THE LATEST NEWS FROM JIM ROSE REMEMBERS RADIO MARCH 22, 2013

ALL THE NEWS THAT IS NEWS

SPINNERS LOSE ANOTHER SPINNER R&B group The Spinners new 1975 single Games People Play lands on Top 40 KXOL-1360’s play list. In 1969 as Music Director/DJ on Country KBUC FM in San Antonio, TX we spin Joe South’s single Games People Play. These are two totally different tunes but have the same name. The Spinners have to reissue their hit record under a different title, They Just Can’t Stop It (Games People Play). Bobby Smith who sings lead on some of the Spinners’ biggest hits passes away at 76 on Saturday, March 16, 2013 in Orlando, FL from pneumonia and influenza. In 1954, Bobby and fellow Motown Ferndale High School students form the Damingoes. In 1961 they sign with Harvey Fuqua’s Tri-Phi Records and change their name to the Spinners and the rest is history.

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WELL IT WAS ALL I COULD DO TO KEEP FROM CRYIN’ In 1975 when I’m Music Director/DJ on Top 40 KXOL-1360 in Ft. Worth, TX Country singer Willie Nelson is hot as a firecracker. So hot that we spin his new single Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain along side Tony Orlando & Dawn’s Tie a Yellow Ribbon. After KXOL DJs play a softball game against a crew of bankers they invite me to their home to listen to some Willie Nelson. A new Country artist by the name of David Allan Coe’s single You Never Even Called Me By My Name also takes us by storm. On Tuesday morning, March 19, 2013 in Ocala, FL David runs a red light in his SUV and a tractor-trailer broadsides his vehicle. Ocala Fire Rescue rushes David Allan Coe to the hospital where they list him in stable condition.

POPE BUMPS SAN ANTONIO TV STATION OFF AIR Around 5:00 am on Tuesday morning, March 19, 2013 a fire alarm goes off at WOAI TV CH4 which produces mass evacuation. NBC’s special report on the celebration mass for Pope Francis during the morning newscast appears to cause WOAI TV to go dark. John Seabers, WOAI TV GM, issues a statement: We expect to have electricity restored to the building by noon, and we anticipate having WOAI-TV on the air later this afternoon. We are grateful no one was injured. WOAI TV’s slideshow of the fire shows flames bursting out of its second floor window. WOAI TV reporters and anchors file live reports from the scene on KABB TV Fox CH29, another property owned by WOAI parent company Sinclair Broadcasting.

KASO-1240 FIRST DAY on the air is a Sunday morning in April 1965. Owner Bo Cook stands in front of the Collins transmitter on the other side of the double-pane plate glass window. He pushes the filament button to warm up the tubes. On the hour Cook clicks the voltage button and gives me the high sign to read KASO’s sign on from a card. Next is the Star Spangled Banner. So very nervous. Make lots of mistakes but that’s how we learn radio back then. At noon, high school senior Billy Fuller takes over to spin music. By that time I’m completely worn to a frazzle. Bo tells me to go see a movie to calm down and relax. The local Minden, LA movie theater feature is a horror film Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte. A crazy woman chops people’s heads off. Patti Page sings the title song which is a nice ballad.

TRIVIA QUESTION: What ‘filler’ tune becomes million selling top hit in 1957? The answer appears below.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

•HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Steve Kelly on Friday, March 22, 2013. Moose Rosenfeld on Sunday, March 24, 2013.

•SLY STONE of Sly & The Family Stone (Everyday People #1 for 4 weeks – 1968) turns 70 on Friday March 15, 2013.

•KPRC-950 Clear Channel Talk The 9-5-0 Radio Mojo Houston, TX with the addition of former actress Janine Turner 5-7pm flips from Hot Talk to Conservative Talk as Houston’s More Stimulating Talk Radio.

•FLOYD [Buddy] MCRAE last surviving member of 1950′s Bronx Doo Wop group The Chords (Sh-Boom #1 R&B summer 1954) dies on Tuesday afternoon, March 19, 2013 at Montifiore Medical Center.

ENTERTAINMENT AND NEWS MILESTONES

•1956 CARL PERKINS suffers a broken collarbone, concussion and cuts when his Chrysler that takes his band to NYC for The Perry Como Show rear-ends a truck in Delaware on March 22nd.

•1963 THE BEATLES release 1st album Please Please Me on March 22nd.

•1977 GLEN CAMPBELL’s single Southern Nights scores #1 in Billboard Country on March 19th.

•1986 CHARLES STARRETT (Durango Kid western movies) dies of cancer in Borrego Springs, CA on March 22nd.

•1999 DIAMOND RIO’s album Unbelievable goes Gold on March 22nd.

•2001 WILLIAM HANNA creator of The Flintstones cartoon dies at 90 on March 22nd.

EMAILS YES WE HAVE EMAIL

TOM ELLIS [Veteran WABC TV NYC & WBZ TV Boston, MA news anchor] (Boston-Cape Cod-East Sandwich, MA) Subject: First day on KASO-1240… Hi, Jim and Lacy, Funny isn’t it how we remember vividly some of our earliest work experiences. It’s like a baby learning to walk or talk. The more we do it the better we get at it. You’ve carved this early work groove into your brain, and can replay it over and over exactly right every time somebody reminds you to put your mind’s needle in that groove. It’s fun to hear your stories retold so explicitly. T

WHERE DO YOU READ JRRR? Tell us how far away from Houston, TX that you read JRRR. Got a news tip or a question? Send your full Name, City, State and Country of residence to Rosekkkj@earthlink.net.

JOHN HALE [former News reporter-anchor on KLBJ-590] (McKinney, TX) Hey Jim, Just a brief note to let you know that there is a two alarm fire on the second floor of WOAI-TV channel four in San Antonio. There’s no word on the damage yet, but reports are that the station is off the air. You might want to go online to KENS-TV in San Antonio for more details on the fire. I would love to make a visit down to Houston to see you and some other friends, but I’m gonna be out of commission for a while. I am scheduled to have heart surgery on Thursday, the 21st, and while it’s not of the most major variety, I’m not gonna be too sprightly for a while. I’ll drop you a line and let you know how I’m doing when I get out of the hospital. The surgery is being done at Baylor Heart Hospital in Plano. If everything goes well, I should be out early next week. As for pronouncing atrial fibrillation…don’t worry about that…just hope you don’t get it! I’m too cantankerous to kick off this soon. John Hale; McKinney, Texas

JAY WEST [ex KILT-610 DJ] (Houston, TX) Subject: Bill Young. Jim, Bill hired me in 1971 and I stayed with KILT til late 1976 before starting my own Commercial Production Company in Houston for 28 years. Bill was More than an employer to me…he was a genuine friend. I can remember us playing tennis at 7:30 a.m. about once a week at the Houston Baptist College tennis courts before going to work for my air shift at 10 a.m. I lived about three blocks from Bill & Sharon in Sharpstown at the time. This news about his failing health has me deeply saddened. We used to stay in touch by e-mail often and the last I heard directly from him was a few months ago when he told me he was having a hard time with the recurrence of the breathing difficulty and was having to walk around with an air tank in tow. I pray for his health to return. Thanks Jim JAY WEST

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JIM GOUGH [‘Mr. Texas’-movie actor-voice actor] (Austin-Liberty Hill, TX) Subject: Jim Rose Remembers Radio (#1182) March 18 2013 [Monday] Jim…so sorry to hear that Bill Young is not doing well. He’s a great guy and was a good friend. I also remember the many times Steve Lundy came to the studio I built with my pardner Casey Martin (one of the best ‘commercial’ announcers I ever knew!) Casey left us way too soon! Jim Gough

ROBERT TINDLE [radio engineer] (Lufkin, TX) Subject: Al Caldwell! Jim! I do not know if you heard but AL Caldwell celebrated 50 Years in Radio and his 77th Birthday March 12, 2013! Al is still going strong with public appearances and is still on the morning show on 560 KLVI in Beaumont, Texas where he has been since the Mid-70s and came from crosstown 1450 KAYC! Congratulations to Al, one of our true greats in this business! Thanks, Robert Tindle

TRIVIA ANSWER: In the mid 1950s white vocal groups and singers make a good living out of recording top R&B hits to become Top 40 radio hit makers themselves. With only 15 minutes left in a 3 hour recording session, Canadian vocal group The Diamonds record a tune that they just learn a few hours earlier, Little Darlin’. The Diamonds’ Little Darlin’ pokes fun at doo wop music but its first and only take becomes a million seller that grabs #2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 survey where it remains for 21 weeks and is the third highest selling single of 1957.

BOB GRANT [East Coast radio icon] (San Angelo-Abilene, TX) Subject: TX radio. Hello Jim: Noted today @ KBTV, Fox 4 in Beaumont, where a radio personality has completed 50 yrs on radio DJ. He’s Al Caldwell @ KLVI, Beaumont. There is a story there for you to check out & use. In my view, anyone who completes 50 yrs on radio in TX should automatically be inducted into TX Radio H Fame. Just a thought. Happy St. Patrick’s Day too. BOB.

STEVEN WRIGHT (December 6, 1955 – p) Do Lipton employees take coffee breaks?

Jim Rose and Lacy
Houston, Texas – Laus Deo