BORN IN PLYMOUTH, MICHIGAN
SATURDAY NIGHT BEECH-NUT SHOW WITH DICK CLARK
The Dick Clark Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show was Dick Clark’s second attempt at a prime time show. His first, a prime-time version of American Bandstand, ran only 13 weeks. The Beechnut Show was much more successful lasting almost 3 years.
The Dick Clark Saturday Night Beechnut Show was broadcast live Saturday nights from the Little Theatre in New York City. Every weekend, Dick Clark commuted from Philadelphia to NYC to do the “Beechnut” show. There was actually two shows done each Saturday. The first was a rehearsal show where the artists could sketch out their performances and Clark could line everything up. This would have a different audience then the second show which was the one that was televised.
Beechnut Gum was actually picked up as a sponsor for the third episode to the conclusion of the show’s run. The artists that appeared usually “lip-synched” to their records. Very few actually performed live.
This is the only show to be able to make the claim of having Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper as guests (though on different episodes). All three were killed together in a plane crash on February 3, 1959.
Amazingly, Elvis Presley and Ricky Nelson, two of the biggest stars of the period, never appeared on the show. The first show aired on February 2, 1958 with guests Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Willis, Johnny Ray and the Royal Teens. The final show aired on September 10, 1960. MORE
Addendum: Above information provided by TV.com. For the complete 1958-1960 Dick Clark Beech Nut Show summary and artist-appearance listing for every show, go here to TV.com.
Motor City Radio Flashbacks will be showcasing many of these *rare* Dick Clark video presentations here on this website from time to time. In this first installment, we present four video classics (below) from the Dick Clark Beech-Nut show as was first broadcast on national television during that memorable late-’50s rock and roll era:
Edd Byrnes and Connie Stevens (April 04, ’59). Bobby Rydell (July 16, 1960). Frankie Avalon (March 14, 1959). Everly Brothers (July 09, 1960).
WAY-BACK DETROIT RADIO PAGES: WWJ . . . SEPTEMBER 1, 1945
From the MCRFB old radio scrapbook:
Scripps Dynasty Feature of WWJ Party Broadcast
DETROIT, August 25 — Highlights of the WWJ silver anniversary show Monday (August 20) was probably the public realization for the first time that radio has come of age sufficiently to establish a real continuity of tradition. This was embodied in the variable dynasty of the Scripps family association with the station.
Two generations were present, William E. Scripps, president of the Detroit News, and his grandson, William J. Scripps, who was general manager of WWJ until entering the armed forces. Interest actually dated back still another generation to the late James E. Scripps, father of William E. Scripps, and founder of The News, who, together with his son, provided the funds to establish an experimental wireless station here in 1902.
Thomas E. Clark, pioneer wireless inventor, who built an developed this station, resulting in the establishment of WWJ in 1920, was especially honored at the party at the Book-Cadillac Hotel which followed. Clark’s showbiz experience takes the pioneer history of radio still further back to the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1898, when he was in charge of the General Electric exhibit. Clark there was intrigued by the operation of Nikota Tesla in early wireless, and returned to GE headquarters to begin his own experiments.
Entertainment program at the party following the broadcast included a 35-minute sketch roasting every well-known station character, with Joe Gentile of CKLW in the lead role. Event was attended by station staff, press and radio figures of the town, and their guests, crowding the grand ballroom of the hotel. END.
(Information and news source: Billboard; September 1, 1945).
WXYZ-AM 1270 * THE DETROIT SOUND SURVEY * MAY 9, 1966
From the MCRFB archive files:
THE TOP 35 HITS ON WXYZ ON THIS DATE IN 1966
WXYZ 1270 Detroit Sound Survey; No. 04 issued May 9, 1966 under Lee Alan, Program Director; WXYZ
(WXYZ 1270 Detroit Sound Survey for May 9, this date 1966; survey courtesy the Jim Heddle Collection. For the previous weekly WXYZ May 2, 1966 survey click here).
LOST GOLD * 1963
WJR’S OWN JAY ROBERTS LENDS OUT FORMAT . . . MARCH 2, 1963
A MCRFB NEWS brief:
Billboard Magazine; March 2, 1963
DETROIT — Deejays are competitive, but they can also be cooperative.
While recuperating from a knee twist which had him away from the WJR studio turntables for about a week, midnight record-spinner Jay Roberts received a note from station owner Jon Holiday, of WAIR (Winston-Salem) asking permission to use the basic format of Roberts’ “Nightflight 760.”
Roberts simulates a jet flight to a different city every night, beginning with a whooshing takeoff sound effect and a (pre-recorded) airline hostesses’ voice issuing a welcome and instructions just as though it was a real flight. During the flight, “Captain” Roberts describes the city of the night in detail.
Roberts told Holiday, a former top jazz deejay from Little Rock, Arkansas to go ahead. END
___
(Information and news source: Billboard; March 2, 1963)
LOOK WHAT WE FOUND! ‘RIF DREW AND MIKE W/ JOHN BOBBITT * 1994
UPDATE! May 9, 2013: Today comes word Drew and Mike reportedly has been fired from WRIF-FM 101 after a 22-year run with that station. For more on the story go here.
WRIF-FM 101 * SEGER * CONCERT SERIES GUIDE * 1980
WXYZ-AM 1270 * THE DETROIT SOUND SURVEY * MAY 2, 1966
From the MCRFB archive files:
THE TOP 35 HITS ON WXYZ ON THIS DATE IN 1966
WXYZ 1270 Detroit Sound Survey; No. 03 issued May 2, 1966 under Lee Alan, Program Director; WXYZ
(WXYZ 1270 Detroit Sound Survey for May 2, this date 1966; survey courtesy the Jim Heddle Collection. For the previous weekly WXYZ April 25, 1966 survey click here).