CKLW-AM 800: Featuring Tom Shannon on the BIG 8 from 1979, click for audio here.
A nice studio shot! This Tom Shannon photograph was previously listed on eBay in 2012.
LOOK WHAT WE FOUND! A TOM SHANNON (CKLW-AM) PHOTO FROM 1978
Month: February 2013
BABY WASHINGTON * 1963
WAY-BACK DETROIT RADIO PAGES: WXYZ . . . MAY 11, 1946
From the MCRFB old radio news scrapbook: 1946
King-Trendle Sale To ABC Adds 5th Outlet To Network
NEW YORK, May 4 — Expansion plans of American Broadcasting Company took a long step forward this week with the web’s purchase of all outstanding stock of the King-Trendle Broadcasting Corporation of Detroit for $3,650,000. The deal was announce Thursday, May 2, by Edward J. Noble, chairman of the board of ABC, is now contingent upon FCC approval.
King-Trendle Corporation, which grossed $2,357,000 last year, owns WXYZ in Detroit, WOOD in Grand Rapids, and the Michigan Network, servicing a gropu of outlets within the state. WXYZ is an ABC affiliate and WOOD is an NBC affiliate.
WOOD To Be Sold
Under present plans, the King-Trendle Corporation, a wholly-owned ABC subsidiary, will retain WXYZ and the Michigan Network, but will sell WOOD.
ABC, with the acquisition of WXYZ in Detroit, now has five owned and operated stations — the others being WJZ in New York, WENR in Chicago, KECA in Los Angeles, and, KGO in San Francisco.
Disclosure of the sale of WXYZ proved a surprise even to staff members here, although negotiations, closely guarded, had been underway for about six months. Price was set high and the deal was not expected to go through for this reason. Expectation here now is that another network, unnamed, may make a bid for the station before the deal is finally okayed by the FCC.
Plans of George W. Trendle, originally head of the present United Detroit Theaters Circuit before he switched 100 per cent to radio, are to operate as a production agency after the deal is finally met approval in Washington. He is retaining rights to The Lone Ranger, The Green Hornet, Challenge Of The Yukon, and Ned Jordan, Secret Agent — the last name no longer in production — and would continue to produce these shows, presumably using the facilities of WXYZ for both the direct origination and the Coast rebroadcast.
H. Allen Campbell, general manager of WXYZ, is slated to leave with Trendle, while James G. Riddell, assistant commercial manager, is expected to be promoted to the post of general manager. Merritt Schoenfeld, who has been in the local ABC office for some months, is expected to take over in a supervisory capacity. Also slated to go with the new Trendle agency are Earl Moore, formerly station supervisor, who is currently handling television research, together with the entire of the Lone Ranger group, including Fran Striker, principal writer. END.
(Information and news source: Billboard; May 11, 1946).
WAY-BACK DETROIT RADIO PAGES: WXYZ . . . JULY 27, 1946
From the MCRFB old radio news scrapbook: 1946
WXYZ, WOOD SALE APPROVED TO AMERICAN BROADCASTING NETWORK
Commission also approves web’s purchase and resale of Noble stock
WASHINGTON, February 20 — The Federal Communications Commission appears strongly determined to build up American Broadcasting Company as a major rival for Columbia Broadcasting System and National Broadcasting Company, even to the extent of compromising of its often expressed policy of holding down prices paid for station transfers.
Latest evidence of this is seen in speedy approval of FCC this week of ABC’s bid to buy Detroit’s WXYZ and Grand Rapids’ WOOD for $3,675,000 from King-Trendle Broadcasting Corporation. Tossed in with two standard stations, almost as an afterthought, are Detroit video and FM grants. At the same time, FCC announced approval of ABC’s stock deal in which the web takes control from Edward J. Noble and resells about $12,000,000 worth of stock to its affiliates.
Acquisition of WXYZ gives ABC a profitable Detroit outlet to add to owned and operated stations in New York (WJZ), Chicago (WENR), Los Angeles (KECA), and San Francisco (KGO). When proceeds of the stock begins to flow into ABC coffers, it is anticipated that the net is likely to be shopping around for one or two more stations in profitable market areas. WOOD is to be disposed at a later time. END.
(Information and news source: Billboard; July 27, 1946).
FABULOUS FLIPSIDES
50TH: BUDDY HOLLY REMEMBERED TODAY 1959 – 2009
HOLLY: THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED . . . FEBRUARY 3, 1959
‘A SPECIAL NEWS BULLETIN FEBRUARY 3 , 1959’
“TRIBUTE TO BUDDY HOLLY” * Mike Berry & The Outlaws * CORAL RECORDS
(To fully appreciate the above image click on 2x for largest view)
ON THE BEAT: THREE STARS REMEMBERED . . . FEBRUARY 9, 1959
From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1959
Condolences Extended To Families Of 3 Rock ‘n’ Roll Stars Killed In Plane Crash
O N T H E B E A T
b y R e n G r e v a t t | B i l l b o a r d F e b r u a r y 9 , 1 9 5 9
T H I S C O L U M N extends its condolences to the families and friends of Buddy Holly, J. P. (Big Bopper) Richardson and Ritchie Valens, whose deaths occurred in a tragic plane crash earlier this week. All three left a distinct mark on the pop record scene and all three will be sorely missed by not only those who were close to them, but by many, many young record buyers who felt close to them in another way, as well.
Valens, a 17 year-old Californian, was experiencing his first big surge of popularity with his Del-Fi disk of “Donna,” which at the time of his death was the number three record in the nation. Earlier, Valens had scored with “Come On, Let’s Go.” Richardson, a Texas disc jockey with some eight years’ radio experience behind him, was a cleffer of some distinction and recently had made it big with “Chantilly Lace,” on Mercury Records. The hit disk, oddly enough, was the flip side of the “Purple People Eater Meets The Witch Doctor,” the original plug-side of the record.
Holly had been on the scene longest of all. A discovery of music man Norman Petty of Clovis, New Mexico, Holly had much to do with popularizing the so-called “Tex-Mex” rockabilly sound, with a number of smash hit records like “That’ll Be The Day,” “Peggy Sue,” “Oh Boy,” “Maybe Baby,” “Rave On” and “Early In The Morning.” His latest coupling, his first effort for a with a big string backing, was “It’s Raining In My Heart,” and in a way the ironical title, “It Really Doesn’t Matter Anymore.” But for many, it does matter, and Holly, Valens and Richardson will be not be forgotten. In fact, Coral Records is rushing out an album of Holly’s biggest hits, under the title, “The Buddy Holly Story.” END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; February 9, 1959)
A MCRFB Note: This column was Billboard’s first immediate reference on the deaths of Holly, Valens and Richardson. This column initially was published six days after the tragedy.
For more on February 3, 1959 on the web: Go to the Des Moines Register online and see that paper’s exclusive tribute to Holly, Valens and Richardson, observing “50 Winters Ago” from 2009. You can literally spend hours here — it is loaded with a time-line, interviews, videos, photographs, documents and other special features commemorating 50 years since the tragic 1959 event. And this from the Lubbock-Avalanche Journal online (2009), “Iowans Remember Buddy Holly Performance” (click on the BACK-NEXT button as you go). Especially read the very last eyewitness account . . . Last, see Scott Westerman’s splendid take on”American Pie Deciphered” (broadcast on XM-Sirius in 2010) here on Motor City Radio Flashbacks.
F E B R U A R Y 3 , 1 9 5 9 : T O D A Y I N M U S I C H I S T O R Y
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1959: WITHIN MINUTES OF TAKEOFF FROM the Mason City, Iowa Airport, at around 1:00 AM CST, the chartered Beech-Craft Bonanza airplane No. N3794N containing Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. Richardson (Big Bopper) crashes into the Iowa countryside, killing all three, in addition to pilot Roger Peterson. The plane, headed for the next “Winter Dance Party” tour stop in Fargo, North Dakota, had been chartered by Holly in order for the band members to travel in heated comfort and to arrive early for their next gig.
When he learns that band member Waylon Jennings, who would eventually become a country star in his own right, has decided to take the freezing bus instead, Holly jokes, “Well, I hope your old bus freezes up.” Jennings jokes back, “Well, I hope your plane crashes.” Another Holly band member, Tommy Allsup, flips Valens for the last available seat, losing the coin toss. Valens exclaims, “That’s the first time I’ve won anything in my life!”
Pilot Peterson, not having been informed of worsening weather conditions, decides to fly “on instruments,” meaning without visual confirmation of the horizon, which leads to the crash. The tragedy was later immortalized as “The Day The Music Died” by Don McLean in his famous song “American Pie.”
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This Day In Pop Music History: February 3, 1959
WPON * FEBRUARY 3, 2003
CKLW HALL OF FAME
