KFXM 1963 Aircheck #2 August 21, 1963 Jack Fleming

A second aircheck from Jack Fleming on KFXM.  The next day August 21, 1963.

KFXM August 20, 1963 Jack Fleming

Jack Fleming on KFXM Aug 20, 1963, compliments of Michael Fleming.  Appears to be slightly different jingles than airchecks from 1961 and 1962, or maybe just my imagination.

KFXM Aircheck March 12, 1961 Jack Fleming

A second aircheck from KFXM Jack Fleming.  I was going to upload the video here, but it turned out to be over the megabite limit (barely), which I did not know, so I will have it on my Facebook page, for those that are interested.
facebook page with the aircheck https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1220362604676007&set=pcb.1220362788009322&type=3&theater

This time from March 12, 1961.  I know on the video it states 1962, but guess I just wasn't thinking when I typed in the year.   Here is the survey that goes with it. Once again:   1961

KFXM Jack Fleming June 1962

Click below to view video on Youtube, (If the above does not work)
KFXM Aircheck(Scoped/Edited) June 1962 starring Jack Fleming, courtesy of Michael Fleming

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8D1-8j3tRc

KFXM Jack Fleming June 1962

Hello everyone.   I have something new to add.  Thanks to Michael Fleming, I have airchecks of his father, Jack Fleming who was a DJ on KFXM in the early sixties.  I am attempting to download these to my blog.   If I am successful you soon will be able to hear a scoped(edited) aircheck of Jack Fleming from June 1962.  And more will follow. 

If this doesn't work, I will research a different method to download, but it may take a few days.

EDIT:  As for any of you that checked, no, it doesn't work.  I will try again, but be patient.  I don't know how long it will take.

K/men 20th Anniversary 1982

Thought I had exhausted my K/men memorabilia, but found my ticket for the K/men 20th Anniversary Concert.  Below it are the articles from The Sun newspaper about the concert, which were published the next day.

Donnie Brooks was the MC.  Groups included The Drifters, Coasters, Marvin & Johnny, Al Wilson and last, but not least, but definitely the LOUDEST,  Dick Dale.

Wes Westphal one of the K/men at the time organized the anniversary, and a bunch of the K/men were there.  I did take some pictures, but they still need to be found.

 

KFXM and K/men 45 Years Ago 1969

 

 

and now a little bit of KGGI 99.1

Following K/men a couple years later, KGGI from this week in 1980

K/men Top 129 of 1978

On the Facebook page---    Saturday's From Noon 'Til Three (pacific)   --- Johnny Helm has an scoped aircheck posted which features a bunch of these songs.

Thank you, Johnny Helm for the great aircheck. Back at the end of 1978 I called K/men to get a copy of the Top 129 of the year, since they were not printing it up and distributing it anymore. This is the copy they gave me. Listen to Johnny's aircheck and you'll see a lot of these songs were played.

K/men July 2, 1965

The hits today on K/men in 1965

K/men Soundathon Part 8---THE TOP TEN

Soundathon Continues........

Back to the countdown!
K/men Soundathon Combo- Continuing with the compilation of the 1967-1972 Kmen Top 300 Soundathons

10 Sounds Of Silence-Simon & Garfunkel-Can't think of a good story about this record. Everyone knows about how the rock & roll instumentation was added to the original release to make it a hit, and how Paul and Art didn't have anything todo with it. When the hits are this big, everyone knows the stories.9 Joy To The World-Three Dog Night-Biggest hit for this group. Did you know Chuck Negron (one of the Three) did a solo medley of this with the Chistmas Carol "Joy To The World"?

8 Monday Monday-Mamas & Papas-This was a bigger hit than California Dreaming. When they voted, people seem to remember this. My first copy of this record seem to have an electronic hum during the first ten seconds of the song. Anyone else have this problem? Was the vinyl causing this effect or did I have a rare version? Don't have that copy anymore, so no proof.

#7 Yesterday-Beatles-The song that has had the most versions recorded. It had the working title Scrambled Eggs. Paul sang that version with Jimmy Fallon on his show a few years ago. The only Beatle on this song is Paul McCartney. I've seen surveys listing the artist as Paul and not the Beatles. This was not a single in the 1960's in England, but part of a 4 song EP. #6 (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction-Rolling Stones-This is the copy I bought at Sages for .88 at he same time I bought Gloria by Them around 1967. Yes, I put my initials on it.

 

K/MEN Soundathons Top 5

Before I get into the Top 4, here are the top 5 from each individual K/MEN Soundathon



1967

1-Cherish-Association
2-Monday Monday-Mamas & Papas
3-The House Of The Rising Sun-Animals
4-Satisfaction-Rolling Stones
5-Yesterday-Beatles

1968

1-Light My Fire-Doors
2-Cherish
3-The House Of The Rising Sun
4-The Letter-Boxtops
5-Gloria-Them

1969

1-Hey Jude-Beatles
2-Light My Fire
3-Cherish
4-In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida-Iron Butterfly
5-Love Is Blue-Paul Mauriat

1970

1-Hey Jude
2-Light My Fire
3-Let It Be-Beatles
4-Cherish
5-The Sounds of Silence-Simon & Garfunkel

1971

1-Hey Jude
2-Let It Be
3-Light My Fire
4-My Sweet Lord-George Harroson
5-Satisfaction

1972

1-Hey Jude
2-Joy To The World-Three Dog Night
3-Let It Be
4-Light My Fire
5-American Pie-Don McLean

Back to the countdown!
K/men Soundathon Combo-Continuing with the compilation of the 1967-1972 Kmen Top 300 Soundathons

Not making you wait.  The Top 5

and to conclude...

#5 The House Of The Rising Sun-Animals-As you probably notice, this is not the original vinyl single. It must be a bootleg. Couldn't find my picture sleeve. The flip side of this copy is Satifaction by the Rolling Stones.

#4 Let It Be-Beatles-The title song from their 1970 soundtrack. In 1970 my family took a vacation to visit relatives in Kansas and Wisconsin. My Uncle in Kansas wanted to buy me an album. Let It Be was my choice. Thanks Uncle!

 

Memorial Day 300 Soundathon K/MEN # 3

#3 Cherish-The Association-Their first huge hit.  I preferred Along Comes Mary and Looking Glass/No Fair At All by them, but this is the one that made them popular.

 

Soundathon # 2

#2 Light My Fire-Doors-What can you say?  Big hit, and many times it is #1 on greatest hits of all times surveys. One of my wife's favorite songs.  The 45 is of course the short version.

 

 

#1 #1 #1 #1

 

#1 Hey Jude-The Beatles

-Not much else to say. It was #1 for 9 weeks nationally, 7 weeks on KFXM, 4 weeks on K/men, and the all time champ on K/MEN's Soundathons. On KRTH's Firecracker 300 it took turns with Light My Fire and Stairway To Heaven as the #1 song.

K/men Soundathon Combo Part 7

Soundathon #30-11

K/men Soundathon Combo- Continuing with the compilation of the 1967-1972 Kmen Top 300 Soundathons

30. Louie Louie-Kingsmen-In 1963/64 on KFXM the Kingsmen and Paul Revere & The Raiders version of this song,  were both listed on their survey as the artist on their weekly survey. It was also  the last #1 before the Beatles hit with I Want To Hold Your Hand on KFXM . Nationally Bobby Vinton had that honor.

29. Michelle-Beatles An album cut, but probably more popular than a lot of singles at the time.

28. Suspicious Minds-Elvis Presley-This song was a lot different than Elvis’ previous singles. Maybe that is why it was so popular. The next single for him was Don’t Cry Daddy which was typical Elvis.

27. American Pie-Don McLean-The first time I heard this song I was pulling into a 7-11 store and this seemed interesting. I wanted to hear the rest of it. I figured it was about over since it was about two minutes into the song. So I waited and listened to the song sitting in the parking lot. Since they were playing the album version, it was a long wait.

26. Something-The Beatles-Flip side of #32. George Harrison had the more popular side!

25. Sunny-Bobby Hebb-I started to listen to the radio on a regular basis in 1966. This 1966 song is the first song that I got tired of, because it was played too often on the radio.

24. Happy Together-Turtles-I won contests on KFXM and KMEN. Usually the prize was a movie pass. I finally won a couple of records. This was the first record I won on KMEN. It was a promo with the same song on both sides.  Unlike most of my records, I don't have it anymore.  I sold it to a friend of mine from school for a quarter.  Do you still have it, Tim?  The first record I won on KFXM was Kind Of A Drag by the Buckinghams. I still have that one.

23. This Guy’s In Love With You-Herb Alpert-This was always promoted as Herb’s first hit as a singer. But didn’t he sing on the 1966-67 hit Mame? I think so.

22. Good Vibrations-Beach Boys-Their highest ranking on this soundathon, but actually not their biggest national hit, but most people believe it is.

As we listen closely, you will hear the soothing sounds of our easy listening friends.
21. Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head-B.J. Thomas-From Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid.

20. Close To You-Carpenters-The first of many smash hits by the Carpenters. Someone once told me that he had a relative who lived in Downey, Ca. who used to call the police because the band played too loud, and was disturbing the peace.

19. Bridge Over Troubled Water-Simon & Garfunkel-The first of four hits from this album.  Art Garfunkel on lead vocal.

18. My Sweet Lord-George Harrison-When this album was released Johnny Helm on K/MEN played it all the way through one evening. That was something I had to listen to, and had to  record.

Back to 60s Rock & Roll!
17. Help!-The Beatles-Even though I didn’t really listen to the radio much in 1964 and 1965. I did go to the theater to this movie and also A Hard Day’s Night.

16. Proud Mary-Creedence Clearwater Revival-Their biggest hit (but they never had a national #1) You couldn’t get away from this song in 1969 (or today, either). Personally I liked the flip side better, Born On The Bayou (see #110, am I repeating myself?), which was played on K/men and KFXM  a lot, but I don’t think it was listed on their weekly surveys.

15. California Dreaming-Mamas & Papas-Everyone thinks of this song when they think of the Mamas & Papas. Good song.

14. Theme From A Summer Place-Percy Faith-Amazing how long this record has hung on. Until a few years ago, you could hear this on the radio on a regular basis. PS There is still another instrumental coming up.

13. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida-Iron Butterfly-There is the LP version which is a whole side of an album, plus the single version which has about a ten second drum solo. The version I liked best was the one KFXM played. It must have had a minute and a half drum solo. It gave more of a feel for what the record was really like. Anyone know if this was from a promo record or a creation of the radio station?

12. The Letter-Boxtops-The single was less than two minutes long. No there wasn’t a 15 minute album version.  The single pictured above, purchased from Gillettes Records in Riverside.

11. Love Is Blue-Paul Mauriat-The Highest rated instrumental on this survey. It almost made the top ten.

K/men Soundathon Combo Part 6

Soundathon # 50-31

The Hits Just Keep A'Coming!

#50-31 K/men Soundathon Combo- Continuing with the compilation of the 1967-1972 Kmen Top 300 Soundathons


On with the countdown!

50. Day In The Life/Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band-Beatles-Not released as a single in the 60s, but always seemed to make the Soundathon.  In 1978 Capital records released a single of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band/With A Little Help From My Friends and the flip side was A Day In The Life Of.

49. I’ll Be There-Jackson 5-Michael Jackson has been having hits for a long time. Here's a big one with his brothers.

48. Born To Be Wild-Steppenwolf-First hit by this group. You still hear this song everywhere you go. Classic rock stations, oldies stations. OK they don’t play it on country or jazz stations. But somebody may redo it in that format.

47. Never My Love-Association-They played the flip side of this on the radio-Requiem For The Masses. That is probably why I bought the single. Obviously Never My Love was the hit.

46. Mrs. Robinson-Simon & Garfunkel-When I originally wrote this comment, I said "I’m really tired of hearing this song. I know! If you listen to the oldies stations you’re going to hear the same songs over and over again, so it’s my own fault."  But now there aren't many oldies stations around, but I'm still not interested in hearing this song.

45. Make It With You-Bread-I’m surprised that this song had done so well on the Soundathon charts. This was on the Elektra label, same as the Doors.

44. Theme From Shaft-Isaac Hayes-Hey! Here’s a single I did not buy when it was new. What was wrong with me? It was a big hit. I think I bought Brand New Key by Melanie instead. In 1971 I guess I was more into buying albums, but I didn’t buy the album either.

43. Gloria-Them-I wanted this record in 1967. Since it wasn’t on the charts I couldn’t find it for 59 or 69 cents. I went to Lyle’s Record City and it was either 1.49 or 1.79. I couldn’t afford that amount of money. . I was used to paying 39 or 49 cents at Woolsworth.  I went to Sages record dept. They had oldies that were 88 cents. I bought this single and Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones. I spent a little more than I normally spent on records, but I was happy.

42. Love Theme from Romeo & Juliet-Henry Mancini-This is a nice instrumental. Amazing the diversity of the hits during this time. Today I want like to hear Gloria, followed by this song.

41. One-Three Dog Night-No it did not make #1 on the national charts. I was watching KMEN and KFXM for it to be number one, but that didn’t happen either.

INTO THE TOP 40
40. Maggie May-Rod Stewart-Ever time this song plays (or any Rod Stewart song plays) and my wife is in the room she says give that man a throat lozenge.

39. You’ve Got a Friend-James Taylor-Written by Carole King. Nice song, but nothing really exciting about this song.

38. Wipeout-Surfaris-The flip side Surfer Joe never made the Soundathons, although I think it was played just as much as Wipeout

37. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes-Crosby, Stills and Nash-There was the single version that was played on the radio at first. I guess it's the Light My Fire complex on 60's radio.  If its over 4 minutes then shorten it.

36. Town Without Pity-Gene Pitney-What happened to Gene Pitney songs? They stopped playing him on the radio years ago. Used to hear It Hurts To Be In Love, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Only Love Can Break Your Heart all of the time. #36 shows he used to be popular.
35. Sherry-Four Seasons-Their first hit as the Four Seasons (Made it to #1). They had a minor hit as the Four Lovers, so the name change did them some good. I actually had heard Big Girls Don’t Cry before I heard Sherry and I thought for a while that Sherry was the sound-a-like hit rather than the other way around.

34. I Want To Hold Your Hand-Beatles-There are seven more Beatles songs higher than this one. Personally, I’d rather listen to this one than some of the ones higher up.

33. Surfer Girl-Beach Boys-This is the highest surf related song on this list by the Beach Boys. Higher on the survey than Surfin’ USA.

Since I have your attention, I’m going to tell you about a summer school class I took in the 8th grade. It was a class called Creative Writing. We had to write an article/story and read it to the class. I don’t remember what I wrote, but there was a girl in the class that wrote a story about the differences between boys and girls (stop me if I told you this before). She based it on music and preferences of boys and girls. If you liked the Beach Boys you were most likely a boy. If you liked the Beatles, you were most likely a girl. Other details I don’t remember, but it got the class laughing.

32. Come Together-Beatles-From Abbey Road. I want to know why there wasn’t an American picture sleeve for this record. Almost all other Beatle 45s had picture sleeves.

31. Windy-Association-I’ve heard there was a real Windy, but he was a guy, rather than the girl in this song.

K/men Route 66 Hall Of Fame

Back in 2004 K/men radio was put the the San Bernardino Route 66 Rendevous Hall of Fame.

Below is a picture of the cake from the celebration and the door to the reconstructed studio.

K/men Soundathon Combo continued

KMEN Soundathon (continued) Part 5

#65-51 K/men Soundathon Combo- Continuing with the compilation of the 1967-1972 Kmen Top 300 Soundathons

65. Honky Tonk Woman-Rolling Stones-In 1969 the nice thing about this single (besides being a good song) is that the flip side is You Can’t Always Get What You Want. It didn’t chart, but was played regularly on the radio. I went over to a friend’s house and she had this record. I put the flip side on her record player. It surprised her, because she did not realize she had the song.

PS this is the middle point of the 129 hits. 64 more to go.
64. Oh Pretty Woman-Roy Orbison-Good song. His last number one.

63. Indian Reservation-The Raiders-The first version was a top 20 hit by Don Fardon . From what I understand about the Raiders version is that Mark Lindsey recorded it as a solo. The powers to be decided it should be a Raiders song. It went to #1, so it appears to have been the right decision.

62. Can’t Take My Eyes Off You-Frankie Valli-It’s a good thing for Frankie Valli that he didn’t record for the same label as Mark Lindsey, or this might have been a Four Seasons hit.

61. Go Away Little Girl-Donny Osmond-Donny had the right people picking songs for him to cover.  Most of his hit singles were cover versions of pop hits of the 1950s and early 1960s.  He also had hits with Puppy Love, Too Young, Young Love. Is there a theme here?

60. MacArthur Park-Richard Harris-A Jimmy Webb song. So what’s the story behind.....leaving the cake out in the rain? This reached #2 nationally, and no one ever plays it anymore.

59. More Today Than Yesterday-Spiral Starecase-If this was the KFXM Soundathon I would have probably have started here. I would be finished already!

58. Imagine-John Lennon- I bought this album when it came out in 1971. No more Beatles albums, so I had to buy a John Lennon solo LP.

57. Try A Little Tenderness-Three Dog Night-Nationally this only made it up to #29. The song was a big hit here.  I believe it made the top five. A top hit on every Soundathon since it came out. And remember, the original lists were based on votes.

56. It’s Too Late-Carole King-I've liked Carole King’s music since Tapestry was released. The album that this song from is great(Tapestry). Carole King, and especially this song, seem to set the pace for the pop/soft sound of the 1970s.   I even liked her early sixties hit, It Might As Well Rain Until September.

55.Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves-Cher-The beginning of her second career, with and without Sonny. Their TV series probably helped a lot.

54. Sunshine Of Your Love-Cream-First time I heard this song was on a trip with my parents to San Diego, and it was played on KCBQ. When I got home I called KFXM, and they said they were not playing that song, because it was too progressive (I didn’t know what that meant, and I'm still not sure). They told me the same thing later with On The Road Again by Canned Heat. Well they did eventually play it, and it was a hit on K/men and KFXM.

53. Beginnings-Chicago-I’ve heard that when Chicago was Chicago Transit Authority, they played a free concert at San Bernardino Valley College during lunch time (1968-1969). They probably played this song. Maybe Jimmy Webb was there and saw the concert. Anyone out there see Chicago at Valley?

 

52. Sugar Sugar-Archies Ron Dante was lead singer, who was also on Tracy by The Cufflink, and I believe Leader Of The Laudromat by The Detergents (feel free to fill in any details you can think of)

51. Magic Carpet Ride-Steppenwolf-I heard an interview recently where John Kay said that people thought this song was about drugs. He said it was one of the few he wrote that wasn’t about drugs.

K/men Soundathon Part 4

K/MEN Soundathon Part 4

K/men Soundathon Combo- Continuing with the compilation of the 1967-1972 Kmen Top 300 Soundathons

#80-66

80. Nights In White Satin-Moody Blues-When this was released in 1968 it didn’t even make the national top 100. It wasn’t even a hit nationally, until after the last soundathon survey came out. Maybe the record company took notice of surveys like this, and decided to re-release the record. It was on enough soundathon surveys, in a high enough position, to be #80 overall.

79. Hair-Cowsills-The second of the three hits from the musical to be on this survey.

78. Honey-Bobby Goldsboro-“See the tree how big it’s grown…” Why? Why? Why?

77. Mr. Big Stuff-Jean Knight-The #1 song of the year for 1971 on KMEN. It beat out Joy To The World

76. What’s Going On-Marvin Gaye-Also from 1971. The song that revitalized Marvin Gaye's  career.

75. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey-Paul McCartney-Yes, 1971 again. Paul’s first #1 song without the Beatles, but of course, with Linda instead.

74. I Want You Back-Jackson 5-Their first hit, and it was #1

73. Soul & Inspiration-Righteous Brothers-The second on this survey for Bobby Hatfield and Bill Medley. But surprise Unchained Medley is not in the top 129!

72. Whole Lotta Love-Led Zeppelin-Now many of you will expect to see Stairway To Heaven near the top of this chart. Wrong! It wasn’t out long enough at the time of the 1972 survey to make it. If there had been a 1973 Soundathon, then it may have been there.

71. Sweet and Innocent-Donny Osmond-Imagine playing a countdown of these songs. There should probably be a commercial between 72 and 71. But it would be more fun to hear them segue into each other.

70. Rainy Days and Mondays-Carpenters-Probably one of my guilty pleasures, this song. It has always made me sad. Maybe I’ll play it again someday, and be sad again.

69. Purple Haze-Jimi Hendrix Experience-OK I want to hear the Carpenters followed by Jimi Hendrix. Purple Haze was a big hit on KFXM and KMEN.

68. Easy To Be Hard-Three Dog Night The third “Hair” hit. A lot of people like this song, but it was Easy to turn off.

67. Don’t Be Cruel-Elvis Presley-One of the two 1950’s song on the survey. (see #129) People voted for these songs from 1966-1972, and were not much into 1950’s music. After American Graffitti comes out, 50’s music will start to make a comeback.   Maybe we need a new "American Graffitti" type move now.

66. For What It’s Worth-Buffalo Springfield-Their one and only top ten national hit. They had many top ten hits locally, including Mr. Soul/Bluebird and Rock and Roll Woman.

K/men Soundathon Combo Part Three

K/men Soundathon #100-81

#100-81 K/men Soundathon Combo- Continuing with the compilation of the 1967-1972 K/men Top 300 Soundathons

100. Badge-Cream-Eric Clapton with George Harrison as a guest star. Why wasn’t this a huge hit nationally?! Their last national charting single.  This didn't chart on KFXM or K/men.  But, it was still played and people  liked it enough to vote for it on the soundathons.

99. Susie-Q-Creedence Clearwater Revival-This song would be played at every dance I went to in high school. One time the band said the drum pedal wasn’t working, but they were going to play it anyway.

98. Hooked On A Feeling-B.J. Thomas-Came out after similar sounding Eyes Of A New York Woman.  This was a much bigger hit. This came out 6 years before the Oogachuga version came out by Blue Swede.

97. White Rabbit-Jefferson Airplane-When people talk about psychedelic music, this is at the top of the list. I remember on an oldies station about ten years ago the dj played the group's other hit, Somebody To Love, and afterwards stated how much he like that song, unlike their other one, a drug song.

96. Midnight Confessions-Grassroots-A song that sounds like it was made for them, although the group “Ever-Green Blues"” had it out first.

95. In The Summertime-Mungo Jerry-They play this song like crazy, in the summertime, the wintertime, springtime and fall.

94. Tuesday Afternoon-Moody Blues-Saw them in concert many years ago. The thing I remember most was the guy five rows behind me yelling “seesaw” through out the concert. It must of worked, since they played Ride My Seesaw as an encore.

93. Don’t Worry Baby-Beach Boys-Flip side of I Get Around. This was a great value for a 45 in 1964.

92. Downtown-Petula Clark-This is the song that made her famous in the United States in 1964/65, even though she had been releasing records since 1953.

91. Me and Bobby McGee-Janis Joplin-A song I liked a lot when it came out. Bought it on a 45.

90. Green River-Creedence Clearwater Revivial-Instead of buying this on a single, I bought this on an album. That seemed to be a pattern for me for Creedence. It seems almost all the songs on this album were played on KMEN and KFXM. Two double sided singles, and don’t forget “Cross Tie Walker” where he saw the gypsy woman, way down in San Berdoo.

89. Get Ready-Rare Earth-Amazing as it seems, I heard and liked this version, before I ever heard the Temptations version. The single was edited from a real long version on the LP.

88. Bluebird-Buffalo Springfield-Double sided #1 hit in San Bernardino flipped with Mr. Soul. The single was really short, but once in awhile KFXM would play the long version, which I thought was even better.

87. I Heard It Through The Grapevine-Marvin Gaye-This has always been popular. I also like Gladys Knight and CCR’s versions.

86. Classical Gas-Mason Williams-Hey another instrumental! This record is easy to get tired of when you hear it a lot. In the 1990s it got played to death.

85. Along Comes Mary-Association-Their first hit, not their biggest hit, but my favorite by them.

84. Little Woman-Bobby Sherman-How did this song get in here? People voted for it enough times over the years to be #84 overall.

83. You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling-Righteous Brothers-Another song that will be popular forever. Even Daryl Hall and John Oates had a hit with it in 1980.

82. I Think We’re Alone Now-Tommy James & The Shondells I saw Tommy James about 15 years ago in Anaheim when he and the Rascals did a concert. He is still making new records (CDs).

81. Fire & Rain-James Taylor-His first hit. He married Carly Simon.  I bought the album Sweet Baby James, which included this single, new at Thriftys Drug Store.

K/men Soundathon COMBO (1967-1972) Part Two

K/men Soundathon Combo-Part 2

K/men Soundathon Combo-Part 2
Continuing with the compilation of the 1967-1972 Kmen Top 300 Soundathons

119. California Girls-Beach Boys-So what are they trying to say? Are the Beach Boys singing that California Girls are the best, or that all the girls around the world are so good that they should qualify to be California Girls?

118. Bad Moon Rising-Creedence Clearwater Revival-One of my favorite groups, but this song has been overplayed.  I prefer one of their other #2 national hits, Green River.  In the Inland Empire they had 6 #1 hits, including these two.

117.Time Has Come Today-Chambers Brothers-I had a radio station copy of this record that was shorter, and had a strange twanging sound at the beginning of the song. It was on Columbia, so  the Chambers Brothers decided to rerecord it, and it became a big hit.

116. Revolution-Beatles-In high school I won a contest. This single plus Fire-Crazy World of Arthur Brown single were the prizes.

115. Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In-Fifth Dimension-One of the three hits that originated from the play Hair

114. Can’t Help Falling In Love-Elvis Presley-A hit song from one of Elvis’ 1960’s soundtracks.

113. See You In September-Happenings-This was always one of my favorites. Bye bye, so long farewell.

112. Spill The Wine-Eric Burdon & War-In 1970 this song was played here early summer. Our family took a trip to visit relatives in Wisconsin that year. I took a copy of the KFXM weekly survey that listed it at #1 with me. My cousin Bonnie, who was about my age saw the survey and she had not heard the song. It was not being played there. She later wrote to me that it was now being played and it was now her favorite. 37 years later, I wonder how it rates with her.

111. I Will-Beatles-A nice little Paul McCartney song from the “White” album

110. Born On The Bayou-Creedence Clearwater Revival-This is the flip side of Proud Mary. I like Bayou so much better, but  Proud Mary will be making an appearance later on the survey.

109. Get Back-Beatles-When I first heard this song, I remember thinking that if this isn’t the Beatles, then someone is doing a good job of imitating them. Well, it is the Beatles doing the Beatles.

108. Eve Of Destruction-Barry McGuire-I guess this could be the ultimate protest song.  It's lyrics covered all the major social issues of the day.

107. Crimson & Clover-Tommy James & The Shondells-This was their biggest hit, and the second of their two #1 songs. The other was Hanky Panky

106. Scarborough Fair-Simon & Garfunkel-This is kind of a surprise. One of their best songs, but not one of their biggest hits.  My copy was a cutout (notice the hole in record in the above picture).  I probably bought this at Woolworths in their 3 for 1.00 bin.

105. Johnny Angel-Shelley Fabares-Early 60s song still popular. The actress from The Donna Reed Show and Coach. 

104. Turn Turn Turn-Byrds-Their only song on this top 129. Where’s Mr. Tamborine Man?

103. Like A Rolling Stone-Bob Dylan-I like this song. In recent years, the Rolling Stones recorded their version of this song. No they did not change it to Like A Bob Dylan.

102. A Hard Days Night-Beatles-Great Beatles song, from their movie, of the same title.

101. Lonely Bull-Tijuana Brass-Herb Alpert’s first hit.  I’m surprised it ended up this high.  There are 5 more instrumentals on the rest of the survey. And one of them is NOT Tequila!

KFXM Website Returning

coments from John Bunnell

Anonymous said...

Well I guess it's time to get the KFXM website back on the net. Fortunately, I made copies of all the material for the website. Don Mc Coy and Dan Fox(on air as: Danny Dare)are working out the financial end. We are considering KFXM590.com to register the Domain Name.I'll have to rearrange to material But it will work.

Tue Apr 29, 02:43:00 AM PDT

JohnBerdoosaid...

The comments above are being done by John Bunnell. Yes, I'm back!

Tue Apr 29, 02:48:00 AM PDT

K/MEN Memorial Day 300 (1967-1972 Combo) PART 1

About 7 years ago, I posted an article I wrote about the K/MEN TOP 300 that was done in the late 60s and early 70s.   People voted, and K/MEN played the countdown Memorial Day Weekend.   Well I thought it would be a good time to repost, with a little revision.   Here's Part One.

K/MEN Soundathon Combo

From 1967 through 1972 K/MEN did a Top 300 Soundathon where the listeners sent in a list of their 5 favorite songs, and K/MEN tabulated them and played them back Memorial Day weekend.

There are 6 of these surveys that I have, 1967-1972. And as far as I know 1967 was the first year for the top 300. In 1962 there was a top 129 of all time they did, which is not included here..

Many years ago I went through the songs from the six surveys and assigned each song a value based on the number it ranked on each survey. I added up the totals for the seven years, and came up with my own survey.

I don’t remember the exact values I used for each song on each list.   But it went something like this. #300 received 1 point, #299 2 points, and so on. I know the top ten received bonus points, but I don't remember how many at this time.

Also, I did this before I had a computer, so it was all done with a calculator, pencil and paper.

I’m going to present my compilation from #129-#1, my Combo Best of the KMEN Soundathons.

129. Rock Around The Clock-Bill Haley & The Comets-One of the first big hits of rock & roll. Probably the oldest song on the survey.

128. I Got You Babe-Sonny & Cher-Their biggest hit and signature song.

127. Timothy-Buoys-People voted for this and I don’t understand why. If you haven't heard it, Timothy didn't fare too well by the end of the song.

126. Your Song-Elton John-His first hit and has survived from the oldies format to the classic hits format.  Johnny Helm has an interesting story behind this hit, so you might want to look him up on facebook.

125. Eleanor Rigby-Beatles-One side of a two sided hit in 1966.  The flip was Yellow Submarine.

124. Summer In The City-Lovin’ Spoonful-The hit John Sebastion and his brother wrote.  The Lovin' Spoonful's only #1 hit.

123. Groovin’-Young Rascals-A national #1 hit and a local #1 hit.  Always thought the lyric was "...you and me and Leslie..."

122. Lay Lady Lay-Bob Dylan-Not one of my favorite Bob Dylan songs at the time. I still preferred his earlier songs.  A hit from the Nashville Skyline album.

121. Going Out Of My Head-Little Anthony & The Imperials-A hit in 1964 when the British Invasion and rock and roll bands were big.

120. I Think I Love You-Partridge Family-Well, they were popular and this was their biggest hit, probably because of the huge success of the television show.  This was the catalyst for David Cassidy to jump start his career.

 

More coming later....

KFXM DJs April 1974

The rest of the KFXM DJs from this time in 1974.  

 

 

Tom O'Neill

 

Vic Moreno

 

Rex Ramsey

 

Ted Brown

 

 

 

KFXM DJs April 1974

KFXM DJs in April 1974.  Thanks again to John from Fontana (back then)

 

 

 

 

   Gary Shannon 

 

 

 

 

KFXM

 

 

 

 Marsh Carter

 

 

 

 

KFXM DJs April 1974

KFXM DJs Gary Roberts and Doug Collins from April 1974, 40 years ago.  These are the first two of eight KFXM DJ pictures

Thank you, John (From Fontana) for sending me copies

 

Johnny Darin on K/men

Johnny Darin on K/men from the beginning of 1966 until midyear 1967 passed away March 9, 2014 from pancreatic cancer.  He also was at KRLA in Los Angeles among many other station.

This is an article he wrote from one of the K/mentertainers.

KFXM This Week in 1960

Have A KOLA This Week in 1976