41 and counting. WKNR Celebrates a birthday

41 and counting. On Halloween night, 1963, WKMH became WKNR. Robin Seymour once called WKMH "number 21 in a 20 station market." And he was probably right. It was hard to be a full service radio station with only 5,000 watts and a night time signal that didn't reach Roseville. So Nellie Knorr was taking a big risk when she and her management team decided to follow the lead of Todd Storz and Gordon MacLendon, who built a radio format around the top hits played on a local juke box. Mrs. Knorr did more than just play 31 records. She allowed her announcers to have what Keener's Bob Green called, "Intelligent flexibility." She trusted them to trust their entertainment instincts. Those instincts included throwing out much of what consultant Mike Joseph recommended for the new WKNR. The lost dog reports were quickly dispatched to the trash bin and with 72 days, the new Keener13 had rocketed to the top of the Detroit Radio ratings. WKNR remained number one for nearly four years, until CKLW and Keener's own success combined to smother the golden goose. WKNR left the airwaves in April of 1972, but even today, Keener lives on. This past weekend, XM Satellite Radio created a four hour Keener tribute for their 60s on 6 channel. For two years, Clear Channel resurrected WKNR on the old 1310AM frequency for the Woodward Dream Cruise, and each month, thousands of pilgrims return to this website to rediscover Keener airchecks, jingles and memories. It all started on Halloween night and four decades later we still celebrate the legacy.

Keener13.com Podcast - October 31

On WKNR's 41st birthday, we recount the WKNR story with a podcast of the 2003 Woodward Dream Cruise documentary hour. We also talk about the growing influence of podcasting and shares some upcoming podcast program notes. 15.8MB

First Family's Vaughn Meader Dies

Vaughn Meader. Two words that are now an answer to an obscure trivial pursuit question. But for a brief time in the early 60s, the name Vaughn Meader was a household word. He had an uncanny aural resemblance to Camelot's king and a sense of humor that connected with an American Public terrified by the threat of nuclear distruction and the cold war. In 1962, Meader recorded "The First Family", an album parodying the White House lives of John F. Kennedy and his family. It broke out on the national sean when Meader was performing in Detroit and became the most popular comedy album of it's time. It's tame by today's standards, but the record was so hot, it earned the young artist an appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. Kennedy was said to have purchased 100 copies as gifts. But when the young president was assassinated a year later, Meader's star dissapated almost instantly. Lenny Bruce best summarized the comi-tragic course of Meader's life when he said, "They put two graves in Arlington -- one for John Kennedy and one for Vaughn Meader." "I got barroom heavy," Meader later told the New York Times. "I got into cocaine, heroin. And I went down South and drifted from place to place to place." He recovered and turned to music, performing as a bluegrass and country music artist. Meader's health failed him in recent years and it was emphysema that ended his earthly run on October 29th.

Podcasting's popularity grows

Another example of the viral nature of the Internet is the speed with which Podcasting has become popular. In less than a month, hundreds of casts have appeared on the web and an aggregator program is available for Windows, Mac and Unix to grab your favorites. We've even dipped our own toes into the water, producing the first Keener13.com Podcast this week. The phenomenon is getting mainstream press coverage in both newspapers and on the radio. I admit to being hooked on Adam Curry's daily podcast, which he records from his home in Belgium. The October 26th edition features an interesting interview with Adam's wife, Patricia Paay, about an encounter with David Bowie.

Delphi's MyFi XM radio

Delphi has unveiled a portable XM satellite radio called MyFi. The handheld MyFi works on the run to receive 130 digital XM channels anywhere in the US, and includes a memory mode to schedule recordings of shows for later listening. The built-in rechargeable battery provides 5 hours of mobile playback, although a car and home kit are also included with the steep $350 USD price tag. MyFi will be available at major retailers in early December.

CBS was first to analyze election results.. in '52

In 1952, the first computer-analyzed election results were broadcast by CBS, predicting a landslide for Eisenhower. News coverage of the presidential night hasn't been the same since.

Keener featured on XM October 29

Keener on 60s on 6! If you are an XM subscriber, mark your calendar for this Friday from 4 till 8 PM Eastern Time. XM's 60s on 6 will be featuring the Keener sound. Hear classic Keener jingles, commercials and airchecks, hosted by Terry Young. Keener's Bob Green is "executive producer" providing a Keener Kit of sounds from WKNR's prime.

Podcasting: The New New Thing

There's a new threat to over-the-air broadcasting that Eddie Fritts can't control. It's completely uncensored and (almost) completely free, and all you need is an iPod or a PDA that plays MP3s and an Internet connection.

I stumbled across the Internet's latest killer app when conversing with Buzz Bruggeman, the father of Active Words. BTW.. If you rely on a ton of computer programs, Active Words is a must-have. Buzz plans to train people on how to use his software via audio files, automatically downloaded to the user's MP3 player.

That's how I first heard about Podcasting. In the short time since, I've listened to a ton of podcasts on my IPAQ and it's starting to diminish the amount of drive time I spend with NPR and Sirius/XM.

There's a free almost-ready-for-prime-time app out there called iPodder, that lets you plug in the URLs for your favorite podcasts. The software periodically checks to see if the content is updated and, if so, grabs it and syncs it with your iPod. It has some bugs and doesn't work well with my IPAQ, but it's darn close and within a couple of months will be percolating away on thousands of PCs around the world, quietly dumping audio content into all flavors of MP3 players.

Yeah, podcasting will never have the immediacy of broadcasting, but at least 80% of the stuff you hear on the air does not need to be live. In fact a ton of what we listen to on the radio is voice tracked at some past time in some far-away place. Podcasting may be the radio of choice for the next generation. Most already have iPods and cable modems. Podcast links can be spread with viral speed and best of all, anybody can be a broadcaster.

Those who mourn the death of Freak Radio Santa Cruise, the California Pirate FM that was recently shut down by the FCC after nearly ten years of operation, could conceivably get that kind of programming dumped directly to their iPod. NPR, the BBC and others already offer audio streams and it's just another small step to make those programs downloadable.

And with the declining cost of audio production equipment, getting "on the pod" is within reach of even the most starving college student. Ask Ken Rokowski, who's Ken Radio podcast gets something like 30,000 downloads a day. Even trail blazing bloggers like Adam Curry are podcasting. With so much content in the keener13.com air-check archive, we're tempted to podcast some of our faves. Unlike the airwaves, the diversity of voices is limited not by five or six mega companies, but only by the size of your hard drive.

Will podcasting drive a stake in the heart of broadcasting? Not any time soon. But it's likely that a growing number of folks will be downloading their audio content to their iPods and PDAs, and listening to what they want, when they want.

Notes from KeenerLand - October 22

Notes from Keenerland:

Soupy gets a well deserved star, thanks to former Double Dare host Marc Summers who lobbied Hollywood, WJR's Frank Beckmann who talked it up on the air, and West Bloomfield's Brian McGraw who donated the $15,000 it will cost to install and maintain it. Soupy is recovering from heart surgery and expressed his gratitude for the gesture, which came as he copes with a mountain of hospital bills.

Notable voices exit: Farewell to Originals tenor CP Spencer of Oak Park, who died at 65 this week. That's his voice soaring above "Baby, I'm For Real", their 1969 Motown Smash. Kennedy era politicos and ABC TV fans will bid goodbye to Pierre Salinger, who died in France after a long illness. He was President Kennedy's Press Secretary and a long time commentator on the political scene. Lesser known, but no less influential was Bruce Palmer, the original bassist for Buffalo Springfield, who's bottom line can be heard below the harmonic guitar at the trademark opening licks of "For What It's Worth."

Coming to Keener13.com on November 22nd, an ultra rare documentary from 1964 produced by WKNR News on the one year anniversary of the Kennedy Assassination. It hasn't been heard for 40 years, but you'll hear it right here in November.

Whatever happened to - Dan Henderson? Keener13's "Hugger" rode the afternoon drive horse during WKNR's final run for glory in 1970-71 and was one of the classiest acts in Detroit. If you know, clue us in.

From AllAccess.com, the Summer '04 Arbitrons show Urban WMXD climbing to number 1 in the 12+ , Monday-Sunday, 6A-Midnight demo. WJR and WWJ tied for second place with WJLB, WOMC, WRIF and WYCD neck and neck thereafter. WNIC continued it's free fall, dropping from a 5.3 last fall to a 3.5 this summer. Look for the stations to cut the book to show strengths among the decision makers with the descretionary income. 12+ doesn't mean much to the agencies, who are more interested in the 25-54 demos.

From Poynter.org's Media Tidbits: A historical artifact, the only known unscripted and private recording of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, is being offered online by Radio Finland. Hitler, who never knowingly let his normal voice or conversations be recorded, permitted recordings only of his carefully staged and rehearsed, formal speeches, which he would deliver in a dramatic and high-pitched voice. But after Hitler delivered such a speech in Helsinki during 1942, a sound engineer left the recording equipment running and captured a private conversation between the dictator and Finnish leader CGE Mannerheim, a Nazi ally.

Hitler, alternating between rapid and slow speech in his rarely heard, low-pitched normal voice, confides to Mannerheim things such as, "Had I finished off France in '39, then world history would have taken another course. ... But then I had to wait until 1940. Then a two-front war, that was bad luck. After that, even we were broken."

According to The Guardian, sound engineer Thor Damen was almost executed after the Gestapo realized what he had done, but Damen managed to fool them into thinking he had destroyed the recording. "It is the only one in existence where Hitler speaks freely," says Lasse Vihonen, head of the sound archives at Finnish public broadcaster YLE, which operates Radio Finland. The German-language recording (now in RealAudio format) features a 3:20 introduction in Finnish, followed by constantly overdubbed translation and explanations in the latter language.

Brian Wilson Finally Delivers "Smile"

For me, the Beach Boys were a quintessential Keener group. Their prime paralleled WKNR's rocket ride to number one in Detroit, and like the Keener legend, the essence of their best work still inspires. There are other connections. Beach Boy knock offs, including the uninspired Mike Love iterations, do no more justice to the legacy than do the Kool branded oldies automatons. An exception is the short burst of excellence that came out of the suppressed live concert recording of Al Jardine's Family and Friends, where the Jardine sons and the Wilson daughters took the cannon to a new and delightful level. Another is Wouldn't It Be Nice: A Jazz Portrait Of Brian Wilson, the incredible jazz interpretations of the Master's lesser known works, featuring Don Grusin, The Elements, The Yellowjackets, Larry Carlton, Marilyn Scott et al. So as the rave reviews for Brian Wilson's long awaited Smile project start to come in, those of us who believe that broadcasting is still an art form again dare to hope that we'll again find radio excellence that's worth a long term listen.

Motown Monday was a singular event in the history of Berry Gordy's legendary label, a series of concerts recorded live at the Roostertail Supper Club and broadcast on WKNR. Keener's Scott Regen was the MC, cementing his already unique relationship with the record company and it's many stars. The Head Burger introduced them all, including Marvin Gaye and the Miracles Bobby Rogers. (Click the image to enlarge.)

With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy.

If "Keener" means your favorite radio station and not something that is cooler than something else, you might live in Michigan.

If you remember Melissa Mulch, The Woolyburger and any Keener Word of the Day, you might live in Michigan.

If you know who had the phone number TYler 8-7100, you might live in Michigan,

If your favorite Kennedy hosted a television movie program, you might live in Michigan.

If you know the meaning of "Jingles" and "Boofland", you might live in Michigan.

If you have ever been to the corner of Michigan and Trumbell, you might live in Michigan.

If you have ever wondered who the heck "John R" is, you might live in Michigan.

If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 18 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by, you might live in Michigan

If you're proud that your region makes the national news 96 nights each year because Pelston is the coldest spot in the nation, you might live in Michigan

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, you might live in Michigan

If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they don't work there, you might live in Michigan

If you have worn shorts and a coat at the same time, you might live in Michigan

If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Michigan

You know you're a true MICHIGANDER when.............

1. "Vacation" means going up north on I-75.
2. You measure distance in hours.
3. You know several people who have hit a deer more than once.
4. You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.
5. You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching.
6. You see people wearing camouflage at social events (including weddings).
7. You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.
8. You carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them.
9. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
10. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
11. You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction.
12. You can identify a southern or eastern accent.
13. Your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your blue spruce.
14. You were unaware that there is a legal drinking age.
15. Down South to you means Ohio
16. A brat is something you eat.
17. Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new pole shed.
18. You go out to fish fry every Friday.
19. Your 4th of July picnic was moved indoors due to frost.
20. You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.
21. You find 0 degrees "a little chilly."
22. You drink pop and bake with soda.
23. Your doctor tells you to drink Vernors and you know it's not medicine.
24. You know what a Yooper is.
25. You think owning a Honda is Un American.
26. You know that UP is a place not a direction
27. You know it's possible to live in a thumb.
28. You understand that when visiting Detroit, the best thing to wear is a Kevlar vest.
29. You actually understand these jokes, and you forward them to all your Michigan friends.