The Steve DiCo Mannix Collection

[Description by Uncle Ricky] Ron Lundy is playing an album cut in midday on WABC! Of course, it was Labor Day weekend, but still, it seems something unusual was captured here. On the other hand, it’s not like Lundy could just grab the LP and throw it on the turntable (the Union would have shut down the station), so maybe it wasn’t that unusual after all. This recording was made between 11:43 am and 12:13 pm on Saturday, September 5, 1970, about 100 miles from New York City, which accounts for the high noise level. Also included: WABC news and ABC news. The cue for the news? A jingle, of course, that sings “The Most Music, WABC”. What better place to play a jingle about the MOST music than just before the news? WABC was SO big, it didn’t really matter.

[Description by Uncle Ricky] This recording was made between 1:20 and 2:05 AM, and not too long after New Year’s Day, 1971, based on Bobby Rivers’ frequent references to the Top 100 hits of 1970, and a temperature of 13 degrees. At this time in the morning, legendary Top-40 WPOP blurred the line between familiar hits and AOR. There are a few album selections here that are surprising, and we welcome identification of the last song here for music reporting purposes. The tape ran out before Bobby said what it was (assuming that he did.) This exhibit is a welcome diversion from the expected Top 40 playlist, and what we know about Bobby Rivers follows in COMMENTS. The few jingles are far between and of poor quality. The station was heavily processed and the recording was noisy, so the fidelity is a bit disappointing, but the content is intriguing.

[Description by Uncle Ricky] Ken Griffin was livin’ the life on The Kenny Thing and it’s all fun for him, as it was for most of his listeners in 1969 Hartford, where Crime Check protects your children and Bill Drake reports the news. Even better, the weather report comes directly from the United States Weather Bureau. And you can get one of those high-tech industrial jobs at the aerospace plant. Cold Blood, from San Francisco, is appearing next to the bus station in Springfield. Life was good, VERY good. This is a mono recording of WDRC-FM. One song was restored because the original recording had dropouts and ugly sounds, and two songs were restored because they were not complete. It was not reasonable to restore Kenny saying “1969, I know you’ll remember this, The Clique”. Please note that this station DID NOT play two songs back to back without someone talking between them. This exhibit just makes it sound that way, the unfortunate result of a tape change. It’s the Decade Of Hits, or something, and WDRC is bringing Three Dog Night to Hartford. We can be thankful that Felina was still in El Paso at that time. She seems to have upset Marty Robbins, and we must fear the worst. But, the good news is that Steve Dico Mannix contributed much more of Mr. Griffin, a very original and creative DJ. Ken Griffin (real name Joseph T. Mulhall, Jr.) passed away on Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at his home in Punta Gorda, FL. He was 73. Thanks to Ed Brouder in COMMENTS.

[Description by Uncle Ricky] Ken Griffin was livin’ the life on The Kenny Thing and it’s all fun for him, as it was for most of his listeners in 1969 Hartford, where Crime Check protects your children and Bill Drake reports the news. Even better, the weather report comes directly from the United States Weather Bureau. And you can get one of those high-tech industrial jobs at the aerospace plant. Cold Blood, from San Francisco, is appearing next to the bus station in Springfield. Life was good, VERY good. This is a mono recording of WDRC-FM. One song was restored because the original recording had dropouts and ugly sounds, and two songs were restored because they were not complete. It was not reasonable to restore Kenny saying “1969, I know you’ll remember this, The Clique”. Please note that this station DID NOT play two songs back to back without someone talking between them. This exhibit just makes it sound that way, the unfortunate result of a tape change. It’s the Decade Of Hits, or something, and WDRC is bringing Three Dog Night to Hartford. We can be thankful that Felina was still in El Paso at that time. She seems to have upset Marty Robbins, and we must fear the worst. But, the good news is that Steve Dico Mannix contributed much more of Mr. Griffin, a very original and creative DJ. Ken Griffin (real name Joseph T. Mulhall, Jr.) passed away on Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at his home in Punta Gorda, FL. He was 73. Thanks to Ed Brouder in COMMENTS.

[Description by Uncle Ricky]

It’s SHOWTIME! This recording of only slightly-edited Ken Draper-consulted WCFL in Chicago has all the hooks and gadgets, Mini-Spin, Preview and Capsule Countdown, plus show intros & outros AND jingles. This is all the “clutter” that Bill Drake had already eliminated in Los Angeles. But, at the time, It’s a Saturday night Bash and/or Blast, your choice, and it was the best of Chicago Top 40 SHOW-BIZ! Barney Pip is on stage for a few minutes at the end, just long enough for an Instant Encore that you’ve never heard, maybe.

But the first 50 minutes stars Ron Britain, whispering love messages just “under” the music. Britain loved to use SFX, after all, it was a SHOW, and imagine how good his board operator had to be to hit everything on cue! How many cart machines in the WCFL air studio circa 1967, I wonder?

There’s a Psych-O-Delic Happening (Why Is That, Ron?)… and more than one musical surprise. And as expected, several riots, shooting wars and crazed confusion are all part of The Big Radio Show.