Rock Radio Scrapbook
Christmas airchecks
Talent:
DAN NEAVERTH
Station: WKBW Buffalo, N.Y.
Date: December 24, 1965
Time: 2:30
It's Christmas Eve, 1965, and Dan Neaverth isn't putting up the Christmas tree, he's having it chopped down. You see, there's no manger in the Nativity scene, and they need some wood to build one...
This is an example of the "Theatre of the Mind" material that was once such a compelling part of radio. It made you stop, it made you listen and most important, kept you tuned in.
Hear Dan Neaverth and long-time sidekick Artie here.
(The William Snyder Collection)
|
Click
here for technical help |
Talent:
GEORGE "HOUND DOG" LORENZ
Station: WBLK Buffalo, N.Y.
Date: December, 1968
Time:
14:53
(Logo credit/The Hound Dog Lorenz Tribute site)
Christmas was always a special time during Top 40 radio's golden years, with seasonal shows and programming to celebrate the holiday.
In southern Ontario/western New York, we recall Toronto's CHUM-FM playing Beatle music every Christmas morning back in the early '70s. It wasn't Christmas music, but somehow it seemed to fit. In the '80s, there was Wes Atkinson and his wife Carol with their annual Christmas show at FM 108 in Burlington, Ont.
Stan Roberts did a Christmas morning show for years on Buffalo's WGR. And Roger Ashby has devoted his Sunday Morning Oldies Show to the Christmas theme, on the Sunday preceding Christmas. For years, Canadian FM radio legend Dave Marsden has done his own annual Christmas show, most recently on The Rock in Oshawa, Ont.
We also cannot forget the great Christmas charities, such as the CHUM Christmas Wish, whose roots go back to 1966. Please give if you can.
Buffalo legend Hound Dog Lorenz got in on the Christmas act, too. His "Cool Yule" show was a Christmas staple on his own station, WBLK-FM. Hear the Hound's "Cool Yule" from Christmas 1968 here.
(Scrapbook archives)
Talent:
J. MICHAEL WILSON
Station: CHUM Toronto
Date: December 23, 1970
Time:
16:17
J. Michael Wilson is shown on the CHUM Chart of December 26, 1970
Lots of holiday cheer on this aircheck of J. Michael Wilson recorded two days before Christmas 1970.
Wilson is in fine form as he plays the hits of the day, a few oldies and holiday tunes and makes frequent references to the CHUM Christmas Wish, then in its fifth year. You'll also hear the voices of newscasters Ron Knight and Peter Dickens, who later in the decade would wind up at CFGM and CFRB respectively. And there's also Fred Ennis on the "Gulf Traffic Watch".
This would be Wilson's last Christmas at CHUM. He replaced Bob McAdorey in afternoon drive in August, 1968 and held the slot for well over two years. Wilson left CHUM in 1971 and for a time did Saturday mornings at rival CKFH.
Enjoy J. Michael Wilson here.
(The Charlie Ritenberg Collection)
Subject:
STAN ROBERTS
Station: WGR Buffalo, N.Y.
Date: December 25, 1973
Time: 26:48
j
Long-time Buffalo morning man Stan Roberts gave us many reasons to smile over the years with his cornball sense of humour. But there was a warmth to his presentation that went far beyond the jokes. He really seemed to care about the listener, and to many he was a special friend on the airwaves. When he said he "treasured" being on the air (as he does on this aircheck), you knew it to be true.
Roberts especially shone during his annual Christmas morning show, which aired during his tenure at WGR from 1972 to 1981. Roberts took calls from listeners (many of them kids), played some great holiday music, and tied it all together with his wonderful on-air style. It was personality radio at its finest.
Enjoy the Stan Roberts Christmas show from 1973 here.
(Scrapbook archives)
Talent:
DON BERNS
Station: WYSL Buffalo, N.Y.
Date: December, 1975
Time: 2:48
Don Berns tells Rock Radio Scrapbook he got in trouble with this bit in Dallas - seems you can't make fun of drunk people there. Buffalo seemed to be cool with it, however.
Hear Don Berns with "The Night Before the Morning After" on WYSL here.
(The William Snyder Collection)
Talent:
RACCOON CARNEY
Station:
CFUN Vancouver
Date: December 24,
1976
Time:
8:19
"This is Raccoon - the Red-Nosed Rodent!"
It's Christmas Eve 1976, Raccoon Carney is sending you the loudest Christmas wishes you ever heard. Why isn't radio this exciting anymore?
Enjoy the Raccoon here.
(The Charlie Ritenburg Collection)
Talent:
RALF and DAVE
Station:
FM 108 (CING-FM) Burlington, Ont.
Date: December 23,
1983
Time:
24:25
Ralf Hakenberg and Dave Jordaine. (Courtesy Ralf Hakenberg)
On a pioneering radio station, Ralf and Dave were pioneers.
Ralf Hakenberg and Dave Jourdain were two record collectors who realized the dream of many a record collector - hosting a radio show. And pre-dating the now-popular trend to radio "teams" by a few years, they appeared as a duo, known as Ralf and Dave. We asked Ralf about this time at his time at Canada's original all-oldies FM station, FM 108 (CING-FM) in Burlington, Ont., and this is what he told us:
"Dave and I worked at FM 108 for 5 years beginning in 1980. We started out doing the midnight to six shift and continued on with that for a couple of years. In the latter stages of 1983, we scaled back to midnight to three. Shortly thereafter we changed our name to "The School Of Rock n Roll". Our big thing for most of the years was doing what we called the "Record Roll-Out". These were 3 hour marathon sessions where we essentially played Name That Tune complete with Platter Pack prizes, concert and food giveaways etc. etc. I remember we had quite a following and had to bring in outside help to man the phones.
Sometime in 1984 (I believe) we got a Thursday evening time slot (either 8:00 or 9:00 pm) where we ran weekly features that were theme based; e.g. "Rock N Roll Upstarts", "Group Soundalikes", "The Worst Songs To Ever Chart" (we actually broke the records on air after playing them for that show---caused quite a stir!! :<))...also did specials on particular artists like The Teenagers, Freddy Cannon, The Platters etc. Our affiliation with FM 108 gave us unlimited access to Lulu's in Kitchener where we spent 3-4 nights per week interviewing artists and subsequently using bits of these interviews in our shows.
What else? Dave and I did two specials every year--one was the "Back To School" special---always on Labour Day (Dave and I were both teachers). And we always did a Christmas special (sometimes in the form of a Record Roll Out). It was interesting in that regular programming was preempted to make room for these specials. And of course we created the Doo Wop Shop which was very successful and had a strong following. Dave and I also regularly filled in on Saturdays etc. when people like Burt and Robin were unavailable. I'm sure I've left many things out, but you get the general idea...we were VERY involved with the station for those 5 years."
Enjoy Ralf and Dave with their 1983 Christmas show here.
(The Sam Ward/Audioldies Collection)
Subject:
AN OLD-FASHIONED CHRISTMAS with
SAM WARD
Station: audioldies.net
Date: Christmas, 2011
Time: 1:00:17
Every year in mid-November, numerous radio stations go to an all-Christmas format, a ploy that never fails to get great ratings. Problem is, most of these stations rotate the same 300 or so songs ad nauseum, neglecting the thousands of great Christmas songs that have been recorded over the decades. It gets boring real fast.
Sam Ward of audioldies.net takes an opposite tack in his 2011 "An Old-Fashioned Christmas" show. Sam plays a wide variety of rarely-played Yuletide favourites from the first half of the 20th century and even some from as far back as 1898 - the very dawn of recorded music. You won't believe what he's found!
Enjoy Hour 1 of Sam Ward's 2011 "An Old-Fashioned Christmas" here.
(Courtesy Sam Ward, audioldies.net. Used with permission)
