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"The Big 68" returns to WRKO this Saturday night!!!

E

ErikD957

My good friend, Jeff Lawrence (WNBP, 96-5 The Mill, Oldies 103.3, F-105/WVBF) is debuting a new show this Saturday night on WRKO from 7-11pm. He'll be playing all the songs that made 'RKO what it was back in the day....including all the retro jingles!!! Plus, he's got plenty of surprises in store, too! Good luck, Jeff!!!
 
So far the WRKO site lists other shows in this time slot for next Sat night but I checked out Jeff's facebook and found:

>>Well HERE IT IS - For those who grew up in the Boston area in the mid-60's and into the early 70's, THE station in town was the new BOSS Radio station - WRKO. Well they have decided to bring back that golden age! Starting NEXT Saturday night (and every Saturday night) The BIG 68 returns! And I'm very excited to say I'll be he host from 7-11! Taking requests - MOSTLY 60's rock & roll like it was , complete with the retro WRKO jingles! We'll chat a little about where we hung out, the bands we went to see, and hear all those great songs - Motown, British Invasion, Girl groups - The Beatles, Neil Diamond, The Righteous Brothers, Roy Orbison, Martha & The Vandellas and MORE! It'll be up to YOU what I play! We'll have a lot of fun, and who knows who'll call in or stop by!!! It starts THIS Saturday night - on 680 WRKO!!! And streaming on line as well! Let's do this!!!
 
WDRC(AM) Hartford and its little network of AMs is doing the same thing on Saturday and Sunday mornings -- four hours of oldies and old DRC jingles and liners, hosted by longtime employee Rob Ray. Like WABC, the regular programing on WDRC is conservative angry-old-guy talk and it's not cracking 1.5 in the ratings, so why not? The audience for '60s and '70s pop hits might actually be a little younger than the talk audience. Of course, weekends scarcely matter to advertisers, but do you think this sort of programming could eventually move to hours that mean something as AM continues to struggle for relevance?
 
Wimmmex said:
So...WRKO is giving this time away....out of the kindness of their heart? <skeptical>
Click to expand...

I have to second that opinion, with WRKO selling time pretty much 24/7 on the weekends, I can't believe there isn't a Bill Kelley, or other person who is not willing to pay for that time.

An oldies show, on a talk station, with a less than desirable night signal ..... I know it is what goes on at WCAP but WRKO?

No way WRKO is paying someone to do this show..... and there is no way they are passing up revenue if Jeff wanted to do it for free....

I guess we will know when they do (or don't) play the disclaimer that it is paid programming
 
With Jimmy Jay now playing oldies on 1510 WMEX Saturday evenings 6-9 PM and Jeff Lawrence playing oldies on 680 WRKO 7-11 PM, there will be two hours, Saturdays from 7-9 PM, where 1510 WMEX and 680 WRKO will be competing with each other for music as they did in their mid-to-late '60s Top 40 heydays, with much of the same music of that time period. If I still had my Radio Shack Realistic transistor radio, I could pretend I was ten years old again.
 
Wimmmex said:
It was fun hearing the jingles again...even if it was just in a promo.
Click to expand...

Did they include the long-form jingle/song they used when the station flipped from talk in March 1967? "It's the new WRKO, in Boston town / It's the new WRKO, puttin' all the rest down..."
 
@bostonradio tweeted that last night you had the Celts and B’s airing on FM music stations while 2 AM talk stations were running music.

Was Jeff Lawrence buying time? Possibly/probably; it was noted on social media he said that he was working the night before for AMP Radio (CBS) and would be on RKO with the oldies. And as someone mentioned, how did CBS feel about him also working for Entercom?

I remember Jeff was on WCGY 93.7. In a way he was back on 93.7...as WRKO is put on the HD-2 of WEEI-FM
 
Congratulations to Jeff Lawrence and WRKO on their new "'60s Saturday Night" show!
Wishing them success!

I had the football game on with sound down and listened over the stream for the first hour or so.

Some quick takeaways I had....
- Jeff sounded great and it would be nice to hear a little more of him
- Those old heritage WRKO clips thrown in sound great!
- Much faster paced show than WABC's "Saturday Night Oldies"
- Very few ads but I suspect we'll hear more as time passes and they can line up a few sponsors
- A little rust and a few delays when launching some songs as you would expect that I'm sure will pass over time since RKO hasn't done music based shows in a while and this is a new setup for Jeff
- A little more listener interaction of some kind would be nice
- Musically about what I expected. Fairly mainstream and not that adventurous and that's fine. However, one or two deeper cuts an hour would make things more interesting
- Playlist from the first hour or so....

1. 7pm TOH ID
2. WRKO Heritage Montage
3. The Beatles – Rock and Roll Music
4. Jeff Lawrence introduces himself
5. Van Morrison – Brown Eyed Girl
6. Jay and The Techniques – Apple, Peaches Pumpkin Pie
7. The Bobby Fuller Four – I Fought The Law
8. Temptations – The Way You Do The Things You Do
9. The Rolling Stones – Satisfaction
10. The Standells – Dirty Water
11. The Four Tops – I Can’t Help Myself
12. Percy Sledge – When A Man Loves A Woman
13. The Foundations – Baby, Now That I’ve Found You
14. Ads
15. Turtles – You Baby
16. Donovan – Mellow Yellow
17. The Box Tops – The Letter
18. Jackie Wilson – Higher And Higher
19. Chuck Berry – No Particular Place To Go
20. Neil Diamond – Cherry Cherry
21. Rascals – Good Lovin’
22. John Fred And His Playboy Band – Judy In Disguise
23. The Troggs – Wild Thing
 
Last edited:
jt2 said:
Congratulations to Jeff Lawrence and WRKO on their new "'60s Saturday Night" show!
Wishing them success!

I had the football game on with sound down and listened over the stream for the first hour or so.

Some quick takeaways I had....
- Jeff sounded great and it would be nice to hear a little more of him
- Those old heritage WRKO clips thrown in sound great!
- Much faster paced show than WABC's "Saturday Night Oldies"
- Very few ads but I suspect we'll hear more as time passes and they can line up a few sponsors
- A little rust and a few delays when launching some songs as you would expect that I'm sure will pass over time since RKO hasn't done music based shows in a while and this is a new setup for Jeff
- A little more listener interaction of some kind would be nice
- Musically about what I expected. Fairly mainstream and not that adventurous and that's fine. However, one or two deeper cuts an hour would make things more interesting
- Playlist from the first hour or so....

1. 7pm TOH ID
2. WRKO Heritage Montage
3. The Beatles – Rock and Roll Music
4. Jeff Lawrence introduces himself
5. Van Morrison – Brown Eyed Girl
6. Jay and The Techniques – Apple, Peaches Pumpkin Pie
7. The Bobby Fuller Four – I Fought The Law
8. Temptations – The Way You Do The Things You Do
9. The Rolling Stones – Satisfaction
10. The Standells – Dirty Water
11. The Four Tops – I Can’t Help Myself
12. Percy Sledge – When A Man Loves A Woman
13. The Foundations – Baby, Now That I’ve Found You
14. Ads
15. Turtles – You Baby
16. Donovan – Mellow Yellow
17. The Box Tops – The Letter
18. Jackie Wilson – Higher And Higher
19. Chuck Berry – No Particular Place To Go
20. Neil Diamond – Cherry Cherry
21. Rascals – Good Lovin’
22. John Fred And His Playboy Band – Judy In Disguise
23. The Troggs – Wild Thing
Click to expand...

13 of these songs were already oldies (or "goldens," in '60s RKO lingo) when WRKO hit the air. I associate many of them with listening to WBZ or WMEX. Shouldn't a tribute to WRKO focus on songs that WRKO played when they were current?
 
CTListener said:
13 of these songs were already oldies (or "goldens," in '60s RKO lingo) when WRKO hit the air. I associate many of them with listening to WBZ or WMEX. Shouldn't a tribute to WRKO focus on songs that WRKO played when they were current?
Click to expand...

Cripes you'd have to be pushing 65 to remember from memory what WRKO was playing in the late 60's.
 
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