WRCO Blog

Saturday night during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9,  I will opening up my 45 r.p.m. carrying case and spinning some of the great records from that era that don't get requested very often.  During that decade, I spent time as a mobile d.j. and there were many records that were popular dance requests but now seem to have faded into obscurity.  MTV played a big role in songs being discovered.  At our swinging bachelor pad in the early 80's,  the 24 hour music channel was on all 24 hours.  Some of my favorite songs included:  Frida-I Know There's Something Going On,  Taine Cain-Hold On,  Manfred Mann-Runner,  OXO-Whirley Girl,  Haircut 100-Love Plus One, and Chilliwack-My Girl (Gone Gone Gone). Some of the popular 80's records to play in the bars back then included:  Girls With Guns-Tommy Shaw,  Stay In Time-Off Broadway,  What I Like About You-Romantics,  Autograph-Turn Up The Radio,  The Cheaters (a Madison Wisconsin band)-Easy To Please Me,  and Andy Taylor-Take It Easy.  During this holiday weekend, I will be playing some of those vinyl classics.  You can request a song from the fifties through the eighties.  Perhaps you will come up with one of your favorite 80's songs that you don't hear anymore.  The trivia line will also be open for you to take a shot at winning a trivia prize.  This Saturday night we will have another radio party, and you are invited!

Phil

In 1979 I went to the Wisconsin State Fair for the first time.  It was a hot August day and every where I went the song 'My Sharona'  by the Knack was playing.   That song emerged through all of the Disco and  Adult Contemporary music on the Billboard Hot 100.  I had to go to the Ben Franklin store when I got home from the fair and buy the album 'Get The Knack' by the Knack.  That is still one of my favorite albums.  There were other highlights during the Summer of 1979.  My Summer jams included:  Don't Bring Me Down-E.L.O.,  I Was Made For Lovin' You-Kiss,  Let's Go-The Cars,  Goodbye Stranger-Supertramp,  Bad Case Of Loving You-Robert Palmer,  Drivers Seat-Sniff n' The Tears,  and Cruel To Be Kind-Nick Lowe.  That era is often overlooked when favorite music Summers are discussed.  I was getting ready to start school and see if any new young ladies moved to the district since May.  That was my only chance for a girl friend.  I needed to meet someone that had not heard my same jokes since Kindergarten.  The mighty Bulldog football team would end a losing streak and win a thriller in overtime!  I would get the role I was born to play when I was cast as Snoopy in You're A Good Man Charlie Brown.  It was a stretch because Snoopy was better looking than me.  Join me for more radio memories this Saturday night during my Those Were The Days program on FM 100.9.   I will be in the studio to take requests of music from the fifties through the eighties and to give you a pop quiz.  You could be a winner this Saturday night.

Philip (Snoopy)

  Our all time favorite music Summers have been much fun.  Thanks for your good response to our Summer salutes over the last few weeks.  This weeks Those Were The Days radio show will reflect a bit on the Summer of 1978.  I was getting ready to join the mighty Ithaca Bulldog football team in that part of August.  I was not much help to the team, however, I was comic relief.  They were laughing with me, and most of the time at me!  My Panasonic tape recorder was blasting all of the hits during the bus trips to Seneca,  North Crawford,  LaFarge, Kickapoo, Weston, DeSoto, and Wauzeka.  During this year I also realized that there were cute neighbor girls in both directions of county highway B.  I was able to get the same number of dates as my football team got wins in 1978 (zero).  At least we were consistant.  The Friday night record hops were my chance to show the girls the moves I learned while watching American Bandstand.  Some of the songs that made me get up and boogie included:  Miss You-Rolling Stones,  Life's Been Good-Joe Walsh,  King Tut-Steve Martin,  Hot Child In The City-Nick Gilder,  Two Tickets To Paradise-Eddie Money,  Just What I Needed-The Cars,  and Grease-Frankie Valli.  This Saturday night I will be going back to those days on FM 100.9.   I hope you will join the fun and give us a call to suggest a tune for the playlist.  We had some wild 'meteor watching parties'  join us last week.  Perhaps you can plan a get together and than dedicate a song to your guests during Those Were The Days and the best of the fifties through the eighties.

Philip (backup to the backup center for the Ithaca Bulldogs 1978)

It was about this time of year when mother would load me in the 1971 Impala and drive me to the store to get my new school pants.  This was not something I liked to do.  My worst fear was seeing someone that I knew while I was getting my inseam measured.  New school pants in 1977 had changed from bell bottoms to flair legs.  Sometimes they actually had the size marked on the brand name located in full view on the outside waist.  This was another fear for me.  If my belt did not cover up the entire tag, someone would read that I wore size 'husky' pants.  To avoid conflict, my mother would bribe me.  If I did not complain about shopping for pants,  I could pick out a new record!  There were plenty of cool songs to choose from in August of 1977 including:  Barracuda-Heart,  Smoke From A Distant Fire-Sanford Townsend Band,  Give A Little Bit-Supertramp,  Strawberry Letter 23-Brothers Johnson,  Cold As Ice-Foreigner,  Christine Sixteen-Kiss, and Way Down-Elvis.  Little did we know that on August 16th, the World would learn about the death of the legendary rock and roller.   This Saturday night I will be in the studio and it will be my pleasure to take down your song requests.  We will also look back at the first Billboard magazine Top 100 chart from early August 1958!  It will be an action packed Those Were The Days radio show Saturday night between six and Midnight on WRCO FM 100.9.  I will be wearing my new school pants from 2018! 

Phil

Our Country celebrated a birthday in the Summer of 1976.  There were red, white, and blue fire hydrants, mailboxes, and patriotic tributes every where you went.  After a day of haymaking and a quick dip in the Willow creek,  it was time to help with chores in the barn.  The old Westinghouse radio in the rafters of our 1907 built barn kept us in touch.  Some of my favorite songs that made chores go faster included:  Love Is Alive-Gary Wright,  Rock And Roll Music-Beach Boys,  You're My Best Friend-Queen,  Say You Love Me-Fleetwood Mac,  Moonlight Feels Right-Starbuck,  Last Child-Aerosmith,  and Turn The Beat Around-Vicki Sue Robinson.  As August rolled around, it was time to start winding the Summer down.  My mom was making plans to take me to Krouskops'  for my new school pants.  This was a day I dreaded.  Usually I could negotiate a new 45 record in exchange for not complaining about the school pants day.  It seems like only yesterday when I strolled to Shultz Brothers (The Dime Store) and bought a new K-tel record that had a bunch of hits. This would help me have songs to make some mean mix tapes on my Panasonic tape recorder.  This Saturday night I will be making a radio mix tape.  You can help program our Those Were The Days radio show on WRCO FM 100.9 with your requests between six and Midnight.  When I hear those great hits from the Summer of '76, I will be right back there trying on husky size stiff legged school pants with flair legs.  I will be in the studio to have some fun on Saturday night.  I hope to talk with you at that time.

Phil

This Saturday night I will play more little 45 records from the fifites through the eighties.  We will stop and park for a time in the Summer of 1975.  There were so many memorable records that year.  When I hear Grand Funk singing Bad Time I am right back there eating a Coney Dog at Dog N' Suds.  When I hear Rock The Boat by Hues Corporation, I am sitting on the porch at the old farm house shucking sweet corn and snapping green beans.  Wednesday night was the weekly slow pitch softball night in Ithaca.  That was the only night out for many of us farm kids.  The cool kids would pull into the parking lot and set their speakers on the roof of the car.  When I hear Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith, I am transported to the Summer of 1975. Saturday night on Those Were The Days, we will travel through time to another wonderful Summer.  I hope you will enjoy our special features on FM 100.9.  It seems like this is going to be a great show and hopefully you will agree. The request line will be open again next Saturday night.  I will report to you soon with an essay about how I spent my Summer vacation on a future show.

Phil 

Saturday night during Those Were The Days, we will continue our favorite Summers' series.  When I was growing up the farm chores always went quicker when the radio was playing in the back ground.  In 1974 I felt my first feelings of interest in a young lady.  Her dad and my aunt were dating at the time and she came with them to the farm for a visit.  She was a couple of years older than me but we shared a passion for music.  She could play guitar and sing!   I was quickly smitten by her.  She couldn't wait to get back to her big city.  After her visit I couldn't hear enough of the Hollies singing...'All I need is the air that I breathe and to love you'.....!   Poor Philip was broken hearted for a few days.  Another sad thing happened that Summer.  ABC announced that the Partridge Family show was cancelled.  I would not see Susan Dey again until the eighties in the show L.A. Law.   Songs that got me through my Summer chores in 1974 included:  Taking Care Of Business-B.T.O., Rikki, Don't Lose That Number-Steely Dan,  Band On The Run-Wings,  Rock The Boat-Hues Corporation,  Sundown-Gordon Lightfoot,  and Radar Love-Golden Earring.  It was a great time to listen to Top Forty radio.  I would take my Panasonic radio with me on our rainy day (no hay baling) fishing outings.  No fish would come near the line that came out of my Zebco 202 fishing pole because the radio was so loud.  I was rocking Lee Lake in Cazenovia with my portable radio.  When I hear some of the songs from 1974 I remember those first feelings of love,  farming chores, fishing, and riding my Huffy bike....Those Were The Days.  I will be in the studio to take your requests of great hits from the fifties through the eighties Saturday night between six and Midnight.

Phil

This Saturday night we will continue tributes to favorite Summers.  We will stop and park with 100.9 coming through the dash during the Summer of 1973.  That was truly a great time for Top Forty music.  Many of the top songs of that season are ones we still play on Those Were The Days including:  Smoke On The Water-Deep Purple,  Long Train Running-Doobie Brothers,  Back When My Hair Was Short-Gunhill Road,  Money-Pink Floyd,  Kodachrome-Paul Simon,  Shambala-Three Dog Night, and Feelin' Stronger Everyday-Chicago.  These songs bring back many memories of making hay, eating coney dogs at Dog N' Suds, playing 4-H softball, and  going to Boaz for a Friday night fish fry with my parents.  My mom never had any quarters in her change purse in the seventies because I always had my hand out asking for an advance on my allowance. At Staffords Supper Club in Boaz you could get 4 plays for a quarter on the jukebox!  They also had a Mod Squad pinball machine.  During Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9 this Saturday night, I will pull a few 45's that will take me back to that great Summer.  We will also pay tribute to a few choice albums from 1968 that are fifty years old this year.  One of my favorite K-tel albums will be highlighted late in the night when we play some 'moon tower' melodies.   These are songs that I used to crank from a K-tel greatest hits package called 'Pure Rock' when the buddies would get together.  K-tel records were similar to the Now series of cd's that have been coming out over the last many years with current artists hits of the day.  I will not be in the studio to take your requests this Saturday night.  Please save those for next Saturday night July 14th.   You will still be able to hear many of your favorite songs from the fifties through the eighties between six and Midnight when you are listening to WRCO FM 100.9 Saturday night.

Phil

This Saturday night during our Those Were The Days radio program on WRCO FM 100.9, we will feature another of my favorite music Summers.  Thanks to Forgottenhits.com and Kent Kotal, we will recall some of the hottest hits in the midwest during the Summer of 1972.  When I hear a song that was popular during the Summer months, I am right there helping to bale hay, swimming in the Willow creek, and listening to the radio.  My dad would mow hay for the first time in late June and we would be on the job until snow was falling!  We baled every blade of grass and corn stalk that grew on the farm.  We shared a haybine with our neighbor Carl Lord and we helped each other put up the hay crop on both sides of the road.  That meant that there was never a down time unless the John Deere baler broke and someone had to go for parts.  Once in a while it rained and I could go to town and buy a 45 r.p.m. record. In between first and second crop, I got to go stay with my uncle and aunt in Boaz.  People don't believe me when I tell them that I got to vacation in Boaz.  Some of the hot hits on the Phil Nee want list that Summer were the following:  Nice To Be With You-Gallery,  Take It Easy-Eagles,  Brandy (You're A Fine Girl),  Sylvia's Mother-Dr. Hook,  Rocket Man-Elton John,  and Schools Out-Alice Cooper.  Riding with cousin Joyce in her 1971 Mercury Comet made me feel like a big shot.  The windows were down and the AM radio was playing all of the top hits of 1972.  After a couple of days at the vacation spot in Boaz, it was back to round two of they hay making party.  When I play some of those '72 classics during this Saturday nights Those Were The Days, I will be right back there on the flat rack helping my day stack the wagon.  I will be in the studio this Saturday night to take your requests and memories between six and Midnight.

Phil

I am happy to have grown up when I did.  Being born at the end of the 'Baby Boomer' generation, I got to hear first hand stories of the great depression.  Stories from veterans of the greatest generation have stayed with me my whole life.  Many Summer nights were spent with family and friends telling true life tales while sitting on the front porch of the old farm house.  Neighbors would stop by and everyone was welcome as mom would pull out steaks from the Westinghouse chest freezer and throw them on the grill for the gathering.  I used to love to play disc jockey and would prop the speakers of my Airline brand stereo against the screen door so that everyone could hear my tunes.  I recall nights like those when listeners call me on Saturday nights during Those Were The Days and tell me about their get togethers.  It is like I am still that kid playing his records through the screen door!   When I think of Summers in the early seventies, I think about pick up softball games on Sunday afternoons.  Young and old would show up and a game would start.  Sometimes we would play until it was time to start the next round of farm chores.  After a hot Summer day, a great treat would be a sweet and sticky popsicle.  Does anyone remember black cherry popsicles?   A door to door salesman would stop at the farm.  He was independent of any brand name company.  He had all kinds of groceries in his truck.  You could go inside and shop.  One of the items I would convince mother to buy was a box of black cherry popsicles.  They were the double stick kind.  You could hold on to your sugary treat with both hands!  The radio provided a soundtrack and Summer songs are nearer and dearer to me than songs from any season.  In the Summer of 1971 there were many great tunes including:  Treat Her Like A Lady-Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose,  Don't Pull Your Love-Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds,  Love Her Madley-Doors,  It Don't Come Easy-Ringo Starr,  Joy To The World-Three Dog Night,  Brown Sugar-Rolling Stones,  It's Too Late-Carole King and many more.  I will be in the studio Saturday night for another edition of the fifties through the eighties Those Were The Days radio show.  You can request any pop hit from that era and I will see if I can find it.  Let's create some new Summer memories and have a popsicle this Saturday night between six and Midnight.

Phil

This Saturday night on Those Were The Days, I will dig out some of the hot hits from the Summer of 1970.  Courtesy of ForgottenHits.com we will look at the biggest songs of 1970 Summertime in the Chicagoland area.  Many of us tuned into those Chicago radio stations and the music was the soundtrack of our summertime lives.   Our friend Kent Kotal, the gate keeper of Forgotten hits, has given permission to use countdowns from his website for our favorite Summer tributes.  Join me this weekend for a look back at 1970 featuring songs from artists such as: Jackson Five,  Three Dog Night,  Stevie Wonder,  Mungo Jerry,  and Chicago.  These were the hot hits during a magical Summer. 

This Sunday is Fathers Day.  My father was a music lover.  He had a wonderful collection of 78 r.p.m. records and always had the radio on in the barn and in the kitchen of the old farm house.   He was always aware of current songs and would often tell me that he liked a song that I liked.  I can't imagine what it is like to not have a good relationship with your father.  My dad was a farmer but inspired me more by his love of music and sports on the radio.   He was always listening to a local, state, or national game.  I consider myself very fortunate to have had such a great father.  He had a great sense of humor and the goal was to get him to laugh.  He used to listen to Those Were The Days and he liked to laugh at some of the foolish commercials that play during  the show.  I hope you will join me this Saturday night between 6 and Midnight for the best of the fifties through the eighties.  Perhaps you can request a song for your pops!  I will be in the studio with another edition of Those Were The Days.

Phil

During the Summer of 1965, some of the most memorable Top Forty radio hits of all time were released.  While I was very young that year,  they tell me I was already on the radio.  My parents had to get me down before I scratched the finish on the old RCA radio in the living room.  Remember how those stereo record player/radios were centerpieces of many a front room?  My dad bought the one in our living room in the late 1940's.  It was made way before stereo.  It had a radio that could pull in signals from all over the country.  Those old radios had such a warm sound to them.  We were still listening to that set until one day in the late sixties when we waited for the tubes to warm and the radio never came on.  It is now in my living room today.  The radio and record player still don't work, however, it is such a beautiful piece of furniture and it does hold a lot of dvds in the cabinet.  This week on Those Were The Days from WRCO FM 100.9,  I will be playing a few of those classics that you may have heard coming through the radio speakers in 1965.  Some of the 1965 Summer hits included:  Satisfaction-Rolling Stones,  Save Your Heart For Me-Gary Lewis,  Wonderful World-Hermans Hermits,  Help Me Rhonda-Beach Boys,  Down In the Boondocks-Billy Joe Royal,  I Can't Help Myself-Four Tops,  Wooly Bully-Sam the Sham,  For Your Love-Yardbirds,  and Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me-Mel Carter.  All of those hits have been in constant rotation on oldies radio since 1965.  You can certainly request any pop radio hit from the fifties through the eighties Saturday night.  Last week we talked to more new friends around Southwest Wisconsin that were discovering our show for the first time.  I will be at the controls again this weekend.  Tune in 100.9 and crank it up!

Philip

In the late seventies, my Summer income came from helping bale hay.  The parents paid me twenty-five cents for every load of hay I helped unload.  It took about twenty loads to be able to have enough money to buy an album.  Forty years ago the first Cars album was released (June 6th, 1978).  On a rainy day when the hay was wet, I could go blow my hay making money for albums such as the first album by that Boston based band.  I got a lot of use out of this fine album because there were three radio hits and the entire album was featured on album oriented radio stations.  Later I used it for the mobile dj business. Many local bands would play songs from the Cars first album.  There was a local band called 'The Craze' and they played Ithacas' prom.  They played the entire first side of the Cars album (Good Times Roll, My Best Friends Girl,  Just What I Needed,  I'm In Touch With Your World, and Dont Cha Stop).  Tim and Cindy Richardson and the rest of the Craze band impressed at least one 16 year old kid.  I put a lot of black marks on the gym floor from my dress shoes that night.   This week on WRCO FM 100.9, Those Were The Days will be again be cranking out the hits from the fifties through the eighties.  You can contribute to the program by requesting a song.  Take a trivia challenge and enjoy a six hour tribute to some of the greatest melodies ever put on a vinyl disc.   Thank you for all of the positive words about the program.  If I did not have a transmitter, I would still sit around and play the old tunes on Saturday nights.  I am very blessed that it is part of the job and there are people that actually listen. 

Phil

When school would get out in May,  I would get off the bus and get on the Farmall Super C tractor and cultivate corn for the next month.  It was a way for my parents to give me something to occupy my time and perhaps it was punishment for phone calls they received during the school year from Mr. Modjeski.  There were only a couple of bright points of this long and boring job.  Once in a while when I was at the end of the row near Highway B, a cute girl from my school would go by.  I was motivated when I thought about her being impressed by that hard working Phil Nee on his 23 horsepower tractor.  The other bright part of riding the tractor all day, while turtles from Willow creek got to the end of the row before you did, was trying to listen to the radio.  My Panasonic AM radio came with a white ear plug.  You could hear the radio only if you cranked the volume and you held your hand over your other ear.  This made it even harder to stay in the corn rows.  The Super C motor also caused static over my favorite songs.  This week in 1978 I was struggling to hear songs such as:  Baby Hold On-Eddie Money,  Werewolves Of London-Warren Zevon,  Because The Night-Patti Smith Group,  Sweet Talking Woman-Electric Light Orchestra,  Still The Same-Bob Seger,  Only The Good Die Young-Billy Joel,  and Shadow Dancing-Andy Gibb.   Forty years later I can hear the songs better with my radio/hearing protector headphones.  I still do drive a Farmall Super C when I am mowing the grass.  Even after 40 years, the ladies going by on the highway are still not impressed.    This week on Those Were The Days from WRCO FM 100.9, I will be taking those old records off the shelf.  Give me a call this holiday weekend while you are doing fun stuff.  I will be in the studio between six and Midnight Saturday night.   You could be one of our six big winners from the trivia challenges. 

Philip  (corn cultivator boy of the year 1978)

I graduated from high school in May of 1982.  You have never heard such a roar as the one that came from the Ithaca teachers the night they finally got rid of my class!   We were ready to conquer the World.  I noticed right away how much more stress there was when a small community was no longer looking out for you.  There are many more deadlines, student loans, security deposits, competition for jobs, and lonely nights away from home. Uncle Ricco in the movie Napoleon Dynamite felt that pain of missing high school.  In the film he even tried to go back to that year with a time travel machine he bought on the internet. We can't physically go back, so music is the only way.  Music has always been a comfort for me and in the Spring of 1982 there were lots of songs for which I would turn up the volume including:  Heat Of The Moment-Asia, Hang Fire-Rolling Stones,  Fantasy-Aldo Nova,  I Love Rock n' Roll-Joan Jett,  Don't Talk To Strangers-Rick Springfield,  and We Got The Beat-The Go-Go's.  My classmates were also jamming to these songs in May of '82 as Mr. Mojeski (our fearless principle) gave his speech about not seeing 'eye to eye with the class of 1982'.  I wasn't paying attention, because I was worrying about finding a blank cassette tape so I could make a mix tape to impress my girl friend.  My cassette/Walkman had two ear phone jacks so that we could both listen to the cool tunes at the same time.   We will be jamming with the hits of 1982 along with all of the requests for songs from the fifties through the eighties on this Saturday nights Those Were The Days on FM 100.9.  Listen and win during trivia time.  We will have a blast from our past between six and midnight courtesy of 100.9 FM.     

Phil

It has been fifty years since 1968.  It was Top Forty radios'  finest time.  There were songs that were two to three minutes long.  Music in all kinds of styles including: rock, folk, country, r & b, and middle of the road all existing on the same charts.  Some of the first songs I remember hearing on the radio came out in 1968.  Bobby Goldsboro's song Honey played that entire year.  The Beatles' latest was Lady MaDonna,  James Brown was singing I Got A Feelin',  Sly & The Family Stone were encouraging us to Dance To The Music,  and the Box Tops had their second hit with Cry Like A Baby.  The radio in our farm kitchen always had music going.  I remember the radio reports in June of 1968 when Bobby Kennedy was killed, updates on student protests and the violent Democratic Convention in Chicago in the Summer of that year.  While I was not old enough to understand what was happening,  I could tell by the reactions and the conversations of the adults around me that it was a rough time.  The music gave everyone an escape route.   I hope you will join me for musical memories from 1968 and for your rock and roll requests from the fifties through the eighties during Saturday nights Those Were The Days radio show.  We will be offering you the chance to win prizes during our trivia contests.  I hope you will remember to tune in 100.9 Fm Saturday night during Those Were the Days.

Phil Nee

Saturday night on FM 100.9  we will spend some time playing the songs from the fifties through the eighties that you request.  I will also share excerpts of an interview I recorded recently with John Galobich.  He was a member of a group that almost made it big.  The Richochettes had a few 45's that got played in Milwaukee and across Wisconsin and Illinois.  They opened shows for the Rolling Stones, Dave Clark Five,  the Mindbenders, and other big names of the 1960's.  John has great stories about that time in music and has written a couple of books.  Milwaukee had many great bands at that time including:  Esquires,  Legends,  Little Artie & the Pharoahs, Harvey Scales & the Seven Sounds, Messengers, and The Robbs.   We still play some of the records that these groups released.  In those days artists could cut a record and take it to the nearest radio station for airplay.  There were many charts that featured songs from local and regional groups that ranked right along with the Beatles and the biggest bands of the day.    I will attempt to take you back to that magical era this Saturday night during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9 starting at 6 pm. Get ready for trivia!  Thanks for reading.

Phil

The Spring of 1976 was a wonderful time in my life.  I was twelve and would be thirteen later that year.   The radio was on every where I went.  My Panasonic portable went everywhere with me.  The radio was on while I was riding the bus, at school in the Art room.  The farm truck and the barn radio kept me going while I was doing the chores.   When I look at the chart today, I realize that I could have named the top fifty songs on the pop charts at my tender age back in '76.  Some Spring favorites included:  Let Your Love Flow-Bellamy Brothers,  Right Back Where We Started From-Maxine Nightingale,  Dream Weaver-Gary Wright,  Show Me The Way-Peter Frampton,  Bohemian Rhapsody-Queen,  December 1963 (Oh What A Night)-Four Seasons,   Dream On-Aerosmith,  Take It To The Limit-Eagles,  Lorelei-Styx,  Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win)-Fleetwood Mac,  and Shout It Out Loud-Kiss.  It is still fun to jam to these songs today!  We will spin a few 1976 gems and we will play your requests this Saturday night.  Get ready for trivia because six times (one per hour) we will quiz you on pop culture from the fifties through the eighties.  I may also play a few Record Store Day gems.  Saturday April 21st is Record Store Day across the World.  A journey to Madison with one of my fellow record nerds should produce some vinyl gems.  I have been saving my pop and peanuts allowance (don't tell June).  Hopefully I will find a few rare gems in Madison Saturday.   Thank you for reading.

Phil

One of our all time favorite guests will join us on the phone during our six hour rock and roll retro show on Saturday night.  Ray Graffia of the New Colony Six will look back on the history of that Chicago group.  It has been fifty years since the Six had the big hit 'I Will Always Think About You'.    It has been over twenty years since the New Colony Six celebrated our Those Were The Days anniversary show with a concert here in Richland Center.  My wife, June, was not feeling well that night.  She had just found out that our family was going to expand.  Our son, James, will be twenty in July!  The current NC6 will be a part of the Cornerstones of Chicago Rock show at this years Summerfest on June 28th!  The New Colony Six had a couple of well known national hits, however, several other songs were hits here in Wisconsin thanks to WLS radio.  The group has always been a request favorite on Those Were The Days.  I have talked with listeners that remember their Chicago heros playing at a high school or local community building here in Southwest Wisconsin.   We will hear from Ray Graffia, the request line will be wide open, the trivia bell will be ringing, and I will be in the studio this Saturday night to weave everything together.  What a show we have planned!   Perhaps you can join the party.  Just tune to 100.9  WRCO FM 100.9 between six and midnight for pop radio memories from the fifties through the eighties.

Philip James Nee

Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9, we will be flying back to 1973.  I have argued with other music nerds about that year.  It seems to me that it was one of the best years of the seventies for rock and roll music.  Others seem to feel that there were way to many  non-rock hits and cheese story songs.  They are not wrong, however, that is what makes the year good.  There was music for everyone. I had a great year buying records.  There were songs from Elton John, Deep Purple,  Paul McCartney, Led Zepplin, Carly Simon, Loggins & Messina, Spinners, and Joe Walsh released during the first six months of the year.  We will spend some time hanging out in 1973 during the second half of Those Were The Days.   In the first half of our Saturday night radio show,  I will bring back stacks of one hit wonders from the seventies.  I have dedicated two six hour shows to one hit artists in the past.  It seems the seventies featured more memorable one shots than any other decade.  Some of my faves include:  Reflections Of My Life-Marmalade,  Dancing In the Moonlight-King Harvest,  Beach Baby-First Class,  Magic-Pilot,  Hot Child In The City-Nick Gilder,  Drivers Seat-Sniff n' The Tears,  Do You Know What I Mean-Lee Michaels,  Smoke From  A Distant Fire-Sanford Townsend Band,  Get It On-Chase,  Tighter & Tighter-Alive n' Kickin',  White Lies-Blue Eyes-Bullet,  and Ma Belle Amie-The Tea Set.   It will be a pleasure to spin a few of these on my Close and Play record player this weekend.  I will not be in the studio to take your requests and give away trivia prizes  this weekend. Those features will return next Saturday night.  I hope you tune in to Those Were The Days on FM 100.9 on Saturday night.

Phil