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This special WDRQ recording was donated in 2022 to our Motor City Radio Flashbacks’ audio collection. It is Lee Alan’s WDRQ New Year’s Eve Countdown, from December 31, 1977. This was to be his second, and last, on WDRQ. (Lee Alan hosted his first New Year’s Eve broadcast on WDRQ in 1976). In closing out the year, this exclusive posting is our special featured presentation for this last day of 2024.
In this recording, the tape began – timewise – at the 9:59 p.m. hour (Detroit EST time) with Lee Alan’s presentation of Chuck Berry performing live at the Walled Lake Casino, sometime late-October 1963. Seven years ago, we lost Chuck Berry in March 2017. Also, in the broadcast, you will hear Lee Alan paying a short tribute to Elvis Presley, who passed away four months earlier, August 16, 1977.
This broadcast was taped by our friend, Greg Innis. Greg has kept this tape in his personal Detroit radio airchecks collection for the past 47 years (2024). And as always, this site is indebted to him for having shared this holiday memory. It is presented here for the second time for this new year’s eve.
You will note this two hour recording highlights listener call-in’s and recollections, stories, music and sounds. And minutes before the end of the recording you will hear The Horn counting down the seconds to 1978 . . . as was heard on New Year’s Eve night, December 31, 1977.
Lee Alan passed away on October 29, 2024. You can view his obituary online at the Dignity Memorial webpage, here.
In remembrance of this Detroit radio broadcasting legend, today, USA Radio Museum presents the Lee Alan WDRQ New Year’s Eve 1977 Countdown.
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In his memory, from us to you, may your wishes all come true in 2025.
This audio recording was digitally remastered by USA Radio Museum
A special THANK YOU to senior site contributor Greg Innis of Livonia, MI., for having provided this featured WDRQ audio memory, he recorded, for our Motor City Radio Flashbacks aircheck repository.
Note: This post was previously featured by Motor City Radio Flashbacks on December 31, 2022.
