Listening to music

Listening To Music

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I first started listening to music when I was a preteen in my parents car.
The radio was on so I didn't have much choice. I liked what I heard.
This was sometime in the early to mid 70's.

We usually had on 99 WIBG also known as Wibbage and 56 WFIL both were AM stations.
What I really remember most was the main DJ on 'FIL, George Michael.
He had a deep, smooth voice perfect for radio.
I loved his intro before he came on air.
It was two different voices, one each for his first and last name.

First a man would say "George" in a very deep tone.
Then a woman, I think it was a woman, would say "Michael" in a very soft tone.
It was very distinct and the first time I heard anything like that before.
My uncle could perfectly impersonate it too, which I thought was really cool. I was ten, easy to impress.

My first two favorite songs were "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" by Dawn Featuring Tony Orlando and "Brand New Key" by Melanie.
"Key" is a song about a little girl telling a boy that she has a pair of roller skates but she lost her key to put them on her shoes, the boy has a key, so....
The type of rollerskates were children's quad skates, which were clamped to the bottoms of ordinary shoes or sneakers.
You needed a little key to get them on and off, to open the clamp.

I guess when you're ten you don't notice the obvious innuendo presented in the song. It wasn't 'till I was much older and heard the song again that I noticed what the song was probably really about.

I rode my bicycle past your window last night
I roller skated to your door at daylight
It almost seems like you're avoiding me
I'm okay alone, but you got something I need

Well, I got a brand new pair of roller skates
You got a brand new key
I think that we should get together and try them out you see
I been looking around awhile
You got something for me
Oh! I got a brand new pair of roller skates
You got a brand new key

I ride my bike, I roller skate, don't drive no car
Don't go too fast, but I go pretty far
For somebody who don't drive
I been all around the world
Some people say, I done all right for a girl

Well, I got a brand new pair of roller skates
You got a brand new key
I think that we should get together and try them out you see
I been looking around awhile
You got something for me
Oh! I got a brand new pair of roller skates
You got a brand new key

I asked your mother if you were at home
She said, yes .. but you weren't alone
Oh, sometimes I think that you're avoiding me
I'm okay alone, but you've got something I need

Well, I got a brand new pair of roller skates
You got a brand new key
I think that we should get together and try them out to see
La la la la la la la la, la la la la la la
Oh! I got a brand new pair of roller skates
You got a brand new key

"Ribbon" is a song about being welcomed home.

The symbol of a yellow ribbon became widely known in the 1970s as a reminder that a loved one, usually in the military would be welcomed home on their return.

So this and "Yellow Ribbon" pretty lighthearted songs overall but probably had a bit deeper meaning.
Anyway my first two favorite songs.

Around this time I was given a radio that had a very strong antennae and I would stay up late at night with the radio discovering stations from well outside the Philly
area. Some even as far away as Saint Louis and Chicago.it opened up a whole new world of radio to me.

About a year or so later I  heard a song titled "I Write the Songs" by Barry Manilow.

I loved that song and couldn't get enough Barry Manilow. I joined his fan club and received an autographed photo from the fan club.
My parents took me to an event were he was appearing. I was too shy to talk to him so my dad went over and got his autograph for me. My two heroes, my dad and Barry Manilow.

I'm sure everyone knows the song but not that it was written by an original member of the Beach Boys Bruce Johnston and was first recorded by The Captain and Tennille for their first album. David Cassidy also recorded it on hist first solo record in 1975.

Manilow was initially reluctant to record the song, stating in his autobiography Sweet Life: "The problem with the song was that if you didn't listen carefully to the lyric, you would think that the singer was singing about himself. It could be misinterpreted as a monumental ego trip."

Johnston has said that the "I" in the song is "music" and went on to say that the music comes from the spirit of creativity in all of us.

I don't think I ever thought the "I" in the song was Manilow even though I never knew about Johnston at the time, I think I got it. Got what he was trying to convey.

But, it wasn't just the lyrics of that song it was the actual music.
You hear the song come on and you're thinking, oh here's a nice little ballad. Mostly it's just a piano in the beginning accompanying Manilow but as the song continues you hear more background vocals and more instruments are added and before you know it there is an entire orchestra performing and you're pretty much saying "wow where did all that come from?"
So brilliant in my opinion the way it builds un to the crescendo. Perfect.


Some time in 1976 I graduated from AM to the FM side of the dial and music was never the same for me again.
I "discovered" my first radio station the top forty style WIFI 92.

I was in heaven. They played all the great hits and also added in a mix of harder rock songs including a song called "More Then A Feeling" by Boston.
That song was the beginning of listing to rock and roll for me.
The singer had a powerful voice and the guitarist was amazing. I never heard of over-dubbing at that point but apparently the man who created Boston was a big fan of it.
Tom Scholz not only used it for Brad Delp's vocals but also on his very own guitar playing and it gave the song an epic sound not heard before. His idea was to give the songs an Arena "big" sound and it worked.

Around this time I would hang around with my cousin at his house were his older brother would always have music on. It was there that I would hear Elvis Costello and Queen and Styx.
Queen was another category all their own with songs like "Fat Bottom Girl" and "Bicycle".  My musical taste was influenced by my older cousin after hearing this and other bands, then they put on a comedy record by Cheech and Chong. Wow, at 12 years old I probably should not have been listening to that but oh man was it funny stuff. Look up "Big Bambú".

For some reason the band that I liked most after hearing it at my cousin's was Styx.

They would have The Grand Illusion on constant rotation there and I was hooked.
Hearing the title track and even more-so Come Sail Away but it was the song "Renegade" that hooked me on Styx.
I thought the lyrics were really cool.

The jig is up, the news is out
They finally found me
The renegade who had it made
Retrieved for a bounty
Never more to go astray
This'll be the end today
Of the wanted man
the wanted man

....but there was a little guitar solo that had a small little drum roll right in the middle which is what got me hooked on the song..
I remember one afternoon while I was up the corner with my friends, we had a radio on and I heard Renegade come on so I ran down the block up into my room so I could hear the song on my stereo. This were the days.


Styx, Queen and Boston would be the beginning of what would be known as AOR or album oriented rock radio.
As opposed to top 40 AOR focused on the entire album or at least three to four tracks instead of one big hit from an album.
This is basically what we now know as Classic Rock.

So I listened to all this music on my favorite radio station WIFI 92.
WIFI 92 had a contest in the late 70's called the Secret Sound.
They would play a short barely audible sound that you needed to call in and guess what it was.
A friend of ours actually won the contest when they were lucky, enough to get through and guess the sound. If I can remember I think their guess was the sound of a scissor closing. They won $1000 and used the money to but the
first VHS-VCR in our neighborhood.

My older cousin wasn't done influencing what I listened to. I was first introduced to two more radio stations by him.
93.3 WMMR and 94 WYSP.

These two stations were just like WIFI 92 but more of a strict rock and roll and AOR
playlist.
It was the Beetles and the Stones and Led Zeppelin on those stations. This was heavy.

In the late 70's to early 80's they both were the powerhouse radio stations.
Their focus was o. The music and the on air personalities.
You knew the names of the hosts and wanted to listen because they would talk about the music which was new to me.
I felt like I was being educated about the songs and the bands on the air.

It was then that I first heard a band called The Who.
Everything changed for me after that. I became obsessed with all things The Who.

Starting around '79-'80 I was all about listening to as much music as a could and having a radio on and with me practically non stop. I was the guy in our group who had the boom box.
I made my allegiance to 'YSP mostly because they were a bit of an under dog in the ratings to 'MMR but I still listened to both.
My favorite program was the The Seventh Day.
Every Sunday 'MMR or 'YSP (I wish I could remember) would play seven albums in their entirety starting at about 7pm.
Michael Tearson was the 10PM to 2AM  DJ on 'MMR. His specialty shows including “Psychedelic Psupper”, “For Headphones Only”, “The Import Show”, Import/Export” and “Gorilla Theatre”
Headphones was great. He would feature bands that simply sounded great while listening on headphones. Bands like ELP, Queen. Mostly what might be considered Progressive bands back then.

There was also a show called the Sunday Night Alternative.
I can't remember who hosted that or what station it was on but it was about four hours of music you normally wouldn't hear on the radio as the songs were
too non mainstream.
It was there and on the Sunday night seven albums that I heard and practically memorized everything that was back then.
I could tell you the lyrics form just about any song, I could tell you the history of almost all the bands.
I was the music guy and I loved it.

So what is this all about you may wonder.
There is a rumor floating around that WYSP will be switching over to a simulcast of the AM 610 WIP around Labor day to compete with the other local sports talk station  in town 95 WPEN which simulcasts on 97.5 FM.

I haven't listened to WYSP or WMMR much over the last 20 years or so. I really only listened when Howard Stern was broadcast on WYSP until about 6 years ago and sometimes I listen to Preston and Steve on WMMR but that's about it.

If WYSP switches over to live sports talk it will be the continued near extinction of good music on over the air free radio.
With that move there would be only one true Rock station in the area. A small bit of irony is that WMMR's call letters at one time were WIP now it looks like that's what WYSP will become. WIP-FM

AM has long been a talk only medium when up until the late 60's and even very early 70's it was king of the radio waves.

FM at least in the Philly area is taking one step in that direction too.
I've always felt that Philly has been a Mecca, a place you want to be to hear great radio for a long time.

I've driven up and down the East coast a number of times over the years and have found that music on the radio is a vast wasteland for anywhere that isn't Philadelphia or New York.
Drive south and try to find anything that isn't Country or Christian based programming. Not that there's anything wrong with that but it is a bore.
Give me straight Rock and Roll any day of the week.

As much as I enjoy watching television and movies, music will always be the mainstay. Will always be the connection to things I remember. There will always be those songs whose lyrics and music will set your mood and sometimes even define who you are.
Music will always remind you when things happened and may even help you with what will be.
That's why you will find a song or two or three whose lyrics will stay with you and
may even impact on your life.

It's too bad that it seems to be going away for over the air free old fashioned radio listening.