Life Optimized
On December 19, 1957, he original Broadway production of Meredith Willson’s musical “The Music Man,” starring Robert Preston, Barbara Cook as Marian, Eddie Hodges as Winthrop, Pert Kelton as Mrs. Paroo, Iggie Wolfington as Marcellus Washburn and David Burns as Mayor Shinn, opened at New York’s Majestic Theatre for 1,375 performances. Where was Shirley Jones? She didn’t appear on…
On December 18, 1972, Australian Singer, Helen Reddy struck gold with her liberation anthem, “I Am Woman“. The tune was written by Reddy in collaboration with singer/songwriter Ray Burton. Here’s how she came up with the idea: “I couldn’t find any songs that said what I thought being woman was…
From this week in 1964 at WKNR, in Detroit. It was definitely the cold and flu season as evidenced by the Vicks Cough Drop ad on the back of the guide. Data courtesy Keener13.com. WKNR, DETROIT, MI Survey for week ending Thursday December 17, 1964 TW TITLE ARTIST LW 1.…
I regularly check in with ItsAboutTV.com to see what I was watching back in the day. December 16 1967 was a Saturday night and we were perusing TV guide to preview Sunday’s top shows, Ed Sullivan (CBS) and the Hollywood Palace (ABC). Here are the guest lineups for each: Ed…
On this day in 1966, Cartoonist, film producer and master imagineer, Walt Disney died of acute circulatory collapse caused by lung cancer at age 65. At the time, the LA Times noted that Disney, “..won 31 Academy Awards, and more than 900 other citations from presidents, kings and queens, world…
Just when us old radio guys think the business is dead, it reinvents itself. Our parents lamented when long form radio programs transferred to Television. It took visionaries like Todd Storz and Gordon Mclendon to reinvent the medium as a jukebox with personality. That worked for many years, until consolidation…
By Scott Westerman “The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change” ~Heraclituse It’s impossible to stay in your comfort zone long without getting uncomfortable. Watch a satellite image of the inexorable progression of the weather across our continent and you begin to get a sense for the truth in the…
By Scott Westerman “Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality.” ~Earl Nightingale My granddaughter is an exquisite teacher. She is filled with fearless inquisitiveness. When something interests her, she wants to explore it again and again, until it…
My good friend, Edward Charles Liebler left us on November 24. He was 79. In nearly two decades of friendship, he was my role model for a renaissance man. Born in Brown City, on April 6, 1939, he absorbed the classic American work ethic early and thought he might dedicate…
Once upon a time, in a place called Jacksonville, Florida, named for Andrew Jackson, who never set foot anywhere within it’s broad city limits, there were a city councilman, a bureaucrat, a semi-retired jazz festival producer and two telecommunications executives who had too much time on their hands. As they watched…