Category: Radio

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Saturday Night Retro

This month of August 2009 marks several notable anniversaries for me. It’s the 3RD anniversary of my new Life courtesy of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It’s the 8TH anniversary of me being a homeowner after renting this same home for 6 years prior to that. Further back into the 1990s it’s the 16TH anniversary of me working for my current employer – the 482ND Fighter Wing. That was an indirect result of what happened 17 years ago this month – Hurricane Andrew’s destruction of Homestead. And going way back 25 years ago this month it’s my silver anniversary with the USAF. I actually joined the Delayed Enlistment Program a month prior to my Senior year in High School in August of 1984. 10 months later I was getting yelled at in Basic Military Training.

Here’s a U.K. TOP 25 hit from 25 years ago from one of my favourite electronic pop groups of all-time – Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (OMD). It’s from their critically-acclaimed 1984 album “Junk Culture”. It’s a virtually unknown song here stateside, so this ‘Saturday Night Retro’ pick-hit of the week is for all of my European readers who enjoyed the OMD pop phenomenon back in its day. Here – my friends – is that song all about those “Tesla Girls”:

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Blogging History Life Music Radio Television

The Major’s Friday Night Disco Party

It started as an experiment 5 weeks ago to replace the now defunct ‘Friday Night Blogroll Review’, and now it’s a runaway smash hit that’s become the fastest-growing weekly blog series of the summer.

Back during the Autumn of 1976 I was a 9-year-old kid attending the 4TH grade at Magnolia Elementary School right in the middle of my Lanham Maryland neighbourhood. My little brother was just learning how to walk on his own as he approached 18-months-old. WPGC ‘AM & FM Morningside’ was the TOP 40 radio station to dance to as the disco beat went on and on.

Here’s a classic track that took its sweet time to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100 – over 4 months – but it finally got there in October of 1976. It’s 23-year-old (at the time) Walter Murphy with his modern (at the time) disco remake of Ludwig Van Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5” from 170 years earlier !  It’s “A Fifth Of Beethoven”, and here’s how Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band performed it LIVE on the legendary “Midnight Special” on NBC-TV on Friday August 20TH 1976: 

‘The Major’s Friday Night Disco Party’ is a joint MASSIVESMASH.COM / The Major’s Life Blog production.

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History Music Radio Travel

Saturday Night Retro

It’s a short edition of the ‘Retro’ for this Saturday night, as I just returned home late tonight from a one-day trip down to Key West and back with a buddy. It was a total blast. I got to spend a couple of hours out on the big island, but have no fret for I shall return to see it all again in just 38 days as the first of two ports-of-call on my upcoming Carnival cruise vacation.

Having absolutely nothing to do with Key West or Carnival cruises it’s the originally-scheduled ‘Saturday Night Retro’ concept and music video for tonight:

Back during the latter portion of 1988 Miami Top 40 radio station Y-100 was the station to listen to at the workplace. They dayparted their music back then in that they were essentially a ‘work-friendly’ hot adult contemporary station during the work day. But then at precisely 3 PM right after the top-of-the-hour station identification they went totally ballistic, loosened their tie, untucked their shirt, and suddenly rocked hard. We all knew that it was 3 PM and nearly time to call it a work day – when this hard rocker was cranked up as loud as can be:

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History Music Radio Television

The Major’s Friday Night Disco Party

Guys – It’s time to grab that girl and hop aboard the “Love Train”. The next stop that we make – will be love. Don’t you know that it’s time to get on board ?

This weekend at the ‘Disco Party’ I’ve got The O’Jays out of Canton Ohio. This was by far the biggest smash of their long (and still going) careers. It’s a U.S. # 1 gold pop smash from the Spring of 1973, and here’s how America danced to it on one of the hottest music television shows of the time – “Soul Train”.

Let’s kick it with the “Love Train” on the “Soul Train”: