Phil Nee

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

The Solid Gold Dancers will exchange gifts and I will be the dj Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9.  Rock and Roll Christmas records will spin and anything else you would like to request during our six hour Those Were The Days radio show.  We will take a look at old music news and salute the new Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame soon to be members.  This was the story breaking the news about the inductees courtesy of Associate Press.

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   UNDATED (AP) - The groundbreaking Los Angeles rap act N.W.A. will join a quartet of 1970s era FM radio rockers - Chicago, Cheap Trick, Deep Purple and Steve Miller - as 2016 inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Both Miller and Cheap Trick make it during their first year on the ballots. The induction ceremony for the Cleveland-based hall will be held April 8 in Brooklyn's Barclays Center. HBO will carry highlights later in the spring.

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We have certainly played Chicago, Cheap Trick, Deep Purple, and Steve Miller music over the years on Saturday nights.  I hope to hear from you during this weekends show.  I will be in the air chair and the turntables will be turning this weekend.

Phil

This Saturday night you can travel in the time tunnel back to 1983 with me on WRCOs' Those Were The Days. It was a great time to be listening to the radio and it was back when MTV actually showed videos! Hear some iconic

1980s classics along with our usual fantastic requests from the fifties through the eighties. I will be in the studio to take your requests and we will play trivia. You might even hear a rock and roll Christmas tune on WRCO FM 100.9!

Take Those Were The Days with you during your weekend endeavors. We will have a blast from the past together.

Phil

This Saturday night on WRCOs' Those Were The Days we will remember the records of Gary Lewis & The Playboys.  Hear Gary tell a few stories behind those songs and other facts.  There are people that still don't know that he has a famous father.  Gary and the group enjoyed seven top ten songs between January of 1965 and the Spring of 1966.  I will be back in the studio this Saturday night to take your fifties through the eighties pop radio requests and I will throw some trivia questions at you.  Last weeks program was fun to put together.  It was an all Seventies night inspired by the book 'Ranking The 70's'.  There were a few on that countdown that I admit being tired of when they were popular on the radio.  It seemed fun to hear them again this past weekend.   Give me a call Saturday night and we can talk about it.  You can leave a coment at this site, email me This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or reach me on your rotary dial telelphone.

Phil

This holiday weekend I hope you will have a 70's dance party with WRCO FM 100.9.  I will be counting down the most played songs of the decade during our six hour program.  It is a great mix of the variety of songs that made the 1970's so much fun.  There is disco, pop, country cross-over, ballads, dance classics, bubblegum, and folk all represented.  The show is inspired by a new book called 'Ranking The 70's' by Dann Isbell and Bill Carroll.  It is a must have for all 70's children and chart fanatics.  It would make a great Christmas gift.  Find out what the number one song of the 70's is!  This Saturday night we will play songs that were over played on radio back in the day.  Many of them don't get played that much in 2015.  We will hang the disco ball and get our groove on Saturday night with the Solid Gold Dancers during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9.   I will not be taking your requests this week.  We will return in December with four Saturday nights of requests and trivia.  Happy Thanksgiving weekend.

Phil

This Saturday night on WRCOs' Those Were The Days radio program, we will be playing a stack of 45's that were on the charts in November of 1969.  During that time I was taking week day bus rides to Neptune school.  It was a rural school with no phone.  One day a student got hurt and the teacher had to send a kindergarten student down the state highway to use the phone at the nearest farm house.  Can you imagine that happening today?  Songs that we heard on the buses AM radio that November included:  Sugar Sugar-The Archies, Eli's Coming-Three Dog Night, Down On the Corner-C.C.R., Wedding Bell Blues-5th Dimension, and Suspicious Minds-Elvis.  These songs were wrapping up one of the most creative decades of the century.  This Saturday night I will be in the studio to answer the 'old time rock and roll support line'.  If you have a song that you haven't heard on the radio since way back when, please give me a call.  Save a few brain cells for trivia.  We will have a question each hour during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9 this Saturday night.

Phil

This Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9 we will crank out more great music from the fifties through the eighties.  I will be in the studio for 6 hours of requests and trivia.  We will play a few of my favorite tracks from some great record albums that were released in 1975.  While still just a 'wee-Nee', I was a record buying phenom!  I was starting to make the conversion from buying single hits on 45 r.p.m. records to purchasing complete albums.  I had to decide whether I wanted the vinyl copy or the cassette version.  Some of the favorite albums blasting out of my speakers were..A Night At The Opera by Queen.  The Marx brothers were my heroes and here was this English band naming its albums after the brothers Marx movies!  The first time I heard Bohemian Rhapsody, it floored me...Born To Run-Bruce Springsteen.  I heard the title cut on WRCO in the Fall of 1975.  The opening drum beat is still exciting forty years later.  I wanted the Wilson sisters to baby sit me and sing Crazy On You and Magic Man.  The album Dreamboat Annie was a 1975 purchase for me at Shultz Brothers Variety Store in Richland Center.  The Kiss album Alive came out in 1975.  A friend of mine loaned me his copy and I became an instant fan.  Many of my music friends have made fun of me for liking Kiss over the years.  While their lyrics may not have been as deep as Bob Dylan's, the music was fun.  I still maintain that Alive is one of the best 'live' rock and roll albums ever!  Other great albums from '75 include:  The Eagles-One Of These Nights,  Paul Simon-Still Crazy After All These Years,  Fandango!-ZZ Top,  Fleetwood Mac-Fleetwood Mac, and Venus And Mars-Paul McCartney & Wings. 

Join me for some of the greatest music ever cut on vinyl this Saturday night during WRCOs' Those Were The Days.

Phil

This Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9 our old rock n' roll radio show (Those Were The Days) will highlight hits from November of 1973.  It may have been one of Top Forty radios' last hurrahs.  There was so much good music blasting out of those 3 inch radio speakers!  We will stop and park in that moment for a time.  The show will begin with a guest disc jockey.  Al Hushka has been a long time staff member of WRCO.  You have heard his voice for years reading advertisments during our programs. As of last week, he is now semi-retired.  Al began his radio career with stints in Viroqua and Prairie Du Chien.  Hear 'Cousin Al' remember his days behind the mic when many of the most memorable Those Were The Days' tunes were brand new.  Join Al and me for memories of radio the way it used to be.  The request line will be open between 9 pm and Midnight.  We will also throw a few trivia questions your way.  Since I don't text or tweet, I hope you will call me Saturday night during Those Were The Days. 

Phil

Halloween has not been the same night as our Those Were The Days radio show very often during the past twenty-nine years.  That means we will have a real bash this Saturday night.  I will be in the studio to hand out song treats and a few tricks.  There are so many records from the fifties through the eighties that have a haunting theme.  We will be spinning a few of those.  I am sure that the Witch Doctor and the Purple People Eater will stop.  We will do the Monster Mash with Bobby 'Boris' Pickett.  The song originally hit in 1962 and made it back to the charts in the late sixties.  It made another comeback to pop radio in the Summer of 1973 and it was a top ten hit.  Request a song with a Halloween theme or ask for anything that made the Billboard pop charts during the first thirty-five years of rock and roll.  Play trivia and join the Solid Gold dancers dance team this Saturday night.  Those Were The Days is heard every Saturday night between 6 pm and Midnight.

Phil