Audio digitally remastered by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
From the pages of Record World, date noted. The featured 1965 Bang Records ad was digitally restored and re-imaged by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
This year marks 60 years having passed since President Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, in November 1963.
In observation of those tragic four days, Motor City Radio Flashbacks will republish our November 2018 presentation through four days, November 22, 23, 24, and 25. At the time, the newly discovered WWJ November 1963 recordings, and for the first time anywhere, premiered on this site five years ago.
This year, Motor City Radio Flashbacks will feature a more expansive, WWJ coverage (from over 20 hours of recordings) along with an extensive photographic presentation. The selected photographs, found in the public domain, will be captioned by the author (totaling 48 images taken during that weekend) while showcasing the historic, Bob Pratt WWJ recordings (listen to the audio sampler below) from those four days.
The Kennedy Tapes. Sixty-years ago. When WWJ radio in Detroit covered the death of a President.
This exclusive four day presentation will launch approximately 1:30 p.m., E.S.T., beginning on Wednesday, November 22, 2023.
WWJ FMÂ Â DON PERRIEÂ Â 11:00 PMÂ Â NOVEMBER 22, 1963
WKMH Becomes Former at New Radio WKNR
DETROIT — A four-way battle is shaping up in this market with the immediate changeover in programming at WKMH.
The Dearborn-based 5,000-watter has introduced a new set of calls, WKNR, several new airmen, and a radical switch from the soft sound in music to a “30 plus 1” format. Detroit will be one of the few markets where severe competition is taking place among three or more pop music stations.
The Knorr-owned outlet has been under the program doctoring of consultant Mike Joseph for many months. Soft standards had been the path for more than a year. WKMH (Now WKNR) was once the major pop music outlet in the market. Today a major fight is developing between the new WKNR, RKO’s 50,000-watter, CKLW (which recently added Tom Clay in the late p.m. slot to help accentuate their positive pop sound), WJBK, Storer-owned swinger, and WXYZ, the ABC-owned pop-rater.
Mort Crowley (KHJ defector) broadcasts 5 to 9 a.m. followed by the Motor City’s famous Robin Seymour in the 9 to noon slot. Jim Sanders is handling the noon to 3 shift with Gary Stevens hosting the 3 to 7 p.m. segment. Bob Green goes up to midnight and Bill Phillips holds the fort as the all-nighter. END
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Information, credit and news source: Billboard, November 16, 1963
A MCRFB Note: Click over image 2x for largest digitized view. Tap over and stretch image for detailed view on your mobile device screen.
At the time this letter was circulated by management at CKLW in May of 1966, CKLW had long ceased publications of any weekly music chart surveys for some time, most notably, by the end of September 1964 (and it was partial run of the CKLW charts that year). In 1965, not one single CKLW chart was printed nor made available for retailers and for the public in general.
CKLW was a radio station owned by RKO General at the time (which they purchased outright in 1963). RKO (according to CKLW’s Charlie O’Brien) owned Essex Broadcasters, which operated CKLW AM and CKLW FM only. RKO General also owned five other radio stations in the United States.
Presumably, at CKLW RKO, the music survey sheets were, for the most part, just another unnecessary cost factor not having been appropriated in the station’s budget overall (i.e., like radio contests promotions as well).
CKLW, in the letter above, essentially put out word that the music surveys would only become available to interested music retailers and dealers if they were willing to pay for them. And in looking at the numbers CKLW attached in their letter, you will note they were all optional, yet an ‘expensive’ proposition (in monetary terms at the time) the station offered for music retailers to choose from, for this service having been offered, back in May of 1966.
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This list is selected each week by WXYZ Radio reports of records sales gathered from leading record outlets in the Detroit area and other sources available to WXYZ.
A special THANK YOU to Larry Good, of Plymouth, MI., for contributing this featured WXYZ chart — November 3, 1964 — for our Motor City Radio Flashbacks’ radio charts archive.
This featured WXYZ chart was digitally restored by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
The above featured Detroit Free Press WKNR ad was digitally colorized, restored and re-imaged by Motor City Radio Flashbacks.
The above featured Detroit Free Press WKNR ad was digitally colorized, restored and re-imaged by Motor City Radio Flashbacks.
On October 31, 1963, Detroit gave birth to a brand new radio station with a brand new radio sound — New Radio 13 — and the station became legend.
Celebrate today the legacy and history of WKNR over at Scott Westerman’s splendid KEENER 13 website page over HERE, and, you can listen to the NEW KEENER streaming across the world wide web, go HERE.
For more WKNR at Motor City Radio Flashbacks archived (to date) in one place, go HERE.