by Kevin Burton If one of your favorite new songs got banned from commercial radio today, you might not even know it. That, of course, would tamp down the outrage a bit. But back in the day radio was king, and airplay, or lack thereof, had big sales implications. What follows is …
Category Archives: radio
December 1963, Oh What A Song, For The Guy
by Kevin Burton Here’s what we know about the female character from “December 1963 (Oh What a Night,” the Four Seasons’ fifth and last number one hit: She had the ability to walk. She walked into a room. That’s all we get. No eyes of blue, no golden hair, no perfume in …
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Good Advice: Hold Lightly To Earthly Things
by Kevin Burton James called your life and mine “a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:14b NKJV). Even those with a complete lack of discernment and self-awareness, if they would pause long enough to just do the math of life, I think would still come to …
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Mike Kennedy, Forever Voice Of The Shockers
by Kevin Burton Tomorrow Mike Kennedy will call his final regular-season game after 46 years as the voice of Wichita State basketball. This is one of those blog ideas that showed up on the spreadsheet long ago. But it keeps moving down the page. I’m having trouble delivering it. I don’t want …
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Ain’t She A Beautiful Sight? ‘Convoy’ Turns 50
by Kevin Burton With its march to number one, inexorable as the steamrolling force of the trucks it portrayed, “Convoy” by C.W. McCall ruled the radio road 50 years ago today. Ruled both lanes, the pop lane and the country lane – double number one. But make no mistake, Convoy is a …
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You Never Forget Your First Hate (Dodgers)
by Kevin Burton My very first ecstatic sports moment came via a baseball wild pitch. The Cincinnati Reds won the 1972 pennant by scoring two runs in the ninth inning of game 5. First Johnny Bench hit a tying home run. Then with two outs, Pittsburgh pitcher Bob Moose uncorked a game-ending wild …
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“Love Will Keep Us Together” Is Pop Perfection
by Kevin Burton Did you know the 1975 smash “Love Will Keep Us Together” by Captain and Tennile is actually a breakup song? Hey, I was there. Yes it is, a breakup song! Well, sort of. Fifty years ago today it was in the beginning of a four-week run at the …
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Happy 80th Birthday To The Great Bob Seger
by Kevin Burton Bob Seger’s highest charting song is not the song closest to his heart, nor, I’m guessing, is it foremost in the esteem of his true-blue fans. The beloved singer-songwriter from Ann Arbor, Michigan turns 80 today. So I looked up his chart history to see if he had ever had …
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Catsongs: Music And Cats, Memories And Love
by Kevin Burton Had I had the mind to write this while she was still alive, my late sister Pat would have loved this series. It has been more than five months since she died, and reading that “late sister Pat” line above is still jarring and surreal. This is visceral. Nothing …
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