History Rock & Roll Radio History: THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED, Feb. 3, 1959...

Super/Stock Poncho...

Many thanks, so glad you got to see it. Stay healthy my friend.
Jonnie
www.legends.thewwbc.net

 

mercman@bulldog

Glad you got to see the Thread...at the Page that the News Bulletin is heard on, I have much personal info about that day that can be read. I was in H.S. at the time and you have to "turn the clock back" to that day to understand the impact...as I state it there:
http://www.legends.thewwbc.net/gpage149.html

You have to understand at that moment in time the mind set was different...just as someone reading about Gregg Allman, Justin Timberlake, Kelly Clarkson, Michael Jackson, Tom Petty, and others, will be 59 years' from today by those trying to judge their talents and argue who was the best, besides them, in the ensuing 59 year's after they were all dead.

I never argue in "print" that is futile...as everyone has a right to their opinion. And, as my Dad (who passed away in 1983) always told me: "Son, arguing about who's right & who's wrong with anybody, especially a friend, is never good...because even if you win, you'll probably loose your friend. You have your favorites; and so does he. Just respect that."

That's the way I've always lived my life, and I count everyday as a blessing that I can pass information like I do on the HOF Legends Series Site...for all to just hear, learn from, and enjoy.

I will add this piece of Info that those "who were in that time period" as I was were dealing with: James Dean, and his cool Merc, had been one of our heroes...but he had been killed in '55. Elvis had been drafted and went in the Army in March of '58; Little Richard had quit Rock & Roll and wanted to become an Ordained Minister; Bill Haley, who had helped start the R&R genre' in 1955, was not able to keep up with some of the others, and many other things were going too. Therefore, this tragedy on Tuesday, February 3, 1959, killing ALL three of our peers at the time who were R&R Stars, hurt us teenagers to the core.

Buddy Holly had wanted to go into a solo career, and his Portfolio of songs was so great that, as you'll read on the Special Page, here's what Paul McCartney said about him: “At least the first 40 [Beatles] songs we wrote were Buddy Holly-influenced.”

So, "each to his own"...whatever your thoughts are I respect them. After all, we're all in this together...yesterday, today, and, tomorrow.

As I had stated previously, the News Bulletin from that morning is short, but you'll hear by the urgency of the announcer's voice how important it was at that moment in time, and the World Wide impact it had in 1959: http://www.legends.thewwbc.net/gpage149.html

Best to you mercman@bulldog, and sincere thanks for your comments & thoughts,
Jonnie
www.legends.thewwbc.net

 

Thanks @Jonnie King, I appreciate your perspective and insight, and there isn’t any reason for any argument, and certainly that isn’t my intention by posing the question. Its nice to live in the greatest country on the planet and to be able to discuss the serious and the not so much.



Sent from my iPad using H.A.M.B.

 

My reason for the question was to ponder “what may have been”. That day 2/3/59 changed Rock and Roll history, as a lover of music it interest me as to how much. Paul McCartney was certainly Impressed, how many others? Thanks again @Jonnie King for your response.


Sent from my iPad using H.A.M.B.

 

One thing is certain, there were not as many styles of music at that time so it had a much larger impact on a greater percentage of music fans. I work with some young guys that will mention some singer passing away early in life and chances are i have never heard of them, no impact on me at all.
At the time the music is said to have died, these guys were at the front and it left a very big hole and uncertainty of what was going to fill it. It was short lived but it was real and I like what John Miller said in AG. JW

 

I believe Buddy would have became a very influential producer. He would have wrote songs that became hits for others. He wouldn't have had to do any Oldie cruises.

 

Well that explains it! I tend to use my iPad so I'll have to check it out on my "big boy" computer. I've checked your site a number of times as it looks quite interesting and having taught history for 38 years I crave this sort of stuff. Thanks again.

 

JW...
Sorry, I forgot to mention how cool it is for you to have D.J. Fontana's autograph on your drumsticks ! He's still with us...which is even cooler !

When I was MD at 50,000KW KAAY/Little Rock, we had helped break many of Creedence Clearwater Revival's earliest hits... like their version of "Susie Q". With our overnight "Beaker Street" show, I could give the DJ, Clyde Clifford, complete albums to play...using the long versions of any songs...as opposed to the "Radio Edit" versions which were shorter and used by most AM stations at that time so they could play "More Music" by playing the edited versions and fit more songs into each hour.

This was at the time when "AM Radio Was King". FM wouldn't reach its prominence for a few year's. Why ? Simple. Radio's for car & home were built with only an AM Radio Band...and it had been that way since the 1920's. That wouldn't change until the Mid-70's when the new law, which had been signed by John F. Kennedy in the 60's, took effect. It required all radios carry both the AM & FM Bands from that point on. (Like years earlier when all TV's manufactured had to carry the VHF & UHF signals.)

CCR was a perfect fit for our area in the Mid-South...we did fantastic in the Daytime, BUT at night we covered about 44 States, and about a bazillion Foreign Countries. Beaming North & South overnight, we beamed into Canada, and, Cuba as we were one of the few Clear Channel 50,000 Watt stations licensed in the U.S.


NOW BACK TO Drumsticks: The Promotion Reps for CCR's label, Fantasy Records, sent out a few neat CCR Promo Items to thank PD's & MD's for their support of the group, and one of the things they sent me was a pair of autographed drumsticks signed by "Cosmo" Clifford...the CCR drummer. Well, I had played drums since I was in HS, and had played with a number of groups before I shifted over to radio...and those sticks were just a perfect gift for me ! I loved 'em !!

I say "loved" because a few year's later, after I had moved back to St. Louis to work at KSLQ/FM, a longtime friend of mine who was also a drummer and a huge CCR fan, just went "bonkers" when I showed him the "Cosmo" sticks ! He was a great guy who'd had a spell of really bad luck, and had done a few favors for me through the years. So a few months later I wrapped the sticks up and gave them to him for his birthday.

You'd have thought I'd given him a million bucks ! He was so elated that he bought one of those "cubby hole" frames to put 'em in and mounted it on his living room wall for all to see. He still has 'em, and that's been since 1974. They're on the wall of his Rec Room now ..his wife says he wants her to put them in his coffin when he passes away. Sometimes a "good deed" pays off. Life is never about "taking", it's about "giving back" to those who took the time to help us when we needed it.

Thank again, JW...you just unleashed a whole group of memories for me and sent me back into a "time machine" with your drumsticks.

Jonnie
www.legends.thewwbc.net

 

Cool memories make great stories, I also have a pair of drum brushes from Elvis Costello's drummer but only myself and my ex wife know that and i still use them . I only mentioned this as Elvis Costello fashioned himself on Buddy Holy. JW

 

Just a side note about the English band ''The Hollies'', they got their name from Buddy Holy. JW

 

Jonnie King......Beaker street, WOW that brings back some great memories!! You should start a new thread on here about Beaker Street! I have the weird sounds in my head and can hear Clyde Clifford. tell us about Beaker Street, have to be some stories

 

Fortunateson...
You're welcome ! I knew you'd figure it out...it's really pretty simple.

You'll find plenty of great history on the Site ! Just look at the Tabs on the left of the Front Page...and click-on-whoever you want stories & history from: Barris, Starbird, Winfield, Bo Huff, Posie, John D'Agostino, Norm Grabowski, Steve Stanford, Jeff Myers, Mark Moriarity, Brad Masterson, Joe Bailon, Paul Le Mat, Gary Howard, Lee Pratt...etc. are all there. Stay as long as you like ! http://www.legends.thewwbc.net/index.html

Jonnie
www.legends.thewwbc.net

 

Thank you! You have more than enough to keep anyone busy for years...

 

chubbie...
Glad to give you back some of those KAAY/Beaker Street/Clyde Clifford memories ! Here's a picture of Clyde that I used on the back of one of our weekly surveys in about 1970-1971:


Yes, there are some Beaker Street stories for sure ! PM me sometime and I'll give you a Link where you can find a lot of Info. I haven't had contact with Clyde for a few year's, but I think he finally retired...after a long career of doing "Beaker Street". Great guy !

Jonnie
www.legends.thewwbc.net

 

JW...

IN MY EARLIER POST about your drumstick's & the pair I had that were given me by CCR's record label and signed by "Cosmo" Clifford, Creedence's drummer, there's a bit of Info I'll add to that:

In 1986 when the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame had their first Induction Ceremonies, these were the Inductees: Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and, Elvis Presley.

Now, here's where those "Cosmo" Clifford drumstick's come in : CCR's John Fogerty was chosen to Induct Buddy Holly at the Ceremonies. He said he had first heard, and bought, "That'll Be The Day" (both the single & the LP) when he was 12 year's old, became a fan then and decided to have a 3-man group just like Buddy did. Patterned some of his music from what he learned from listening to Buddy. He also talked about Buddy & the Crickets influence on the Beatles & the Stones...and all the others that learned too.

Oh, and as far as John Fogerty's wanting to start a group...well, the rest is history...as CCR was Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1993.

Once more, JW, thank's for joggin' my mind about the drumsticks ! It makes this news bulletin more important to me now every time I hear it !
http://www.legends.thewwbc.net/gpage149.html

Jonnie
www.legends.thewwbc.net

 

This is all Gold!! and I'm really enjoying this thread. These are my sticks I mentioned. JW

 

And I managed to meet the others that nite, if only briefly but DJ had some time so we hung out for 5-10 mins. I had a long drive home after the concert and I don't remember blinking the whole time and got up twice in the nite to check it was all real. JW

 

We stopped in Lubbock, Texas to go through the Buddy Holly Museum on our way back home from the March Meet in 2014, Kool place, check it out if you can!

 

wvenfield...

You're right about that. Writing & producing was the direction he was headed in. Like Phil Spector, Paul Anka, and, a number of other young talents of the time...in fact, Paul Anka wrote "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" for Buddy. (The "B" Side of that single was "It's Raining In My Heart" written by Felice & Boudleaux Bryant who wrote multiple-million sellers for the Everly Brothers.)

Jonnie
www.legends.thewwbc.net

 

Rick & Jan...

Thanks for that Info ! I've never had the chance to get there yet, but it's on my list.

I understand it's a very well-done venue that really respects his legacy and impact on the music world. And reminds all that visit that he won't be forgotten. http://www.legends.thewwbc.net/gpage149.html

Jonnie
www.legends.thewwbc.net

 

You'll enjoy it, we sure did!

 

Thanks for all your insight Jonnie.

Last week I was in an FAA familiarization class and the presenter told us to have a look at an FAA site about Lessons Learned in aviation accidents. I did a little searching and found some information about the crash. Here is a link for those who may be interested in learning more.

http://lessonslearned.faa.gov/ll_main_ga.cfm?TabID=4&GA_CommonThemeID=5&LLID_GA=1
You may have to copy and paste it into your browser.

Jerry

 

Grim reading. JW

 

Jerry,

Thank you. All Info stated in the article is true...and so very sad.

Jonnie
www.legends.thewwbc.net

 

RIP.......

 

Well Jonnie I don’t know what you’re doing today but the 60 year anniversary of this tragedy seems to have slipped by you.
Thanks again Jonnie for this thread. We hope you are OK.

 

Jonnie hasn't been on the HAMB since June last year, hope all is OK. JW

 

Hope Jonnie is ok. Was thinking of him yesterday, and now saw this thread was back up. Hope Jonnie chimes in.

 

x2

 

@Jonnie King