Summer Songs, Memories, And 102.9 The Mater

It's been too long since I've had a blog entry, so I'm carving out time on this day after reading a very interesting article from Sean Ross on the music found in the unforgettable summer of 1979.

To read it, CLICK HERE.

In doing my planning for my Top 500 Favorite Songs Countdown to mark my 50th birthday in 2016 and 2017, I found certain years produced way more "memories" than others for me. 1979 is near, or at, the top of that list, along with 1975, 1983 and 1985.

Having spent hours upon hours building up our music library on WHAN, 102.9 The Mater, I've found these years popping up over and over again. More on that later.

First, I wanted to commend Ross on his article, and on his great taste of going to Busch Gardens in the late 1970's! I have to wonder if, when he drove through Richmond, he navigated briefly away from Q94 to the superior AOR of the day, the incredible XL102. It would be another six months before, growing up in Beaverdam, I would discover what I believe to still be the best CHR radio station ever created, at least for a short period of time, the great WRQX, Q107 of late 1979 to late 1980.

Future Paul Harvey stand-in Doug Limerick did news for Dude Walker in morning drive, whose voice you've heard in commercials and voiceovers for decades, then the voice of comedy promos for Fox for decades, Joe Cipriano in afternoon drive, Uncle Johnny from 6-10pm, and Sandy Weaver from 10pm-2am with the Top 5 At 10, which at the turn of the 1980's, was still fresh stuff. Their music mix was superior, personalities jumped out of the radio, and their imaging was insane (including the Q107 Girl used in their television commercials.....)

Now, back to my main point. :)

The Summer of 1979 was a watershed summer for music. Disco was (finally!) dying, and there was an incredible mix of songs on Top 40 radio. I took my first long, long road trip that June, going from Beaverdam, Virginia to Overland Park, Kansas. Two days going, three days coming back. That's a lot of time to listen to music I had taped on cassette off the radio in my "state of the art" earpiece.

Just off the top of my head, there was John Stewart's "Gold" (with Stevie Nicks assisting), Abba's "Does Your Mother Know" from Voulez-Vous, the Charlie Daniels Band's "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" (did your station play the "son of a gun" version?), "Chuck E's In Love" from Rickie Lee Jones, and "When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman" from Dr. Hook. There's Donna Summer, Anita Ward, Chic, and even Barbra Streisand repping the disco department as it moved from serious to critical condition, even Paul McCartney and Wings with Getting Closer (who else could call someone a salamander and be taken seriously?)

That summer, more than anything, reminds me of three songs:

"Shine A Little Love"--Electric Light Orchestra: An absolute classic from Jeff Lynne and company, long, though, overshadowed on Classic Hits radio by "Don't Bring Me Down"....

"People Of The Southwind"--Kansas: Easily their most overlooked single. No one plays it on radio, but 102.9 The Mater will one day.  :)

And then there's the big one......

*****
A couple of weeks ago, Rachel and I were in the car, and this song came on. We sat outside our house while I shared with her the story of this song and why, today, it's my #2 favorite of all time.

If you grew up in Richmond, and got the evening newspaper, the Richmond News Leader, your favorite days of the week to get the paper were Saturday, for The Green Section, which gave you all the TV listings for the following week, and Friday, for the Young Virginians section.

Young Virginians would have stories catered to teens, included the classic "Ask Beth" column where teens filled with angst would write to a lady named Beth, in the vein of Dear Abby, for advice on a variety of issues from pimples to sex. It also printed the Billboard Top 10 Songs of the previous week.

I can only think of one time, ever, where a song appeared in the Top 10 in my youth that, at the time it debuted in that part of the chart, I had never heard it.

So, when it appeared for the first time in the Young Virginians section, I read it and thought, "Who's The Knack? And what is My Sharona?". I pronounced the name Sharon-ah, as in the ladies' name "Sharon", not "Sha-row-nah". I hadn't heard it yet!

That changed within a few days. And when I did, the love affair began. Only two radio stations in Richmond would play it: Q94 and WLEE-AM. So, I spent summer days flipping, CONSTANTLY, back and forth hoping and praying to hear the song. I remember it coming on the radio one day in my brother's car heading to visit Mama in Louisa, cranking it as loud as a Chevy Monza's sound system would allow.  :)

Obsession only begins to describe my feelings then towards My Sharona. And this has only happened one other time in my life, two years later, with a group named Diesel. But that's a story for a day when we trip over 1981.

Today's all about 1979. And just last night I was thinking how blessed I was to grow up when I did. In adding over 750 songs to our music library for 102.9 The Mater over the past month, I've been reminded of the incredible music created and produced in the formative period for me, which was 1975-1985. And I'm very, very thankful.

SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT: I've been doing 6pm to 10pm weeknights on 102.9 The Mater for a few weeks now. It's SO much fun to be back on the air doing music for the first time in 21 years, and trying to tell the stories of the vast (and I do mean vast) variety of music we play. Last night I segued from "A Little Less Conversation" from Elvis Presley to "Sherry Darling" from Bruce Springsteen. You won't hear that on Sirius/XM.  :)

In an age where radio is being pronounced dead left and right, we're still holding true to live and local, listen to the listener, and their requests, and be different. There's so much more great music than the tight playlists of corporate radio. I'm proud to be sharing at least a portion of them now.

In 2018, we get to enjoy the music of great eras, from the Big Band/Standards era, to the 1960's, the variety of the 1970's, the genius of the 1980's, and more. Music fans, be grateful!