On January 1, 1967, an FCC ruling went into effect that required major market radio stations — those with an FM frequency that was simulcasting their AM signal — to broadcast alternative programming at least half the time on FM. What resulted was a sweeping change in the radio business. From the late 60’s into the early 70’s, there was a switch from singles played on AM, to albums on FM.
In a way, it was timely that my family moved from Connecticut to Massachusetts only a few weeks after Herb Oscar Anderson quit 77 WABC in September, 1968, because the times had indeed a’changed. (Note: HOA’s site auto-plays audio.) Anderson was still #1 in New York, but songs such as this one drove HOA away.
“Fire”, a top 10 hit on AM radio in Sept. ‘68, was the first song I heard on WBCN-FM in Boston, which had switched format from Classical to Underground music six months prior to my arrival in Massachusetts. Four years later, in 1972, I heard a record on WBCN that had a huge effect on me. This is exactly the point where I picked it up…
… and after that bit I heard “The Argument Clinic” and I was hooked. Eric Idle’s Money song pre-dates the Euro, but it correctly predicted that “everyone must hanker for the butchness of a banker,” because that’s the world we had until last September.
That was the first time I encountered Monty Python, and I felt as though a bullet had hit me between my ears. I LOVED those guys. And I mean I LOVED them, like they were the Beatles. But I was lucky to have heard them, because ‘BCN was just about the only place where Python had a home in America at the time. There’s an excellent little documentary called “Monty Python Conquers America” that tells of WBCN’s role in paving the way for Python. I’ve stitched together the pertinent bits.
I didn’t look all that different from that young DJ in the stock footage, and I know that Gates control console well from my own radio days, but it couldn’t have been BCN’s, because it’s monaural.
Something that isn’t pointed out is that before Monty Python, WBCN had played Firesign Theatre records, and I think those guys deserve credit for creating a new generation of comedy record fans. Not only that, Firesign Theatre albums were intricate and fully produced, as were the Python records, making them eminently re-listenable, like a Rock record.
Now that I’m in contact with Prudence Bury, I’d like to take a moment to once again say thanks to 60’s retro comment writer Janis, otherwise known as Lía Pamina. Months ago, Lía, who lives in Spain, provided Prue’s maiden name and its correct spelling, and that made all the difference in my search for one of the quintessential women of the Sixties.
Lía is a big fan of singer-songwriter Margo Guryan, who wrote the song “Sunday Morning” by Spanky and Our Gang (not to be confused with “Sunday Will Never Be the Same”).
Lía has made a couple of videos featuring Guryan songs. She’s cleverly animated “Love Songs”, with some illustrations by Roy Lichtenstein, and she performs “Timothy’s Gone”. Great job on both, Lía! You can hear Guryan’s original recording of “Timothy’s Gone” on her MySpace page at the link above.
Petula Clark is going to Canada in September. She’s going to talk about the film “I Know Where I’m Going!” in which she appeared as a girl of twelve, as seen in this video clip that I first featured over two years ago.
In case the article at the link above loads too slowly, or if it disappears, you’ll find the text below. The website for the event is at this link. What fun!
Here’s something else that’s fun. Petula singing “Downtown” in German. I admit to having swiped this from the Keep the Coffee Coming blog.
And so it’s farewell. Sunday in Rotterdam, Holland, Kathleen Aerts appeared with Karen Damen and Kristel Verbeke for the last time. K3 — in my opinion one of the very best Pop music girl groups ever assembled — is no more. I’m using these candid photos in the video preview frame so you can see how hard these ladies have worked for the past ten years.
Watching the video, to me it appears the farewell performance had little energy and excitement. A replacement for Kathleen will soon be selected, but K3 won’t be the same. I had the same feeling when David Duchovney left “The X-Files.”
(The link to this video on YouTube is at this link. As you can see, the shape is wrong, so I downloaded it and have set the correct dimensions.)
More videos from last weekend’s Summer Festival have appeared. I’ve collected most of them into a customized YouTube player.
Some photos from the show are on Flickr, and in a few of them you can see how upset the ladies really were:
I had never listened this band before! I l love it!!!!!!
