The Versatiles, Days of the Week, 1960 (0:07:21)

… …The weekend’s over, it’s Sunday night, time to dream a dream, or two… …

Futursonic’s “Days Of The Week” was written by Jodie Lyons and produced in December 1960 in Los Angeles. This demo includes KLIF, WKMH, and CHUM. It featured 4 vocal styles: Kirby Stone Four, Hi-Los, McGuire Sisters, and Four Freshmen. These were later heard in PAMS famous Jet Set, Go Go, In Set, and Music Explosion packages. These were among the biggest and best known packages PAMS ever produced. Jodie Lyons was one of the writers for these and many other PAMS packages.

Short versions of the jingles, known as “KWIK IDEEs” created an additional 21 cuts with alternate lyrics. Nearly 200 stations had this package on the air. An example of the “Kwik IDEEs” is included in Mike Larsen’s 1962 KROY aircheck in the Repository.

The vocals group was also referred to by Jodie Lyons as The Versatiles. It was 5 singers who created all four vocal styles in addition to Futursonic’s distinctive trademark vocals. The group was Lyons, Brian Beck, Libba Weeks, Jerry Whitman, and Judy Parma. (See picture, above.)

Jodie Lyons has retired from University teaching to move to Georgetown, Texas. He is working on a new textbook titled Scoring for the Vocal Ensemble, writing some things for publication, performing with a guitar/woodwinds/vocal duo, playing golf every chance he gets and seeing a lot of his grandkids.

Welcome to the new ReelRadio!

This site is now operated by the North Carolina Broadcast History Museum. 

We want to thank the board of ReelRadio, Inc. for their stewardship since the passing of the founder Richard Irwin in 2018.  It has not been easy and they have maintained the exhibits for future generations to enjoy.

I met Richard Irwin, aka Uncle Ricky, when we were freshmen at East Carolina University.  We both had worked at local stations in our hometowns.  No one was more passionate about radio, especially Top 40 radio, than my friend Richard. 

Our goals with this site are to preserve the exhibits and make them available free of charge for people to enjoy.  Over time, we hope to add some airchecks to the site.  This will not happen immediately.  Time and resources will determine the future of new exhibits. 

Many thanks to the web folks at the Beasley Media Group for countless hours of work.  Again thanks to the board members of ReelRadio, Inc. for their faith in us. 

Richard Irwin’s hope was that his site would live on long after his passing. He said, “I hope REELRADIO will survive as my contribution to the ‘radio business’. The business is allowed to forget me, but the business should never forget the great era of radio that we celebrate here”.

We remember Richard and we thank him. If you enjoy this new site, we would appreciate a contribution. We hope you enjoy the new ReelRadio!

Carl Davis
Trustee
North Carolina Broadcast History Museum