Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert (later husband and wife) had written John Denver’s 1971 hit “Take Me Home Country Roads.” After performing as Fat City, the Danoffs teamed with another couple, Jon Carroll and Margot Chapman, as the Starland Vocal Band, and released their first record in 1976, “Afternoon Delight.” It was a monster, sufficient […]
On a Friday morning not long ago I was filling in for Pat, and I asked the following question on the air: What’s the first big historical event you can remember while it was happening? For the next two hours, I played back phone calls and read Facebook posts and e-mails from listeners, and it […]
Forty years ago this weekend, July 4, 1976, was the celebration of the American Bicentennial. The national blowout for America’s 200th birthday had been brewing for a couple of years. A government commission began planning for it in 1973. The U.S. Mint issued commemorative quarters, half-dollars, and dollar coins starting in 1975. But the most amazing […]
In 1980, I spent the summer as a nighttime rock ‘n’ roll DJ in Freeport, Illinois. It was a pretty sweet gig for a 20-year-old college kid. I was on the air Sunday through Friday nights from six to midnight, so I had Saturday nights to party with my friends at home. I was paid the princely sum […]
In my last blog post, I mentioned the phenomenon of shy people who go into radio anyway. It happens more often than you think. (There’s a difference between shyness and being afraid to go on the air. None of us is especially nervous about the latter, at least not after doing it for a while. […]
The rhythm of our days is defined more by television than we realize, I think. For many Midwesterners, the 10:00 local news marks the end of the evening and time to go to bed, so you get in your eight hours before rising at 6 for another day. Do East Coasters—who have to rise at […]
(Pictured: Aretha Franklin onstage; credit: Joseph Sohm, Shutterstock.com) My wife and I have no children and few expensive vices, and we don’t live extravagantly. Nevertheless, we try to keep the fun budget in balance. We don’t go to every concert or every show we’d like to attend, because tickets cost a lot. But this summer […]
(Pictured: musician Keith Emerson was a wizard of the analog synthesizer, which required a player not only to work the keys but to plug and unplug cords and twist knobs.) You may have heard that Keith Emerson, keyboard player in 70s rock band Emerson Lake and Palmer, died earlier this month. It was quite tragic, […]
