WRCO Blog

There was a ton of great music coming from small dash board speakers and portable radios this weekend in 1966.  I will be spinning a few of the hottest hits.  I will also play a couple of songs from Wisconsins' hottest band in the Spring and Summer of 1966. The Robbs from Milwaukee were appearing on National TV on the hit show Where The Action Is.  The Robbs have been dubbed as the 'Kings Of Bubbling Under'.  Billboard Magazine publishes its weekly Top 100 and during the 60's and 70's they would also add a few extras that they called  Bubbling Under the Top 100 hits.  The Robbs hold the record for the most records of any act that never made the Hot 100.  Their songs include: Race With The Wind, Bittersweet, and Last Of The Wine.  Group member Craig Krampf will have a few coments about those days of long ago. 

I hope you enjoyed the Top 50 IRS (It Really Shoulda Been A Top Ten Hit) countdown last Saturday night.  Get those requests ready!  After a week off from requesting,  I am sure there will be some lost gems that you come up with this week.  The Magic Cowbell will return when we play trivia Saturday night on TWTD.

Phil

This week I will feature the 5th Annual It Really Shoulda Been A Top 10 hit countdown.  We have partnered with radio host/author Rich Appel these last few years to bring you this list of  songs that have been voted on by music lovers from across the globe.  Many of your favorite artists such as Bruce Springsteen,  the Byrds,  the New Colony Six,  Beach Boys,  Four Seasons,  and Neil Diamond are included in this years top 50 countdown.  Nearly 4,000 songs were voted on and the ones you hear on Saturday night are the best of the best.  The countdown begins just after 6 on Saturday night.  Later in the show we will feature hits from this weekend in 1977. 

Thanks for checking out the latest Those Were The Days news!

Phil

Thanks for all of the great requests last Saturday night.  There were several rare ones  that caused me to rummage through my piles of cds.  Play stump the old d.j. again this week!  Give me a call and ask for a great old hit from the 50's through the 80's.  We will play trivia and feature the music and profile of Gino Vannelli.  His biggest hit was in 1978 with the song I Just Wanna Stop which peaked at number 4 in Billboard magazine.   Among his other radio favorites were Living Inside Myself from 1981, and People Gotta Move from 1974.  In our Lost 45 segment I will spin Gino's forgotten 1985 tune Black Cars.   Listen and win great prizes.  Our winners the last few weeks have hailed from as far away as Westby,  Cross Plains,  Baraboo, and Boscobel.  It is great to know that there are people that far out in radio land that still enjoy the same old memories that I do!

Phil

This Saturday night on WRCOs'Those Were The Days, we will recognize this years Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame inductees.  The actual ceremony and concert is going on this weekend in Cleveland.  Since my invitation must have been lost in the mail, I will pretend I am there and spin a few tunes from the newest members and they include:  The Small Faces,  Donovan,  Beastie Boys,  Guns N 'Roses,  Laura Nyro,  Freddie King,  and Don Kirshner.  Those Were The Days is heard each Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9 from 6 pm until Midnight.  Give me a call or email a request this Saturday night  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Phil

This week on Those Were The Days we will fly back to 1962.  Awesome artists such as Elvis,  Chubby Checker, Roy Orbison, and Sam Cooke were every where on the radio.  Did you know that the movie American Graffitti was set in 1962?  That is the movie that motivated me to choose a radio career.

The request line will be open this holiday weekend and we will be offering up prizes during our trivia segments.  I hope that you will tune in to WRCO FM 100.9 this Saturday night. 

Rock On!

Phil

This weekend on WRCOS'  Those Were The Days, we will try something that we have never before.  We will fly back to two seperate weekends of the past.  For the first 3 hours we will go back to the first three months of 1972.  It was a great time for music and it was the first time in my life that I started collecting the songs I heard on the radio.  Hear music from such acts as America,  the Osmonds, Yes, T-Rex, the Carpenters,  Bread,  Elton John, and many more.   During the final 3 hours we will fly back to the first 3 months of 1982.  That was a time in my life when I was cruising in my Ford Maverick with the heavy smell of Aqua Velva and Brut in the air.  The radio was always on with the likes of Joan Jett,  J. Geils Band,  Rick Springfield,  Little River Band, and Hall and Oates,  blasting out of the speakers on the back dash.   

Tune in to WRCO FM 100.9 from 6 until Midnight this Saturday night.

Phil

This week I had the chance to interview Mel Carter for the first time.  He is most famous for the the 1965 Worldwide hit "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me"which has been featured in many movies and tv shows.  He had other hits in the 60's such as When A Boy Meets A Girl,  All Of A Sudden My Heart Sings,  and Band Of Gold.  He has a new music release of American Standards available on his web site.

We will be taking your old rock n' roll requests this Saturday night on Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9.  You can win a great prize when you play along with our trivia games.  A.N.G.E.L. Inc. is sponsoring a Costume Party at Dayton Hills Bar on Saturday March 31st with proceeds going to the Angel Autism Network.  To help promote the event, they have given us cds which are packed with old classics from the 50's and 60's.  Win one this Saturday night on Those Were The Days.

Phil

Hear a few 'green' songs on this weeks edition of Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9.  We will also pay tribute to a few Irish born rockers.  Van Morrison and his group Them which helped put Ireland rock and roll on the map in the 1960s.  In the early 70's Gilbert O'Sullivan had several hits in America such as: Alone Again (Naturally),  Clair,  and Get Down.  The hard rocking group Thin Lizzy had a hit with The Boys Are Back In Town from an album called Jailbreak in 1976.  The 1980's saw the rise of the most successful Irish rock band,  U2.  Hear from some of these great groups mixed in with your favorite rock and roll requests this Saturday night on WRCO Radio.

I hope to hear from you than!

Phil

A.K.A.  The grey headed guy thats on the radio Saturday and not Ray Schroeder.

Many of the TV shows that we grew up with have stuck with us over the years.  The shows can still be watched on various channels and on demand services.  In some cases, the themes have lasted longer than the shows ever did.  On this weeks Those Were The Days, we will play a few TV themes that were big hits, and some memorable dittys that opened our favorite shows.  This will include a few from Mike Post who is the Dean of TV themes.  He had a big hit with the theme from the Rockford Files, and he co-wrote the Theme From the Greatest American Hero (Believe It Or Not) by Joey Scarbury. 

We will also be playing trivia and your favorite rock and roll requests following WIAA Girls Tournament Basketball Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9. 

We will rock with you then!

Phil

This week on the Saturday night program, we will remember some of the great hits from those leap years of the rock and roll era.  There were some great hits on February 29th! 

It was sad to hear that Davy Jones of the Monkees died.  I am a huge fan of the group and to this day will pull out an old album or cd of their songs.  I especially like the songs of which  Davy sang the lead.  His appearance in the Brady Bunch movie is still one of the greatest cameos of all time.  We will remember Davy on this Saturday nights show.  Those Were The Days can be heard each Saturday night between 6 p and Midnight on WRCO FM 100.9.

Join us for some of the great rock and roll tunes of all time.

Phil-WRCO

Return with us to a weekend in 1973 on this Saturday nights Those Were The Days radio program.  This is still one of my favorite years for music.  I was soaking up all of the pop, country, rock, and r and b songs on the radio during that year.  Whenever I could save up 63 cents I would shuffle to downtown Richland Center and pick up a new 45 rpm record.  The chart from 1973 is packed with tunes from Elton John,  Carly Simon,  Seals and Crofts, and many more.  There were a few one hit wonders from the likes of Edward Bear and King Harvest (The Last Song and Dancing In the Moonlight). 

We will be taking your requests for tunes from the 50s through the 80s.  We will also have updates and play by play from the state individual wrestling tournament finals on Saturday night.  Join us for the fun on WRCO FM 100.9 Saturday night.

Phil

Return with us to this weekend in 1969 on this Saturday nights edtition of Those Were the Days.  What a great period for Top 40 music!  Tommy James,  the Doors,  Marvin Gaye,  the Bee Gees,  and the New Colony Six were among the artists and groups  that were riding the radio waves the most.   We will also have a live request show and the chance to win prizes when we play 'Magic Cowbell Trivia".    I will fly back in the stations pedal helicoptor after wrestling to man the 'Close And Play'.  Give us a call on Saturday night.  You can always email me during the week and make a request for a song or feature.  I  look forward to hearing from you.

Phil

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This week I had the chance to chat with the lead singer of the Marshall Tucker Band, Doug Gray.  He helped found the band in 1971 shortly after returning from his service in Vietnam.   We will share portions of that interview on Those Were The Days this Saturday night!  The MTB broke out of the Southern Rock scene with a huge hit in 1977 called 'Heard It In A Love Song'. Other classic songs include Can't You See, and Fire On The Mountain,  which have been requested on a regular basis  during the last 25  years of our program.  They have released a new live greatest hits album!  You can buy it as a vinyl album which also comes with a free down load. 

It is amazing to note how many new releases are being issued as vinyl record albums.  I am afraid that there might be a shortage of cds in a couple of years.  It is hard to believe that record albums have made such a comeback.  I am finally cool again!  It has been a long time coming.

Join us for a full 6 hour show with requests, trivia, and the Marshall Tucker Band on this weeks edition of Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9.

Phil

This week on Those Were The Days we will remember some classic mid-70's hits.  Well known hits that are still known today were released during time.  It is unreal to me that some of those songs are 37 years old and are enjoyed today by more than just the generation that grew up with them.   In 1975 several generations were not flashing back to the music of the 1920's and 30's.  It goes to show how timeless many of those songs are!

Those Were The Days will follow our high school wrestling coverage on WRCO FM 100.9  Saturday night.  We will have trivia and requests later in the program after I return back to home base in the WRCO peddle helicopter.  I hope to hear from you on Saturday night.

Take Care.

Phil

Along with our regular features on this weeks edition of Those Were The Days, we will jump in the Ford Maverick and drive back to this weekend in 1977!  Disco songs like Car Wash by Rose Royce,  Hot Line from the Sylvers, and You Make Me Feel Like Dancing by Leo Sayer were big.  The Eagles were flying high and Aerosmith had an up and coming single with Walk This Way.  The group Kiss had released a good single called Hard Luck Woman.  We will feature some of these and other 1977 cool tunes. 

Listen for trivia and other surprises this Saturday night between 6 and midnight.  Thank you for the great requests last week.  It was one of the best nights we have had recently.  You made me dig for tunes that we had not played for a while.  I hope to hear from you on Saturday night.  You can also email me this week and I can make sure that I rummage  through my vaults and have it ready to play for you.  My address is  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Phil  

WRCO FM 100.9 is the place to be for another musical party featuring the music that I have collected over the past 40 years. The year of 1967 is still one of the best music years ever!  I will back up that statement on this Saturday nights Those Were The Days.  Hear what was hot and happening during January of '67.  Wisconsin native Gary Myers will join me by phone.  He has written two books on Wisconsin rock and roll of the 50's and 60's.  He was in a group that was known as the Portraits and they released several songs during 1967 including two songs that were used in movie soundtracks.  Gary has released a cd of the Portraits music and it is available on his MusicGem website and the address is music.gem.com. 

Request a song during this Saturday nights program.  We will ring the magic cowbell and find out how much useless knowledge you still have.   I hope you enjoy all of those old songs of the 50's through the 80's on Those Were The Days this weekend.

Phil

Hear part two of my interview with Dennis Tufano of the Buckinghams this Saturday night on Those Were The Days.  They were the most successful of the late 60's Chicago area bands.  Hear Buckingham classic songs like Susan,  Don't You Care,  and Back In Love Again.

I hope that you will request a song this week.  Challenge yourself to play 'Stump the D.J.'  Request a song from the 50's through the 80's that you don't think  we have.  Even though the show is now over 25 years old, we still play at least one song every week that we have never played!  Listen for the 'Magic Cow Bell' to ring and see if you can win the trivia prize. 

I will hope to hear from you this Saturday night.  You can call the request line at 608 647-4155 or email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Thanks.

Phil-WRCO

To kick off a new year on Those Were the Days, we will feature portions of an interview with Dennis Tufano during the first two Saturday nights of the year.  Dennis was an original member of the Buckinghams.  It has been a 25 plus year mission of mine and I finally tracked down Dennis!   We will talk about that incredible year of 1967 in which the group had 4 top ten hit records.  Next week during part two we will feature coments about his days as a dou with group member Carl Giammarese and later days when he toured and sang with Olivia Newton John.  We will have the request line open all night Saturday night.  Give me a call and try to stump me.  I love it when someone calls and makes me dig for a song that we have rarely played.  Trivia returns this Saturday night as well.

We will keep on rocking in 2012! 

Sincerely,

Philip James Nee

Hey Rock and Rollers!  During our Those Were The Days time on Saturday night we will feature the 24th annual Triviathon.  Held on New Years Eve for many years,  it just happens to fall on Saturday night in 2011.  I know that many love to hear the trivia questions each Saturday night, so this time you will possibly hear 30 plus questions.  Many of your favorite songs from the 50's through the 80's will hit the airwaves again during Triviathon which will start at 6 pm on WRCO FM 100.9.  If you would like to enter a team, check out more details on this website.  Listen in January 2012 when we get back to our regular format and special guests including a first time caller to the show that sang lead on 4 top 10 hits in 1967. 

Thank you for reading.

Phil Nee

Those Were the Days will celebrate Christmas Saturday night with a host of great holiday tunes from our favorite artists of the 50's through the 80's.  We will feature some of the great musical moments from those good ole' days and the 'Nee Deep Christmas Group' might even make a few appearances.

Back in the old days at home we always had the radio on while the folks were dining on oyster stew and I was stewing over how many presents my sister had,  and how many I didn't  have.  She was usually on the 'nice' list.  Whatever your holiday plans are for Christmas Eve, I hope you will have the radio on in the background. 

Merry Christmas from the Solid Gold Dancers and me!

Phil