Category Archives: Music

Music

Jimmy Lunceford

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WNEW -ID In The Style of Count Basie

 My Last Affair – Jimmy Lunceford Orchestra    2:45

I’m Walking Through Heaven With You – Jimmy Lunceford Orchestra    3:19

 

 

Music

One More Spin Of Frank Sinatra

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Adam Gopnik, writing for The New Yorker Culture Desk:

For decades, there was a special connection between Sinatra’s music and what is now called “terrestrial radio.” A curious extravagance of disk jockeys spent entire careers spinning Sinatra records—partly because there were so many recordings and so many of them so good, partly because the range of emotion was sufficiently large that a single hour could pass from upbeat to deeply melancholy and still remain consistent in quality, and perhaps mostly because there was something . . . epic about every Sinatra take. Many of these radio personalities, like William B. Williams of WNEW-AM, who first called Sinatra “Chairman of the Board,” died long ago. Others have slipped on into silence. And, some, such as Mark Sudock, who has a fine scholarly program on the Internet radio station Metromedia, have emerged more recently. But some of the Sinatra standbys stayed on for a long time after the singer’s death, in 1998. Herewith, a brief summary of the twilight of Sinatra radio, and a quick salute to a couple of the hardier cases.  (To read the rest of the story, click on the link below.)

The New Yorker: One More Spin Of Frank Sinatra

 

History, Music

These Melodies Linger On

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Here Comes The Bride

PM Magazine, October 22, 1941

Last night a radio script writer names Nate Heiken married a New York girl named Amber Dana, in the apartment of a lawyer friend. Shortly before the ceremony began, Heiken, who is one of Fred Allen’s writers, realized something was missing–a piano or organ to play the Wedding March.
          Since you can’t go around buying or borrowing an organ just like that, even in this big town of ours, Heiken did the next best thing.  He called WNEW and asked if they could play at exactly 9:05, the Wedding March.  WNEW not only could but did. So at 9:05 the bride and groom marched out of the foyer into the living room and up to Magistrate, Raphel Koening who married them with just the proper musical background.

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That wedding story is just one example of how nice things happened in 1940 to people who listened to WNEW.  The station ID below doesn’t date back that far, but it’s premise does.

Nice Things Happen to People (:34)

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WNEW music ID – Larry Green

WNEW melody–Russ Kassoff piano solo (:13)

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         The Ballad Of The Long Island Railroad  Gene Klavan

Ballad Of The Long Island Railroad – Gene Klavan (1:11)

Gene Klavan’s “Ballad Of The Long Island Railroad was first published here in 2013.

Klavan and Finch promo (:13)

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Gambler’s Guitar – Jim Lowe

GAMBLER’S GUITAR , JIM LOWE   —    In May, 1953, Mercury Records released Jim Lowe’s recording of a rockabilly song he had written, Gambler’s Guitar.  Later that same month, Mercury released a cover version of the song by Rusty Draper.  Although Jim’s recording did well, Draper had a higher country music profile and Mercury heavily promoted his version, which hit the Top Ten on most charts. More cover recordings hit the market including  Merle Haggard,  Chet Atkins, Tennessee Ernie Ford and Cab Galloway.  We’re partial to the version by the fellow who started it all.

Jim Lowe — Gambler’s Guitar (2:32)

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Bernice Judis

                     Bernice Judis, Martin Block,                               William B. Williams, Glenn Miller                                                                                                 (2:39)

The audio clip above is from the radio documentary, “The Home Front” which was heard on WNEW in February, 1983.  The voice actuality of Bernice Judis included in the clip, was part of the Westinghouse LP, “The First 50 Years of Radio.”

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I love Rudy Ruderman

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And to close the show, the WNEW station ID in the style of Count Basie.

WNEW Musical ID , Count Basie Style (1:00)

— End —

Music

The Matinee And The Ballroom

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The All Night Record Man

The Milkman’s Matinee –Les Brown & The Modernaires

 

The Make Believe Ballroom — Glenn Miller

(W)NEW Fantasy — Lalo Schifrin