McKENZIE BOWS OUT IN ‘FORMULA RADIO’ PROTEST . . . MARCH 16, 1959

Radio Veteran No Longer Finds Place Nor Pleasure on the Dial at 1270

 

 

DETROIT — Veteran deejay Ed McKenzie resigned from station WXYZ here last week in protest of the station’s “formula radio” programming policy.

Detroit radio’s two biggest names, Ed McKenzie, Robin Seymour in the late-1950s.

Rallying to McKenzie’s side was his long-time competitor and another veteran Detroit spinner, Robin Seymour, of WKMH who came out strongly last week for McKenzie and against “formula radio.” Seymour stated: “It’s a crime and a shame when one of the true deejays – one of the men who made the jockey a major factor in broadcasting – has to bow to the dictates of a program director.”

Although Seymour and McKenzie – two of Detroit’s key deejays – have vied for audience ratings for the past 11 years (they occupied the same afternoon time slot) Seymour said they have remained friends — their friendship dating back to the time McKenzie gave Seymour his first radio job at WJBK here.

Seymour has asked McKenzie to appear on his WKMH show this week to discuss the whole formula radio situation and his reasons for leaving WXYZ. Seymour said they will explore the jockey’s need for freedom of programming and speculate on whether the advent of “formula radio” has anything to do with the fact that no new name deejay (other than Dick Clark) has come up from the ranks in recent years.

Seymour said his station, WKMH, is now the only major Detroit station operating on a non-formula programming policy. The outlet did adopt a non – rock and roll format last year, but Seymour said the management dropped the policy last January, and pert record programming back in the deejays’ hands. As a result, the jock said WKMH’s ratings are already showing a small rating climb – the first rating increase for the station in some time.

The WXYZ “formula,” (featuring the Top 40 singles) was adopted by the station about a year ago, and WXYZ vice president in charge of radio, Hal Neal opined “Our interpretation of formula radio is that it is a step forward.”

Ed McKenzie on WXYZ circa 1955

McKenzie on the other hand expressed his opinion that this “formula” did not jibe with his interpretation of radio as “being intimate and friendly.” He stated that his ratings were dropping since the “formula policy” has gone into effect and that he would sooner “dig ditches or sell hot dogs” than go back to formula radio because “I can’t do something I don’t believe in.”

The radio station disagreed with McKenzie’s use of bird calls on the air and his “on the air” comment on office typing and the programming. The station also found themselves in disagreement with McKenzie about their new policy to boost the station on his programs, which the jockey termed `unnecessary.”

McKenzie’s 3 p.m. to 6.15 p.m. spot is being taken over by Mickey Shorr, who will have another replacement for his own Night Train program. Reportedly making between $60,000 and $80,000 a year in his 29th year with radio. McKenzie was Jack the Bellboy at WJBK before he changed to WXYZ radio in 1952. END

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Information, credit and news source: Billboard, March 16, 1959

Ella Fitzgerald guests on WXYZ with Ed McKenzie, circa 1954.

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A MOTOR CITY RADIO BACK-PAGE: McKENZIE LEAVES WQTE, 1960

The Detroit Free Press March 27, 1960

SUNDAY, MARCH 27, 1960

— A DETROIT RADIO BACK-PAGE —

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The Detroit Free Press | Ed McKenzie | WQTE

Above article/ad courtesy freep.com newspaper archive.

Copyright 2021. Newspapers.com

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The above featured Detroit Free Press article was digitally re-imaged by Motor City Radio Flashbacks

SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

A special THANK YOU to senior MCRFB consultant Greg Innis, of Livonia, MI., for contributing the Newspapers.com archives, (Detroit radio related) articles, ads, and images we have featured on this site, since 2016.

Thank you, Greg Innis, for making these historic Detroit radio features possible. 🙂

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Missed any of our previous ‘Detroit Radio Back-Pages‘ features? GO HERE

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A CERTAIN LIFE MADE FOR RADIO: THE SAGA OF JACK THE BELLBOY

ED McKENZIE

— ‘Jack the Bellboy’

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Ed McKenzie. During his prime years on radio WJBK and by the time McKenzie left the station for WXYZ in January 1952, he was by then recognized, having been established in the trade as the “Nation’s Number One Disc Jockey.”

Today, Motor City Radio Flashbacks will feature “the saga” of Ed McKenzie. His life and his times in Detroit radio, and what brought this Detroit broadcast (and jazz) legend to prominence. Not just here in the Motor City, but also around the country in the 1940s and 1950s.

Ed McKenzie passed away in 2001. He was 90.

The featured and extensive article was initially published in the quarterly journal, International Association of Jazz Record Collectors (IAJRC; Summer 1995).

 

The article authored by Stan Kuwik.

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Note: This article was submitted to Motor City Radio Flashbacks in 2019 by “Radio Muze”. It originated from a former Detroiter — who resides today in Los Angeles — who expressed desire his name remain undisclosed.

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The entire IAJRC 1995 article was digitally enhanced by Motor City Radio Flashbacks

 

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A SALUTE TO AMERICA’S GREATEST DISC JOCKEY: 1951

A WJBK Radio 1500 trade ad. Commemorating Ed McKenzie’s 6th year at the station, 1951.

 

 

JACK THE BELLBOY

ED McKENZIE

 

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Ed McKenzie 1950

[Note: Industry ad for Jack the Bellboy, circa 1951, reprinted in the International Association of Jazz Record Collectors, (IAJRC; Summer 1995) spotlighting Detroit DJ Ed McKenzie].

 

Ed McKenzie had been with WJBK since 1937. During WWII, he began to take over announcement chores for the short-handed station at the time, and eventually he became both engineer and the station’s chief announcer.

McKenzie did his first stint as a disc jockey in 1945. The name Jack the Bellboy was adopted from a favorite recording from Lionel Hampton.

He left WJBK for WXYZ, and will start (4-6:00 p.m.) Monday, February 4, 1952. ABS, owner of the station, also expressed of their plans to syndicate his show on the American Broadcasting Systems.

A special studio will be built for him at the Michigan Mutual Building, where  WXYZ has its offices.

 

(Source: The Detroit Free Press; January 17, 1952)

 

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

 

A special THANK YOU to ‘Radio Muze” (as he prefers to be only called) of Los Angeles, California, for having shared this WJBK Ed McKenzie spread with  Motor City Radio Flashbacks!

 

 

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A ED MCKENZIE FAREWELL WXYZ BACK-PAGE: 3/15/59

DETROIT FREE PRESS March 15, 1959

 

Sunday, March 15, 1959

A DETROIT RADIO BACK-PAGE

 

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DETROIT FREE PRESS: ED McKENZIE

Above article is courtesy freep.com newspaper archive. Copyright 2020. Newspapers.com.

 

 

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WXYZ 1270: A 1959 ED MCKENZIE NEWSPRINT FEATURE


DETROIT FREE PRESS November 18, 1959

DETROIT FREE PRESS November 18, 1959

Wednesday, November 18, 1959

A DETROIT RADIO BACK-PAGE

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DETROIT FREE PRESS: Ed McKenzie / WXYZ


Above WXYZ related article is courtesy freep.com newspaper archive. Copyright 2018. Newspapers.com.

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WXYZ ED McKENZIE (Press Photo) 1959

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A 1948 DETROIT WJBK RADIO NEWSPAPER FLASHBACK!

DetroitFreePressdetroit_free_press_sat__sep_4__1948_wjbk-jack_bellboy_peeves_mcrfb


Saturday, September 4, 1948

A DETROIT RADIO BACK-PAGE

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DETROIT FREE PRESS: WJBK-AM ‘. . . The Bell Boy’s Peeves — Kenton and Monroe’

(Above WJBK related article is courtesy freep.com newspaper archive. Copyright 2016. Newspapers.com).

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MCRFB.COM Detroit Radio Back Pages

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1959 ‘PAYOLA’: A DEEJAY’S EXPOSE, VIEWS OF TRADE

Motor City Radio Flashbacks logoFrom the MCRFB news archives: 1959

LIFE MAGAZINE (November 23, 1959)

 

 

 

 

 

” . . . . clear evidence of disk jockey bribery crops up.”

Edmond T. McKenzie, has worked in broadcasting in Detroit since 1937. His career, income and popularity had gone steadily upward until he quit bigtime radio in disgust some eight months ago. Here he tells what made him want to leave.

 

By ED MCKENZIE

Eight months ago I quit a $60,000-a-year disk jockey job on Detroit radio station WXYZ. I could not stand present-day “formula radio(See MCRFB: ‘Veteran DJ Ed McKenzie Quits On WXYZ’ March 16, 1959— its bad music, its incessant commercials in bad taste, its subservient to ratings and its pressure of payola. Because of the charts that are put together by numbers of music trade publications (Billboard; Cashbox) that rate the popularity of records, I had to play music on my program that I would never have played otherwise. And the charts are phony because of the most disgusting part of the radio industry — payola.

Ed McKenzie (Press photo; 1959)
Ed McKenzie (Press photo; 1959)

Payola really got started about 10 years ago. Until then the record business was controlled by the big companies by Decca, Columbia, RCA-Victor and Capitol. When the obscure little record companies started up and begin turning out offbeat records by unknown artists, they looked for a way to get their product distributed and played. The answer was payola: offering disk jockeys cash to play records they wouldn’t ordinarily play.

I never took payola because it was completely dishonest, but I was often approached by small companies who were having a tough time getting their stuff on the air. They would say, “Well, how much do you want to ride this record for the next three weeks?” They might offer $100 for a one week ride, which would have meant playing the record several times a day to make it popular.

Many disk jockeys are on the weekly payroll of five to ten record companies, which can mean a side income of $25,000 to $50,000 a year. The payment is by cash in an envelope. Phil Chess, co-owner of Chess, Checker and Argo Records, told me that when he called on certain disk jockeys to promote his records, the first question some jocks would ask was, “How many dead presidents are there for me?” Dead presidents means the president on bills. A $20 bill is a “Jackson.”

LIFE November 23, 1959
LIFE November 23, 1959

The small companies know that if it can score in a key record-selling city — Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland or Pittsburgh — it will score nationally. If an unknown artist on an obscure label makes some noise in one of these cities, the record sales are promptly published in the trade papers — Billboard, Cashbox, Variety. Other jockeys around the country sees these listings, and a chain-reaction is set off. The offbeat record becomes a money-making hit, all through payola.

Another way to rig the key cities is to fix the bestseller charts. I know many record production men who takes out a girl who works on the local chart. They give her a big time, wine her and dine her, buy her gifts, become very friendly. Then they get her to list their record, even if it isn’t a best seller.

It’s even worse in the big-time. Many music publishers tell me that to get a song played on one popular teenage program, they have to give the star 50% of the song. He wants either half the song or a half-interest in the recording artist before he will put it on his program. He rejects many songs because he can’t get a piece of the record.

Ed McKenzie, formerly "Jack The Bellboy" on WJBK, Detroit, early-1950s.
Ed McKenzie, formerly “Jack The Bellboy” on WJBK, Detroit, early-1950s. McKenzie’s famed “Jack The Bellboy” moniker he used while on WJBK was retained legal ownership of the the Storer-owned station, immediately after McKenzie left WJBK for WXYZ, early-1950s.

“Slicing up an artist” in this way oftens involve a jockey. A few years ago we had a case like this in Detroit when a New York song plugger, a nightclub owner and a local disk jockey sliced up Johnny Ray early in his career. They pushed and plugged him in Detroit until he became popular, but they never got their cut of Ray subsequent bug earnings. Johnny Ray didn’t dare come back to sing in Detroit until he bought back the club owner’s share of his contract.

Payola usually begins when a song plugger or publisher comes to town and takes the jockey out for dinner. The sky’s the limit on entertainment — drinks, girls, everything. There is always a big follow-up at Christmas. They flood you with liquor, TV sets, hi-fi sets, expensive luggage, big baskets of food, expensive watches, silk shirts, imported sweaters. The flow doesn’t stop after the holiday season. A record plugger once offered to install a bar in my basement. When one Detroit jock moved into a new home, his property was landscaped with hundreds of dollars worth evergreens and flowering shrubs and trees.

Once when I had tried to squelch a song plugger who was after me to play a certain tune, he mailed me a $100 government bond in my name. I was the only person who could cash it. I did cash it for $75, added $25 of my own in interest and mailed a $100 check to Leader Dog for the Blind. I mailed the donation receipt to the song plugger and said, “This is where your money went.” I never played his record.

Radio station managers are aware of all the bad practices of payola, but I guess they take the attitude that “the kid isn’t making much salary here, so if he can make a little on the side, God bless him.”

Bad as payola is, it isn’t the only thing an honest disk jockey has to fight. Between each record you are required to give two, three or four commercials. Even though I was paid a commission for each commercial I gave at WXYZ it bothered my conscience terribly. I knew that I was driving any intelligent listener away from radio with this drivel.

How could anyone bear to listen to this sort of thing? One answer was given by Leonard Goldenson, president of American Broadcasting-Paramount Theaters. He said the ABC network was after one listener, the housewife just out of her teens. That is why you hear this so-called teenaged rock ‘n’ roll junk.

All of this — payola, ratings, the bad ratings, the obnoxious commercials — was far more than I could take, so last spring I quit formula radio. I have since joined a group of other radio mavericks at WQTE, a small daytime station station between Detroit – Monroe. On this station I feel like I can honestly entertain people without the excessive commercialism, and I don’t have to play any music unless I think it’s good. The station is only 500 watts — but it’s honest. END

william-b-williams-sitting-amid-the-8-000-records-a-dj-receives-each-year-from-record-companies.
New York City’s WILLIAM B. WILLIAMS sitting amid the 8,000 plus-records a radio disk jockey receives each year from record companies. (LIFE photo; November 23, 1959).

(Information and news source: LIFE; November 23, 1959).

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