pete at WTAC and or WWCK, I forget the stage name.

I guess Tom Ambrose was the stage name, and legal name after he changed it. Sadly, Obits are often the source of the most accurate biographies.
Check out 440 Satisfaction to connect some of the stage name dots. Valuable but VERY incomplete and VERY inaccurate as to time frame at various stations. Some of the more famous DJs drop all their early small market stops. You would think they started at the top markets from those timelines.

You should also check out the Remember WTAC Big 600 Facebook Page for people who passed through.

Also, sign up for ARSA for accurate DJ timelines on the various station Surveys at various stations, Also, the overwhelming but useful information at worldradiohistory.com.
I didn't know John Landecker was at WTRX. I think he went to WILS after WERX.

In my music guide collection is a 12 page newspaper "GO World's largest circulation of any pop weekly. Free from WTAC Big 600 Radio". It's dated August 4, 1967. Page 6 is the WTAC Top 40. Page 7 is a news story about WTAC bringing GO to Flint.
Some of the news in the paper: Cher loses baby, Troubles galore for the Who, Name change for the Supremes, Procol Harum split, The Troggs get jailed in Germany. This newspaper has a lot of news in it!
Michigander held hostage in Missouri. Go Detroit Tigers!

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Ben Zonia
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Re: GR Radio in 1967

Post by Ben Zonia » Sat Mar 05, 2022 1:38 pm

WTRX is documented in at least three places, Starship Radio 73, "Records Truly Is My Middle Name", and Chicago Radio Spotlight, the link is below.

http://chicagoradiospotlight.blogspot.c ... ecker.html

He used the name "Dow Jones" on WTRX, so he could be a "Jones Boy". You can find Starship Radio 73 on worldradiohistory.com. It takes a long time to load.

Starship Radio 73 showed both WTRX and WERX, which may have confused some people. It's under the Chicago, IL WLS listing in the DJ Histories. He graduated from University High and went to MSU starting in 1965. It was in between his Freshman and Sophomore years at MSU, so it was 1966, and I have vague recollections of him doing 7 PM to Midnight Sundays. He may have done other days and vacation fill ins also.

Is the GO Magazine the first issue? That's on ARSA, I believe.

Image

So John was on at least FOUR stations now owned by Cumulus, WTRX, WOIA (WWWW-FM), WLS, and WLS-FM. There's also a podcast on the WWTN Nashville site from three years ago where Bob Dell's son Michael DelGiorno interviewed John Landecker. I tried to find it the other day, but couldn't. It's really interesting if you can find it. He mentioned being at WTRX, and knowing Bob Dell, who went to Chicago at WIND in the early 1970s, finally using his given surname DelGiorno. Michael admitted listening to Larry Lujack and John Landecker on WLS, but not his father on WIND!

In some interviews, he has mentioned WLS, WCFL, and WLAC as being his favorite stations at Night in his Native Ann Arbor, as only WAAM 1600 stayed on 24 hours, and CKLW and WKNR, etc. were a mess at Night.
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Scratchy45LP
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Re: GR Radio in 1967

Post by Scratchy45LP » Sat Mar 05, 2022 5:53 pm

Ben Zonia wrote:
Sat Mar 05, 2022 1:38 pm
Is the GO Magazine the first issue? That's on ARSA, I believe
That was the first issue for WTAC, per the article on page 7. It has the Young Rascals on the front page. Paul Revere The Raiders on the back. Also, thanks for all the places to research on the web. WTAC was called "weetac" and WTRX was "Trixie"? I never ventured to that part of the state. I don't know how I got the WTAC music guides.
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Ben Zonia
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Re: GR Radio in 1967

Post by Ben Zonia » Sat Mar 05, 2022 11:28 pm

WTRX was "Trix". WXYZ was "Wixie". So I guess "Trixie" is a conflation of "Trix" and "Wixie".

Re: your tag line, do you remember when KLIK was on 950? And was owned by R. Dana McVay, who owned WKNX 1210 Saginaw and WTPS 1560 Portage? WWJ used to sign off from 1 AM to 5 AM on Monday mornings, and they had some kind of agreement that KLIK could go 5000 watts nondirectional during the experimental period while WWJ was off the air for maintenance? I think KLIK ran AT40 during that time.
Last edited by Ben Zonia on Sun Mar 06, 2022 10:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Ben Zonia
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Re: GR Radio in 1967

Post by Ben Zonia » Sun Mar 06, 2022 1:49 am

Here's the link for Starship Radio 1973, from worldradiohistory.com

Loads slow, but great historical station personnel source, including DJ Resumes.

https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-R ... 1973_C.pdf
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Scratchy45LP
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Re: GR Radio in 1967

Post by Scratchy45LP » Sun Mar 06, 2022 5:47 pm

Ben Zonia wrote:
Sat Mar 05, 2022 11:28 pm
do you remember when KLIK was on 950? And was owned by R. Dana McVay, who owned WKNX 1210 Saginaw and WTPS 1560 Portage? WWJ used to sign off from 1 AM to 5 AM on Monday mornings, and they had some kind of agreement that KLIK could go 5000 watts nondirectional during the experimental period while WWJ was off the air for maintenance? I think KLIK ran AT40 during that time.
We moved to Jefferson City from Auburn Nebraska in September 1981. Brill Media might have been the owner of 950 KLIK and 106.9 KJFF at the time? What about the 950 station in Denver? I think they were 1KW at night during that time. During what years was the experimental period?
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