WRCO Blog

After two weeks of Green Bay preseason football, it will be time to take those old records off the shelf.  I am so excited to play fifties, sixties, seventies, and eighties music on the radio again and that will happen Saturday night on FM 100.9.  The request line will be open for you to dedicate a song during this holiday weekend.  We will also pull out a few hits from this weekend in 1969!  As little Phil was getting on the kindergarten bus that Fall, there were many great hits on the radio including:  Sweet Caroline-Neil Diamond,  Honky Tonk Woman-Rolling Stones,  Green River-C.C.R., Sugar Sugar-Archies (a favorite among the kindergarten class at Neptune school),  and Lay Lady Lay-Bob Dylan.  On Saturday morning I would watch the Curtis Matthis television set and see shows like The Banana Splits (tra la la la la la la tra la la la la la la).   The first episodes of Scooby Doo were also airing and I loved the Captain Crunch commercials that encouraged me to bug Dad at Wilson's Grocery Store in Richland Center to buy a box.  There was probably an action figure or a treasure map inside.  Growing up in the country is a great thing for a youngster.  My childhood seems magical as I look back on it now.  Those of us that grew up on a farm sometimes felt isolated and far away from excitement.  That is where the radio came in.  Listening to local radio and those far off signals late at night gave us a taste of what was happening in places we had only read about.  I am proud to say that I have now passed 31 years of working in radio and hopefully that will continue for a long time.  The medium of radio has meant so much to me for my entire life.   Thank you for being a part of it.  Perhaps we can talk on Saturday night when Those Were The Days will be back on WRCO FM 100.9?

Phil

The Packers play two Saturday night exhibition football games in a row.  That means Those Were The Days will return September second.  Being blocked by the Packers will mean a chance for me to clean up my record and cd cases and reorganize.  Perhaps when our old rock and roll show returns in September I will be able to find your requests even quicker!  We have some great shows coming up this Fall.  We will have more tributes to 1967 during this 50th anniversary year.  Our guest d.j. coughed up $350.00 for G.R.A.C.E.  to pick one hour of music from the Those Were The Days era.  He will get the FM 100.9 spotlight during a show coming up this Fall.  I will miss talking with all of you during the next two Saturday nights.  Please don't forget the Those Were The Days radio show while we are gone.  We will be back on September 2nd.

Phil

It will soon be forty years since Elvis Presley died in Memphis.  His music is played today even more than it was forty years ago.  On this weekends Those Were The Days program we will look back at some of his best movie songs.  Elvis movies were fun and some of the tunes we heard coming from those tiny metal speakers hooked on our car windows at the drive in were pretty good.  I have been an Elvis fan since I was a 'wee Nee'.  There was an Elvis greatest hits album package that was for sale on television in the early seventies. After digging out money from my Log Cabin syrup bank, I sent my $4.99 off to a Madison television station.  When the two record set arrived it seems that I played those albums constantly.  I would practice my lip curl in the mirror and eventually perfected my Elvis tribute act well enough to perform for Mrs. Varana's fifth grade class.  That was as far as my impersonater career went.  I would always read the TV Guide and look ahead to a possible Elvis movie airing on a local station.  I remember seeing 'Love Me Tender' on the Saturday afternoon Family Theater on channel three.  The film kept breaking and they would play instrumental music until it was fixed.  Elvis movies often were shown on the late show when I was growing up.  That is where I first saw 'Kid Gallahad',  'Live A Little, Love A Little',  'Tickle Me',  'Loving You', and several others.  It is still fun to pop in an Elvis movie and escape for an hour and a half.  My favorite films include:   5.  Change Of Habit (with Mary Tyler Moore)  4.  Follow That Dream (I feel its one of his best comedy roles)  3.  Viva Las Vegas (with the beautiful Ann Margaret)  2.  Jailhouse Rock (what a great dance scene to the title song!)   1.  Speedway (I am a Nancy Sinatra fan and once got to ask her about making movies with Elvis). 

I will be in the studio to take your request this week during Those Were The Days.  We will also pay tribute to Glen Campbell who died this week.  We used to play his greatest hits album in the old farm house and watch his 'Goodtime Hour' on the Curtis Matthis television set.  He was an amazing entertainer and I was always wowed by his guitar playing.

  I am sad to say that this will be our last show until September second.  The Green Bay Packers have two Saturday night preseason games in a row and our show will take a two week break.  We need to get our old rock and roll fix this Saturday night and have a real party since we wont get together again for a while.  I hope to talk with you Saturday night.

Phil

Hey rock and rollers!  I hope to hear from you Saturday night when I again host Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9.  This weekend we will go on a road trip to August of 1974.  We were watching history as one President stepped down and another stepped up.  The Summer was wrapping up quickly.  I had met a guitar playing pretty young lady that Summer that provided me with my first crush. I was crushed when she left with her family after a Summer vacation and went back to the east coast.  The Top 40 chart provided me with a diversion although I could not sing along with All I Need Is The Air That I Breathe by the Hollies without getting a bit misty!  Other radio jams during the first weekend of August 1974 included:  Rikki, Don't Lose That Number-Steely Dan,  The Night Chicago Died-Paper Lace,  Waterloo-Abba,  Rock Your Baby-George McCrae,  Taking Care Of Business-B.T.O.,  and Sure As I'm Sittin Here-Three Dog Night.  I will play a few of these and your rock and roll requests during our six hour radio party this Saturday night during Those Were The Days.

Phil

In the days of the forty-five record, there was an A side and a B side.  The A side was the hit side and the B side of the record was normally the throw away side.  Sometimes record companies would try to make the B side so bad and off the wall that you would never listen to it or consider it better than the hit side.  This often failed and record buyers and radio djs would make a hit out of the flip side.  This Saturday night, we will take a look at some of our favorite B sides and some of yours during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9.  I will be in the studio to accept your requests from the fifties through the eighties.   Once per hour we will throw a trivia question on the air and you can win some cool prizes.  I hope you will flip for our flip sides and your favorite rock and roll requests this Saturday night during Those Were The Days.  We had a blast last Saturday night when we played many of your requests we haven't played for awhile.   I love it when you try and stump me with a forgotten classic.

Phil

Saturday night (7-22) we will cruise back to 1987 during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9 and we will be taking your requests for music of the fifties through the eighties.  When we look at the Summer of 1987 music, it is hard to imagine that these songs are thirty years old.  I was hosting Those Were The Days when these songs were  brand new!    The station was still getting its new music on 45 r.p.m. records.  I was in charge of putting the new music into rotation and it seems like yesterday when some of these songs were stacked on my desk at the old radio station building.  Some of my favorites from that era include:  Something So Strong-Crowded House,  Seven Wonders-Fleetwood Mac,  Since You Been Gone-The Outfield,  Shakedown-Bob Seger and Alone-Heart.  There was a one hit wonder called Heart And Soul by T-Pau which I still think is a great radio Summer song.  That year my life was quickly changing as my girlfriend, June, became my fiance and wedding plans were being finalized. Young ladies in the Ithaca area were breathing a sigh of relief because I was off the market!  A wedding was held on a beautiful September day.  I am proud to say that we will celebrate thirty years later this year.

I hope you will join our Those Were The Days radio party this Saturday night from six until midnight on WRCO FM 100.9.

Phil

On the Those Were The Days radio program this Saturday night we will play for you some amazing hits from the fifties through the eighties.  This Saturday will be July 15th and we will pay tribute to the number 15 with songs through the years that only made number 15 on the Billboard charts.  I think you will be impressed with the number of songs that stalled out fifteen spots from the top, however, they are very well known today.  Some of the favorites include:  China Grove-Doobie Brothers,  S.O.S.-Abba,  Give A Little Bit-Supertramp,  Words-Bee Gees,  Laugh Laugh-Beau Brummels,  Drivers Seat-Sniff n' the Tears,  Refugee-Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, and Cuts Like A Knife-Bryan Adams.  This proves that being number one is not always better.  It seems these songs did not get overplayed and are more fondly remembered now.  I will be answering my own phone and hopefully you will give me a call with a request between six and midnight.  You could also win tickets, food, and merchandise, when we play trivia during the radio party on WRCO FM 100.9 Saturday night.

Phil

It was so great to get back home just in time to host Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9 this past Saturday night.  Our wonderful trip to Switzerland had only one snag.  We were held over in Canada for a night.  I woke up Saturday morning in Montreal and we caught the 8 am to Chicago.  Our arrival time by car to Sextonville was 3:15 p.  One hour later I was at WRCO preparing for the show.  Perhaps I will be better rested and over the jet lag this Saturday night when we again take those old records off the shelf.  Your requests will be welcomed and we will be playing trivia.  The feature will be a trip back to the Summer of 1972.  It was a great time for music.  I was busy trying to buy all the records my small income could afford.  I would ride along with dad once a week to the feed mill.  I would walk to Schultz Brothers (the dime store) and look at the records and the model cars.  Than I would run fast in my Pro-Ked sneakers to Saffells music store.  They had a portable record player and I could audition new songs from Elton John, Gallery,  Looking Glass,  The Hollies,  Bill Withers,  and a new group called The Eagles.  Those are great memories for me and I will play a few of those 45 r.p.m. records this Saturday night between six and midnight during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9.  Please give me a call that night at (608) 647-4155.

Phil  

We have some fun shows coming up this Summer on WRCO FM 100.9.  For the June 24th show, we will be taking you back to the Summer of love 1967.  Courtesy of Forgotten Hits dot com and the writer of that website Kent Kotal, we will play for you the top fifty songs from the Summer of '67.  I will have lots of slices from some of the interview guests from the past that had hits during that year.   I think we will back up our argument that 1967 is the best year ever for popular music!   We will not be taking you requests.  That feature will return on July 1st.  I will be back in the studio to take your calls and we will flash back to another favorite Summer for music, 1982.  Thank you for being a part of the show all of these years!  I will talk with you soon!

Phil

The Summer of 1977 was a good time for pop music.  That era gets overlooked because of disco and soft love ballads.  In between those songs were some instant classics including:  Dreams-Fleetwood Mac,  Life In The Fast Lane-Eagles,  Couldn't Get It Right-Climax Blues Band,  Jet Airliner-Steve Miller Band, and Sir Duke-Stevie Wonder.

In the good old Summer time of 1977  I was unloading hay making a quarter a load and counting my money until I could buy the new Foreigner album.  My mother often told me to stop spending money on those records. "They wont mean anything to you in a year or two"!  While mom was right about most things including asparagus, she was wrong about my love of vinyl.  I still buy it and play it today.  Some of those old records have been converted to digital and they still get a spin during our Saturday night radio show.  Join me for Those Were The Days this Saturday night.  I will be digging up the hits from the fifties through the eighties between 6 pm and Midnight.  Please join the party and request a song or play along with the six trivia questions during the six hour show on FM 100.9.  

Phil

This Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9, we will ride through the galaxy with some of the great songs from the Guardians Of The Galaxy 2 Soundtrack.  The first Guardians soundtrack blew me away with its use of great music from our Those Were The Days era.  It is rare these days to go the theater and know every song that plays during a movie.  When I went to Galaxy 2 last month I was even more impressed.   Here is a list of the songs in the latest movie...
1. "Mr. Blue Sky" Electric Light Orchestra
2. "Fox on the Run" Sweet
3. "Lake Shore Drive" Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah
4. "The Chain" Fleetwood Mac
5. "Bring It On Home to Me" Sam Cooke
6. "Southern Nights" Glen Campbell
7. "My Sweet Lord" George Harrison
8. "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" Looking Glass
9. "Come a Little Bit Closer" Jay and the Americans
10. "Wham Bam Shang-A-Lang" Silver
11. "Surrender" Cheap Trick
12. "Father and Son" Cat Stevens
13. "Flash Light" Parliament
14. "Guardians Inferno" The Sneepers featuring David Hasselhoff

It was hard to believe that the song Lake Shore Drive (track 3 above) was used in a big budget movie.  For a while in my life I thought I was the only one that remembered that tune.  It was played a few times on the radio when I was a wee Nee mostly in the Chicago market.  When I started the show back in 1986  I could not find a copy of it.  A fellow I knew from Illinois taped it on a cassette and sent it to me.  Eventually in my record digging I found a copy of the album and eventually a cd was released.  That song never fails to get a response when I play it on the radio.  It never charted and never made any money for Aliotta, Haynes, and Jeremiah.  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 writer and director James Gunn is originally from the Chicago area.  He reportedly remembered that song from his youth and looked for it.  Skip Haynes is the only surviving member of the group and is finally getting recognized after 45 plus years!  We will feature other Guardians classics along with your requests from the fifties through the eighties Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9.  We will have more stuff to give away when we play trivia.  Join our Those Were The Days family during your Saturday night between 6 pm and Midnight.

Phil

Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9 Saturday night will throw a birthday bash for Sgt. Pepper.  The classic Beatles album was released in the U.S. on June 2nd of 1967.  This weekend I will be spinning tracks from that set.  Though no singles were ever released from Pepper, it got much airplay.  It was the first album to have the song lyrics printed on the back cover.  I had the stereo copy and if you turned the balance on your record player to the left or right channel, you could only hear the music.  It was fun to sing 'When I'm '64' and imagine I was Paul McCartney.  I have always been a fan of the lesser played tracks.  'Lovely Rita' and 'Getting Better' are two of my favorites.  The Sgt. Pepper's reprise featuring Ringo's drum solo is one of the groups most rocking tracks.    The album has perhaps the best last song on side two ever with 'A Day In The Life'. The album means a lot to me but it is not my favorite Beatles album.  That distinction probably goes to either 'Introducing The Beatles' or 'Abbey Road'.  It is hard to deny the significance of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, though.  It kicked off the Summer Of Love in 1967 and the music and the cover influenced and inspired many artists over the last fifty years.  

I will be back in the studio to talk with you live this Saturday night June third.  We will be taking your requests and featuring the music of the fifties through the eighties on WRCO FM 100.9 between six and midnight.   

Phil

This Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9 our Those Were The Days show will spotlight radio songs that had a huge impact on the men and women that served our nation in Vietnam.  Our study guide will be the great book 'We Gotta Get Out Of This Place' by Doug Bradley and Craig Werner.   Hear a Top Twenty countdown of Vietnam era songs according to a survey done by the authors.  They polled veterans about their songs while in the service during that time.  Saturday night we will play some of the most frequently mentioned songs.  Our special in studio  guest will be local artist Jim Walktendonk.  He served as an army dog handler in 1970-71 with the 212th Military Police Unit at Long Binh and the 595th MPS at Cam Ranh Bay.  He and his guitar in Vietnam helped ease the pain of many soldiers.  He continues to write and perform today and paints amazing art.  Jim will recall songs he remembers hearing during his tour.  It will be a special tribute during this Memorial Day weekend.  We will play more of your favorites during the second half of Those Were The Days and a few two hit wonders!  I will not be taking your requests this week.  That feature will return next Saturday night.    Please be safe this weekend. 

Phil

The old farm truck was not my ride of choice, however, it was better than walking or riding my bike.   It would often have a half load of something in its bed that I would have to unload before I left the farm lane.  It did have a good radio.  I remember hearing many songs during the Spring and Summer of 1980 while I was hauling seed corn to the fields or pulling loads of hay.  At night that truck was my link to the night life of rural Richland Center.  My girl friend would have to move a log chain, clevis, a small paper sack full of washers, and a gear off the corn planter, if she wanted to slide close to me on the bench seat. There was a romantic glow coming from the fly specked dash board as the hot tunes of 1980 provided the soundtrack for a hot date!         This week on Those Were The Days we will travel down the gravel road with hits including:  Call Me-Blondie,  Funkytown-Lipps Inc., Cars-Gary Numan,  Brass In Pocket-Pretenders,  We Live For Love-Pat Benatar,  You May Be Right-Billy Joel,  and Lost In Love-Air Supply.  Listen to Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9 and you could be the lucky winner of a great prize when we play trivia.  Request a song from the fifties through the eighties between 6 and midnight Saturday night.

Phil

This Saturday night (May 13th) we will feature some of our favorite car songs on WRCO FM 100.9.  There are so many songs that pay tribute to awesome four wheel vehicles including:  409/Little Duece Coupe/ Shut Down/Fun Fun Fun-Beach Boys,  Hot Rod Lincoln-Comander Cody,  Mustang Sally-Wilson Pickett,  Cadillac Ranch-Bruce Springsteen,  Little Red Corvette-Prince,  Hey Little Cobra-Rip Chords, GTO-Ronnie & The Daytonas,  and Beep Beep by the Playmates.  That is just a sample of what is a log list of automobile songs.  If you include any song about transportation, your playlist would fill more than six hours of the Saturday night program.  The idea for a car songs show came from one of our most loyal listeners.  Thank you Sarge!  If anyone has an idea about a future theme, just drop us a line through this blog, email me or call me on Saturday night.  I think we have some really good shows coming up during the Spring and Summer on Those Were The Days.  Between six and Midnight Saturday night I will be in the studio taking your phone call requests and asking you fun trivia questions.  The weather is supposed to be outstanding.  Perhaps a few more of our camp fire listeners will report to us during Those Were The Days when we feature the best of the fifties through the eighties pop radio memories.

Phil

Hey Rock n' Rollers!   This Saturday night on Those Were The Days we will pull out some old records from 1983.  That Spring I was graduating from Trans American School Of Broadcasting (Madison Media Institute now) in Wausau.  Of those that completed the program, there are only a few that have stuck it out in the media business.  Many have gone on to much more success with higher paying better benefit jobs with fewer hours.  They got serious with their lives and made good choices for their families.  Those of us that truly love radio would not trade places with those that chose other paths.  I still feel like I am living the dream.  In 1983 my old buddy, Marty Richards, and me were spinning records at bars and high school dances for a few dollars.  Just enough money to go buy a few more records at the Music Shop in Richland Center each week.  This Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9 you may hear a few of those records that have been converted to digital.  The Spring of 1983 had many great songs that we still enjoy today.  Artists that were having hits included: Prince, Bob Seger,  Dexy's Midnight Runners,  After The Fire,  Michael Jackson,  Journey,  and the Greg Kihn Band.  I will be in the studio so that you can request a song from the fifties through the eighties.  Last weekend we heard from more new friends.  The circle around Richland Center is getting bigger all of the time.  Calls from Mount Hope,  Oakdale (near Tomah),  North Freedom,  and Viroqua were among the places we heard from.  Don't be afraid to give us a call during Those Were The Days Saturday night (608)  647-4155.

Phil   T.A.B.  Class Of 1983

This Saturday night WRCO FM 100.9 will be the place to be as we travel back to 1971.  We will play for you some of the hot hits from that Spring during our six hour Those Were The Days show.  During that year I was trying to do as many chores on the farm as possible.  Barn scraping was my best skill.  I would save up sixty-nine cents and take the money to Saffell's music store and the Dime Store to buy new forty-five records from Three Dog Night,  Partridge Family,  Cat Stevens,  Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and the Jackson Five.  I will play some of those songs on the radio this Saturday night!  There was controversy on the school bus in 1971.  Half of the students thought the title of the new song by Lobo was....'Me & You And A Dog Named Blue' ,  the rest of us could not convince them that the dogs name was Boo.  There are probably some adults walking around today that still think the mutt was called Blue.  That reminds me of the 1965 McCoys' hit 'Hang On Sloopy'.  If I had a dime for everytime a caller has asked  for 'Hang On Snoopy', I would have bought more forty-five records by now! 

I hope you will join the party and dedicate a song this Saturday night during the best of the fifties through the eighties Those Were The Days radio show on WRCO FM 100.9.  I will be asking one trivia question per hour and perhaps you can win and amaze your friends.

Phil 

This Saturday night my special phone guest on Those Were The Days will be George McCrae.  He had a number one hit in the Summer of 1974 with the song 'Rock Your Baby'.  It also wound up as one of the top songs of that year in music.   George also sang back ground on his then wife Gwen's 1975 hit called 'Rockin' Chair'.  That was a song George was set to record, however, suggested it for Gwen and it became her only hit.  I very much remember watching George and Gwen on American Bandstand promoting those songs.  In 2017 you can buy new music from George McCrae.  His new album sounds like it would have fit in back in the 1970s' but it still has a modern feel.

I will be at the WRCO studios this Saturday night and you can help program the show with music of the fifties through the eighties.  There were some outstanding requests last weekend!  There are people that call and ask for the same song every week and that is alright.  It does make it fun, however, when a song is asked for that I have not played since my hair was its original color.  You can also win a trivia challenge with us this Saturday night while listening to WRCO FM 100.9.

Phil

This Saturday night we will go parking in April of 1965.  Tune your radio to WRCO FM 100.9 and travel back courtesy of the hot tunes from that Spring. Many memorable songs were in the air as I watched my dad preparing the fields for planting.  The radio was always on in the house or the barn.  It was a farm kids connection to the outside World.  Did you know?  Although WRCO AM 1450 was first on the air in October of 1949,  WRCO FM 100.9 signed on the air in 1965.  At the time most everyone listened to the AM band.  Cars and trucks did not have the FM band for several more years.  When WRCO first had an FM station for Southwest Wisconsin, it was a direct simulcast of the AM programming. The station started doing seperate programming later with local sports and other specials.  In 1965 WRCO featured what was known as a 'middle of the road'  format.  It was the softer side of pop music including a few instrumentals.  Artists such as Petula Clark and Herb Alpert were in regular rotation.  That is why I still like their tunes today.  It takes me back to those wonderful days growing up on the farm with the radio playing the soundtrack in the background.   Saturday night on Those Were The Days, I will spin a few of those records from this weekend in 1965 including I'm Telling You Now-Freddie & the Dreamers (which was number one),  Eight Days A Week-The Beatles,  Tired Of Waiting For You-Kinks,  I'll Be Doggone-Marvin Gaye,  and King Of The Road-Roger Miller.  I will be in the studio propped up with caffeine and the request line will be open for you to make a song suggestion.  We will feature a trivia question each hour during Saturday nights show.  Leave the radio on while you color your eggs and spend time with family and friends this holiday weekend.

Thanks to last weeks guests including Kent Kotal.  I hope you enjoyed our tribute to 1967.  We plan to visit that year a few more times during 2017.  Check out forgottenhits.com for more about last weeks program and a daily look at events from fifty years ago. 

Phil

The year of 1967 is the first year I think of when I recall great radio pop music.  Whenever I would debate how great those 365 days were with some of my fellow music nerds, we would often agree that no year compares.  Every style and genre was represented on the popular radio charts.  During our year long tribute to those am radio days of fifty years ago, we will continue to feature special programs on our Saturday night radio show Those Were The Days.  The ideas for many of the 1967 features have come directly from forgottenhits.com.  The man that writes that site has made time to be on the line with me this weekend .  Kent Kotal will be my guest on Saturday night.  Each of us will have the extreme challenge of picking our ten favorite songs from 1967!   Kent's choices are very good and I am a little jealous of a couple of his picks!  My ten faves are songs that I never tire of even after hearing them for fifty years.  Kent will be on the air during the 'dueling d.j.'s'  segment from the start of the show at six until eight.  You will hear songs from artists and groups such as; Cowsills, Otis Redding, Nancy Sinatra, New Colony Six, Monkees, Stevie Wonder, Mamas & Papas, Doors, and Procol Harum. 'Thanks to Kent for his dedication to forgottenhits.com.  Check it out this week and read about all that happened this week during 1967. 

We will also go parking during the first four months of 1972 and 1982 on Those Were The Days Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9.  Both of those years are also great ones to profile.  You may be surprised how many songs from these years we still play often.   I will not be taking your requests this Saturday.  That feature returns next Saturday night April 15th.  Have a great weekend and thanks for reading and listening.

Phil