Rewinding the Memories

I'm not on live this week because I'll be spending the 4th of July at an all-day small-town celebration in Pegram, TN, west of Nashville. Among other activities, I've been asked to help judge a baby pageant, so it should be fun. Anticipating such a long day, I've decided to sleep in through my usual get-up hour on Sunday to get ready for the show. The rerun I have planned is the "Folk 60s" show from March. Had to pick one where I didn't mess up too much!

I've been going through a fellow DJ's old shows and helping him get them re-archived at the station while he's away. When I was on at Saturdays at 3 p.m., I used to follow "Geo On The Radio". Listening to some of his archives from that time brought back a few memories for me. I'd remember a few conversations Geo and I had when I hear a song...maybe a song that gave us both goosebumps. I also recall that some of these shows were so great that it would intimidate the heck out of rookie me and I'd think "I've gotta follow THAT?". Some of the things I remember were not fun...for instance, the day when I couldn't wait to tell everyone how I'd met my hero, Brenda Lee. I started talking and suddenly the previous week's automation kicked in instead and neither of us figured out how to stop it until about 10 minutes into my show.

For the past few Memorial Day weekends, I'd have this "tradition" of tuning in to WABC-AM in New York for the "WABC Rewound" weekend. This consisted of 12 hours of airchecks from the 60s and 70s of the station's golden era as a top 40 station with some of its best known DJs, such as Dan Ingram and Cousin Brucie. The best part of those years was when we would post to a message board in real time as the broadcasts were happening to share our memories. This past year was a little disappointing as WABC chose to air "Rewound" on the internet only as a download on demand. It lacked that sense of community of all of us sharing our thoughts as it happened. But now, we've been given a new alternative: "Rewound Radio", with constantly streaming airchecks from past "Rewound" weekends and a message board to go with.

Yes, it is important to go forward and forge ahead in the present and create quality radio programming. But there's also something to be said for having the ability to look back to recall and appreciate great moments in radio. (One other notable example: WSM's airing of Grand Ole Opry broadcast moments fron the 60s on Friday nights. Being able to hear some of what many of us only heard about as the stuff of legend over the years is invaluable.) Those who have missed them the first time around can enjoy and perhaps be personally impacted by what they're hearing. God knows this happened to me many times.

Radio does need to be fresh, creative and current in order to continue to thrive. But, let the memories have their place as well. That's what much of my show's about, after all.
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Upcoming on "Never Too Old":
7/11 - International theme set
7/19 - In-studio guest: T.J. Kirby, host of TJ and Company on WRFN
8/2 - In-studio guest: Denny Sarokin