2022 Shows
Don K. Reed, legendary radio personality host of the Sunday night “Doo Wop Shop” on WCBS-FM New York, (known as CBS-FM), passed away. He was 77. His 5-hour Doo-Wop Shop featured group harmony from the 50’s and early 60’s. Don would frequently bring in groups to be interviewed and sing live acappella. The show lasted 34 years until management pulled the plug on the Doo-Wop Shop. The rest of the staff would be gone soon after because of a format change.
Don was featured on a “Radio Greats Weekend” at the New Jersey shore in July 2007. It was hosted by WWZY (The Breeze). The Doo-Wop Shop resurfaced in 2011 on his old time slot, Sunday night at 7 on Belmonts Internet Radio.
In 2019, Don K. Reed was honored with the East Coast Music Hall of Fame’s Legend DJ Radio Personality Award.
Art Laboe is gone at 97 and part of history in the radio and entertainment industry. Art’s been credited as the first on-air personality to play Rock n’ Roll on the West Coast. He started out in San Francisco and worked his way down to L.A where he was heard on KPOP, KFI , KRLA, KGGI KRTH and KHTT.
Laboe is also credited with coining the “oldies, but goodies” phrase. In 1959, he formed Original Sound Record, Inc. and in 1958, released the compilation album “Oldies But Goodies: Vol. 1,” which stayed on the Billboard’s Top 100 chart for 183 weeks. Fifteen volumes between 1959 and 1970.
In 1981 Art he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Art Laboe was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2012.
Fred Parris, lead singer and songwriter for the Five Satins was 85 when he left us.
His classic song, “In the Still of the Night,” has been recognized as one of the greatest love songs of all time and the number one requested song of the Doo-Wop era. The song rose to number 3 on the Billboard R&B charts, and number 24 on the pop charts in 1956.
Parris wrote the song’s lyrics while on night guard duty for the U.S. Army in Philadelphia. The band later recorded the song in a makeshift studio in the basement of St. Bernadette Roman Catholic Church in his hometown New Haven, Connecticut.
Almost 40 years later, the church honored the legendary recording session with a plaque in that same basement. Fred returned to the church to sing “In the Still of the Night” for the 2018 PBS special Doo-Wop Generations.
Rolling Stone magazine named “In the Still of the Night” one of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The Five Satins were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.
Ronnie Spector, known for singing iconic 1960s hits like “Be My Baby” and “Walking In The Rain” has passed on at age 78. She led the group The Ronettes. The music group toured England with The Rolling Stones and befriended the Beatles.
Ronnie Spector, who was born Veronica Bennett, began performing around New York City with her older sister, Estelle Bennett, and their cousin Nedra Talley. They became stars after they won an Amateurs’ Competition at the famed Apollo Theater.
In 1963, they signed with Producer Phil Spector’s label Phillies Records. The group released its debut album as The Ronettes in 1964; five of the 12 tracks made it to the U.S. Billboard Charts. The group broke up in 1967.
In the Street Gold TV special, Ronnie sang “Creation of Love”, a song from her idol Frankie Lymon. She said she learned how to sing listening to his records.
Ronnie became a walking history of Rock ‘n’ Roll. The Rolling Stones opened for her. Brian Wilson worshipped her. Jimi Hendrix was, on some occasions, her bandleader, and eventually she was appointed the savior of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. Her influence can be felt in all of them.
The Ronettes were inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, they were credited with having produced “some of the greatest music of the century.”
“Every song is a little piece of my life,” she said in 2007. “I’m just a girl from the ghetto who wanted to sing.”
Show Programs will be gladly sent to radio stations for airplay. Program Directors can contact Steve Fox for show details or other information.
Each hour-long show is in broadcast-quality. This archive goes all the way back to the beginning of my radio show in 2006 through 2014.
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