Lorrie Morgan is on town this week for a show and I thought it would be a great time to look back at her great career. Local roots here too!

Lorrie Morgan (Revisit)

Yesterdays Forgotten Jukebox Selection

Five Minutes  - Lorrie Morgan - 1989 - (Album - Leave The Light On)

 With Lorrie Morgan in town Friday for a concert, thought we would look back at this really great song. During her run, Morgan was very versatile and this shows just how much so.  This was early on and really showed some chops and teeth. Later on there were big ballads like Something In Red, but this is the Lorrie Morgan that I really liked. A bit of sass, a bit of attitude with a very big voice.  It also is straight forward and honest but not scolding or alienating to anyone.  That was the signature of the music of this era, it was honest without being angry or revengeful.  Morgans career run in my view was way too short, as I loved her voice and many of her song choices.  But again, not all that come to Nashville are promised a 20 year run, and this is another case that proves positive.  But this is a GREAT song and a big hit.

Last Weeks Selection

My Full Profile On Lorrie Morgan

 There are songs that everyone knows and remembers and that's this monster hit.  The Oak Ridge boys had a long line of hits, but this elevated them to a far higher level.  Real quick, the Oak Ridge Boys have been around since 1943. But this version of the Oaks went country in 1977 with the song, Y'all Come Back Saloon.  Until then the group in various forms had been a successful Gospel group.  There are many factors that make this song very important in addition to making them much bigger than before.  This song was released during Urban Cowboy, and many acts were eyeing country crossover hits and this was one of them. This was #1 country, and A/C and won a Grammy that sold 2 million albums.  It was the years biggest hit, along with Islands In The Stream (Kenny And Dolly)  in 1982.  This was the third attempt to make this song a hit, after Dallas Frazier  (writer) in 1966, and Rodney Crowell a few years after that.  After this version the Oaks ran off 14 more #1 songs, and set the tone for their terrific run through the 1980's.  But also, this song has more importance outside of its original run. This song introduced country to a whole new segment of young country fans, bringing us many new listeners. It also made bass singer Richard Sterban a star.  Songs like Elvira, Bobbie Sue and a few others are the reason they turned down Achy, Breaky Heart years later as they were offered it first.  But they were trying to break free from the half funny songs.  I will never call that a mistake as their run stands on its own and that song ended up where it should have with Billy Ray Cyrus. This was a huge hit in years huge country hits were rare. The Oak Ridge Boys will always be known for Elvira.  By any measure a smash hit song.  

Last Week #32

Just in case your skills need a little brush up or maybe learn some new ones, here's a GREAT article.  Thanks for reading here and listening every day!

Brilliant Cooking Tips!! I'm IN!!

I case you missed some of my articles this week from WQMX.com, let's get you caught up!  Grab a coffee and some earbuds and let's do this!  Thanks for reading and listening every day!

Eat Of The Week

50 Most Important Country Songs 1980-Today #32

Forgotten Jukebox PL-93

The Mega Star Series - Randy Travis (B-Day Revisit)

Wynn At The Movies

Box Office Results - The Fall Guy (28 million)

#2 – Star Wars The Phantom Menace (8 million)

#3 - Challengers (7 million)

New This Week – Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes / Tarot 

The Fall Guy – Great reviews but falls well below expectations

Emily Blunt  -  Said she wanted to throw up after kissing some of her male co-stars in movies

Movies - Right now are 40% less likely to include sex scenes than in years past

Bernard Hill - King Théoden in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Captain Edward Smith in Titanic, has died. He was 79.

Marvel - They say they'll go down to 2 TV series a year and 3-4 movies this year

My  -  Country Music Memory Lane   (link)

Also - 50 Most Important Country Songs 1980 – Today #32   (Link)

 I can't remember the exact date, but it's May - and in May of 1981 I walked into WLRO AM 1380 Radio in Lorain, Ohio in a short sleeve dress shirt, dress pants and tie to apply at my first radio station as a "professional."  It was about one o'clock in the afternoon.  I had my reel-to-reel 5 minute audition tape and typed resume, such as they were. I was unannounced, had no appointment, it was a cold call.  I was a few months short of my 20th birthday, and it was a day that changed my life, 44 years ago this month.

I finished my education in Broadcast School the day before and this was the first radio station I applied at. I walked in this very small building on Broadway in Lorain and handed my packet to the women sitting at a very humble front desk area.  She asked me to wait and to please sit down and I did. She took my materials down a hallway that I couldn't see well.  In a few minutes a very nice, well dressed woman, named Joan Lowery came out and shook my hand and asked me to come back to her office.  We talked for a few minutes and she asked me to wait while she talked with another employee named Pat.

She returned and asked me if I would like to do the 2PM news on WLRO.  I said yes.  She took me to a studio looking into the main studio that had a blue table and a microphone. She handed me the news copy and gave me her headphones to use and I did the news cast on the air.  Same thing at 2:30.  She then asked if I could start the next day doing the afternoon show as my first job.  I again said yes.   I started for $3.35 an hour, and I was allowed to work 25 hours a week.  A few months later they moved me to mornings, and a raise to $4.00 an hour and 30 hours.

WLRO in those days was a "day-timer" and they don't really exist anymore.  We "signed on" at 6AM, and turned off at sunset which depended on what season it was.  In the morning I would walk into a dark building and use a rotary dial phone to turn on the transmitter at 6AM - then play the National Anthem and we were on the air for the day.  It all sounds so ridiculous now, but it's all true.  I worked there for about a year, then I was hired at WOBL in Oberlin and that was my first country station and I've been country ever since.

WLRO is now WDLW and is owned by WOBL and the studios have been moved to the wonderfully famous WOBL farmhouse on Route 20 in Oberlin. Hard to believe that's been 43 years ago and I have worked in radio every day since.  So this month I begin my 44th year. I owe Joan Lowery a lot, and even tough I have not seen her in decades, I love her very much as she was the first one to believe in me.  Same with Doug and Lorie Wilbur and Dave Lenahan at WOBL who thought I'd make good country on air personality, and I love them too.

WOBL Days  - Shortly Afterwards - 1982

I will never forget the first day I talked on the radio as a professional after broadcast school and working in college radio at Baldwin-Wallace while in high school.  I will also never forget how lucky and fortunate I was to be hired at the very first station I ever applied at.  The next day was my first "show" on WLRO, and the first song I played was a 45 rpm "record" , "Just The Two Of Us"  by Grover Washington Jr, with Bill Withers singing.  (It won a Grammy that year). Not a bad song to break in with. 

Thanks for listening and reading! Here's to many more years!

The Mega Star Series continues this week, as we look back and celebrate Randy Travis who's is celebrating a birthday this Month.  He is one of the most important stars we have every had, read and find out why.

Mega Star Series - Randy Travis

Patty Loveless  - How Can I Help You Say Goodbye  - 1993

 This is one of the most loved songs of the 1990's or heck any decade.  Patty Loveless had a long line of very big hits for a number of years and I feel this overall is her most loved song.  The exceptionally poignant video too was a real factor in this song.  Also, sometimes the right song finds the right artist and the marriage is perfect.  When I hear this song, I'm not so sure this is as big of a song in the hands of another artist.  This song needed Patty Loveless.  This also has a very interesting story.  It was written by a great songwriter named Karen Taylor-Good and guy named Burton Banks Collins. The latter had never written a song, ever, but the signature line was something his grandmother said as she passed away.  The song struck a lot of people where the live, and in the end was a #3 hit and became synonymous with Loveless.  How this wasn't a #1 is beyond me.  It has been recorded by others, but Loveless' version is the staple. This is universally loved by most country fans, as it's a song that talks about the inevitable powerful moments we all have as we go through, and eventually end our life.  This song moves everyone that listens to it deeply. This is a work of country music art.

Last Week's Selection

My Full Profile On Patty Loveless

 Vince Gill is one of the most talented, respected and sought after musicians on the planet. He's done and continues to do it all in every avenue of the music business. This song is also on my 50 Favorites List from 2023, at #16. He is also featured in my Mega Star Series, my Guitarists Series and my Vocalists Supreme Series  (Links Below).  His country career got off to slow start, but once it took hold, he would dominate the format, and the overall landscape of country for years.  He released country singles starting in 1984, but success was slim.  The song When I Call Your Name in 1990 was a big hit at last and set Gill on this way with it peaking at #3, his first real hit.  BUT, this song in 1992 went #1, and once if did, it was on.  The next ten singles all went top 5 with many going #1.  What makes this song so important is that it set Gill on a 6 year run that made him the musical superstar he still is today.  This is a powerful, beautiful, wonderful ballad that would become the Gill staple.  This was the pathway for Vince Gill to be one of the faces of our format and award shows for years to come. Did this song change all of his fortunes?  No, I don't think so, When I Call Your Name did. But this song was the big hit he really needed that took Gill where he had never been before and made him the star we all know him to be - even today. This also is an incredible video!

Last Week #33

My Mega Star Profile On Vince Gill

The Guitarists (Part 2)

The Vocalists Supreme (Part 2)