Saturday, June 09, 2007

K/men's largest playlist

Received this note, photo and playlist from Johnny Helm.
The story in Johnny's own words.

Hi Doug, I really enjoy your blog, thanks for doing it. Those days in the Inland Empire were the greatest and I was privileged to work at both stations. Here's what I've got for you. I'll need your mailing address to send it to you. I'm going to attach a picture to this e-mail to give you an idea of the size of the item, here's the background. Back in 1968 Dave McCormick was Program Director of K/MEN and was swarmed by record promoters to add their songs to our playlist. It got to the point he decided to play a practical joke on them. He promised them a bigger and expanded playlist that would surpass anything ever seen in radio!! He kept on assuring them that soon it would be completed. After several weeks went by, he had our playlist blown up and printed. We then mailed the new playlist to all record promoters and companies.
I have two copies and I'm giving you one of them for your collection. When you get your copy you'll notice a small message titled: "Fellow Record Guys". There you have it. The picture I'm sending you was taken last Sunday. Enjoy,Johnny Helm March 15, 1968. This is the portion of the playlist that fits on the scanner.

Thanks Johnny!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I wish I'd have known about this when I was doing the music at KGGI during the last days 99.l was broadcasting at the KMEN site. The list I reported for KGGI was usually about 18 songs and it drove the record reps nuts. Despite the tight list, KGGI did very well in the ratings in those days proving it's not how much you play, but what you play that matters.