WRCO Blog

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

One of the most successful movie soundtracks was released to the music buying public in November of 1977.  Saturday Night Fever became a box office movie smash when it was released late that year.  The music from the movie was released a month before and contained many hits.  Some had already been radio smashes and others would become well known because of the John Travolta motion picture.   The music was made primarily from 1975 through 1977.  This Saturday night during Those Were The Days, I will spotlight some of those disco classics!  Our 'Solid Gold Dancers' should be in fine form!  They will have 'Night Fever' and hopefully will be 'Stayin' Alive.  It will be a 'Disco Inferno' when they put on their 'Boogie Shoes!'  It will be an honor to play your favorite hits on the radio this Saturday night during Those Were the Days on WRCO FM 100.9.  I will be back in the studio to assemble all of your requests from the fifties through the eighties.  Whenever the cow bell rings, we will hit you with a trivia question.  I hope you enjoyed last weeks shows which featured favorites from 1977 and 1972.  While the show was on Memorex, I was spending the weekend with my bride and some friends.  While in Galena, I came face to face with a music maker by the name of Jim Post.  He was a part of the dou 'Friend & Lover'  which had the 1968 hit 'Reach Out Of The Darkness'.   I interviewed him on the phone years ago.  It was great to chat about his career in person.  He still performs his Mark Twain show in Galena.  Check him out sometime!     I will talk with you Saturday night between six and Midnight.  Thank you for reading this.

Phil

For the first four hours of Those Were The Days this Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9, we will spend some time forty years in the past.  The year of 1977 had a large amount of great songs that we feature on a regular basis during the show.  Find out how good that year was for music between six and midnight Saturday night.   Some of my favorites included:  Easy-Commodores,  Give A Little Bit-Supertramp,  Dreams-Fleetwood Mac, Long Time-Boston,  and Life In The Fast Lane-The Eagles.  We will also spend some time in the Fall of 1972!  That was a great time for popular music.  Several records that I bought at Saffells and the 'Dime Store' in Richland Center are still featured on the radio each week.  I will not be taking your requests this week.  Hold on to those this weekend and please call me next Saturday night.  We have some great shows ahead which will wrap up 2017 including a tribute to the movie Saturday Night Fever which was released in December of 1977!  Thanks for reading and I really appreciate lending us your ears all of these years!

Phil

On WRCO FM 100.9 Saturday night, we will be featuring more of the greatest hits of all time.  During the fifties, sixties, seventies,  and the eighties, there were many haunting hits.   Some of them get requested all year through.  Some of our favorite Halloween hits include:  Dinner With Drac-John Zacherle "The Cool Ghoul",   Purple People Eater-Sheb Wooley,  Haunted House-'Jumpin'  Gene Simmons,  Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead-The Fifth Estate,  Season Of The Witch-Donovon,  Witchy Woman-Eagles,  Frankenstein-Edgar Winter Group,  Spiders & Snakes-Jim Stafford,  (Don't Fear) The Reaper-Blue Oyster Cult,  and Ghostbusters-Ray Parker Junior.   By far the most popular requested songs, that fit a Halloween theme,  through the years have been the following:  Twilight Zone-Golden Earring,  Werewolves Of London-Warren Zevon,   Thriller-Michael Jackson, and Monster Mash-Bobby "Boris" Pickett.  The Monster Mash has been so popular that over the years it charted three times!  When I was just a 'wee-Nee'  back in '73, I thought it was a brand new song when it hit rock and roll radio that Summer and went all the way to the Top Ten.   I hope you will join our fun Halloween radio party Saturday night during Those Were The Days.  We will be on with all the hits between six and Midnight.  Please give me a call and stay tuned for trivia!   We will also pay tribute to another iconic rock and roller that we lost this week.  Fats Domino has always been a favorite.  Maybe we can spin a few of his amazing records Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9.

Phil

I can remember many songs from my younger days that were playing during the many bus rides to rural schools and athletic events.  There was a year or two riding from Ithaca to Sextonville elementary that our bus did not have a radio.  Our young voices took over singing in unison some of the top songs of the day.  Here is my list of the top five tunes that we used to croon on the bus ride to Sextonville...5.  Delta Dawn-Helen Reddy   4.  Joy To The World-Three Dog Night  3.  Me And You And A Dog Named Boo-Lobo  2.  Bad, Bad Leroy Brown-Jim Croce  1.  Little Willy-The Sweet.  We did not have sources to search for song lyrics.  We just heard those songs on the radio so much and we knew all the words.  Later when the Book Nook opened in the Richland Square I would buy Hit Parader magazine.  That was a publication that listed lyrics for the most popular songs of the day.  I remember hearing We Are The Champions by Queen on the way home from a Junior High basketball game.  Even though we were blown out, it made me feel better thinking about us being a team through thick and thin.  For high school basketball games, I rigged up some speakers to attach to my cassette player.  Those were the days before boom boxes.  Another song I vividly recall after yet another loss was Hold Your Head Up by Argent.    Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9 we will recall some of those songs and stories.  Maybe you can request a song that you remember hearing in your younger day while riding the bus!  We will be weaving all of the requests together and playing trivia during our Those Were The Days program featuring the best of the fifties through the eighties. 

Phil

This Saturday night on Those Were The Days we will take the time tunnel back to October 1970.  WRCO FM 100.9 will feature a few highlights from the Top Forty including:  All Right Now-Free, Green Eyed Lady-Sugarloaf, Candida-Dawn,  and Cracklin' Rosie-Neil Diamond.  There were great tunes on the bus radio as I rode to and from Loyd school and Mrs. Peckham's class.  There were great songs runnning through my head as I climbed the monkey bars and tried to be close to my first crush victim, Betty Nelson.  I am not sure what happened to her.  Her parents moved away shortly after she discovered that I liked her.  Join me Saturday night for another blast from the past on WRCO FM 100.9.  Between six and Midnight you can call and talk to the d.j. (me). We can discuss music, and you can request a song. I look forward to those that call trying to stump me.    It is old school radio and for that I am very proud.  Maybe you can win a prize from our sponsors when we throw a trivia question at you.  I will be waiting all week for Saturday night.  Thanks for reading.

Phil  (the guy with the tiny grill.  I have cooked for many people on that little Weber.  The food tastes great!)

It seems that we have featured a lot of tributes to the artists that we have lost recently.  This week we were shocked to learn of the death of Tom Petty.  Of all the artists that have debuted in the last forty years, he might be the one that is appreciated over the generation gaps more than any other.  Teenagers, parents, and grandparents all seem to like Tom Petty's music.  My daughter loves his songs and she had the chance to see him and the band at Summerfest this past Summer.  He may be the one artist who played halftime at a Superbowl that old and young enjoyed together.  When I first saw a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album in the stores, I thought it was some teeny bopper band.  With a name like Heartbreakers, all I could think of was the Bay City Rollers, Shaun Cassidy, or the De Franco Family.  I remember hearing the song 'Breakdown' a few times on the radio and being impressed. It was obvious that they were no boy band!  In early 1980 when I heard 'Don't Do Me Like That',  I thought that was a prefect radio song.  It was Tom Petty's first top 10 radio hit.  He had so many great hits in the eighties.  His live album in 1986 featured a great rendition of the Searchers hit 'Needles And Pins'.  That made the top forty featuring vocals from Stevie Nicks.   She sang on the biggest radio hit for Tom Petty back in 1981 with 'Stop Draggin' My Heart Around'.   We will throw on some old Tom Petty songs during this Saturday nights Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9.  I will be in the studio to take your requests and play trivia between six and midnight.

Phil

The year of nineteen hundred and seventy-three was a very fine year for popular music.  I argued a bit recently with another music nerd who downplayed the years popular tunes.  While it is no 1967, it still had lots of music that I still enjoy hearing today.  Some of the Phil Nee faves that I spent my farm chore allowance on included:  We're An American Band-Grand Funk,  My Maria-B.W.Stevenson,  Ramblin Man-Allman Brothers,  Brother Louie-Stories,  Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting-Elton John,  Midnight Train To Georgia-Gladys Knight & the Pips,  China Grove-Doobie Brothers,  Free Ride-Edgar Winter Group,  Live And Let Die-Paul McCartney & Wings,  and Jimmy Loves Mary Anne-Looking Glass.  It took a lot of egg gathering, hay stacking, calf feeding, barn cleaning, and milker washing to have enough money to afford that many forty-five records!   Join me Saturday night as I once again prove my mom wrong.  She used to ask "why do you waste your money on those records....when you are just going to throw them away in a year?"  Mom,  I still don't throw anything away.  Just ask my wife, June.  On the airwaves of WRCO FM 100.9 we will set sail for 1973 and other locations including the fifties through the eighties this Saturday night.  I would like to thank all of our past and current listeners for making Those Were The Days an event.  I will be in the studio between six and midnight for our final show in the month of September this Saturday night.  Please give me a call.

Phil 

This weekend will be the first of the Fall season.  The weather has been very Summer like lately.  That means there will be more campfires, front porch sitting, garage hanging, and weekend rest and relaxtion with Those Were The Days on the radio Saturday night!  We will dig out a few songs of Fall this time including:  See You In September-The Happenings,  September-Earth, Wind, and Fire, Dancin' In The Moonlight-King Harvest (Ron Fruit's favorite song),  Night Moves-Bob Seger,  School Is In-Gary U.S. Bonds, and more.  If you have a suggestion for our Fall list, please give me call.  You can also request any song that hit the pop charts from the fifties through the eighties.  If we put pins on the map from where we get request calls and feedback from, it would represent a wide area around Southwest Wisconsin.   We are very proud of that.  Calls from Mount Hope and all the way to Oakdale (near Tomah),  Reedsburg, Baraboo, Sauk City, and Black Earth are places where we have received recent requests.  Check in and let us know where you are located either through this blog site or give me a call.  I will be waiting all week for Saturday night!

Phil  TWTD host Saturday night from 6 p-Midnight on WRCO FM 100.9

Saturday night during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9, we will flash back fifty years to 1967.  We have talked about that great music year several times during 2017.  This weekend it will go along with the Riverdale School districts homecoming and fifty year celebration along with the anniversary of the University Of Wisconsin Richland.  We have been promoting the year long celebration of 1967 that you can follow at forgottenhits.com.  Our friend Kent Kotal has done a fantastic job of recapping what was taking place each day of that year.  We will feature songs from the fifties through the eighties during Those Were The Days and your requests.  We will also go parking in 1967 with songs that were hot this weekend fifty years ago including:  The Letter by the Box Tops,  Come Back When You Grow Up-Bobby Vee,  Brown Eyed Girl-Van Morrison,  Museum-Herman's Hermits,  Dandelion-Rolling Stones and I Had A Dream-Paul Revere & The Raiders.  We might even spin the song that was Riverdale High Schools  theme of the homecoming dance, It Could Be We're In Love by the Cryin' Shames.  Perhaps you will win a prize from our trivia challenge!  Join the music party Saturday night on FM 100.9.

Phil

This Saturday night during Those Were The Days, I will be drifting in my mind back to the Fall of 1982.  When I spin songs from Asia, A Flock Of Seagulls, and John Mellencamp, I will be right back in Wausau Wisconsin at Trans American School Of Broadcasting.  That was a fun time in my life.  Fresh off the farm, Marty and I rented an upstairs apartment and later were joined by Kevin.  There we watched a new channel called MTV twenty-four hours a day.  We combined each others music collections and made the most awesome mix tapes.  In our spare time we attended morning classes at the broadcast school and attempted to learn the radio trade.  We had a good group of classmates including Bill Scott whom we hear courtesy of Wisconsin Radio Network on WRCO here in Richland Center.  We someday should write a book or write a script about some of the things that happened that year.   Some of which cannot be mentioned in this column or on WRCO FM 100.9.  The Milwaukee Brewers made it to the World Series that Fall and the music on the radio was solid for the entire year.  I remember a trip to a Brewer game with my broadcast school buddies.  One member of our group always wanted to do play by play of every event for practice.  He took his cassette tape recorder to the Brewer game to work on calling a baseball game.  Around the third inning he decided to go for a cold one and gave the recorder to me.  He told me to fill in for him while he was gone.  Soon after that a drunk guy turned around and said "Hey, shut up!"  and tore up the score sheet.  I broke a cardinal sin of live microphones and swore at him.  This was all caught on tape.  We had a good laugh listening to that on the way home.  I hope you will join me for Those Were The Days this Saturday night between six and midnight.  I will be spinning some of the best from the Fall of '82 and your rock and roll requests from the first thirty-five years of rock and roll.  Trivia returns this week and you can try to win and amaze your friends!  Perhaps we can hook up for more memories Saturday night?

Phil-Trans American School Of Broadcasting class of 1983