Phil Nee

In the early 1970's my mother learned that the best way to deal with a problem child was to bribe him.  The best way to get me to the barber's chair, help with chores, or behave in Church was to offer the chance to pick out a sixty-three cent forty-five record or $4.99 album.  It planted a seed which grew into a life long hobby of collecting music.  Mom helped me buy records that I still play on the air today.  Most have been converted to a digital format.  I remember her letting me buy the three album set 'Wings Over America' which chronicled Paul McCartney & Wings tour of 1976.  I must have really needed an attitude adjustment for her to spend that much on me.  During this Mothers Day weekend, I need to say thank you to her for all of the sacrifices and all of the vinyl.  Join me this Saturday night for Those Were The Days featuring the best of the fifties through the eighties.  This weekend on WRCO FM 100.9 I will play a few songs with mama or mother featured in the title or song lyrics.  Dedicate a song to your mom or to yourself.  Win a trivia prize for you or your mom!  I hope you will check in with me.  Happy Mothers Day.

Philip James Nee!

"yes mother"?

Back in 1968 I was driving my first wheels.  I got a Hot Wheels car set with the Super Charger that would push the cars through and around the track.  It never worked like it did on television.  The kids in the commercial would laugh with glee as their car went upside down through the loop de loop.  My cars had trouble making the corner before they ever got to the upside down portion of the track.  My Slinky never walked down more than two stairs in a row.  The only reliable toys I owned were my G.I. Joe and my Billy Blastoff action figure.  I was playing with all of these toys in the upstairs of the old farm house while great songs from the Spring of 1968 were coming out of the radio speaker.  Tunes such as:  Lady MaDonna-The Beatles, (Sittin On) The Dock Of The Bay-Otis Redding, Cry Like A Baby-Box Tops, Dance To The Music-Sly & The Family Stone, and many more.  This Saturday night during WRCOs'  Those Were The Days radio show we will park with the radio tuned to 1968 for a while.  I will be in the studio for a time to take your requests from all of the decades and genres that we play from.  We will be throwing some trivia questions at you as well.  We will talk with members of the Madison, Wisconsin based band known as the Gentlemen.  They will be playing a 50th anniversary show at Chief's Tavern on Cottage Grove Road in Madison this Saturday night.  Hear some of their memories during our Saturday night Those Were The Days show on WRCO FM 100.9.

Phil

Streaking is a fad I never took part in.  One time during the Summer of 1974 my swim trunks (which had a faulty draw string) slipped off while I was doing the mud crawl in the Willow Creek.  I did run nakedly back through the woods to the farm house before anyone saw me.  Technically that might qualify as streaking, however, I did not run naked on purpose.  Other than streaking, the Spring of 1974 had many pop culture highlights.  I loved watching American Bandstand, Don Kershner's In Concert, and the Midnight Special.  There were not very many chances to see what the singers on the radio looked like.  When we saw them on television, we were sometimes disappointed and other times impressed.  There were no video recording possibilites so I had to stay awake.  Sometimes I would fall asleep and miss the Midnight Special.  I would often wake up to the sound of gunfire as reruns of The Riflemen would air following my favorite show.  Chuck Conners trusty firearm would tell me I had just missed Steely Dan, Olivia Newton John, Brownsville Station, Gladys Knight & The Pips, and the Wolfman on the Midnight Special.  I would than have to hope to see the show as a rerun in the Summer.  April of 1974 featured many great 45 RPM records.  My favorites included:  Bennie & The Jets-Elton John, Hooked On A Feeling-Blue Suede, Come And Get Your Love-Redbone, Oh My My-Ringo Starr, The Loco-Motion-Grand Funk, Dancing Machine-The Jackson Five, Jet-Wings, and Let It Ride-B.T.O. You will hear a few of these this weekend.

Join the rock and roll party this Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9 during Those Were The Days.  I will be in the studio between 6 p and Midnight to collect your requests and man the 'Close & Play'.  We will ring the trivia cow bell once per hour.  Lets get together Saturday night.

Phil

After getting set to send your tax payment to the government this weekend, you can tune in to WRCO FM 100.9 Saturday night (during Those Were The Days) for a refund.  While I wish I could give you cold hard cash, you will have to settle for songs about money.  Here is a list of favorites:

Money (That's What I Want)-Barrett Strong/The Beatles

Money Money Money-ABBA

Money For Nothing-Dire Straits

Money-Pink Floyd

Money Changes Everything-Cyndi Lauper

The Gambler-Kenny Rogers

Take The Money & Run-Steve Miller Band

Lawyers, Guns, and Money-Warren Zevon

Rich Girl-Hall & Oates

anything by Eddie Money

If you want to contribute to this list, give me a call Saturday night.  You can request any pop song from the fifties through the eighties.  Thank for the great night this past weekend.  You made me dig for a few songs that haven't hit the WRCO airwaves in a while.  Perhaps you will win a trivia showdown with your friends and neighbors.  Those Were The Days is heard each Saturday night between 6 p and Midnight. 

Phil

It was the Spring of 1979 and number 19 was patroling right field for the Ithaca Bulldogs 'B' squad baseball team.  His uniform pants were so baggy that the excess material was almost like a sail that would push him backwards when the wind blew.  There were so many pop songs running through his head that he could barely hear all the other eight players on the field giving instructions such as:  "back up Nee, he burned ya last time",  "wake up Nee that was the third out",  "lift up the plow and run after it this time".  There was such team unity!  It was so difficult to keep my mind on the game when the pretty track girls were practicing nearby.  On the radio in the Spring of 1979 were instant classics like 'Renegade' by Styx, 'Rock And Roll Fantasy' from Bad Company,  'Good Times Roll'-The Cars, 'What A Fool Believes' by The Doobie Brothers, and many more.  This Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9 I will be spinning the hits from the fifties through the eighties on Those Were The Days. We will stop and park in 1979 during our six hour tribute. It will be great to be back in the studio to take your requests.  You could win some great prizes including tickets to a special Elvis tribute in Viroqua.  Listen for the trivia questions that can win you a prize and help you amaze your friends.

Phil

Hey Rock & Rollers!  This Saturday night I will be digging out the biggest records from 1966.  On WRCO FM 100.9 we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of an awesome year for popular culture.  It was a fantastic year for movies, television, cars, junk food and music on the radio.  The Monkees debuted in the Fall of 1966.  Other debuts came from the Mamas And The Papas, Association,  Tommy James And The Shondells, Simon And Garfunkel, Neil Diamond, Young Rascals, and Chicagos' own New Colony Six.  I will countdown forty of the greatest tunes of the year during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9 this Saturday night.  We will also be spinning a few tunes by Wisconsin groups.  Hold on to those requests.  We will not be taking those this time, however, the hot line will reopen next Saturday night.  Enjoy your weekend in Southwest Wisconsin and remember to listen to Those Were The Days Saturday night.

Phil

This week during WRCOs' Saturday night old rock and roll party I will be spinning your requests and stopping the 'Magic Maverick' so we can go parking in 1984.  During that year I was spinning vinyl records and cassette tapes at bars, wedding dances, class reunions,  high school dances, softball parks, and even a few fun house parties! I was making a whopping $50.00 a night and dropping that money back into buying all of the latest music.  When I play songs on the radio now like Footloose, I often flash back to some of those fun nights.  When the Van Halen song 'Jump' came out in early 1984, I remember spinning for a dance at Reedsburgs' Webb High School and they had a contest to see who could do the best 'flying v-kick' like Van Halen lead singer David Lee Roth.  Air guitar contests were also popular that year.  Even now while I am playing tunes on WRCO FM 100.9 I still play a mean air guitar!  I hope you will suggest some fifties, sixties, seventies, and eighties songs for me to play during our six hour Those Were The Days radio show this Saturday night.

Phil Nee

This Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9 I will be spinning classic rock and roll songs from the fifties through the eighties.  You can contribute to the playlist when you give me a call.  I will lug my cd cases and my phongraph records into the booth at WRCO and we will have a rock and roll party.  Let's take the 'Magic Maverick' automobile back to 1971 and park with the radio on.  The middle of March in 1971 had a great variety of artists with big hits including:  Janis Joplin, Tom Jones, Ike & Tina Turner, Partridge Family, Jackson Five, Grass Roots, and Cat Stevens. 

We always had the radio on in the house and in the barn during those days.  That helped fuel my love of music.  I can still remember where I was standing in the barn while hearing a certain song for the first time or where we were at when a song came on the truck radio.  It was a great time to grow up.  When we fire those old songs up again Saturday night, being grown up is only optional.  I will be remembering a Spring of fun and *frolic on the farm.

Phil

*frolic

To play and move about cheerfully, excitedly, or energetically.

This Saturday night during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9 we will feature a tribute to this weekend in 1976.  I can't believe it has been forty years since that great time in Top Forty radio.  As Spring was coming on in 1976, I was tuning my AM radio late at night and capturing all kinds of sounds from all over the country and Canada.  Songs that I was recording on my Panasonic tape recorder included:  December 1963 (Oh What A Night)-Four Seasons,  Love Machine-Miracles,  Dream Weaver-Gary Wright, Lonely Night (Angel Face)-Captain & Tennille, Dream On-Aerosmith, and many more.  The seventies decade often gets bad mouthed because of disco music.  I loved so many songs from that era and I still do today. Memories of getting my three speed bike out for the first time and dad getting ready for field work will be back in my mind when I hear some of those '76 tunes.  I hope you will return with me to those sweet days of yesteryear during Those Were The Days.  I will be in the studio to take your requests and to quiz you this Saturday night.

Phil

This Saturday night on WRCOs' Those Were The Days, we will recognize more Top Forty radio gems.  English singer Tony Burrows was the voice of five different groups with five seperate hits in the late sixties and early seventies.  Hear Tony talk about each hit during our six hour broadcast on FM 100.9 Saturday night.  His vocal talents graced hits by Edison Lighthouse (Love Grows Where Rosemary Goes), White Plains (My Baby Loves Loving), Brotherhood Of Man (United We Stand),  The Pipkins (Gimme Dat Ding), and First Class (Beach Baby).  I hope you will help me program the airwaves.  Give me a call Saturday night (not a text or tweet).  We are old school!  It would not be as much fun if I couldn't talk to the listeners.  Many times when you request a song, I can tell you if we have it, if it fits our format, or if I have already played it.  It is harder to communicate that if I am trying to answer through other media.  Saturday nights are busy enough and the 'Solid Gold' Dancers are working the dance floor and they are not much help to me.  I will be in the studio Saturday night to take down the titles of your favorite songs from the fifties through the eighties and perhaps you will be one of the six trivia winners!

Phil

This Saturday night during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9 we will pay tribute to 'leap year' hits.  These are songs that were at the top of the industry during those years when there was a February 29th.  Starting in 1956 and jumping ahead 4 years each time, we will pay tribute to those 29th of February number one hits.  It will be a busy Saturday night.  I will be in the studio to take your requests and we will play trivia.  We will have lots of high school sports updates including highlights of the local wrestlers at the W.I.A.A. state tournament.  Join the 'Solid Gold' dancers and me for Those Were The Days old time rock and roll variety show this weekend.

Phil

There has always been a debate about which year was the best for popular music.  Many times music lovers will choose the year they graduated from high school or college.  When you are young and have less responsibilities, you seem to have more room in your mellon to store song memories.  The year of 1967 has long been a favorite.  Other years that are very good for memorable pop tunes include: 1966, 1969, 1973, and 1982 (the year they kicked me out of Ithaca High School for good). 

Our featured year on WRCOs' Those Were The Days this Saturday  night will be 1967.  It was a year that is similar to our Saturday night format because of the wide variety of songs that got played on Top Forty radio.  You could hear everything from the Blues Magoos biggest hit (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet, and Tom Jones crooning 'The Green, Green Grass Of Home'.  'Music To Watch Girls By' by the Bob Crewe Generation (which was the music of a diet soda commercial) was playing on those transistor radios and Chicagos' own Buckinghams were making a name for themselves with a number one 'Kind Of A Drag'.  Hear some of those great '67 tunes and your rock and roll requests of the fifties through the eighties on WRCO FM 100.9 this Saturday night. I will be in the studio and together we will have some fun. There may be an after party at the moon tower.  Those Were The Days my friend!

Phil

Pop radio in February of 1981 featured a wide array of styles.  Disco had fallen out of the spotlight and Country cross over hits from Dolly Parton and Eddie Rabbitt were in the Top Ten.  Kool & The Gang were encouraging everyone to 'Celebrate'.  Music veteran Delbert McClinton was having his most famous pop hit.  I was the Court Jestor for the Ithaca High School basketball team.  I would take my Panasonic tape recorder/player with me on the road trips.  I wired a mini plug onto a large stereo speaker and we jammed all the way to La Farge, Kickapoo, Seneca, Wauzeka, De Soto, Weston, and Riverdale.  Popular groups and artists to play included: Queen, Off Broadway, April Wine, Pat Benatar, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Bad Company, and Styx.  This Saturday night, I will bring in my cassette tapes and we can jam again during WRCOs' Those Were The Days between six and Midnite.  Help program the songs I play from the fifties through the eighties and see if you can find the answers to the trivia questions.

Phil

One of our guest dj's will star on Those Were The Days this Saturday night.  They have the opportunity because their family got the top bid during WRCOs' Walk With Grace radio auction which was held last Summer.  Jerry will get the chance to play some of his favorite songs during the first hour of Those Were The Days after his family gave him the hour of guest djing for Christmas!  I will be in the studio to take your request calls after that.  We will spotlight a Top Forty 'One Hit Wonder' when we talk about Wisconsin born Chi Coltrane who had a hit called Thunder And Lightning in 1972.  Perhaps you will win a prize when we ask a trivia question each hour during this Saturday nights' Those Were The Days'.  Hear the best of the fifties through the eighties on WRCO FM 100.9 Saturday night.

Phil

This Saturday night on Those Were The Days, I will dig out some of the hot hits from this weekend in 1974.  You will hear some Top Forty treasures such as: You're Sixteen-Ringo Starr, The Joker-Steve Miller Band, Helen Wheels-Paul McCartney & Wings, Smokin'In The Boys Room-Brownsville Station,  and Show And Tell-Al Wilson.  It was a wonderful time for popular music and Top Forty radio.  It reminds me of Ma and Pa taking little Philip out with them for a Friday night fish fry (it was hard for them to find someone to babysit me!)  Mom would save up her quarters and hand them to me one at a time so that I could go play the jukebox (three plays for a quarter).  Every other 25 cent piece would go into the pinball machine (I was not a pinball wizard so the money did not last long).  Join me for Those Were The Days this Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9 between 6 p and Midnight.  We have been spinning the old tunes since 1986.  It has been very rewarding.  Last Saturday night a listener requested 'Color My World' by Chicago for her son's 28th birthday.  She told me that I played that for her the night her son was born 28 years ago!  That really made my night. 

Thanks for listening.

Phil

It will be great to be back with you this Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9.  The Packers blocked us last week. 

The year 2016 has been a rough one for old rock and rollers.  We lost Glenn Frey earlier this week and Saturday night we will pay tribute with some of our (and your) favorite Eagle songs.  It will be a celebration of the legacy of the music that Glenn leaves behind.  One of my earliest memories of the Eagles is when I saw them play on NBCs' The Midnight Special back in 1973.  In 1975 I went to Saffells Music Store and bought The Eagles Greatest Hits (1971-1975).  This was the album that became the biggest seller of the 70's and 80's.  Every song was a hit and there were no filler tunes or new songs to clutter it.  I loved Glenn Frey's solo work in the 1980's.  'I Found Somebody' was one of those I remember from the first months that I was exposed to MTV.  That is my favorite among his solo releases.  Playing country tunes in the early 1990's I recall the Eagles tribute cd that several country artists put together. It brought the groups songs to a new generation and to a new audience. 

Tune in 100.9 WRCO FM on Saturday night for more of the best of the fifties, sixties, seventies, and eighties during Those Were The Days between 6 p and Midnight.  I will be in the studio to take your requests and to give away some cool trivia prizes.

Phil

The Green Bay Packers can be heard on WRCO FM 100.9 this Saturday night.  The pregame will begin shortly after 5 pm.  This means Those Were The Days will have the weekend off.  I hope you will join me Saturday night January 23rd for the next solid gold rock and roll radio show.  We will go back to 1974 and your requests will be welcomed.  In the meantime I will be digging for more relics.  Each week I dig through my vinyl vaults and add a track or two to our playlist.  When you listen on Saturday nights, you will hear at least one song each week that has never been played on Those Were The Days. Since the show has aired since October of 1986, that is a bunch of songs!  Have a great weekend.  Go Pack!  

Phil

One of my favorite groups in my youth was a band called Off Broadway.  They played around the Madison area a few times including opening up for the Beach Boys and other big name acts at the Dane County Coliseum.  A while back I talked to Cliff Johnson of Off Broadway and we will share a few of his words this Saturday night on WRCOs' Those Were The Days.  Off Broadway made just two albums back in the day.  The first was called 'On' and it was in a lot of vinyl and tape collections in 1980. The second album was titled 'Quick Turns' and it was not promoted or distributed well.   The song 'Stay In Time' made it to the Billboard Hot 100 in 1980 and it still gets asked for on our show.

Off Broadway was one of the many albums I had on cassette tape so I could blast it as I traveled the back roads in my 1975 Ford Maverick.  Here is a list of some of my other favorite tapes...1.  Get The Knack-The Knack  2.  Double Platinum-Kiss 3.  The Best Of Buddy Holly  4.  Heaven Tonight-Cheap Trick  5.  Abbey Road-The Beatles  6.  BTO 2- Bachman Turner Overdrive  7.  The Doors  8.  K-Tel Records Rock '80   9.  Willie Nelson's Greatest Hits  10. The Best Of Bread (just in case I wanted to impress a date). 

I hope you will tune it to WRCO FM 100.9 Those Were The Days' this Saturday night between 6:00 p and Midnight because that is where the party will be!

Phil

This Saturday night on WRCOs'  Those Were The Days, we will stop and park in 1976.  It is a fun countdown with tunes from artists and groups such as:  Bay City Rollers, Ohio Players, Sweet, Hot Chocolate, and Fleetwood Mac.  That era of music is often overlooked.  I was a Top Forty fan and I am still a fan of the three minute pop song.  I hope to hear from you this Saturday night.  We will ask a few leftover 'Triviathon' Questions.  Your requests will be welcome.  I hope you will join the 'Solid Gold' Dancers and me from six until Midnight on WRCO FM 100.9

Phil

I know it is a busy weekend, however, I hope you will tune in 100.9 WRCO FM this Saturday night between 6 and Midnight.  You may be a little tired from all of the Christmas get togethers or from taking back gifts that don't fit or work.  Those Were The Days will be on so that you can escape to the fifties, sixties, seventies, and eighties.  I will be in the studio to take your requests and we will throw you a few trivia questions.  We will look at music news from this week and a look back to December of 1965 when the Beatles album 'Rubber Soul' was released for Christmas. 

It marked a big change for the Beatles from pop love songs to deeper folk tunes.  This was one of the first by any artist that was not just a way to get the radio hit on a long playing record and several cover songs for filler.  I did not discover this gem until well after I began my hobby of buying records.  Some of the Rubber Soul songs were familiar because they were on the double 'red' album Greatest Hits 1962-1966.  Canadian songstress Anne Murray had a hit with a song called You Wont See Me in the Summer of 1974.  When I learned it was a Lennon/McCartney song, I had to find the album that it was on.  It is easy to see why this album was and is so highly regarded after all of these years.  I will spin a few from my Rubber Soul album this Saturday night during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9.  Happy Holidays!

Phil