I was able to listen to a good chunk of the premiere of Randy Raley’s “Route 66 of KMOX” show on Saturday night on the St. Louis flagship station — both online, and on the airwaves at 1120 on the AM dial.
It was about as good as I’d hoped. There were familiar tunes in the mix of 1950s and ’60s music, but also ones I hadn’t heard in many years from Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and “The Cheater,” which was a national hit in 1966 for the locally based Bob Kuban and the In-Men.
It also was invigorating to hear Raley’s brief salutes to the Mother Road, and the airing of old commercials from KMOX’s massive vault. I heard old ads for Falstaff beer, 7-Up, a car dealership “on Route 66” in Pacific, Mo., and a slew of mothballed station promos.
“Route 66” airs each Saturday from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Central. It may be pre-empted by college football or St. Louis Blues hockey, but it will air immediately after. You can hear a sample here.
The wife and I enjoyed it very much as well, with a few minor thoughts:
-I’ve been spoiled by XM Radio’s awesome 60s on 6 channel and its retro sound, but it would be nice if the Mighty Mox was able to completely transform itself for the evening. Use an older news sounder for the local news with a different delivery by Bob Hamilton (he’s got the perfect voice!) Show sponsors could have advertisements in the style of the 50’s and 60’s. Of course it can never be perfect, with CBS News, regular rotation commercials and CBS make good spots that can’t be anything but contemporary.
-Randy could dive into the artists’ and songs’ histories a bit more, and it would be neat to have a theme hour with musicians from a specific state (along 66) or something similar. As great as the music is*, a bit of history to go along with a few songs each hour would be even better.
( * – for a youngster (27) like me, hearing this music on a quality AM signal is a completely different experience. This was the first time I’ve ever enjoyed hearing “Unchained Melody,” because instead of just being another stereo broadcast of a song from a band that does nothing for me, it represented the landmark hit as it was originally broadcast. It was history, not a song. None of this should amaze me considering I was a DJ on an AM station for three or four years. I need an eye-rolling smiley here.)
My few suggestions aside, it should be remembered that this is just a little AM oldies show with a neat Route 66 twist, not an attempt to reinvent the medium, so the verdict is a big, big thumbs up. And given it was just the first show, I’m sure it’ll only get better.
I think your suggestions are well-thought-out.
About the AM band … I’m old enough to remember when AM was still the dominant format (yet fading) in radio. A music producer of note in Texas has told me that music in the 1950s and much of the ’60s was engineered with the sonic limitations of AM in mind. I found it fascinating to cruise around Saturday night, listening to songs that were meant for AM, and marveling how good they sounded.
Thanks folks for your comments. The first show is done and I have taken all of your comments to heart. I really appreciate the opportunity to represent “the mother road” on KMOX. Please feel free to email me if you have any suggestions. I am sure the next show will be much tighter and I promise to be chatting about the music and the history of “the mother road” in the future. Thank you for listening.