The Keener Legend

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The Keener Phenomenon

WKNR. For those who listened to Detroit radio in the 60s, these four letters evoke a certain awe. For they were associated with a radio station. A station with a relatively weak signal and neglected facilities, licensed to a Motown suburb. A station that began life in 1946 and spent its minority years in obscurity. A station that was re-born on Halloween night, October 31, 1963, rocketing from nowhere to become the most popular dial position in Detroit, all in a mere 91 days. Bill Gavin, a rock radio observer who tracked these things called it the fastest turn-around in broadcasting history and for the next half decade WKNR dominated Detroit radio. It's formula was often imitated but rarely equaled. Its charismatic energy came and went like a fourth of July fireworks display: breathtaking, unforgettable and done too soon.

This was the Keener phenomenon.

It's basis seems incredibly simple in hindsight: A tight playlist, a format that featured what former Keener PD Bob Green calls "intelligent flexibility", listener research, creative promotions and frenetic announcers who were encouraged to stretch the edge of the entertainment envelope. It's the formula that Drake and Chenault cloned to create CKLW, KHJ and a myriad of imitators. It's a recipe that virtually every radio station in today's homogenized cardboard world of Kiss and Kool tries to emulate. But for WKNR, it was the right time, the right elements and the right place, and for an all-too-brief period it was Camelot.

Keener was a career catalyst for legendary Detroit radio announcers Robin Seymour, Dick Purtan, J. Michael Wilson, Bob Green, Gary Stevens, Scott Regen, Tom Ryan and Pat St. John. It inspired programmers like Bill Hennes and set the standard of performance for dozens of others who dreamt of a broadcasting career.

Keener jocks were as popular as the recording artists who populated the WKNR top 31. When the stars wanted to win over the Detroit radio audience, they came to Keener. WKNR helped launch the Beatles, and between Russ Gibb and Paul Cannon, Keener "killed" Paul McCartney. Bob Green's casual mention that he was hungry for pizza brought Michigan Avenue traffic to a stand-still. The Bell System threatened to cut off Keener's phone service when Mort Crowley regularly jammed the Detroit exchanges seeking listener requests. WKNR's innovative traffic reports were the precursor to today's sophisticated traffic networks. WKNR-FM pioneered the album rock format that is still a fixture in nearly every major radio market. And Keener FM's Stereo Island became the foundation for the WNIC soft rock concept that dominated Detroit radio a quarter century later.

At its height, the Keener phenomenon was so powerful that even with its deficient AM nighttime signal, WKNR had more listeners and made more money than CKLW. And in June of 1971, even as the Keener magic was waning, Art Vuolo's definitive documentary, "The History of Detroit Radio", devoted more airtime to the WKNR story than to any other Detroit radio station.

Like Camelot, Keener's reign was short, magical, and marked by glorious achievement and a tragic ending. Even now, over 30 years later, we still talk about it, and wish we could experience it... one more time.

The stuff of legend.

NEXT: How it all began