WRCO Blog

This Saturday night on Those Were The Days from WRCO FM 100.9, I will be looking back to 1964.  The Beatles were taking the country by storm after a February 9th appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. The 'Fab Four' were at number one with I Want To Hold Your Hand.  The rest of the chart featured many American artists. Some of my favorite songs from February of '64 include:  You Don't Own Me-Lesley Gore, Hey Little Cobra-Rip Chords,  Um, Um, Um, Um,Um, Um-Major Lance,  For You-Rick Nelson,  Forget Him-Bobby Rydell,  and Popsicles and Icicles-Mermaids.  I hope you will join me as we go back to those black and white nights and the days when rock and roll was still innocent.

You can request anything you like from our box of pop memories of the fifties through the eighties during this Saturday nights six hour show.  It is great to hear your stories that go along with your requests.  I have a massive amount of discs, vinyl, and digital music and every week someone pulls out a request that I am not that familiar with!  Folks say that they enjoy our trivia games.  Last week we had two winners that were listening long distance on this website.  We are now sending prizes around Wisconsin and other states. It is amazing to know that people think enough of the music, and they choose to tune in.  We have many great ideas for special shows in 2021.  I hope you will join us when you can.  You can stay up to date about Those Were The Days right here!  Those Were The Days can be heard on Saturday nights from six until midnight.

Phil

My kids think I am talking about guns when I talk about 45's.  The 45 rpm record was a plastic wonder with a song on each of its 2 sides.  My fascination with records began with my dad and his collection of 78's.  His collection of Harry James,  Benny Goodman,  Bing Crosby,  Mills Brothers, and Spike Jones, helped build my love of music.  In the late 60's and 70's my uncle Ed would give my sister and I the worn out records from the jukebox at his supper club.  My dad would buy us records.  Since he sang for many weddings during that time, he would buy records for songs that he was learning.  Songs such as The Wedding Song (there is love),  Come Saturday Morning, and  We've Only Just Begun, were commonly sung at weddings in the 70's.  I have mentioned many times that the first time I laid down my own money for a record was in the later months of 1971 when I purchased Have You Seen Her by the Chi-Lites.  During that era several were given to me by family members.  My 45 record carrying case included:  For All We Know-Carpenters,  An Old Fashioned Love Song-Three Dog Night,  Two Divided By Love-Grass Roots,  Sunshine-Johnathon Edwards, and  Day After Day-Badfinger.   It will be my pleasure to spin a few of these on my radio show (Those Were The Days) on Saturday night.

WRCO will have the light on for you and the phone line will be open for you to check in with a request Saturday night.  We will also pay tribute to Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper who were killed in a air accident on February 3rd of 1959.  It will be a six hour salute to the greatest music ever cut into plastic!  You can find us on the radio dial at 100.9 FM and on line right here on this website.  Make sure you click on the 100.9 headphones.  I hope to speak with you Saturday night.

Phil

This week on Those Were The Days, I will be pulling a few hits from the first part of 1976.  There were a bunch of great tunes forty-five years ago.  Despite what is often written about that era, it was not all disco dominated.  Sure, some of the polyester songs were played under the lighted ball in the middle of the dance floor, but there were some good pop and rock songs that made the music charts.  Some of my favorite mix tape worthy tunes in early '76 include:  Evil Woman-Electric Light Orchestra,  Fox On The Run-Sweet,  Golden Years-David Bowie,  Slow Ride-Foghat,  Winners and Losers-Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds,  Squeeze Box-the Who, Rock and Roll All Night (Live Version)-Kiss, and Dream Weaver-Gary Wright.  There were plenty of dance classics such as: Love Rollercoaster-Ohio Players,  You Sexy Thing-Hot Chocolate, and Love Machine-Miracles.  These radio classics remind me of folks making plans for the bicentenial in 1976.  People were painting fire plugs and mailboxes red, white, and blue.  I was hoarding the special quarters that were released in 1975 and 1976.  I am sure I eventually gave them up one by one in the candy machines and jukeboxes.  I could buy a bottle of Ski or Double Cola for a quarter from the machine outside of Gus' Service Station and get ten cents change! 

It will be a full night of Those Were The Days tunes on WRCO FM 100.9 and dot com from six until midnight.  You can call me on my party line and add to our fifties through the eighties playlist.  We had a great time last week.  There were a few first time listeners and callers!  That is so very cool to still be saying that after all of these years.  We had some first time trivia prize winners.  I hope you will tune in for some or all of the show. We will have the light on for you at WRCO. 

Phil

This Saturday night during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9, I will be going back to the drawer of 45's.  Between six and midnight you will be able to hear highlights from Top Forty radios' glory years.  I was just a 'wee Nee' when songs from 1966 were first on the radio, however, they were some of the first that I went in search of when I started collecting records in the early '70s.   Some of my faves from January of 1966 include:  She's Just My Style-Gary Lewis & the Playboys,  Over and Over-Dave Clark Five,  As Tears Go By-Rolling Stones,  A Must To Avoid-Herman's Hermits,  Just Like Me-Paul Revere and the Raiders,  Lies-Knickerbockers,  I Got You (I Feel Good)-James Brown,  and We Can Work It Out-Beatles.  I remember hearing some of these hits on long distant AM radio stations.  Some had specialized oldies shows in the early 70's that I would try to catch.  I always had a dream about playing those old hits on a radio program.  This came true in the Fall of 1986 and it is still a dream come true every Saturday night.

Those Were The Days will hit the airwaves with hits between six and midnight Saturday night.  It will be a full length show.  The Packers can't keep us down for two weeks in a row!  Thanks for staying up for last weeks program.  We still had fun and took many fun requests during a 1/2 show.  The six hour best of the fifties through the eighties will live again.  We will play trivia and have a great time on WRCO FM 100.9 and wrco.com.

Phil

The Green and Gold will play Saturday afternoon and the radio network is now planning a nine hour broadcast to cover the game against the Rams.  That means Those Were The Days will not start until 10:00 pm because of a three hour post game show that radio affiliates are required to carry.  I am suggesting that you get your nap on Saturday and stay up late with us.  I will be at the studio to take your 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's requests this Saturday night between 10:00 pm and 1:00 am.  We will play trivia and have a blast talking about and playing some of the best vinyl ever!    Cheer for a victory in Green Bay and than celebrate the win with WRCO FM 100.9 and wrco.com Saturday night late.  We should be back to our regular six hour show on January 23rd.  Thanks for your dedicated listening to all of our Saturday 'Retro' programs.  Saturdays With Simo and Backtracking will return next Saturday.   Good health and best wishes!

Phil

Growing up in the 1970's on the farm has provided me with lots of memories and stories to share on the radio.  There are many that say they had similar experiences and others that wonder what in the world I am talking about.  Fifty years ago when 1971 slid in,  my daily goal was to mold the perfect path for a runner sled.  I did not like the round flying saucers.  No matter how hard you tried, you always wound up going backwards down the hill.  I was not a fan of toboggans.  You could not steer them well and the poor sap sitting in the very front would get a face full of snow.  My runner sled, that had an Apollo rocket painted on it, was a Christmas present from Santa.  He must have shopped at Coast to Coast, because I saw one in the store just like it.  That old sled could be navigated around bumps, dead furrows,  bogs, frozen manure,  poor saps that fell off of their flying saucer, and just about any obstacle.  Typically there was ice all over the farm.  I could start near the house and slide on the driveway all the way past the barn and stop before the barbed wire.

When I was not dreaming of riding my runner sled at the Olympics, I was stopping off to warm up at the barn.  The fly specked barn radio was playing all of the hot hits from 1971 this week.  Some of those songs are still favorites of mine today including: Tears Of A Clown-Miracles,  Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?-Chicago,  Your Song-Elton John,  Immigrant Song-Led Zeppelin,  Knock Three Times-Dawn,  Black Magic Woman-Santana,  I Think I Love You-Partridge Family,  Stoned Love-Supremes,  One Man Band-Three Dog Night,  and Domino-Van Morrison.   You will be able to hear some great tunes from the chart fifty years past this Saturday night during WRCOs' Those Were The Days.  During 2021 we will pay tribute to 1971 a few times.  It ranks as one of my favorite years for Top Forty music.

You will be able to request a favorite from any of the years that we feature on Those Were The Days between six and midnight Saturday night.  The magic cowbell will be back to usher in each trivia question.  I hope to hear from you.  Give us a call at 608 647-4155 and we can talk.  I will have the light on for you this weekend.

Phil

We will begin 2021 with an old friend as a guest on WRCO's Those Were The Days.  Ron Dante was the voice behind the Archies, and the Cuff Links.  He sang on many cartoons and commercials for products such as: Dentyne gum,  Tang, Yoplait Yogurt,  General Tires, and more.  Ron has released a new cd package called 'Ron Dante's Funhouse'  which features many songs and commercials that he was a part of.  We have not featured Ron as a phone guest in nearly a dozen years.  It will be great to hear highlights of his career during this weeks radio show between six and midnight, Saturday night.

We would like to hear from you.  Now that Those Were The Days can be heard everywhere, we are getting calls to play songs dedicated to relatives around the country.  Give us a call and we will send a song out to your loved ones, whereever they are. Remember we are on FM 100.9.  A few folks have clicked on the AM 1450/107.7 station on Saturday nights by mistake.   During our last Saturday night of 2020, we had a great time remembering 1970 and there were many listeners that checked in saying that was one of their favorite years for music.  This year, we will do several shows dedicated to the 50th anniversary of 1971.  That is the year that I really started paying attention to music and developed the habit of buying too many records. 

I will be at the station Saturday night to keep the light on and answer your calls.  We will play trivia and your requestsfor music from the fifties through the eighties  this Saturday night during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9 and WRCO dot com.

Phil

Saturday night Those Were The Days will return to the airwaves of WRCO!  It was great to have a date with the lovely June this past weekend.  She is ready to get back to the Hallmark channel this weekend while I get out my old records.  Between six and midnight Saturday night, you will be able to have a rock and roll party with us.  The best of the fifties through the eighties will return to WRCO FM 100.9 and dot com.

It is hard to believe, but this is the final Saturday night of 2020.  We have had some awesome fun through the year.  It has been a time when music was even more important to help us cope.  This last show of the year will feature your rock and roll requests, trivia, and a look at some of the top songs of 1970.  The year end survey from fifty years ago is a very good one.  There are many songs that are still heard on a regular basis today.  Some of my faves from 1970 include:  Mississippi Queen-Mountain,  Let's Work Together-Canned Heat,  Tears Of A Clown-Miracles,  Vehicle-Ides Of March,  Give Me A Little More Time-Chairman Of The Board,  No Matter What-Badfinger,  Reflections Of My Life-Marmalade,  Share The Land-Guess Who,  Little Green Bag-George Baker Selection,  Band Of Gold-Freda Payne,  and Tighter, Tighter-Alive n' Kicking. 

The end of the year in 1970 on the farm was a wonderful time to grow up.  I was sliding down the hill on my Apollo 11 runner sled that I got for Christmas.  I would head into the house and warm up and hear the radio playing some of the great songs of the day.  My sister, Sue, and I would make sure to give some extra food to the farm animals as a Christmas present.  My new G.I Joe doll with real life like hair and beard could also talk.  He was going on adventures around the farm.  His parachute opened slowly when he jumped from the silo, though he some how avoided injury! 

I hope you will join me Saturday night for old stories and music.....Those Were The Days, my friend.

Phil

When the NFL network got the rights to this weekend's Packers/Panthers game,  they moved it to Saturday night.  That means that Backtrackin' and  Those Were The Days will be bumped from WRCO's 'Retro Saturday'  lineup.  This has not happened since Green Bay was in the playoffs a few years back and the wild card game was set for a Saturday night. Since the game is only on NFL network and not on an over the air t.v. station from Madison, many people wont be able to view it.  That makes radio coverage very important here in Southwest Wisconsin.

We will be saving our energy this weekend and getting all ready for the final oldies show of 2020 on December 26th and more fun in 2021!  I never run out of ideas for themes and we already have a music guest lined up for an upcoming show.  Thank you for all of your requests during the year of 2020. Last weekend we had the most song requests we have received for a show since last Summer.   One of my favorite calls starts out with....'I bet you don't have this one...'   Most of the time I can come through.  Even though I have been collecting songs since 1971, every once in a while I can be stumped.   I will miss you this weekend.  We will get together Saturday night December 26th.   Merry Christmas! 

Phil

This Saturday night during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9 and wrco.com, we will fly back to this weekend in 1981.  That Winter I was a power forward for the mighty Ithaca Bulldog basketball team.  I took a speaker from an old stereo and put a mini plug on it so that I could plug that into my cassette player.  Then I could play my mix tapes in the locker room or on the frosty windowed bus headed toward Brookwood, Lafarge, Kickapoo,  Wauzeka, Weston, De Soto, Seneca, or North Crawford.  Some favorites from this weekend in 1981 include:  Tryin To Live My Life Without You-Bob Seger,  Young Turks-Rod Stewart,  Our Lips Are Sealed-Go-Go's, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic-Police,  Harden My Heart-Quarterflash,  Centerfold-J.Geils Band,  Shake It Up-Cars, and Poor Mans Son-Survivor.  I used to love to jam to those songs while I was tying up my short basketball shorts and pulling my white socks above my knees.

Those Were The Days will be blasting your favorite hits from the fifties through the eighties between six and midnight, Saturday night.  You can try to stump the d.j. (it happens often).  We will ring the trivia bell to announce our six pack of trivia questions..  This weekend will mark the second to the last Those Were The Days show of 2020. There will not be a show on December 19th.  We will blame the NFL for that as Green Bay is playing on a Saturday night that weekend and the Packer network requires us to carry eight hours of programming.  Our last show of the year will be December 26th.  Thanks for rocking all through the year and for all of these years.

Phil

During this weeks Those Were The Days radio show, we will provide you 20/20 vision with songs about sight.  We could fill all six hours with songs about vision and eyes.  Our goal will be to hit a few highlights from the list.  Some examples include:  I Only Have Eyes For You-Flamingos,  Have You Seen Her-Chi-Lites,  Behind Blue Eys-The Who,  The Story In Your Eyes-Moody Blues,  These Eyes-Guess Who,  Temptation Eyes-Grass Roots,  Double Vision-Foreigner,  Eye Of The Tiger-Survivor,  Blinded By The Light-Manfred Mann,  Green Eyed Lady-Sugarloaf,  Private Eyes-Hall & Oates,  and I Saw Her Standing There-the Beatles.   As you can see, eyes have been a great inspiration for songwriters for many years. 

Those Were The Days will be playing all of your favorite fifties through the eighties tunes Saturday night from six until midnight.  You can baffle everyone with your brilliance when we play trivia.  Just listen for the 'magic cowbell'.  We continue to make new friends after all of these years.  There are more long distance friends phoning in. We have had friends check in to say they were listening in Virginia,  Florida,  Colorado,  Illinois and Minnesota.  Remember The FM 100.9 stream link is here on our hompage.  Alexa users can enable the WRCO FM Alexa skill and then join us by saying..."Alexa, open one hundred point nine WRCO".   Join us Saturday night for Those Were The Days from six until Midnight.

Phil

This week on WRCOs' Those Were The Days, I will head back to this weekend in 1978.  I was celebrating my 15th birthday.  It was a rough winter that year with my dad in the hospital and my sister and me trying to organize the chores. Luckily the radio got me through some tough times.  Music has always been a big part of my life and when I hear some of this weekends chart tunes from 1978, I am right back to my room in the old farm house.  Some of my favorite tunes from this weeks chart include:  Double Vision-Foreigner, Strange Way-Firefall,  Alive Again-Chicago,  Hot Child In the City-Nick Gilder,  Straight On-Heart,  Blue Collar Man-Styx,  Hold The Line-Toto,  New York Groove-Ace Frehley,  My Best Friends Girl-Cars,  and Beast Of Burden-Rolling Stones.   I will be celebrating my current birthday with all of my friends (you). 

We will have several chances for you to win when we play trivia during the six hour rock and roll tribute.  I hope you will request a song and I will dig for it through the massive library of tunes.  Remember you can request any pop song from the fifties through the eighties.  Some folks think they can only request a song from our featured year.  This is not true.   How about trying to stump me.  I love the challenge.  Last week we had a chance to play some songs that I have not featured since my hair was brown.  We even feature at least one song a week that we have never played on the show in 34 plus years.  

Happy Thanksgiving weekend!

Phil 

I have written many times at this site about how good the music was from 1964-1969.  So many of the songs are still alive and well in commercials and movies after these many years.  The year of 1966 closed out with a bang with many memorable hits.  We will revisit some of those during this weeks Those Were The Days radio program between six and midnight Saturday night.  Some of my favorites from 1966 include:  Poor Side Of Town-Johnny Rivers,  96 Tears-Question Mark & the Mysterians,  Nineteen Days-Dave Clark Five,  But It's Alright-J.J. Jackson,  Devil With a Blue Dress On & Good Golly Miss Molly-Mitch Ryder,  and Psychotic Reaction-Count Five.  We will give those a spin and as many of your requests as we can.

We are getting response from around the country now that 100.9 can be heard everywhere.  We will always concentrate on our local over the air listeners first, however, it is good to hear from new friends that challenge us to find songs.  The FM 100.9 stream link is here on our hompage.  Alexa users can enable the WRCO FM Alexa skill and then join us by saying..."Alexa, open one hundred point nine WRCO".  

You might be able to impress your friends if you win trivia during Those Were The Days.  We will feed you one question each hour during Those Were The Days this Saturday night. 

Phil

In 1977 my mighty Junior High basketball team was ready for a championship season.  It was not a great debut as we ran out on the court at Seneca High School and lined up to warm up for layup drills.  The three players at the head of the three lines are suppose to pass the ball back and fourth and the third guy to catch the pass than does a layup.  When all 3 players ran into each other and fell down, our coach Fred Dillon walked off the court for a moment to compose himself.  Music on the AM bus radio helped ease the sting of losses on the way home.  Some of my favorites this week in 1977 include:  Help Is On The Way-Little River Band,  Just Remember I Love You-Firefall,  Cold As Ice-Foreigner,  She Did It-Eric Carmen,  Swingtown-Steve Miller Band,  Love Gun-Kiss,  Point Of No Return-Kansas, and Boogie Nights-Heatwave.

This Saturday night on Those Were The Days from WRCO 100.9, we will be spinning some of those hits from 1977, however, you can suggest a song from any of the decades that we play.  Remember to tell your families and friends that they can hear us long distance.  We have been getting a few far away requests from listeners around the country as they listen to wrco.com.  Last Saturday we had several fans of our profile band, Saturday's Children, check in.  We will be playing trivia each hour during the six hour flashback.  Turn back the clock with Those Were The Days this Saturday night between six and midnight.

Phil

On Those Were The Days Saturday night, we have talked with several Chicago area hitmakers of the 1960's.  This week we will talk with the two surviving members of the group Saturdays Children.  Those that saw them play live or heard them on the radio back in the day thought they would make it big.  For various reasons that never happened.  They were the opening act for some of the biggest names in rock and roll. Hear their story on FM 100.9.   Group members Dave Carter and George Paul will join me for a history of Saturdays Children on Saturday night!   Thanks to Clark Besch aka WLS Clark for hooking us up.  

We will be answering the phone for your requests on Saturday night when we take those old records off the shelf.  It was a great night last weekend and we had a record number of requests.  It is so rewarding to talk with many that have listened to us for years and the new friends we have made.  Since we now are streaming, we are hearing from music fans throughout the country.  The FM 100.9 stream link is here on our hompage.  Alexa users can enable the WRCO FM Alexa skill and then join us by saying..."Alexa, open one hundred point nine WRCO". You can also listen on your Six Transistor Radio if you like!

Make sure to join us between six and midnight Saturday night for Those Were The Days.  Take the trivia challenge and win a prize.  Just listen for the 'Magic Cowbell"!

Phil

This Saturday night on Those Were The Days from FM 100.9 and dot com,  I will be hosting our annual Halloween party.  There are so many songs with dark and scary themes which were released during the fifties through the eighties.  The number one song with a Halloween theme gets requested year around.  Bobby 'Boris' Pickett's Monster Mash has been a 'graveyard smash' since it first was released in 1962.  It also made the charts two other times.  Those Were The Days can provide the background for your Halloween parties this Saturday night.  Request your favorite song (Halloween related or otherwise).  We will play trivia and take you on a tour of the WRCO haunted radio station.

Some of our other favorite Halloween requests include:  Purple People Eater-Sheb Wooley,  Werewolves Of London-Warren Zevon,  Haunted House-Jumpin Gene Simmons,  Ghostbusters-Ray Parker Jr.  Thriller-Michael Jackson,  Witch Doctor-David Seville,  Witch Queen Of New Orleans-Redbone,  Frankenstein-Edgar Winter Group,  Superstition-Stevie Wonder,  Bad Moon Rising-C.C.R.,  and The Time Warp-The Rocky Horror Picture Show Cast.

Following Those Were The Days from 6 pm to midnight,  we will present an encore presentation of the UW Platteville-Richland Theatre production of War Of The Worlds.  That will hit the airwaves at midnight Halloween night.  How cool is that?  That will cap off our retro Saturday on WRCO FM 100.9 and wrco.com.  Tune in if you dare and don't be too scared!

Phil-WRCO

This Saturday night during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9 and wrco.com, I will be playing highlights from this weekends 1969 music survey.  Hear stories behind the songs with such artists as Gary Puckett,  Ron Dante, and others.  There were so many Top Forty classic songs on the charts this week in 1969 including:  Can't Get Next To You-Temptations,  Suspicious Minds-Elvis,  Come Together-Beatles,  Green River-C.C.R.,  Honky Tonk Woman-Rolling Stones,  and Hot Fun In the Summertime-Sly & the Family Stone.I was just a 'wee-Nee' 51 years ago, however, I can vividly remember riding around on the tractor with my dad during Fall harvest.  The radio was always on in the barn and when we would jump in the truck.  It seemed that Sugar Sugar by the Archies was on the radio all of the time.  My dad loved music and even though he was a fan of music from the 40's and 50's, he often would tell me that he liked a song that he heard on the stations that I listened to.  He would even come home with a record for our collection after he heard a song on the radio that he liked. My love of music came from my dad.

I will be in the studio this Saturday night and hope to hear from you.  You can request anything from the fifties through the eighties during that time.  Perhaps you will be the winner of trivia.  We will have some fun whenever the 'magic cow bell'  rings.  Now that it is getting colder, you may have to move inside from the campfires to the fire places while you listen to Those Were The Days on Saturday night.  I listened on line a bit last week while I was playing with the grandbabies.   I am going to try to teach them about good music. 

Phil

This week on WRCOs' Those Were the Days, we will be digging in the library for some great songs for a record hop.  The Solid Gold Dancers will be dancing on the tables.  It will be a mix tape night and for the theme we will go to the alphabet.   You might hear a song from ABBA, followed by Bachman Turner Overdrive, Cars,  Neil Diamond,  ELO,  Foghat,  Guess Who, Heart, and so on and so forth.  Join WRCO for an alphabet of hits this Saturday night between six and midnight on WRCO FM 100.9.  We will not be taking your requests.  That feature will return next Saturday night. 

Congratulations to our winners of the Stevie Nicks Drive-In concert tickets.  That show is coming up Saturday night October 24th at the Starlite 14 Drive-In in Richland Center.

Those Were The Days debuted on WRCO Saturday night October 11th of 1986.  We turned 34 this past week and we are going into our 35th year with this Saturday nights show!  I can't believe how fast that time has passed.  Thank you for all of your support over the years.  It seems like I get more calls now than ever. It is very rewarding to host this show.

Phil

John Lennon would have turned 80 on October 9th.  It is sad to think about all of the music that he would have created had he not been murdered at age 40 in December of 1980.  Friends used to debate on which Beatle was their favorite. John Lennon was never my favorite group member.  I always related more to Paul and Ringo based on the personalities that I saw on tv and what I read about them.  John seemed to be more on edge, angry, and intimidating.  As time passed, it seemed like he became more down to earth and I related to some of his later solo music. I bought the Double Fantasy album just before his death.  That contains some great music that  I loved and still do after all of these years.    This Saturday night on WRCOs' Those Were The Days, I will spin  our favorite Lennon Beatles songs of which he was the lead singer.   We will also take a look at some of his most requested solo stuff. It is mind boggling to think that John Lennon has been gone as long as he was alive.

It has been another rough week for those of us that love music from past decades.  On FM 100.9 Saturday night, we will remember the lives and careers of Eddie Van Halen, and Johnny Nash whom we lost this past week.  I always appreciated Eddies music.  The group Van Halen was very popular in the Midwest and their early touring always included Madison, Wisconsin.  Johnny Nash helped bring reggae music to the states.  His hits Hold Me Tight, and Stir It Up are both on my Wurlitzer juke box.  I Can See Clearly Now has become an anthem.  His 1973 release called My Merry-Go-Round got some radio play in these parts, but it was never a big hit.

I hope you will join WRCO's tribute to old rock and roll this Saturday night from six until midnight on FM 100.9 and wrco.com. Request your favorite old song.  We will try to stump you with our trivia games.  You could be the winner of a ticket to attend a video concert featuring Stevie Nicks October 24th at the Starlite 14 Drive In theater in Richland Center.  Listen and win Saturday night during Those Were The Days. 

Phil

Saturday night during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9, we will be slipping back to this weekend in 1971.  When I hear those hits, I am right back to cool nights,  football games at Krouskop park, and doing my chores in the barn with the radio on.  When I would listen to the those distant radio signals from Madison, Milwaukee, and Chicago, I felt like I was connected to the world.  For a farm kid in a small town in Wisconsin, it was exciting to hear about a concert going on in the windy city or a new movie debuting in Milwaukee.  Each city played most of the same hits, however, there were some regional tracks that were getting airplay as well.  Some of my fave hits from this weekend in 1971 include:  Do You Know What I Mean-Lee Michaels,  I Woke Up In Love This Morning-Partridge Family,  I Just Want To Celebrate-Rare Earth,  Rain Dance-Guess Who,  The Story In Your Eyes-Moody Blues,  Birds Of A Feather-Raiders,  Tired Of Being Alone-Al Green,  and Smiling Faces Sometimes-Undisputed Truth.  I was not yet buying records, but I was enjoying the radio and taping songs on the families reel to reel tape recorder.   On tv in the Fall of '71l, I was watching the Brady Bunch,  Partridge Family,  Love American Style,  All In The Family,  Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour,  and Room 222.

I hope you will tune in Saturday night to our rock and roll showcase on WRCO. You will be able to hear songs from the first forty years of rock and roll.  Thank you for a wonderful night last time.  We had some new listeners checking in.  Now that the show is also on line at wrco.com, we are hearing from more people.  This makes it sometimes difficult to get all of the request played.  That is not a bad problem to have.  The trivia games will be up and running.  We will try to stump you when we ask about stuff that you thought you had forgotten!  Let's talk Saturday night.

Phil