Monday, March 31, 2008

 

Cruisin' 1957 Joe Niagra WIBG, Philadelphia

This is the third in a small serie of Cruising records. You can get more info about this serie at the great Cruisin' blog. This isn't just nostalgia. It's history !

The sound comes thundering into your teenaged head and it's 1957 in "Wibbageland," the greater Philadelphia area within the broadcast range of Joe Niagara and WIBG Radio. On this volume of the CRUISIN' series Joe sells you a Muntz TV and a '57 Mercury...he ad libs a rhymed patter ("You heard the word/From this rockin' bird...")...he plays all your favorite teenaged hits. The words come tumbling from his lips in phrasing and originality that will influence a decade of disc jockeys, affecting a generation of listeners.
If you were growing up near Brotherlylovesville in the Fifties, you had someone worth emulating in Wibbageland, you had a friend at "Radio 99" - someone who talked to you confidentially, but with a sense of excitement. In every way, Joe Niagara seemed right for rock radio.
He had been born in South Philly (birthplace of Mario Lanza and Joey Bishop) and had come to WIBG in 1947 following service in the Panama Canal Zone and a year at another of Philadelphia's dozen or so radio stations. Between 1947 and 1957 he had the highest rating of any radio personalities in the city.
1957 was a year of accelerating excitement. The "cover" concept (whites singing songs originally recorded by blacks) was passe. Pacakage rock shows were racially mixed and packing houses everywhere. The 78 rpm record was dead. You held a fist-full of 45s now, hooking them over your thumb. And you hung knitted dice from the rear-view mirror of your chopped and lowered Forty-nine Ford. A radio announcer from upstate New York appeared in Philadelphia with a new idea in after-school television programming; he was called Dick Clark and it was called "American Bandstand." In October Little Richard threw $8,000 worth of jewelry into a river, said he was quitting show biz "to prove his faith in God," and enrolled in a seminary...and Elvis Presley got his draft notice. But it didn't seem to slow the rush. Things were, as Elvis himself shouted, All Shook Up.


Cruisin' 1957 Joe Niagra WIBG, Philadelphia.
Joe Niagra resume.
Philadelphia Stations:
WIBG/56-59, WFIL/62, WPEN, WCAU-AM, WCAU-FM, WDAS, WIFI
Other Stations:
KPOP/Los Angeles
Retired July 31, 1999
Died at 76 on 2004_June_04 of heart failure.
Joe is in the Guiness Book of World Records 1980, for playing the most (over 500) consecutive different versions of Stardust.

SIDE ONE (19.45 minutes) starts with Joe Niagara Theme
Dale Hawkins - Susie-Q & Muntz TV Commercial
Tuneweavers - Happy, Happy Birthday Baby - Gelatin-Plus & Rayco Commercial
Chuck Berry - School Days - WIBG Jingle - The WIBG Weather Sound - 1957 Ford Cml
Spaniels - Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight - WIBG Station ID

SIDE TWO (19.45 minutes) continues with
Diamonds - Little Darlin' - Maternity B.V.M. Hop Announcement
Johnnie & Joe - Over The Mountain, Across The Sea - WIBG Calling all cars
Larry Williams - Bony Moronie - WIBG Community Club Awards Promo
Five Satins - To The Aisle - WIBG Newstip Promo
Jerry Lee Lewis - Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On - 1957 Mercury Commercial
Lee Andrews & Hearts - Long Lonely Nights


Again, I wouldn't be surprised if you find download info in the comment...
Detailed info about the songs is in the text-file.

Comments:
Note : full screen window gives you the best view of the comments !

'Clickable' links are for you downloaders soooo convienent but the disadvantage is they don't seem to 'last' long.
The Blogger gets a lot of comments 'please re-up'...... Other, more appropriate/interesting comments, they sadly don't get.... :(
So you will have to do a little work to get the link.
This seems, in my opinion, the best deal between 'protecting' my links and the least effort for you.


Link :
http://r#pidsh#re.com/files/103364437/C-57JN_WIBG-P.rar
Of course you understand to replace in r#pidsh#re twice the # in an a otherwise you don't have a 'valid' link !!
Paste this valid link in your browser-url and hit RETURN. You can also copy/paste the link into your 'downloadmanager'.

Pass to extract the file : 080329
The file is a small 30MB, 'cause the songs are only in low bitrate 128kbits.
Please donnut give a nasty comment about that, neither about the sleeve.

>>
The next depends, amongst other things, on your security options in your browser and by so the ability to copy/paste the link.

When you see this in Google or Yahoo cache or by my Blog's search function read first the RED instructions at the top left of my Blog !
Direct link (after that go to the plain comment of this 2008_march article !) : JeansMusicBlog
Also possible : just click the 'post a comment' section here !
>>
 
I LOVE the Crusin series. What a great time capsule of a lost age. I had a complete set on vinyl, but lost it in a flood 10 years ago. So nice to hear them again.

My favorite was WOO WOO Arnie Ginsberg. He used lots of gadgets and sounds.

Thanks for allowing me to hear these again.

Mark L.
 
Well, now you have got me hooked on Cruisin! Another feather in your cap. Peace on yer --- Steppenwolf has been a fav. of mine for years...so this is heavy nostalgia considering I was a wippersnapper of ten LOL.
 
When I was a kid back in the '70's, my dad had this Cruisin' 1957 on an 8-Track tape. Not being a musical family, it was just about all we had for music, so I listened to it over and over and over again. I am so excited to have re-discovered this out here in your blog! I look forward to the memories it stirs as I listen to it in its entirety! Thanks so much!

Oh, and I am dissapointed to see you have given up the effort! I appreciate what you are saying in that most people are takers, but that is true of the entire web. It's anonymity easily fosters that kind of behavior. Might I encourage you to get back in it and enjoy the exchange that the few who do with you rather than pay any attention to those that don't. Live life positively!

Thanks again for the post!
 
So, i will continue with some comments, till you think of a comeback! I love the Cruisin´ Series, but I couldn´t find the 50s LPs yet (and I hate ebay). Thank you very much for this again!
 
thanks for the cruisin series
 
Thanks very much for the link, this record is embedded in my memory forever, my mom got it around the time it came out so I was 6 at the the time and it's been in my head all my life.
It's great that people like you are doing such great things for us all.
thanks again.

If you're ready!! this rockin bird will flyyyy!!
 
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