WRCO Blog

On our Those Were The Days radio program Saturday night, I will be heading back to the Spring of 1981 through the theater of the mind which is music!  It was a great time to be listening to the radio.  There was a new artist on the radio that called himself John Cougar.  His record 'Aint Even Done With The Night' was one of the best coming from those 3 inch radio speakers.  Another top Phil Nee jam was from a band out of Canada.  They had a great rocker back in 1972 called 'Could Have Been A Lady'.  In 1981 April Wine was back on the scene with 'Just Between You and Me'. (I think that was the prom theme for a few area high schools).  Another Canada band called Loverboy was breaking through with 'Turn Me Loose'.  Blondie was heading to number one with the first Top Forty song to feature a rap.  The tune was called 'Rapture'.  I was outstanding in my field playing baseball for the mighty Ithaca Bulldogs.  It was hard to focus on the game for a young fellow that had all of those tunes running through his head and a girlfriend that was running for the track team at the other end of the football field.  How was a guy supposed to be alert for a fly ball in right field and look over his shoulder at a pretty girl at the same time?  The times they were tough!  That young lady surprised me with a gift after a game one night.  She bought me the latest REO Speedwagon album (High Infidelity).   I have transfered that to digital after all of these years and if you request an REO song Saturday night, it will be from the dub of that album she gifted me all of those years ago.  I hope you will tune in to Those Were The Days this holiday weekend while you are hanging out with family and friends.  Request a song and try to solve the trivia questions during the FM 100.9 radio program between six and Midnight Saturday night.  We will be spinning the best of the fifties through the eighties.

Philip Nee

I can vividly recall a classmate bringing 45's of the 1910 Fruitgum Company to school.  The teacher would play Simon Says on the classroom turntable that was built like a tank.  The entire class would play the game.  I rarely got to go out for a recess because of my mouth running (which now I get paid for).  On those rainy days when the rest of the class had to stay inside with me, we would listen to those little records that were pressed on the Buddah label.  This Saturday night I get to talk to one of the founding members of the 1910 Fruitgum Company (Frank Jeckell) during my Those Were The Days radio show.   It was fifty years ago this month when the song Simon Says was peaking in the Top Ten.   Hear about Bubblegum music and request a song between six and Midnight during our fifties, sixties, seventies, and eighties radio show on FM 100.9.  Spring is finally here!  It will not be long before campfire gangs and campers will calling for songs.  It is very rewarding to hear from listeners of all ages.  I hope to hear from you during Those Were The Days this Saturday night.

Phil

I am excited about the arrivial of Spring.  The cold March winds keep slapping me in the face this week.  Perhaps some warm Spring songs on WRCO FM 100.9 Saturday night will motivate Mother Nature to bring on the next season. During our  Those Were The Days radio program, we will play a few Spring related songs from the fifties through the eighties.  One of the earliest rock and roll songs that paid tribute to the new season came from a group of local guys.  They were known as the Kollege Kings and later were renamed Vilas Craig and the ViCounts.  A record called Spring Fever was recorded in April of 1959 at Kay Bank Studios in Minneapolis.  This has been requested during the Saturday night show often over the years.  Many remember seeing Vilas and the band play live around Wisconsin.  Others like the sound of a record that was a hard rocking song and perhaps ahead of its time.  There are other songs that remind me of Spring even though the lyrics don't have anyting to do with the season.  That first time I could ride my Huffy bike (which featured a banana seat) following a long Winter was heavenly for a young boy.  I would strap my Panasonic radio to the back and try to catch some tunes while I rode to the main road.  My dad would be working in the tractor shed getting ready to turn some soil and plant the oats.  It is amazing how certain songs can paint a picture in your mind that is very vivid even though it may have been forty to forty-five yeears ago.  I will be spinning some tunes on WRCO FM 100.9 Saturday night that will paint memories.  We will be playing trivia and taking your requests.  Celebrate Spring, St Patrick's Day,  the weekend, family and friends, or whatever you want!  Just make sure you tune in WRCOs' Those Were The Days on FM 100.9.  It could get wild this Saturday night!

Phil

This week I interviewed singer/songwriter Andy Kim.  When I mentioned to someone that I was talking with Andy, they said "I thought he was dead".  They, like many over the years, are not sure who he is and some think Andy Gibb and Andy Kim were the same person. With all of his success, it is ironic that he remains all but nameless and faceless today.  Most people know Andy Kim's music.  He recorded twelve songs that made the Top 100 including:  How'd We Ever Get This Way,  Baby, I Love You,  Be My Baby and a 1974 number one song called Rock Me Gently.  His most famous song came as a co-writer with Jeff Barry.  The two wrote Sugar, Sugar which went to number one for the cartoon group the Archies in 1969.  Andy Kim is a great guy that I have gotten to know through the years and he has some cool stories.  Saturday night hear how John Lennon presented Andy with a gold record for the record Rock Me Gently.  One of the most rewarding things about this program is that I have had the chance to talk with many artists that I grew up hearing on the radio.  Andy Kim is one of those musicians.  I will be in the studio to take your requests from the fifites throught the eighties.  Perhaps you will be the winner of our always tough trivia games.  Those Were The Days can be heard on WRCO FM 100.9 between six and Midnight each Saturday night.

Phil

This Saturday night on WRCOs'  Those Were The Days,  some of our rock and roll era lady friends may be stopping by.  There have been many songs inspired by and written about ladies.  Some of our favorite rock and roll women include:  Barbara Ann, Ruby Tuesday, Beth,  Sharona, Proud Mary, Brandy,  Sweet Caroline,  Angie, Layla, Sherry,  Roxanne, Billie Jean,  Lucy In The Sky, Peggy Sue, and Donna.  If all of those pretty ladies are going to be in the studio,  I had better thow on a splash of Brut aftershave and take a Saturday night bath!  I hope you will request a song from our vast library of hits.  Perhaps you will ask for a song with a girls name in the title or another lost gem from the fifties through the eighties.  We will be trying to stump you with trivia questions inspired by the era.  This Saturday night during Those Were The Days on FM 100.9.

Phil

There are many that say that rock and roll was going down hill until the Beatles came along and saved it in 1964.  There is no doubt that the Fab Four brought excitement and several British artists took rock and roll in a different direction.  In 1963 there were some good sounding 45's on the charts.  The great records included:  Walk Like A Man-Four Seasons,  Ruby Baby-Dion,  In Dreams-Roy Orbison,  He's So Fine-Chiffons,  Little Town Flirt-Del Shannon, Up On The Roof-The Drifters, and The Night Has A Thousand Eyes-Bobby Vee.  Although I am not able to remember the first time these songs were on the radio,  I do have fond memories of hearing them a few years later and becoming an instant fan.  Those early Bobby Vee records were outstanding and years later I was able to strike up a friendship with the pride of Fargo, North Dakota.  He was on the phone with me several times during my years of hosting Those Were The Days.  This week during our tribute to the fifties through the eighties, we will stop for a bit in 1963 and feature your rock and roll requests from all of the decades that we play.  We will have a full night of music and sports updates from the high school Winter sports post season.  Lets have some fun this Saturday night between six and Midnight.

Phil

This Saturday night during Those Were The Days we will take a trip back to 1978.  A look at the music chart from forty years ago and your rock and roll requests will be featured on our six hour retro show called Those Were The Days.  In 1978 I was just starting to take mental notes about the young ladies at my school.  They were some of my good friends.  In fact, they would tell me so each time I suggested that 'we go together'!    This was usually followed by "You are so funny Phil. Would you go find out if Paul likes me, likes me"?    I was usually the go between friend that would find out the inside information on the love interests of Ithaca.  I knew all of the cool hits as most of my spare and work time at home involved the radio playing in the background.  This week in 1978 there were many great jams including: We Are The Champions-Queen,  Peg-Steely Dan,  What's Your Name?-Lynyrd Skynyrd, Long, Long Way From Home-Foreigner,  Thunder Island-Jay Ferguson, Name Of The Game-ABBA, and Breakdown-Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.  Those were some good songs to put on a mix tape for a young lady that really liked Paul!  Perhaps when Paul told her that he liked Tami, she would listen to her tape and realize what a great guy old Phil Nee was.  I knew that I was not going to win her over with my looks or athletic ability.  It had to be my wit and my music collection.  Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9 will hit the airwaves with hits this Saturday night between six and Midnight on WRCO FM 100.9.

Phil

This Saturday night during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9, we will fly back to 1971.  New songs that month which are now classics include:  Your Song-Elton John, Love The One Your're With-Stephen Stills,  Immigrant Song-Led Zepplin, and Knock Three Times-Dawn.  The television show All In The Family was a brand new program,  Apollo 14 was making news,  and Evel Knievel was settting a world record by jumping his motorcycle over nineteen cars.  What a time it was to be listening to my wonderful AM radio and those far off signals on a cold Winter night.  The shows on the Curtis Matthis television set were coming in clear except for an occasional low flying plane taking off or landing at the Richland County airport at Sextonville that would provide interference that was picked up on our VHF antenna.   The music will take us back and make us feel young this Saturday night during Those Were The Days. I will be here to take your requests and we will play trivia with one major question per hour during the six hour show. 

We had a great time this past Saturday night.  There were many requests that we have not had the chance to play for a long time.  The last half hour we were nearly stuck in the late fifties and sixties!  That is what makes the show so much fun.  We never know from week to week where we are going.  The show is listener driven.  Listen again this weekend for the best of the fifties through the eighties during Those Were The Days.

Phil Nee

This Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9, we will pay tribute to the artists lost fifty-nine years ago in 1959.   Our Those Were The Days radio program will highlight songs from the careers of Buddy Holly,  Ritchie Valens, and the J.P. 'The Big Bopper'  Richardson.  They were killed in a plane crash along with pilot Roger Peterson all of those years ago.  I have been to Clear Lake, Iowa and visited the Surf Ballroom which was the last play the three stars performed.  My visit was nearly thirty years ago and I can vividly recall walking the farm field out to the crash site.  At that time it was barely marked.  It was a strange feeling holding up the picture and realizing it was the same old rusty barbed wire that was there the night of the crash.  Our WRCO weather almanac lists the record high and low temperatures for each day of the year.  It is amazing how many record low temps still remain from that Winter of 1958-59.  Those were horribly cold days and nights and some of the biggest names in music were riding on an old school bus with no heat.  This would never happen in 2018.  During Those Were The Days on FM 100.9 Saturday night, we will not dwell on the sadness of the event and the what might have beens.  We will spin some of the biggest hits of the trio.  We will also take your calls for songs and the trivia games will be going on.  I hope you will join me for a celebration of the greatest music of the fifties through the eighties Saturday night from six until midnight on WRCO FM 100.9.

Phil

On this Saturday nights Those Were The Days radio show, I will play some of my favorite teen idols.  The men and women entertainers that I feel were more than just pretty faces!  The definition of a teen idol is sometimes debated.  Even though they were loved by millions of teens that screamed,  I don't feel that Elvis and the Beatles were teen idols.  The stars that got roles on television shows that led to music, got record deals because they were a pretty face, or were groomed into being music stars by a manager or talent agency.  In some cases, these stars put out some pretty good records. In many cases these entertainers were singers and played intstruments before fame.   I will take a look at some of my guilty musical pleasures this Saturday night.   I have always maintained that some Partridge Family records were pretty good,  Bobby Sherman had a couple of moments, and  Bobby Rydell is an incredible talent.  Rick Nelson was famous for being on his parents television show, however, his musical talent was obvious and his records were incredible.  This Saturday night I will spin a few of my favorite teen records and your rock and roll requests.  Those Were The Days is a proud part of the WRCO FM 100.9 Saturday 'retro'  shows.  I hope you will check in during trivia and requests between six and midnight.

Phil-WRCO

It does not seem possible that thirty-five years have passed since 1983.  That was a fun year for me.  I was studying to be a d.j.  (still am today) and my buddy Marty and me were on the road spinning little records for anyone that would cough up $40.00 or so.  I would trek home on the weekends to see my girl friend and to work for my parents for cash.  We would spin records and than head back to school on Sunday nights.  I had more energy in 1983!   MTV was on at the 'swinging bachelor pad' during the week.  It was an introduction to many new groups and styles of music.  We got to see and hear the Clash,  Dexys Midnight Runners, The Stray Cats,  Hall & Oates, and many others.  Thirty-five years later, I still am fond of many of the songs from that time.  I still can't believe that I am more that thirty-five.  This Saturday night during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9, I will spin some of the huge hits from the year of '83.  You can request any pop radio hit from the fifties through the eighties.  It is a blast when someone challenges me to find a song.  I have learned so much from listeners over the years.  There are songs that I never knew about until they were requested during Those Were The Days.  Perhaps you will be one of the six trivia game winners during Those Were The Days Saturday night.

Phil Nee-Trans American School Of Broadcasting graduate Spring 1983

There was so much good music blasting out of the radio in early 1973.  My Panasonic AM radio could pull in stations from all over North America and Canada.  On cold January nights I could hear what was hot and happening in other areas other than the farm at Aubrey Corners.  Our 'farmers four' television package featured shows that are now known as classics.  On January 14th of 1973, Elvis Presley was watched worldwide during his 'Aloha From Hawaii' special.  All In The Family was the top rated show and the last new episodes of 'Laugh In' and 'Bonanza'  were being shown.  The radio featured music from Carly Simon, Stevie Wonder, Loggins & Messina, Albert Hammond, The Eagles, and many other artists that I still love.  This Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9 we will take you back to early 1973.  The music will take me back to riding on my runner sled,  doing chores in the old barn, and riding a frosted window bus.  I will be taking your requests this Saturday night during Those Were The Days.  Call in and ask for a song from the fifties through the eighties.  I hope you will join go on a spree with us!

Phil

Back in the day, I was the mix tape king.   My parents bought me a Panasonic AM/FM, record player, cassette, for Christmas in 1976.  By January of 1977 I was making some awesome tapes.   I started making tapes for myself, later I would make them for friends, and much later they were love letters for ladies that I was trying to court.   I would intro songs and say foolish things.  These tapes were very much like an early Those Were The Days!  The most important songs on the mix tapes were the very first song and the last song on side two.  If you had a cassette player with an auto reverse feature, you could play the first song and than change to the other side and hear the last song of the tape.  This week on Those Were The Days we will feature some of our favorite tape starters.  If you have memories of favorite home made tapes or ideas of songs that would be great starters,  give me a call at WRCO FM 100.9 this Saturday night.  The two Guardians Of the Galaxy movies center around old mix tapes that the hero hears in his Walkman while battling bad characters in space. 

We will be taking requests all night and will be playing trivia this Saturday night. The last two weeks have featured football conflicts.  Even though we still had a good amount of requests,  our audience was divided when the Packers and the Badgers played the last 2 Saturday nights.  One listener won trivia this past Saturday night and had two radios going.  He was hearing the Badgers and Those Were The Days at the same time.  That is awesome dedication to radio listening!  If you get a chance to check in Saturday night,  that would be great.     Maybe I will break out a mix tape that I made for my girl friend (now my wife) back in '84.

Phil

Saturday night we will cap off another year of playing all of our favorite pop radio hits from the fifties through the eighties!  The past year has again been rewarding with many new friends checking in.  We now have regular listeners in southern Grant County, Tomah, Baraboo, Sauk City, North Freedom, and many other towns and villages around Southwest Wisconsin.  It is now our 32nd year and it seems like even more listeners are finding us.  I also appreciate all of the long time listeners.  There are some that have been with us since we began spinning in 1986.  We may have a big announcement in 2018 concerning a worldwide audience potential!  This Saturday night we will be spinning more of the year end countdown from 1967.  Through Kent Kotal's Forgotten Hits website we have shared with you many memores of 1967 during the 50th anniversary year.  This weeks show will cap off our tribute.  Kent has granted us permission to countdown the top hits from the Super Chart of that year.  We tackled part one last weekend.  Find out the most popular tune of 1967 during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9 this Saturday night. I will be in the studio to take your requests and play trivia between six and midnight.  Start your New Years celebration with us Saturday night.  You can mute the Badger game and listen to us.  Happy New Year!

Philip

While the Packers will by playing on WRCO FM 100.9 Saturday night,  we will be jamming with Those Were The Days on FM 107.7 and WRCO AM 1450.  For this Saturday night only, we will be appearing on our sister stations.  Look for us after the Badger mens basketball game.  This Saturday we will be jamming with the sounds of the season and we will be taking your requests and playing trivia.  We will begin our year end salute to 1967.  Courtesy of the Forgotten Hits website we will be giving you part one of an exclusive countdown.  The guru of Forgotten Hits, Kent Kotal, has not even made the 1967 Super Chart year ender available to his readers! Get a sneak peak on our radio show.  Look for us Saturday night on 107.7 FM and AM 1450.  We will return to FM 100.9 next Saturday night for our final show of 2017.  We have big plans for the new year!   Merry Christmas from the Solid Gold Dancers and me!

Phil

This Saturday night on Those Were The Days we will jump into the Ford Maverick and drive back to 1982.  I will pretend that I am the mobile dj at the dance in the old gym  Tune your radio to 100.9 FM and you will hear some of that years hot new records including:  Rock This Town-Stray Cats,  Down Under-Men At Work,  Rock The Casbah-The Clash,  Everybody Wants You-Billy Squier, and Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy-Sammy Hagar.   These were hot tunes as the Aubrey Sound traveled to high school dances and bars to spin.  We sometimes made a whopping $35.00 a night!  That money was deposited at the Music Shop in Richland Center so that we would have the latest 45s.    This Saturday night on Those Were The Days I will play some of those 45s and your rock and roll requests from the fifties through the eighties.  Give me a call Saturday night.  We will party like it is 1982.  Some of you will be distracted during the last two Saturday nights of the year.  On December 23rd the Packers will be playing.  We plan to move the show to FM 107.7 and WRCO AM 1450 for that night only.  On December 30th we will be back on WRCO FM 100.9, however, the Badgers will be playing in the Orange Bowl and many will be paying attention to the game.  Thanks for joining us in 2017 for Those Were The Days.

Phil

In December of 1975 music would get me through chores.  From the scratchy barn radio I would hear all of the hits of the day.  To this day when I hear Miracles by Jefferson Starship, I think of cold weather.  That song played all Winter on the radio.  When I hear it,  I think of sitting on the vinyl seat of our Chevy pickup and not sinking down into the cushion.  It was like sitting on a block of ice.   Those days on the farm were good days and I would go back there again.  That is not possible, but the music transports me to that simpler time.  Artists on the charts this week in 1975 included:  Elton John, KC & The Sunshine Band,  The Bee Gees, The Sweet, and Rufus.   I will be at the controls Saturday night when we flash back to the hot hits from 1975.  You can request a song from the fifties through the eighties.  Perhaps we can dig out our old rock and roll Christmas records.  The trivia bell will be ringing each hour.  Let's talk Saturday night.

Phil

This Saturday night during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9, I will dig out the hits from December of 1968.  Singer, songwriter, Bobby Hart will be in the profile light and the request line will be open for you to ask for a song to be played.  The fifties through the eighties will be in the spotlight.  A lot of bad things happened throughout the world in 1968, however, top- forty music was incredible that year.  Some December of 1968 hits included:  Hey Jude-The Beatles,  Magic Carpet Ride-Steppenwolf,  White Room-Cream,  Midnight Confessions-Grass Roots,  Shame Shame-Magic Lanterns,  Elenore-The Turtles, and many more classics!  We are now down to the final month of the year and there will be (we think) some great Saturday night rock and roll radio shows to close out the year. 

This week I turned another year older.  The music I play on Saturday night erases any thoughts of how old I am.  There are certain songs that make me feel like a kid again.  Luckily we don't have any mirrors hanging around the studio which would slap me back to reality!   Those Were The Days music is a fountain of youth for me.  Thanks for being a part of it.

Phil

I was sad to learn of the death of David Cassidy this week at the age of sixty-seven.  The  Partridge Family television show was one of my favorites from the early seventies.  As a 'wee-Nee' , I always wanted David to be my older brother.  He had a respectable voice and the records that were released as the family or his solo singles were all pretty good.  The show was written for David to poke fun at himself.  In the story line, he was the lead singer of his families band, however, he had to work hard to get dates and his sister Laurie (Susan Dey) usually would see through his shallowness and point it out.  I thought David did a good job with his comedy acting.  Nearly twenty years have passed since I had the chance to do an interview over the phone with the former teen star.  He was very nice to me and we talked longer than his p.r. people had told me he could spare.  I have read stories from the last ten years in which he may not have been as nice to everyone.  It would have been very disappointing if he would have not treated me well that day, since I had always been a fan.   On Saturday nights' edition of Those Were The Days, I will spin a few David Cassidy tunes.  The Beatles 'White Album'  was released November twenty-fifth 1968.  We will play a few choice cuts from that two album set during this weekends WRCO FM 100.9 program.  Of all the Beatles albums, it may not be my favorite by the group.  It does, however, have some great songs.  We get many requests each year on Saturday night for songs from that set including:  Birthday,  Back In The U.S.S.R.,  Ob-La-Di,  Ob-La-Da,  and While My Guitar Gently Weeps.  I will be in the studio Saturday night to take your requests and play trivia between six and Midnight.   Happy Thanksgiving!

Phil Nee

A listener called and requested that we play a few one hit wonders for our theme.  We can't even scratch the surface of one hit wonders on one show.  I have counted over one thousand one hit wonders that charted between 1960 and 1989!  We featured two full six hour programs, some years ago, and did not play the same one hit wonder twice!  This week we will play some of our favorites and you can check in with your votes for one time big shots on the charts.  The following is a list of some of my favorite one hit wonders from the 1970s:  1970-All Right Now-Free 1971-Get It On-Chase  1972-White Lies, Blue Eyes-Bullet  1973-Dancing In the Moonlight-King Harvest  1974-Rock On-David Essex  1975-How Long?-Ace  1976  Play That Funky Music-Wild Cherry  1977 Ariel-Dean Friedman  1978-Hot Child In The City-Nick Gilder  1979-Driver's Seat-Sniff 'n' The Tears.    Those songs would make up a great mix tape!   Please give me a call and request a favorite during this Saturday night's Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9. It does not have to be a one hit wonder.  We will feature a cow bell trivia question each hour.  Thanks to the listener who suggested our topic for this week.  If you have an idea for a theme, please let me know.  I am always up for suggestions.  Thanks for reading this.  I will charge the Ronco Record Vac and get ready to play the grooves on the radio this Saturday night.

Phil