©
2002-2024
Man From Mars Productions
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montage of WDRC year-end promos & stagers
(Jerry Bishop, Jim Nettleton, Aaron Shepard, Lee Vogel, Dick Robinson, John Rode, Dick McDonough, Bob DeCarlo)For many years New Year's Eve was the most exciting night of the year for WDRC listeners. The station unveiled its annual Top 100 Best Sellers of the Year and a party atmosphere prevailed. In the early 1960s the #1 song of the year wasn't played at midnight; the deejay simply took a couple of minutes to celebrate the arrival of the new year, then returned to the countdown until the usual 1:00 a.m. signoff. In those days the length of most records was about two minutes so it was possible to play 20 hits per hour. As song lengths increased to 3-4 minutes in the early 1970s, the annual countdown started earlier and earlier and it was difficult to play 100 songs by midnight.
Simulcasting on AM/FM was standard until the summer of 1967, but the nighttime program was simulcast until the stations went 24 hours a day on New Year's Day 1970. In the following years WDRC FM's Top 100 show featured less talk by the announcers and open encouragement of listeners to tape record their favorite songs in stereo. By 1981 WDRC AM had become a virtual oldies station so the notion of the best-selling pop songs of the year was no longer valid. In 1986 WDRC FM joined the oldies ranks and a 300-song Solid Gold Hit Parade became a weekend-long promotion. By 1992 that concept had morphed into a Solid Gold 300 list.
While the countdown is a thing of the past, we are happy to present these New Year's recollections - from the collections of Robert J. Lord, Dan Siemasko, Dave Overson and Ed Brouder.
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DATE
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DESCRIPTION
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#1
SONG
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| 1960 | No
recording available. WDRC made the switch to pop music on August
18, 1960. The first nighttime personality in the new format was Jim
Raynor, who probably conducted the festivities on that Saturday
New Year's Eve. E |
Theme From "A Summer Place" - Percy Faith | |||
| 1961 |
No recording available. December 31st was a Sunday night so presumably
Jim Raynor put aside
some of the usual public affairs programs for the musical countdown. E |
Michael
- The Highwaymen (Hartford's Best Selling Sixty of 1961) |
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| 1962 | No
recording available. The usual program from 8:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m. was
Raynor Shines,
so presumably Jim did the honors once again. E |
Stranger
on the Shore - Acker Bilk (Hartford's Best Selling Sixty of 1962) |
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| 1963 |
It's just seconds before midnight and Jim
Raynor's trusty sidekick, Lance the Raynorbird, reports from Times
Square. The whole thing is rather anti-climactic as Jim segues into
the midnight newscast. E |
I
Love You Because - Al Martino (Hartford's Best Selling Sixty of 1963) |
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| 1964 |
At 11:55 p.m. Dick
Robinson is only at #35 on the countdown! As the new year approaches
he goes to the phone to connect with his friends, Dave & Adele,
at a phone booth in Times Square. Then it's off to the phones, the
midnight newscast, and back to the Top 100.
Long John
Wade stayed on the air all night to complete the countdown. E |
Pretty
Woman - Roy Orbison (Hartford's Best Selling Sixty of 1964) |
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| 1965 | No
recording available. Presumably Dick
Robinson presided again, although on Friday nights he usually
appeared live at his KofC record hop in South Windsor...probably not
on this night, though. Once again, Big D kept the transmitter
humming all night as Long
John Wade repeated the Top 100. E |
Wooly Bully - Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs (Hartford's Best Selling Sixty of 1965) |
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| 1966 |
Midnight is almost here and Dick
Robinson scrambles to get a phone call from Rick Shaw in
New York's Times Square. The ball falls, the chime gongs and Big
D's Don 'Juan'
Wade stops in to say hello before Miss Switzerland gives Dickie
a New Year's kiss! It's 1967 by the time we hear the #1 song for 1966
- both the fake one and the real one. Long
John Wade didn't stay on all night; he left for Philadelphia almost
two months earlier. E |
When
A Man Loves A Woman - Percy Sledge (Hartford's Best Selling Sixty of 1966) |
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| 1967 |
Dick Robinson is on the air on
a Sunday night - his fourth WDRC New Year's Eve. We hear songs
#2 and #1, then a brief sound effects sequence at midnight and some
phone callers who didn't like the #1 choice. Bradley
Field takes over to keep the countdown rolling all night. E |
I'm
A Believer - Monkees (Hartford's Best Selling Sixty of 1967) |
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| 1968 |
Starting with Ken
Griffin on New Year's Eve '68, WDRC began dressing up the
transition from one year to the next. John
Rode's voice is heard introducing the #1 song for 1961 followed
by the #1 song for 1968. At midnight the clock tower gongs 12 times,
then Bradley Field
arrives to continue counting down Hartford's Top 100 tunes all night. E |
Hey
Jude/Revolution - Beatles (Hartford's Best Selling Sixty of 1968) |
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| 1969 |
Ken Griffin does the honors again
as the #2 song concludes. He slows down to reflect on Big D's
past (though his math is way off) and is visited by Scotty
Morgan and his wife, Charlotte, while Dik
Haddad stands by to launch his new all-night show. Naturally things
get a little out of control as midnight approaches. Charlie
Parker introduces a special Countown For Peace, followed
by a Dan Siemasko production
piece (voiced by Dick
McDonough & Scotty Morgan)
recalling the #1 song for 1960. Finally we hear the #1 song for 1969! E |
Honky Tonk
Women - Rolling Stones |
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| 1970 |
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Raindrops
Keep Falling On My Head - B.J. Thomas (Hartford's Official Top Hundred Heavies For 1970) |
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| 1971 |
The top tunes of this year were counted down on AM by Joe
Hager and FM Pete
Ross (who had only joined the stations 13 days earlier). This
New Year's Eve was special because it kicked off both stations' 50th
anniversary celebration with a Dan
Siemasko piece called Big D - Fifty Years of Broadcasting History.
This recording is from Big D FM so we hear Rod
Allen start the countdown all over again on his all-night show. E |
Joy
to the World - Three Dog Night (Hartford's Best Selling Songs For 1971) |
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| 1972 |
Listen to this promo. It claims Gary
DeGraide will host the AM New Year's Eve countdown, while
Mike Holland will
do likewise on FM. It didn't quite happen that way. December
31st fell on a Sunday; Gary and Mike were usually on the air opposite
each other from 4:00-8:00 p.m. This year WDRC dropped the 8:00
p.m. repeat of American Top 40 and the hour of public affairs
programming at 11. Gary started the countdown on AM/FM at 4:00
and Mike took over at 9 o'clock.
Just before midnight Mike played a re-edit of Dan
Siemasko's 50th anniversary piece from the previous December;
this studio-quality version contained news updates from the previous
12 months.
After playing the #1 song, Mike aired a montage of greetings from
listeners followed by the sign-on of Barry
Grant's all-night show. E |
American
Pie - Don McLean (Hartford's Best Selling Songs For 1972) |
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| 1973 |
Dave Overson had replaced Dan
Siemasko as WDRC's Production Director. He produced this montage
of the year's major news events which led up to the #1 song for the
year.
Mike Holland again hosted New Year's
Eve on AM (Otis
hosted the FM countdown) and he prepared a montage of listener
telephone greetings that were played just after midnight. By this
time Mike had a tradition of saying goodnight to his girlfriend, Karen,
who would respond on tape. As Ed
Mitchell separated the AM/FM simulcast he also said goodnight
to Karen, too, launching the FM all-night show! |
Tie
A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree - Tony Orlando & Dawn (Hartford's Best Selling Songs For 1973) |
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| 1974 | No recording available. | The
Way We Were - Barbra Streisand (Hartford's Best Selling Songs For 1974) |
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| 1975 | No
recording available. Dave Overson
produced a piece to welcome the New Year called Predictions 1976.
Charlie Parker provided the voiceover
and the news inserts were recorded by reporters Lon
Landis, Joe Connolly
and Walt Dibble. E |
Love
Will Keep Us Together - Captain & Tennille (Hartford's Best Selling Songs For 1975) |
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| 1976 |
Dave Overson produced another
of his New Year's Eve production pieces to air just before midnight.
This one was called Calendar Countdown 1976 and featured the
voices of Charlie Parker
and news staffers Walt
Dibble, Pam Cross
and Lon Landis.
The voice of "number one" just before the #1 song belongs
to Kris Kane, who was the morning
drive hosts for only six months in late '76 and early '77. E |
Bohemian
Rhapsody - Queen (Hartford's Best Selling Songs For 1976) |
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| 1977 |
We have no recording of John
Larrabee hosting the countdown but we do have Dave
Overson's 1977 year-end production piece recalling the top news
stories of the year. It was narrated by news director Steve
Martin and was about the last thing he did before leaving WDRC
at the end of December. E |
You
Light Up My Life - Debby Boone (Hartford's Best Selling Songs For 1977) |
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| 1978 | No
recording available. It's unknown who hosted the countdowns on AM
or FM. John
Larrabee left the station in November 1978 so it wasn't him. E |
You
Needed Me - Anne Murray (Hartford's Best Selling Songs For 1978) |
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| 1999 |
Glenn O'Brien is counting
down down the Top 103 Songs of the Century on WDRC FM.
There's no problem with Y2K compliance as he plays Kenny G's Auld
Lang Syne Millenium Mix, then welcomes the arrival of 2000. |
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