The John Rook Collection
As Johnny Rho at KASL, Newcastle Wyoming, 1957 |
In 1971, Superjock Larry Lujack described John Rook as "the greatest program director of our time or any other time". In a 2001 R&R article, former ABC executive Bob Henabery is quoted as saying that "Rook understood the importance of doing everything right. He was a masterful Top 40 programmer."
Born October 9, 1937 in Chillicothe, Ohio, Rook had an early introduction to show business as a teenager at The Pasadena Playhouse (with Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo).
Later, in Hollywood, he appeared in the Wild Bill Hickcock series and My Man Godfrey with June Allyson and David Niven. But it was his close friend and legendary rock 'n' roll star Eddie Cochran that convinced Rook he should try radio. And he did — first in Wyoming, and South Dakota, then KALL in Salt Lake City and KTLN in Denver,
where Ken Palmer at KIMN recommended him to Hal Neal at ABC Radio. In January of 1964, John joined KQV, Pittsburgh. As an ABC program manager, he "filled in" as Johnny Rowe doing mornings at WABC/New York during the AFTRA strike of 1966. He stayed at KQV until his 1967 move to Chicago as Program Director for WLS. By mid 1968, WLS had risen to #1. WLS was named "RADIO STATION OF THE YEAR" by Bill Gavin in 1968. During this period of time, no Chicago radio station out-rated WLS. The station was number one in all Pulse and Arbitron books with a total audience of 4.2 million listeners each week. Quoting WIP Philadelphia OM Tom Bigby, "When WGN had a 12 share, WLS had an 18." In 1969, Rook was named "Radio's Man of the Year". (Can you guess the names of the 1969 WLS airstaff?) Bill Drake wrote to him, "It pleases me that the rest of the country thinks as highly of you as I do." Rook left Chicago to work briefly for Drake-Chenault and Draper-Blore. But in 1972, he returned to Chicago to perform what Billboard Radio Editor Claude Hall called "a miracle" at WCFL, Chicago, and then went on to consult some of the greatest Top 40 radio stations of the '70's as John Rook & Associates. In the early 80's, John had been programming KFI, Los Angeles for several years. He wrote, "While I loved programming, it was time to be the P.D. of the entire station...my station. I scraped every penny together and purchased my Spokane FM in 1983." In 1988, he moved back to Los Angeles to program KABC for eight months, and then returned to managing his own station. He added more stations to his original Spokane purchase, and he sold them all in 1997. He then moved to his "little horse ranch" south of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. He passed away on March 1, 2016.
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Avco Broadcasting’s KYA, San Francisco, in August of 1969.
For all the years KYA was a viable radio station in the San Francisco radio
market, airchecks of KYA are difficult to find! I was really excited to find
this aircheck in the John Rook Collection.
Newsman Larry Brownell reports that it’s 62 degrees in The City at 5:30, and the U.S. has acknowledged submarines carrying nuclear missles. More on the murders, but first, this word from
This is a particularly good composite if for nothing more than the classic spots: Please don’t start shaving those legs… Young Legs! Hair-Free and Care-Free! Vanilla Fudge for Coke, $3 tickets for Blind Faith with Free, along with a few rarely-played PAMS custom (?) jings and a big-time “imager” for the Fortune Phone Spectacular all combine to make this one really fun quarter-hour.
[Description by Uncle Ricky]
On June 12, 1979, the Chicago Federation of Labor sold WCFL, the only radio station in the world ever owned by organized labor, to The Mutual Broadcasting System. In August of 1979, Jack Miller produced this 30 minute retrospective which focuses on the programming and personalities on “Big 10” between 1964 and and 1976, when the format changed to beautiful music.
Jingles, airchecks and interviews from Jim Stagg, Dick Orkin, Joel Sebastian, Ron Brittian, Larry Lujack and veteran newsman Howie Roberts are featured. You’ll also hear a Capsule Countdown from 1967 in this excellent and all-too-short tribute to the great Top 40 years of The Voice of Labor.
All Top-40 historians acknowledge the early contributions of KBOX, once home to Dan Ingram. All of the KBOX we’ve heard is prior to the great success of Gordon McLendon’s KLIF in Dallas. Who would have suspected that the station would be still be going strong in 1966? Great production values here, including a custom Budweiser weather jingle I’ve never heard before. Unfortunately, this aircheck is way too short and the fidelity is marginal.
It’s a “Dusty Weekend” and Dave Tucker is playing “Double Dusties”. This is a notable recording because it’s the only recording of the legendary KBOX in 1966 that we’ve found. We couldn’t identify the jock without Steve Eberhart’s help. (Thanks, Steve!)
Larry Lujack on powerhouse WLS – Afternoon drive in Chicago, August, 1970..
From the Tyler, Texas Morning Telegraph, May 1st, 1999:
“Steve Lundy, one of America’s legendary deejays, died in his sleep at his home in Houston, Texas. Lundy, whose real name was Jack Foshee, gained fame as a disc jockey at some of America’s greatest radio stations. His trademark, “Stevie in the nighttime” phrase was heard during the heyday of Top 40 radio on KILT in Houston, KFRC in San Francisco, WLS in Chicago, WNBC in New York, where he won disc jockey of the year, and most recently on Oldies 94.5 in Houston. Lundy started his career at a local radio station in Tyler. He was born November 3, 1942, in Tyler, and lived in Houston since 1970″.
[Description by Richard Irwin]
From the early days of Chicago Top 40, here are some fabulous Chuck Blore (Draper/Blore) WCFL jingles. Thanks to those who filled in the blanks (see COMMENT, below.)
This is a W-C-F-elegant composite! Where else could you hear lyrics like these?
Encore!
One more that won more in its prime, one more time!
WCFL Retro Spectacular!
Now we proudly pledge allegiance
to the station that we love,
to the friend that we depend on,
we sing the praises of
WCFL!
There’s a dazzling and ingenious variety here, including “As much a part of Chicago as”, “WCFL in love with Chicago” , and “Happy Air Your Ears Out Day”. The outstanding instrumental thematic beds are my favorite; they swing! And last but certainly not least, don’t miss the powerful and stylish Voice of Labor news opener.
[Description by Uncle Ricky]
The high-energy performance of Long John Silver, aka: Bluebeard, is wonderfully showcased in this hour from legendary WNOE, “located in the Sheraton-Charles Hotel”, in New Orleans Louisiana on November 30, 1962. WNOE had to be one of the most exciting Top 40 stations in America during this period, and this aircheck includes a very “New Orleans” playlist, great production, classic jingles, and that “super-reverb” button!
Bud Connell programmed WNOE in 1960 but was probably not consulting the station at the time of this aircheck (according to comments.) This is genuine “variety” radio. Note the showcased excerpt from Vaughn Meader’s classic First Family, along with multiple promotions and contests: News Tip of the Week, Santa’s Bike Shop, Scrambled Song, Men in Space, and Reindeer Race (mail-in and phone-in versions!) And there’s a chilling and timely ten second news tease, too.
Long John Silver turned up two years later with Jack Gale at Sis Kaplan’s BIG WAYS (610) in Charlotte, N.C. I remember that he really wore an eye patch, and he was the local nighttime DJ that I listened to in high school, and the first jock I heard use the term “submarine races”. At WAYS, I don’t remember “Bluebeard”, but I do remember his Wonder Dog Blue. By then, the phrase “boulevard of better ballads”, heard here, had become the “boulevard of better ballads and broken dreams”. (corrected via listener comment). He stayed at WAYS for at least five years, and was married in a WAYS promotion that included a public ceremony at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Finding this aircheck in John Rook’s many contributions was a special treat for me. Long John Silver was a lot of fun, and in listening to 1967 airchecks of myself (at 16), I hear his influence. Many who came of age in Piedmont Carolina between 1965 and 1970 will remember him, too. Someday, maybe we’ll get to hear him on WAYS.
In the meantime, this aircheck is one of the site’s best for me, demonstrating nearly all the things that I truly loved about this era of the Top 40 format, on one of the greatest Top 40 stations of all time. Special thanks to John Rook for this outstanding exhibit.
[Description by John Rook]
In the mid-60’s I hired Jim Quinn from WING Dayton for KQV, Pittsburgh. He became the pied piper of nighttime radio for Groovy QV.
Thirty years later, Jim is still on Pittsburgh radio, and he’s on the web, too.
The reverb you’ll hear on this aircheck was added after I had departed for WLS. No radio station I ever programmed, including KQV, ever ran an echo chamber.
REELRADIO UPDATE: February 1, 2009 – The UNSCOPED version of this aircheck is now available. The original exhibit was contributed by John Rook on November 8, 1998.
In 1972, I was consulting WCFL, Chicago. Ol’ Lar’ accepted my offer to do afternoon drive.
Super CFL was born and Larry Lujack became Superjock. He put WCFL on top in the Chicago ratings.