THE MUSIC and its selection
Selecting records to play was easy. All of the big album rock records of 1969 would fit into a box that was two feet wide. That was it. The entire available LP library everywhere at every radio station like ours. I was fortunate to be in on the ground floor of album radio. There were more records released than that but these were the ones worth playing. These were the ones from groups who toured and whose names you would find on posters advertising concerts such as those of Bill Graham's Fillmore in San Francisco. These were the big dogs, but the albums included those such as "It's a Beautiful Day, Captain Beefheart, "The Mothers of Invention," "Moby Grape," and the like.
There were mistakes made occasionally. I rescued the first "Jethro Tull" album from a bin of records not being played that the staff were free to take home and keep for their own. It was passed over at first by Pax, the Program Director, but added on second review.
Even with the idiosyncracies of the ownership and the occasional oddity that took place, I always respected the McLendon Family, and always look at my time with KNUS FM as my boot camp training ground for my future in radio. You gained a lot of respect in the radio trade by working for Gordon McLendon anywhere. You earned it.THE
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4 comments:
I can't believe Paxton Mills passed over the first Tull album... Fortunately, he reemed himself.
:)
KNUS FM circa 1969 turned me on to:
Spirit (Still my favourite band. Ever. Period.)
Traffic
Cream
Nazz
Led Zeppelin I (Good God, what an album.)
The Band ("Music From Big Pink." Smile.)
The Mothers of Invention/Mr. Zappa
Deep Purple
Buffalo Springfield
The Steve Miller Band
Ultimate Spinach
It's A Beautiful Day
The Doors (Non-commercial tracks)
Hendrix (Non-commercial tracks)
Steppenwolf (Non-commercial tracks)
Jeff Beck ("Truth", "Beck-Ola")
Blind Faith
Laura Nyro
Grand Funk
The Thirteenth Floor Elevators
Chicago Transit Authority
(The rest of their albums were rubbish, imo, but this first one was exceptional.)
You even managed to make Blood, Sweat & Tears sound a bit edgy (Not an easy task. *Smiles again.)
Big Brother, Airplane, Dead, Joni...
Have I named all two feet worth?
I look at my artwork today, and see the influence all this music *still* has on me...
See what you people did?
Thank. You.
Çχ ♡
Spirit- "Fresh Garbage" Led Zep opened for them in 1968
Traffic- "Dear Mr. Fantasy"
"40,000 Headmen" "Feeling Alright"
Cream- What can I say- Remember the Nehru Shirts?
Nazz- Played at Texas pop Festival and End of Cole
Zepplin- Ditto Cream
The Band- "Chest Fever"
Mothers/Zappa- misunderstood
Deep Purple- The 1968-76 line-ups are commonly labelled Mark I, II, III and IV
Buffalo Springfield- overlooked gems i.e. "I am a Child"
Steve Miller- First group- The High School band "The marksmen" with Boz Scaggs
Ultimate Spinach- Not talking Popeye Here- "Ballad of the Hip Death Goddess"
Its a Beautiful Day- "White Bird" ...sigh
Doors- L.A. Unleashed
Hendrix- Where is he when we need him"
Steppenwolf- Yes, we player " The Pusher," and Don't sStep on the Grass, Sam."
Jeff Beck-guitar pioneer- "Beck's Bolero"
Blind Faith- The original cover would be child porn today- Never matched their potential.
Laura Nyro-A fave for me. On her eternal "Stone Soul Picnic" id Bill ever marry her? "Com'mon Bill."
Grand Funk- met them at Texas pop Festival. They drove down to Lewisville in a VW microbus.
13th Floor Elevators... Too Much...too soon- an electric jug?
Chicago- C.T.A album takes the prize.
Blood, Sweat & Tears- Edgy with Al Kooper
C. A. You're still about a foot short of the library length.
Quicksilver Messenger Service
Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters
Rotary Connection,
CSNY
Who
Beatles
Stones
The rest of 60's British Invasion
Savoy Brown
King Krimson
Grateful Dead
New Riders of the Purple Sage
Crazy World of Arthur Brown
Sweetwater
Johnny Winter
Soft Machine
....and the list goes on
Hi Jim :)
Here's a Dallas Observer article regarding KNUS, KZEW, and other early FM stations (with many many comments and links) that I think you would enjoy reading:
http://tinyurl.com/FMdays
Take care...
Çჯ
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