Don’t believe a word I say with Bob Segarini

Monday Morning Mailbag

Wow…Monday already? The weekend went by way too quick, like sex with Jenna Jameson. Not seemingly forever, like sex with Margaret Thatcher. Nice weather and lots to do will have that effect, I suppose.

We’ve got some great posts to get to, but before we do, here’s next week’s poser, offered up by FYI’s Perry White/Jonah Jameson, David Farrell:

Judging from all the information floating around on the web, the biggest draws to arena and stadium rock shows are acts that have been around from the ’60’s, ’70’s, and ’80’s. Call them dinosaurs if you must, but facts is facts, The Eagles are going to outdraw pretty much everyone currently in the top 10 on radio charts. So will Madonna and the Stones, God bless ‘em.

At some point, though, these classic acts are going to start missing shows due to broken hips, arthritis, and naps. This week’s query is this: At what point should these still popular acts throw in the towel…or Depends? Name the artists who you think are past their ‘best before’ date. The acts you feel should start staying home, gardening, or going to the convenience store on their Rascals to get some low fat yogurt…and as an added bonus, which new artists out there do you think could, or deserve to, replace them?

Please submit your responses to segarini@fyimusic.ca before 11:59, Friday, April 3^rd. We look forward to reading what you have to say…

To kick off this week’s responses, here’s my recollection of radio stations that did it for me when I was a youth…

My love affair with radio began with two shows that were broadcast nationally in the US, Burgie Bandstand, and Lucky Lager Dance Time. They were the shows that I went to sleep to every night for years. One of them had ‘Music Music Music’ by Theresa Brewer as it’s theme song, the other had ‘Dream (When you’re feeling blue)’, a great Johnny Mercer tune recorded by the Pied Pipers. Those songs book-ended everything from the Glen Miller Orchestra, Sinatra, Bennett, Modernaires, Dorsey, and other greats of the era, and gave me my love of melody, harmony, and well crafted lyrics, (Mairzy Dotes, anyone?).

When I was 12, it was the two local stations in Stockton California. K-JOY, and KSTN. K-JOY was a top 40 station, (or would become one when that ‘format’ took root a couple of years later), and KSTN was more locally focused, playing acts from around the area as well as the R&B artists that had yet to break through on mainstream radio. K-JOY was in the corner window of the Stockton Hotel, about a 15-20 minute bike ride from my parent’s house. On Friday nights around midnight, I used to sneak out and take a cup of coffee to the all night guy, Denny Kerwin. It was he who let me sit in the studio with him, show me how radio worked, and gave me tons of promotional 45’s that allowed me to boast the coolest single collection in town. KSTN was out in the boonies, the same place as their transmitter, in the middle of a cow pasture, complete with cows. It was there a jock whose name escapes me, let me record my first ever demos on the station’s production tape recorder. It was also the station that another Jock, Floyd, “Jack Daniels” Thackery, helped develop Top 40, and Boss Radio with Bill Drake, a format that came to fruition in the ’60’s in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and just about every other market in the world.

It was these stations that hooked me and led to discovering great radio and jocks from all over. KFRC and KYA in San Francisco. The incredible Tom Donahue,

Tom Donahue

who formed Autumn Records, (for whom I recorded, but that’s another story), and the seminal KMPX, the first ‘Underground FM radio station anywhere. The impassioned Bobby Mitchell, who, in the summer of 1963, flipped out on the air one afternoon during KYA’s ‘Record Race’, because The Beatles kept losing to records that Mitchell thought were undeserving. He even went so far as to pick absolute crap to put up against She Loves You, From Me To You, and other early Beatle recordings, and they STILL lost. He just went all Comedian on his listeners when they once again failed to see what he saw in the mop-tops. He screamed at the kids for not getting what he was certain would be, “the future of rock and roll” He was a year ahead of his time…and his audience.

Sylvester, ‘Sly Stone’ Stewart on Oakland’s KDIA, along with Hunter Hancock and The Magnificent Montague on L.As KGFJ, playing the great blues and R&B artists that are favorites to this day.

The Holy Trinity in Los Angeles, KHJ, KRLA, and KFWB, radio so good, you didn’t know who the hell to listen to. The only other market that had the kind of competition of this quality was the New York of the mid ’60’s with WINS, WABC, and WMCA.

These are all stations that made me want to be on the air.

From listening to Wolfman Jack on XERB in the one parking space at the Foster Freeze Drive In in Stockton where you could tune it in, to Johnny Williams’ all night show on KHJ, to Russ ‘The Moose’ Syracuse’s All Night Flight on KYA, to Don Sherwood’s incredible shows on KSFO, my love of radio is deeply seated.

The fact that I was able to work at two of the greatest, CHUM FM, and the legendary Q107, still amazes me.

YAY! Radio…

Enough from me…let’s go to the mailbag, starting with a co-worker from the CHUM FM days…

Rick Ringer

Hey Bob;

The station that inspired and entertained me, growing up in Eau Claire, Wisconsin was WLS in Chicago…a clear-channel 50,000-watter, it boomed in at night and provided the juice that helped get me going in a lifelong radio career.  Fred Winston, Chuck Buell, John Records Landecker (cool to hang out with him when he came to Toronto in the 80’s)…all these guys were THE Boss Jocks in my early years.  Geez, they even talked up the instrumental openings to beer commercials!

Also loved tuning into Beaker Street with Clyde Clifford on KAAY, Little Rock, late at night.  Had that spacey stuff going on while he did his chatter between tunes.  He provided a glimpse into the free-form FM formats that were already in place in San Francisco, New York and the original CHUM-FM, for those of us in dairy country, USA.

Two polar opposite approaches to radio, both inspiring and excellent.

SEG SAYS: “Rick and the other jocks at CHUM FM when I first started working in radio were so good, I was intimidated by the way they made everything look so easy. If I didn’t thank you for what I learned from you then, Rick, I’m thanking you now. I still tell the story of the day you frisbee’d an LP into the wall with such force, it stuck there like a ninja star. I don’t know what that album did to you, but I’ll bet it never did it again.

Rick is currently at The Beach, up in Wasaga…I’m pretty sure you can catch him online.”

Greg Simpson

When I was in Grade Seven, rock and roll was a TV thing. Radio in my house was always turned to CKDA in Victoria, because my parents didn’t want to miss the Advertiser of the Hour feature, just in case we were called and they’d win $12.20, which never happened.

My role model at the time was a guy named Ted who was a year older but had to repeat a grade earlier in his school career. It was great having a friend that everybody thought was cool. He was everything I wasn’t. An athlete, a student leader, and, as it turns out, a pathway to non-stop rock and roll. My cousin had taken me to see Jailhouse Rock in the theatre a few years earlier, and I’d seen Elvis and a few others on TV. American Bandstand was a regular part of my viewing diet as was, for a short while, Dick Clark’s Saturday night TV show. But when Ted told me that CFUN played rock and roll all the time, and so did KJR, I became hooked. By the time I was fourteen, I was making my own weekly top ten list of my favourite songs, which I still have, by the way. KJT was the preferred signal, because in my mind Seattle was way ahead of Vancouver when it came to cool. After all, it was in the States! And such a great lineup of announcers, including Pat O’Day (who owned the Seattle band scene), Larry Lujack, Lan Roberts, and many others. Slowly but surely, though, I started giving equal time to CFUN with Red Robinson, Tom Peacock, Al Jordan, and others, great and less so. Eventually, CFUN had competition and it came in the form of CKLG with Russ Simpson, Daryl B, Long John Tanner, Russ Simpson, and their superstar Fred Latremouille, previously only heard when one of the suburban stations tried rock and roll in the evenings with Fred and a looney tune named Mad Mel the Steamshovel (I swear) sharing the night. Fred was the coolest guy I’d ever heard on the radio, and Mad Mel was special, playing James Brown’s I Go Crazy a couple of times a shift.

Nights as a teen babysitting had me DXing up and down the dial, and living next to the ocean as I did, I soon became a fan of stations as far south as Mexico, and was proud to know who Wolfman Jack was, not to mention Tom Donahue. By the time I was sixteen, I had determined that radio would be my career, if I could somehow wangle it, and I did.

I knew I’d be disowned if I tried it at home, so I hitched to London, Ontario in 1968 and began my radio career at CJOE, where I was named music director within a few short weeks of being hired. Was it because of my knowledge of pop music of the day? No. It was because, at nineteen, I knew enough about the big band era the station then specialized in to impress my employers. Within two months of being hired, I convinced them to challenge CHLO for the teen audience, and though we never did make a dent in the audience they had of any great import, it began my career in the music and broadcasting business in Ontario, and I’ll always appreciate a guy named Ron Roberts, and another named Brian Thomas for giving me the chance. A tip of the hat, too, to Jeff Guy, the engineer of the station who took over the PD role during my tenure there, before I left for Toronto and a record company job.

That being said, the stations that influenced me the most were, in chronological order, a. CFUN Vancouver; b. KJR Seattle; c. CKLG Vancouver; d. CJOE London; e. CHLO St. Thomas; f. CKLW  Windsor.

And the people that influenced me the most were, in the same order, a. Red Robinson; b. Pat O’Day; c. Fred latremouille; d. Mad Mel the Steamshovel; e. Russ Simpson; f. Tom Lodge; g. the entire Big 8 team; h. Thomas Aquinas, about whom an entire article could be written.

SEG SAYS: “Greg, of course. Is a cornerstone of CMW, an award winning Music Director, and a motherlode of music trivia.”

Michael Rochford

Your old buddy Mike here…

Hmmm…  Radio when I was growing up….  To give you a time frame I was born in 1959. Started out with CHUM AM….  ’cause they played the “Hits of Today”   …..”Listen while I play………my Green Tambourine…..” and the likes. Then the “older kids” in the hood started on about “Pink Floyd” and “Led Zeppelin” and the likes so off I went to 104.5 CHUM FM. This was a HAPPENING station in the mid to late 70’s thru the early 80’s as they were into all kinds of “High Tech” remote broadcasts from places like the good Old “El Mocambo….   In 1977, I was lucky enough as a young wannabe RODIE to have some minor  involvement in these somewhat “experimental” broadcasts. Imagine sending “Stereo Audio” down phone lines to the CHUM  Radio Station, while simultaneously sending Video via Microwave or other less High tech means to CITY TV, and  Volia……  ”Stereo Television” was born.   Although I was not around at the start of the “Simulcast” project, I do remember fondly the first broadcast I took part in. “An Act of GODDO”  in church….

It took a good number of years for Technology to catch up with Creativity…I forget when Stereo Television was actually launched, but it was Pioneered right here in Toronto with CHUM FM and CITY TV. One minor Radio note….  I hosted the “Morning Show for Radio CRSC Seneca Collage  around ‘75 , 76,  and have memories of sneaking in a tune or two from “Gotta Have POP”

Oh and currently…. I’m still stuck in those dayz…..  Station of choice currently is Q107….  Ya just gotta love the classics….

SEG SAYS: “Michael is a huge fan of rock music, a great thow-er of parties, and an all around good guy.”

Johnny V

Finally had some time to get caught up reading your ramblings.. Great stuff!!… Can’t wait for the next installment… So to answer the radio of my yute question… As a young teenager growing up in Toronto through the 60s, AM radio basically sucked… CHUM AM was popular with a lot of my friends, but even then I didn’t like Top 40 format radio… Listening to Al Boliska, Jungle Jay Nelson, Dave Mickey, Bob McAdorey and a host of others was tough on a kid who didn’t know it yet, but soon found out that R&B, Soul, and Blues by the original artists was what moved me. WUFO out of Buffalo is what I tuned into in Toronto, but it only seemed to come in clear when the stars were aligned and the mighty music gods allowed it. Frankie Crocker and Sunny Jim Kelsey are a couple of DJs I remember liking.

Flash forward to 1966… My closest friend and I were in Niagara Falls, Ont. hanging out for the day. We stopped for a burger in a little diner and heard this great music pumping out of a radio on the shelf. So I asked the waitress what station it was. She tells us it’s WBLK FM. We never heard a FM station that hip in Toronto, and once back home immediately tuned in to 93.7 FM on my Highwave portable (14 Transistors and a giant 3 1/2 inch speaker)… We were set.. NOT!! The station came in beautifully, but would drift in and out throughout the day. Night time down by the lake was the best reception… George “The Hound” Lorenz was broadcasting there, but cats like Roosevelt Tucker, Bradley J. Cool, Chuckie T soon became fav DJs and later a cat by the name of Don Robinson. WBLK broadcast some of the greatest music I ever heard. It’s where I first got hip to Howard Tate, his singing on “Ain’t Nobody Home”, “Get It While You Can”, and “Look At Granny Run Run” knocked me out.

SEG SAYS: “John is one of the greatest guitar players I have ever had the pleasure to hear. You can check him out at www.radiothatdoesntsuck.com in A&R Online Vol. 3, or in his own mini special in the RTDS playlist. He is the real deal.”

David Farrell

I was fortunate as a kid to grow up in the UK, watching the hot new acts appearing weekly on Top of the Pops, hearing the new sounds on the Beeb’s Desert Island Discs, getting the latest info on the new sounds and trends in music tabs such as Sounds and the NME – and hearing the excitement that washed through the one-inch speaker on my transistor radio late at night when I tuned into Radio Luxembourg, located in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, and Radio Caroline, located in the North Sea. These were heady times. The pop revolution was just starting to take hold of what Pete Towshend successfully referred to as “My Generation,” Parents at the time were equally fascinated (by the Beatles, in those silly black velvet collar jackets and the mop top hairdos) and repelled (by the leering, cocksure pose of Mick Jagger et al) by the new ‘pop(ular)’ music of the day – and the government and the Beeb were caught in the middle, a bit like Mister Jones in Dylan’s “Ballad of a Thin Man.”

We didn’t really understand the kinkiness of the subject matter at first, but we all had a laugh when a new group wearing patterned paisley velvet Edwardian jackets and black velvet bellbottom trousers appeared for the first time on Top of the Pops and performed “Arnold Layne.” It was a song like none other we had heard, infused with eastern influences and all manner of electronic fiddles, and daubed with a lyric itself a puzzle to understand – and it tore up the chart until someone at the Beeb came to realize that Arnold Layne was a perv who liked to walk the back alleys stealing ladies knickers from garden clothes lines. God love Syd Barrett, a true nutter in the best British sense of the word. Pink Floyd followed that risqué oddity with “See Emily Play” and the rest is history, (For those unaware, the band took its name from the Christian names of bluesman Pink Anderson and Nashville pianist and singer Floyd Cramer).

Radio Caroline was always under under siege. If it wasn’t the sheer ferocity of the North Atlantic threatening to capsize or trash the floating studio there was the ever present threat of a European or the UK government jamming the signal and silencing the swashbuckling radio pirates for hours, days – or even forever. The British tabloids had a field day reporting on the goings-on aboard, and the unbridled joy and enthusiasm, the wild antics and crazy playlists that emanated from this floating radio station almost always guaranteed to hold one’s ear and draw one in.

Radio Caroline broadcast during daylight hours. At night, after six, there was Radio Luxembour and, as a boy in puberty, I would lay in bed, blanket pulled up over my head, the transistor radio hidden under a pillow, a tiny earbud stuck in one ear, and listen to a few pages, a chapter – I forget which – of Fanny Hill being read. It was all so very exciting.

As a boy living outside of London I missed the heyday of AM Radio in North America, the stuff of legend that Warren Cosford, Dave Charles, Duff Roman, Peter Griffin, Dave Patrick (at CKGM), Dave ‘Mickie’ Marsden and others have affectionately related to me over coffees, beers, in hallway conversations.
SEG SAYS: “David has been a journalist of merit for decades here in Canada, and is the chief cook and bottle washer here at FYIMusic. He likes his pints cold, and his columnists to be on time…”

Jim Valentine

I got a radio when I turned 10 in 1967.. all I wanted was a radio and a paisley shirt and Beatle boots (I got the shirt and the radio)..  and I can vividly recall laying in bed under the covers as you say at night listening to Dave Boxer’s countdown show on CFCF (“number nine.. nine.. nine…. “) and all those great tunes.. Turtles, Bee Gees, Beatles, and all the others.

I remember they had a contest for free tickets to see a screening of Disney’s “The Jungle Book” and I called in and won a pair. And they did not want to give me the tickets because I was “too young”. I must have raised a real stink because my Dad got involved and I ended up getting the passes and seeing the movie!

Then CFCF’s star faded and CFOX came up and Charles P. Rodney Chandler was the MAN! He talked a mile a minute and I was entranced. We used to ride our bikes up to the station in Pointe Claire and pick up the Top 30 sheet every week, which we studied closely. I remember our Cub scout group went to the station one evening on a field trip and there he was.. Charles P. in person.. I was hooked for good after that! It still is a wonder how fast that guy talked! Fast forward to Edmonton in the late 70’s.. I moved there when I was 18 to work for a couple of years and there he was again – on 630CHED!

As I grew older in Montreal in the early 70’s we were overtaken by the sounds of L’Esprit de Montreal: CHOM-FM and I ate it up: listening to those jocks who clearly loved the music and felt the passion and communicated to us that we were a part of something special and right… Doug Pringle, Live Earl Jive, Reiner Schwartz… god those guys were one of a kind.. talking close in to the mic and feeling it all.. and giving back to us. CHOM in the early 70’s was a treasure.. .I remember Ian Anderson coming by to visit after his show and sitting in for a couple of hours.. Frank Zappa did the same. We were all a part of something that would never be repeated for me and many like me I’m sure, it became a permanent part of our psyche. You could head down to Green Avenue and visit Phantasmagoria on Crescent Street to get the latest music news, the latest sounds.. just sit and soak it all in.

Doug Pringle on CHOM

Since those heady days I have searched fruitlessly for a replacement after radio went to ratshit in the 80’s.. no dice. The internet has delivered some solace and there are a few gem stations I listen to now (MVY Radio, radiothatdoesntsuck, etc). I thought satellite would make the difference, and in the beginning it sort of did, but it has pretty much gone to ratshit too… too-small playlists and not enough knowledgeable talk from jocks who care. Ahh… crap.

Anyway, I continue to seek out the vibe from wherever I can find it (Nick Michaels sometimes) and yearn for some radio that talks to me close in.. into my ears, into my brain, and touches me in a special way, with music that is extraordinary. Radio… can’t live with it, still can’t live without it.

SEG SAYS: “Jim brings back fond memories of Montreal with his list. CHOM was one of the first stations to embrace The Wackers, along with Montreal in general, so much so, that we moved there from California after recording and playing there several times. A lot of legendary radio people came out of the stations he mentions, as well as CKGM. Montreal, for all it’s French culture, still had some of the best Anglais radio I’ve ever heard.”

Jim Chisholm

My first favorite radio station was CFCF AM in Montreal. It seemed after the weekend of February 9, 1964, everything was about the Beatles. I remember on the Monday in grade 5 at St Norbert School, someone brought in a record player and we listened to the new hits, She Loves You, I Want To Hold Your Hand, Can’t By Me Love etc etc. It seemed like just as fast as that, there was a new radio station or at least one that was fresh on board with Beatlemania. Dave Boxer was the big time dj who seemed to have a huge profile as The “Fifth Beatle of Montreal”. This little tidbit is quoted in the liner notes of a record that I found in 1986 by The Haunted. My brother had recently mentioned to me that Dave Boxer had opened a Montreal Style Deli on Granville Street. Alex was probably far too young to remember those times but he put it together that Boxer was part of our history. So when I found two vinyl records of The Haunted at the samed time in this Beatles museum type store, I immediately sought out the Deli and sure enough the legend was there. I went in to see a virtual museum of first hand items that covered the walls of his eatery. There were autographed pics of Boxer with The Beatles, Elvis and countless other stars. Dave and I struck up a lively revival of memories and he said that seeing his name referenced in the album notes was the first time his teenage son had seen a reference to that time outside of Boxers own memorabilia…so his vague disbelief in the legend was removed.

Of course it wasn’t all about the Beatles, Before long, The Stones, The Kinks, The Animals, The Yardbirds, Roy Orbison, The Supremes, The Beach Boys, The Byrds, Dylan, The Hollies, etc. etc. became the soundtrack of my life. “Cuff Cuff” was the silly but cherished nickname of the station. They would do things like play a great beatle song over twice in a row. The Ratfink was a cartoony character that was a vital part of their identity and promotion like a mad surfing hotrodding mascot. The stations importance waned by the time of Hendrix and Cream but it flew high and mighty for a great itme. CKGM AM followed by the first brilliant underground FM station of the same call letters in 1969 obscurred the memory of CFCF substantially. Unfortunatle Dave Boxer’s deli didnt’ catch on in Vancouver and I never saw him again after that spring.

SEG SAYS: “More Montreal memories from our pal Chis. Great post, Dood…”

Lisa McDonald

Hey Bob
I grew up with CKOC and ChumAM
I still listen to ChumAM
In my kitchen
I sing along with all the songs
It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy
Remembering a swing set and a skate board
Seasons in the Sun and Sweet City Woman

SEG SAYS: “Sorry for the loss of 1050 CHUM, Lisa…I hope CKOC’s signal reaches your kitchen. That station is still one of the greatest oldies stations ever. Nevin Grant’s legacy continues, and hopefully will endure. Makes me wonder whatever happened to Pete Daly. Anybody know?“

Michele Hartley

Oh my goodness, Lisa mentioned Seasons in the Sun…but then..she didn’t know…
happens to be one of my memories, but which radio station, I can’t remember. Radio gave me my first thrill! Music! Thank ya Radio!

SEG SAYS: “On behalf of Radio…Thank you, Michele!”

Glenn Reid

I can’t recall the call letters either, but it was in Moncton, N.B. and played rock ‘n’ roll which would be a pretty narrow field, I suspect. I was 9 and riding around on my new green bike with the cool high handlebars, and the even more cool banana seat one day, with my bright yellow transistor radio in my shirt pocket when the DJ started talking about some beetles landing in the States, which produced an odd visual in my mind. Then he played “She Loves You” and I think I knew right then what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Try to make music like that. I’m still trying and, as Maxwell Smart would say “loving it”.Long live rock ‘n’ roll.

SEG SAYS: “Glenn is a fine singer/songwriter, and an old friend. Nice to see him here.”

Jade Dunlop

The radio station I loved most as a kid was not played on a transistor radio (which I believe were obsolete by that point). There were no Boss Jocks and ‘Today’s Hits’ were never played. I never listened with my friends or parents and I don’t think I could have requested a song if I tried.

My favourite radio station was Toronto’s Classical 96 FM.

From the time I was about 5 years old up to age 12, I listened to that station every single night as I was falling asleep. I was a ridiculously fearful child. I was honestly afraid of everything. That may have had something to do with the fact that my dad told me all about WWII but neglected to tell me it had ended…but that’s another story. Anyway, the only way I could get to sleep without having an all-out panic attack was to listen to that station. Honestly, that music and my night-light were the only thing keeping me sane.

I wound up with an amazing appreciation for classical music. Most of it I heard subconsciously as I slept. Although I don’t listen much anymore, I still occasionally put the station on at the office and am instantly returned to that warm little bed. The soft glow of the digital display providing a glimmer of safety in the long, dark night and the warm hum of the speakers canceling out the noise and fear of the waking world. I was safe at last.

SEG SAYS: “An aspect of Jade I was not aware of. Her knowledge of music belies her young age, and she is one of the most talented people I have ever worked with. Not only did she write the vast majority of my SIRIUS Satellite radio program, she was also a great on-air sidekick, and one of the unsung heroes of radio, an overnight technical producer at 1010 CFRB.”

Don’t forget this weeks query: Name the artists who you think are past their ‘best before’ date. The acts you feel should start staying home, gardening, or going to the convenience store on their Rascals to get some low fat yogurt…and as an added bonus, which new artists out there do you think could, or deserve to, replace them?

Please submit your responses to segarini@fyimusic.ca before 11:59, Friday, April 3^rd. We look forward to reading what you have to say…

That’s enough for now. Email me at segarini@fyimusic.ca with your comments, complaints, and thoughts…and remember…don’t believe a word I say.

Bob “The Iceman” Segarini was in the bands The Family Tree, Roxy, The Wackers, The Dudes, and The Segarini Band and nominated for a Juno for production in 1978. He also hosted “Late Great Movies” on CITY TV, was a producer of Much Music, and an on-air personality on CHUM FM, Q107, SIRIUS Sat/Rad’s Iceberg 95, (now 85), and now provides content for radiothatdoesntsuck.com with RadioZombie, The Iceage, and PsychShack. Along with the love of his life, Jade (Pie) Dunlop, (who hosts and writes “I’ve Heard That Song Before” on RTDS), continues to write, make music, and record.