Just click on the playlist for a larger view.Special thanks to Rich Frost for passing along this Flint Artifact.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
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- Gordon Young
- San Francisco, California, United States
- Gordon Young is a San Francisco-based freelance journalist. He grew up in Flint, Michigan, attending St. Mike's and St. Mary's grade schools before graduating from Powers High School. Contact: gordieyoung (at) sbcglobal (dot) net
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16 comments:
Another excellent post from Flint's past. I was related to the late Dick Petty who was a WTAC disc jockey in the early to mid 1960's. I also met the late Jack Hood on several occasions and he was a really nice man...I for one miss the good old days of live AM radio, just like WTAC, WTRX, WFDF to name a few. The Jones Boys, Dan Hunter, Les Root, Ed Berryman...I could go on and on...
One of my favorite playlists on my ipod is titled WTAC. When I was in about the 5th grade, I was invited to make a radio commercial for a YWCA fundraiser that I did every year (swim-a-thon). I felt like a rock star in that little studio, and they were great at coaching me through my many mistakes. Good times.
Somewhere at my parents' place I still have a WTAC top 40 playlist from 1975 with songs from Hot Chocolate (probably "You Sexy Thing")and KISS ("Detroit Rock City") on it. Might be an Aerosmith song on it, too, most likely "Walk This Way," probably also from Sweet ("Fox on the Run"), David Bowie ("Golden Years"), and I'm sure there was something from Isley Brothers on it, too. I picked it up on a trip to Grapevine Records on Clio Rd. after conning my dad into driving me over there to "look around." A poster of Ace Frehley on a motorcycle & one of Led Zeppelin were the two results of that trip, much to my mother's dismay.
I remember buying a B-52's album at Grapevine.
Is that the one with "Rock Lobster" on it? I bought that same album at Grapevine, in fact I bought two albums that day, the other one from the Clash. Why is it I can remember exactly where I bought which music 25-30 years ago, but I can't remember what I was supposed to do yesterday?
GORDON !!!!
- WHERE
DO YOU GET THESE THINGS???????
Seriously.... every time you post something it is a major blast from the past!!
Hey, I have a couple of those (or maybe they're from WTRX) but they're in a box, under my bed!
Grapevine Records, what a memory. But was it on Clio Rd.? I don't remember it being on Clio Rd.
Hatfield's Records on Saginaw was the best record shop. That's where I got my tickets to the Jimi Hendrix show at the IMA that occurred on 3/26/68.
I remember Grapevine (yes, on Clio Rd) - there I bought Gary Numan & Tubeway Army's album with Are Friends Electric? on it. I still have -and listen to- that album! I also remember the last day of WTAC as a rock/pop station... those last weeks with tons of In the Air Tonight and I Got You (Split Enz)... which brings up another question: Who remembers the movie station (was it channel 50?) that used the instrumental from Split Enz's True Colors LP for its movie time theme?
Boy, THIS brought back memories! That is the month I graduated from Clio High and life was only beginning. That September I hired in at AC Spark Plug on Industrial Avenue. Remember when anybody in Genesee County could hire in at the shops after high school?
I just spent several minutes reading the top 40 in detail and going over the songs in my mind.
Footnote: The "Summer Of '67" was NOT called, "The Summer of Love" until someone cooked that up about 20 years later.
Of all the stations I've worked WTAC "The Big 6!" was the best. I had a great time running the oldies. I wish the owners had never sold out to a religious format. Too bad. Tom Crown, announcer, circa 1987-89.
I've got every WTAC playlist sheet from 1976 through 1978, plus a few from WFDF. They are a ton of fun to look at.
ceedeepee, do you have a scanner?
There's a website that is looking for any and all local radio surveys, ceedeepee. I think the website is
http://www.las-solanas.com/arsa//index.php
You can send copies if you can't part with them. I would like to see complete survey collections for WTAC, WFDF, and WTRX like they have for WKNR and CKLW.
I think Pete and Darrell at Musical Memories have some.
Great posts -- thanks! Grapevine was definitely on Clio Rd, between Pierson and Carpenter near Woolco. I was at the grand opening in either 1976 or 1977 -- interviewed the manager for the Northern HS paper! They gave away a 4-song Burton Cummings EP to everyone who showed up ("My Own Way to Rock"). Grapevine was Flint's first big record store, a' la Harmony House. A good place, though Rock-A-Rolla Records was still my fave. Lots of great memories of WTAC -- staying up late on New Years Eve to listen to the year's top 100 was always cool. And Gary Raymond was the DJ at my sister's wedding in 1973 -- a real brush with greatness for a 13 year old!
Daniel, good to hear that Grapevine got the press coverage it was looking for at the grand opening.
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